Madeline's Story

Dress up!

Madeline loves clothes.  She loves picking out her own outfits, shopping with mommy or playing dress up.  She was playing in her room the other day and this is what she emerged with.  We might be in trouble!

Madeline’s first birthday party!

This was Madeline’s first real birthday party we’ve thrown for her and her friends.  She was so excited!  She wanted an Ariel cake and for everyone to dress up as princesses.  Madeline wanted to wear Rapunzel’s wedding d…

Carrot lovers

Springtime is in the air

Vancouver rocks in the spring!  We get the most amazing pink blooms all over the city!  The kids love it (so do we!)

Ryan is fully addicted to Pokemon

Someone please help us!  Ryan is addicted to Pokemon – that’s all he talks about.  We don’t understand the Pokemon language or fascination.  Anyway, he’s even recruited Madeline to the dark side!

Madeline’s ballet class

Madeline loves to sing and dance.  We decided to sign her up for a ballet class at Kitsilano community center.  She really loves it and always tries her best.

Star wars meets Merida!

Madeline and Ryan have started playing together more.  They needed to find a balance and here is a perfect example.  Madeline is riding her horse as Merida from the movie Brave.  Ryan is a jedi master!

Madeline loves puzzles

Madeline is going through a huge phase of loving puzzles – she keeps asking for puzzles when I drop her off at school, when I pick her up or when we are at home together.  She’s pretty good at doing them too!

Going to Ryan’s hockey games!

What’s a little girl to do when her brother has so many hockey games?  She tries to look adorably cute, tries tostay warm and tries to enjoy watching her big brother play hockey!!

Our kids love Dance Dance Revolution

At Christmas one of the games daddy got from the kids for his xbox was Dance Dance revolution.  We had no idea at the time that everyone would love this game.  The kids beg to play it, even mommy gets in on the action!!

Ryan’s Graduation from kindergarten

Ryan has grown up so fast I can’t believe it.  It seems like just the other day he was crawling (actually, that’s probably not an understatement).  But our little boy is no longer little – he is officially a grade 1 boy …

Happy Father’s Day

Being a dad rocks!  It is so awesome to have a day dedicated to you being awesome.  Here are the photos of us on that day!

Madeline sings for you!

Madeline wanted to sing a book to me at night.  She really enjoys it as you can tell from the video.  At the end of the video she tells me to re-enact something from the TV show ‘Sofia the First’which is pretty cute/

Mommy’s Birthday (2014)

We won’t say how old she is but it doesn’t matter because my wife is like a good cheese – gets better with age.  (and grows mold?? – nope, that will never work!)

Happy Mother’s Day 2014

The kids are so excited to celebrate Mommy and Daddy day.  They did ask when they get their own celebration day for which I didn’t have a good answer.  Madeline made a special gift for mommy and Ryan made a birdhouse him…

Jennifer’s wedding

One of Madeline’s daycare teachers at Chuva, Jennifer got married and asked Madeline to be her flower girl.  When she asked back in November 2013, we didn’t even hesitate to say yes.  Jennifer has always adored Madeline …

Daddy’s real birthday

It’s so awesome having kids – they certainly know how to make you feel great!  Here I am celebrating #40 with my awesome family!

Jasper turns 40!

It is hard to believe that 40 came so quickly but whatever –it is here!  Grace threw an incredible party that was hosted at our friend Peter’s barDisplace.  A lot of close friends came together for food and drinks and th…

Madeline and Ryan playing the violin together

Madeline loves watching Ryan practice the violin.  Actually, she doesn’t really just want to watch, she wants to join in and practice herself.  The sound of both of them playing together is truly magnificent and really c…

Our trip to Seattle (and to see Lilo)

We have been going down to take a quick vacation in Seattle or Washington for many years now.  We usually visit Mi Jung and Yong Chae and their kids.  Ryan really likes their dog Lilo.  Madeline is no longer terrified of…

Ryan and Madeline fly a kite together

This is a pretty cute video of Ryan and Madeline playing together.  They both really wanted to go fly a kite together on a day with no wind.  I had to explain to them that in order to get wind they would need to run with…

Happy #70 Baba!

