Nine months of Addilyn

Addi Jane - 

This month has been filled with so many firsts! You crawl, go from laying down to sitting, say mama and dada, wave, clap and are eating some "people" food.  It is crazy how much has changed this month.  You do not seem like a baby at all, which is both sad and exciting for me.  You are still happy most of the time and love being around people.  You especially love kids and other babies and love watching them.  You smile and laugh when we walk past people at the store or whenever people come to our house.  Your scrunched up nose and big gummy smile is adorable! 

You've always been in the upper percentile for height and weight until this month.  We were a little surprised when we went to the doctor for your nine month appointment and you had only gained a few ounces and didn't get any taller.  The doctor was a little concerned so we have to go back in a few weeks to see if you've gained weight.  I'm guessing it's a combination of you being sick this month and being so distracted and not wanting to nurse as much.  While your self hasn't grown much you've gotten so much more hair this month and I love it! I can't wait until I can put a bow in it or better yet a pony tail!

You finally are using the big bathtub and it makes bathtime much easier for us.  You love splashing and kicking in the water and get excited when I just say it's time for a bath.  You love the water! You don't even mind when we dump water on your head and are happy to spend time in there.

 You love eating and so far have not tried something you haven't loved.  We started giving you lunch most days, so now you are eating two to three meals a day and nursing about four times a day (plus one time in the early early morning).  Nursing has been a little bit of a struggle this month as you are so distracted and don't like sitting still and will sometimes only nurse for a minute and sometimes not at all.  You also starting biting this month which has not been fun for me! But we are sticking it out and are going to nurse until at least a year!

Sadly you got sick again this month.  Thankfully not as close to as bad as before, but you had a bad cold, were super congested and even had a little fever.  It lasted about a week so we were stuck at home most of the days.  The only good thing about you being sick is you give me lots and lots of cuddles which I do miss!

The weather is finally getting nicer and it's been so nice to spend some time outside.  You absolutely love being outside.  You got to go on a swing for the first time and love it.  We've spent some time on our deck, you've walked around our yard a lot with daddy and it makes me so excited about spending lots of time outside this summer.

You've always loved your daddy but this month you really really love him.  You now give him lots of hugs and kisses too.  Whenever I say daddy is home you get so excited and you reach for him and want to play with him all the time.  He loves tossing you around, taking you outside and being silly with you.  

This month has been so much fun to watch you turn into this little girl with a big personality. It's so exciting to watch you learn new things and although I get sad that you are growing up so fast, I look forward to new stages and new things to do together.  I say it all the time, but I still have days where I look at you and can't believe you are my daughter.  We love your happy, cute, silly and wild little self and are lucky to be your parents!

Love, 

your mom 

P.S. It is getting so hard to take your pictures these days! I try bribery of food, jumping up and down, your daddy's help . . . it is hard work!

Hello 8 Months

Dear Addilyn, 

I know I say this every month but this month I really mean it! You have grown and changed so much and I can't believe how fast time is going.  I love the new things you are doing, but I miss those snuggly newborn days and want time to slow down a little.   Your personality is really coming out this month.  You are silly, active and love being around others.  You are constantly wanting to move and play and interact with whoever is around.  

You rarely cry and are happy most of the time, as long as you are being entertained and played with. You'll be content in your highchair or exersaucer for short periods of time, but usually like to be played with on the floor or on the couch.  You love being tossed in the air, playing peek-a-boo and running around the house.  You laugh a lot more these days and your sweet little giggles are so cute.  You don't make your manly grunting sounds as often, which surprisingly I miss.  You've started making "la la la" and "ba ba ba" sounds.  And have discovered that you can scream, yell and make all kinds of noises!

This month you ate puffs for the first time and you love them! Whenever I take out the bottle and shake it you start flailing your hands and laughing.  No matter how many I put on your try, you try to grab them altogether and put them all in your mouth.  They've worked well for bribing you to sit still for pictures too!

