Crawling check. Walking...

Maddie has decided to move on. She quickly perfected crawling to the extent she wanted to, so now she is pulling up on things and ready to start standing and walking...



She seems way too small for this, just 6.5 months!

Baby Lily is here

We've waited for 8 days longer than expected, but baby Lily is finally here. Having a little baby around again makes me realize two things:
1) I like the fact that Madelyn is gaining her independence.
2) Other people's babies are so much fun I don't need another of my own ;-)

Here is baby Lily who visited our house this morning:


And here is my baby, Madelyn, and I. Madelyn recently found her tongue:

While you were out...

I took a couple trips in the last week, one to Philly and another to Austin. During those trips I came home to some changes in my girls. Maddie started saying Dadadada as recorded here by Heather and Anna is now able to go through her whole color book and name all of the colors. Previously, Anna could only name "pink", which is fitting since that is what she wears everyday.

Its tough being away from home and missing these little milestones...but thanks to email and video recorders, I have at least been able to keep up to date on what they can do. That doesn't make it completely better..just not quite as bad. I have a trip to Fairfield CT and Hartford CT in the next two weeks...but those at least should just be day trips.

She is growing up...

As my wife blogged about today Madelyn is growing up and rolled over today for the first time. Here is my favorite picture cause it shows that self confidence she has :-)

Moments with my little girls

I thought I would show a couple short clips of my little girls from the past week which were just some of the moments which I like to remember with my girls. After my post yesterday, I felt it was appropriate to share some of those Cinderella moments with my girls.

First, from last weekend we set out a sprinkler and Anna played in it for the first time. It was getting late and neither Heather or I felt like going to the pool...so the sprinkler seemed like a fun option to beat the heat. Here she is in a photo and video. I took the video from the deck while holding Maddie, you can hear Maddie talking the whole time:




Last night, I was on the ground playing with Anna and Maddie. When Maddie finished her tummy time, I put her in the Bumbo seat and she was thrilled by the Bunny to the point she was laughing. Here is a picture of Anna and Madelyn in their matching outfits and a video of Madelyn laughing at the bunny.



Note, Maddie still has her little Wubbanub that Lori sent us...its with her pretty much all the time.

I danced with Cinderella

I have been hearing a song often on the radio that just has been breaking me down. I think its lyrics are powerful for any father who has a little girl who may be struggling with the realization that their little girl is growing up so fast they will be dancing away from us so quick. I don't have a boy to know if its similar, but now that Anna is growing up I just realize how much more they need their daddy especially if you have a girl with a very sensitive spirit like Anna.

Back to the song..it makes me desire to cherish the moments I have with my girl more than I do now. It also reminds me to take a step away from what I am doing and hug her when I am busy with something else whether it be work or a chore around the house. The song is even more bittersweet knowing that the artist lost one of his daughters in May at 5 years old.

So, the song is called Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman. Here is a youtube video of his song with the story of the song at the end of the video...and of course what I stated above were the intentions behind the song:


Here are some of the lyrics:

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oooooh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone...

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Anna plays with Madelyn more and more since Madelyn reacts.




Here is a fun picture of them playing and it looks like Madelyn copied Anna's facial expression:

Love her smile

Madelyn is at an age where I the thing that brightens my day the most is her smile. As she grows up, I look forward to the little hugs and holding hands I get with Anna, but for now I just am enjoying this beautiful little smile. Here it is in big version...

Where's mine?

I like this picture of Madelyn as it shows something she is often doing these days.



As her eyesight continues to improve, she is often staring at things, learning, distinguishing colors, and trying to gain more knowledge. I love to watch her learning in these ways. Anyway, in this picture of Madelyn she is staring at a plate that previously had a brownie sundae on it. Unfortunately for her, she isn't able to eat this deliciousness :-)

Madelyn at 12 weeks

My littlest girl is adorable, worth a blog alone for this picture:



She is looking so big now...not as much an infant anymore.

Two Month old smiles

They look alike in my head, but in the photos I can't find one where they look alike. Here are some photos

Madelyn:



Anna:

Fascinated by social networks

Social networking fascinates me in a way I never thought it would. I am fascinated by the relationships that have come about that in many ways I never thought they would. Don't worry, I have an example. Below is a screen capture of one of my Facebook friends, Katie. Katie was a year younger than me in high school, went to the same church as me for many years in high school, and now lives in Los Angeles. But check out the snapshot of our friends in common..


