A few more pictures from our trip.

Maddox visits 5 states in 7 days...WOW!!

Hello from Iowa! Maddox, Grammy and I arrived home yesterday afternoon after what was a very fun trip. Maddox was absolutely fantastic, such a happy baby. She even started sleeping in her car seat again by the end of the trip. She slept most of the way home from St. Louis yesterday and the majority of the trip on Tuesday from Muphysboro, IL to St. Louis. Way to go Maddox!! Even when she was awake in the car seat she was very pleasant, playing with all her toys, doing her new found trick-making bubbles, and smiling at herself in the mirror on the back of the seat. Grammy had fun entertaining her too. We had a lovely time visiting with 'Uncle' Brent and 'Aunt' Rosie. Maddox was so happy to have a REAL crib to sleep in the 2 nights we were there and even took 2 big naps each day. Uncle Brent and Aunt Rose thought she was a pretty special little girl, spoiling her with lots of attention and snuggles. Maddox thought Uncle Brent's beard was pretty neat. After our visit with them we headed north to see Aunt Diane graduate and to spend a little time with cousin Hannah. Maddox was happy to have someone to play with her non stop. Luckily Hannah helped me entertain Maddox through Diane's graduation....that is when the bagpipes weren't playing! Congratulations Diane....we are proud of you!! I think one of Maddox's favorite things to do during the trip trip was to play on the hotel beds!! You'll see her in the pictures below. She has gotten so good at sitting up balancing herself, playing with toys. There was something about being able to set her in the middle of the bed give her a couple of toys and watch her entertain herself for a bit while Grammy and I got ready that was very relieving. Eric was SO HAPPY to see Maddox. He thought she had grown an inch...and maybe she has! He said he barely recognized her she had changed so much. I got a feeling we won't be separated from him so long in the future!! So now it is back to the ball and chain. I took today off to try to get Maddox back on her normal schedule and so far she is doing well. She was so happy to see her own living room and bedroom. She just sat on the floor playing with all her 'old' toys while Grammy and I unloaded the car. It was so funny, she was so happy to be home. It is back to work tomorrow and to the sitter for Maddox.....then the normal 3 day weekend to continue to get our bearings back. Take care for now. Thanks for a great week and all your wonderful help Grammy! Enjoy the pictures...I put on quite a few. It was too difficult to decide.

Maddox in Nashville, TN

Hello from Nashville!! Maddox and I left early Thursday morning and headed south for Nashville, TN with Grandma Berg, or Grammy as she prefers to be called, as our 'chaperon'. We made it all the way down the state of Illinois on Thursday to Metropolis, where Superman is from, spent the night and then got up Friday morning and drove the rest of the way into Nashville. Maddox has been a trooper only really giving us minor trouble with refusing to sleep in the car and not being extremely good about taking her regular naps...but, hey if that's all the 'trouble' she is going to give us then we'll take it. We brought lots of her toys including her BUMBO chair and her standy up Exersaucer. We even got to use the Exersaucer at a rest stop in IL and it has been a lifesaver in the hotel room. She is really sleeping well in the pack-n-play at night, despite the funny hotel noises and wakes up with a smile on her face. She has found her tongue since we've been on the trip.....sticking it out at us and using it to make these funny bubble sounds producing lots of spit which she thinks is rather funny!! I try to make sure she doesn't have a mouth full of baby food when she decides to do it. She is sitting up so well now and loves to stand up still. No signs of crawling just yet but soon, I think...she is getting very interested in anything she can get her hands on, and if she wants it, she finds a way to get to it. You can barely turn your back on her now. She has stuff in her mouth before you can blink...literally! She has really taken a liken to sleeping on her stomach, face down!! She loves to have her eyes covered and I think she has found this is the best way to do the trick. However, I always fix that soon after she has fallen asleep....flip back over to the back. 'Maddox, you can't sleep with your face in the mattress'!! I ran the 1/2 marathon this AM with my running buddies. Despite catching the flu/cold on Thursday AM I survived. Grammy stayed in the hotel room and took care of Maddox. Luckily I had prepared her for a long morning shift with a couple of bottles, cereal and apples. It took me 2 hours to run the 13 miles and then another 2 hours just to get out of the parking lot!! UGH! But, we survived and we've been having fun catching up with our running buddies, including Sara and her new little one Connor from Atlanta who is 11 months. Maddox doesn't have much to do with Connor, just looks at him every now and then. Not taking too much interest, reaching out to try to steal his bib, touching his arm etc. Connor takes just a second or two to look at Maddox sort of like 'hmmmm.....who are you' before he tears off into one of his toys. Connor is almost walking and weighs 25 pounds and is MUCH more mobile than Maddox! Soon Maddox! We are only half way done with our little 5 state excursion. Tomorrow ( Sunday) we go to Muphysboro, IL to see some old family friends, Rosie and Brent, and then on to St. Louis to see Aunt Diane graduate with her Masters in Curriculum. We'll finally arrive back in the QCities on Wednesday. PHEW....what a trip!! I"ll write more when we're back home and upload all the great pictures then. Take care y'all!! Bye Bye from Nashville.

