You have had an incredible month! It has been so great to watch you do so many things at 7 months old!

Here’s what you were up to before your 8 month birthday:

You are loving touch and feel books this month. You have two with animals in them and they are definitely your favorites.

You are such a busy bee and love to play. You prefer standing to play, but you’re also loving your car and your rocking horse.

You try to climb on things. I found you climbing on your twilight turtle so that can’t be in your crib anymore, only stuffed animals that sink when you step on them because you are still fearless.

You hate being restrained, especially in your car seat and you throw a fit. It doesn’t last long usually because you know you aren’t getting out.

about 2 seconds later…

BoBo kept you one day when you had been sick at daycare the day before and couldn’t go back until you were symptom free for 24 hours and I had to work. You arranged your toys before he got there:

and you guys seemed to have a good time all day!

You are loving this little sunshine toy that plays you are my sunshine and you push the button over and over again while I’m driving.

Some of my favorites from our daily morning pictures:

You started waving! It is so cute and you wave at everyone and sometimes just things…like the flagpole at daycare and a big penguin statue. :) You’re so friendly and we make the rounds at daycare in the mornings handing out smiles before you get to your classroom.

When you get really excited you make fists and shake with excitement. I swear I didn’t teach you this. It was so strange to see you do it because I used to do that when I was little! I have to get a picture of you doing it to put with these:

You have had 6 teeth (4 on top/2 on bottom) since you were 6 months old. You haven’t gotten any more, but I can’t get a picture of those puppies! Here’s the best one I have of you and daddy playing peek-a-boo with me one Saturday morning. :)

Loving your little showers in the kitchen sink. :)

Maddie Monster attacking the pillows while I make the bed in the morning:

You went to your first tailgate in Norman and then to your first college football game! You did amazing and stayed for 3 quarters of a 6:30pm game! You had been clapping a couple of days before the game and I tried to get you to do it for your daddy and you wouldn’t so I gave up and then at the game you started clapping like crazy with the crowd. It was adorable!

You started a swim class a few days after your 7 month birthday and you LOVE it!

Happy 8 months, Madelyn Adele! I think it’s only natural as a parent to worry about your child being the little fish in a big pond or to wonder if they are better off being the big fish in a little pond. I’ve realized this month that it doesn’t matter what pond you’re in. You’ve been the most advanced baby in some situations and the least advanced baby in others and it doesn’t change a thing. I’ve watched you hold your own when you’re the youngest and smallest and I’ve watched you be kind and helpful when you’re the oldest and biggest and both make me equally proud. Just be you in whatever pond you find yourself in and never rule out being the big fish in the big pond.

You’re officially crawling! You started crawling 4 days before your 6 month birthday and it was so good to see you getting somewhere after all of your hard work the past couple of months!

My doctor called you a gymnast the first time we heard your heartbeat. You’re proving her right this month as you’ve grown fond of sitting in the splits just in time for the olympics! :)

You love to stretch & bend!

You love to stand or have us hold you and walk you around.

You’re pretty intrigued by your puzzle book this month, but you love all of your books!

You are seriously the sweetest thing to wake up to in the morning.

You like to play with the drying rack and bottle brush while I get your food ready in the mornings before school:

You’re still enjoying pool days with LuLu!

BoBo & LuLu bought you your first ball cap!

I mentioned it last month, but we call you “the Maddie monster” when you make silly faces and “attack”. We will not be posting video of you squeeling and then blowing on my and your daddy’s belly making silly noises, but it is hilarious.

You love figuring out new toys and just play and play and play.

You’ve started really hating your car seat and would prefer if we let you stand up and pretend to drive instead of belting you in…

You were the flower girl in Uncle CyCy’s wedding! I walked you down the aisle and you fell asleep on my shoulder as soon as we got to our seat!

I started making you food and you LOVE everything we give you…well, maybe not green beans, but you eat them anyway.

You say yeah, mama, dada, and other things we can’t make out. I call you my little Italian because of the way you say Ma-Muh. It’s so adorable. :)

You met Grant Downing for the first time in Oklahoma City for his baptism. We met up the night before and you had just been changed and I didn’t get your pants back on you, sorry about that. :)

You helped cousin Cambria celebrate her 1st birthday!

