A peek into a baby's dreams.

Have you seen Mila's Daydreams? 

Nirvana

The Little Mermaid

Imaginary Friend

Candyland

Here's a little bit from the author of Mila's Daydreams, Adele:


I used to introduce myself as a copywriter & concept designer in advertising, but that's not that relevant anymore. Right now I am a mother and a housewife, and loving it!


This blog is my maternity leave hobby. While my baby is taking her nap, I create scene around her and take quick snap photos.


I use only few minutes per picture, including creating idea, implementation and editing, 'cause I don't want to disturb her sleeping and most of my time is for my family. My camera is small and inexpensive Canon IXUS 750.



I think Adele is a creative genius!  Be sure to stop by http://www.milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/ to see them all!

Madeline's Island - party planning part 2

Party planning is going full steam ahead.  Click here for Part 1.  

Now here are the latest acquisitions:

Giraffalaff Limbo {available at Toys R Us, Target, etc.} is limbo for kids.  We tried it out over the weekend and Ellie loved it.  There is a dial that you spin to determine what type of 'walk' you attempt and the bar plays music but if you bump it, it stops.  I think the kids will love it!

Thanks to a heads up from G.G., we headed to Party City to grab Luau decorations on sale.  We picked up two Palm Tree Coolers,

lanterns that will be part of table centerpieces,

grass skirts for kids (only 99 cents!),

hula hoops, plates and napkins.

The invitations I made {in the words of Ellie}  ALL BY MYSELF using Picnik and ordered through Vistaprint came in and will be mailed out this week.  I'm going to post them in the next update cause I don't want to ruin any surprises. 

Nonna is headed to JoAnn Fabrics to pick up scrapbook paper to begin working on birthday signage and I'm starting to pick out Monthsie pictures for the First Year Banner. 

Less than 6 weeks until party day!

The benefits of Dora the Explorer?

It was the hottest day of the year and we were swimming in my parents' pool to cool down.  Although Ellie has been doing swimming lessons, she's not a great swimmer and panics if she starts to go under, you know, the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do.

Ellie was happily floating along in her dolphin inner tube when she started to slip out.  Frantic, she starts yelling "ayúdame!  ayúdame!" and my mom looks at her like she has two heads.

"Is she saying 'I'm slipping?'" my mom asked.  I took a step towards Ellie {we were all within inches of each other} and readjusted her favorite swimming friend. 

"No, Mom.  She's saying 'help me' in Spanish."  Ellie popped her head around the side of Flipper and add, "Yeah, Nonna.  Ayúdame!  means Help me!"

That's not the only time Ellie will use Spanish instead of English.  If she wants to go up or down she says it in Spanish.  If we are stuck at at stoplight in the car she'll yell out a "Rapido! Rapido!" or if she is falling behind she screams out "Espera!"

In case you are wondering, we do not have her enrolled in a ritzy Montessori school that teaches multiple languages.  No, she watches Dora. 

It was cute in the beginning that she would throw out a word in Spanish as she was talking but it's starting to get out of control.  She used to say the Spanish word then the English word but now she omits entire English phrases for Spanish.  And for those who don't watch Dora or have forgotten the Spanish they learned in high school and college, it can be a bit of a challenge.

Between Ellie speaking Spanish and Baby {Ellie and Madeline seem to communicate seamlessly in Madeline's native babbling} we've had to start asking her to speak English or we can get really confused.  It's a shame I sold back all of my Spanish 101, 102, 201 and 202 textbooks.  Learning a foreign language really is useful...just not in a way I ever imagined!

Across the Universe

Ellie is very interested in 'outer space' these days so Poppa dug out my old telescope and we brought it home to find a 'shooting star.'

Patient is not exactly the word I would use to describe Ellie waiting to try out the telescope so we began our search a little early.

Ryan adjusted the lens so that it would be all set for Ellie to peek through.

Looking through a telescope can be tricky for a three year old. But in her nightgown and flip flops, she gave it her best try.

At last Ellie found her shooting star.

                 

And I was even able to zoom in and snap a picture.

Ellie thinks tomorrow we'll be able to find Mars.  I hate to break her heart and tell her it isn't going to happen with my telescope from 1989.  ;)

This post is part of Wordless Wednesday and linked up at

Live and Love Outloud

A Beautiful Mess

5 Minutes for Mom

Seven Clown Circus

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

That might be a little dramatic, even for me, but we had one visit to the hospital with very contrasting experiences on two different floors...

