Imaginary Mashed Potatoes

Suddenly, I'm a blogging fool! I got this picture today of Maddie while I was making Christmas care packages for some friends (this involved baking). Maddie wanted to make her own care packages for her friends, so I set her up on the floor for a little "cold cooking". :)
She just melts my heart! I was thinking today about how un-self conscious babies are, and wondering when they learn embarrassment. I was wondering this after watching Maddie pee and then spit up for the third time in the bath water. (Don't worry, I drained the tub!) My thoughts continued on, but I'm not really that kind of blogger, and I'm guessing you're not really that kind of reader. :)

Sooo, back to the photo: Please note that she would not be kind enough to remove her vehicle from the cooking space. She parked it neatly, but I guess she wanted a quick getaway handy in case she needed it!

No Sleep For Mommy

Well, this post does not have any pictures. Just a little whining. :) I have been having the WORST nightmares about horrible, freak accidents happening to Maddie! In my dreams, it's usually my fault too. It's really bad. I wake up with that sinking feeling in my stomach, convince myself it was a dream, and then have to go stare at my sleeping baby until I am convinced she is breathing. Occassionally, I accidentally wake her up, and then I have to deal with getting her back to sleep. (She sees me and thinks it's playtime because Mommy snuck into her room!)
Anyway, that's about the extent of this post. Just wondering if this happens to all you other parents out there. All these nighttime hysterics are really cutting into my beauty sleep!
O.k. I can't post a blog without a picture. I thought this one was funny. She's making her really-excited-breathing face. Rarely captured by media of any form. :)

Maddie Walks (In a Cheating Sort of Way)!

Well, as usual, it's been a really long time since I've updated this! So I thought I'd do a little compilation of Maddie's efforts towards walking, and end the video with Maddie just walking around being herself. I realized when going through the videos just how much footage I have of Maddie just being Maddie. Ha! I feel like the paparazzi!
Things here have been very busy lately! I started work at the hospital I'm at, and that means Maddie is in daycare 1-2 days a week. This was a tough decision, but in the end, we think it's the best. She seems to like the other kids, and I really like the daycare. Although I walked in the other day just in time to see another little girl pull the binky right out of Maddie's mouth and throw it at her head! It was actually kind of funny because she had a hard time getting it out of Maddie's mouth. Maddie gets a tight suction on those binkys! She started waving to Mike a few days ago, and for about 48 hours would ONLY wave to Mike! Now she she has graciously decided to wave to everyone. :) She also really likes climbing up the stairs. We walk right behind her (of course), and she barrel rolls the whole way down! Just kidding. Just seeing if you're actually reading. She giggles the whole way up, not barrel rolls down. :) I'll work on getting a video of these two latest accomplishments.
Mike is still liking his job and still not talking much about it unless I pump him for info. He had a really great time decorating for the holidays (so did I!)
I have decided to apply for anesthesia school, and I've been working on making my application for that complete. It's a competitive field though, and a really hard program, so I'll let you know what the final word ends up being. To start, I'm just applying to USC (the one in CA), and if I don't get in I'll apply elsewhere.
Here's the video:


I hope this blog finds all of you enjoying your Christmas Season!!

The Cutest Halloweener in California

Well, I hope everyone out there had a Happy Halloween! We had Maddie's first one, as well as having our first here in California. Here is a picture of Maddie in her costume:

We dressed her up and took out for community fun. Weirdly (and I'm guessing this is going to be an on-going theme for San Diego) the weather was 90ish degrees on Halloween, so Maddie got a little hot! We got lots of smiles walking around with her, but most of the activities going on were a little too old for her. The kids in those bounce houses were candy-fueled maniacs!

