Adelyn is 1 !

I know this sounds so typical...but I am going to say it anyways. I can't believe she is one. We had to most wonderful birthday with our little pumpkin head. She woke up happy on her birthday...at 8:45am I might add. She always wakes up right at 7! It's like she knew it was her special day and she was going to sleep in. Daniel and I didn't complain either! He took off work Tuesday for her bday and we started the day off with her gymnastics class. She had fun showing her Dada all of the bouncy things and how she hangs on the bars. From there we came home and did nap time. Then we headed to the mall. I needed to get some things there and wanted to look at some outfits to wear to her 1st bday party; plus she LOVES going to the mall. That night, Mom, Dad and David came over and we had a good homemade dinner that Daniel helped me with and cupcakes also. Addie had her first cupcake and it was so precious. She kinda put her finger in it for a couple tastes and then dug in. She grabbed the whole top of the cupcake off and was loving it. We need to work on her candle blowing skills though. I didn't think about the fact that she would not have any idea what to do with it. She looked at it for a second and then just tried to grab it!! Yikes. That would been a great first memory. She would be scared of candles for the rest of her childhood. haha. We gave her a couple of presents that night. Mom and Dad gave her a precious skirt and pair of shoes. Daniel and I gave her a baby stroller that is her size with a small baby to put inside. SHE WAS SO EXCITED. She immediately started whipping that thing around the living room. She stayed at it for about 30 minutes until she was sooo tired and ready for bed. I gave her a bath to get all of the stickiness off and put her down for the night. When I came back down stairs I was so emotional just thinking about the fact that her first birthday was over. It just means so much to me to celebrate one year of her life... I just think about all of the blessings of the days and hours that have past that we have been fortunate enough to call her our daughter.

I can't imagine life without her. Like I have said before I feel so unworthy to have been blessed with her. I know some parents struggle with infertility or the health of their children and I do not take for granted the fact that He placed her in our home for a short time. We both pray that for eternity Adelyn will come to know the Lord... and one day she will know Him personally. He has such a bigger plan for her life than I can even imagine. The first few weeks of her life were rough for me. There were times that I didn't know if I was capable of being a mom (not that I have it ALL figured out now). But the reason I get so emotional is just thinking of the strength that the Lord has given us already and the joy she has brought to us. It challenges Daniel and me all of the time. We don't always make it through those challenges without fighting :) but we make it through and are stronger for it.

So Happy 1st Birthday to Adelyn Elizabeth. You are a beautiful gift of God.

Okay...so finally for her update.

Weight: 22lbs (65%)

Length: 31.75 (97%+)

Head: 18.75 (97%+)

Sleep: 8pm-7am, Nap 10am-11:30am, Nap 2:30-4:30 These nap times are approximate. She just switched to 2 naps a day.

Food: WHOLE MILK! No more nursing or Bpump. While I do miss nursing her, I do not miss pumping! I feel free :) haha. All kinds of finger foods. She can pretty much eat anything we eat as long as we cut it up. She is beginning to feed herself. The easiest thing right now is applesauce. I can put some in a bowl and hand her a spoon and she does really well. I didn't say it doesn't make a huge mess, but she is learning :).

Learning: Words (easy (I tell her this when she is trying to bite me), so (or some form of Zoe), oh, uhoh, up, go, ninnie (minnie mouse), bk (book), rock (rocking chair), gar (car), mooo. She looooves ball and anything that rolls (hmmm sounds like a boy). Sippy cup: she started doing really well with that this month. She could push her baby stroller or shopping cart all day long. Still getting used to strangers, family members that she doesn't see often and nursery at church. Last Sunday was really rough. She cried off and on the whole time. I HATE it when it's like that, but I know that she will only get adapted to it if we continue letting her stay. She can climb up the stairs really well and is starting to learn to turn around and come down backwards on the two small steps in our living room. She will open any drawer or cabinet and pull things out and rearrange. She loves watching whatever is going on in the kitchen. If you ask tell her "one" and hold up your pointer finger she will very happily hold her finger up too.

Teeth: She had 6 up until yesterday... 2 more are breaking through on the bottom. 8 teeth scare me because right now she thinks its okay to bite when she gets frustrated. I won't get started on this topic... all I can say is I am trying to do everything in my power to stop this immediately.

Favorite Things: balloons, blocks, pushing things (doesn't necessarily have to have wheels), looking out of the window at the cars and dogs, when Daniel gets home from work, playing on the playground across the street from our house, Zoe.

Words I would use to describe her: Determined, Joyful, Loving, Feisty, Fast Paced, Serious (eyebrows tell it all), Musical.

(I may have forgotten some things and will come back to update).

Addie Talking to the Goats at the Fair

I took her to the fair because I just knew she would love the animals... and I was RIGHT! She could not get enough of them. :)

Gymnastics!!!

Adelyn had her very first gymnastics class today! Well, it's not really a class... they offer free play for 1-2 year olds once a week at NR Gymnastics. We went because her little friend Halle goes and they had recommended it. Addie LOVED it! She has recently learned that she loves bouncing...so the trampoline was perfect. It brought back so many memories when I was there of how much I used to love gymnastics. It was so cute to watch her walk around and explore. I didn't get to take a picture, but she even loved hanging on the bars. She would put her hands on and hang on VERY tight while I had my hands on her waist and let her swing back and forth. :) So precious.

