So we've missed a few months...here's what we've been up to!
You may want to grab a cup of coffee or a snack, this is going to be a long one :-)
PHOTO SHOOT
Addelyn's Aunt Becki offered to take some family pictures of the three of us, since we haven't really had any taken since she was 3 months old. We went to a park near Becki's house and played for a bit, then took some cute pictures :-)
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| I love this one...especially since we don't do it anymore (Addelyn dislocated her elbow over Thanksgiving in Grand Rapids. A trip to the children's hospital and 30 seconds with a doctor (and $997...thankfully only $100 after insurance) fixed it like new, but we're a little more cautious with her joints now. |
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| "Baby sister in there!" |
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| The center of our world, and the keeper of our hearts. |
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| Like father, like daughter! I'm not sure who's cuter in this one... |
FUN WITH WINNIE-THE-POOH
Nova's nursery is a Winnie-the-Pooh theme, so we got a cute blanket that looks as if it could be a Pooh bear rug for it several months ago. Daddy and I decided to have a little fun with it:
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| These are Pooh and Piglet stuffed animals that my sister and I got as children. Addelyn is having a tea party with them. |
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| Pooh hiding in the trees and Addelyn with a slingshot. Perhaps an argument broke out over tea? |
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| Addelyn must be a pretty good shot :-) |
HALLOWEEN 2012
Addelyn had a blast this Halloween. Complete with pumpkin carving, trick-or-treating, and LOTS of candy.
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| I just barely got her to put her hand in there...she wasn't a fan of the gooey insides |
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| Cutting the face. Addelyn liked getting to use the knife. |
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| Some finishing touches all by herself |
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| The finished product! |
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| Addelyn's first time trick-or-treating! It was a little chilly, but after the first house or two she picked up really quickly that knocking on doors meant candy! She said thank you at every house and even said trick-or-treat once or twice. |
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| Addelyn in her adorable puppy costume. This was after she had already been around the neighborhood, so getting her to stand still and not dig into the candy was quite the accomplishment! |
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| First victim of Halloween 2012: M&M's |
THANKSGIVING 2012
We were lucky enough to get two Thanksgivings this year. First, we went to Thanksgiving at my parents' house (where I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately). We went home for the night, then woke up the next morning and headed for Grand Rapids at naptime. Addelyn did great in the car, considering she only slept for the first 90 minutes. The rest of the trip she was wide awake, and by the time we got to GR, she was READY to be done!
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| Addelyn always loves spending time with grandma and grandpa! |
CHRISTMAS 2012
I think Christmas might be Addelyn's favorite holiday. We get to see all of our family, she gets presents, and she gets to learn about baby Jesus! I wanted to make sure Addelyn understood the true meaning of Christmas, so we spent the month of December learning about the story of Christ's birth. We had several art projects and activities throughout the month to walk through the story, and by the end of the month, Addelyn could tell me all about it. I took a video of her telling me the first half of the story while looking through a picture book about Christmas half-way through the month, but now I can't find it :-( but by the end of the month, it went a little something like this:
Picture of Gaberiel, and Addelyn said: "Angel Gaberiel. Fear not! Baby in your belly, Mary"
Picture of Joseph looking at a calendar and Addelyn said: "Jofus...oh no! long trip! to Bethlehem!"
Picture of the inkeeper in Bethlehem and Addelyn said: "No room! Sleep in a manger"
Picture of baby Jesus and Addelyn said: "Baby Jesus born!"
Picture of the wise men and Addelyn said: "Balthazar...Frankensense! presents for baby Jesus"
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| One of our crafts in December. We made angel Gaberiel and talked about how he came to Mary and told her that she would have baby Jesus in her belly. |
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| Addelyn reading the book she got from Santa |
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| Addelyn with Santa |
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| Addelyn liked to "fluff" the branches |
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| "fluffing" with daddy |
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| This seemed obligatory. Daddy lifting Addelyn so she could put the star on top of the tree |
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| Hanging ornaments! She did sooo well leaving the tree alone all month. In fact, if she saw an ornament on the floor, she would hang it back up on the tree without needing to be asked. |
After a long couple of traveling days during Thanksgiving, we decided to host Christmas at our house this year. My parents, sister, and her family came. Again...I've lost track of most of the pictures from that day :-( but here are a couple that I was able to find. Addelyn was quite jealous of her cousin Madison's presents. Madison is only a year older than Addelyn, so they have very similar interests. In fact, I got them pretty much the exact same thing - a backpack with travel-size dolls and accessories in it. Madison opened hers first and Addelyn had quite a hard time seeing Madi get something so fun. She kept saying "Ada's turn...Ada play with it!" So we had to quickly open hers, too :-)
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| Another present of Madi's that Addelyn really wanted. Lucky for Addelyn, they forgot it at our house, and we've gotten to read it as much as she wants. Addelyn sure will be sad when we have to give it back, but every time we read it, she tells me that it's Madi's and we discuss that we're just borrowing it. Hopefully there won't be too many tears. |
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| Cousins sitting at the table eating Christmas breakfast. MMMMMMMM monkey bread! |
On December 24, the day after Christmas with my family, we headed to Grand Rapids to spend Christmas with Jake's family.