Madeline has had patchy dry skin on her arms for a few weeks.  We brought her to the doctor and they said it was just dry skin and it would clear up on its own.

Our baby has also always hated peas.  When we tried to feed her them the first time it looked like we were trying to poison her.  She made an awful face and literally shuddered.

So we ditched the green foods and went on to carrots, sweet potatoes, squash and fruit.  Then Madeline got an orange nose, which you'll see if you look back in pictures from a few months ago, so we decided to push the green foods even if she hated them.

When Madeline turned 9 months we started with the finger foods and chunky purees.  At dinner at Nonna and Poppa's one night, Maddie got red and blotchy around her mouth after eating Earth's Best Spring Veggies and Pasta.  Then Ellie shared some of her beloved peas with Madeline the next day for lunch and the spots appeared again but there were more.

After talking things over with the pediatrician, we decided Madeline needed to get tested for food allergies.  Since peas are legumes and Ryan is allergic to peanuts, we needed to get to the bottom of this.

The day of Madeline's blood draw also happened to be the day a friend was getting induced at the very same hospital.  Now while I wasn't up for visitors in the hospital, I know some mamas are so I sent a quick text to see how Meghan was feeling.  She wrote me back saying that they were doing great and we could stop by.  So exciting!

When we arrived at the hospital, I took both girls up with me to the Birthplace on the 7th floor, the same place Madeline was born.  I hadn't been back since last September 7th but it all was so familiar and I was flooded with emotion remembering her birth 10.5 months ago. 

Ellie also remembered being on the floor.  There is a beautiful mosaic with a mother and baby and she went right over to touch it, letting me know she did the same thing on the day she went to meet her baby.  Ellie also remembered where the waiting room was and the magnet table where she and Madeline waited with Meghan's husband so I could take a peek at baby Cooper.

Cooper is so tiny and precious and Meghan looked amazing.  I'll never understand how some women look so great after having a baby that's only four hours old!  After a quick visit, I grabbed the girls and we headed back down stairs.

Waiting in the blood draw area also brought back memories, but not of pleasant ones.  Madeline was jaundiced and had to have her little heels pricked almost everyday for her first week of life.  When she was five days old we were in the children's room for her heel prick and I just came undone.  She was crying and so upset and I just felt awful that she had to be poked so much at such a young age. 

Our pediatrician is very proactive so we ended up with a Bili Blanket at home for the weekend and that knocked the rest out of her system.

Madeline's name was called and I found myself in the same room.  This time with a baby who is aware of everything.  And although seeing her in pain in those newborn days was difficult, this was much worse.  I gave her a 'bear hug' and our noses were only inches apart.  She was looking right into my eyes when the needle went in for her blood draw and her little face turned red and the tears began streaming down her cheeks. 

She was old enough to know pain but not old enough to know why we were putting her through it.  Ellie was so upset by her sister's tears that she ran over and started to sing and dance for her.  Ellie even got Madeline to laugh through the tears. 

After a few minutes - which seemed like forever - it was all done and we were on our way home.  We met tiny Baby Cooper and will get the results of Madeline's allergy test in 1-2 weeks.  There is nothing better than meeting a new baby and nothing worse than seeing your own in pain.  I'm just thankful that Madeline's pain was temporary and we were only at the hospital a short time.  Now we're just hoping that those red spots were a fluke and there really is nothing to worry about.

{Movie Monday!} While the big sister is looking away....

the little sister will play.  With the big sister's toys.

A few notes:
*Yes, we found the coveted hamster wheel.  I had heard Kmart had Tag Jr. books on clearance and while I didn't find them, I did score the hamster wheel. 

*Madeline does not crawl, she scoots.  It takes a little while but she gets where she needs to go.  I do not think she will ever do a 'normal' crawl.  She would rather be on two feet chasing after her big sis.

*Ellie was watching Team Umizoomi on Nick Jr. which she loves.  The show asks for 'help' and every time Ellie gave an answer, Madeline thought she was going to get busted.  Maddie is a sneaky little sister!

*The jury is out on who loves the Zhu Zhu Pets the most.  Madeline likes to try to talk back to them, which she did at the end.  The one person who is not a fan is Oxford.  Poor little dog!

Dear Little Ellie,

Dear Little 3 Year Old Ellie,

Please do not ever change.  You are absolutely perfect and I love every ounce of you. 

