22 Weeks

Here she is!......

Heading up to PA tomorrow!  Can't wait to see our family!!!

5 Months!

Dear Doodle Bug,
    
You have changed so much in this past month that I really can't believe my eyes sometimes.  Daddy and I laugh because you are becoming less like a baby and more like a little person.  You are such a pleasant little girl, and it doesn't take much for you to reveal that beautiful toothless grin of yours.  However, Daddy is still the best at making you laugh.  You adore your Daddy and I love that.

You smile whenever we enter the room, and you've started leaning forward when we reach down to pick you up, like you are helping us!  You even reach for us a little bit (or so we tell ourselves) and we love that!  When we are holding you, you hold onto us now, which is so sweet.   But I have to make sure to keep those nails of yours nice and short because they are like little daggers!

You are definitely reaching for your toys and you can hold onto them with both hands and focus really well on them.  You shake your little rattle and put your Sofie giraffe in your mouth. 

Speaking of putting things in your mouth....everything goes there these days.  You especially love to gnaw on burp cloths, your giraffe, and the little singing bee toy on your car seat.  I've questioned whether you are teething multiple times, but I don't think you are yet.  You are just exploring your new world via your mouth.

You have really started to notice your puppy Daisy too. You absolutely love her and you smile every time you see her.  You've even started reaching out to grab her when she is close enough, and thank goodness, she doesn't mind.  Daisy tries to get as many licks in as she can before I catch her and yell at her.  I especially try to prevent her from licking your face, but she is relentless, and you love it!  You giggle when she licks you!

You have several new moves as of this past month.  When you get excited you shake your head back and forth like you are shaking "no".  You have now started holding onto your feet, and today for the first time I saw your put your foot in your mouth!  You make some funny noises, and your most recent is your quacking noise that you make when you are excited.  It is soooo loud, and I jokingly call you my little duckie. 

I'd have to say that your biggest move of this past month is your ability to roll from your back to your front ....unassisted!  Ha ha!  There has been a lot of controversy over whether your roll from last month counted, but now it definitely does.  You are an expert roller...in that direction.  But you still haven't figured out how to get back to your back.  You usually just cry and wait for someone to help you.  But tummy time is becoming more and more tolerable now that you can hold yourself up and look around.  Speaking of rolling, when you roll over, you only roll to the left....our little Zoolander baby!

You aren't eating baby food yet, still 100% mommy's milk.  I am definitely proud of that.  You are so cute because you've started licking your lips and smacking your lips when you are done eating.  It's so funny!  But to be honest, I'm not sure how much longer we'll last on the breastfeeding front, because you have become quite active while you eat.  First of all, you can't handle any distractions.  I can't so much as sigh while I feed you or you stop, turn your head, and look at me, like "Mom, this is my time.  No noise."  You've also started to reach up and put your hand in my mouth or grab my nose, whatever you can find.  Not to mention that you've started winding up and punching me and or kneeing me while you eat.  Ha ha, I take some abuse to feed you these days, little one.  So we'll see how much longer we last.  I have no set in stone goals.  We're gonna play it by ear from here on out.  If I for some reason had to stop breastfeeding you today, I'd be OK with it.  You've gotten 5 solid months of solely breast milk so far, and I think that's pretty good!

As far as sleep is concerned, we're still hit or miss on the sleeping through the night thing.  We've been starting your night time routine around 7 and have you in bed between 7 and 8.  Bath, feed, bed.  We've fallen off the wagon with reading you a bedtime story, but I really want to start it back up since you can actually pay attention now.  So anyway, sometimes you'll sleep straight through until 5AM (then eat and go back to bed until 8ish) for several nights in a row and we get all excited thinking you might be done with getting up in the middle of the night.  But you inevitably throw us a curve ball by getting up twice sometimes.  Or in the case of two nights ago, every 2.5 hours.  That's right, for the first time EVER, you got up every 2-2.5 hours all night.  What was up with that???  Just excited about turning 5 months or what?  Luckily last night was just once, around 2AM and then back to bed until 7.  Whew.  I'm OK getting up with you once, but any more than that and I'm exhausted.  What can I say, you've spoiled me Addy!



I've said it before and I'm going to say it again.  Can I just stop time and keep you right here?????  Please????  Your big, round eyes, toothless grin, and peach fuzz hair.  I want it all to stay that way.  But lucky for me, I seem to love each stage of your life more than the last, so I have a lot to look forward to! 

Here are your 5 month pics and some videos:

Daddy got a smile out of you....which was no easy task on this day.  You were very cranky (probably because you were up so much at night, silly girl!), so the photo shoot was long and drawn out.

And getting you to lie still for these pics is getting harder and harder.

Most of them end up like this.

Or, now that you are a master roller, like this.

You found your feet!

Love that smile!

Bumbo Baby

This one might be my favorite!  It makes me laugh every time :)

Just chillin'

Close up

Ha ha!  What is going on here Addy?

I know you are sleepy.  We are almost done baby girl.

Happy girl

And of course, the family photo :)   (Another thing that is VERY difficult to obtain!  You just want to look at us and not the camera.)

