Learning So Much!

This picture is for Grandma Debbie - Adelyn is sporting her new fatigues.

It doesn't surprise me at all that Adelyn is capable of learning new stuff, but she has surprised me several times in the last few times. She's learned so many things that we've made no effort to teach her. She picks up so many things. She has been shaking her head no for a while and sometimes she is just doing it because she thinks it is fun. But, she's started nodding to answer questions. Sometimes she nods yes even if she doesn't know what I'm asking, but it is still pretty neat that she knows she is being asked a question and that a response is warranted.

Also, tonight I told her that she has pretty hair. She reached up and rubbed her head. I was surprised and thought it might be a coincidence, so I asked her where her hair is and she did it again. I've never tried to teach her about hair. This is one of those things she's just picked up.

She's always been an interactive baby, but she's becoming more interactive all the time. It is amazing how fast she's learning new things. As we near her first birthday and I have sad feelings about how fast she's growing up, I also realize that we have so many neat years to look forward to.

My New Perspective

I've always loved Christmas for different reasons. When I was a child, I was a typical child and all about new goodies. Over the last several years, I've really enjoyed the whole season and the decorating and giving gifts to people I love. Now that I'm a mom, it is all about my baby girl. The best part is - this is just the beginning. Seth and I thoroughly enjoyed watching our little angel have so much fun this Christmas. She doesn't understand any of it this year, but as the years go by, we are going to make it a priority to continue to enjoy the season while helping Adelyn learn that Christmas is more than a time for new goodies. It is about the precious gift God sent to save us. I really hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas. If I don't post again between now and then - Happy New Year! God Bless!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my little superstar!
Adelyn has never really tried before, but today she decided to start climbing the steps. She had no trouble. More baby proofing needing...
Our sweet little family - too bad Adelyn wasn't looking at the camera.
My youngest brother, Justin with Adelyn and I.
My other brother, Josh, and his wife Jessica. They are expecting a baby in early Feb.
Tonya with the cute little purse that Tonya got her.

Adelyn's First Christmas - Round 1

I called this round 1, but Adelyn has been getting Christmas presents since November... Thanks so much to everyone for all the wonderful gifts!

She got to open her first gift shortly after arriving. It was no surprise that the tissue paper on top and the plastic bags on the bottom were her favorite part.

These aren't very good pictures, but since Lesley didn't get to see Adelyn in her Christmas dress, I posted the ones I had. It was too long and she couldn't walk without tripping on it, so we sacrificed fashion for comfort and agility!


It looks like she is really telling Elijah a story in this picture.
Fortunately, Adelyn is very willing to share. This is one of the ways she likes to interact with new people. She will give you stuff and wave to you, but she's not too crazy about anyone that she's not real comfortable with holding her.
Adelyn loved to let other people play with her blocks. After someone would stack them up, she got to knock them over. She thoroughly enjoyed it!

Merry Christmas from all of us! We are all blessed so much! Let's remember those that don't have enough and pray for them and give what we can.

Dinner and a Prayer Request

Adelyn eats several different kinds of table food, but I usually fix her something and Seth and I something else. Well tonight, we all had spaghetti. She really liked the whole wheat pasta. There was just enough tomato sauce to make a mess and keep the spaghetti from sticking together and getting hard.

Please pray for my Grandma Marlene. I have 2 Grandmas and everything about them is different. Grandma Rosie (I know she's reading, so hi Grandma!) has always been very healthy and even though she's over 80, she still does whatever she wants. She mows her yard and travels and could outwork a lot of 30 year olds. Grandma Marlene is only in her late 60s, but she's been in bad health for years. Anyway, her health has been getting worse lately. Please say a prayer for her.

New Tricks and Toys

I was just telling someone how much Adelyn is learning these days. We put lotion on her after her evening bath, and she helps rub it in. If you ask her if she needs lotion on her belly, she'll start rubbing her belly. She'll also stick out her tongue on command. Her dad taught her that.
Taking the battery cover off the TV remote and taking the batteries out is one of her less desirable tricks. She cries when I take it away from her. I hated to do it, because I know my brother, Josh, will call it "ghetto", but I had to break down and put some tape on the remote. Josh will get a taste of this kind of stuff soon enough!
Grandma Pam got Adelyn a pretend kitchen for Christmas. She and Daddy put it together this afternoon. I spectated and offered unwanted opinions.

Check out my new banner!

I have to thank Nikki for creating my new look. She was super quick and wonderful to work with. She only charges $20! $15 of that is helping her go back to the Dominican Republic to assist with humanitarian projects and $5 of that is going to Real Hope for Haiti. I'm sure she'd be happy to help you personlize things a bit!

What??? 11 months old! Nuh-uh!

I really can't believe that my baby girl is almost 1 year old! With the holiday season here, the end of the year is going to be here before I know it. I really wanted to post some video of my very skilled walker, but it takes too long and I'm tired. So, I'll just tell you about it. She's such a good little walker. She walks all around the house and looks SO CUTE doing it.

In other news, I discovered today that I could keep Adelyn entertained for about an hour with my wallet that contains my 159 cards. I don't use credit cards, but I have debit cards for 3 different accounts, a few emergency credit cards, a few department store credit cards that I never carry a balance on, id cards for stuff like health insurance, my CPA id card, club cards for places like Kroger, Subway, Qdoba, and Speedway, etc... Anyway, I gave her the entire wallet - she removed the contents and played with the stuff for a long time. She normally gets bored with stuff pretty quick, so I was surprised.