You are creative and determined.  You know exactly what three things you want to be when you are a grown up - an astronaut, a magician and a princess with a wand, and work extremely hard at growin' everyday. 

You waver between wanting to be a grown up and wanting to stay little.  A few of the reasons you want to grow up are so you can drive a car, drink coffee and go to outer space - in no particular order.  I think the only reason you say you'll stay little is to make us happy.  At least once a day you ask me to measure you to see if you are taller.

The other night you stayed up way past your bedtime and you wanted to go outside to see the moon and wish on a star.  You told Daddy and me that when you go to outer space you will bring us back a piece of the moon.  But we'll need to make sure to hold on to it REAL tight because if we let it go it will float away.  You said that because you know all about gravity and things floating on the moon, all from the questions you crafted, all by yourself.

My sweet little Ellie, I fear that when you grow older you won't ask us things like 'can we please open the sun roof so that you can let your balloon go out into the sky while you are holding on to it so you can fly it behind our car.'  If it hadn't been raining, I'm sure we would have let you try.

Precious girl, I am making you promise me that you won't change.  That you will keep your curiosity AND your 'Slinky Curls'.  That you will continue 'cleaning up the world every single day because it is my job to keep the earth beautiful' after other kids leave their trash behind at the park.

Elizabeth Grace, don't change.  Well, maybe you can start going to bed a little bit easier.  It's 9:15pm and I just finished my third attempt at leaving you, now with extra 'friends' and a mission to dream of your Christmas list {it's July, by the way} but I love ya anyway.
xoxo,
Mama

Date night.

I had such high hopes for our date night when L rang the door bell a few minutes before 7pm on Friday night.  L has been giving Ellie swimming lessons this summer and Ellie just loves her.

L came inside and was carrying a little bag.  Ellie is not the most enthusiastic swimmer so we talked about making a swim chart for her so she could put stickers on when she mastered new tricks.  L asked if we had made one yet and I apologized and said that we hadn't but were going to get everything this weekend.  She said that was perfect because she brought the supplies needed to make a sticker chart together.  How cute is that?!

L pulled out glittery cardboard and fish stickers.  The polish was coming off Ellie's fingers and toes at swimming the other day so she also brought over a new color to paint Ellie's nails.

When I told her how awesome she was she said, "I was just trying to think back to what you guys did when you babysat us."

Yes, that's right.  The 'you guys' is my sister and me.  I babysat our babysitter.  And our babysitter is going to start her senior year of college.  Um, I feel old.

So although this was our first time leaving the girls with L, because Ellie knows her well and Madeline was asleep before we left, we weren't worried at all.  We knew Ellie might stall at bedtime, but other than that we knew they would have a great time.  Which Ellie made abundantly clear when she said, "OK, good bye!  See you in the mornin'!" like two seconds after Lisa got to our house.

We got in the car - the one without the car seats in the back - and were on our way.  A cute little Italian restaurant opened up near our movie theater so we decided to try it out and then see Inception.

When we pull up to the restaurant we saw a sign on the door that said 'closed, no power'.  It was strange because it didn't look like the power was out in the neighborhood.  And despite dark clouds, it hadn't stormed.  We wondered if 'no power' was code for 'lost liquor license' or 'shut down by health department'. 

I was bummed because I was wearing a cute dress {which Ellie helped pick out} and our only options left were not so exciting chains.  After a few minutes of pouting, I conceded to BW3's and got excited for a tall, cold beer and wings.  It was the hottest day of the year after all.

We sat down and the little boy screaming every time he crashes in his driving game is kind of ruining my mojo but I'm sipping a beer and life is good.  Until the power goes out.

We were wondering why it wasn't so crowded on a Friday night.  Turns out the restaurant had just gotten their power back on and reopened.  The good news is we got free beer - which would have been even more exciting to me 8 years ago - but then we were out the door. 

Starving but wanting to see our movie and we agreed we could eat a dinner of popcorn and nachos and just drove to the movie theater.  You guessed it, no power.

Because it was the hottest day of the year, the power company was having trouble keeping up with the stretch of restaurants, movie theaters and strip malls.  No one knew when it would come back on.

Now at this point a couple who wasn't out for their first dinner AND movie date in 11 months might have given up.  But not us.  L had said we should stay out late and live it up so we drove to the next town over to check out their movie times.

Right when we were pulling into the movie theater parking lot, we saw an almost perfect rainbow.  The colors were so crisp and both ends were almost visible.  Ellie would have loved it.