We really wanted to be in Moncton to celebrate Baba’s 70th birthday but couldn’t make it.  It really is the busiest time of year for Grace and I and there is no chance we can get away.  We decided to sing her happy birth…

Maddie’s Birthday Party at Acadia

Madeline just started attending her new ‘big girl’ daycare centerAcadiaon April 1st.  This daycare center is for kids ages 3-5.  The children here are so sweet and immediately took Madeline under their wings and welcomed…

Madeline’s 3rd birthday

Maddie’s birthday party

We decided to throw Madeline a big birthday party at a gym for her 3rdbirthday.  One of her best buddies, Roman was moving to Toronto at the March, so we decided to have the party 3 weeks before her actual birthday.  Mad…

Maddie biking

Here is a video of Madeline biking at two.  She loves watching the video of Ryan biking at two years old (especially where he says ‘hi’ at the end).  After watching the video one day she wanted to go biking so I brought …

Ryan’s last hockey game (year 1)

It was Ryan’s very last hockey game of the tournament and unfortunately Daddy was out of town and missed out on the game and the party.  Mommy and daddy were extremely proud of Ryan for his amazing playing throughout the…

Before and After Snowman

We had a second day of snow in Vancouver this year.  We were able to build a great snowman which we namedOlaffrom the movie frozen!  Check out the before and after!

Fog in Vancouver

When we get fog in Vancouver it is pretty awesome.  It doesn’t happen too often and pictures don’t really capture just how hard it is to see.  It is quite spooky and scary but exciting at the same time.

My Carrot #2

In order to understand why the kids like to say “MyCarrot” you need to see thisvideo.  Anyway, the kids were at the Korean grocery store and saw some big carrots and thought back to the Parksville ‘My Carrot’ that Madeli…

Mommy Daughter bond

What is one of the great things as a mother when having a daughter?  Dressing up your kids!  When Grace was in Hawaii she bought a matching dress with Madeline.  Here they are posing in it!

New Year’s Eve 2013

It has become a tradition to celebrate New Year’s Eve with the Carpenter family.  The kids look forward to drinks and music (juice and crazy kids songs).  They also love the sparklers that we let them hold outside.

Madeline’s first haircut

We finally decided to give Madeline her very first haircut. For whatever reason, this was a tough,long-dragged out decision for mommy. Mommy loves everything about Madeline’s hair and didn’t want to do anything to change…

Christmas 2013!!

We had such an awesome Christmas this year.  Santa gave some great gifts and the kids opened lots of present and had lots of treats.  Here are the photos from the great day!

Snow in Vancouver

It is so rare for us to get measurable snow in Vancouver.  Everyone from the East Coast must think we’re weird treating snow as a special event but for our kids here in Vancouver, it really is special.  I took the kids s…

Mommy’s work Christmas party

Mommy was in charge of organizing a Children’s Christmas Party at her work this year, so Ryan and Madeline got to dress up to come to the party (Ryan even got to skip his hockey practice!) With mommy in charge, they knew…

Santa on campus!

Here is a family photo of daddy and the kids on Santa’s lap.  You may be wondering why Madeline is wearing pjs and why daddy is on Santa’s lap.  Let’s just say that Madeline is the boss and tells daddy what to do, and he…

Halmoni and Harabuji visit to Vancouver

Halmoni and Harbuji hardly  ever come visit us in Vancouver but decided to make a very short, last minute trip.  We were all very excited!  We went to eat Halmoni’s favoirte noodle at Sha Lin, went to the Lego Store wher…

Halloween 2013

One of our kids’ favourite day of the year is Halloween.  What’s there not to like?  They get to dress up and get treats!  Madeline decided to dress up in Ryan’s old Fireman costume to daycare.  It was a surprise to ever…

Bliss!

Anyone who is a parent understands how crazy things can get.  Add in a second kid (or more) and it gets even crazier, especially when the kids are very young.  For us, there are few precious moments where both kids take …

Teapot Song

Madeline loves her daycare.  Once a week she has music class ‘Music withChris’and always comes home with a new song to sing for us.  She wanted to share her song with everyone (or at least the videocamera).