Fourteen friends in common, no big deal. But 2 of those three interest me. The first one, Stephanie, I know because she is a very close friend to my sister. In fact, she was my sister's maid of honor and my sister was also in Stephanie's wedding. Stephanie is from Philly, met my sister in Syracuse, and didn't move to Pittsburgh til long after my sister, myself, and I think Katie moved away from there. As far as I know, she only came to visit us other times. So, I find it amazing they know each other.

The third friend, Melissa, is even stranger...or is it? My wife's best friend since she was born, Suzanne, has a very close friend from Chesapeake, Melissa. Melissa and Suzanne went to college together at Mary Washington. It just so happens that Katie also went to Mary Washington and graduated the year after Melissa and Suzanne...probably how they know one another but it still amazes me...

The ways in which some of my friends know other friends on social networking sites continues to amaze me. Here is another one which amazes me:

There exists a girl named Madelyn Burkart. One letter from our little girl, Madelyn Burckart. And what is even crazier...we have a mutual friend! My friend Andy found this girl when googling to see if anyone would share Madelyn's namesake. Maybe I am too much of a geek.

Time flies faster than ever

People often complain that their kids grow up too fast so I am guessing this isn't news to most people. But, while Anna grew up pretty fast we are seeing Madelyn grow up even faster because Anna's growth was not as noticeable. Anna is a ton of fun to be around, play with, feed, talk to, cuddle to, and everything else. This of course means that Anna gets a lot of attention, so much so that we almost don't dwell on Madelyn's stages as much. I think this picture from before church this morning shows what fun and therefore distracting our little Anna can be:


Madelyn has been great lately. She is sleeping periodically through the night, she went from 10 PM to 7 AM yesterday night. This morning at church I played with her while she sat on my lap. Everytime I looked at her she would get a big toothless smile often with her tongue sticking out. Its sad to think that I haven't had nearly as many of those times with Madelyn as I have had with Anna. But, I think what it has done is make me appreciate the changes in Madelyn more. With Anna we spent a lot of time watching the grass grow. With Madelyn, I get less time but notice more the little changes. Whether its the smiles or the fact she now kicks the fish on her bouncer.


Even while capturing that cute Maddie moment on camera, Anna jumps in with a "Cheese" and a smile:


I am thankful for these two wonderful little girls and what fun they bring us.

Thoughts when away

Its mental images captured like these that I recall when I am away from my family and missing them. These precious times, like Heather playing paddy-cake with Anna and Madelyn, happen consistently around the house but we don't often get the opportunity to capture the fun. I think you can see the fun in Madelyn's expression and see why images like this stick out in my mind as special times I hold on to when away. I know things are not always this fun, but this is what I like to picture my family doing when I am away.



Lately I have had a lot of day trips leading me to run through books like crazy, spend long hours in airports, and be exhausted from the stress of traveling. Most of these trips have me leaving before 8 AM and getting back late the same day or the next day. Its definitely tiring...but I like to look at pictures of my wonderful girls when away and imagine them having a blast :-)

Today's matching outfit

Its a repeat, but still cute

Close-ups of Madelyn

Today's matching outfit

Another day another matching outfit..Here is today's selection on Maddie's two month birthday, Anna is 20 months old.

Today's matching outfit

Of all things, I missed today's matching outfit in my last blog. So we had a photo shoot and came up with this as the best shot:

Matching outfits

Heather joked the other day that Madelyn has two types of clothes, hand-me-downs from Anna or clothes that match Anna. I thought I would display some of the cute matching outfits they have had over time :-)

Sisters

Working at home today I was able to get a rare glimpse of Anna and Madelyn playing with one another. Since Madelyn is normally either sleeping, being held, or laying down fairly still it is not often that Anna takes time to spend time with her. She did for about 10-15 minutes yesterday, some of which I captured on camera. As you can see from the beginning, Anna becomes a ham for the camera right when it is on and says "Cheese!" She also takes care of her sister by covering up her belly. I didn't take the time to cut/clean up this movie, but figured I would drop it out here for your viewing pleasure.