I hopped out of the car to run in and check the show times and it turns out there is a show in exactly one hour.  Coincidentally, there is also a BW3's 100 feet away.  We sat in a great spot outside to watch the heat lightening, got new drinks and wings - which I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten since college! - and plopped down in our theater seats with five minutes to spare.

Inception was awesome and we arrived back at home a little after midnight.  Madeline never made a peep and Ellie stalled bedtime until 10:30 pm, a new personal best.  The sticker chart was sitting on the table in all of its glittery glory and although we had a few challenges, date night was a success.

Pretty as a picture.

Remember how I was stressed about picture day a few weeks ago? 

Yeah, I had nothing to worry about.

All images below are by Gina Cristine Photography. 

Want to see more? Check out Gina's Blog.  But before you head over, make sure you get comfortable and grab a cup of coffee because you will look at the clock and realize you have been looking at Gina's pictures for hours.  You will want to look at every single blog post she has ever published. Each baby is cuter than the next and Gina's creative eye is evident in every picture she snaps.

THANK YOU GINA!!!!  Now we just have to decide what we will order.  Or build a new house and only hang pictures of our children on the wall.  It's going to be a tough call!

Outfit notes:  Madeline's floral bubble and Ellie's patterned dress by Matilda Jane, ivory heirloom dresses by Strasburg Chilren and ruffled bikini by Gymboree. 

Write for Charity

I am so honored and thrilled to be part of the first Write for Charity anthology, From the Heart.  You may have noticed the From the Heart button on Ellie-Town's side bar and wondered about it.  Hopefully the following will answer all of your questions and you will head on over to buy the book!


Q: Tell me a little bit about this project.


A: From the Heart is the brainchild of the ladies at Write for Charity. After finding out that her youngest daughter needed surgery, our chief editor, Beth Davis, felt a driving urge to make a difference in the lives of children, particularly sick children. The idea of writing a book for charity had been thrown around our office for some time, but she jumped in with both feet to get it moving.

Understanding that writing a book in a short period of time would be an unrealistic task, the ladies went full steam ahead in search of collaborators. They searched magazines, the blogosphere and writers groups from around the country for the best and brightest writing talent they could find, extending invitations as they went. After sorting through over 300 submissions over the course of several months, From the Heart was born. The book is a creative collaboration of nearly 100 different stories and poems from all aspects of parenting. July 1st was the kickoff to our 90 Day Challenge and we’ve been moving ahead with book sales ever since!



Q. What is the 90 Day Challenge?

A: The 90 Day Challenge is a book sales drive that represents a goal that we set for ourselves and the collaborative authors who are choosing to participate. The goal is to jumpstart sales of From the Heart in the first 90 days by selling 10,000 copies of the book and raising a large lump sum of money for charity immediately.

The book is currently only available for sale on our website at www.writeforcharity.com, but it will be available at many other retail locations following the 90 Day Challenge.



Q: Why not make it available through a national distribution channel during your 90 Day Challenge?

A: We elected to sell the book at www.writeforcharity.com during 90 Day Challenge and wait to distribute the book into bookstores like Barnes and Noble and Borders and on website like Amazon.com due to the costs associated with a distributor. By selling the book on our website, we are able to control in house costs, raise profit margins and, in turn, donate more money to our selected charities.



Q. Who will benefit from this project?

A: The desire to contribute to children’s charities has driven this project from the very beginning. Since the minute we decided to publish this book, we knew that children’s hospitals and juvenile disease research foundations would be the beneficiaries when it came to fruition. All of the profits from this book will be split between various Children’s Hospitals and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Center.



Q: So, 100% of proceeds from this project go to charity?

A: One hundred percent of profits will go to our selected charities. Obviously with a project like this, you have printing costs, but other than that, we have committed all of the funds to our selected charities. Our authors have donated their work, our editors have donated their time and our graphics people have donated their talent. We are very lucky to have such a wonderful group of talented people involved in this project. For a list of contributors, visit www.writeforcharity.wordpress.com/the-authors.



Q: Tell us something we don’t know about your project.

A: Well, the biggest thing would definitely have to be the caliber of our contributors. We have several nationally recognized writers in our group of nearly 80 contributors and many of our contributors have been featured in nationally distributed publications, on popular websites or on television. Their willingness to donate their work to our cause is admirable and I know that everyone who reads this volume will enjoy their poems and stories. Together with our contributors, we have begun a grassroots effort to raise funds for our wonderful charities that is growing by the day. Their eagerness to help get the word out about the book is admirable and we appreciate their support.



