Monthiversaries Archive

Eleven Months

Don’t even get me started on the insane and probably very irrational feelings I have about our baby turning one in just 4 weeks. Yesterday, July 9th, Madelyn turned 11 months and I can’t believe we are pushing the 12 month mark. This year has been the fastest and most eye opening year of. my. life. Okay, okay, hold it together, Friedman! We’re not there yet. We’re just on 11. Deep breaths.

Madelyn just gets more and more fun! Watching her learn and take in the world around her is fascinating to me. I think all parents say this and I just can’t believe I’m one of them. Her personality is sinking in more and more each day and I can literally see the synapses in her brain taking place every moment I’m with her. She’s even gotten too smart for hair bows and rips them off when she senses them on her head. How is she my child??

This month, Madelyn…

  • continues to stand on her own for long periods of time. If she’s distracted with a toy in her hand or watches something ahead of her, she’ll stand all on her own with really solid balance. I don’t think she’s going to be walking any nanosecond, but she’s definitely close and working on gaining her strength and confidence. Someone please overnight some Xanax when that starts happening. Or a tranquilizer gun. The Xanax would be for me. The tranq… well…
  • flew like a champ to Seattle for a family vacation! She had her first taxi ride (ask me what it’s like to ride in the backseat of a taxi on the free with a 10-month-old infant on your lap. I would answer, “bizarre.” She is such a good traveler! We are so lucky we can take her places. Hey, she’s born Friedman — always on go, go, go! More on Seattle soon!
  • pretty much eats anything! We share what’s on our plates with her, and she doesn’t seem to be too picky (seriously, how is she my daughter? Pulling out bows? Eating anything? Who is she? Is this a dream?). This month, she ate a lot of small chicken pieces (chickie), tons of blueberries, handfuls of strawberries, she’s a big fan of melons (so is Bryan. nyuk nyuk nyuk), enjoys meatballs, likes cucumbers, and loves pasta and bread (Carbs! THERE’S my daughter!).
  • went on a few more auditions, but nothing booked! Old Navy and Garanimals had other things planned apparently. Like less cute kids or something. Whatever. No hard feelings. I’m just putting out a campaign to boycott those brands, but really, it’s fine. We’ll just keep going for the fun of it!
  • sprouted one more tooth and I didn’t even notice she was teething until it was in and out for the world to see. We are so lucky that she teethes so easily. No fever, no moodiness, no pain. One day: gum. The next day: pearly white. I’m so glad for her that she doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable during what seems like should be an uncomfortable experience.
  • has favorite toys that are not made by Fisher Price or Mattel. Madelyn is — two words — ob. sesssed. with our TV remotes and our iPhones. I think all babies are, but I still can’t manage to wrap my head around the fact that a singing “cell phone” with flashing lights and oogly eyes is less exciting than a locked iPhone 4. Not even a 4S. Madelyn, raise your standards and at least lust over a phone with Siri. Her only excuse for obsessing over my phone is that maybe she has eyes for my Jonathan Adler case. If that’s the case, brava. If not, well, I don’t get it. Babies are so weird.

So many gadgets, so little time.

She’s just one crotch grab away from Al Bundy.

Can we watch Real Housebabies of Ventura County?

4 little Madelyn’s jumping on a chair…

And that’s 11 months as recapped by a fairly sane and composed mother. Next month’s recap? Yeah, don’t count on it.

  1. 7/11/2012 2:02 AM

    She is so cute and happy I wish I could meet her! The blog is beautiful by the way!

Ten Months!

Okay… well… ten months and one week.

I know, we are totally, horribly, catastrophically late, as hinted by Madelyn’s Mimi who’s been blog stalking with bated breath for the tenth monthiversary update. I have no excuses except that we’ve been remodeling our kitchen, it was my birthday, and our mornings for the monthly photo shoot have been busy. So, I guess I do have excuses. Trust me, the Jewish mother guilt has been eating away at me, but a week after her ten-month birthday, we finally got Madelyn on camera and a moment to write about our little babydoll.

