Maddie Pre-Walking

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Maddie spent a lot of time with her 15-month-old cousin, Ava. I think Maddie really wanted to walk like Ava so she pushed toys and chairs around to support herself. She even took 2 steps on her own. So exciting!

Here's a video of Maddie working on her walking skills. Please ignore the overzealous narrator in the background. I'm a proud Momma who needs to learn to shush.

Thanksgiving 2009

This year, Eric, Maddie and I hosted Thanksgiving for my whole (Ramirez) family. It was Maddie's first Thanksgiving and an opportunity for her to see her cousin, Ava, and get lots of love and attention. Maddie ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, greenbean casserole and a few other things. I made her skip dessert this time. :-)

We had so much yummy food, spent time in the backyard and at the park enjoying the beautiful weather and played board games/drank wine once the babies went to sleep. It was a perfect Thanksgiving.

At the Park with Friends

The week before Thanksgiving, Maddie's and my calendar were pretty booked with playdates, lunches and story time. Needless to say, I've neglected the blog a bit but will catch up soon.

One of the playdates we attended was at Zilker Park on a beautiful Fall day. There were lots of babies and Mommies who attended and enjoyed a picnic lunch together.

We're so lucky to have great friends in Austin.

Story Time

Every Tuesday at 10:30am, a locally owned bookstore, Book People, features story time for babies and young kids. I wasn't sure whether Maddie would enjoy story time or not but it was another successful activity.

Maddie was thrilled to pieces with all the other babies/kids in attendance, laughing and "talking" non-stop (including during story time. Ooops!). The actual book reading was only 15 mins or so but then the babies seemed to take over the kids section, looking at books and playing with anything they could get their hands on. Maddie even made some new friends! What a fun time!

Birthday (Party) Season Begins!

One of Maddie's best friends, Lauren, turned one year old on Nov 5th. She had an adorable 1st birthday party for all her friends, including Maddie. The adults ate yummy BBQ while the babies played and socialized. It was a sweet time and a special day for Miss Lauren.

It's hard to imagine that all the babies in Maddie's playgroup will be turning one in just a few weeks. (sniff.)

Here are a few pics from Lauren's party:

Live Music Outside

Sorry if I keep repeating this, but Fall in Austin is beautiful. Most days are sunny and slightly chilly which means Maddie and I spend a lot more time outside.

Another cool thing about Austin are the many opportunities to hear live music. Every Friday at noon, there's a free concert at an outdoor venue at City Hall. It's such a wonderful (and FREE!) activity to do with Maddie and our other Mommy & Baby friends. The babies can dance to music, have a lunch picnic under some trees and the Moms get to catch up.

Maddie and I have been twice in the last few weeks and plan to go again soon.

The two pictures below are courtesy of my friend Michelle. Her daughter Erica and Maddie had a fun time.

New Trick

On Sunday, Maddie started standing up without holding on to us or anything else. The longest she's stayed standing is about 25 seconds before she sits back down again. She can also hold her toys while she's standing, which is cute. I've started to put Maddie in a standing position everytime I put her down and she loves it. We clap and cheer together every time. I never get tired of seeing the excitement on her face.

A Happy Halloween

For the past few weeks, I've been anticipating Halloween like a giddy young girl, anxiously awaiting Maddie's first Halloween experience and dressing her as a pumpkin. Her reaction to all the festivities was awesome. She squeaked and smiled and laughed and stared at all the decorations and costumed people. She made friends with several of our neighbors, smiling happily and even held the pumpkin treat bag I got her. Our neighborhood celebrates Halloween quite a bit, complete with a small haunted house, several street parties, BBQs and lots of friendly people sitting outside and chatting.

My sister, Dee, and her husband, Adam, celebrated Halloween with us and we all had a fun night.

Maddie's first Halloween was a smashing success!

Fun at the Park

Just recently, we introduced Maddie to infant swings at the park. Luckily we have a great neighborhood park just a few blocks from our house so I take Maddie there quite often. Maddie is a swinging maniac now. On Halloween morning, Eric and I took Maddie to the park for some playground fun.