Bathing Beauty

We took a trip this past weekend to Healdsburg and hung out on a beautiful ranch. It was rainy all weekend and we played in the mud and saw the cows etc
needless to say the girl needed a bath!
So we threw her in the tub with her buddy, Noah. Here are the pics. Let them speak for themselves!








Tell me that isnt the cutest robe ever!?

New Kitchen

Madeline has been working hard in the kitchen with me since she could crawl.
And now she has one of her own! Thank you Grandma!

She spends lots of time putting everything she can find in there. Opening and closing the oven door and looking inside at what she is "cooking" its a hoot.

here are a few pics from yesterday's adventures in cooking







...and then she was so tired, she sat down to relax and had a snack. look how weary she is from all of that domestic work!



:)
xoxo

Uncle Jason!

Jason came by for another Sunday afternoon- and of course got roped into staying all day and night!
We made dinner and jason spoke to madeline in sign language. and she stood there, transfixed. She loves him.
and the feeling is so mutual.

We all had a great time, and we caught the two of them snuggling up with a book more than a few times.

Thanks for the visit Jason! cant wait to see you again
xoxo

Madeline's Valentine's Day Book Giveaway!

Ok. Here are the contest rules:

We have a new MYpublisher photo book up for grabs. it chronicles the first year of Madeline's life. It is black linen with printed photos on 20 pages and captions etc.
It makes an awesome coffee table brag book.

We would like to see what everyone has to say about why they should be the ones to win the prize. So send us your comments or emails that describe why you are Madeline's number one Valentine, or why she loves you the best, or why you deserve a special Valentine from us to you- or something creative. You can feel free to send silly pictures or, video, or even a riddle or poem -use your imagination!

The contest ends on February 3rd so that we have time to send you this special Valentine.


click this link to see the prize that awaits you!

Good Luck!

Children's discovery musem

Madeline and her buddies claire and sachin went over the bridge to sausalito for a trip to he discovery museum and had an awesome time. we only saw a tiny slice of the cool stuff there and will go back soon for more fun!
Here they are in the underwater world for kids and then digging in the construction zone outside.

more december pics etc

here is madeline on the santa train in NY with her best big buddy, Gabrielle. they are in the last car and ellie is showing madeline the ropes! They were instant friends.



and surprising grandma at work too!

more wedding pics from december

here are a few more pics i just got from julie and kenny's wedding on 12/29

flower girl action shot

mom and dad

me and madeline at the reception

during the daddy/daughter dance

dancing at the wedding

madeline was a big hit at julie's wedding. i mean, there is a certain amount of mystique one takes on as a superstar flower girl. and everyone wanted to be her dance partner. she made fast friends at the reception. Here she is in her casual green hoodie with her gown- she has such style. She took to this little girl and dragged her all over the place!

but when shakira came on, madeline was done dancing, and her partner had other ideas.


i had to step in at the end there to catch madeline- sorry for the theatrical ending to the clip!

backlog of photos

here is a little hodgepodge of photos from december. we traveled for two weeks so i didnt get a lot of photos taken. as friends and family send copies to me i will be sure and post them.

the first pics are proof that her hair is in fact growing in- and it so curly!
the rest are pics from xmas eve in NY and Julie's wedding in KS. the handsome boy with madeline is cousin ryan fidotta, the next is dennis and mom with m and i,the dude with don is the big brother- carl mann and the bride is little sis- julie mann now= Julie Buyle! congrats you guys.
i have several videos but they take longer so they will show up later in the week with any luck!

i have another disk full of pics from ny and ks and will get those pics uploaded soon too- never fear.
xoxo

quick pics

We are still recouping from our whirlwind trip to New York and Kansas.
THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

But i know many of you have missed the little one and she was such a traveling trooper- so here are a couple of pics to hold you over till i get a few minutes to do a full post!

sorry- no time for stories, captions or red eye redux... ill be back on track by next week!

xoxo

Second Christmas

It is Madeline's second Christmas and she is home in NY visiting family again. She has loved her time with our relatives and their associated pets. She was a trooper on the plane- I'd say the best baby there! Although she survived the day of travels, however, she now has a wicked cold- despite my pre-holiday trip to the pediatrician. A slight fever, cough and runny nose- which does wonders for her sensitive skin- bummer.
But when she is good she is very very good and she is practicing her new words with gusto. I will work on some pics as soon as i get the chance.
In the meantime,
Merry Christmas!

xoxo

you should see the other guy

Well- here it is folks. the greusome pics of our little girl's
triumphant battle with the sidewalk.

