Madeline's Baby Year

I’m a big girl now

I am almost one now – I can walk, I can pose and I know how to look cute on my own.

Dancing in PJs

I thought that this posting would be more appropriate on Ryan’s blog but then I thought that he might not like this video as much when he gets older so I thought I would keep it on Madeline’s blog.  The reason Ryan is we…

Silly Mado

Mado, is Madeline’s nickname – we always thought it would be Maddie (and it still might) but at home we call her Mado or Madol depending on our mood.

Hallway

Madeline has many similarities to Ryan. Actually, when she is in the bath and we pour water of her head Ryan always says “RYAN!” because she looks so much like Ryan did at that age.

Look at me–I’m wearing shoes!!

Madeline is obviously very impressed with her new shoes and immediately decided to show them off to everyone.  I have to say that she loves wearing sneakers but nothing tops her red boots.  Actually, when Madeline wants …

Outside?

This might seem weird but Madeline doesn’t really know the outside.  Sure, we took her out last summer but she was so young there is no way she could ever remember it.  Then, of course, our rainy winters are not really i…

Twirly

Isn’t it funny how young kids are so easily entertained.  This was a funny moment that we caught on tape.  Madeline thinks it is pretty cool to twirl herself around.

Getting better every day

To be honest – it really is hard to catch Madeline on video while walking.  As soon as she sees the phone or video camera she cries for it because she wants to see what you are recording.  So basically, you end up with h…

Walking and carrying something

Madeline’s new thing is to walk and carry something around.  Her new favorite thing is a bag of chalk – actually she really just wants to try and draw on the chalkboard but since we don’t let her do that (she likes to pu…

Strollers help with walking

I usually try to bring a small gift when I return from my concerts for the kids.  This time I brought a small stroller for Madeline.  When I picked up the stroller I didn’t know that she had already taken her first steps…

Spaghetti mess

This video is disturbing for two reasons – one, Madeline, two, Ryan.  Madeline is a messy disaster and Ryan is disgusting.

Madeline takes her first steps

Madeline has been growing up so fast.  It seems like just the other day we were posting about her learning how to crawl.  Now she has started walking!  This happened when I was away playing some concerts in Virginia so I…

Lounge Chair

We found a really cute lounge chair for babies at Costco and had to buy it.  Ryan had a nice red one that he used (and slightly destroyed) so we thought it would be nice to have one for Madeline.  Well, she absolutely lo…

Madeline stands up on her own

Madeline’s new thing has been to let go and to balance while standing.  She’s getting more confident everyday.  Grace caught a video of her trying out her balancing without holding on for one of her first times.

Hanging with my brother

Madeline looks up to Ryan.  She loves doing everything he does.  Ryan loves this (most of the time) and loves to make things fun for her.  Here are some photos of them in the bath pretending to cuddle.

First day in pigtails

It is very different having a girl from having a boy.  We were very excited to put Madeline in pigtails for the very first time.  I think she liked it!

Madeline and Hero

Hero is an expert at taking care of kids (young and old).  Madeline absolutely loved the food that Hero would make for her.  Can you see the love in this picture?

Christmas in Los Angeles

I will do a post for both kids here.  Christmas was a blast – we spent the first week at Esther’s place (Grace’s sister) and then stayed at Grace’s parent’s place.  It made for a different feeling at Christmas – also, ad…

Getting ready for the trip to LA

This year on our trip to LA things were a bit different.  Daddy went to Toronto first to celebrate Mike Westwood’s marriage to Heather.  For those that don’t remember Mike was Jasper’s old roommate in Toronto for many ma…

Bright Nights (Stanley Park)

It has become a tradition (a tradition is something you’ve done more than once, right?) for us to go to the Bright Nights at Stanley Park to celebrate the start of Christmas season.  They decorate a huge section of Stanl…

Madeline Crawls!!

We’ve been waiting to update Madeline and her crawling.  She’s been attempting to crawl for quite some time – occasionally she’s been successful for one or two steps but usually she just goes back to sitting.  Earlier to…

A Christmas Jingle

Madeline wanted to share a little Christmas Jingle with all of you!.

