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.

Are you ready for some football?

One exciting thing in our house is the beginning of football season. Both college and pro football keep us occupied on the weekends. Sometimes Beau and I end up in other rooms to watch our respective teams (if the games are being aired simultaneously). Of course, Ada has to help represent her parents' school pride. Given that we went to different schools (him Wisconsin, me Texas A&M), her outfits alternate from week to week. Of course there's no argument with pro (I sort of rooted for the Cowboys, but not really a true fan), we just have to get her some Packers gear.

I can't wait until Friday. We are doing her 9 month pictures with a football theme. Until then, here are some shots of her supporting the teams.

Supporting the Aggies for the season opener against Rice

 Ready to Jump Around as the Badger took on Tennessee Tech

On the bus to Aggieland for the Alabama pre-game

(we actually watched the game from Nini & Pop's house)

9 month update

Saturday was Ada's 9 month birthday. So crazy to think that we are merely 3 months away from her first birthday. Today we had our 9 month well check, which included our flu vaccination. She took it like a champ and only cried for a little bit. Officially she's 15 lbs and 26" tall, which fall into the 2nd and 7th percentiles respectively. She may be small for her age, but she proportionate and her head circumference (most important) is still in the 50th percentile.

We've been given the green light to start adding more carbs to her diet and start trying to swap solid snacks for bottles of formula. At this point, we can also start adding meats and more table food into her diet as well. This mom's gotta get back to introducing new foods into the diet. She has her picky days, which makes it harder at times to get the new things in there.

Each day she's doing more standing and "walking" around the furniture. She can stand unsupported for a few seconds before losing her balance. I'm sure that she'll be off and walking/running in the next month. In the meantime, she's cruising all over the house by crawling. She's amazingly quick, so we do our best to keep her contained. Stairs are also now a breeze for her. I try to let her crawl up them herself when we have the time.

The doctor today noticed 2 new teeth that are beginning to break through, her two lateral incisors on the top. We have a vampire baby on our hands now. Perhaps we'll be able to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" come December. This brings our total number of teeth to 3, none of which are fully through yet.

Lots of babbling has been going on for a while now, but I think she may finally be cognitively making sounds. Lots of mmmm/mamama when she wants something (food, me, etc). She's getting an understanding of simple commands. For example when I tell her to "watch her fingers" she'll pull them back from what ever I'm trying to close. However, there isn't always a guarantee that she'll do what's asked of her, especially no/stop/leave it. Ours is definitely a strong willed child.

9 months old (excited by J coming down the stairs) 

At Story Time at the Library with friends from MOMS group

8 months old

Once again, I've gotten a little behind with the updates; however, such is life with a little one. We crossed the 8 month mark on August 14. Unofficially, Ada Bean was 14.8 lbs and about 25.5" long. On her 8 month birthday, I felt her first tooth coming through! It was the bottom right incisor. Very exciting to finally have a tooth coming through.

By this time, we were able to start introducing more fruits and veggies into her diet. Things like melon, blueberries, regular potatoes, beets and turnips to name a few. In addition to these, we started trying more snacky-finger foods as well, like the Gerber Li'l Crunchies (man does she love those).

Just after passing 7 months, Ada got down her all-4's crawl and began to pull up on the coffee table and other furniture. I have to be constantly aware of what's on top of lower surfaces now. She's cruising everywhere and getting into everything.

We also joined the local MOMS group, which is for stay at home moms. We do playgroups and lots of fun outings with other moms and kids. It's been a great way to meet new people and socialize Ada.

8 months old, and such a ham! 

Helping Momma with Laundry

Our 100th Post!

Woohoo! 100 posts since starting our blog two and a half years ago. What a wild ride these past two and a half years have been. From merely dating and finding our first home together, through getting engaged, planning and then executing our wedding and finally through our first pregnancy, raising our first child and buying our first house together.

I can't say that two and a half years ago I'd ever think this is where we'd be today. However, I am so happy with how our life is turning out thus far. Some days are harder than others, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

Who knows where the next 100 posts will take us, but I'm excited to find out.

Ada's 6 month photo shoot

Picture courtesy of Taryn Melgoza Photography

7 month update

We crossed the 7 month threshold almost 2 weeks ago and Ada's definitely keeping us busy. Unofficially she was at 14.4 lbs and somewhere over 25" (I think maybe 26"). As mentioned in my previous post, we're up to 3 solid meals a day, along with our typical nursing sessions. I'm slowly trying to phase out the formula/extra bottles. The pediatrician said we could do it as we got into a good three meal a day. She's eating anywhere from 2-4 oz per meal depending on how she's feeling.

We're off and crawling now. Around the beginning of July Ada began with an army crawl where she tucked her right arm under her chest and pulled with her left. Possibly a lefty? Guess we'll find out. Now she's working on the full, up on all fours crawl. Sometimes she gets it, other times she bobs up and down. This week while we've been visiting Nini and Pop (my folks) she's decided to start pulling up to standing and taking a few steps. I have a feeling that she'll be an early walker.

Still no teeth yet, but definitely all the signs. Drooling, chewing on everything, etc. Mom doesn't quite remember when I first got teeth, but she knows it was later on. J got teeth just before turning 8 months, so we could have at least another month before anything breaks through. It's a busy time with this active little one.

Solid foods

I decided early on that I was going to try to make all of Ada's solid foods, except the cereals. So we started out with oatmeal, which didn't go over terribly well on it's own. Her first real foods included avocado and banana since these were easy to mash up. She's really taken well to most foods. Only a couple, like peas and green beans, that have to be mixed with other foods to go down easier.