Q: What’s it in for me to support this project?

A: The charity situation on a national level has taken a severe beating as of late. Many incidents of run ins with unsavory “charities” have appeared in the media in the past several years. Many individuals and companies have completely lost trust in those trying to do good work because of a few “bad eggs.”

Many individuals have contributed time and effort to put this project together. Our authors contributed their work out of the kindness of their hearts and our editor, layout artist and designers all contributed time as well. Because they believe in the mission behind this project, to help children in need, we hope you will take the time to support us and purchase a copy of the book. The book in itself is a fantastic product and by purchasing, you are helping a good cause.



Q: How can I support Write for Charity’s From the Heart?

A: There are a number of different things you can do to support the project. First and foremost, you can click here to buy a book! On our website, we have the ever popular blog buttons which I have starting seeing crop up all over cyberspace. You are welcome to download the “supporter” button for your own website if you are so inclined.

This is the first anthology we have done and with the success we are already seeing with it, we know it won’t be the last. Contact one of our editors at press@writeforcharity.com for more information on how you can contribute to one of our upcoming projects or help to support our current project.


Thanks for taking time to read about the Write for Charity project From the Heart.  You can click here for more information or to purchase a copy of your own.

6 Ways to Survive Breastfeeding

As a nursing mama who is now more than 10 months in with her second, here are my 6 ways to survive breastfeeding.

1.  Throw your modesty out the window. 
This might sound like a challenge if you are pregnant or not yet pregnant, unless you are a super expert bead collector during Mardi Gras.  ;)  But once you deliver that little bundle of joy and everyone - from your ob to the janitor sweeping the halls has seen it all, it will be much easier to do.

2.  Take advantage of the Lactation Consultant at the hospital.
Ask to see the LC right away.  I have to admit that when I first heard of a Lactation Consultant I rolled my eyes.  Mothers have lactated and babies have been nursed since the beginning of time.  It can't be that hard.  Well, it is.  And that is why there are experts in the world to help.  Use them.  See your hospital LC as much as you can, have her check the latch, ask questions or just get positive feedback that everything is going well.

3.  Have a sense of humor.
It might be hard to find the funny in some of the nursing predicaments you might find yourself in at first, but you'll get there.  Like if you are on a different level of your home nursing your newborn under a cover and your father in law comes to chat with you and doesn't realize that you are in fact breastfeeding until 10 minutes into the conversation.  Or if you are nursing in the car without a cover because of the heat and a boy scout troop walks by and gets a better view of you than they would watching National Geographic.  Or better yet, nursing during a pap. 

If you can't laugh through it, you might die of embarrassment.  So just laugh through it.

4.  Get a cute nursing cover.
I love the Udder Covers, but there are many brands out there.  The benefit of a cover with a cute print is that a lot of times people won't realize you are nursing.  Like in the above scenario with my father in law.  The covers are more light weight than blankets and have wire in them so you can peek down at the baby, which helps in the early days with getting the baby latched on correctly.

5.  Purchase nursing supplies ahead of time
and have them ready to go for when you come home from the hospital.  Lansinoh ointment saved me but there are gel soothies and other ways to help heal those sore nipples.  Nursing tanks/bras make life much easier and I couldn't imagine nursing this long without them.  Nursing pads are a must and come in disposable or cloth varieties.  You also might want to think about getting a Milk Saver to collect the extra milk to save for bottles or cereal down the line without having to pump.

Don't open the box for your pump until you are sure breastfeeding is going to work for you.  Most stores will not except a return once the box is opened and they are too expensive to sit around collecting dust.

6.  Remember why you chose to breastfeed.
Because you are going to want to give up at some point.  Whether it's for the nutritional value for the baby, the fact that it's free {vs $100 a month for formula!}, the bonding experience, whatever.  Discuss your reasons with your partner and when times get tough remember why you chose to do this.  And whatever you do, do NOT give up on your worst day.  It DOES get easier as the weeks go on - it hurts less {until it doesn't hurt at all!}, it gets faster and less frequent.

Setting smaller goals for yourself to get to your long term breastfeeding goal can help, too.  Committing to nurse for a year is huge.  Start off by committing to one month, or six months.  If you can break it down it can seem much more manageable.


