we have returned!

maddie and i got back from kansas yesterday. i apologize for my lack of posts, but i forgot the camera cord and i was just plain exhausted by the time i got back from the office each day! this was my first attempt at bringing maddie with me on a business trip. her grandma flew up from florida to watch her for the week at her nana and papa's in kansas while they went to work too. she was totally spoiled by having three of her grandparents there to care for her. the visit was nice, but i think that we were both happy to get home and see her daddy. maddie wanted to follow matt down to the basement yesterday, but since the baby gate blocked her she just sat and waited.

madelyn has a lot of new tricks that she learned over the past week. one is seen in this video from last weekend - she didn't want to share her blanket with daddy so she would take it from him and then feel bad and try to give it back.

she can also stand up without holding on to anything for help. she just crawls over to what she wants and then stands up. she did it for the first time at the airport on saturday and i was so excited! she has done it a few times since then successful, but then today at the park she was trying to stand up with a stick and fell backwards on her butt with a "what just happened" expression. she is just that much closer to walking. she will now let go and walk 2 or 3 steps to me before jumping the rest of the way to reach me - laughing wildly!

there is also a not so nice 'trick' - temper-tantrums. she is definitely my child. she is so stubborn! if she doesn't want to do something she really doesn't want to do it. today she threw a fit because i stopped pushing her in the swing at the park and started crying when i took her out to go home. luckily, she settles back down pretty quickly.

she really missed her dad. he was working in the backyard this afternoon and madelyn just stood and watched him for long periods of time. she would stand on her tiptoes for a better view when he would get too close to the house for her to see him. i love to see how much she loves him. she is always giving him kisses. and he is the only one she kisses every time. i only get a kiss every now and then. i get lots of hugs, but matt gets most of the kisses.

last weekend madelyn started running a slight fever (100.3) and shivering. we ran errands all day on saturday, but when she woke up from her afternoon nap she was crying and had a really hard time calming down. since we were traveling on monday i wanted to call the doctor's office just to make sure that she was okay. it was just her body trying to deal with her molars trying to come in. i had to give her children's motrin for a few days to manage the fever, but it did the trick.

flying with madelyn by myself was interesting to say the least! she wasn't difficult per se, just her normal active self. and now she is tall enough to push her feet off the back of the seat in front of us. the flight there was a little more difficult than the flight home. she was happy and friendly and then fell asleep on the way home. actually the most difficult part of flying with her (especially for a business trip) is carrying everything! i had a big bag of stuff for her, my laptop, the stroller, and of course madelyn herself.