October

With eleven months behind her, Madelyn headed into her 12th month! Growing like a weed and turning into a big girl!

My kitchen helper. Always into something! :)

(This deserved it's own post, but oh well!) At the beginning of October I ran my first 5K! I started training in August, which was barely enough time! On the day of the race, I felt unprepared and my goal was just to finish the thing. But something about that beautiful fall morning, in the Highlands, with me, myself, and I... I ended up running the whole thing (let's call it a steady jog, because it wasn't a sprint by any means!) No slowing down; no walking; just a nice pace for 3 miles. I finished in about 36 minutes, which wasn't bad for a non-runner and first-timer. It was such a wonderful experience!! And my sweet family was there for me at the finish. :)

Halloween: I found this costume brand new at a consignment shop. hooray! But we ended up changing plans and she didn't wear a costume for anything this year. Got a cute pic though!

Oh Miss Madelyn...how funny you are!

Someone was having a good old time in the bed instead of napping. I went in to see what was going on and found things in the floor. The ususal suspects were there: Lamby and Paci. But I wasn't expecting to find her pants (the ones she was wearing!) and the teething rails! I would love to have been a fly on the wall that day!

Our girl LOVES to be outside!

Most days we go out looking for doggies. According to Madelyn, dogs say "huh, huh."

And the big milestone this month: WALKING! Madelyn had been walking from point A to point B, as long as it wasn't too far. But one day at church we put her down and off she went! (So naturally we spent the rest of the day making video clips! - Pardon the shrieking mamma!)

I took our big walker to the mall to get "big girl shoes!" She didn't hesitate breaking them in!

Last ride in the infant car seat...

...first ride the the toddler car seat! (she looks older to me!)

playing in the car seat box was a blast!

Continued to broaded our horizons with food. Hello, picky eater phase!! Some days "yes, I want that" and some days a definite "no!"

This day spaghetti was a hit.

(Also, first little molar came in!)

Our little pumpkin.

This is so random, but I think it's hilarious so I posted it. One morning when Madelyn was starting up her noise making for the day, she found she could make a new sound. She had a teeny bit of "stuff" in her throat and so out came this...

Sweet girl started showing us affection. :)

And loves to give hugs!


We put a swing under the deck for some outside fun. :)


And like I've said before....Madelyn is into everything!