So Smelly

Maggie's sense of humor continues to develop more each day. I get such a kick out of what she finds funny. Recently she has found it hysterical when we smell her feet and tell her that they are stinky. Unfortunately, these pictures only document the action, not her reaction.

Bravo, Brother!

This weekend we traveled to Indiana to celebrate Paul's graduation from Taylor University. He technically graduated in December, but all of the Pomp and Circumstance this weekend just made it seem a little more official.

Congratulations, Paul! Welcome to the real world.

Baby vs. Grinch - Eight Months

Last month several people commented to me, "Maggie is the same size as the Grinch now!" Well...this month she has surpassed him.

Pulling her own weight...Finally!

What I did not mention in the last post is that Maggie went through a serious growth spurt in the past month.

Check out Maggie checking out her belly! Even she can't get over it!

Eight Months

I feel like time has been on reverse mode recently. Mainly due to the weather. While March and April were absolutely gorgeous, warm and sunny, May has given us the weather that we apparently missed out on in those months. The other day I received an email from a colleague saying that he would be out of the office until June 1...and I thought, "WOW - that is a LONG leave of absence!" Until I realized that June 1 is not even 2 weeks away.

So you can imagine my shock when Maggie turned eight months yesterday. Eight months...REALLY?? When did this happen??!

A dear friend of mine sent me this while I was pregnant with Maggie.
It is from the Serena and Lily website...but I can't get over how much it describes our gal! She is such a joy and so much fun to have around. As my mom always says, "Maggie, you crack me up!" I feel like she is constantly making people smile or laugh...whether they know her or not.

This month can be described in one word: SLEEP. Or lack thereof, rather. Things have gradually been going from bad to worse this month. My normal laid-back attitude about All Things Baby was finally hung out to dry last week when we all realized that there was nothing good about a regular habit of waking up 3-4 times a night...for anyone! Fortunately, the past few days things have at least been shaken up, and seem to be getting better...we'll see how the next few weeks go.

Maggie also mastered her "pincher grasp" this month. The doc told me to hold off on finger foods (i.e. cheerios, teething biscuits, etc.) until 9 months, but when I found Maggie picking a thread up off of the floor with her thumb and index finger I thought that she might be ready. And boy she was! The ratio of food in mouth to floor is even in favor of her mouth! She is even showing signs of preferring bites of food in its "normal" state rather than being mashed, pureed, etc. She does a great job chewing and trying new things...although bananas and cheerios remain the reigning faves right now.


No crawling yet. Rolling rolling rolling everywhere still. One time she stayed on all fours when I put her down on the floor...but only that once. Recently she's been locking her knees every time I put her down...like she wants to stand, but she doesn't have the strength. I am very curious to see if she will even crawl at all...


She has expanded her vocabulary from "Heh" and "Hah" to "bababababa" and "wawawawawa." All of which she says indiscriminately, but I am glad to hear her practicing some new sounds regardless.

Excited to see what she will learn and teach us in the coming month!

Monster of the Midway

Yesterday Maggie and I were able to witness our first race of the season. A little impromptu invitation from my parents saw all four of us driving into the city to support Gary as he raced in the "Monsters of the Midway" criterium down at University of Chicago.

It was a wonderful spectator race, made even better by the fact that in his second race he decided to take off on the back stretch (something you normally wouldn't be able to see) after riding on the back of the pack almost the entire race, and held his lead almost until the end, where he ended up with a more than respectable third place finish.

I couldn't be more proud.

Still working on my action photography skills (thus the apparent lack of them), and my excitement/shock about his lead at the end took me completely off-guard, so I have NO photos of that, AND do you see what Maggie is wearing?? It's MAY 15!!!

Dedication Day

Last Sunday was not only Mother's Day, but Maggie was also dedicated at church. It was a very special and meaningful day, enhanced even more by the fact that both sets of grandparents, one set of great grandparents and most of her aunts and uncles were in town to celebrate.




I am a little annoyed that we continue to spend time with Gary's parents, yet I have very few photos to document this. Hear this, Muggs...you will not escape so quickly next time!!

Getting Closer...

And that's the Magic Number

It's pretty rare that we go on a vacation either sans extended family or not to see extended family, so when the opportunity came to go with Gary on a business trip to Florida and create a little mini vaca, we took it!

The trip in pictures:

Lots of good food!
Pei Wei...where I wanted to give her a fortune cookie soooooo bad.

Five Guys...where I wanted to give her a fry soooooo bad.

Maggie's "bed" for the weekend.

Riding bikes. Did I mention it was 90+?

Lots of shoulder kisses.


Biking break by the beach.

A little pool time.

Her favorite toy - the non-toy.

Watching American Idol in the hotel, waiting for dad to come home from his business dinner. Before you judge, just before this she wet the bed down to the mattress pad while I was changing her diaper. Housekeeping was gone for the day, and while the man and the desk "looked for more sheets," she threw up while I was holding her and stripping the bed. So Bad Mom? You decide.

All in all it was a great trip. Nice to get away for a bit, and really fun to spend some time together as a fam.

Diaper Dandy

I went to Target tonight to buy diapers. Like laundry detergent, I always seem to think I'm running out long before I do, and since we're down to one car right now and I've been consolidating my errands, I've just kept pushing it off. Until tonight. I put Maggie in her last diaper - as in the one I was storing in the diaper bag (and what happened to the 3 or 4 that are perpetually in there??). Literally as I was walking out the door to leave for the store I hear Gary call, "Oh man. She's pooping. What are we going to do?" Of course I have no idea what to do and my first thought was just wait til I get back, but instead I pull the mom card of having it All Together and say, "well, guess we'll have to do a cloth diaper." Which of course I also have no idea how to do. Having purchased some very reliable diaper covers since the blowout episode, I channel Tim Gunn. Then I fly out the door to make the World's Fastest Trip to Target (is that an oxymoron?) to get the goods and return before she goes to bed. Based on the near horror stories I've heard from cloth-diapering friends about the all-night cloth diaper and the fact that my assembly skills were questionable, I knew I had to return before she went to sleep. Why I somehow thought that this would be the night that she would sleep through the night I don't know - chances were good that I would have at least three opportunities to change her during the night.

But I made it. Even though isles I hardly ever peruse were screaming my name, I stayed true to my course and returned on time.

And for those of you who are visual learners and have just skimmed over this entire post, here is a picture of Maggie post-bath today. She hasn't had a bath in a week. Her last bath was when we were in Florida. This bath was in our new bathtub. I mention both of these because they are both things I need to write about...isn't she getting chubby??