What Madison's Doing Now

Madison seems to learn how to do something new everyday. I have not been so good about writing down dates for when she starts doing something new, because it seems like she learns things so gradually. It seems like one day she isn't doing it, then the next day she kind of starts, and soon she is doing it all the time! So since I have not written things down as I should, I guess I will have to do an update without dates.

She waves hi and says "hi". She has been doing this for a while. When she first started waving, she would wave to me when I would go to get her out of her crib in the morning. She would just sit there, with squinted eyes, and wave backwards at me, as if to say, "Hi". This is how she started waving, backwards. She would open and close her had towards her. It was really cute. Now she moves her hand back and forth with her palm out to say hi and bye-bye. She doesn't say bye-bye yet, but she sure knows what it means. When I go to take her somewhere from the house, and tell her we are going bye-bye, she starts waving and blowing kisses.

This leads me to my next "trick". She blows kisses. So cute! She always makes a mmm-ahh sound when she does it too! Sometimes she just randomly does it to Matt and I at home when we are across the room! It melts our hearts!



She also give regular kisses. She opens her mouth, leans in and makes the mmmm-ahh, sound as she pulls away. She is little stingy with her kisses to mom and dad. She will give them out to other people if she is in the mood. When she first started doing it, she loved giving Grandma Penny kisses! She would give her kiss after kiss! (Mama did get a little jealous) She also loves to give objects she likes kisses. Especially stuffed animals, and pages or characters in the books I read to her. When I read her, "Elmo Loves You", the last page says, "Will you be Elmo's Valentine, can Elmo have a kiss?" EVERYTIME during that part, she leans in and gives Elmo a kiss!

Matt taught her to give high fives, which is adorable too. He also taught her to raise her hands in the air when he says, "Touchdown!". She started doing this when she is on her little pink scooter she got for her first birthday.



Lastly, Madison began pulling up on things to stand up, then she started walking along things, and then on April 23, the day before her first birthday she took her first steps by herself! I was sitting on the couch eating a chocolate nutrition bar. Matt was also on the couch on the phone. Madison was in the middle of the living room standing next to one of her toys. Before Matt and I knew it, she let go, and started walking towards me to get a piece of my bar. Matt and I just looked at each other with wide eyes and mouths open. We were speechless and looked at each other as to say, "Did you just see what I just saw?" It was an amazing thing to see!

Since those first steps about a month ago, Madison has gotten VERY brave and often lets go of whatever she is holding onto and starts walking! She is getting farther and farther everyday and braver and braver. Often when she falls, she puts her cheek to the carpet and smiles. She really never cries unless she hits something.

She also seems to have learned what to do with various objects. We find her all the time, trying to put shoes on her feet, and clothes on her body. She will take the temporal thermometer we have and try to rub it across her forehead. The next one makes me feel a little guilty, but early on, she would take my cell phone, and put it to her ear. She even now says "Hi" when she does it! Just today, (May 22) she took the power cord from the computer that was laying on the ground, looked at it, looked at the computer, and then tried to put it into the hole where it goes!



Madison Rose is growing and learning new things every day! It is so wonderful to watch her grow and we thank God for our little miracle.

Gwen's Trip to Chicago

My mom, sister, sister in-law, and I have been trying to plan a girls trip to Chicago since Matt and Melissa moved there. We never found just the right time to go, until April of 2010! I really wanted to take some Maternity pictures for Matt and Melissa, and I had never been to Chicago before. Mom of course always loves an excuse to see Matt and Melissa. Mary Jo wasn't able to join us, so Amy decided to bring along Megan and Kimberly.

I wanted to bring Madison, but it was just too unrealistic for the all the sightseeing and driving we were going to do. Originally, Matt was just going to stay home with Madison, but since he injured his leg, he really couldn't take care of her by himself. Luckily, Matt's mom said she would help take care of Madison for the weekend, so I drove Matt and Madison up to Matt's mom's house Thursday night. It was really hard leaving her, even though I knew she would be well taken care of. I just didn't like the fact that I would be SO far away!

On Friday morning, we left mom's house for Chicago! It was a long drive, especially since we ran into some traffic. (Surprise Surprise!)

I had a great time visiting Matt and Melissa in Chicago and sightseeing! We visited my elementary principal, Sister Myra at the convent, saw Lake Michigan, took Maternity pictures of Matt and Melissa, went to the Lincoln Park Zoo, went to Millennium Park, and walked a bit of the Magnificent Mile.










We headed back home on Sunday. I couldn't WAIT to see Madison who was waiting for me at mom and dad's house. As soon as we drove in the driveway, I RAN inside to give my baby some hugs and kisses. . . and I did miss Matt too. :) Since it was mom's birthday, we had some cake and ice cream to celebrate!



While I was having a great time in Chicago, Madison was having a great time up north with her Huber relatives. She got to spend lots of time with Grandma Penny and Papa Perry. She also got to see Grandpa Sawyer, Grandma Sawyer, Aunt Dawn, Uncle Chad, Aunt Jenny, and her cousins Austin and Kennen. Kennen drove Matt and Madison around in the golf cart. She also got to spend lots of time playing outside! In fact, she had her first ride on a swing!

Stairs Discovery

We were wondering when it was going to happen. . .when Madison would find the stairs, and on April 7th she did! It kind of took here a while, but our steps going upstairs are kind of out of the way, so they weren't very noticeable for Madison. Luckily she still doesn't go over to them too much, just enough to keep us on our toes.

A Visit to the Butterfly Gardens

During my spring break, I made plans with my best friend Rachel to go to the butterfly gardens in Grand Rapids. She was going to take her three boys, and I was going to take Madison. I had never been to these gardens before and they were really beautiful. It was a pretty rainy day, so we couldn't go outside and enjoy the outdoor gardens, but we still had a nice time. We ended our visit with a nice lunch and a visit to the gift shop where a found a ceramic butterfly that matched Madison's room perfectly! It was the perfect souvenir to a great field trip with Rachel and her boys.

Look At Me!

Sometime in April, we bought Madison her first walker. We knew she would love it because she was standing on her own and seemed very interested in walking. She loved it right away! The walker plays really cute music and of course, she loved the music too!

Easter Weekend (Part Two)

Easter morning, we left the hotel and went to church in Midland. After church we drove to my parent's house. Soon it was time for the annual Bertram Easter Egg Hunt! This was Madison's first hunt!









After the hunt we had dinner, then relaxed and visited. Mom made a fabulous dinner as usual. It was a great first Easter for Madison!

Easter Weekend (Part One)

For many years, Matt's family has spent Easter weekend at a hotel swimming and hanging out. Matt and I have not joined them in the past, usually because Matt had to work weekends. This year, since Matt wasn't working we decided to go. (And because Matt's family threatened to disown us if we missed one more year! Just kidding!)

We started the weekend by picking up Kendra from the airport in Lansing! She came home from Florida for the weekend to spend some time at the hotel and to see some friends.

After we picked up Kendra, we drove to Mt. Pleasant to see Grandpa Sawyer. Grandma Sawyer and aunt Dawn also met us there. As usual Grandpa Sawyer was very excited to see Madison. It was nice to spend some time with Matt's Grandparents, Aunt Dawn and Kendra. Madison was actually really cuddly with Aunt Kendra even though she has only met her three times.









After our visit from Grandpa Sawyer, we headed to the hotel in Midland. We spent the weekend eating, visiting, and even a little swimming. Madison LOVED the water!








As usual, Madison's cousin Kennen spent lots of time loving on her! He loves his little cousin!






This last picture was taken in the morning an hour or so before we left. Can you tell Madison's Dad and Papa Perry work for Pepsi?