We've made it through most of the foods that she's allowed to have currently according to the website I've been using as a guideline. Just recently we've added her third meal, lunch. I started doing just dinner, then added a breakfast, and finally lunch. Adding each about 2 weeks after the previous. Breakfast is usually a fruit or two with some cereal (mixed grain or oatmeal), lunch is a combo of 2-3 fruits and veggies (sometimes with cereal) and dinner is usually 2-3 veggies (and the occasional fruit).

It's been a fun journey making foods and introducing my little one to a wide variety at an early age. Hopefully I can start adding some of these foods to our meals too as Ada gets older.

6 months old!

We made it to 6 months! Halfway to 1 year old! Where has the time gone?!? At her 6 month well check Ada was 13.1 lbs and 24.5" long, still on the lower end of the charts, but at least on them. 

By this time Ada was doing with the pediatrician called tripoding, which is a precursor to sitting. Within two weeks of this (the end of the month) she was able to sit up fully on her own. While we may have mastered the sitting part, the getting up/down from sitting was not quite there yet. Also she's doing a lot of rolling around to travel from one place to another. Nothing is safe anymore!

6 months was an exciting time because we now introduced solid foods. Our first taste was oatmeal cereal and Ada was not a fan of plain oatmeal. Subsequent solids that have become favorites were avocado and bananas. Now that we are introducing solids, the pediatrician said that once she gets a good three meal a day routine we can finally drop the formula! It may take some time, but hearing this made me one happy momma :)

We also marked this momentous milestone with a photo session with Taryn Melgoza Photography. The pictures turned out amazing and Ada loved her. I think we have a winner for all future shoots. Now enjoy some cute baby pictures :)

Ada tripoding

Our first taste of cereal

Six months old!

Closing and Moving

Wow.... It's been a while since I updated our blog. So be warned that there will be several posts over the next week.

We closed on the new house May 20. It was a relatively smooth process.

Moving day was May 23. My mom came down to help with the last of the packing, moving and watching of Ada. It was wonderful to have the extra set of hands. The movers had expertly and quickly loaded up all our stuff in the morning. Then after lunch, delivered it to the new place. Rather uneventful really.

By May 30 we had everything finally out and a cleaning crew come to clean the old place for us. Ada definitely didn't make the last of the moving easy. So we opted for having someone come take care of it for us.

It was sad to leave the island, but we know that we are in a great place for the next stage of our life.

Rascal helping with packing

Movers arrived!

5 months and moving

Today marks 5 months since Ada arrived. Next month will be half way to 1, eek! In one month, she's come so far that I can only imagine what this next month has in store for us. As of Friday, she was 12.2 lbs. We went to the doc to check out what ended up to be dry skin. No clue how tall, but I'm sure she's over 24".

She's moving and grooving, as I mentioned in one of my earlier posts. Lots of rolling and almost rolling as well as scooting on her back and twisting around. I'm guessing that she'll be fully rolling and maybe even some attempts at crawling in the next month. She's also sitting and standing, both with help.

The only thing we are struggling with is sleeping. Naps are inconsistent, some days almost non-existent. We were doing great with bed time and then in the last week things have been rough. I think it's because the sun is setting later and later. Hopefully we can get some black-out curtains for her new room to help her with going to bed earlier.

In other news, we are getting into the final week prior to closing and moving. The dining room is starting to overflow with boxes, especially now that we are starting to transfer boxes out of storage. Hopefully we'll make it through the next couple days until we can make the final push to pack. Exciting times to come!

They see me rollin'....

About a week after her four month check up, I caught Ada almost completely rolled from her back to her front. So I thought to myself "Rolling front to back should happen first. If she's this close to back to front perhaps she can roll if I put her on her tummy" So I flipped her over and readied my camera (since J was at the office).

I am one proud Momma :) We still haven't mastered back to front, but she's getting closer every day. My baby is growing up so quickly.

4 month update

Sunday was Ada's 4 month birthday. It's hard to believe that four months have already passed by us. Ada's growing by leaps and bounds with each passing day. She's already trying to feed herself when she has a bottle. I'm kept busy helping keep her entertained daily. Simply laying on her activity mat doesn't always cut it. We now have an activity center that she's enjoying, even though she looks ridiculous sitting in it. 

Everything goes into her mouth now and she's testing limits. Nothing like watching your child see how far down her throat she can shove her fingers. I live for her smiles and laughs. Whenever I get her laughing, it makes me laugh. I love to hear it so much.

4 months!!

Her 4 month check up and shots were on Monday. She didn't do quite as well as she did at 2 months, but we some how made it through. Ada is now actually on the charts in all areas: 23.25" long, 11.2 lbs and head circumference of 16.14". These are in the 16th, 6th and 52nd percentile respectively. We are going to keep up our current feeding routine and hopefully after the 6 month check we'll be able to let her sleep through the night. Our pediatrician just wants to be sure that her weight continues to rise at a good rate.

In other news, we've begun packing up our house in anticipation of the move. We folded down the dining table and put it off to the side so we could start filling our dining with packed boxes. The next couple weeks will go by quickly, so I'm trying to get ahead on packing things that we won't need between now and then.

Also, I've been having some issues with wrist pain in the past couple weeks. My ob/gyn referred me to an orthopedist to diagnose the problem. He confirmed what I thought it most likely was which is de Quervain's tendonitis. It's like carpel tunnel and apparently many new mom's experience it. Hopefully a regimen of anti-inflammatory pills and rest should help get me over it soon. Gotta love all these postpartum issues.... 

Well, it's time to get back to playing with baby girl, working and getting the house in order for moving.