Here is a picture of Maddie earlier in the week, just getting into the spirit of the season! :)

One of the coolest parts of Halloween was getting trick-or-treaters. I've never lived anywhere that was a trick-or-treat hotspot before, so it was especially fun to see all the kids coming around in costume. There were some HILARIOUS costumes (think 15 year old wearing only speedos and big ears, walking around with his little sister, around 7 yrs, who was wearing an inflatable sumo wrestler costume) And then there was our own little cutie(nice transition, huh):

Maddie didn't make it up late enough to help hand out any of the candy, but she did get her first taste of chocolate chip cookie, and she LOVED it! For a toothless little kid, she can mash her food with the best of us! :)
Here's one more cute picture, just because I like it:

Random Acts of Cuteness

These are just some cute pictures that I've gotten over the past few weeks. As Maddie starts doing new things, she gets into the funniest predicaments! Here she is after figuring out how to manipulate the baby gate, and then accidentally closing herself and the dogs on the wrong side of it! (neither she nor the dogs were very happy about the situation)

The next two pictures are of what is quite possibly my favorite new Maddie trick. She goes to the kitchen table and grabs a chair. Then she gets underneath it and does acrobatic tricks over the foot rests. Here's a picture of the beginning of the trick:

And here's how it ends:

And for the final cute picture, Maddie loves playing with Deacon, and Deacon's favorite toy is this ratty, disgusting snake. So, of course, Maddie loves the snake. Here is a picture of her playing tug of war under the baby gate with it and Deacon. Sometimes she will also wrap herself in the snake and then try to crawl away with it, giggling like a maniac the whole time, while Deacon holds onto one end of it. I don't have a picture of that because I can't stand to see that gross toy wrapped around her for long enough to snap the picture! (yes, I wash it, but it only stays clean for about a day. It's a losing battle!)

And that's it for now! Happy November!

Another Blog?? So Soon??

I know it's out of character for me to post TWO blogs within a week of each other, but I wanted to get the word out about a competition that I entered! I made a video for ConAgra foods and got picked to be one of 16 finalists!!! Woohoo! So now my video is up for voting here. I am currently in 8th place (last time I checked) so I really need your votes! My video is the thumbnail with me pushing Maddie in a swing (it says 'submitted by Jenny McDonald'). You can only vote once, so throw your vote my way!
The grand prize is a family vacation for $10,000, so you can imagine that I really want to win...and so does everyone else. :)

I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

Also, if you could repost my link on twitter, facebook, e-mails, your blogs, or anywhere else that people might see it, I'd really appreciate it!

http://apps.facebook.com/delicious-moments/ (it's the one of me pushing Maddie in the swing). Thanks!!!

And Now For Something Completely Different!

**The video that was supposed to upload would not load. :( I'll try again later**

Like....ravioli!! Maddie is eating big-people food now (kind of), and she shovels it right in! Here is a video of her eating puffs, but her favorite is the raviolis. I only give her those for dinner, and the only one who might like them more than her is Deacon! (He catches what she drops before they hit the floor!) She drains the sippy cup faster than I can refill it, and she gets 3 "bottles" a day. She's getting big! I can't believe how fast she's growing. It's weird to look over and see a shorty little person wobbling along the couch edge.

Maddie is walking along the furniture now. She still has not done belly-off-the-floor crawling, and I think she's going to be walking soon. ha! She's apparently got places to go!
Maddie got invited to a Halloween Party, and she'll be wearing a cute little flower costume (don't worry - I'll get pictures). Given my rate of posting, the pictures should be posted around Christmas time! ;)

In our life, Mike and I just did our first adventure race last weekend, and hopefully we'll be doing more soon. Mike's job is going well, but it's very time-consuming. I just took a job at a nearby hospital on day shift, and I'm excited about that. Otherwise, things are just the same! It's been beautiful weather here as Fall starts to break through...."Fall"....it's been 80-87 degrees.
Hope you're all doing well and Happy Halloween!

UPDATE: I thought this blog was sent about a week ago (really!). Maddie has since started crawling with her tummy off the floor. Apparently, she just wanted to show me what she could do! :)