Thanksgiving

We’ve tried to make it a tradition to take a photo every fall of our family enjoying the leaves (it’s a tradition if you do it more than once, correct?).  Anyway, it is tough with kids to get everyone looking pretty, to …

Janey comes for a visit

My good friend Janey Choi from New York City who I haven’t seen in almost a decade came out to Vancouver for a visit.  She brought her new baby and Madeline loved seeing her.  Actually, at one point Janey’s baby found a …

Madeline wants to read you a story

Here is a video of Madeline reading you a story.

Madeline is a princess

Madeline is a typical girl – she wants to be a princess.  One of Ryan’s best friends is Ella (our neighbour) and has become very good friends with Madeline.  She is actually a great balance between Ryan and Madeline and …

Madeline gets crazy with her hair

Both of our kids love baths – they don’t necessarily love bath time but once they are in, they are in to stay. One day as I was washing Madeline’s hair I realized that it could stand up straight. She loved it!! Here are …

So you think you can dance

Mommy loves to watch a show called ‘So You Think You Can Dance’and of course Madeline gets to see it at the same time.  Madeline being the princess girly girl that she is loves to try and copy the beautiful dancing.  We …

Madeline and her dollies

Madeline is a very typical girl – acts like a princess, loves dolls and everything girly!  Her favorite colour is purple (probably because of Sofia the First).  She loves playing with her dollies, dressing them and getti…

Bleuberries!

We love our little farm to pick blueberries every year in Richmond (G&J farms).  This year we set a record that we will never beat – 70 pounds of blueberries in 90 minutes.  Ryan was a picking machine and Madeline was ve…

Madeline loves shopping!

Mommy and Madeline share a love of shopping malls.  They don’t necessarily need to buy anything and actually they usually come home with nothing.  But, that doesn’t stop them from loving their shopping.  The other day mo…

Copying the acrobats at the beach

The other day Grace, Madeline, Daddy and Ryan were all at the beach with our friend Maddie.  While sitting at this ‘hip’ beach we noticed some people doing acrobatics.  You can see from this photo what they were doing.

Daddy and Madeline go to the aquarium

When we were in LA mommy and Ryan had a special day planned at Knottsberry Farm (amusement park) with his cousin Tyler and Esther.  Not to be outdone daddy and Madeline wanted to go to the aquarium to check out the fish,…

Our summer trip to LA (2013)

We took a nice trip to LA to visit all of Grace’s family and to celebrate Tyler’s birthday party.  It was great for everyone to get together and for all of the family to hear Madeline talk.  We took lots of photos.

Daddy and Maddie at the beach

One of the things we have started to figure out with having two kids is that they are much better behaved when not together.  One nice evening Mommy and Ryan went out to be together while daddy and Madeline spent it at t…

Library trip

Ryan and Madeline both love the library.  The only difference between the two kids is Ryan can read and Madeline can’t (she’s only two…give her a break!).  But, Madeline loves trying to be like her big brother Ryan.  Whe…

Mommy Birthday

To be honest, at this point, Grace and I are pretty tired of birthdays.  By the time Ryan celebrates his birthday with his daycare friends, his official party and his real day party we are a little tired of cake.  Grace …

Mother’s Day

This time of year is always crazy for us – Madeline’s Birthday, Jasper’s Birthday, Ryan’s Birthday, Mommy’s birthday and Mother’s Day all within a month.  This all coincides with the end of the school year at UBC so thin…

Brotherly/Sisterly Love!

I am posting these pictures because this is what we never get to see.  Both Madeline and Ryan love to argue and fight about everything.  On the slight chance that they happen to be getting along we grab our cameras and c…

Brews Brothers

Daddy’s hockey team (Brews Brothers) had a really long playoff run this year.  Actually, we won the championship!

Madeline’s Real Birthday

At this point Madeline had  had enough cake, partying and feeling special with all of her parties  (actually, that’s not true at all).  It was time to tone down the whole birthday theme.  But….you can’t not celebrate a b…

Madeline’s 2nd birthday party!

Madeline has a lot of special friends at her daycare Chuva.  We wanted to invite them all to our place to celebrate Madeline’s birthday but many of her friends have older siblings so we had to keep the number within reas…

Easter!

As always the holidays are crazy at our house.  This past Easter was a lot of fun and there were treats everywhere.  We decided to have an Easter egg hunt for the kids.  Ryan figured everything out really quickly and Mad…

Madeline’s birthday party for Ryan’s friends

The title of this post might seem a little confusing but you need to understand that all of Ryan’s friends are Madeline’s friends.  She really truly believes that they come over to play with her and Ryan.  There is no su…

Impromptu Family Photo

Every once and a while we realize that we don’t have many family photos so we set up the camera at our house and take a few pictures.  Here are a few family shots from this day.

Whose kids are these?

Mommy’s Day Trip away

Sometimes even mother’s need a break.  Grace took a weekend trip away to head down to Seattle for some shopping.   This meant, of course, that the kids were going to have a very exciting time with daddy.  There were gran…

New Year’s Eve

This New Year’s eve we were very happy to spend it with the Carpenter family.  Ryan and Emily are great friends, Madeline and Mia are great friends, Mommy and Daddy are great friends with Emma and Mark.  This made for a …

Christmas 2012

This is probably the first Christmas that Madeline knew what was going on.  She pointed out Santa to me whenever she saw his picture and she also knew about the excitement of all of the gifts.  I think Madeline was so ex…

Pre-Christmas Party

We had a nice pre-Christmas party on the 23rd for some friends.  It was a pot luck dinner and we invited Ella (Ryan’s friend) and her parents over (Peter and Bosun) and Julia (Marcel and Lino’s).  The kids had a blast an…

First Snow!

Madeline has seen the snow before but I really don’t think she remembers it from last year.  We had an unexpected snowfall overnight (we usually have one or two a year maximum!).  You need to act fast in Vancouver in ord…

Hawaii 2012

It was a great vacation.  It wasn’t as relaxing as we might have wanted as both Ryan and Madeline were very restless whenever we were in the room.  The hotel we stayed at had a wonderful pool with a great water slide.  T…

Ryan and Madeline at the playground

There is a really big playground close to Grace’s parents home in LA.  Ryan is asking to go there everyday and finally when we had the chance to go, both kids were very excited.  I get a real kick out of how Ryan teases …

Truck Duck

As I mentioned in an earlier post Ryan can be a good brother.  This is a rare occasion and when he’s being an angel I usual grab the camera.  As you probably already know Ryan is a very strong reader and wants to share h…

Whistler 2012

We have a family tradition where daddy gets invited to teach the high school kids on their fall getaway to Whistler.  It usually ends up being a mini vacation for us because we get to hang out in Whistler and have a nice…

Halloween 2012

This is Madeline’s first Halloween at daycare.  She was very excited to be a ladybug and kept saying “ladybug” all day. At Chuva all the kids dressed up and celebrated Halloween throughout the day.  Madeline was also a t…

Madeline’s first trip to the gym

One of the benefits of living on a huge university campus is the fact that we have such easy access to all of the facilities (swimming, biking, skating, tennis, gym etc..)  On a few evenings each week they have open gym …

Everyone doing Sopa

This title won’t make any sense to anyone and that’s ok.  Grace has been doing a lot of video exercising lately and the kids love it.  They always want to join in.  There are a few different videos that Grace likes – Ins…

First time on the potty

Today was a very important day for Madeline.  She used the potty for the first time!  she was showing us quite a bit of interest but whenever it came time for the ‘business’ she would always back off.  What we figured ou…

Pink Cowboy Boots

Madeline has been very fortunate to have been handed down a lot of Ella’s cute clothes.  Madeline knows which clothes Ella gave to her and is always very happy to show off “Ella’s clothes”.  Madeline is very much a girly…

My big brother can be sweet

Having a big brother can be pretty great at times.  I think that when the kids aren’t fighting they can be pretty sweet.  We have a video of Ryan and Madeline being so sweet to each other.  Ryan watches how mommy and dad…

Madeline is very popular

Madeline is very popular at Ryan’s daycare.  At Little Raven all of the girls think Madeline is the cutest live baby doll.  They all want to hug her, pick her up and play with her.  Madeline loves all of the attention – …

Sliding Madeline

Madeline has been trying to show more independence lately.  She really wants to do things on her own and when we were at the park the other day she insisted on going down the slide by herself.  She is pretty brave!