Here are the videos:

 

Well Ad Marie, another month has come and gone and I feel so blessed to have you in my life.  You are so much fun and its such a joy to be able to spend all of my days with you by my side.  You are smiley and happy just because, and that makes me smiley and happy too!  Mommy and Daddy love you more than words can say!

Love,

Mommy

Family Photo Shoot

When my friend Carrie, who is a photographer, was visiting last week she wanted to get a few photos of Addy.  So that gave me the perfect excuse to put Addy in this get up...

Tina and I bought Addy this dress at a consignment sale before she was even born, and I've been waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity for her to wear it.  It is 3-6 month size, so I knew she'd have to wear it soon or she never would.  So Carrie got some pics (which I cannot wait to see!!) and then Addy and I headed out to lunch with her pals Carley, Reese, and Rylee.  So, naturally we kept this outfit on for our lunch date.  Then when daddy came home from work we got a few photos with my camera.  None of all of us together because there was no one to take them. (Carrie was already gone.)  But we got some good ones.

It was hard for me to narrow the pics down, so be prepared for a boat load of Addy photos...

"Oh, hi Mom!  Time for the shoot?  OK!"

Yup, it's another new headband.

"I love my puppy!"

"I pull her ears."

"And she loves me anyway :)"

"Let's get a close up....drool and all."

"Me and my Daddy"

"I love him!"

"Daddy always makes me laugh!"

"And we play fun games...."

"....like flying baby!"

"I love it!!"

"I love my Mommy too!"

"She gives me millions of kisses!"

"Ooooh is that a mirror?"

"Me and my Momma"

We had so much fun that afternoon!

Play Date Number Two

Remember how it looked like Carley was just not feeling the photo shoot last time?  Well, this time the roles were reversed....

Daisy is always very excited about photo shoots ;)

Carley is content as can be.  Addy is still OK at this point.  Don't you love how they are both in yellow outfits?  We didn't plan it or anything.  Yup, these are the things that excite me these days.

Addy is starting to get fed up.  I love how she is holding onto Carley's seat the whole time :)

And now she is over it completely. 

"Help me Carley!"

"Just sit still Addy, and let's get this over with."

There you have it; play date number 2.  That was actually two weeks ago.  This past week I didn't get any pics of them because they both took nice long naps at separate times (yes, I was lucky) and so they didn't really see each other. 

Next up, a little family photo shoot.  Nowhere near the quality of my sis, but I tried, and I got some cute ones!

New Videos!

At the request of several of Addy's fans, here are some new videos of her. 

I promise this is the last one I will take of her rolling over...in this direction anyway. ;)

 I took this video this afternoon after Addy woke up from a nice long nap:

Happy Saturday!  Enjoy!



21 Weeks

Here we are again.  Weekly photo time.  I feel like the weeks are just flying by, and before I know it it's Thursday again and time for more weekly photos.  I always try to live in the moment with Miss Addy because I know that each and every moment with a baby is fleeting.  Her first year of life is almost halfway over and I feel like I just had her yesterday.  I want to stop time and keep her here in this precious innocent baby phase.  I am so in love with her and I get sad thinking about how quickly she is growing up.

I've been reminded of that a lot lately.  How quickly time flies.  From my sister sending me pics from when Addy was first born saying "Remember when Addy looked like this?", to my friend saying "I feel like it was just yesterday that you told me you were pregnant".  It's so true. 


I had a mini meltdown on Addy's 21 week photo shoot day because she is officially out of 3-6 month clothes.  I had her in one of my favorite outfits of hers and I realized it would be the last time my little baby would ever wear that outfit.  I just wanted to cry.

"It's only clothes", Mike says.

But it's not only clothes.  Our little baby is growing up way too fast for my liking.  Can't I stop time...just for a little while?

So for the first time I took 2 sets of weekly photos.  The first set is in a 6 month outfit, and after she spit up on that one I shoved her in the ole fave.  (Yes, you will soon see that my favorite outfit should have been retired weeks ago, I just couldn't bear to do it.)  Then I realized that I had no pictures of her in that outfit, so I took another set of weekly photos.  I may be slightly crazy, but like I said, I had a mini meltdown.

Here we go:

Yay! An outfit that fits!

Onto the now retired outfit:

This picture really showcases how tight this outfit is. Mike's words fit here: "Did you paint those pants on?" And: "Be careful Addy or you'll split your pants." Ha ha!

Looks like she's doing some kind of dance move here, ha ha! 

Note the wetness on the top of her onesie.  Yup, a mere 10 minutes sans bib results in this.  Which is why our girl lives in a bib.

"OK Mom, I will give you one last smile in this outfit."

It doesn't look quite as skin tight in the pics, but I promise, it was way too small.  The outfit is just so cute.  It says, What's Not to Love?.  And I really like the colors.  Maybe I'm weird, but does anyone else remember having a hard time packing away the outfits that their child grew out of?

