One Busy Chick

10 Months!

Is Adisyn really 10 months already? She has had a busy month so it really flew by fast! Not only has she been doing some new and exciting things but she has also been to a lot of new places!

To start, for the long weekend on October 19th to the 22nd the three of us drove up to New Jersey to see my dad. The trip was supposed to take about 10 hours but took over 12 with traffic. Adisyn did really good on the drive, despite having to be in a car seat for so long. We spent Saturday with my dad in Philadelphia. We took in the sights, got some cheese steak and went to the New Jersey Aquarium. Adisyn really liked watching the fish, the sea turtle and the penguins.

Adisyn loved watching and trying to touch the Sea Turtle

 

Adisyn watching the penguins



New Jersey with Philadelphia in the background

Adisyn and Pops watching the divers

 

We left Sunday morning, but wanted to make the most of our drive and take our time, so we stopped in Washington D.C. There, we went to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Adisyn loved the Butterfly room! She really wanted to touch them but the #1 rule was that we couldn't touch! After leaving D.C that afternoon we headed towards Richmond, Virginia, which was about the 1/2 way point for us. We spent the night in Richmond before heading out the next morning for home. We really enjoyed the ride home much more because we got to take our time and stop more frequently. We had a great trip and I was glad my dad got to see Adisyn for the 1st time.

Me & Adisyn in the Butterfly room

On October 28th Adisyn and I went to a Halloween party. All of her friends were there dressed in costume and it was so cute! I love to see how she is able to interact with her friends more and more.

The cutest bumblebee ever!

Attempt at doing a group shot at the party

Adisyn and Jefferson (the magician) playing



On October 27th we went to the apple farm. It was our 1st time there, and we're thinking about making it a tradition. We went to the pumpkin patch, went through the corn maze, and bought some apple butter. Adisyn loved the big pumpkins there that were bigger than she was!

Checking her height

Not in the mood for pictures after her nap 

Adisyn loved playing on the big pumpkins

Pumpkin patch

Mommy & Adisyn in the corn maze

Corn maze

The following week was Adisyn's 1st Halloween. That night, we headed over to our neighbors across the street and sat outside with the fire pit to hand out candy. Adisyn dressed up as a chick and it kept her warm! It got really cold that night and the fire pit really helped. Adisyn got to see her friend Hunter, who was a lion. His older brother, Jackson, was Mario. We also had hot apple cider, spider cupcakes, mummy hot dogs and apple bread (all of which Mark made). We had a total of 1200 trick-or-treaters before we ran out of candy at 8:00. It was a fun night! Adisyn held in pretty good, kept her hat (or chicken head) on the whole time and at about 7:30 or so she started getting a little sleepy. Mark is already thinking about what he wants to do next year!

"My 1st Halloween" picture

One happy chick

Daddy and Adisyn getting ready for Halloween

Adisyn & Hunter (the lion)

Over the Sims house
 

Besides all the festivities, Adisyn has been up to a lot of new and exciting things this month. On October the 6th Adisyn started dancing! It is the cutest thing but I haven't been able to catch it on video yet but she does it whether she is crawling, sitting or standing. She will pretty much dance to any type of song or beat she hears, but she really loves her stuffed dog that plays music. As soon as I get it out, she starts to shaker her head a little, letting me know she wants to dance.

Since the 25th, she standing has been standing on her own and has been pulling up to standing in th crib. Now, when I say "standing up" she was actually in her bathtub, put her hands on her knees and stood up without holding onto anything or pulling up on anything to a standing position. When she did this she was so shocked (as was me & Mark) that she started crying when she realized she was doing it on her own! That night, she wouldn't stop doing it in her crib, in fact, the rest of the week she didn't sleep so well because she was so excited to stand up every chance she got! She is able to take a step but then dives towards you because she's still afraid to do it on her own....she'll get there!

Her new favorite thing to do is chase the cat around the house in her walker. She can go so fast now and the cat is terrified (but yet still comes out for her to find him again). She just runs, giggles and screams as she follows him everywhere.

