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:

Stop to Smell the Roses

Adisyn is now 5 months old and weights about 12 pounds 5 oz. It's amazing how quickly she learns something new. It makes me realize how much we take for granted the little things in life. I always liked to "stop and smell the roses" but now realizing that I am witnessing Adisyn seeing, smelling, touching and doing things for the first time makes me realize that every little moment is special. I remember the first time she felt the rain - we were leaving a store and it started drizzling and she squinted her eyes like "what is that?" Mark and I had a picnic about a month ago and Adisyn was laying on her back on the blanket touched the grass for the 1st time. She's exploring her toys and bringing everything to her mouth. She's even learning how to get the pacifier into her mouth. I love that we are able to see her learn and grow before our eyes and it's so exciting!

Now that I figured out this rolling over thing I like to sleep on my tummy!
6/3/12

This past month, on May 30th, Mark and I woke up like we normally do before work at 6am. Mark looked at the monitor and he tapped me and said "look Adisyn has turned over for the 1st time!" Mark went to go get her out of the crib and she was on her elbows as happy as could be, just playing by herself. Ever since then she thinks it's a game to roll onto her stomach as soon as we put her to bed. She is able to get on her knees and sometimes on her hands and knees, but she hasn't really put the whole thing together yet.

Sitting up! 5 months - 6/4/12

Adisyn is also able to sit now and is learning to fall. Around June 4th she was able to sit on her own for a second or two, then leans forward. She has starting stopping herself from the fall, but she has some to work on still.

Eating has began to be a lot more interesting. When mommy and daddy eat, she watches us closely, and sticks her tongue to the back of her bottom lip, making a chewing movement. Now, when she's hungry she'll do that tongue thing when she knows it's time to eat. The Pediatrician said that we can start her on rice anytime after 4 months and especially when she takes an interest in it. I think now's the time!

Bath time really cheers her up. If she's over tired, after a long, hard day, she loves to splash in the water. Since she really likes the bath, we were hoping she'd like the pool as well. It was about 90 degrees one Saturday, so we were hoping the cold water wouldn't bother her too much. When we were sitting out at the pool she feel asleep and lounged for a little while until she got hot. Then, I took her on the side of the pool, while Mark was in it, and we splashed her legs a little. She didn't seem to mind this so we pulled her in up to her waist. She wasn't sure of it at first, but then she really liked it! She loved to watch everything going on and seemed excited to be trying something new! We're loving the summer and we can't wait to see what she'll do next!

In the pool for the 1st time 5/25/12

Lounging by the pool

Just got out of the bath! 6/3/12

Laughing with Grandma

Grandpa makes me sleepy 6/8/12

Zoo Time!

Adisyn has reached the 4 month mark so she's no longer a newborn, but now an infant! I love that she's doing more and more each day! At the end of last month, she all of the sudden started to really giggle and scream when she laughs. It's so cute and it makes me laugh so much. She really thinks we're funny!

5/12/12

Since April 2nd (3 months) she has slept all night from 9pm to 5am. Now, we put her in bed at about 8 and she sleeps until it's time to get up at 6. Of course we have our days when she's over-tired and harder to get to sleep or she might wake up a little earlier, but she's learning to entertain herself for a little bit and we get her out of bed at 6 to eat. I think she likes this routine!

We had a great Mother's Day together. We did everything on Saturday, because it was so nice. First, we all went out for breakfast with the Rouseys. Jefferson and Adisyn are just a couple of weeks apart, so we like to get together. We were all eating and Jefferson was sitting on mommy's lap, so I decided I'd get Adisyn out too. When I did, I didn't realize she had an explosive diaper, and it got all over me! To make it even more memorable, Mark took Adisyn to the car to change her diaper and we forgot the diaper bag at home! Good thing Paige and Trey had a diaper for us to use! Later, Mark and I went to Falls Park and walked around with Adisyn in the stroller. We went on the hiking trails and it was a little more rough than expected...she didn't mind though! We then planted some trees and flowers at home. It couldn't have been any better (and more memorable)! It was perfect and I couldn't have been happier!

Mother's Day 5/13/12 @ 4 months and 1 week

Adisyn had her 1st trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC on April 30th. Originally, Mark and I planned on going just to have something to do because he was on vacation and I decided to take a day vacation day off of work. We had no idea that Adisyn would really enjoy it! We brought her stroller, and used that most of the time, but we carried her a lot as well so she could see everything. She loved the penguins! She was actually watching them swim from one side of the tank to the other! I was amazed on how well she did and how interested she was!

She is so much more aware of her environment. She really loves to watch the dogs and when the cat is on the bed with us she will watch him and act like she wants to crawl over towards him. So, I get her on her stomach, let her push, and we "crawl" over to him, and she reaches out for him. When she hears mommy and daddy's voice she looks for us. She's even starting to hold her arms out some, like she wants us to pick her up! She also loves it when daddy reads to her!

Reading with Daddy

Adisyn is now in her 3 month clothes and even though she still fits into 0-3 months, they're getting a little small. Her hair is getting thicker and more noticeable on the top of her head. I'm not quite sure what color it will be, because it's still so light on top and darker in the back. Her eyes are still a beautiful bright blue with long eyelashes! She likes her baths and her favorite toy is a beach ball we have that we do "tummy time" on. She's starting to put things in her mouth now and her favorite thing this far is her hand! You can hear her sucking away! We're trying to introduce her to teething toys so she'll get the hang of it when she needs them.

"Crawling" to my toys 5/13/12

Looking at my books

I love to hug my toys!

At Adisyn's 4 month check-up on May 4th, she weighed 11 pounds, 6 oz and was 22 3/4 inches. She is right on track for her height, weight and head circumference. This is a huge confidence booster because I feel like she's eating like she should! Her pediatrician was amazed on her head control. He's a laid back guy, and makes us feel at ease, but you could really tell that he thought she was doing great!

Here's some pictures from the Riverbanks Zoo on 4/30/12: