WOW! It HAS been that long.

Wow is right. It is the beginning of Adler’s 1st Birthday week. It has been quite a while since we have posted. I officially understand when someone completely leaves the blog scene after having a child. In years past, we would routinely check blogs to see updates, and get mad when there was not a daily update. I am sorry, I now understand.

In the past few months Adler has started walking. It is so cute. Actually, she went straight from crawling to running. She officially doesn’t need us at bedtime now. She is tired and we put her down. She puts her face to the sheet and goes to sleep. Wow, I don’t know if we should be sad that she doesn’t need us, or thankful that she’s such a good baby.

We like to jam pack all of life’s events in December. We have an upcoming birthday, Christmas, family visiting, and graduation. That’s right, I’m finally graduating. I can’t believe it. I’m going to be a big girl. Now, I have to get a big girl job! HOW DEPRESSING!

Adler starts preschool on January 3rd. It has been an emotional roller coaster in our house about the situation. I am so very thankful to have gotten to spend an entire year at home with her. However, I feel that now there are many things that we are going to miss out on. I know we aren’t, but it still feels that way.

Here is a recent picture of the birthday girl (well, a few days prior) Sorry for the blurry phone pic. I thought it was hilarious because I told Adler to say cheese…this is what I got.

we are baaaaaaack

Whew. What a busy month has this been! We have had so much going on. Sold our house, bought another house, moved, took 9 month pictures, battled 2 ear infections and a cold, celebrated my birthday, S is working non-stop including call, and I am trying to finish up my last semester while looking for a job.

First of all, who has a 9 month old baby?? We do!! Yes, this little girl is growing oh so fast. She is standing and cruising. It makes for such an amusing time in our house. Electrical cords are still one of her favorite things. We have been very focused to not let her near them in the new place. She is a wild child.

Here is one of her 9 month picture previews. I just love the turnout. I could not have asked for Adler to have been in a better mood for pictures.

 

 

So, getting adjusted to a suburban neighborhood in the heart of nothing is taking some time. We absolutely love it here, we just know no one. Our neighborhood is amazing though. We have a grocery store, shops, restaurants, and Adler’s Elementary school is right across the street from our house. LITERALLY. I can stand on our front porch and watch the kids playing on the playground. Yes, this is the main reason that we moved. Schools. Sure, she is only 9 months old, but it’s never too early to start preparing right?!

I am going to start writing still working  on her 9 month letter. Hopefully soon things will slow down a bit and we can enjoy this crazy life that we are leading!

 

Happy late 8 months, Monkey

Dear Adler,

8 months have gone by and you are still the love of our lives. You are developing so well, and you simply can’t be more adorable. In the past few weeks you have changed oh so much. You now have 2 bottom teeth. So much for them coming in one at a time. You have decided to cut all of your teeth together. You also have 2 top teeth that are coming in right now.  You are still army crawling. However, you are oh so fast. Right now we are both sick. Hopefully we can keep your Mommy well, because she is the one that has to go to work.

Lately you have not wanted to sleep in your crib. You wake up in the middle of the night screaming, and we can’t bare to listen to it, so you come and sleep with us in our bed. Honey, this is not our ideal arrangement but if it makes you happy, we can deal.  You are now climbing on things. Anything you can get to that will allow it, you prop yourself up to stand and look around. You absolutely love dogs. You are so crazy about your puppy, but she is so not crazy about you right now.

Sweet Adler, you now eat puffs and other snacks during the day. There is always way too much stuff for you to get into or investigate and you rarely want to nap. Your Mommy and I have decided that you will grow up to be either a carpenter or an electrician since that seems to be your specialty.

Regardless of what you grow up to be, we will still love you more than anything in this world.

Unconditionally,

Mommy and Mata

Where to begin??

I know, I know. We are horrible mothers. It’s almost 9 month time and the 8 month newsletter still isn’t posted. Well, give us a little credit, we have had a ton going on.

We decided to sell our house (I know, perfect timing, right?!) and get into a better school district for A when she gets a little older. Ideally, we would love to get into a neighborhood now so that she will know some of the kids when she does start school. Well, we had planned to sell in the Spring. That was jump started this summer with us deciding to go ahead and list. We love the idea of having an almost 1 year old, me taking a full load, S working full time, and moving. Throw in some remodel, because you know we always love a project or 20. So off we go. Found the perfect house. Perfect house that we wanted to change 99% of. You know, simple projects like painting the entire interior and exterior, ripping out the staircase, etc. Well, we went under contract. We extended the contract when ours didn’t sell. And then we decided that all of our “projects” were really going to take up the majority of time that we would be spending with our daughter. We nixed that idea and backed out of the contract. (Luckily we have a wonderful realtor that is very patient with us…we love you Chrissy, if you read this )

So we found a neighborhood that we love. We ran upon it years ago and fell in love, and we reignited that love when we drove by it again recently. Sure, it is at our max budget, has no yard for our 5 dogs, and has HOA fees that would make you literally cry. LITERALLY. BUT we love it. Love it! AND, the elementary school? IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. Yes, I said it, right across the street for the house we like. Like, I will look out of the window and see A playing on the playground. Talk about convenience.

Fast forward a week. We get 2 offers on our house. We accept the lower one because she was using a realtor. Less headache. We counter. She gets cold feet and walks away. We go back to the other offer. They are unrepresented and first time buyers. Quite a bit of headache and our realtor has to hold their hands through the process. The accept our counter. We are officially under contract as of yesterday. Let’s hope inspection goes well. Fingers crossed.

Oh, and we do still have a kid. She is rotten. Right now she is pushing her jog stroller through our house and chasing it when it gets away. And she LOVES to be chased by us. She is still army crawling. Enough about her. Is this blog really about our kid anyway?

(here is the 8 month old eating the feet off of her doll that her Aunt Steph got her in Germany)

7 Whole Months!

My sweet Adler,

You are officially 7 months old. There is so much to say to you. There is so much that you do now. You are developing quite fast. In fact, you are growing up way to fast for your mommies. You now have 2 teeth. 2 bottom teeth that you love to bite us with. You have picked up the army crawl pretty good now. Toys are in the past. Your most favorite thing is to crawl to the vents and let them blow your hair. You also love the curtains and blinds in the living room. You are trying your hardest to see if you can pull them down.

As much as we like to see you grow, we miss our baby. You are a girl on a mission now. When we try and hold you, you slide out of our laps because there is oh so much for you to explore. We love to watch you discover new things. You have recently tried out the i.Pod dock, which now frequents between sound and no sound as a result of your discovery. Adler, dear, you are fascinated by cords, cell phones, and remote controls. Anything that plugs into the wall, you want to taste.

Your smile is breath taking and your laugh melts our hearts. You love belly tickles and you laugh hysterically when we do monster sounds. Your sounds are starting to form words. One of which was dadadada. We jokingly hand you off to the other when you say that. How ever could that be your first word? You have never heard that from us (unless of course one of us is doing yardwork, then you hear us call each other that).

We love you so very much. Your budding personality is such a joy to watch.

Love you to pieces,

Mommy and Mata

(6 months)

(Your 1st bedroom pic)

Stop and smell the roses

There are often times when motherhood can seem overwhelming. I get that. Those are often the times when I have to take a deep breath and give thanks for such a wonderful life. I am so very lucky to get to stay home with our little one full time.  I get to watch her all day amaze me with her budding personality and curiosity.  There are moments, however, like today when she will not nap and IS SO TIRED that I have to remember how very thankful I am.

Lately, she has been getting on all fours. Our little Monkey is almost ready to crawl. This is kind of a sad moment for me. I want her to stay little forever! She is growing oh so fast, little she is not! At our last doctor’s appointment she was in the 95th percentile for height (27 1/2 inches), the 90th for weight (18.6 lbs.) and the 70th for her head (she has a peanut head).

Although she is not little anymore, it’s still the little things that she does that makes me giggle. She has started crossing her feet. She plays with her toys in her crib instead of napping. She loves loves loves the puppy. (she tries to grab her all of the time, sometimes with success)

Here is a recent pic of the little Monkey.

 

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Adler!

Dear Adler,

Yesterday you were officially 6 months old. Where has the time gone? I feel that I have been really slacking on blogging. To be exact, I haven’t blog a bit since your 5 month post. I will do better, I promise. You have learned so much the past month. You biggest (I wouldn’t say necessarily accomplishment, but we will use that word) accomplishment has been finding your vocal chords. Yes, you are now a screamer. We gave in and bought you an exer.saucer. (per your Nani’s request) You now sit in it and scream randomly. It is so annoying, yet, so cute and we can’t help but laugh at you. You are a rolling pro now too. You roll around from side to side and get on all 4s. It will not be long at all before you are crawling. You can sit up by yourself now as well. You are becoming such a big girl. Your Mommy and I love that you reach for things. When you fall asleep you rub between your eyes. It is hard to explain why you have such a mark constantly there, and we try really hard to keep lotion on it.

We had a 6 month birthday party for you. Your Mommy made you a monkey cake. I made you a 1/2 birthday cupcake onesie and a banner. We had some friends over (Liam came to visit you) and we all ate burgers and had cake. You cried most of the time because you didn’t get your nap out. That is ok, it was your party.

We love you so very much, Monkey. You are getting to be such a big kid and we love how you are changing and becoming yourself.

Lots of kisses,

Mommy and Mata

Happy 5 Months, Monkey!

Dear Adler,

Today is your 5 month birthday. I know, we have been slacking on the blog scene. Trying hard to keep up with everything that is going on in our lives right now.

You are growing so fast. The last time that we went to the doctor, you were 26inches long and weighed close to 16 lbs. You were in the 98th percentile for your height and 85th for weight. You still are tall and lean. You are the best baby that we could ever ask for. When it is time for bed, we lay you in your crib and you go to sleep. You now require 3 naps a day and by naps I mean that you sleep for 2 hr stretches per nap. It is absolutely amazing the way that you have changed our lives.

You now smile, laugh, talk to us, and roll. In the past few weeks you have gotten really good at rolling from your stomach to your back. In the mornings when we go to get you, you are usually talking and smiling at us. This makes for a wonderful start to the day. This very morning when I woke up, you were already awake rubbing on your puppy, Cagney. She loves you. Even when she growls at you for pulling her hair, she adores you.

Yesterday was the first Mother’s Day that we all spent with you here. It was a wonderful day. We went to church, and had lunch with your Nani. She is so crazy about you. She cried when we gave her the card from you. We ate lunch, and then came home for a lazy afternoon of studying and napping. We could not have asked for a better day.

We recently decided to sell our house, we found one in the school district that we would like to be in for your future, so we decided that the time was now while you are still little to get in our home that could be the forever one. We hope that we always make the right decisions for you. We love you and our lives now revolve around you and making the best decisions possible for your future.

Hugs and Kisses, Big Girl!

Mommy and Mata

(1st Mother’s Day, 5/8/2011)

someone loves Adele.

the 2 most beautiful girls in the whole.wide.world.

This weekend the 3 of us were just social butterflies. We had a birthday party to go to where Adler got to play with her friend Eva, and then we headed over to our friends bridal shower. I was so very happy that someone captured this beautiful picture of S and Adler. This pretty much sums up our lives now. Grinning from ear to ear all while holding our baby. She is absolutely divine.