Family

Every Sunday our family gets together at Madelyn's Grandma and Grandpa Laske's house. We always have a nice dinner and enjoy spending time with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Katie, Uncle Dusty, cousin Dane, and Uncle Patrick.





Every Thursday, we go to Grandma Debbie's house to eat dinner (and always dessert!) with Grandma Debbie, Great-grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Tisha, Uncle Cody, and Madelyn's cousins, Carter and Luke. Everyone argues over who gets to hold and play with Maddie.

Richard and I are so blessed to have such an amazing family that lives close enough that we get together every week with them. Madelyn will always have cousins around to play with and her aunts and uncles and granparents nearby to spoil her. She just loves spending time with them all.

Here are some more pictures of Madelyn from the last couple of weeks!

"Book!"

Today Madelyn said, "book". Actually, it was more of a "ahboo," but it was right after we read a story so I am sure she meant "book". Maddie has been much more talkative this week. She is cooing back and forth with her mommy and daddy and smiling every day now. When Richard and I blow raspberries, she tries so hard imitate us, but just hasn't figured it out yet. Her favorite song is still "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and she likes when mommy says, "ooooohhhhh". Madelyn is improving with hitting her toys on her play mat and gives mommy and grandma "hi-fives" sometimes. During story time today she grabbed onto both sides of the book and held on like she wanted to hold it. She still works with her Rainbows teacher every other week, and will be having speech, OT, and PT evaluations in a couple of weeks at Wesley Medical Center. Here are some pictures from this weekend. She was holding her head up so well I had to take a picture!



Madelyn and Daddy reading a Sandra Boynton book (her favorite author).

Girls Night In

Last night Daddy was out of town, so Madelyn, Bella (our dog), and mommy had a girls night! We had so much fun playing! Maddie even smiled at mommy a few times, which made my week! I just love to see her face light up! Here is a video of Maddie smiling.. don't mind my singing! (Maddie is the only one who likes my singing).



I also took a video of Maddie listening to mommy read at story time before bed. She just loves looking at the pictures- and who knows.. she might even be reading the words. :)



Even though we all missed Daddy, we still had a fun night.

Here are some pictures of Maddie and her big sister. Bella just LOVES baby Maddie and would probably lick her all day if I didn't tell her to stop.

Grandparent's Day

To celebrate Grandparent's Day, Madelyn spent some time with all of her grandparents today. She went to church and ate dinner with Grandma "zoo", had lunch with Grandma Debbie, and spent some time playing at Papa's and Grandma Janet's house. Madelyn is blessed to have such wonderful grandparents who are a part of her life and always love (and spoil) her. Here are some pictures of Maddie with her grandparents over the last 3 months.

New friends

Today we went to a meeting for the Down Syndrome Society of Wichita. It was our 3rd time going to a meeting. We met some new people today and listened to a lady talk about the book, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, which is about a girl with Down syndrome. The lady who lead the discussion kept saying "Downs baby" and "Down syndrome baby," which are two phrases that really bother me. Madelyn is not a Down's baby or a Down syndrome baby- she is a baby who happens to have Down syndrome. After the meeting, I went to lunch with two other moms. It was nice to sit and talk with other moms who have a child with Down syndrome. Here are some pictures of Maddie from this week!


Playing with her toys!


Maddie and Mommy

Daddy's girl

Maddie took a nap with her daddy one morning this week. They looked so cute I had to take a picture! She loves snuggling with daddy.



Every night after her last bottle, Madelyn gets a bath before bedtime. She loves it! Sometimes she is crying and fussing at night, but as soon as she hears the water turn on in the tub she immediately stops crying. She doesn't smile a lot, but I can tell when she is happy-and she is always happy during bath time.





After her bath, mommy puts Madelyn in her pjs and then its story time. She likes listening to her mommy and daddy read to her, and she even looks at the pictures.

An eventful day!

Today Maddie laughed for the first time! She laughed while she was playing with her Grandpa, and then she smiled and laughed at her daddy when he was sticking out his tongue at her. Today Maddie saw Miss Brenda, her Early Intervention teacher from Rainbows. She also got to meet her Speech therapist, Rebecca, who went to graduate school with mommy. What a great day! Here is a video of Maddie working on strengthening her neck muscles with her daddy- and Bella trying to "help".