This month, Madelyn…

  • stands up for a few moments totally and completely unassisted. She wobbles a little bit, but it’s clearly obvious that her legs are balancing correctly and when she falls, it’s with dignity and grace via squat. She doesn’t even seem to realize she’s standing up, but of course we cheer her on when she does. And then get nervous about the walking that’s just around the corner!
  • likes to pull out all her books from her shelf one by one and then toss them on the floor. When she first started playing this little game, my heart skipped a beat that I’d become mother to a genius baby who’d be breaking records, reading War and Peace unassisted by a year old. Then, I quickly realized that, pssshh, forget War and Peace, she’s not even interested in Goodnight, Moon. This exercise is an experiment in a little concept called “Cause and Effect.” What happens when Baby Madelyn pulls off all her books? Mommy has to get on hands and knees to clean up. Cause. And effect. Good times.
  • made friends with animals at the zoo! We took a family trip with her best friend Brielle and Brielle’s parents, Stefanie and Jeremy, to the Santa Barbara Zoo and Madelyn loved it. By “loved it,” I mean she didn’t have a breakdown all day and enjoyed pulling off our sunglasses as we introduced her to Asian elephants, fed giraffes, and witnessed two gorillas fist-fighting over food. It was a fun day! We got annual passes so we plan to go more often!
  • says “DA DA DA DA” which, when said two “DA”s in a row, sounds like DADA, which, as we all know, is short for “I LOVE MOMMY SOOOOO MUCH.” It’s okay. One day she’ll learn which parent is the one who’s going to lock her up in her bedroom and isolate her from any and all potential suitors until she’s 27. And if the suitors have tattoos and drive fast, well, forget it. Enjoy “DADA” while he’s cool, Madelyn.
  • cut some new pearly whites! It may not be Christmas, and she may not have wanted them, but Madelyn got her two front teeth. Thankfully, she’s not a nightmare teether. One day, they just appeared and now they’re totally in. So, there’s really not much to report about these teeth. Uneventful cut-throughs are a good thing. It’s amazing how much these two new teeth change her whole look. Much less baby-like. Much more todder-ish. Much much more sentimental mommy.

It’s hard to believe we are wrapping up Madelyn’s first year. I’m not really sure I remember what life was like before she came into our lives. It’s been the best ten months of my life and I can’t wait for the next month. Every month seems like THIS is the best month. THIS is the cutest stage. THIS is the coolest, developmentally. And then the next month comes and I’m like, “Okay THIS month is the, etc. etc….” It’s a wonderfully vicious cycle.

  1. KZ
    6/18/2012 4:34 PM

    F is 2 years old and I STILL feel that way. Every stage is the BEST STAGE EVER! They just get cuter and cuter and harder to resist. I think they do it on purpose 😉

  2. nicole
    6/18/2012 2:54 PM

    i love you madelyn! happy 10 months! you are a beauty!

Nine Months!

Today marks nine months of Madelyn! Starting tomorrow, she will have been out and in our lives longer than in and part of our dreams. Those nine months of pregnancy were (mostly) magical, but these nine months of babyhood have been extremely eye opening and adventurous!

Good morning, America!

I was looking at old videos from the pregnancy before Maddie was born and I stumbled across a very nervous Alison at an ungodly early hour before taking off for the hospital. I listen to this Alison and this Bryan and I barely know them. Ah, how young and ignorant they are! They think they’re going to a hospital to entice a baby to slide out and then go back home 48 hours later and enjoy the pristine nursery in all its pre-Madelyn glory. I find myself laughing at those two people and yelling at the computer: Oh, you guys! You’re going to wait like ALL day for a baby to come and then she won’t and then there’s going to be a dramatic surgery and then you’re not coming home for FOUR days and then when you do, Alison will be worthless while she recovers from an infection and Bryan will have to do ALL the work and by the way, the nursery will never stay clean because when she’s nine months old, Madelyn will crawl everywhere and untidy up all the decor like the dolls and pillows and books by pulling them down so they’re strewn across the carpet and you’ll never have time to clean up after her because you’re too busy running after her. OH YOU GUYS!

That’s what I would say to those two strangers.