Father's Day Fiascos

As I mentioned in my last post, Mike decided to get in on the "Poor Addy" games.  Let me preface this story by saying that although we have had a fair amount of Addy mishaps in the past week, at least she wasn't hurt.  Thank the Lord.  And I debated not writing about any of these things and just pretending they never happened, but that wouldn't be reality would it?  In the world of child rearing, it's not always wine and roses.  Things happen, and you learn as you go.

I had to work a 12 hour day shift on Father's Day this year (and Mike worked a 12 hour day shift on Mother's Day.  What can I say, poor planning), so Mike had a Daddy and Addy day.  It started off with a walk into her nursery and a glance into her crib to find poo everywhere.  On her, on her outfit, on the crib sheet.  So Mike takes her out, cleans her up, and props her on the glider while he tackles the crib.  Mistake number one.  Next thing he knows, she had slid off the glider and was on the floor (carpeted thank goodness).  She was crying because she was scared, and when he picked her up she stopped.  Is that last sentence starting to sound familiar?  Gosh, this is pitiful. 

He then decides that it would be safer to prop her on the floor while he changes the crib sheet, so he carefully places her in the boppy pillow on the floor.  He takes the crib mattress out so that he can fix the crib skirt.  (I'll be honest; I was surprised he even noticed that the crib had a skirt, much less that it needed to be fixed.)  So, he props the mattress up against the crib and ....it fell on Addy!  True story.  So, you know what comes next, she was crying because she was scared, blah blah blah.  Luckily crib mattresses weigh next to nothing, so again, she wasn't hurt.

But has this past week been unreal or what?  I cannot believe all of this stuff happened to our poor baby girl under our watch....in one weeks time.  Unbelievable.  She couldn't believe it either.

 Check out this picture Mike sent me while I was at work, titled "This pretty much sums up our morning":

How horrified does she look?????  (Side note:  That red mark on her chest is a little rash that has been there for days, not a result of any of our recent mishaps.)  I have NEVER seen a face like this on her!  But never fear, I'm told that moments later our little girl was back to this:

This is the face we love to see!

Hopefully we'll give Addy a break for awhile.  It's been a rough week.  Time to put an end to the game of "Let's See How Resilient Our Child Can Be".  Game over.  We've been checkmated.

Mommy Fail Take One... Two....Three

OK, so poor little Adilyn has had a rough week. 

It all started while the OSU crew was visiting.  Hmmm.  Yes, I think I'll blame OSU for the start of all of this.  Anywho, I'm holding Addy as I often do these days: on my hip with one arm.  We're just hanging out until all of the sudden she decided to throw herself backwards!  In my attempt to save my child from flinging herself out of my arms completely, I went to grab her with my other hand and one of my long nails gauged her arm.  And this was no little scrape.  There was blood....and an ear piercing scream.  There is nothing worse than hearing your child scream in pain and knowing that you caused it :(  Words cannot describe how awful I felt.  But with my snuggles she quickly got over it.  I must say that she got over it a lot faster than her mommy did.   My nails are now cut to the quick, I assure you.  Mommy Fail #1.

Later that weekend I placed her in her small swing up in our bedroom while I got ready for church.  I didn't buckle her in.  Mistake.  She would always just sit there and watch me get ready, so I didn't bother.  On this particular day she decided to spice things up a little bit....by propelling herself out of the swing.  Yup, before I knew it she had face planted into the carpet.  And again with the crying.  I raced over and scooped her up and she stopped crying immediately, so I knew she just scared herself.  She was not hurt, thank goodness.  That swing is so low that it's essentially on the floor, so it could've been much worse.  Nonetheless, Mommy Fail #2.

So now we are ready for church....

Just chillin'.  It's been a rough morning.

Yup, I went a little crazy on Etzy buying her headbands.  They are not all as big and obnoxious as this one, I promise.

Little lady

"Mom, are we going or what?"  Oh Addy, little did you know, Mommy Fail #3 is on its way.

So I placed her in her car seat and she started crying and scrunching herself all around.  I didn't think much of this because she often cries when we put her in her car seat.  She does not like getting buckled in.  So I proceeded to buckle her and she proceeded with her crying and scrunching.  A few minutes later she stopped, and she was a complete angel at church.  No crying at all!  So we get home and I take her out of the car seat to discover a random new scratch on her arm (separate from the one I gave her, mind you).  Hmmm.  Didn't know where that came from.  We continued on with our day and as I was taking the blanket out of her car seat later that day I came across and large splinter of wood in her car seat.  More like a shard of wood.  Sharp as heck.  How ON EARTH did that get in there?????  Mystery solved on the phantom arm scratch.  Mommy Fail #3.

What a rough weekend for little Addy Marie.  I felt like the worst mom ever.  But I learned several lessons. 

Hold her tightly and always expect the unexpected. 

The straps on seats, swings, and other baby paraphernalia are there for a reason.  Use them. 

Investigate the situation if your child appears to be bawling for no reason. 

Moral of the story: Stop endangering your child.  Sigh.

Unfortunately the story does not stop here.  Daddy decided to get in on the fun.  Double sigh.  More on that later.