Just so you are not horrified when you see her and her face looks like it has
be mauled by wild boars, we thought we'd send these out on the blogosphere!


i know. it stinks. and it is only the beginning of her being a toddler.
She has been walking for 4 months now. and is great on her feet, on stairs, bumps
etc. its just that i put her in a winter coat (an unfamiliar place to here around here) to prepare her for our 2 week trip to antarctica- i mean, Ny and Ks. and she lost her footing and was unable to brace her fall with her hands bc of the darned coat- she looked like Billy from A christmas story all bundled up and unable to move.

its all my fault.
and now i have to bear the scorn and shame of bringing her home for the holidays with a sad sad scab.

she took it in stride, though. here is is the next day- mostly smiles.

xoxo

Talk talk talk- cat got your tongue?

We are about to embark on our two week family visiting journey and so we thought we would give you a heads up on what madeline is saying these days.
She has an arsenal of about 30 signs and about 20 words. I will give you an abridged list of the most popular of both and here is a link, for those of you with time on your hands, in case you want to see how she signs the words you may want to use with her.

She understands so much of what we are saying that you of course, dont need to know how to sign to tell her things, but she will tell you an awful lot with her hands and it might be fun for you to know what she is saying. so here is a link to a site with a signing, video dictionary where you choose letters and it will give you a list of words available for demo. when you click, it will show you a woman signing these words.

http://www.mybabycantalk.com/content/dictionary/dictionaryofsigns.aspx?letter=A

just thought it might be kinda fun. and yes, we are such hippies, i know!



and the one word we have NOT taught her, and hope for her not to learn, is "No". She is usually told "thats not for you", or "not right now, maybe later" or "try this instead". We have learned that for some of our friends, their 1 year olds know that two letter word all TOO well and use it more than mom and dad would like! So we are trying it out.

Anyway- here are Madeline's signs:
All done
more
milk
eat
drink
water
apple
banana
cheese
toothbrush
night night
baby
light
stars
book
bubbles (she made this one up so its not the same as the ASL sign)
bath- she kind-of does this one but understands it more than she can replicate it
up
please
thank you (this looks like blowing a kiss but there is no noise)
shoes
hat
potty
tree
airplane
pig
giraffe
bird
duck
phone



Madeline's spoken words:
hi
hat
hot
eyes
ball (pronounced dall)
mama and dada
nana
cat (kitty cat)
dog (sometimes she says woo woo instead)
shoes
toes
banana
night night (nah nah)
this
bye bye
please (peez)
noodle (pronounced doo doo which is a commentary on my cooking i suppose)
yes
trees
nose (but usually she just points to hers and makes piggy sounds or cleans it out so to speak)
she also says "tickle tickle" and a host of gibberish words

we try to say the correct pronounciation for her every time she uses baby talk for one of her words like "please" instead of "peez"

anyway. i hope you are looking forward to seeing her, if we are coming to a town near you this month. and if we are not, we hope to see you sometime soon too!


XOXO

Snow in San Mateo

We saw snow! at church, they brought in 4 trucks of snow and we sang carols and shared cookies and had a blast. madeline is not sure what all the fuss is about- its so cold... this is fun?

spinach etc

we have been getting our produce from an awesome organic farm. (Capay farms in the north bay) they deliver it each week or bi weekly or whenever and we have had some of the best apples, strawberries and pears in our lives, the satsuma mandarins and the greens are great too. We have had lots and lots and lots! of spinach and chard and kale though, this month and have had to find ways to make it right away and keep it from going bad. this week i made spinach tomato sauce. and madeline went to town!

she particularly liked how it felt in her ear and on her head...


Other pics include hanging with her friend Thomas at Mikey and Kay's house this morning and also finding her way into her closet. she loves shoes and will tear the house apart to get to hers. i have made a shoe shelf for hers, up high but she managed to pull and shake and take drawers out and climb her way up to get them. you'll see...<




ps: no obligation to join the produce delivery. 30 dollars for a large box (well worth it)and smaller boxes or just fruit are also options with no committment. and we get a free box if you join! www.farmfreshtoyou.com

then and now...

I just had to post this blast from the past that my godmother sent me.

I know you are all thinking... wow those kids invented the goodwill style screen t-shirt fad.
and you are so right. now i want royalties!
oh- and why are we fatter now that we are older? now that don lost 29 lbs in november and i only shed a handful, i think looking at this pic makes me feel like stepping it up!

xoxo

brrrr

It got cold in san mateo this evening.
We got to wear our scarves and hats for the first time!
We had to take a pic of madeline in her grizzly bear hat and paw mittens!