Since Adisyn has been more mobile our dog Zoie has taken a new interest in her. Zoie really likes to be with her no matter where she is. One day when Adisyn was crawling around and Zoie was playing with her favorite stuffed squeaky toy and Adisyn seemed interested. Zoie looked at Adisyn like she wanted to play but then placed the toy right in front of Adisyn and walked off as if saying "you can play with it".  You have to understand that Zoie loves her toys! But, if Zoie wants to be in the same room as Adisyn is in, she stops at the door and waits for us to tell her it's OK for her to come in. Adisyn really likes Zoie and loves to watch her play!

Adisyn has had a few new foods this month: beets, eggplant, whole pieces of bananas and avocado as well as different flavored yogurt flavors like peach. She still really likes bananas and avocado no matter what form they come in. She is getting more efficient with her sippy cup and is cracking down on the paci habit and uses it only when in her crib or out in a restaurant.

For the first time Adisyn has had some separation anxiety. Any time I leave, whether at church or before I go to work, she cries. It seems like this month she has been more attached to me than before.  She prefers to play with Mark, but cuddle with me, but I'll take it! I know this won't last for long so I want to enjoy it while I can!

This has truly been a fun and busy month! We are so proud of Adisyn and how much she is learning every day!

And she's off....

9 months!

If it's possible, Adisyn is getting cuter and cuter each day. On 9/16 she started actually giving kisses -when you make the kissing sound, she does it right back to you. She is really comfortable waving "hi" and "bye" and she even says "ba" when she waves. When she is upset, or just wants my attention, she says "ma".

Since Adisyn is moving around a lot more, she is able to play a little more with her friends. She really likes Sunday School. When we bring her into her class, she waves "hi" to her teacher and I sit her down on the floor with the toys and where the other kids are and she just picks up a toy and starts playing. I don't think she cares that we leave because she's becoming so comfortable with it.

One afternoon Hunter, from across the street who's a month and 1/2 or so older than her, came over while Adisyn was playing in the front yard and he was crawling and climbing everywhere. Adisyn was mesmerized by him crawling all over the front lawn and she wanted to do it too! She gets on her hands and knees, rocks, then dives forward (which she's been doing since about 9/15.) She wants to be able to move so much! She is able to stand on her own for a couple of seconds (about 8) and she rather "walk" around holding onto our hands than crawling. She has found that she can now get around in her walker. At first she was only able to go backwards, but now she's getting better at going forward as well. She loves being outside and I put her in her walker so she can explore on her own. She loves to watch the dogs run around! She is also able to sit on her "bike" and push herself across the floor. Adisyn is really loving her new found independence.



It wasn't until 9/29 that she officially started crawling!

Then, just one week later she got a lot quicker:

On September 22nd Adisyn went to her 1st birthday party for her friend McNeill, who turned one. Adisyn really seemed to like it - she played on the floor with Jefferson, got to say hi to McNeill, visited other children who were at the party and played with a balloon for the 1st time (which was really cute). We noticed she is very sociable - she waved at everyone who we saw for the first time. Not everyone waved back, but if they did, she would smile and wave even more!

Adisyn & McNeill at her birthday

At Adisyn's 9 month check up she weighed 15 lbs 5 oz, 26 inches long with a 17 inch head circumference. Dr. Jack said she's doing well and she's right on track! This month her new foods were: kale, yogurt, broccoli, apples, Cheerios, and yogurt bites. She is getting too small for her size 2 diapers and fits good into her size 2 shoes now. She's growing fast and is definitely on the move!

 

Night Crawler

 8 Months!

 

Adisyn is 8 months and growing so fast!

So far, this past month Adisyn has ate: oatmeal, avocado, zucchini, asparagus, yellow squash, acorn squash, white potato and her 1st fruit was prunes, then bananas, and plums. We actually gave her some prunes because she was a little constipated and we hope that would do the trick. She seems to not be sure of new things on the first bite but then is happy to take more bites. Grandma doesn't think she likes the asparagus as much, but she continues to eat it, so that's good with me! Adisyn is growing out of her 6 month footy pajamas, but she still fits in other 6 month things. Her 6-9 month things fit much better now! She weighs about 16 pounds!