Savannah/3rd Anniversary Trip

Home from Savannah...lovely time with my Daniel. Beautiful buildings, parks, walks, cobblestone streets, rivers, trolleys, shopping, eating, B&B, Starbucks, MEETING PAULA DEAN :), talking, resting, praying, playing, exploring, lighthouses, beaches...! LOVED the kisses we got from Addie when we arrived home.

The Dress

This is the beautiful dress that Mom bought for Adelyn for her dedication. I can't get enough of her in this dress. Such a little princess.

"Snack"

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11 Months!

Photo taken at "rhyme time" at the library.

Our little pumpkin is 11 months old? Wait, really?

Her other names: Addie Pie, Addie Pants, Addie Patty, Addie Bell, Addie Beth, Adawyn, Addie 4 teeth, Addie 6 teeth, Ad (Zoe's favorite), Adaline (by accident).

Weight: 22 lbs (only know this because we went to the Dr. for ear infections:()

Sleep: 8pm-7am, 2 naps (morning and afternoon) 1.5-2 hours long. We are extremely blessed with her sleep schedule and habits. All we have to do is say "are you ready for night night?" and we take her to to her crib and lay her down and she lays there and maybe talks a little and goes to sleep. On occasion she will cry out (normally when she is not quite ready for sleep or if she is BEYOND tired). In the case that she is BEYOND tired we are forced to just let her cry for about 5 minutes until she falls asleep. If she isn't quite tired enough yet, I really try not to go back in and pick her up because then she will think that she can just get up when she cries. I normally will go in just once and make sure she doesn't have a poopy diaper and give her the paci and leave. This normally does the trick. I attribute the great sleep schedule to not being afraid of letting her settle in to sleep on her own. Up until she was 3 months old I HAD to rock her to sleep or she wouldn't go to sleep. After that I decided it was time for her to do it on her own. While she was learning I would let her cry for a few minutes (like 2) go in and give paci and leave. Probably did it about 5 times and she slowly learned. Once she was about 5-6 months old if she cried we just made sure she was well and let her cry until she fell asleep. We have not had trouble with her not sleeping through the night since about 5-6 months old. I know every baby is different but Addie LOVES her sleep.

Food: 7am nurse/bottle (started whole milk just the other day!!), 8am breakfast oatmeal, fruit, banana, 11am lunch, baby food meal, cut up fruit, bottle, 3pm, bottle, 5:30pm dinner, baby food meal, fruit, anything we are eating:), 8pm bottle. She is really starting to love any table food. We love being able to cut up for her whatever we are eating. I still using the 3rd stage baby food to fill in the blanks.

I posted at her 9 month update that we were worried about eggs. We took her to my Allergist Dr. Aarons and had her tested for common allergens and things that I am allergic to and she didn't show positive to ANYTHING! We are really rejoicing about this. He said that we needed to start eggs & nuts ASAP. (this is beyond scary to me!) We first started her on meals that had egg in them and she did great. Last Saturday we fed Adelyn scrambled eggs for the first time and she couldn't get enough and she had no reaction! We were so excited. You would think we had given her a cake or cookie. We tried to feed her a little at first and then wait to see if she reacted, but the whole time we were feeding her the rest of her breakfast she kept pointing in the kitchen and was loudly saying "Dada"!!!

Learning: walking (almost running), waving bye bye or hello, opening kitchen cabinets and pulling everything out, knocking (with her precious little knuckles) on the door or wall, smelling flowers (sniffle sniffle in and out), dancing bobbing her head, when we say "so big" she holds her hands above her head, perfected her clapping to open hands back and forth, spotting a dog ANYWHERE at any distance and says "woowoo" in a high pitch voice, does better in nursery at church, likes to help with any house projects (or at least see what we are doing), tries to brush her hair or put bows in her hair, just learned how to blow kisses, she also gives good kisses. Words: mama, dada, nana, papa, dayday (zoe or baby), gaga (outside), knokknok (knock, knock), woowoo (dog), beepbeep in high voice (bird), guck (truck), gar (car), wawa (water), mama (sometimes means food too), nak (snack), baba (ball), wack wack (quack), nigh nigh (night night), wock (walk).

Favorite things this month: chasing game, snacks, being outside, blowing kisses, when Dada gets home every night.

My favorite thing... when Daniel is around and we are playing with Addie- he will lean in and give me a kiss and once she is watching he will linger so that our lips are touching... we will wait a few seconds until she can get to us and she will say "mmm" and kiss us right near our mouths!!! It's like a group kiss instead of a group hug! haha

Adelyn's Dedication!

Sunday September 26th, 2010 Addie was dedicated at our church. It was a very special day. Our families came from out of town to join us that morning. She did so well during the service even though she had just started with a cold that morning. I had some snacks in my hand in case things got really interesting. Once she knew they were there that is all she wanted. :) We all went to eat afterwards at Brixx in Brier Creek.

Thank you Lord for the beautiful gift of our daughter. Every day I feel like I do not deserve this amazingly funny, sweet & healthy girl.