So, there we have it. Nine months have gone by and we have a kid who, according to her check up today, weighs 17 pounds and ten ounces, is 28 inches long, and has a head that’s 17.3 inches around. She got a shot (boo!) and was cleared to start drinking less expensive normal formula (yay!). The doc was super impressed with all of her tricks and she’s on target, if not early, with all of her developmental milestones! Proud parents! Swoon!

This month, Madelyn…

  • Has made it her goal to stand up on anything. That means things that don’t allow for standing on. Like, you know, my face. She pulls herself up on everything she can see: walls, furniture, toys, human bodies. She’s a standing exhibitionist. She does it one-handed too and confidence is really kicking in because she’s starting to experiment with “look ma! No hands!” but is followed with a quick tumble that doesn’t even faze her. We are now greeted by a stander in her crib every morning. She’s just so funny! What can I say? My Madelyn is a “stand” up comedian. Nyuk nyuk nyuk.
  • Took her first vacation that required a plane. More on that later, but her first plane trip was not that great. Let’s just say, she failed at earning her young wings, but I don’t really blame her and she made up for her on the return home. Still, she’s a lucky almost 9-month-old to have spent a week in Hawaii! A full recap will OF COURSE make it onto BornFriedman soon! Lots of pictures to sort through.
  • Began babbling like crazy! She makes so many cute sounds. I just love her little voice and never get tired of listening to what she has to say! She can put together consonants and vowels and make up words in her own little language. She has said “da da” and “ma ma” but I’m betting that they are not associated with her Mama and Dada and are just easy sounds to make. But, this is the fun part — listening to her develop speech and communication skills and my inner geek is fascinated by the whole evolution!
  • Learned to make fart sounds and speak Click. It’s silly, but the reason why this is cool is because it’s showing me we can exchange our own dialogue. If she makes the fart sound, which is really more like a raspberry, and then I do it, she’ll do it back and we take turns. The same goes for the click sound she makes with her tongue smacking her gums. If I do it, she’ll do it back and vice versa. And, let’s face it, yes, the monkey-see-monkey-do act is brilliant of her, but really, who doesn’t like it when a baby makes fart sounds? It’s hysterical.
  • Started the beginnings of waving hello and goodbye. She reaches out to whoever is coming or going and is trying to figure out the whole hand part of the wave. I think her fine motor skills are developing in that area, but it’s cool that she gets the motion and the appropriate time to do it. Looks like she already had her eye on the Miss America crown and is practicing that wave!
  • Recognizes Princeton! This may just be my new favorite trick in her book. Obviously, since Princeton is my first-born, he is very, very special to our family. The fact that Madelyn now knows who he is and enjoys his presence is my latest gush. We can say, “Madelyn! Where’s Princeton?” and she’ll either get really excited and flap her arms at the sound of his name or crawl toward him and attempt to touch him. It’s really cute and exactly what a proud parent would want! I think it’s the start of them becoming the best of friends! Princeton, like most dogs, likes his privacy and alone time and finds places to hide out and den all throughout the house. One of his favorite denning spots is under Madelyn’s crib; he can still see out, but he’s protected by the frame. Madelyn’s never cared about him being under there until just today! As she was crawling around her room, she caught Princeton’s eye that was at her level under the crib and she crawled toward him and touched his foot. They definitely had a special sibling moment and I melted.

As always, our greatest joy is watching Madelyn grow and explore. She’s working so hard and practicing all her new skills. She’s on her way to a perfect 10… months. Happy nine months, love bug!

  1. Mimi
    5/9/2012 11:07 PM

    Dear Sweet Madelyn!
    Happy 9 Months! You are so funny and fun to be around. I just love watching you blossom and thrive like a beautiful flower. I wonder what you’re thinking in that curious, smart & adorable head of yours and am amazed how you size people up with those gorgeous big brown saucer size long lashed eyes.
    You make me smile!
    My leg and thigh muscles have gotten used to sitting & crawling around on the floor with you & my arms are stronger from lifting & holding you—I definitely burn more calories when we play together, so thanks for that!
    Love you~~ Mimi

Eight Months!

Today Madelyn is eight months old. That sounds so old. I feel like everything past six months and on the other end of that half year mark is basically almost a year. She’s starting out her final third of her first year and I’m a little sentimental about it.

