Greg flew in last Wednesday for a short visit. We have missed him so much. Madelyn and I were so excited to see him. I was worried she might not remember him, but she seemed to know who he was right away. It was so sweet. It has been so much fun watching them play together this week. I am sad to see Greg leave again so soon.

Madelyn began crawling this past Thursday at 8 months 3 days old. She has been gearing up getting on all fours and scooting around like crazy the past couple of weeks. Greg came home Wednesday and that's all it took! She crawled to Daddy while he was playing ball with her. So glad he was home to see this milestone. Greg has been gone since February, except for a couple of weeks in March, so we were super excited to have him back for a very short visit. Madelyn took right to him. I have loved watching them play together the last few days.

The pictures above of her in her crib were from today when she was refusing to nap cause she was having too much fun pulling up on the side of her crib and checking out her room from this new perspective. At one point I thought she had gone to sleep, but when I checked the monitor I started cracking up cause I was surprised to see her standing up and peeking behind the curtains trying to look out the window.

Madelyn 7 Months

Madelyn is 7 months now and changing SO MUCH! She is such a sweet precious baby with an amazingly easy going personality. You might think I am bias, but seriously, she really is! She is so much fun and very laid back, but at the same time she is getting busier every day. Now when I hold her she is constantly trying to grab my mouth or nose, or wiggle away to grab something she sees that catches her attention. When she is on the ground she scoots or rolls around to get to what she wants. When she is in her bouncer she bounces like crazy! It's hilarious!

She has learned to say two words this week! She started with Mama, and then just a few days later started saying Dada!

Madelyn Playing part 2

I broke the video into two parts cause it was taking forever to upload!

Madelyn Playing

Here's a clip of Madelyn sitting up and playing.

7 months (almost)

This is Madelyn in her new PJ's I ordered from Gymboree. So cute!

Playing with toys before bath time.

On her way to Tokyo for her modeling audition. Eating some Mum Mum's while waiting for the train.

Can't believe Madelyn is almost 7 months! Time is flying by way too fast. In fact, this year is going by fast. Before we know it we will be packing up and heading out of Japan. We have been here almost 2 1/2 years and it seems like just yesterday that we landed at Yokota Air Force base. Well, here are some of the new things that Madelyn is doing:

• Rolling over both directions
• Scooting to get to her toys
• Babbling
• Picking up blocks and other toys (Her favorite toys are the red shape sorter bucket and her phone)
• Banging toys around to make lots of noise
• Eating solids (her favorite fruit is banana and her favorite vegetable is sweet potatoes, with carrots making a close second, and she LOVES Mum Mum crackers)
• Sitting up for extended periods of time without falling over
• Busy busy busy and very wiggly! Tries to get to everything!

We definitely have a pretty set daily schedule by now. Here is a typical day in the life of Madelyn:

7:00 Wake up and Nurse

7:45 Eat breakfast

8:30 Go to the gym with mommy!

10:00 Nap time

11:00 Nurse then Play time

12:00 Lunch

1:30 Go down for afternoon nap

3:00 Nurse

3:30 Play

5:30 Nurse

6:00 Dinner

6:30 Bath, Massage, Story, Prayers, Lullabies

7:00 Asleep

Madelyn and I had a fun Easter together. Wish Daddy could have been home! This is my 3rd Easter in a row without Greg, and he has never been able to see the Cherry Blossoms. Always deployed this time a year it seems. Anyway, we went to church and then had brunch at a friends house before catching an afternoon movie. I think my taking Madelyn to a movie days are starting to come to an end. She is really getting active and babbles all the time! It is really cute. I was having a hard time not laughing at her during the movies cause she is just so cute. She wants to be on the move so bad! Hard to get her to sit still. Definitely not a little newborn anymore! She will be crawling and on the go before I know it.

Cherry Blossoms 2010

The cherry blossom trees are in full bloom in Japan this weekend! They are breathtaking! To enjoy them today, we went on a walk along the river with some friends. Madelyn drew quite the crowd. Every step we took someone was stopping to say "kawaii" (which means cute in Japanese). The Japanese locals took several pictures of Madelyn with the cherry blossoms and wanted to talk to her and squeeze her cheeks. The Japanese sure do know how to enjoy themselves and throw a great picnic. Everywhere you looked they were out with their families and friends sitting on blankets and grilling meat and veggies, drinking beer and sake, and taking pictures of the beautiful cherry blossoms!

I made Madelyn a hot pink tutu today for her to wear during her 6 month photo shoot. Here's a couple of pictures of her trying it out.

Here are some pictures of Madelyn in one of my favorite outfits on her. I have also uploaded a video of her watching the super cute singing bunny that her Gammie sent her in the mail. She loves it, but I think I have more fun with it than she does! Makes me laugh every time. Madelyn isn't quite sure what to think.

Notice her beginning stages of sitting up on her own! She does really good until something distracts her. Also, take notice of the super cute shoes

6 months

Yesterday was Madelyn's 6 month birthday! I made some cupcakes to celebrate, and I couldn't help it, I let her try some. She, of course, loved it!

She is doing pretty good with solids. She pretty much likes everything so far. I am going to slow down on them for a while though, cause it is giving her some tummy issues. Poor baby.

She has rolled over from her tummy to back several times now, and even rolled from her back to her tummy the other day while trying to grab Rocky. The dogs are pretty good with Madelyn. They love it when we are all on the floor playing together. Maggie takes that as her time to bring her toys to me or Madelyn hoping we will throw them. Madelyn of course doesn't understand this game. Instead, she tries to take Maggie's toys and then Maggie tries to play tug of war with her. Rocky is constantly putting himself in the line of fire by sitting a little to close to Madelyn's reach. She grabs his hair or legs and doesn't let go. He has yelped a few times, but doesn't seem to mind as long as he is getting attention.

Madelyn is also starting to babble a lot more. She is such a happy baby. She will hang out in her crib or on the floor and talk to herself for quite a while. I love listening to her talk to herself. It is the best sound in the world!