Adisyn's favorite things are her walks around the neighborhood, giving raspberries, smiling with her mouth wide open (you'll see this in her pictures), giggling and playing peek-a-boo. Her favorite thing to do of all, though, is spend time with Daddy. They have this thing that they do where Mark will kiss her belly or neck and she will laugh like it is the funniest thing ever! She really looks forward to this time with daddy and she doesn't give anyone else the same response...it's so cute! She's really starting to show her personality more and more. I love it that she can express things that make her smile, really make her laugh as well as things she doesn't like. She is turning into be quite the character!

Adisyn had her first weekend away from us. Mark and I celebrated our 10^thwedding anniversary so we dropped her off at grandma and grandpa’s (who live 2 hours away from us). I was excited that my in-laws wanted to show her off to their friends and how much they prepared for her stay. I think Adisyn really liked it!

Since August 8th, Adisyn had been able to stand, while holding onto something and has began "creeping". When I came home from lunch that day, I was playing with her in her room and I decided to try to stand her up, as we always do. This time I had her hold onto her toybox and she just held on, by herself. I really wanted to take a picture to show Mark, so I put my legs beside her, just in case she fell. She did great! She is able to play with her toys while standing and everything! She is really excited when she learns a new trick that she wants to keep doing it. Adisyn is soooo close to crawling. I think over the past 2 months or so I really thought she was going to crawl any day now. She knows how to do it, as we see her crawling around her crib at night so we call her the "night crawler" but during the day she will get on her hands and knees but then she either does the frog to get out of it or rolls off to the side. She really prefers to walk. She has pulled herself up a couple of times and if you hold her hands, she'll just walk to where she wants to go. She has a little bike that she sits on and is able to pull herself across the floor. She loves it that she can get to more places now....the dogs better watch out!


Having fun in the sand!

For Labor day weekend we all went as a family to Charleston to remember Adisyn's big sister, Ada. We know Ada is a precious angel watching down on her little sister. We had a great time in Charleston. We rode a horse and buggy ride, went to the South Carolina Aquarium, and went to the beach. Adisyn loved to sit in the sand for the 1st time to pick it up with her hands while she watched it fall through her fingers. I made a nice diving catch as I caught her hand before she put the sand in her mouth. While we were there we found a nice, local beach called Sullivan's Island. We originally went there looking for a lighthouse since it was my mom's (MiMi's) birthday so I wanted us to have a family picture with a lighthouse in the background. We loved the beach and we plan on going back. She also really liked the aquarium. She would stand up against the glass and try to catch the fish as they went by. Adisyn did well on our short trip to Charleston. They had a pack-n-play provided for us so we didn't have to bring much. We walked everywhere and now that Adisyn is drinking water out of her sippy cup, she's able to get some if she gets a little too hot. Overall it was a great time to spend time as a family!





1st time feeling the sand - Sullivan's Island, SC



Walking in the ocean with Mommy 9/4/12



Charleston park 9/4/12

Watching the baby donkey while waiting for the horse & buggy ride



Waiting for the horsy

I love to make silly faces!

Smiling at the SC Aquarium in the eagle's nest 9/3/12

Riverbanks Zoo 9/4/12



Look at how big the gorilla is! 9/4/12

Taking a picture with Mommy in the park in Charleston 9/3/12



Trying to catch the fishys at SC Zoo

Family picutre in front of the lighthouse - Sullivan's Island, SC

Hanging out with Mommy at the zoo 9/4/12

Feeding the Giraffes

Time to Eat

7 Months!

Adisyn is now eating solids and it's very exciting. Every week is something new and tastes completely different from the last. Her first food was avocado, then sweet potato, yellow squash, and oatmeal. She really likes all her food, and is so excited to take the next bite. If you're too slow then she gets upset! Avocado seems to be her favorite....but like I said, she just seems to like every part of the whole experience!