What I’m also not okay with is that if she’s eight months today, there’s only one month left until she’s nine months old. And you know what’s unnerving about the nine-month mark? As soon as I start to complain about the post partum mother’s body I currently possess, people say, “Oh, but it took your body nine months to grow and stretch while you were pregnant! Don’t worry! It takes nine months to get your body back.”

Well shit.

I have a measly four weeks from now to have a body whose reflection I last saw in November of 2010. No pressure.

Oy vey. Don’t worry: I’m still boot camping and eating all the good-for-you foods. Definitely making progress, but I’ll tell ya what, I’m not done. You know how I know? I bought a bathing suit with Spanx. ‘Nuff said.

Oh, right, this is about Madelyn turning eight months old.

She’s just such a joy. I can’t even gush and do her justice. We just adore this little matzo ball to pieces and I still can’t believe even after eight months that this little nugget is a masterpiece that I had anything to do with. Bryan, well, he’s a gem. But me? Psshhh.

This month, Madelyn:

  • Is a crawling machine!! When she started to crawl on March 15th, it took her no time at all to master this new skill. The first couple days she’d go a few scooches before losing her balance and starting over again, but after that, boy oh boy, she zig zags around the room with no fear at all. She’s definitely enjoying her new freedom and is finding ways to get into everything!
  • Stands up with a little help from her inanimate friends. Ottoman, crib, chair, dresser — you name it — she is scaling these things like Spider Woman and pulling herself up. She doesn’t always stay up or even finish off on flat feet, but she’s a strong one and gets pretty vertical. This means we had to lower the crib on its lowest setting so in order to accommodate Miss Curious, I now have a broken back from leaning so far in to get her down and out. Also, I’m sad about this because now the really cute dust ruffle is too low and long for the crib, so we had to remove it from the ensemble. C’mon, Madelyn. Stop these new tricks. That dust ruffle from Pottery Barn Kids wasn’t cheap!
  • Can make consonant sounds. It’s only a matter of time until our innocent little mute starts to talk back and use whiney attitude on us. Oh dear. She makes “g,” “y,” and “d” sounds. Waiting for the “m” and “aw” sound combined and repeated once… hint hint.
  • Discovered the pincer grip! She feeds herself puffs and Mum Mums and string cheese bits using her thumb and pointer fingers. It’s really adorable because she still puts her entire fist in her mouth after she’s picked up the food and brought it to her lips. I had been feeding the puffs to her myself and then as soon as I put them on her high chair tray, she was able to pick them up herself. She seems to proud of this accomplishment. Well it does involve food, so I guess I don’t blame her.
  • Got ticklish! Play time is so much more fun now that she giggles when tickled. Madelyn is ticklish under her arms, her neck, and on her sides. We wiggle our fingers over her and say “I’m gonna… I’m gonna… I’m… gonnagetyoooooou!!!!” and then tickle, tickle, tickle. The belly laugh comes from her toes! She laughs so hard and smiles so big, we can’t even see her eyes. She really enjoys being tickled and likes to be teased.
  • Puts evvvvverything in her mouth. Be careful and fair warning: nothing is safe from her curious gums. Toys, shoes (ew no! I don’t let that happen, but she’s TRIED), my appendages, the couch, Princeton’s tail (ew no! HE doesn’t let that happen!), and the most coveted item of all, our iPhones. This kid wants to taste it all. However peas and green beans, still not a total fan of putting THOSE in her mouth.
  • Still sleeps like a champ. She goes to bed at 6:30 p.m. and wakes up between 7:30 and 8 in the morning. It’s quite glorious. I don’t mean to brag since I know not all parents are sailing this dream boat (no pun intended), but we worked hard to get her on a schedule that works for all of us. She still takes two to three naps per day which she usually doesn’t fight and they last about 90 minutes to two hours each. Sleeping Beauty indeed!

Cuddle time with my girl after she had just pulled my hair.

Because every post needs a handsome dog...

Madelyn has experienced a lot of fun things this month and I will be writing about them individually in the next few days, so stay tuned!

Happy Eight Months to our little Maddie poo.

