I don’t know how we went from this……………………..to this…

…to this…so quickly!

Maddy, we sure love you and are very lucky to be your parents.

We had a great party at the house today with so many good friends and neighbors, and Maddy felt very special. She also got to have a family birthday party in Portland last week with her cousin Eva who just turned 2 as well, and had a blast playing with her cousins, aunts, uncles and great-grandparents.

In other news, Maddy’s been starting to use her potty for more than just a reading chair. On 9/11/09 she did her first poop on the potty, yesterday she did her first pee, and today she pooped on the potty again. Fun times. So far, we’re still just trying to get her used to it, but are hoping she’ll be ready to start potty training in earnest soon because we’re drowning in diapers.

Lately Maddy’s been quite the entertainer (at least for Dave and I, not so much for “outsiders”). She loves to sing, especially Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Happy Birthday and the Alphabet Song. She also makes up songs about whatever’s on her mind at the moment.

She likes to be funny, and will try to tease us by asking things like “where’s my doll?” while she’s holding it behind her back and smiling a mischievous little grin. The other day we were listening to one of her CDs after a bath at our hotel and she decided to start dancing this hilarious Elaine-from-Seinfeld-but-in-slow-motion-dance on the bed buck naked.

She’s becoming more-and-more big sistery, and is very sweet with Hayden. She always wants to console her when she cries, saying “it’s okay, Hayden, it’s okay!” She also loves to touch Hayden’s crazy hair and always wants to lay on the floor next to her to keep her company when she’s getting her diaper changed or having tummy time. This caretaking also extends to her dolls, who Maddy is constantly feeding, singing to, putting down for naps, or even giving time outs.

Oh, and Maddy enjoyed her 2nd (Uncle) Gavin Castleton show last week when he played at the Lafayette Community Center – here she is making herself at home and hogging the front row:

We’ve been pretty delinquent with our blogging lately because we’ve been doing lots of visiting with family. Since everyone else is all caught up with Maddy’s birthday tomorrow, I thought I’d take a moment to tell you what I’ve been up to since my last post.

As you can see in this photo, I’ve started smiling and it’s so fun! I’m especially inclined to smile just after a good meal, during baths, or when daddy is playing with me. My first real smiles were probably when I was around 8 weeks old during our New York trip, and I also started holding my head up better around that time. Now I can hold it up for as long as I want, so I have a much better vantage point on the world around me.

I’ll be 12 weeks old on Monday, and these days I love sucking on my fist, cooing, rolling around on the floor, staring at the TV or people, and sleeping at night. You may remember that I had an 8-hour sleep a while back, but I didn’t do that again until this past week when I had 3 nights of >7-hour sleep, and I slept pretty good the other nights also.

What I HATE these days is riding in my carseat. It sucks to be strapped into that thing, and when I’m stuck in the back of the car I can’t see anyone. I’m forced to scream bloody murder for as long as it takes for my parents to stop the car and come comfort me, otherwise they might abandon me forever.

I also cry a lot because of painful gas and stuff, but at least 3-4 times a day I scream my desperate-sounding cries just to mess with mom and dad for no reason. It’s great to get their attention away from Maddy and all to myself .

- Hayden

P.S. FYI, my 2-month stats from the doctors office were: weight – 11 lbs even, height – 22 3/4 inches, head – 38.5 cm. For all 3 measurements, I’m in the 50th percentile for my age, how boring.

P.P.S. Inquiring minds want to know…do you think my hair makes me look more like a troll doll or a crowned crane?

Finally starting to recover from our fun visit to New York. Here are our photos and videos from the trip (as usual, I was blatantly negligent at taking photos of the grown-ups):

And, here’s my hopefully-not-too-long recap of the vacation:

Day 1, Tuesday, 9/1 – Woke at 5am. Maddy scared of cab driver, but fascinated by airport. Got 2 extra seats on flight to MN and 1 extra on flight to Albany, yay! Hayden did great sleeping and eating on flights, no crying.

Arrived in Albany around 6pm, went to Dave’s mom’s where Maddy was treated to a dinner of chicken nuggets and fries set up in front of the TV with cartoons on. And that was just the beginning of the spoiling, hmmm…

Cousins came over and Maddy was initially pretty overwhelmed by the chaos ensued by TJ (4), Kiara (3) and Lewis (6).

Day 2, Wednesday – Settled in to a much quieter house. Maddy enjoyed exploring ALL of TJ’s toys (especially the electronic and tool varieties) while he was at school.

Day 3, Thursday – Visited with Mrs. DiPietro (Grandma Di). Maddy took her sweet time to warm up, but LOVED the tinkerbell cell phone, My Little Pony, and cool bag she was given (as well as the animal crackers – more spoiling).

Day 4, Friday – Visited Mrs. Di at work and played on super-fancy playground with TJ. Loved huge slides, and enjoyed tour of the gorgeous new elementary school.

Went back to grandma’s house and got to visit with family friend Barbara and all the cousins again – ate yummy pizza from The Fountain and enjoyed more chaos.

Left for 2-hour car ride to Syracuse with Dave, Jimmy and Maddy (who napped). Went to Faris’ house (Dave’s college roommate), where Maddy got to know Emelie (21 mos) and Jacob (4), and their cool kitchen toys, and had more yummy pizza before crashing.

Day 5, Saturday – Took way too long getting ready to go to Kristin’s beautiful house (my high-school friend, who I hadn’t seen in WAY too long), where Maddy was taken very good care of by sweet boys Atticus (6) and Thadius (4). Great to see Kristin and her family again, wish we had had more time to catch up.

Went to campus to meet up with Jimmy, Faris, Greg and Karen for the SU vs. Minn. football game. Maddy so excited that she COULD NOT sit still. After meeting Otto the Orange (school mascot), she passed out and spent last 45 minutes sleeping on my shoulder. Game was great until the end when The ‘Cuse sadly let it slip through their fingers.

After game, walked down to Marshall St., where Jimmy won an admirer for life by buying Maddy Otto doll, then back to Faris’ house for some delicious BBQ and a great night during which the girls crushed the boys in Taboo.

Day 6, Sunday – Back to Albany, where I was so happy to see Hayden again (and be done with pumping for a bit) and get more sleep. Rather than sleep, Dave for some reason opted to go to casino and loose money.

Day 7, Monday – Low-key day, hung around the house and visited with Lisa D. and her new man.

Day 8, Tuesday – Fun going apple picking with Malcolm at Bowman Orchards. Maddy loved seeing animals and picking apples – mostly dropping them in the bag. She also didn’t mind getting some homemade ice cream, cider and apple donuts.

Day 9, Wednesday – Off to Springfield Mass. to visit with old roommate Leigh, her son Blake, sister Lynn, and niece Addi. Maddy wasn’t so sure what to make of Lynn’s dog, but had a blast at the cool playground across the street – especially on the big slides, rock-climbing wall, monkey bars and swings.

Day 10, Thursday – Last full day was sad, consisted mostly of packing and some goodbye visits with the DiPietro’s.

Day 11, Friday – Up at 5am again to head back to the airport.

Thanks for all the love and hospitality from our favorite New Yorkers…until next time!