Visiting Seattle

Madeline is getting to be just like her brother – a real traveler.  We have taken quite a few trips (and many more planned) this year.  It really helps that daddy is on sabbatical and mommy is on maternity leave.  Our mo…

Sometime you need to go backwards to go forwards

Madeline has been trying to crawl for a while.  Just the other day she started moving backwards with her crawling – she was pretty happy about that!   I have to say that it is really cute to see a baby crawling backwards…

Halloween 2011

Madeline had a rough day with a red-eye flight back from Hawaii to Vancouver.  But that did not stop her from coming out in style for a bit of trick or treating.  Here are a few picture of her in her bumblebee outfit wit…

Madeline shows us her baby talk

Being on vacation brings out the best in all of us.  For Madeline she wanted to show us that she could talk.  It was very cute to hear her trying to have a conversation with us.  Check it out.

Madeline has something she wants to say to you

Madeline wants to share a story with you.  I hope you can follow along.

Sitting up comfortably

Madeline wanted to show all of us just how comfortable she is with her sitting.

Looking cute in a dress

It’s a lot of fun having a daughter – you can dress her up in dresses!

Shopping with bro!

Madeline is finally old enough to have a good time shopping and sitting in the cart with Ryan.  We were shopping at Costco the other day and we caught these photos of the siblings having a good time in the cart.

Jolly Jumper

I have to say that this is one of my favorite stages.  I love watching babies jump in the jolly jumper.  Unfortunately because of the setup of our house Madeline has to jump in the door frame with a toilet behind her.  S…

Madeline turns over for real

Madeline turned over for the first time when nobody was looking.  The difference between a first child and a second is that you are usually worrying about your toddler who is doing something wrong rather than your infant…

Practicing how to crawl

Madeline has been working on getting stronger everyday.  It never ceases to amaze me how fast everything is with children growing up.  Madeline looks like she is ready to start getting ready to crawl.

Trying solids for the first time

We wanted to wait to try giving solids to Madeline until we came back from our vacation.  Of course, we had to catch this moment on video tape.  Here is a video of Madeline trying solids for the first time.

A little swing ride, anyone?

It seems like about time that Madeline graduated from her swing (to put her to sleep at home) to a real swing at a playground.  She seemed a bit hesitant at first but really quite enjoyed her first swing ride.

Jolly Jumper

Thinking back to when Ryan was a little one I had fond memories of the jolly jumper.  Unfortunately, this stage is quite short.  To make up for this, we started Madeline in the jolly jumper as early as possible!

Our East Coast Trip

We had a blast in the East Coast visiting everyone – here are a bunch of photos of Madeline throughout our vacation.

Happy Birthday Grampa!

New Highchair

We had sold Ryan’s highchair pretty quickly as it took up a lot of space in our house.  Living in Vancouver – space comes a premium so we were very quick to sell the highchair.  Anyway, after much consideration we decide…

Some serious head lifting

Madeline has to keep up with her older brother.  She loves watching him and wants to do whatever he does so she makes an incredible effort to try and push herself.  Here are some photos of her lifting herself up.

First time in the exersaucer

Obviously, we have saved many of the same toys that Ryan used to play in for Madeline.  This way, we can try to see if we can’t get her to play with things sooner – get the most bang for the buck!  It is kind of difficul…

Madeline rolls over (sort of!)

This really shouldn’t be explained but just seen.  Madeline has been trying to roll over for quite some time.  She succeeds at rolling over but not in the way you would expect.  Check it out!

Family Photo Minus Daddy

As I’m sure everyone knows – it is really hard to take a family photo.  Who will take the photo?  We could always set up a tripod but that takes too much time with young kids.  On this day both Ryan and Madeline were bei…

Hanging with my bro!

Madeline loves everything that Ryan does and wants to hang out with him as much as possible.  Here are a few photos of them watching Ryan’s favorite shows.

Crazy Hair

As you will see in many of the photos – Madeline has crazy hair.  We love it!  It is very wild, very unpredictable and never the same twice.  She gets so much attention for her hair.

Madeline is seldom alone

Madeline has a constant visitor in her crib – her brother, Ryan.  He loves to crawl into her crib and hang out with her – turn on the mobile or just roll around and try to entertain his sister.  Madeline really loves her…

July 1st is for hanging with friends

As parents we have been to a lot less parent/infant groups.  It just seems as though there is less time in a day with multiple kids.  In that sense Ryan had a few more play dates than Madeline has.  On July 1st we had so…

Can you tell–is this Ryan or Madeline?