This past month we went to our first play group. All the children were about 6 months to 11 months, with 3 boys and 4 girls. It was so cute to see Adisyn interact with the other children. One boy took Adisyn's pacifier right out of her mouth. It's such a great way for her to learn to play, share and interact with other children, because she only sees adults all the time. I love that we have a play group for her to grow with!


Adisyn had her 1st bike ride! Me and Mark love to mountain bike so we got her a little ride along tent so she can go with us (at least on paved trails). We actually can strap her car seat right in it, so it keeps her safe. So far we only have gone around our neighborhood while we try it out, but Adisyn really like it - so much that she went to sleep during the ride!

7/22/12

Mark and I finally found a church! We decided on a baptist church in our town for a couple of reasons. The denomination didn't matter to us, we were just looking for somewhere that felt right. Our neighbors across the street go to this church with their two boys (Hunter who is 1 month older than Adisyn and Jackson who is 3), who I mentioned before. They have so many children at this church, a lot of activities for them and they were really organized. Adisyn's class has about 10 children in it consistently (all boys besides her) so she'll have a lot of kids to grow up with. Also, Mark and I found a Sunday school class for us there for 30-somethings with children and we fit right in! Also, Hunter is in Adisyn's class and his parents are in ours! It just felt right!

It appears that Adisyn lost most (and almost all) of her baby hair. She only has a long patch of dark hair that runs along the bottom of her head. Her hair seems to be quickly coming back in (even though to me it feels like it's taking a long time) and is a light brown and straight. It's strange how all of the sudden the hair that I originally thought was coming in was gone, but I'm glad that her new hair seems to be coming in good!

Adisyn playing at the play group 7/15/12

She is finally fitting good in her 6 month and 6-9 month clothes, although her 3-6 still fit her. I attempted to put a size 2 sandal on her, but they're still too big. She has so many clothes between the 6 and 6-9 month age range and they are so cute! I think she has more clothes this age than any of the others. Most of all of her clothes that we have gotten her have been from consignment. We love shopping for her at consignment shops because we know she's going to grow out of them so quickly. Now, when we go, we look for clothes for her that are a 1 year or more so when we find a good deal we get them. I just LOVE little girl clothes!

We seem to be having a problem with her nap time. This has been going on for some time, she just doesn't like to take them because she just wants to be going all the time. Her morning naps seem to go good because she can sleep for an hour but she doesn't take much of a nap at lunch or later in the afternoon. During the week Kathy (my mother-in-law who watches her during the day) is lucky to get 45 minutes out of her. We still try to put her to bed around 8:00pm and of course some days work out better than others. We have a good routine of when I get home I feed her, bathe her, daddy reads her a story, then he takes her to bed when she's just getting a little "blinky" as we call it. She doesn't like this at first, but then we roll her to her side and rub her back just a little bit, and she settles right in to fall asleep. That works most nights, with some exceptions but we think she does pretty good!

Some new things that she's been doing is getting more excited when she's doing things she likes. She still likes to watch the dogs, the cat and when mommy and daddy get home, she gets really excited as well. She has a cute thing she does when she's happy - she likes to smile, then hide her face really quickly, as if she's shy. It's so cute and it's her way of playing with us. She also enjoys peek-a-boo now and grandma says that Adisyn has actually played it with her a couple of times! Adisyn is a lot more aware of her surroundings and when she hears something, such as the bell on the cat's collar, she turns to look at it. She's learning more and more each day!



Playing with Jefferson



Adisyn smiling for the group picture



Celebrating

Adisyn turned 6 months old and this is a huge milestone. I remember thinking that 6 months seemed so far off. Now, I look back and realize how much she's learned and accomplished. If you can think of how much that goes on in just a 6 month time period it's nothing more than amazing. We are so blessed to be able to watch her grow and we are so proud of her!

At her 6 month doctors appointment she is still right on track. She now weighs 13.1 pounds and is 2 feet long! She's wearing size 2 diapers, can wear size 6 months clothes most of the time, depending on the clothing and is still in size 1 shoes. She is sitting independently now and the doctor was really impressed with as well. He mentioned that a lot will be happening over the next couple of months to be excited about such as her being more mobile and trying new foods. She's been really trying to crawl for a while now, so we're thinking any day it will happen. She has started eating rice and be starting her on solids this week so we're excited about her experiencing new things.

For the 4th of July we all went as a family (mommy, daddy, Adi, grandma and grandpa) to Orlando. Mark and I were celebrating a early anniversary (it'll be 10 years in August) and we really wanted to take a nice family trip. Grandpa has never been to Orlando before and neither of them have been to Disney World, so I was excited for them to experience it for the first time. At the same time, Mark and I wanted to enjoy our family time as well. So, with the help of my aunt Judy, who works for Disney, we were able to get some park-hopper tickets. Mark and I spent most of the day at Epcot. When we were getting a little tired, we went back to the hotel, rested up, then headed out to Animal Kingdom. We went on a Segway tour of Epcot before it opened. Mark was most excited about this and even though I really enjoyed the tour of Epcot and was excited about learning how to maneuver this mode of transportation, I felt like a dork on the thing. But, I do admit, it really a fun experience. For lunch we ate at a French Restaurant in Epcot. Later that day, in Animal Kingdom, we were ready to get on some water rides to cool us off. It was a perfect end to the day.

Epcot Center 7/2/12

We went back and forth on whether we should bring Adisyn to the park with us and if Mark's parents should go the same day as us, or we should just go alone. We decided to go alone so Adisyn wouldn't get too hot at the park all day (it was in the mid-90's) and that way Mark's parents (as well as us) could enjoy the parks at our own pace. We were happy with our decision. Mark's parents really enjoyed themselves at the park as well at at our hotel. Mark and his father were like little kids on the water slide at the hotel. His father had never been on a water slide before and neither him nor his mother are much for pools. Now, though, they are addicted and they are so glad they came! Adisyn is really getting more and more comfortable in the pool. She even kicks her feet when we're pulling her along. She also doesn't mind getting splashed from time to time, because with all the kids in there, it's bound to happen.

Tampa Aquarium 7/1/12

Since we felt like we were leaving Adisyn out during our day at Disney we decided that the 3 of us would go to the Tampa Aquarium one day. Adisyn was really interested in the aquarium and enjoys watching any thing that's moving. She really liked watching the river otters and the fish. It's such a good learning experience for her and with it being inside we didn't have to worry about her overheating.

While we were on vacation we took her sippy cup with us so she could use it for the first time. She seems to catch right on and knows what to do! She loves watching Mommy and Daddy eat and really wants to join us. She is now at the point where, if you don't watch, she'll pull the food off the plate.  She is also able to sit up in a "big girl" high chair. Since she's still a little small, sometimes I have to put some cushion behind her when we go out, but she does so well! She is also giving us "kisses" on our cheeks which is more like a wet slobber, but it's so cute! There's been a couple of times when she wants Marks attention that she calls him "bla". It's so funny that she's learning things to get our attention when she wants it. Since she's been able to sit on her own, she really likes sitting on the floor so she can watch the dogs. When they come over to see her, she starts kicking her feet and she gets so excited!

Using her sippy cup

We weren't sure how she would do on the trip since it was a long drive down there (about 8 hours) and being in a new environment. I was really worried that she'd sleep too much because she likes to sleep in her car seat so much. But, she did great. We tried to take frequent rest stops so she could stretch and play outside of the car. She seemed to get bored easily sitting in the car so she really liked it when we took her out. She didn't do too bad in the pack-n-play at the hotel either. Overall we had a great, memorable family trip.

4th of July ~ 6 months old

Walking on the sand with Daddy ~ 7/4/12

1st time in the grass

Mommy, Adi & Daddy's footprints

Walking with Daddy

Grandma, Grandpa & Adi ~ 7/4/12

Family picture ~ 7/4/12

Sitting in the grass for the 1st time!

I really like this stuff!

Adisyn's 1st time in her bouncer in the hotel: