adalaide’s first birthday

Posted on February 23, 2011 by meghan

it’s an interesting thing being pregnant and extra emotional when your baby turns one. i teared up during brian’s prayer for her at her party. i teared up looking back at the photos from her birth. and i could probably tear up right now just trying to put words to how much we love our little adalaide.

from the day i met her i’ve had this urge to just eat her, or squeeze her or kiss her to death. do you know what i mean, or does that sound creepy? some babies just do that to me, and she’s one of them {probably has a lot to do with her adorable chubby thighs}. she joined our family with such ease and made the transition to two kids incredibly easy and enjoyable. even through all her illness this winter, she’s been one of the least demanding babies i know.

she is a dynamic little thing. she’s mostly loud, silly, and on the go all the time. but she can be very shy and reserved in certain settings. she wants her family right by her side at all times. she’s always been this way, so i’d venture to say it’s a part of her personality and not just stranger anxiety. she always warms up to new people and new settings-she just wants to do it on her terms and in her timing.

she is loving. so extremely loving, and affectionate. please lord, let her always have such a loving spirit. she loves to snuggle and give hugs. throughout the day she crawls over to me and gives me big, slobbery kisses-all on her own without me asking. when brian comes home from work she needs to spend a couple of minutes loving on him. if this time doesn’t happen, she’ll follow him around making it known that she needs something.

she loves her big sister. before having our second child i never would have imagined how fast a bond develops between siblings. even though the age gap is quite obvious at this stage, they really are buddies. she needs to be in the same room as finley at all times, eating the same food, and playing with the same toys. the cute thing is, for the most part finley loves it and reciprocates it. i love listening to them giggle and play together. seriously, there’s no better sound.

things that she loves: her blankie, baths, playing in finley’s bed, strawberries, sneaking into the bathroom to unroll the toilet paper, reading books, going to the park, and dancing.

this weekend we had some family over to celebrate her special day. it was the kind of party i think she’d ask for if she could-simple.

i made her a special pink cake, but wondered to myself if she’d actually eat it. she hasn’t had sugar before, and doesn’t particularly enjoy getting messy.

sure enough, she hated it. she barely touched it and grimaced every time she had a taste of it.

on her actual birthday i made her something i knew she’d love. strawberries! covered in whip cream, of course, so i could get the classic ‘messy face’ picture.

we love our little adalaide may so much. this year with her has been such a joy, and she’s been such a blessing to our family. even though i’d love for her to stay our adorable chubby baby forever, we can’t wait to watch her grow into a little lady.

happy first birthday, adalaide!

and just for fun…

proud parents

Posted on December 9, 2010 by meghan

this is a video of finley telling the christmas story. it’s a little shaky at first, and i think adalaide is pooping in the background, but stick with it. she’s the cutest!

if you’re in google reader, you may have to come to my page for the video to work.

finley recently started writing her name. i wish i could take credit for teaching her how to do it…she just busted it out all her own. yes it’s backwards, but from what i remember from my teaching days, this is pretty normal for beginners.

also, i just have to share this story. i recently went to a new moms group at brian’s family’s church. i took finley down to the childcare and dropped her off with two adults she’s never met. while i was signing her in, the man told me that the 2, 3, and 4 year olds would be going upstairs to perform in front of the women’s christmas party. i immediately got anxious because i know how shy finley gets in front of strangers, let alone hundreds of people. she’s never been on stage before or in any kind of performance, so i was sort of nervous how she was going to react. later on when the kids came on stage i made my way to the front. she looked nervous, but she gave me a big wave. she didn’t know the first song, but they handed out bells for the 2nd song {she loves instruments} and this time she knew the words. Up on that huge stage, surrounded by little kids she’s never met, she carefully rang her bell in sync with the instructor, and she BUSTED OUT THE WORDS TO JINLGE BELLS. i cried. i tried not to cry too hard, but i was so proud of her. and she was so proud of herself. on our drive home she had me call daddy, and both grandmas to tell them that she ‘went on stage’.

growing…

Posted on October 21, 2010 by meghan

since i’m terrible at keeping up on baby books, this blog has become the place to do it.

so…

our little adalaide learned to crawl at 7 months.

she is freakishly fast. i’ll leave her for half a minute and find her in a completely different room.

at 7 1/2 months she figured out how to go from laying to sitting.

now she’s working on pulling herself up. she can get up onto to her knees, so we had to lower the crib.