Maddox in Aurora

Whew, it has been a busy couple of weeks. Seems like forever since I have updated and it has only been 2 weeks, give or take. Maddox is doing really well. Her newest trick is sitting up all on her own. She is really pretty darn steady now even when she reaches out for objects. Those little hands of hers are pretty quick to grab anything at arms reach. I don't think it'll be too long before she crawls. She is flexible and strong enough to lean herself forward onto her hands from a seated position and work her legs out from under her to end up on her belly. Quite challenging. But, if there is something in front of her that she wants she'll do it. She is really eating well......you can see from the pictures she is starting to fill out. She's still just eating breast milk and cereal primarily, but we have added carrots, bananas and applesauce since I last wrote. All are a go. She really doesn't have any issues with any food so far.....and she LOVES to eat. She's up to 14lbs 14oz.....almost a pound more than she was the last time she was weighed. Pretty much everything goes into her mouth including her hands, mom's hair, mom's glasses etc.....anything within arms reach. She is still a great sleeper and has been taking some MONGO naps during the day. We took a long weekend trip to Aurora to see Grandma and Grandpa Berg and Great Grandma Berg. Maddox was good the entire time. Even Grandpa Dick was asking when is she ever unhappy.....?? I can think of a few times Grandpa Dick!! In a couple of days we're taking a road trip down to Nashville, TN so I can run a 1/2 marathon. Hopefully Maddox will continue being happy and will tolerate the trip well. Eric will be in Texas speaking at a conference.....'Good luck Dad'!! Take care for now and I'll write again after the big trip.

My New Sun Hat

Here are just a few more Easter pictures. Another one with Nicole and then one with Aunt Lori. Wanted to show you my sun hat and my BAMBOO pj's. It finally got nice enough outdoors last week to need a little sun protection. Aunt Diane gave Maddox the cute striped sun hat. It is still a little big for her, needing a safety pin in the back, but does a good job of protecting her ears and face from the sun. The striped pj's are made out of BAMBOO! They are super silky and really light and will be perfect to sleep in this spring/early summer. They too are too big which makes for grabbing the extra material at her toes even easier. She is like a contortionist. She pulls those little feet right up to her mouth with no trouble and so much flexibility. Eric and I are wishing she would share just a little of her flexibility with us! The Bamboo is supposed to be very hypoallergenic/breathable and allow for a more comfortable rest?? I just liked 'em because they were so silky. Luckily Maddox is already a good sleeper!!

A Keokuk Easter

We traveled down to Keokuk on Sunday to celebrate Easter with Eric's family. Maddox had a great time and was a happy baby...even taking a nice little nap on Grandma Kies' bed. Uncle Bryan cooked a yummy ham and Grandma, Aunt Lori, and Aunt Lora brought fantastic fixin's including Lora's traditional jello salad!! Maddox loved visiting and playing with her cousins, especially 6 1/2 year old Nicole from Cincinnati. She LOVED Maddox as you can see from the pictures. She is the closest cousin in age to Maddox on both sides of the family so I am hoping they will grow up to be buddies. Nicole was a big help with Maddox...keeping her chin clean after EACH bite of green beans, picking up the pacifier every time it fell on the floor and holding Maddox a lot of the time. Maddox thought she was pretty neat with that light hair and dark brown eyes. But, she enjoyed all the rest of the family too. It was nice for them to see how she is growing like a weed. She is back to her normal healthy self. No more cough, FINALLY, and sleeping like a champ both during the day and at night! She has been sleeping one big nap, almost 3 hours, in the late AM and then a little short cat nap in the afternoon about 30 minutes. We have expanded our baby food menu to include a fruit, PEARS, in addition to all the other veggies. She really likes the pears...probably the natural sugar. She is still a breast milk girl though. I had planned to be done nursing before my half marathon in Nashville, TN coming up the end of April, but now that she is FINALLY such a good nurser, I have to say I am addicted to our bonding time. We'll keep going for a while longer. She is really standing up well and loves to hang out in the Exersaucer stand up thing. She has figured out how to bang the toys on the tray together to make noise. She is really good at saying 'MUM...MUM'. I of course take that to be 'MOM'....but I don't really think she is connecting the 'word' with me. I keep saying 'Da Da' to her but she just giggles when I make that noise. She sits up pretty well but, would still prefer to be standing in the Exersaucer or sitting in the BUMBO. As soon as she grabs for a toy in the seated position she topples over. When we put her on the floor she almost immediately flips to her stomach within a minute or so and then starts to sort of stick her butt up in the air, I suppose getting ready to crawl. She has still not figured out how to turn back over to her back from her tummy??? C'mon Maddox, you can go both ways!! We are headed to Grandma and Grandpa Bergs this coming weekend. Eric has a conference in the suburbs so we'll do a little visiting with the family, including Great Grandma Berg who just loves to watch Maddox.