8 months

Dear Adelyn,

I don't know where all the time has gone! I know it was just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital and now you are 8 months old. Last night I was holding you and rocking you to sleep, you are teething and in so much pain all I could do was rock you and eventually you fell asleep. But I was rocking you and I remembered when you were a newborn and would sleep on my chest. Now your legs reach all the way down to my hips. You have grown so much! I am cherishing every minute I get with you right now. I know it will not be long before this stage is over and we are in toddlerhood. You amaze me everyday with what you are learning and how you grow. I swear if you wanted to crawl you could. You sure like to trick mommy into thinking you are going to at least. You will be on all fours rocking thinking about moving and then roll over at the last second. We are beginning to think you are doing it on purpose ;) Oh but boy can you get around! You use a combination of rolling and scooting and what your daddy likes to call wallering. All I know is that I look away for two seconds and you are five feet to the right and getting into something.

 

This is exactly what I am talking about. I went to the bathroom for a minute came back and found this... You had gotten into the magazines and were looking though a scrapbook. You love books and I think you liked this one because it has lots of cool textures in it. Luckily nothing was harmed and it wasn't too much of a mess. It just means Daddy and I need to get going with the baby proofing.

Lately you have not been my "perfect sleeper" not that I am complaining becasue you still sleep a lot more than some babies your age, but it has been different. I think it has to do with you teething and us trying to transition you to your crib. You have also gotten to be what can only be described as whiny. Again I think teething has a lot to do with this and also the fact that you can't communicate your needs to us yet. While we understand it has been difficult some days (especially the days you decide not to nap!) I have decided to try and teach you some sign language so you can tell us what you want. Your daddy thinks I am crazy, but we will see how it turns out. You haven't signed anything yet, but I am hopeful. I have read a lot about it and people say it works wonders. I guess we will see. 

You now weight 20 lbs! You are such a healthy girl, and boy do you love to eat. I have stopped giving you pureed baby food. I tried making some on my own for a while but I have found you really just prefer to feed yourself. Plus it is helping with your fine motor skills and makes it easier on mommy come meal time. I can sit you in the high chair give you some soft finger foods and eat my own meal while you feed yourself. It is all part of what is called baby led feeding and I am a huge fan of the idea. Some of your favorite foods are zucchini and squash, peaches, plums, blueberries (you love them frozen), bananas, broccoli, and of course you still love the puffs and yogurt melts. I keep trying to let you experience new things as often as I can. you had green beans for the first time last night and I think you really liked them. You make a huge mess but it is still totally worth is in my book.

Here you are eating plums. I think you really enjoyed them.

Just look at those fine motor skills. You amaze me!

You with a whole peach. You devoured this thing! I had to pry it from your hands so I would get the pit out.

You have really started to warm up to Sam recently. You find him fascinating and I can tell that you are going to be best buds. You haven't quiet gotten the whole being gentle thing yet but Sam is so good he lets you pull on his fur and scratch at this face and never even blinks an eye. You light up every time you see Sam and I just know he is going to be your best protector and friend.

We went to the park for the first time the other day. Daddy was in an interview for a job at the Sheriff's office and we were across the street from the park so I decided to take you out for a swing. You were not crazy about it at first as you can probably tell from the picture, but before long you were falling asleep. At this age the park is not the most exciting place, but I know it won't be long before we are going to the park regularly and you are all over everything.

You love shopping. You really are usually so great when we are out in public. You love to observe everything! Here you are at Target wearing Aunt Becky's sunglasses.

We are so proud of you. You grow and learn something new everyday. I love every second of being your mom even on the rough days, but especially in moments like this :)

July 4th/ 5th

I don't know about everywhere, but around here it has rained almost nonstop. I can't remember a rain-free day recently. The 4th of July was no acceptation. It was forecast to rain and storm all day. We had planned to spend the day with my parents hanging out in the back yard BBQing and just enjoying each others company. My parents decided to postpone the BBQ until the 5th where there was less of a chance of rain. So on the 4th we found ourselves with no plans. Lucky my friend Lindsay also had no plans so we decided to spend the evening together doing something. After looking at the weather we decided to just stay in and cook some burgers on the stove and hang out. It really didn't feel like a holiday without the usual cookout and activities but we had fun none the less.

Addie loved playing with Auntie Lindsay. Can't you tell? Mommy also enjoyed catching up with Lindsay. We ended up on the porch watching fireworks and talking till early in the morning. I am sad that Addie did not get to see any fireworks she was long gone by the time people started shooting them off. I guess that will be a special thing for next year.

Now on to July 5th the day we really celebrated. I mean like it is said we should celebrate our freedom everyday not just on the 4th. Here is Adelyn's outfit. Isn't it wonderful? I love it so much. It is my favorite outfit of hers right now. Ok, ok that is mostly becasue I made it, but I still think it's awesome. It turned out even cuter than I imagined. I took up sewing before Adelyn was born with the hope that I would be able to make some of Addie's clothes. This is the first thing I have actually been able to make and it was way easier than I ever imagined. This outfit only took me 2 days (really only a few hours of work total becasue I only worked during naps and after she went to bed). I also made the bow in her hair which was super easy as well. I used some tutorials I found on Pinterest the main one I found here http://www.itsgoodtobequeen.net/2012/02/pillowcase-dress-tutorial.html?m=1
I modified it a little bit by adding ribbon and a couple of my own touches. I think this was the perfect 4th of July dress and I can't wait to start my next project.

Back to the 5th- We started out the day at my parents for the BBQ we had to postpone. The weather cooperated with us long enough to get the food cooked, but as soon as we pulled it off a storm hit and we all had to rush inside. We ate inside and before long the rain died down and we were able to go back and sit under the canopy and enjoy each others company. A few of the guys even played horse shoes in the mud... I guess we were pretty desperate for some entertainment. Addie got to sample some new foods baked beans, potato salad, and she gnawed on a chicken bone for a little while. I imagine it felt good on her gums :) Can you guess what her favorite food was though???

That's right! Blueberry pie. She loved it and made a royal mess in the process, but who could deny this face?

After spending a few hours at my parents we headed over to Michael's dads where his side had gathered. We spent time with them chatting and watching Jayden and Adelyn play. Of course Adelyn got to show off her outfit there too. We had a great day with family and friends, but by the end we were all exhausted. Addie was asleep before we pulled out of the neighborhood. All in all the rain didn't ruin our celebrations. I will look forward to next year when Addie can see some fireworks :)

Adelyn's New Ride

We decided to go ahead and move Adelyn out of her baby carrier and into a new car seat. Mainly becasue it seemed she was outgrowing it, wanting to be upright and see things legs poking out the back ect. Even though those seats say up until 30 lbs I don't see how. Addie was 18 and pushing it! We made the decision to "upgrade" to a seat that can be both rear facing and will eventually turn to be front facing after she reaches 20 lbs. We went to our favorite place to go for car seats and baby gear Buy Buy Baby. We love them becasue they are so knowledgeable. They can tell you all the features of every seat and make good recommendations based on the products and personal experience. We were really impressed with them when we registered for our infant carrier and so we knew we wanted to go back for the new step. The guy we talked to was really helpful he recommend a couple different brands and walked us though all the features. He was even really patient with us as we asked all kinds of questions. After much deliberation we went with the Recaro brand for several reasons.

1. The safety standards are higher than in other brands becasue it is a European company
2. The straps are easily adjustable with just the turn of a knob (no retreading!)
3. The seat goes up to 70lbs with means that it will have a long life
4. It had all the features of the Britax high brand for the mid-brand price
5. They have made racing seats for a long time- I figure if they can keep race car drivers safe in high speed crashes they must have this safety thing figured out.

We are really happy with the choice. Adelyn seems to like it a little better than the carrier. I'm thinking she will really like it once she can be turned around. I think the meme says it all lol

I think I kinda go sidetracked becasue what I really wanted to talk about it Addie's new stroller. I started with the seat becasue once she moved to a new car seat my old stroller which was just a stroller frame for our carrier became obsolete. We needed a new stroller so on our trip to Buy Buy Baby we also looked at strollers. Now I am not that big into all the features I really just wanted something lightweight, easy to fold and carry, and something that would fit in my trunk. I told this to the guy and he said well you want this one then and walked me over to the City Micro stroller. He showed me how to collapse it with one hand pulling up on a handle and I was hooked. I knew it was the one for me.

I did not however like the price tag. A whopping $250! I have never understood why strollers are so expensive... but that is another story. Strollers are something I have no qualms about buying second hand. I would never buy a car seat second hand but a stroller I think is a perfectly acceptable thing to get used. I decided to find one cheaper second hand or online. Really this was my original plan to go to the store find the one I wanted and then find it cheaper online or at a consignment shop. As it turns out I am so glad I did.

A few days later I was at my parents house showing off Addie's new car seat and we started talking about the stroller we found. I decided to search the web while Addie was getting some grandma time in. I went to Amazon usually my first stop for things like this and saw to my great surprise a new City Micro in gray for $130. I couldn't hardly believe it I clicked and read the fine print just in case. I checked to see that it was the lowest on Amazon and then we jumped on it. I usually shop around more before but that was a deal. All together including shipping it was about $150 that is still $100 off the original and it was brand new!

I was a little worried while I was waiting for it to arrive at the house thinking maybe it was too good to be true, but it came in a band new box never even opened. I had to assemble it and everything. We got it in gray the only color they had. I wasn't crazy about it in the pictures online but I really like it in person. Plus its an added bonus that it is gender neutral for any other babies we might have in the future.

This is all you have to do to fold it. Isn't this the most brilliant thing ever!

So far I really like it. It was super easy to assemble (I did it all by myself!) and Addie seems to like it pretty well. We have taken it out a few times for rides around the neighborhood at night when it cools off. She fell asleep the first night. It rides smooth and is easy to turn and control. Most of all I love that I can open and close it with one hand and that it fits in my trunk so easily. It folds up even smaller than our stroller frame did. I am really happy with our new investment and I think Adelyn is enjoying her new ride too.