4 Months!

Dear Adilyn,

Here we are at the end of May and another month has flown by!  You are four months old!  May is one of my two favorite months (October is my other favorite) and now I have another reason to add to my list of why.  Mother's Day!  So now I have my birthday, my and daddy's wedding anniversary, AND Mother's Day.  Lucky daddy...an expensive month for him.  Wink, wink.

This month you have started holding things in your little hands and staring at them.  You don't really do anything with them yet, but you are learning, I can tell.  It's funny because it seems like you have finally noticed the singing bee toy on your car seat.  It has been there since you were a newborn, but you always kind of ignored it.  Now you look at it and grab it so that it makes music.  Yay!

You've gotten so much stronger with your head this past month, and you can finally lift it up off the ground during tummy time.  Which means that tummy time is becoming more bearable, and dare I say, enjoyable for you.  Now you can look around and see what's going on, which is what you've wanted the whole time.  You have also started lifting your head up off of your bouncer, swing, and infant seat.  It's so cute because it really looks like you are doing sit-ups!

Your legs are getting much stronger too and you can support yourself on them for a long time with just some balance support from mommy or daddy.  You love standing up and getting a different view of the world.

Everyday you are discovering new parts of  yourself, and this month you found your head and your ears.  Mommy was a little nervous when you found your ears, because she thought you might have an ear infection since you were touching them so much.  But it turned out that you were just fascinated by your new discovery! 

You have also noticed your feet, which is so funny to watch!  You will be kicking your little legs around and when your feet come into your view and you look so startled.  You actually jump a little!  Then you stare at them with that intense look that you get and you kick them around some more.  It's times like those that I wish I could be in your little brain to know what you are thinking!

This past month you have also found your voice.  You make these adorable soft little cooing sounds when you stop nursing for a little break, and it melts my heart to hear you.  That is your indoor voice.  You have also discovered that you have an outdoor voice.  Sigh.  At times you just start yelling for fun.  You're not crying; in fact, a lot of times you are smiling when you do it.  But it is LOUD, so we'll have to have some more talks about using our indoor voice.  Ha ha!

Then we move on to your new favorite activity (other than the activity mat of course).  Looking at yourself in the mirror!  I remember when your Aunt Tina and I were little and someone asked her what her favorite things to do were, one of her answers was looking in the mirror (the other was planting flowers...?????).  Anyway, now you love looking at yourself too!  We look in the mirror and I say, "Who's that baby in the mirror?  She's beauuuuutiful!".  It brings a giant smile to your face every single time.  I will always cherish our moments in front of the mirror.

We have developed somewhat of a nap routine (finally!), and you take your longest nap in the morning.  Once you've been awake for about two hours you start getting cranky, so we put you down for a nap.  You usually sleep for 1.5 - 2 hours at this time.  Then you take one or two more shorter naps in the afternoon.  Those naps are usually about 30-45 minutes long.  Although we have more of a routine, it's still often a struggle to get you down for a nap.  You usually cry in your crib for awhile before you fall asleep because you just don't want to miss anything!

As far as night time is concerned, with the exception of a few random (wonderful) nights, you still wake up once a night to eat.  The time of this feeding varies from 1:30-5:30 AM.  We never know when it will be.  But luckily, it's only once.  You go to bed between 8 and 9PM and wake up for the day around 7AM.

We took you to the doctor today for your four month appointment, and the dreaded immunizations.  Your poor little legs; 2 shots in each.  You were a trooper though, and even though you screamed bloody murder during the shots, I scooped you right up when they were done and you stopped.  You love love love to be held. 

The pediatrician (and the AAP) recommends that I keep exclusively breastfeeding you, and hold off on solids for another month or two.  You are still getting all that you need from Mommy's milk.  The only different thing that we will do is start giving you some extra iron since your iron stores from birth are almost depleted by now.

At four months old you are:

14 lbs, 10 oz (75th percentile)
26 inches long (95th percentile)
43cm head circumference (90th percentile)

I found it interesting that in your weight versus length ratio, you are only in the 10th percentile.  Meaning that you are a very tall girl!

Here are some pics and videos!

You love that fist!

Smiley girl!

Blowing bubbles...you love that trick!

Daddy and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary today, and we went out for dinner while you went over to Carley's house to play. 

Mommy and Daddy at our anniversary dinner

We reflected on our life now and how it is so different than it was last year.  But our life is so much fuller!  Having you is our greatest accomplishment as a married couple.  You are such a beautiful, smart, happy little baby and we love you with everything we have.  Happy 4 Month Birthday sweet girl!   Mommy and Daddy love you always!

Love,

Mommy

17 Weeks

Here is our girl at 17 weeks of life:

Serious face ;)

Tomorrow is her 4 Month birthday!!!!  Yay Addy!

Addy's Baptism Weekend!

This past weekend we packed up the baby and the dog and drove to PA (yes, again) for Addy's baptism.  We decided to have her baptized in the church that I grew up in in PA because it would be easier for more family members to attend than it would be down here in NC.  However that meant that we would be making the trip for the third time in two months.

But it was well worth the hassle of traveling (as it always is).  We got to see our whole family, both mine and Mike's, in the same weekend, which was awesome.  Usually we have to see one or the other because our families live so far from each other. 

We stayed with my dad and step mom and then had a get together for the whole family at their house after the baptism, which was great.  Addy was definitely in heaven, because I don't think she got put down the whole weekend!  She was held constantly and given all of the love in the world from her family. :)

Here are the pics:

Me with my nephew Luca and Addy with Grandma

Getting ready to head to the church.  Don't know what's going on with Mike's tie, but we were running late and in a major rush at this point.

Addy looks less than thrilled in all of my pics.  She is probably wondering how long she has to wear that outfit.

My sister and her husband were Addy's sponsors.

Us with Mike's sis and her family.  Addy is about over the picture taking by now.

I think we got about every family member in a picture with Addy at the church, but there were so many cameras going off that most of my pics have people looking in every which direction.  Luckily, Tina was there, so hopefully she got better ones.  I also really wish I would have gotten a close-up of Addy in her baptism attire.  I actually don't think Tina did either, but the whole day was such a whirlwind of cameras and people and pictures that I'm not really sure.

Addy with Grandma.  This is the only close up I got of her all weekend.  How cute is she in that hat??

We received a nice little Toddler Bible with pictures from the pastor that we can read to Addy as she grows up, which I loved.  It was a great ceremony, and I'm really glad we chose to have it PA so our whole family could attend and celebrate with us.  Baptism weekend was a success!  Now we are looking forward to spending June at home in NC to relax and recharge. :)

16 Weeks and Bestest Buds!

Another week has gone by and Addy is definitely going through a growth spurt right now! 

First of all, she's been waking up twice a night to eat instead of her typical once a night.  It's been going on for about 2 weeks now, and I think I see some rice cereal in our near future.  That might help the whole house sleep better ;)

Then there are clothes and accessories.  Shoes that were a little bit loose on her just two weeks ago can barely be shoved on her foot today.  An outfit that she wore just last week was so tight yesterday that I could barely pull it over her head and the sleeves were noticeably too short.  And her baptism hat....well she'll be wearing it, but when you see pictures, just know that her mother is aware that it is too small.  But it is part of the outfit that my mom wore, I wore, and my sister wore to be baptized.  So Addy and her giant noggin will be wearing it too. :)

Anyway, here are her 16 week pics:

I had a hard time getting these because most of the time Addy was too busy looking at this girl to look at the camera.

Over the past few weeks Addy Marie has been spending a lot of time with her new best friend, Carley Grace.  Carley's mom Regina is one of my best friends, and now that we both have babies and are off of work for awhile, we have been hanging out almost every day.  We take the babies on walks and they are working on building a forever friendship :)

Look at how giant Addy looks next to Carley!  This was taken when Carley was only a few days old and Addy was 2.5 months old.  Amazing what a difference 2 little months make at this stage of life!

Getting ready for our daily stroll

Fast forward a month from the first pic and here they are.  Hanging with each other on the floor.  How adorable are they together???!! 

Then they started holding hands!!  Addy says "Come on Carley.  I'll show you the ropes on how to live it up outside of the womb."

Best friends :)

Seeing these two together, you can't help but smile. :))  Happy Friday!

Baby Rolling: He Says/She Says

Addy and I were out on the deck the other day.  When I layed her down she was on her back and when I looked up a few seconds later she was on her belly.  She also had the lower half of her body hanging off of the deck chair. 

I know, I know.  WHY did I put her on a chair that she could potentially fall off of when she was so close to the age of rolling over?????  I could smack myself for this.  You'd better believe that when I looked up and saw her hanging off the edge of the chair I bolted out of my seat like a bat outta hell to retrieve her! ;)  But I was watching her the whole time (that's what they all say, right?) until I answered a text message.  Darn technology these days.  Plus, she had obviously not made any big moves like that before, so I figured she'd stay where I put her.  I was clearly wrong.  But all is well.  Crisis averted.

Anywho.... I called Mike with the exciting news that our baby girl rolled over and he wanted all of the specifics.  And then....he fought me on whether or not it counted as a roll!!

He said:  "Explain how she rolled over."

She said:  "Well, she was on her back and then the next thing I know she's on her stomach with her little legs hanging off the edge of the chair."

He said:  "Doesn't count.  She obviously rolled onto her side, then her legs fell off the edge of the chair, which propelled her onto her stomach."

She said:  "Don't take this away from her!  She rolled over.  All I know is that she started on her back and ended on her stomach with no intervention from me."

He said:  "Doesn't count."

What do you say?????

14 and 15 Weeks

Still a little bit behind on posting Addy's weekly pics, so we'll do a little combo here and then we'll be all caught up!

During Addy's 14th week I had two of my friends from work (who also recently had babies) over for lunch.  It was so nice to hang out with other new moms!  My one friend has 2 daughters and her older one just loved Addy!  I told her I need her around all of the time to help me, because she entertained Addy the whole time!

Reese and Addy 

Addy, Reese, and Rylee (Reese and Rylee are sisters)

It was so funny trying to get these pics.  The babies kept falling over and when we finally got both babies looking at the camera, Reese's eyes are half closed!  Haha!  But she was such a great sport through all of the picture taking and she is such a precious little girl!  Seeing her makes me so excited to watch Addy grow up!

We are missing baby Carley in these pics because she spent most of her time asleep in her mom's arms.  She is the youngest of the three babies and was still a little bit too small to sit on the couch like this.  Next time we'll be sure to get a pic of all three babies!

Then along came my first Mother's Day!  Mike gave me a gift certificate for a spa day and even Addy got me a gift and a very sweet card!  She gave me a gift certificate for a mani/pedi!  That girl is so thoughtful ;)  I have the greatest husband and daughter, and I can't wait to use my gifts!!!  I worked the night before Mother's Day so I took a little nap on Mother's Day morning.  I woke up to find this on my deck...

Love it!

Then I found this video that I took of Addy on Mother's Day, so I'll throw that in here too.  And yes, upon closer listening, I believe that I am pumping as I take this video.  Don't judge.  I couldn't stop laughing as I watched it today because I was thinking "What on earth is that noise in the background?".  Then, "OMG it's the pump!  Why would I decide to take a video while I was pumping???"  Just goes to show how much the whole breastfeeding thing has taken over my life!

Moving on to Week 15...

I worked on the day Addy turned 15 weeks, so for the first time ever, I had to give up the control of taking the weekly pics to Mike.  He did a great job and got some really cute ones! 

My two favorite people :)



So now we are all caught up!  I can't believe my little baby will be four months old in a week and a half!

13 Weeks, 5 Generations, and One Road Race!

It's been too long since I've posted, so now I'm getting very behind!  Let's start with her 13 week picture:

During Addy's 13th week we drove home to PA to visit my family.  I ran the Broad Street 10 Miler in Philly with Tina (and we RAN...er jogged, the whole time!  Who knew we had it in us?).  We were also able to visit my great-grandmother in hospice.  That's right.  My great-grandmother, so Addy's great-great grandmother!  My Dad and Grandma came down for the day too, so we were able to get a 5 generation picture.  It's going to be one of those keepsakes that we will treasure forever.

I just wish I had a better camera, because the quality of the picture is pretty grainy.  But it's the best I could get.  Such a neat opportunity to have all of us in the same room at one time!

Addy and mommy in our purple shirts, ready to go see Grandma

She's excited!

Addy and her great-grandpa

Addy and great-grandma

Mike showing Addy to her great-great-grandma!

 Just chillin' in the bed :)

Love this one!  Look at Grandma's expression!

Yup, Daisy came too!  And she was such a good girl :)

Then we went back to Grandpa's house for some dinner.  Note the outfit change to the I Love Grandpa onesie ;)

We spent two nights at Grandma D's house, and before we knew it it was race time, so we headed to Tina and Jay's to get ready for the race and spend two nights there.

Addy is ready for her first pizza party at Grandma D's office!

Family photo at Union Terrace (If you look closely, I believe Daisy is pooping in the background.  Nice Daisy, nice.)

And it's race time!....

Here we come!

The finish line is in sight!

Our cheerleaders!

The whole crew!

Addy does not look impressed, haha!

Time for her shades

"No Mom, I don't need 'em."...

"I prefer the hat.  Penn State proud!!"

So there you have it.  Addy's 13th week was a whirlwind of activity, but we loved every minute of it!

Next up: 14 and 15 weeks.  Then we'll be up to date!  Until then...