Lastly, if breastfeeding doesn't work out for you, it's okay.  Formula fed babies turn out to be healthy and happy, too! 

Do you have any tips to add to survive breastfeeding?

Carnivale

Step right up and welcome to the first carnival of the summer.

Nothing like a roller coaster to get warmed up.

Next up were the bikes.  Ellie drove her motorcycle with determination.  Ryan and I couldn't help but think of next summer when that little seat on the back will have a Madeline Claire riding along.

But this summer, the three of us sat back and watched Ellie in her motorcycle glory parked next to this:

playing "New York" by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keyes.  And Madeline was happy just to bob her head to the beat in her stroller.

Then there were the 'Flying Bananas.'

Ellie was a little disappointed that she didn't meet the height requirements for the 'tea cups'

or the Scrambler.  But if Ellie keeps up her growin' to be a grown up {her main goal in life right now}, I think she'll have no problem hitting the 42" mark for next year.

The Bounce House made up for it.

Madeline was perfectly happy to just be chillin' watching her big sis get stuck in the canyons.

Then it was Maddie's turn to get in on the action.

After all of that fun, it was time to eat.  We were at Greekfest, after all!  So here is the best Gyro I have ever eaten in my entire life.  I seriously mean ever.

It was such a great afternoon.  Ellie compared every ride at Greekfest to Disneyland - in a good way!, we had great food and so much fun.  But to Ellie's dismay, we didn't win any games.  But that's okay, we don't really have room for bunnies in our backyard.

So much summer fun.

Uh-oh.

This morning we had the crew from our builder at our house to do the final fixes for our home warranty.  Ryan and I both had a sense of relief being covered for two years but unfortunately after today we are on our own.

The workers' power tools were zipping and whooshing so we tried to find a quiet place to some building of our own.

Madeline's tongue has been making more and more appearances lately.  Especially when excited.  And I'm not sure there is much more exciting than seeing a tower of blocks in front of you just begging to be knocked over.

The workers were in Madeline's room fixing her creaky floor and arrived a bit early so Madeline got to hang out in her pj's covered with peaches and banana a little longer than she normally would.

Madeline's been working really had on getting her words out.  This weekend she consistently added "ki" which is Madeline for "kitty" and "Eh-e" which is "Ellie." 

She has the first part of "uh-oh" down which she said when

she finally gave in to the temptation of knocking those bright, colorful, squishy blocks down.

Walking Wings: Product Review & GIVEAWAY!

Madeline is a daredevil.  The girl puts her face right in the water in the tub and thinks she can swim on her own in the pool.  She also is convinced she can walk all.by.herself. {which is exactly how she would say it if she was already making three word sentences}  But she can't.  She is close but she will inevitable fall flat on her face.

As much as I would love to be hunched over holding on to two baby hands all day long, it doesn't exactly feel great on my back.  Not to mention that we did that method with Ellie and she didn't walk until 14 months.  When Ellie was cruising all around the coffee table at 10 months we swore she would walk any second.

There are a lot of seconds in four months.

Anyway, so here we are.  Baby who only wants to walk and will not hold on to push her own walker.  Parents who value their backs.  What to do?

The solution:

Walking Wings. 

Walking Wings are a cushy device that goes around the baby's chest and then has two long straps with loops for the adult to hold on to.  You can hold low when the baby is first starting out, or move your hands all the way to the end of the straps for less stability.

Walking Wings allow your baby to find their own balance while you give them a little extra support.  Everything is adjustable with buckles to make it super secure. 

It's also comfy for the baby as you can see here when Madeline is catching a quick break.

In the last week or so since the Walking Wings arrived, Madeline's balance has improved and she is more steady when she takes her steps.  We anticipate she'll be walking very soon all on her own. 

Now for the REALLY exciting part:  you can enter below to receive

 your very own Walking Wings for your baby or to give as a gift!

It's easy to enter.  Just visit http://www.upspringbaby.com/ and then come back here and leave a comment. 

The winner will be randomly selected and receive their own Walking Wings shipped to them. 

To win you must be a Google Friend Connect Follower of Ellie-Town {click over on the right hand side to 'follow' if you aren't already}. If your profile is not linked to your email, make sure you leave your address in your comment so you can be contacted if you are the winner.

This giveaway will close on August 1st at 10:00 pm

Disclosure: Upsring Baby sent us our own Walking Wings to do this review and giveaway.  The above is our honest opinion and experience.