Her other favorite thing to play with is my cell phone. She actually calls people that are in my phone book. If you get a call and you hear squealing, and a little one saying "hey momma", it is Adelyn. She's called a few of my co-workers recently. She loves it! She also waves to people on the phone. When Seth is talking to her on the phone and says "hi" she'll start waving.

Ready for Cold Weather and Getting So Smart!

Adelyn is doing so many funny and surprising things. She has started pretending. Seth noticed that she was touching the top of something recently and then rubbing her hands together. She was pretending that the rounded top of one of the gates was a lotion dispenser because she sees Seth and I using hand soap and lotion all the time. I've noticed that when I do it, she'll rub her hands together too! She knows the answer to "where is mommy's nose?" Yesterday she found a CD on the floor in the office. She picked it up, walked over to the CD player and put the CD in it! I was so surprised about that one! She's rarely in the office and we hardly ever use the CD player, but she knew that is where CDs go! She's walking around like a little pro lately! Watching her grow and learn is an amazing privilege.

Cute headwear and balloons!

We received our recent Gymboree order today. Look at this adorable hat. We've got the matching mittens too! I love this little hat. Plus, with the ear flaps and strap, she can't take it off! Bonus! The boots are new too!
Adelyn likes to put various things on her head. This is her wearing her sleeper upside down.

We went to a baby shower this weekend. Adelyn walked around chasing balloons the whole time. She thoroughly enjoyed herself. She's become much more sure-footed. She looks so cute walking around like a big girl!

A Prayer for the Innocent and Defenseless

I just read that the mom confessed to killing her daughter, Riley Ann Sawyer. She told police that the girl was beaten with leather belts, her head was held underwater in a bathtub and then she was thrown across a room, her head striking a tile floor. I don't know how someone does something like this, and that I will never understand that. After reading that I feel so sad for all the defenseless children (and even animals) in the world that are mistreated by their parents or other adults in their lives. At a minimum, we should all keep them in our daily prayers.

http://www.preventchildabuse.org/support_us/index.shtml

The Christmas Season is Here!

I normally decorate the whole house inside and out for Christmas. We are scaling down this year due to busy little hands that like to get into everything and the lack of free time that we now have. I'm evening skipping ornaments on the tree. I decorated it with silk flowers since Adelyn can't break them and get cut. Here are a few pics of my princess looking festive! I got some better pics, but I'm saving those incase I use them on our Christmas cards.

Adelyn decided to remove her headband and korker bow and put it on the tree. She thought it was pretty funny.

This girl loves to play with laundry baskets. She likes taking laundry out, putting various things in the baskets and sitting in them. She got in this by herself. Seth gave her a little company by adding Mickey and Raggedy Ann (courtesy of Grandma Pam and Grandma Debbie).

The Many Faces of Adelyn's First Thanksgiving

We were all ready to go visit family for Thanksgiving when we realized that Adelyn wasn't feeling well. She had a runny nose and a fever. Since we kept her all to ourselves with the exception of a visit from Grandma Pam, here are pics of Addy Rose on her first Thanksgiving. It was filled with many different emotions...

This is pretty early in the day. She felt good enough to play her little keyboard.

Pardon the runny nose, you can tell here that she's starting to not feel quite as good.

She's definitely not a happy camper in this pic.

She had rebounded briefly in this pic for a little celebration. The pic is fuzzy for some reason, but since she's smiling so big and you can see all her teeth, I posted it anyway.

Hanging in there...

This was the low point of the day. In this pic, she totally looks like a little girl with a cold. Poor baby girl. She needed lots of hugs and cuddles yesterday. Over and over, she said, ma ma momma... She has the sweetest little voice.

She seems to be doing a little better today. Her nose is still running, but she's breathing better than she was yesterday.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. God is good, and we all have so much to be thankful for.

My Little Model

What am I going to do when Adelyn gets big enough to consistently reject all of the things I want to "decorate" her with? I bought several different flowers to make into hair clips yesterday. This one is by far the biggest, which is a good thing. This one is bordering on too big.

More pics...

What a little fashionista!
Seth is telling her to watch him point a laser at a wall. Look how intently she's watching! So cute!

A Simple Pic

I think my baby girl has come back around to being a bow wearer. She was in a grabby stage for a while, but she's been wearing her bows without protest again! Yay! She almost looks mad in this pic, but she still just looks so sweet!

Fashion Show for Grandma Debbie

Before I forget - Adelyn Rose was 10 months old yesterday!! Her first b-day will be here before I know it! She's getting so big. She's so smart, sweet, and funny.

Seth's mom is planning a group portrait of the grandkids. Since we are 4+ hours apart, I'm showing her Adelyn's wardrobe electronically! Instead of emailing these pics to Lesley and Katie, I thought I'd post these pics for everyone to enjoy. These are right before nap time, so there aren't any smiley baby pics. Plus, she really didn't want to stay still! Debbie, look at these and see if you see something that would work. I ordered a few new outfits that will be arriving any day too. Plus, I mentioned the light pink smocked dress, look at yesterday's post for that one. I've got more outfits to put on her, but she had enough after these.

This skirt is probably a little long. She has a matching shrug for this outfit.