She continues to talk up a storm at home (not so much in public), and lately she’s been especially obsessed with a few things:

- People’s facial expressions, especially the characters in her books. I need to get some photos of her imitating these facial expressions – it’s hilarious. We talk a lot about why so-and-so is “making her face like that?” She loves to cock her eyebrows to demonstrate consternation, even when asking a question that she already knows the answer to (which is most of the time). She also likes to shift her jaw when she’s puzzled (or pretending to be) about something.

- How other people are feeling. This morning my back was hurting and Dave was helping me stretch it. Maddy asked “why does mommy’s back hurt?” and Dave kindly said “Because she’s getting old.” Maddy promptly replied, “It’s okay mommy, I’ll take care of you if you’re old!” Then when I told her my back was feeling better, she said “Mommy you’re young! We’re all young together!” I asked her how young we are exactly, and she explained: “Hayden’s 1, I’m 2, Daddy’s 5 and you’re 6.”

- Daddy buying her a dollhouse for her birthday (in 6 months)

- Kids/animals who’ve lost their mommy and daddy (thanks to Annie, The American Tale, and The Lion King)

- Planting a Mango tree in our backyard

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in PhamsterWorld. I think the girls would sum them up as funfunfun, and Dave and I would sum them up as simply exhausting. Before getting into our recap, let’s pause for a moment to celebrate Hayden’s latest milestone. Yes, the little bubba is now a movin’ and groovin’ 8-month-old who says “dadada,” but not much else yet.

With all her locomoting, she hasn’t been gaining as much weight as we’d like – she’s now at just over 15 lbs, which keeps her in the 5th percentile for her age. She’s crawling/ trying to climb all over the place and gets very antsy if we leave her in the exersaucer or high chair for too long. Her favorite places to crawl to are under our coffee table and behind the recliner.

In other news, Maddy had her first real experience in the snow 2 weeks ago when we met up with my old college roommates (Amy and Joanne) and their families at Lake Tahoe. Pictures here. She loved building a snowman with Dave, and gave sledding a try but got tired of that after 2 runs down the hill in our backyard. Most of all, she loved making friends with Amy’s boys Nathan and Chase.

After that, my dad came for a brief visit and Maddy and Hayden got some good grandpa time in. Last weekend, we also had one of our super-fun playdates with Syd and Sierra and Lily at Burton Park in San Carlos.

This weekend Maddy and I have already had some fun playing around the house with Hayden and at our little neighborhood park.

Two weeks ago, the Noonans came all the way out from Rhode Island to visit us and it was so great to see them. I just love my Auntie Leigh, Uncle Jim and my boyfriend Blakey. I miss them so much now that they’re gone and ask mommy about them all the time.

While they were here, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Pastorino’s and Lemos farms in Half Moon Bay. We had close encounters with all kinds of fish and farm animals. I especially liked meeting the penquins and going on hay rides.

Everything was so much fun until poor Blake had a too-close-for-comfort encounter with the H1N1 virus. After that, he spent the next 5 days cooped up and miserable in our house.

That was no fun because mommy and daddy wouldn’t let me play with him hardly at all and kept telling me to give him space and not wipe my runny nose all over him to make things worse. I think we heard “Catch your cough/sneeze!” about a gazillion times from the grownups. I guess it was all for the best, because so far Hayden and I seem to have steered clear of that nasty nasty flu and now Blakey is all better.

In other news, I’ve enjoyed cheering for the Yankees in the playoffs and wear my Yankees hat for every game.

I also squeezed in a visit to Ardenwood farm with all the cool Yahoo! kids – Gavin, Sydney, Sierra, Lilly, and Sienna. I wasn’t too fond of the peacocks I saw there, but I was so excited about these little pine cone-like things I found on the ground. Mommy let me bring them home and I’ve been carrying them around in a disposable diaper wipes container ever since.

Oh, and I did a great job of singing Happy Birthday to my mommy on Sunday. Daddy helped me make her a really neat card with a drawing of our family – we even put Hayden’s mohawk and everything on there!

I’ve also been Skyping a lot with my Ba Ngoai (Gramma Anne), who’s working in Afganistan right now. We keep reminding her to stay safe.

- Maddy

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!

Hayden was an angel during her 1st plane ride, she was good for her grandma when we left her for the 1st time for 2 whole nights (we still have never left Maddy overnight), and she turned 2 months old on Sunday!

Maddy has made lots of new friends, including her cousins TJ, Kiara and Lewis, Dave’s college roommate Faris’ kids Jacob and Emilie, my high school friend Kristin’s boys Atticus and Thadius, and most importantly OTTO THE ORANGE!

Dave and I got to relive some college memories during the SU vs. MN football game, despite Maddy’s restlessness and the sad Orange loss. We’ve all loved the visiting with great friends and family, and are excited about more visiting before we head home on Friday.