 Besides loving puffs you like just about any food we've given you.  Sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, apples, pears, peaches, and bananas to name a few.  Your favorite food is probably yogurt.  I'm pretty sure you could eat tons of it if I let you!

You love being in the water.  You love the pool at the Y and love taking baths at home.  You've started splashing more and kicking your feet.  It's taken you awhile but you can finally sit up for an extended period of time on your own.  You aren't crawling yet, but can get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth.  You can scoot backwards and turn in circles, you just can't move forward yet!

 Minus this last week, you've been doing such a great job sleeping.  You go to bed between 7 and 8 and wake up between 4 and 5 to eat and then sleep until about 6:30.  This last week you've been crying when we put you to bed and waking up earlier in the night.  I think you are dealing with a little separation anxiety and hopefully will be back on track soon!  You still take three naps a day and the length of the first two are a little unpredictable and the last one is just about always 30 minutes.

Our days look pretty much the same as last month.  We're always home in the morning until after your first nap.  We both stay in our pajamas, make coffee, eat breakfast, unload the dishwasher and hang out in the living room.  After your morning nap we try to get out of the house.  We often go visit my friends at school during their lunch time and recently started going to the Y twice a week.  You've done pretty good in the childcare there, except for once.  I hope we can keep going as it's good for me to workout and good for you to be around other kids and adults without me.  We go to music class or have playdates with friends, and we see your grandparents often during the week too which is great for both of us!  I am so excited for warmer weather so we can go on walks and play outside.

I love your big eyes, long eyelashes, scrunched up nose, big cheeks and perfect smile.  You make my heart happy every day and I am so lucky to be your mom.  This month has been so fun to watch your little (or big) personality come out.  There are some moments where I get a little nervous about mothering your active, wild self in the future.  But I'm so thankful that God gave us a spunky, funny, full of life baby girl and I can't wait to watch you grow into a little girl (although not too fast!).  I hope some day you know how much your daddy and I love you!

Love, 

your mom

Half a year

Dear Addi Jane,

I can't even believe you are half a year old! It is hard to believe how much you've grown this month and how fast time is going.  The first time I tried to take your monthly pictures you were not so cooperative.  But it made for some great pictures.  Thankfully when we tried again we got some better pictures!

This month was so fun, mostly because of Christmas.  I know you won't remember it this year but we'll have plenty of pictures to show you.   Christmas with you was better than I even imagined.  I have pictured what holidays would be like when we had a baby and it was so fun to be able to experience my favorite time of the year with you!  I can't wait to make traditions and memories with you. 

At the beginning of this month we took you to your first Christmas party.  Daddy had a work party and you were quite the hit! Every time someone came up to meet you, you would kick your legs, giggle and give the biggest smile.  It was so fun to show you off.  We also took you to see Santa.  At first you were a little skeptical, but decided you liked him after a minute or two.  

Near the end of this month we gave you your first real food to try.  We tried rice cereal a few times and you were disgusted.  Which I can't blame you because we tasted it too and it was not good!  We let you try sweet potatoes and you weren't quite sure what to think.  You may have swallowed a few tiny tastes but most of the time just let it get all over your face and hands!

We got a huge snow storm on New Year's day and it was fun to be stuck at home for two days since Daddy didn't have to work.  We took you outside while the snow was falling and you didn't really know what to think about it getting in your face.  I can't wait until you can play outside next year!

Towards the end of the month you started getting a little cranky.  I'm not sure if it was because we were forced to stay in our house due to the snow and cold weather, or just a little phase but you weren't your normal happy self.  Thankfully I think it is over and you're back to your smiling, people loving self.  I'm sure you will go through all kinds of phases and we will love you through every single one! 

I wish I could tell you your sleep magically started getting better but sadly you are still a poor sleeper! We finally let you cry a little when you woke up shortly after we put you to bed, when we knew you weren't hungry and needed to sleep.  I hate to hear you cry but know that waking up six times a night is not good for either of us.  At the end of the month you've been waking up twice to eat which I'm okay with for now! After five months of being swaddled you are finally free in your crib and sleep on your stomach most of the time.  I was afraid you'd never be out of that swaddle!