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| Addelyn making some cinnamon rolls with Grandma Janine. She loved standing on a stool in the corner. She was there quite often that week helping grandma cook. |
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| ...quite often. |
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| Opening presents on Christmas day! |
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| Addelyn sort-of floated around laps. She had a LOT of presents, so it took a bit of coaxing to get her to open them toward the end. Especially once she started opening the books. I think she made Grandpa Eric read her almost every one. |
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| Opening presents with daddy |
AUNT BECKI'S WEDDING
On December 29, 2012 Aunt Becki and Uncle Scot got married!!!! Addelyn got to be the flower girl, and did an AMAZING job of walking down the aisle. She didn't take any extra coaxing to start walking down, walked slowly like we practiced, and didn't stop or pause. She even remembered to throw some pedals...once. She picked up a handful out of the basket at the very beginning and carried them in her hands until the very end, where she dropped them just before she got to me. It was pretty adorable :-)
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| Addelyn with Aunt Becki at the reception |
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| I love this picture of Addelyn and daddy. This may have been one of the few smiles we got out of her all day...she spent much of the previous night throwing up from a stomach virus, but recovered in time for her big roll :-) Though she was pretty tired for much of the day. |
GETTING READY FOR NOVA
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| Baby Nova Rae Conway will be here soon! Induction is tentatively scheduled for this Saturday, January 26. |
Addelyn is sooo excited to be a big sister! She talks about baby Nova all the time. Whenever she notices my belly, she rubs it gently and talks softly to her baby sister. We're already preparing her to share some things, so quite often, she'll be playing with a toy and say "Ada's turn now, not Nova's" She does seem receptive to the fact that it will, at some point, be Nova's turn, though.
Addelyn has gone to quite a few of my appointments, and her favorite part is when they take my blood pressure. One particularly memorable appointment was the first time it was high (around 31 or 32 weeks). The nurse had me lay down on the table after it was a bit high, and Addelyn thought that was quite something. Now, she often takes the blood pressure of anything that has an arm, then informs it either "It's low! Good!" or "Too high...lay down! change it"
Addelyn's new favorite thing is to talk about baby Ike. A friend of mine just had a baby a couple of weeks ago and Addelyn got to meet him when he was only a week old. She didn't even seem vexed that mommy was holding him :-) She came and sat in my lap and just looked at him. Now, she talks about baby Ike all the time. We talk about how Nova is going to be little like baby Ike. One of her favorite passtimes while she's on the toilet is to pretend her foot is baby Ike...she'll grab her foot and pull it into her lap saying (in a growley voice) "come here, baby Ike", then in her high-pitched, soft, talking-to-a-baby voice, she'll say "He's so little! rockey, rockey, baby!" And sometime's she'll pat herself on the chest and say "Ada's the mommy" It's adorable.
When we talk about baby Nova, she seems to understand what's going to happen. When I ask Addelyn what she will do with Nova, she'll tell me she's going to hold Nova and rock her and keep her cozy. She also says that she'll feed Nova bottles and play with her. I can't wait to see if she's as good of a big sister as she says she'll be!
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| Addelyn helping mommy paint her new dresser! (She had to give her old one to Nova) |
Here's some pictures of the finished products! I've spent a lot of time the last several months updating Addelyn's room and getting Nova's room set up. I love how they've both turned out!
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| If you can't read the caption, it says "If ever there is a tomorrow when we're not together there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you feel, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is even if we're apart, I'll always be with you. That is exactly how I feel about my girls. |
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| changing table and crib. I'm excited about the calendar. I'm going to write down all of her firsts in it :-) |
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| Dresser and the curtains I made to match the bedding set. |
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| Hanging over the door is the inspiration for the room. |
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| Since Addelyn lost all of her furniture to Nova, she's gotten a whole new room herself! We started phasing in the new stuff and taking out the old when she was about 16 months old...starting with the big-girl toddler bed :-) The latest additions are the tall book shelf... |
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| ...and the dresser that Addelyn helped paint! We also had some left-over pooh stickers from Nova's room. Addelyn really wanted them in her room, so I made a little scene above the dresser and Addelyn put some up under the window. |
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| Nova's room is big-sister-approved! |
BIG GIRL ADDELYN
Now, for some developmental updates! Addelyn's vocabulary has increased so much in the past few months! She's officially speaking full sentences - she conjugates verbs, uses words like "the" and "a" and "it" etc...correctly, and always has something to say! Whatever she needs, she can now tell me using words. It amazes me every day how much she says, and I don't even know where she learns it all!! She's such a sponge! Addelyn even remembers things from several months ago. Every once in a while she'll tell me a story from when we were in France, or reference something from when we were in Grand Rapids before that. It really makes it hit home how much they understand before they have a very large vocabulary. She tells me about things that she experienced when she could only say 100 or so words.
Another HUGE step: Addelyn poops in the potty almost every time.
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| She has a lot of fun on the potty. I usually have to tell her to get off. We read books, magazines, play pretend games, and talk a lot while she's on the potty. |
She started telling me consistently around Thanksgiving. She's had a couple of accidents where she's playing and she doesn't realize she's pooping in time to stop and tell me she needs to go, but even then, she'll tell me half-way through so she can finish on the potty. We're still working on pee. I don't think she has quite the incentive to tell me when she has to pee, since it's not as uncomfortable in her diaper as poop. Plus, that's still something that just sort-of happens, and she doesn't consciously do it. I've put her in panties a couple of times and she gets the concept, but it's usually a novelty, so she'll end up telling me every 5-10 minutes that she has to pee. While she does pee every time she tells me, it's still a bit of a hassle :-) I'll probably start working with her a little harder on it once she turns 2, but for now, I'll take what I can get!
Here's a video of Addelyn during her crazy, after-dinner-before-bed time of the day. She gets really energetic and excitable in the late evening and it's so fun to watch! At the end of the video, she suddenly realizes that she has to go potty - this is a pretty typical way for her to tell me. It's play, play, play...then EMERGENCY! and we run to the potty where she usually just barely makes it.
Here's a video of Addelyn during her crazy, after-dinner-before-bed time of the day. She gets really energetic and excitable in the late evening and it's so fun to watch! At the end of the video, she suddenly realizes that she has to go potty - this is a pretty typical way for her to tell me. It's play, play, play...then EMERGENCY! and we run to the potty where she usually just barely makes it.
Yet another video cut off by a potty break...here, Addelyn is singing "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep". She sings a lot these days and she knows so many songs! She just always clams up when I take out the camera. One of these days...I'm going to catch her on camera. It's just too cute!
Addelyn is almost an expert at recognizing colors, numbers, letters, and shapes now. I've heard her count to 10 and she can sing her ABC's to G perfectly (even with pretty good pitch), and I've even heard her get past LMNO once. Here she is doing her alphabet puzzle and telling me the letters:
One other cute thing Addelyn has been doing is pretend play. She likes to pretend she's another person - for instance, she'll say "I'm Candice" (a character from one of her favorite TV shows), and have me be Candice's mom. Then she'll walk around and do things she sees Candice do on TV, and refer to herself as Candice, and correct me if I call her Addelyn on accident. It's adorable! She also informs me: "I'm the mommy" while tapping herself on the chest when she's playing with her dollies. She is so nurturing, I just know she's going to be a great big sister!
Stats:
Age: 21 months
Weight: 28 lbs
Length: 33.25 inches
Drinks: about 2 6-ounce sippys of milk per day (all of which is regular whole-milk) with meals and a couple of drinks of milk before bed every night
Eats: whatever I can get her to eat for breakfast - lately it's been sandwiches and we've recently discovered the oatmeal packets; leftovers for lunch (spagetti, sandwiches etc...); and noodles or other leftovers or, if she finds it acceptable, whatever we're having for dinner. I try really hard to get a fruit, a veggie, a grain, and a protein in her every day, but it's hard lately since she's refusing so many things.
Sleeps: 9:30pm-8am. Most nights she wakes up at least once - sometimes 2 or 3 times from nightmares. Usually all it takes is a binkie, a drink of water, and a cuddle and a song from mama and she's ready to go back to sleep, though.
Naps: 2-3 hours per day her nap is 4 or 5 hours after she wakes up for the day
Awake for:4-7 hours at a time during the day.
Clothes size: 24 month pants and 3T shirts
Motor skills: going down stairs well, running, 'jumping', and climbing EVERYTHING (she can get onto the top bunk of our bunk bed by herself.
other skills:pretend plays very well - loves to 'cook' in her kitchen and take care of her dollies, as well as pretend to be other people and play with imaginary toys. Recognizes letters, numbers, shapes and colors very well.
words: Hundreds...if not thousands. She speaks in full sentences now and can say anything she needs to.
words: Hundreds...if not thousands. She speaks in full sentences now and can say anything she needs to.
signs: over 100 - now that she's started talking we've learned less new signs, but since she discovered one of her favorite of my books is a book that teaches you signs, she's started using them again. Good thing, because once Nova comes, we'll have to start again :-)