lowering her crib got me wondering how i’ll be able to get her out when it’s all the way down and

i have a huge belly. i think i may need a stool of sorts.

adalaide is pretty quiet and laid back. more than one person has jokingly asked if she has vocal cords.

i’m happy to report that yes, in fact she does. she has figured out how to squeal and if she wants something

that she can’t quite reach she makes this growling sound. it’s cute/fun to see her personality unfold.

once adalaide was able to sit, it seemed like the gap between her and finley lessened pretty quickly.

obviously, they’re not really playing together, but sometimes they kind of are.

and now that adalaide can crawl after her sister’s toys {which of course are MUCH more interesting than baby toys}

finley is learning the art of sharing with a sibling.

and a funny side note: finley is so repulsed by the smell of adalaide’s formula drool,

she runs into the bathroom to rinse off any toy that adalaide puts in her mouth.

i don’t really blame her. it’s nasty.

finley just had her 3 year check up, and is as healthy as can be.

31 1/2 lbs {25-50 %}

37 inches tall {50%}

finley’s current interests: singing/dancing, dress up, playing outside, tea parties, caillou,

baking, board games, art, and needing to know everyone’s middle name {like, even the lady in the target fitting room}.

also, she loves to reminisce. nearly every sentence starts with remember.

“remember when i was a little girl and we went there?”

“remember when i was five and i did that?”

“remember when i _____ when i was a baby?”

“remember when i was a boy…?”

{still confused about that one}

i’ve gone on and on about her feisty, silly side that loves making people laugh, and also gets her into a fair bit of trouble.

but she’s also the most loving girl. i’ll leave you with this moment we had that i don’t ever want to forget…

i was tucking her, and we laid in the dark for a few minutes.

after a while she asked, “do you want to hold hands?”

so we did for a few minutes.

then i felt her move some hair off my face and she kissed my cheek and said,

“you are so beautiful, mommy.”

{it was pitch black, but it’s the thought that counts}

and then she reached for my hand again and said, “i love you mommy. you are the best mommy.”

aw. i’m tearing up right now.

i’ll hold onto this memory for the next time she decides to cover her body head to toe in hand soap,

or for tonight at dinnertime when she switches chairs at least 20 times.

do they make toddler high chairs? i got off track.

we love her. and we love her big heart. here’s to 3 being the best year yet!

the reason you dedicate a baby, not a toddler…

Posted on September 28, 2010 by meghan

all kidding aside…

it was really important to us, to stand before our families and church community

and dedicate the girls to our Heavenly Father.

I wasn’t raised a Christian.

So teaching my children about God is something I’m learning as I go.

I don’t know all the words to every praise song.

I still learn new things when i read Finley’s children’s bible.

but even so, my daughter is already loving God.

She initiates praying.

She loves to read her bible.

and she asks questions that absolutely amaze me.

We’re not promising to be perfect parents {far from it!!}

or know the answer to every question.

But we are promising to do our best

to raise our children to love Jesus,

and to follow His teachings.

thankfully we aren’t asked to do it alone.

we have the most amazing families,

the best church community,

and the most awesome kids ministry {shout out katey!}

Finley has been counting down the days until her third birthday,

because then she gets to go to the big kid room at church

SUNDAY SCHOOL!!

I remember picking her up from the nursery as a baby.

They told us, “that girl is going to be a CEO or something.

She really knows what she wants and goes for it!”

the first time we picked up adalaide, they gushed on and on

about what a “sweet spirit” she has and how laid back she was.

it makes me laugh, because they have our kids figured out pretty well.

i know this is a photo overload, but i loved all of these.

none of my pictures from the service turned out.

thankfully our good friend photographed the event,

so lets hope he got something good, tantrum and all

teeth, tabbouleh, and a lot of pictures

Posted on September 15, 2010 by meghan

This post is going to be really random, i can just sense it…

……..

The big news around here is that the babe got two teeth {bottom front}.

Bless her heart, she was really only fussy for about 24 hours.

But, boy was it a doozie of a day/night!

perhaps, now we won’t have so much of this..

{drool & chewing on lip}

she is very pleased to be sitting on her own.

……

i’m having the same pregnancy craving that i did last time.

tabbouleh.

lemon + salt = yum.

have you ever had it?

you need a lot of parsley. and i mean A LOT.

This picture is after brian had already picked for a few hours.

luckily, i had this cute picker to help me.

it makes a HUGE bowl.

but, between brian and i, it only lasts a few days.

ok, just took a break to have my third serving of the day.

thank goodness it’s healthy!