Madeline loves the garden

Madeline loves to ride on daddy’s bike to the garden.  At the garden she always goes crazy for the strawberries, but she also really likes to pick any of the veggies.  When we were at the garden the other night (it was g…

Barn Raising!

Every year at the start of the the school there is a barn raising party.  We live across from a community centre called the Old Barn and they celebrate their reopening every year by having a barn raising party.  This yea…

Madeline loves slides

Because Madeline has an older brother she wants to do whatever he does.  Madeline seems to want to be independent more so than Ryan did at her age.  I really think she looks up to her older brother.

Hornby Island

This year we had a great chance to take a vacation on Hornby Island (3 ferries from Vancouver).  It is quite a remote island, small and with beautiful beaches.  This island isn’t really far but it is hard to get to becau…

My Carrot!

This video really needs some explaining.  Although this video is of Ryan doing some zip lining on our way to Hornby Island I am posting this on Madeline’s blog because we had such a good laugh at this video.  When I was …

Madeline wants to help pick blueberries

Madeline wants to be just like her big brother.  This year when we went blueberry picking Madeline fell asleep on the way.  We thought she would be left out and not get the chance to pick anything (or eat them!).  Madeli…

Madeline really loved Baba’s visit

Madeline was very excited for Baba’s visit.  She loved dressing up and having someone around that could pay attention to her.  Madeline was very comfortable with Baba from the very start.

Summer is fun

Madeline loves the summer!!  There is so much to do..

Madeline is a dirty eater

I’ve always loved videos of babies eating.  Madeline on one hand is quite the messy eater – you may notice that there are quite a few videos of her eating.  That is partly due to the fact that I can’t believe someone can…

Garden time

Madeline loves going to the garden.At the garden she gets to wear daddy’s sunglasses which makes her feel cool.

Madeline pushes the red car

When Ryan was quite young we bought him this cool red car.  It was a huge hit, not only for Ryan but for all of the kids in the neighborhood.  It was a very popular car!  When the nice weather in Vancouver started I brou…

Madeline goes nuts at play palace

As you probably know when your kid has a birthday it doesn’t just mean their own birthday.  It also means all of their friends will have birthday parties and you will be going to birthday party after birthday party.  Rya…

Mother’s Day

It’s that time of year again.  We need to try and show how much mommy means to all of us in one day.  Ryan decided to make another mug for mommy and painted a picture for her.  Madeline gave mommy a painted hand print.  …

Madeline learns to go down the stairs

One of the fears of living on a two floor apartment is having your child fall down the stairs.  We installed gates on both side of the stairs to make sure Madeline didn’t have the chance to fall.  As Madeline is a very d…

Easter

Easter happened to come on Madeline’s birthday this year so it was a little confusing for us how much time to spend on Easter with her.  We already had lots of plans for her birthday so we just had a small Easter egg hun…

Madeline’s First Birthday!!

It was such a big day for us.  It was Madeline’s birthday, it was Easter, it was Baba’s birthday – it was lots of fun.  Madeline woke up to a small Easter egg hunt and a gift from the Easter bunny.  After that it was bre…

I’m a big girl now

I am almost one now – I can walk, I can pose and I know how to look cute on my own.

Dancing in PJs

I thought that this posting would be more appropriate on Ryan’s blog but then I thought that he might not like this video as much when he gets older so I thought I would keep it on Madeline’s blog.  The reason Ryan is we…

Silly Mado

Mado, is Madeline’s nickname – we always thought it would be Maddie (and it still might) but at home we call her Mado or Madol depending on our mood.

Hallway

Madeline has many similarities to Ryan. Actually, when she is in the bath and we pour water of her head Ryan always says “RYAN!” because she looks so much like Ryan did at that age.

Look at me–I’m wearing shoes!!

Madeline is obviously very impressed with her new shoes and immediately decided to show them off to everyone.  I have to say that she loves wearing sneakers but nothing tops her red boots.  Actually, when Madeline wants …

Outside?

This might seem weird but Madeline doesn’t really know the outside.  Sure, we took her out last summer but she was so young there is no way she could ever remember it.  Then, of course, our rainy winters are not really i…

Twirly

Isn’t it funny how young kids are so easily entertained.  This was a funny moment that we caught on tape.  Madeline thinks it is pretty cool to twirl herself around.

Getting better every day

To be honest – it really is hard to catch Madeline on video while walking.  As soon as she sees the phone or video camera she cries for it because she wants to see what you are recording.  So basically, you end up with h…

Walking and carrying something

Madeline’s new thing is to walk and carry something around.  Her new favorite thing is a bag of chalk – actually she really just wants to try and draw on the chalkboard but since we don’t let her do that (she likes to pu…

Strollers help with walking

I usually try to bring a small gift when I return from my concerts for the kids.  This time I brought a small stroller for Madeline.  When I picked up the stroller I didn’t know that she had already taken her first steps…

Spaghetti mess

This video is disturbing for two reasons – one, Madeline, two, Ryan.  Madeline is a messy disaster and Ryan is disgusting.

Madeline takes her first steps

Madeline has been growing up so fast.  It seems like just the other day we were posting about her learning how to crawl.  Now she has started walking!  This happened when I was away playing some concerts in Virginia so I…

Lounge Chair

We found a really cute lounge chair for babies at Costco and had to buy it.  Ryan had a nice red one that he used (and slightly destroyed) so we thought it would be nice to have one for Madeline.  Well, she absolutely lo…

Madeline stands up on her own

Madeline’s new thing has been to let go and to balance while standing.  She’s getting more confident everyday.  Grace caught a video of her trying out her balancing without holding on for one of her first times.

Hanging with my brother

Madeline looks up to Ryan.  She loves doing everything he does.  Ryan loves this (most of the time) and loves to make things fun for her.  Here are some photos of them in the bath pretending to cuddle.

First day in pigtails

It is very different having a girl from having a boy.  We were very excited to put Madeline in pigtails for the very first time.  I think she liked it!

Madeline and Hero

Hero is an expert at taking care of kids (young and old).  Madeline absolutely loved the food that Hero would make for her.  Can you see the love in this picture?

Christmas in Los Angeles

I will do a post for both kids here.  Christmas was a blast – we spent the first week at Esther’s place (Grace’s sister) and then stayed at Grace’s parent’s place.  It made for a different feeling at Christmas – also, ad…

Getting ready for the trip to LA

This year on our trip to LA things were a bit different.  Daddy went to Toronto first to celebrate Mike Westwood’s marriage to Heather.  For those that don’t remember Mike was Jasper’s old roommate in Toronto for many ma…

Bright Nights (Stanley Park)

It has become a tradition (a tradition is something you’ve done more than once, right?) for us to go to the Bright Nights at Stanley Park to celebrate the start of Christmas season.  They decorate a huge section of Stanl…

Madeline Crawls!!

We’ve been waiting to update Madeline and her crawling.  She’s been attempting to crawl for quite some time – occasionally she’s been successful for one or two steps but usually she just goes back to sitting.  Earlier to…

A Christmas Jingle

Madeline wanted to share a little Christmas Jingle with all of you!.

Visiting Seattle

Madeline is getting to be just like her brother – a real traveler.  We have taken quite a few trips (and many more planned) this year.  It really helps that daddy is on sabbatical and mommy is on maternity leave.  Our mo…

Sometime you need to go backwards to go forwards

Madeline has been trying to crawl for a while.  Just the other day she started moving backwards with her crawling – she was pretty happy about that!   I have to say that it is really cute to see a baby crawling backwards…

Halloween 2011

Madeline had a rough day with a red-eye flight back from Hawaii to Vancouver.  But that did not stop her from coming out in style for a bit of trick or treating.  Here are a few picture of her in her bumblebee outfit wit…

Madeline shows us her baby talk

Being on vacation brings out the best in all of us.  For Madeline she wanted to show us that she could talk.  It was very cute to hear her trying to have a conversation with us.  Check it out.

Madeline has something she wants to say to you

Madeline wants to share a story with you.  I hope you can follow along.

Sitting up comfortably

Madeline wanted to show all of us just how comfortable she is with her sitting.

Looking cute in a dress

It’s a lot of fun having a daughter – you can dress her up in dresses!

Shopping with bro!

Madeline is finally old enough to have a good time shopping and sitting in the cart with Ryan.  We were shopping at Costco the other day and we caught these photos of the siblings having a good time in the cart.

Jolly Jumper

I have to say that this is one of my favorite stages.  I love watching babies jump in the jolly jumper.  Unfortunately because of the setup of our house Madeline has to jump in the door frame with a toilet behind her.  S…

Madeline turns over for real

Madeline turned over for the first time when nobody was looking.  The difference between a first child and a second is that you are usually worrying about your toddler who is doing something wrong rather than your infant…

Practicing how to crawl

Madeline has been working on getting stronger everyday.  It never ceases to amaze me how fast everything is with children growing up.  Madeline looks like she is ready to start getting ready to crawl.

Trying solids for the first time

We wanted to wait to try giving solids to Madeline until we came back from our vacation.  Of course, we had to catch this moment on video tape.  Here is a video of Madeline trying solids for the first time.

A little swing ride, anyone?

It seems like about time that Madeline graduated from her swing (to put her to sleep at home) to a real swing at a playground.  She seemed a bit hesitant at first but really quite enjoyed her first swing ride.

Jolly Jumper

Thinking back to when Ryan was a little one I had fond memories of the jolly jumper.  Unfortunately, this stage is quite short.  To make up for this, we started Madeline in the jolly jumper as early as possible!

Our East Coast Trip

We had a blast in the East Coast visiting everyone – here are a bunch of photos of Madeline throughout our vacation.

Happy Birthday Grampa!

New Highchair

We had sold Ryan’s highchair pretty quickly as it took up a lot of space in our house.  Living in Vancouver – space comes a premium so we were very quick to sell the highchair.  Anyway, after much consideration we decide…

Some serious head lifting

Madeline has to keep up with her older brother.  She loves watching him and wants to do whatever he does so she makes an incredible effort to try and push herself.  Here are some photos of her lifting herself up.

First time in the exersaucer

Obviously, we have saved many of the same toys that Ryan used to play in for Madeline.  This way, we can try to see if we can’t get her to play with things sooner – get the most bang for the buck!  It is kind of difficul…

Madeline rolls over (sort of!)

This really shouldn’t be explained but just seen.  Madeline has been trying to roll over for quite some time.  She succeeds at rolling over but not in the way you would expect.  Check it out!

Family Photo Minus Daddy

As I’m sure everyone knows – it is really hard to take a family photo.  Who will take the photo?  We could always set up a tripod but that takes too much time with young kids.  On this day both Ryan and Madeline were bei…

Hanging with my bro!

Madeline loves everything that Ryan does and wants to hang out with him as much as possible.  Here are a few photos of them watching Ryan’s favorite shows.

Crazy Hair

As you will see in many of the photos – Madeline has crazy hair.  We love it!  It is very wild, very unpredictable and never the same twice.  She gets so much attention for her hair.

Madeline is seldom alone

Madeline has a constant visitor in her crib – her brother, Ryan.  He loves to crawl into her crib and hang out with her – turn on the mobile or just roll around and try to entertain his sister.  Madeline really loves her…

July 1st is for hanging with friends

As parents we have been to a lot less parent/infant groups.  It just seems as though there is less time in a day with multiple kids.  In that sense Ryan had a few more play dates than Madeline has.  On July 1st we had so…

Can you tell–is this Ryan or Madeline?

We’ve been having some fun comparing photos of Ryan and Madeline and when Madeline’s hair is wet Ryan likes to look at her and say “look, it’s Ryan!”  Anyway, when we took this photo of Madeline in the bath we can’t beli…

Madeline tries on some hats for us

It’s been fun having a girl baby – we feel like we can dress her up more.  Here we’ve tried putting her in a hat.    Doesn’t she look cute?

Madeline is a happy baby

As we have mentioned in the past Madeline is a pretty easy going baby.  She has been giving us some great smiles over the last few weeks.  The hard part for us is to remember to catch them on camera – we get all caught u…

Some girly photos

One of the first things we notice when comparing Madeline to Ryan when he was a baby is just how different they act.  Madeline really gives us some looks that are so girly that we have to laugh.  It is pretty funny at su…

Madeline stands up!

Madeline has been growing up super fast.  Much faster than we can imagine – I’m not sure if time just moves faster when you get older or if my memory is just getting worse but things seem to happen faster these days.

Madeline gives us some cute looks

Madeline has been such an amazing baby.  She eats well, she sleeps well and she doesn’t cry.  We really can’t complain.  Lately she has been giving us some new looks and we captured a few of them on camera.

What do good little babies do?

Madeline in her first dress

We will be honest and say that we forgot how small newborns were.  We didn’t buy a lot of infant/newborn clothes and mostly had stuff for Madeline for 3-6 months.  We were very happy that she did grow quickly so that we …

Happy Birthday Brother!

Ryan had a nice birthday celebration at school.  Madeline came along to celebrate her brother’s big day.

Our Silly Babies!

I thought this was funny. We like to check out posts from Ryan’s blog when he was the same age as Madeline to see similarities in their developments. I came across some silly photos of Ryan at around the same age and tho…

Cooing

We all know the sound most babies make in their first few weeks.  For a parent it is such a great joy to hear something else.

Filling Out

Madeline is quite similar to Ryan in her ability to gain weight.  We are happy that she eats well and is gaining weight way above average.  Do you see a difference from when she was born?

Madeline lifting her head

One of the fun things about having a second child is that you have a better idea of what to expect.  There are many details that you forget about from your first but you quickly remember when you have a new one.  Also, t…

Mommy, Daddy, Ryan and Madeline

It is always fun to compare photos of all of us as babies.  We did this with Ryan when he was young and here is the same photo except now with Madeline.

Smiles

Madeline has been giving us smiles for a while now.  Some of these smiles were made by rubbing her nose but regardless has been pretty good at giving us a smile now and then.

Do you notice the similarities?

I am referring to the similarities between Ryan (left) and Madeline (right).   Please don’t try to say that I see that daddy looks older.

Halmonie comes for a visit

Grace’s mother came up to help us out and to visit Madeline.  It really made a big difference having a helping hand as daddy finished up his work with the university and we adjusted to having 2 kids.

Sleepyhead

There isn’t much to this video but we thought it was still pretty cute.  Here is a video of Madeline desperately fighting to wake up.  She is really having a hard time opening her eyes.   She really loved her sleep (at l…

Madeline on Day 4

Here is a video of Madeline on Day 4 checking out the world.  In this video you will see a hand creep up a caress her face.  That is Ryan – he is being sweet and is so interested in his new sister.

Day 1 -at the hospital

Madeline’s birth was very sudden.  Grace and I were at home on Friday and I was about to make dinner when she mentioned that she felt some cramping.  It is not unusual at that stage in the pregnancy to feel some contract…

Ryan gets to meet Madeline

After Daddy had a chance to let Ryan know that everything was ok we decided to go and have a picnic with Mommy and the new baby.  We stopped by and picked up some of Ryan’s favorite sushi (Mango sushi!) and bring it to m…

Madeline is born!

Madeline was born at 11:01pm and weighed 3300 grams (7 lbs 4 oz).  Exactly 1 pound less than her brother Ryan.  Here are a few pictures from that special day.  We’ll post more stuff soon!