5 Months - just a little late

Dear Addilyn, 

This last month has gone really fast and has been so much fun.  This has always been my favorite time of the year, but has been even better with you here.  We've been really busy this month and have gone to lots of new places.  You have loved it!  You are so social and love being around people.  Every time someone looks at you, you do this little giggle and shrug your shoulders and give the biggest smile.  It is wonderful! I hope you keep loving people.  

One of the parties you got to go to this year was a Cowboy and Indian party.  We all got to dress up and you were the cutest little Indian ever.  I had so much fun making your costume and getting to dress up as a family.  

We are so lucky to have lots of friends to play with.  You're especially lucky to have lots of girlfriends your age.  We've had lots of playdates and this month you have started noticing other babies more and more and I can't wait for you to really play with them.  

This month we celebrated Thanksgiving and clearly we are the most thankful for you this year! We had Thanksgiving at your Grandma and Grandpa's house first and then went to Aunt Sheri's house for a second Thanksgiving and a little Hanukkah celebration too.  

The day after Thanksgiving is always my favorite day of the year and I think you loved it too! I know you won't remember it, but luckily we'll have tons of pictures to show you.  You were so happy even though it was a little cold outside.  We rode on a tractor ride to go pick out our tree and found a perfect one!

This day last year was really scary for us, as I was newly pregnant with you and we had a scare where we thought we had lost you.  It such a hard day and I was so happy to replace those memories with new ones this year.   You have made every tradition we have better and better!

That night we decorated Grandma and Grandpa's tree and decorated ours the next morning.  It was so fun putting up the ornaments and telling you about them.  Soon we will have lots of ornaments for you!  You were much more interested in wanting to eat the ornaments than putting them on our tree.

Your sleep finally started getting a little better at the end of this month.  You are now spending the whole nights in your crib and on a good night you wake up to eat twice and have even stayed asleep until 7:45 in the morning.  We still haven't managed to break you of being swaddled as your flailing arms still wake you up, but maybe next month? 

One of your biggest discoveries this month is that you can blow bubbles.  You blow bubbles all day long.  Even in the middle of the night when I am feeding you.  It is really funny and you are quite proud of your new skill. 

You got to go swimming for this first time this month and you loved it.  We went away for the weekend to a little house in Wisconsin with our friends David, Ally and Ella.  We had so much fun, but I think the best part for you was swimming.  We went at least three times and each time you were so happy in the water.  This made your daddy SO happy, since he loves swimming!

My favorite thing about you is your smile.  You smile ALL the time.  You smile at me, at daddy, Molly, other people, everything!  You even smile when I take your picture.  You may be one of the happiest babies there ever was.  It has been so fun watching your little personality come out and your daddy and I couldn't be more happy with who you are.  

I am continually amazed at how much you are growing and changing every month.  Sometimes I am sad that it is going so fast.  There are days I wish you were a little newborn baby again, but I am also so happy at the sweet, happy, fun little girl you are becoming.  It is so much fun being your mom and I am thankful God picked me for the job! 

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

three months blur

Dear Addi Jane, 
I'm pretty sure I can't call you a newborn anymore, which seems crazy to me! You are growing so fast and it seems like every few days you are learning something new. 

The other day I packed away your newborn and zero to three month clothes and it made me a little sad. People told me all the time that those first three months would seem like a blur and they are so right.  It's hard to believe that you are three months old.   You are so long that you are wearing six month onsies, which your dad and I still can't believe you are so tall!  I'm excited to see where you fall on the charts at your four month appointment.  

This month you've met a lot of baby friends and have had many play dates.  It's really fun that you get to grow up with other babies and that we get to spend many days with friends.  

As the days have been getting colder we've been bundling up a little more for our walks.  You are SO cute in your little hats and comfy clothes.  You are so good when we go for walks which I love! You usually fall asleep on and off while we walk.  The same thing happens when we are in the car.  Usually if you aren't sleeping you are talking on and on to the caterpillar that hangs from your carseat.  I feel so lucky that you are a good car rider, as it's nice to get out of the house most days.   You went on your first little vacation this month as we spent 5 days with my family at a lake house in Wisconsin.  This was your first time meeting your aunt, uncle, cousins and great grandma.  They all love you SO much and loved playing with you and spending time with you.  

One of my favorite things about this month is that you've decided you LOVE your stuffed animal bunny.  It amazes me that you already have such a strong preference.  There have been times where I can't get you to fall asleep and I set you in your bouncy seat with your pacifer and your bunny and you hug it and fall asleep. You love it when it's in the carseat with you too.  It is the cutest thing! 
This month you rolled over from your back to your stomach but then would get unhappy because you couldn't roll back over.  I actually wasn't too excited because that means I couldn't walk away for any amount of time when you were on the floor.  It's funny though because you haven't been doing it lately so maybe you've forgotten?  You've also started talking like crazy.  You'll go on and on telling us all about something! I love your little voice and the way your top lip makes this triangle and your bottom lip goes in when you coo.  I know that won't last forever and I'm sure I'll miss it! 
You play with your hands a lot and hold them together, bend them and intertwine them all the time.  You also like to put your hands in your mouth, along with anything else you get a hold of.  I thought maybe you were teething because you are drooling tons and always put things in your mouth, but no sign of teeth yet!

This month we've started getting into a little more of a routine and started putting you down for a morning nap in your pack and play by our bed.  Some days you sleep over an hour.  The other naps you still take on me and I love it.  I still can't get enough of staring at your sweet face and also love the chance to sit on our couch and rest while you sleep.  At night you are pretty inconsistent, sometimes sleeping 4 hours and sometimes 8, but usually somewhere in the middle.  It's very unpredictable! 
I've left you a few times for an hour or two with your daddy and twice you've stayed with your grandparents for a few hours while your daddy and I went out for a bit.  I'm still nervous to be away from you but you've done great when I've been gone.   My favorite two pictures from this month are one from our family vacation and one from when we put you in a pumpkin.  You big eyes are the cutest things and everyone always comments on them.  I know I said it last month, but your dad and I still say to each other all the time "how did we get so lucky?"  We're pretty convinced we have the cutest and best baby in the world.  We love you so much! Love, 
your mom