Paying more attention to the singing balloon than to Sierra at her bday party:

Lots of hugging – with my daycare friend Sophia (I was SO happy to see her again when she came over our house last week) and of course with bday girl Sierra:

Splashing in my new pool:

Enjoying the San Mateo Fair with Sydney (mom even let me try a deep-fried twinkie!):

Learning from a Harmonica virtuoso at the Symphony Silicon Valley Summer Pops:

Now we’re off to upstate New York to visit my Ba Noi and some friends. Daddy says I might even get to meet Otto the Orange in person!

- Maddy

P.S. Happy 8-weeks to Hayden today!

Here are some fun photos and videos of my August Adventures so far:

Sadly, this week I have to say goodbye to both mommy’s cousin Allie and Susette and Sophia from Little Bears Family Daycare. Susette has been taking good care of me for over a year and I’m really going to miss playing with her and her fun daughter Sophia, who gives me the best hugs. I’m sure I will still get to visit with them sometimes at least.

Now that Susette is moving on to other work, I’m going to be spending time with a new caretaker in our home starting next week. I’ll let you know what she’s like when I get to know her a little bit.

One other update is that I’ve been spending more time on the potty, but the only thing I really do on there is read. My literature of choice is Tennis Magazine.

- Maddy

P.S. If you’re reading this on mommy’s Facebook page, you should click the “View Original Post” button so you can check out all the videos and stuff that Facebook doesn’t show in the Notes.

I know, I know, you’ve all missed my deep thoughts these past few weeks.

While my little sister Hayden has been getting all the attention, I’ve been keeping busy too (mostly by giving her attention myself). I love to give her kisses and hold her hand, and sometimes I get so excited to see her in the morning that I bounce all around on the bed and almost step on her head.

The first week Hayden was here, we also had a visit from my Auntie Lorna (aka “Noena”), who was SO fun to hang with that I can’t stop talking about it. I now use her name to refer to anyone who stays at our house. While she was here, we went to the park and the library and visited mommy and Hayden in the hospital.

On Sunday, my best friend Sydney came over to the house with her mom and dad to visit and it was super super fun. I showed her my rocking horse and car, and we ran all around being silly.

She’s way more fun to play with than Hayden, who just lays there.

This week my Ba Ngoai (aka “Gamma” or “Noena”) came to visit, and she’s been taking me to my first swim classes.

Some days I like it better than others, but overall I think it’s pretty cool to play in such a huge bathtub – especially when we get to check out the water toys. I’ve been blowing bubbles in the water, and kicking my feet, and singing water songs, and today I even bobbed my head under water. I didn’t like that so much, but I tolerated it okay.

Today, mommy’s cousin Becky is visiting and she’s great too. She knows just how to play with me and sometimes I even forget how to be stubborn when she’s around. I also think it’s pretty cool how good she is at changing Hayden’s diapers, because that gives my mommy more time to pay attention to me.

Oh, and we’ve all been reading lots of books. One that I like is Love You Forever. The other day I started singing along with my mom (don’t mind her PJs).

Having visitors is pretty cool – can’t wait for more to come over the next few weeks!

- Maddy

At first I was just really excited about all the plastic colored “balls” I got to collect, but after a while I finally figured out that they’re eggs and I’ve been playing with my “eggs” ever since. I like to take them out of the basket, and put them all around the family room, and then pick them up and put them back in my basket, and then take them out and give them to mommy, and then start the whole process over again.

In other news, I’ve been playing a lot on my slide, which is very fun.

And, my Uncle Gavin and his girlfriend Jaime are visiting us this weekend. I really really like Jaime – she’s cool – but I’m not so sure about Gavin, he’s kind of scary. I did like watching him draw on my bedroom wall, though.

Sunday: This is what I was doing while mommy was having brunch with her Haas school friends and all their cute kids…

Monday-Thursday: Same old daycare routine. Daddy and I were both really tired by the time we got home in the car Thursday night.

Friday: I played with my nanny, Natalie, and we accidentally dropped 24 eggs on the kitchen floor. That was kind of scary, but also interesting once I realized we were going to be okay. I said “yucky” about 10 times while mommy was cleaning it up.

Saturday: Best day of all! I went to Burton Park in San Carlos to play with my friends Sierra and Sydney, and we climbed all around the playground and went on the swings and the slides. It was so much fun that I didn’t want to eat my lunch, but I did share some Red Mango frozen yogurt with mom after – yum.


Then when we came home I stopped next door for a while to see what my old neighbors Mason, Laila and Taylor were up to (they live in San Ramon now, but they still come back to visit sometimes).

Sunday: Today I’m writing this post for my blog and getting ready for another fun week with my friend “Fia” (Sofia) at daycare – I’ve been talking about her all weekend…