Life Happens

I've been remiss in posting updates since the first of the year, and for that I apologize. We've been busy so I'll post a summary here to get us caught up.

From March to June we had our first official session of swim lessons. Ada and I had a blast and are anticipating our next session, which starts tomorrow. We have continued to enjoy our time in MOMS Club. This year I am the coordinator for our play group and a member of the party committee. 

Ada has been growing by leaps and bounds. Since starting to walk she keeps us on the move. At her 18 month check in June she was 22 lbs and 31" tall (in the 23rd and 33rd percentiles respectively). She got her first hair cut in August (a hard step for Momma). Her signing continues to improve, and her vocabulary is growing with each day. We know colors, animal sounds and some letters and numbers (need to work on those and shapes). Her cognitive memory astounds me some days too. She can remember things and make associations fairly easy. Frequently I find her stuff animals (cat, dog and/or triceratops) eating out of the kittys' food dish in the kitchen.

I was able to return to Sea Campus Kids this summer, thanks to the help of my wonderful Beau, friends and a few new baby sitters. Upon the close of the summer I made the decision to become a Jamberry Nails Consultant (I'll spare you the sales pitch), but I'm really excited to be starting this new journey in life. Hopefully I'll do better about updating with our fall events and activities. Enjoy a few pictures from the past months.

Enjoying a Reese's Egg at Easter

Date night at Miller Park

On the flight home

Fun at the park

With Daddy at the local drive thru zoo

First pony ride at the zoo

First hair cut

Too cute

I'm finding lately that my baby is adorable in the most cliche of ways. When it's time for bed, if Lamby and Seahorse are downstairs Ada will frequently grab them and attempt to crawl with them upstairs. For some reason the video's not posting here :(

Now that she's started walking, other cute things are happening. The other night she picked them up (in the den) and walked all the way over to the stairs with them.

Christmas

Christmas with a one year old is interesting to say the least. We ended up doing Christmas in 3 parts: J's folks, just us and my family. It was nice to do it in segments so Ada didn't get overwhelmed by all the presents. I must say that it made it much more enjoyable.

Christmas part 1 was the same weekend as Ada's birthday, before J's folks went back home. Christmas part 2 was the afternoon before we left for Alabama. Then we had Christmas part 3 on Christmas day in Alabama.

The trip to Alabama was an interesting one as it was our first big road trip with Ada bean. Going out we split the drive over 2 days, stopping for the night in Biloxi, MS. Monday was pretty chill, we just hung out once we arrived. Tuesday night we did Christmas Eve service, then watched Planes while enjoying strawberry daiquiris (a family tradition). On Christmas Day we enjoyed opening gifts as a family for the first time in 3 years. K & M went with us on a double date to see Anchorman 2, which was our first movie since Ada's arrival. Thursday evening we went to the Montgomery Zoo to see the Zoo lights, which was lots of fun. Somehow on our return drive we managed to make it home in one day. Ada was awesome and ended up napping for quite a bit of the trip. I'm so glad we made the decision to spend the holiday out east.

Future newscaster?

Opening gifts on Christmas morning

Ready to see the lights

One Year Old!

We made it to 1 year! I can't believe how time has flown by us. Many friends and family joined us for Ada's First Birthday party. Our theme was Dinosaur Train, complete with decorations and a dinosaur cake. J's folks came down to celebrate her birthday, and they baked and decorated the cakes. It was a lot of fun.

In the week following her birthday, Ada had her 1 year appointment. She weighed in at 18.9 lbs and was 28.25" tall. She's still on the low end of those percentiles, but we're still on the charts. We got the go ahead to let her eat just about anything. In the past few weeks we've had orange juice, whole milk, honey and even peanut butter. She loves the peanut butter!

Now that we've hit one year, I'll cut back on the updates. Now enjoy some pictures from the party.

Party dress

Cake time!

Enjoying her new Cozy Coupe

1 Year Old!

11 Months

One more month until our precious girl turns one year old! Unofficially, she's around 17.4 lbs and about 27" tall (I'm using the baby gate as my ruler for height). Much like 10 months, there isn't too much to update in terms of progress. She does a lot of standing on her own, but we still can't convince her to take steps without a finger or other support. Like her daddy, she loves tomatoes. A majority of the time she now shares my plate of food for meals. Not much longer and she'll be able to have just about anything to eat.

This month we started doing the Baby Signing Time series of videos. They help teach infants/toddlers (and parents too!) sign language with fun songs and animations. Usually Ada's not one for watching tv; she'd much rather play with her toys. Not the case with these videos. She'll bring J or I the case, or do the sign for "baby" when she wants to watch them (which is at least once a day). Like all good children's program, the songs are rather infectious. I find myself singing the songs long after we are done watching the videos. I'm also dvr-ing the original Signing Time show, which comes on PBS early Sunday mornings. I'm certainly no where near conversational, but I can put together small phrases.

Our 11 Month Old Monster 

Taking Lamby on a walk around the house

Playing in a box with my buddy

Ada's First Aggie Game

This month Ada attended her first Aggie game at Kyle Field. We saw the Aggies take on the Auburn Tigers. Even though they ran out of time, we had a good time. I need to preface the story of this weekend though. At the beginning of October, I got strep (first time in almost 29 years). Despite our attempts to prevent, J came down with it the Wednesday before the game. Doctor visit Thursday gave him new meds. By Saturday he wasn't any better, so the doc called in new meds to College Station. Unfortunately it wasn't in time for him to be up to going with us to the game.

Ada and I struck out on our own for Kyle Field that afternoon. Mom and Dad had left ahead of me, at separate times. It was a little chilly in the stands as we were in the shade, but I hear it was the better option to being in the sun the whole time. I didn't do terribly well traveling with baby and accessories on my own (Ada in a sling plus diaper bag, camera and sweatshirt). Somehow we made it up to the seats.

Knowing that the game was going to last 4 hours, during nap time, we were unsure of how things would go. However, I made sure that I had plenty of food and toys to entertain Ada. She was loving it from the start. I put her up on my shoulders to get a better view and she giggled with delight. At times it even seemed like she was cheering along with the crowd. Somehow we managed to make it the whole game (plus of course travel to and from, total of 7 hours I think) without it being too terrible. Hopefully next year J will be feeling better and we can do more of the pre-game Aggieland fun.

Pre-game, playing with her train

With Nini at the start of the game

Watching the players run on the field

With Pop at half time

This picture cracks me up, "Why?!?"

Family shot

Double digits, 10 months!

We hit double digits with Ada on the 14th. I feel like things are starting to slow down, in terms of progress. Seemed like she went through so much between 6 and 9 months at top notch speed, and now is plateaued. Unofficially she weighed 16.8 lbs, and I'd put her around 26.5".

Currently she's not any close to walking on her own. I can get her to walk holding my fingers, but she has to be holding on with both hands. If I let go, she immediately sits down and continues with crawling. Perhaps in the next month she'll realize that walking is the way to get around.

She's been eating more "real" food as opposed to purees. Some of her favorites include: lil meat sticks, cheese, crunchies (like cheetoes for babies) and all sorts of fruit. Much like her momma, she's not as interested in eating the veggies. We'll keep offering and trying though in hopes that she'll eat them. Also like her momma, she's a climber. Her new thing is to empty her doll cradle and climb into it, usually with a book (sometimes a toy as well). Her personality is beginning to come through and I'm excited to see the person she's going to become.