This month you learned to sit up on your own and can stay for a really short amount of time but it's so fun to see you learning new things.  

I feel like this month you are really no longer looking like a baby.  Your personality is coming out, you are more vocal and you definitely recognize and know who you want and love.  You love your grandparents and love seeing them.  You laugh and smile whenever anyone walks up the stairs in our house or when we take you out of your carseat and we're around family.  

This month has been a little rough because we've been stuck inside a lot because of the cold weather and snow.  I am so anxious to get out of the house and I feel like you are bored too!  I can't wait for warmer weather so we can go on walks again and get together with our friends.  

It's hard to believe that you've been part of our life for half a year.  It's crazy to think that in another six months you will be one!  I can't imagine life without you and feel so thankful God picked me to be your mom.  Happy half birthday Addi Jane!

Love, 

your mom

Hello Four Months

Dear Addilyn, 

It's hard to believe that you are four months old already. I have a feeling I'm going to say that every month though.  This month has been so fun as you're little personality is coming out more and more.  You are such a happy baby and smile a lot! Your big gummy smile and beautiful big eyes are one of my favorite things about you.  

You still love the mornings and it's my favorite time of the day with you.  We sit on the living room floor, I drink my coffee and we play for about an hour before you take a nap.  Most of the time we are on the floor you quickly roll over to your tummy.  You finally don't mind being on your stomach for a good amount of time, but you aren't so great at getting back to your back when you're done.  

You notice so much now! You love looking at and watching Molly and don't even mind when she licks you.  You love looking at things around our house and love playing with all your toys.  It's funny to me that you already have an opinion of what things you like to play with and what you don't care for.  

This month you got a pretty bad cold.  It was so sad.  You had a hard time breathing out of your nose and were so stuffy, with a bad cough.  We had two incredibly rough nights where we both slept terribly!  That started your bad sleeping phase, which you are still in!  We are anxiously awaiting for you to grow out of it and go back to being a pretty decent sleeper.  You probably find it funny at the different things that I try to attribute your bad sleeping to and all the things that I try to get you to sleep, when it probably just comes down to the fact that you aren't ready to sleep for long stretches and just aren't a great sleeper. (yet, hopefully!). 

You take most of your naps in your crib and although I like having some time to get things done myself, I miss those naps on the cough and your snuggles.  So once in awhile I hold you while you nap and I hope you keep letting me do it here and there because I love it! 

This month we celebrated Halloween and you dressed up as the cutest cow ever! I've never been a fan of Halloween until this year.  It's much more fun with a baby, even though you won't remember it.  We went to your cousins house to see them all dressed up and then stopped at Uncle Jacob's and Aunt Lauren's on our way home.  Next year you'll get to go trick or treating with them!

So many of the pictures that I try to take look like this because you are always moving. You also started laughing a lot.  Sometimes you do this almost fake sounding laugh and it is so funny.  But a handful of times you've given us this full on belly laugh with this little higher pitched giggle and I'm not sure anything has ever made me smile bigger.  I can't wait until you do that all the time!

You're getting really good at taking pictures and most of the time we can get you to smile! I hope you keep cooperating for pictures because I plan to continue to take a ton of them.  I still love dressing you every day, which is a good thing because since you drool all the time we go through about four outfits a day. I keep thinking all this drooling will result in some teeth but so far you are teeth free!

I'm pretty sure this next month is going to be my favorite as we get to celebrate Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  I can't wait to do all of our traditions with you and start some new ones too.  I love the happy, sweet little girl you are turning into and love watching you grow but wouldn't mind if time would slow down just a little.   You continue to be such a blessing and I still have moments where I can't believe that I am your mom.  I love you so much Addilyn Jane and think you are the best thing ever!

Love,

your mom