At 12:44am exactly one year ago today, Madelyn was brought into our lives and things just haven't been the same since!  Dan and I often reflect on our perspective of life before we had Maddy and we realize that we can only NOW fulfill our only purpose in life, to be parents, good parents.  Our lives really had no significant meaning until we had Maddy, and what a wonderful perspective that gives us.  We are still learning everyday what it means to be a parent and how we want to improve ourselves in order to offer Maddy the best version of a Mom and Dad that she can have.  (I suspect we will be learning something new everyday as long as we are parents.)  It's a very humbling and joyous feeling to experience being a parent and we are so grateful to have our sweet Maddy as part of our family!

And now for the recap on the birthday festivities... Sunday evening both sides of our family met at a local park for Maddy's party and a BBQ.  While the specific location had to change at the last minute, all worked out for the better and it was a great time!  Maddy really had a lot of fun being spoiled with everyone's attention, playing outside, and of course eating a cupcake! 

We had a slight delay with the grill and it was about an hour after everyone arrived that we finally got to dig in.  While we waited for Grandpa Kent to save the day with the charcoal, we played a couple games I had planned.  First was to guess how many Cheerios I had put inside a large jar.  The answer was 1862, and surprisingly Uncle Jay guessed within 20 making him the winner!  The last game was a Maddy quiz.  I had 10 questions about Maddy and we had a 4 or 5 way tie for the winner....highest score was 60%....kinda disappointing family, i.e. the grandparents that should know ALL!  Anyway, hopefully the games weren't too lame but I had to keep them low key, being the Sabbath and all....We moved on to opening gifts and Maddy was spoiled once again.  Now that she is older all the toys for her age range seem to play music or make noise, which she loves, and it has raised the volume a bit in our home...since some don't have OFF switches. ;)   That about covers it....I made cupcakes and Maddy thoroughly enjoyed hers, eating the decorations first and moving on to the rest of the sweet stuff! 

It was a lot of fun and thank you to everyone who helped make it all happen and everyone that came to party with us making it a successful 1st birthday for Maddy and first birthday hosting experience for her parents!

And today on her actual birthday we went out with our good friends Brittney and Aaron and their two munchkins Brynlie and Dayton. (you'll see a change of outfits in the pics)  We had dinner at Cafe Rio and then came back to our house for ice cream cones...Maddy devoured hers to say the least.  She's my daughter alright! Fun fun!  Aren't these two buddies so cute together!

There is a very small window of time where I can still post about Maddy's 11 months.  Since she'll be 12 months old in like 72 hours.  I think usually I post about the things she has learned to do in the previous weeks leading up to her actual "month-aversary" but since that was a while ago I'll just update you on things she is doing as of today! 
At 11+ months old Maddy loves:
*to say "uh oh" even with no cause, but usually right before she decides to drop food off her high chair tray to the ground, or her pacifier out of the crib. I used to try to discipline and say "no no" and shake my finger at her, now she says "uh oh" followed by the drop of her sippy cup or food, and ends with a shake of HER finger! 
*MUSIC!  Anytime I turn on a CD or she hears it on TV or on a toy, she will start bouncing or rocking.  So cute!
*her Woof-Woof and Teddy....basically any stuffed aniimal or doll.  For her stuffed puppy she will say "woof-woof" and start smacking her lips to give kisses.  She has gotten very huggy too, she will wrap her arms around whatever she has, lay her head down and give hugs!  She does that with Dan and I too.  LOVE IT.
*Eating whatever Mom and Dad are eating.  Doesn't matter if we've just stuffed her full of her own dinner.  If Dan or I have something, she will want some too.
*Our giant blue exercise ball.  She says "ba ba" any time she spots it and while she was afraid of it at first, since it is bigger than she is.  She will now go up to it and push it around or even try to side kick it if she is holding on to something while standing up.  It's pretty funny!

Things Maddy has learned:
*If I ask her "what does a _____ say?"  She can now respond accurately to- duck (which she has known for a long while), lion, cow (although she says "boooo"), monkey, and if she sees a puppy or hears one, she responds with "woof woof!"
*She crawls super fast now and stands up and walks along everything.  She can walk the perimeter of a room, just holding on to the objects or even flat wall in her path.
*To get into MISCHIEF!  She loves sneaking into whatever room we've accidentally left the door cracked open to.  Specifically the pantry.  If we haven't barricaded the stairs, she will sneak over, go up one step, look back to see if I am looking, and when I am and say "no no" she will turn back and start going up to the second stair...slowly, just to see what I will do.  When I rush over, saying "I'm gonna get you!"  she gets all excited but just works faster at trying to get up the stairs!  Little stinker!
*When I sing "Popcorn Popping" she moves her hands like popcorn is popping!  She kinda knows where her nose is when I ask her.  She can give eskimo kisses.  And her latest accomplishment will have to be saved for the next post!  Stay tuned!