My Easter lily

Our little girl is growing up so fast. She turns 6 months next week. She spends two days a week at her grandma and grandpa's house and my mom recently bought her a few new spring/summer outfits and then had a little photo session, which is where these photos came from.

Madeline loves to squeal and she and my dad like to have a squeal-off. It's pretty funny. She squeals, he copies her, etc. She still looks so much like her daddy but I'm starting to see a lot of myself in her too, including her big sis.

I bought matching personalized Easter baskets for Maddy and Erika and they finally arrived in the mail yesterday. I was starting to get a little worried. So I'm heading to Target after work tonight and getting some things for their baskets from the Easter bunny. No candy for Maddy this year and since there is no way I can put breastmilk in a plastic egg, she'll be getting a few little toys. Erika will get an iTunes gift card and some other little treats.

Madeline still gets up in the middle of the night to nurse but she usually falls back to sleep right away. She loves to eat food, especially bananas, sweet potatoes and rice cereal. She usually grunts and makes "Mmmmm" sounds when she eats. So cute. Nels calls her high chair her "eatin' chair." They have developed quite a routine on the three days he spends caring for her while I'm at work. She spends time in her exersaucer, then when she gets bored she's on her jungle playmat, then her jumperoo, then her swing and maybe then a nap, etc.

Madeline has gotten really good at flipping over from her back to her stomach but often gets mad when she's stuck on her tummy too long. She does know how to flip back over, but doesn't seem to have the double flip quite yet. Then we have to flip her back over like those beached whales who need help getting back into the sea. Then she flips back over on her tummy and the process repeats itself. Silly girl.

Erika qualified for sections in speech this year but unfortunately didn't make it to state. But she performed her speech last night for my parents, my uncle and his family at a pre-Easter celebration at my parent's house and everyone was moved by her performance. She performed an exerpt from Jodi Picoult's book, "Nineteen Minutes," about a school shooting. She's quite the little actress. She has a bit part in an upcoming high school production of Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice."

We'll be spending Easter at my aunt's house on Sunday and my mother-in-law is coming along too. I can't wait for Madeline to be big enough to hunt for eggs but that won't be til next year. She'll just have to sit back and watch her cousins do it this year.

Hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter. :)