What did aunt Sue do to you? :)

You were also not a fan of your 6 month shots at the doctor, but they gave you this awesome little moracca and all was right with the world. :)

You are now 26.25in long (60%) and 16lb.05 oz (60%).

Happy 6 months Madelyn Adele! Time is flying by so quickly and that was never more apparent than this month. I had all intentions of having an official photoshoot for your half birthday and it never happened. We were busy, you and I passed around a stomach bug right around your birthday and time in general just slipped away from me. I promise that although we didn’t document your growth compared to your monkey or dress you up and try to catch a few good pictures out of a million, that we did enjoy every single day of your 6th month of life. We’ll keep cherishing every moment no matter how fast it passes even if the only documentation we have of it is a picture from my outdated phone. :)

Your “official” 6 month photo. And yes, you are this awesome every day, in case you’re wondering.

We celebrated Independence Day with a parade at your school the day before and then the annual 4th of July celebration at BoBo & LuLu’s on the 4th. The school parade was on the local news, but you were on the wrong side of the buggy to be on tv, we did see your arm, but I’m not sure that counts. :) You were all business. I’m not sure you were aware you could let go and still stay on the buggy.

Seriously, all business, didn’t even notice us going crazy trying to get your attention when you went by.

You also weren’t really feeling your photo shoot on the 4th…but I swear you had such a fun day playing with Harrison and going for a swim!

I only got one picture of you and Harrison while I was putting down my camera:

Because poor Harrison needed to be rescued from the Maddie monster:

End of photoshoot…on to swimming!

I had a pretty good idea that your love for baths would mean I got the water baby I was hoping for, but your first swim quickly confirmed it. You are obsessed with the water and I LOVE it!

After getting you all dry and changed, you decided to go crazy in the fountain! Good thing we keep multiple changes of clothes handy. :)

Here’s a little of what you’ve been up to since your 4 month birthday:

You can sit up by yourself! You still spend most of your time on your tummy playing, but you like to sit up and try to crawl a lot!

We had to lower your crib right after your 4 month birthday because you started sitting up to play in there and pulling on the slats. You look so tiny all the way down there!

Speaking of sleeping…I absolutely LOVE sneaking you into our bed for a morning nap on the weekends. :)

You love pushing the shopping cart at the grocery store. You act like such a big girl pushing the cart around and smiling at people. Everyone wants to stop and talk to you so our grocery shopping is no longer a quick task.

You learned how to drink out of a cup. You kind of lap it up with your tongue, but you do hold the cup right and put your mouth on the edge. You’ve also sucked water out of my straw, but it was either too cold or you didn’t mean to actually get anything out because you don’t do that much anymore.

playing with my big cup one morning you dropped it and it went everywhere…thankfully it was just water. :)

I hide one of your little books in the drying rack and have you spin the rack and find the book…after the cup distraction, you found it!

Your favorite word is still “yeah”, but for the past month or so you’ve been saying “mama” when you cry. Only when you’re crying, but it still melts my heart that you want your mama. :)

You love to stand up when we’re holding you under your arms. You also love to bounce!

You love books, but occasionally you act like you don’t even need me to read them to you. :)

You had your first swim! That will be its own post, but here you are trying out one of your swimsuits to sunbathe for about 1 minute! :)

You went to your first baseball game!

After the game was your first fireworks show to get you ready for the 4th! :)

Happy 5 months Madelyn Adele! You are so close to being mobile and you’re already becoming more independent. You want to do everything we’re doing. I love watching you discover new things and it’s amazing how interesting something as simple as drinking from a cup is when we’re watching you do it for the first time. Keep moving, keep discovering, keep trying new things and we’ll keep watching you in awe. :)

A few days after your 4 month birthday we gave you oatmeal for the first time. That lasted for two days and we gave up on it. You were eating it fine, but it seemed to really mess with your tummy so we decided to give your digestive system a little more time to develop. So here it is for baby book milestone’s sake and because it was pretty stinkin’ cute! :)

After we got you cleaned up we let you play with big bowls. :)