We’ve been having some fun comparing photos of Ryan and Madeline and when Madeline’s hair is wet Ryan likes to look at her and say “look, it’s Ryan!”  Anyway, when we took this photo of Madeline in the bath we can’t beli…

Madeline tries on some hats for us

It’s been fun having a girl baby – we feel like we can dress her up more.  Here we’ve tried putting her in a hat.    Doesn’t she look cute?

Madeline is a happy baby

As we have mentioned in the past Madeline is a pretty easy going baby.  She has been giving us some great smiles over the last few weeks.  The hard part for us is to remember to catch them on camera – we get all caught u…

Some girly photos

One of the first things we notice when comparing Madeline to Ryan when he was a baby is just how different they act.  Madeline really gives us some looks that are so girly that we have to laugh.  It is pretty funny at su…

Madeline stands up!

Madeline has been growing up super fast.  Much faster than we can imagine – I’m not sure if time just moves faster when you get older or if my memory is just getting worse but things seem to happen faster these days.

Madeline gives us some cute looks

Madeline has been such an amazing baby.  She eats well, she sleeps well and she doesn’t cry.  We really can’t complain.  Lately she has been giving us some new looks and we captured a few of them on camera.

What do good little babies do?

Madeline in her first dress

We will be honest and say that we forgot how small newborns were.  We didn’t buy a lot of infant/newborn clothes and mostly had stuff for Madeline for 3-6 months.  We were very happy that she did grow quickly so that we …

Happy Birthday Brother!

Ryan had a nice birthday celebration at school.  Madeline came along to celebrate her brother’s big day.

Our Silly Babies!

I thought this was funny. We like to check out posts from Ryan’s blog when he was the same age as Madeline to see similarities in their developments. I came across some silly photos of Ryan at around the same age and tho…

Cooing

We all know the sound most babies make in their first few weeks.  For a parent it is such a great joy to hear something else.

Filling Out

Madeline is quite similar to Ryan in her ability to gain weight.  We are happy that she eats well and is gaining weight way above average.  Do you see a difference from when she was born?

Madeline lifting her head

One of the fun things about having a second child is that you have a better idea of what to expect.  There are many details that you forget about from your first but you quickly remember when you have a new one.  Also, t…

Mommy, Daddy, Ryan and Madeline

It is always fun to compare photos of all of us as babies.  We did this with Ryan when he was young and here is the same photo except now with Madeline.

Smiles

Madeline has been giving us smiles for a while now.  Some of these smiles were made by rubbing her nose but regardless has been pretty good at giving us a smile now and then.

Do you notice the similarities?

I am referring to the similarities between Ryan (left) and Madeline (right).   Please don’t try to say that I see that daddy looks older.

Halmonie comes for a visit

Grace’s mother came up to help us out and to visit Madeline.  It really made a big difference having a helping hand as daddy finished up his work with the university and we adjusted to having 2 kids.

Sleepyhead

There isn’t much to this video but we thought it was still pretty cute.  Here is a video of Madeline desperately fighting to wake up.  She is really having a hard time opening her eyes.   She really loved her sleep (at l…

Madeline on Day 4

Here is a video of Madeline on Day 4 checking out the world.  In this video you will see a hand creep up a caress her face.  That is Ryan – he is being sweet and is so interested in his new sister.

Day 1 -at the hospital

Madeline’s birth was very sudden.  Grace and I were at home on Friday and I was about to make dinner when she mentioned that she felt some cramping.  It is not unusual at that stage in the pregnancy to feel some contract…

Ryan gets to meet Madeline

After Daddy had a chance to let Ryan know that everything was ok we decided to go and have a picnic with Mommy and the new baby.  We stopped by and picked up some of Ryan’s favorite sushi (Mango sushi!) and bring it to m…

Madeline is born!

Madeline was born at 11:01pm and weighed 3300 grams (7 lbs 4 oz).  Exactly 1 pound less than her brother Ryan.  Here are a few pictures from that special day.  We’ll post more stuff soon!