……..

you know how you have those parenting moments where your child

does or says something really inappropriate…

and you know you shouldn’t,

but a teensy, weensy part of you wants to laugh.

we’ve been having a lot of those moments lately.

sometimes it’s really, really hard to keep a straight face.

especially if Brian is there too.

normally we’re really careful about what we listen to and watch.

but, i needed a break from listening to the same baby praise cd’s over and over and over. so for about a week we listened to lady antebellum in the car.

I hadn’t paid much attention to the words of the songs,

and all the sudden i heard little miss finley sing…

“it’s a quarter after one,

i’m all alone and i need you now.

and i said i wouldn’t call,

but i’m a little drunk and i need you now”

absolutely shocking to hear come out of her mouth.

so very wrong.

she’s been repeating other stuff too. some stuff she’s picked up from us,

and some stuff she hears from older kids {like the word fart, and kill-oh dear}.

it’s good, because it’s forcing us to watch our words,

even with things that don’t seem that bad…like country music.

……

i like this picture of adalaide,

because she is laughing at her big sister.

that’s pretty much her favorite thing to do.

and i like this photo of finley that i took on my phone,

because, well she’s so stinkin’ cute.

i love my girls.

six months old

Posted on August 25, 2010 by meghan

Our little lady celebrated her half birthday this weekend.

i could go on and on about how fast time has flown,

but i’m sure most of you are moms too, so you know exactly what i’m talking about.

i wish i could come up with a word other than “sweet” to describe her, but that’s what she is.

sweet. happy. easy going.

she is full of smiles, but for some reason when i whip out my huge camera,

she gives me this blank stare.

oh well, she’s still cute.

her and finley are really starting to become friends.

watching their interactions pretty much makes my heart melt.

she loves to sleep, and we love her for that.
getting her out of her crib in the morning is one of my favorite moments with her.
she’s always so happy, snugly, and ready to chat me up.

still no teeth, but a heck of a lot of drool.

she’s tried out rice cereal a couple times now.
she’s a champ at opening her mouth for the spoon, but hasn’t quite mastered swallowing yet.

{if you’re ever looking for a great book about feeding babies, and making your own food,

i highly recommend Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron}

she’s getting pretty close to sitting on her own.

and you know what that means…..

i can photograph her doing something other than laying flat on the floor. hooray!

our little adalaide is the most precious gift.

we look forward to watching her grow into a little lady

{but please don’t let it happen too fast}

happy half birthday, sweet baby.

6.29

Posted on June 30, 2010 by meghan

baby got back

Posted on May 3, 2010 by meghan

We took sister boo {finley’s nickname for her} to her two month check up last week. No surprise the little chubbster is in the 95% for weight and height! I love every inch of her chubby little body, but would it really hurt to have a baby that could wear newborn clothes for more than 2 days? At two months old Adalaide is quite the easy baby. Not that Finley was necessarily hard, but Adalaide seems to roll with the punches a little easier. Plus, she is still sleeping 90% of the day. She is smiling all the time and starting to “talk” a lot more. People tell us all the time how much she looks like her big sister, and we agree. Swap out the eye color and they are pretty much twins! And she is following in her sister’s steps by blessing us with acid reflux {solved with medicine} and constipation {still haven’t figured this one out yet}. She is consistently doing 6 hour stretches at night and sometimes doing 7 or 8 hours. It never ceases to amaze me how every extra block of sleep goes such a long way! She loves taking baths with her sister, being snuggled, being swaddled, tummy time, and her apple juice {for said constipation problem}. We love our little adalaide so much, and like i tell finley all the time…i wish she’d stop growing so fast!

her proudest moment

Posted on December 20, 2009 by meghan

Finley got her Christmas present a few days early, and let me tell you..she could not have been more delighted. Since setting it up, she has pretty much spent every waking minute laying, playing, and singing in her new bed. She is very proud, and has been bragging to anyone who will listen about her “big girl bed”. And just like daddy and mommy asked, she stays in her bed until we come and get her up {let’s pray this lasts}.

Don’t mind the missing drawer that I still need to paint..

finley turns 2

Posted on October 22, 2009 by meghan

Last week our little girl turned 2! On her actual birthday I asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate. She chose to go to the water park but since that’s impossible, her next choice was to go to the pet store. Very exciting, I know. The mice are her very favorite. Kinda creepy, huh.