  1. Auntie Pattie
    4/12/2012 2:10 PM

    I love love love this wonderful tribute to that little matzo ball!!! HAHAHAHA! And I have to say… That sleeping thing! OMGOSH!!! SO NOT FAIR to all other parents out there!!!!!!!
    Love you, love the blog, LOVE the matzo ball!!

  2. Mimi
    4/10/2012 8:49 AM

    Little lovely Madelyn–Happy Eight Months to you!
    So far it has been a joy!
    love Mimi

  3. Cathy
    4/9/2012 9:30 PM

    Princeton….muah, I’d put his tail in my mouth..really.

Seven Months!

by Alison Friedman in Monthiversaries

Between a drought of creativity and a robot who hacked the back end of this here bloggy-blog, it’s been a quiet few weeks here on BornFriedman. Oops. Madelyn has been keeping us busy and active parents as she seemingly grows eons every day.

On March 9th, she turned 7 months old! Seven months is more than halfway to twelve months, twelve months is a year, a year is basically a toddler, and toddlers quickly turn into kindergartners who go on to college thirteen years later, so yeah, Madelyn is basically a sorority girl already. Sigh. I can’t even handle how fast the time flies. I sound like that old lady in Macy’s who looks into the stroller, sees a baby, makes the tsk-tsk sound of nostalgia as she nods her head and then says to me as if she’s my therapist,”It all just goes so fast.” Yes. It does. Lady is right. There I said it. Now stop telling me, ladies!! Salt. Wound. And all that.

As quickly as it all goes, each stage is my favorite. Just when I think the previous month was as good as it gets, the next months has me all warm and fuzzy, full of beaming love for my kid. I can’t help it. She is pretty awesome.

This month, Madelyn…

  • Discovered her voice. Watch out, Christine. The Phantom of the Opera found a new Angel of Music. Madelyn is making all kinds of sounds, mostly high pitched, some of them … um, irritating. But some are just so funny! She does this thing where she kind of gargles like she’s a chassidic Jewish man with a bottle of Scope in her throat. That’s it. We are changing her name to Tevye. Add the gutteral sounds to a squeal and we’ve got ourselves a hysterical one-man (baby?) band. She cracks herself up over it, too, which, ya know, is icing on the kosher cake.
  • Is chowing down on baby food! She started on cereal in the past month, but now she’s eating legit veggies and fruits made by Earth’s Best. I considered making her own food. But since I can barely get meals on the table for the adults in the house, I decided to go with the organic jars. I say “organic” so that I’m not judged as harshly. But anyway, Madelyn is legit eating. It’s pretty cool. She started with peas. Wasn’t such a fun. But then she tore up the carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. Then we reintroduced the peas and she’s on board. Fruits are a big hit as she’s scarfing down apples, pears, apricots. She’s just about ready to move on to the more complicated mixtures like corn and brown rice or cranberry and pumpkin. Quite a smorgasbord, that baby food.
  • ALMOST began crawling. Ohmygosh you guys, she is SO CLOSE. She gets up on all fours, rocks back and forth a bit, and then goes all 80s on us and does The Worm. She’s so hardcore. She hasn’t quite figured out that she needs to move forward to go anywhere, but she manages to get to where she wants to go by rolling. “Squirmy” might be an adjective that comes to mind when thinking about Madelyn’s physicality. “Exhausted” is an adjective that comes to mind when I think about my feelings when thinking about Madelyn’s physicality. I predict by the Eight Month! blog post she will be crawling.
  • Responds to people! When seeing some of her favorite peeps, Madelyn lets out a coo and smiles so big, her cheeks fall off her face. Her eyes light up and then she kicks and flaps her arms out of pure joy (see above: “Squirmy.”). It is especially cute when we pick her up out of her crib in the mornings or when she sees her Daddy upon his arrival home from work. And our egos are totally swelling, so really, it’s a win-win.

Month 7 has a lot of fabulous events to look forward to and it’s going to be so fun living them with her!

  1. Chris
    3/12/2012 11:42 PM

    Okay. That’s it. Madelyn is definitely the cutest baby in the world. I just love the closeup – and the tush shot. OY!