Goodbye, 2008!

I'm almost embarassed to admit that it's 9:30 and our New Year's Eve celebration has already come to an end. We met Kay, Heath and Will at Puccini's (Adele was adorable. We were seated right by the door, so she waved at almost everyone who came into the restaurant). Then we came back to our house to play some cards (I put Adele down first.) Will played Leggos and watched 101 Dalmations on his own....4 year olds are pretty cool that way!

At the risk of sounding sappy:

Tonight we say goodbye to 2008.

A lot has changed this year, that's for sure! This year I became a mom to the most precious little girl ever. Our house has been transformed from a house awaiting an infant to a house that is almost completely toddler-proofed (Is that a word?). I wrote my first blog...and kept on writing...that may have been my biggest shocker! (Although Daddy complained the other day that all I do anymore is post pictures with captions....) I know for a fact that I've slept less this year than any other year in my life! (Especially this past week-Adele has been getting up at 5 or 5:30 for several mornings now...argh!!).

I have two official weekdays left as a "stay at home mom" and then I go back to work on the 5th. As I was getting my classroom ready the other day, I was excited to find out that I'm feeling ready to go back to work, but it is a very bittersweet excitement! Especially because Adele has been a total "Daddy's Girl" lately (she hurries up to finish both of her remaining nursing sessions so that she can go snuggle her daddy...how's that for rejection???). She will start her new daycare with Miss Jenny on Monday, but we will take her over to Miss Jenny's on Friday for a few hours to help them get acquainted to each other.

Looking forward to next year, I'm not really going to make any resolutions (I've never been good about making resolutions anyhow). I'm just going to really hope for an easy transition back to the workforce (for both Mommy and baby!) I can't wait to see what 2009 holds for our precious Miss Adele!

Happy New Year everyone!

More Christmas Pictures

Well, I'm not sure why they won't face the right direction, but here are some more Christmas pictures:
Her favorite "toy"...go figure, it's just a box! She goes "zooming" around in this, both in the air, and on the ground, and she makes the cutest noise too! She takes this "job" very seriously...that expression is pretty much the only expression she has while zooming (unless she's blowing kisses, that is). "Faster, Gramps!"

Reading with Mommy...and Mary and Joseph

Do you suppose our little stinker is spoiled if she can say she got everything AND the kitchen sink for Christmas? This is an AWESOME gift from Cousin James (and Tim and Laura)...it's a kitchen sink bath toy complete with a nozzle that really sprays. She LOVED her bath last night!

A Yoga Mat? Oh no...an AWESOME tunnel from Uncle Greg...we couldn't get her out of it yesterday!

Mommy's new favorite thing about having a little girl: I get to play with baby dolls again...uh...I mean, Adele gets to play with baby dolls...good thing she loves them too!

Checking out the lights with Grandpa

Tagged

In the crazy world of Blogging, some pretty fun things happen. I don't usually participate (well, not through my blog, at least) but this time I have no choice. I've been tagged. (Thanks Amber...I mean it, it's kinda fun to get tagged!) So, I had to go to my pictures and choose the 4th picture in the 4th folder. Thank goodness it's somewhat related to my baby blog!



This was taken on September 29th, 2007. I was about 25 weeks along. I was going to a baby shower for one of my former students' moms (Do you still read my blog, Shannon?). It was mostly "school" people. There was one other teacher besides me there (many more were invited, but opted not to go...I guess it can be a pretty slippery slope to start attending baby showers for former students' parents, eh?) And then there were about 5 other moms of former students. I had heard stories about some wild parties thrown by this crew and was a little...nervous...about what to expect. Anyhow, I was glad to be pregnant so I didn't have to decide whether it would be a good idea to drink cosmos with my students' parents! We played some shower games that I had never heard of, but they were quite fun. Oh, and I think the shirt I'm wearing was a maternity shirt that Amber loaned me.

I tag Shannah at David Drake's Spot :)

Now...I promise an Adele-related blog a little bit later, but she woke up since I started typing, so I need to find some lunch for her.

We've Been Busy!

...and sick! Adele was pretty miserable all day yesterday. She has a terrible cough and was pretty dehydrated all day yesterday, and wouldn't drink anything. Fortunately, she seemed a little bit better today. We took her to see a great display of Christmas lights near our house. She liked the lights, but screamed the whole way home...too close to bedtime, I guess.

Anyhow...I can't believe it, but I missed blogging on Adele's 11 month birthday...on Monday...oops! With so many relatives in town, we've just been too busy to blog, I guess.

In celebration of Adele's "birthday" we opened Christmas presents with Memaw, Gramps, Aunt Katie and Aunt Jenny. Adele pretty much hit the motherload:

"What, this is it?"
"Now that's more like it!"
"Let's get started already!""Here we go!""Yum!" (Shhh...don't tell we gave her a taste of candy cane!)"Can I wear it now, Mommy?" (Aunt Jenny bought her so many clothes, I won't have to do laundry until March!)

I think there will be round 2 of present opening tomorrow with just Memaw and Gramps, and then again in a few days when Grandma and Grandpa get here. Our house is already filled to the brim with new toys!

Children's Museum!

Today we braved the *freezing* weather and took Miss Adele to the Children's Museum. Memaw, Gramps, Aunt Katie, and Aunt Jenny all came! Adele was a little angel! She had a blast and even though we stayed out way past naptime, she only had a minor meltdown when we put her coat on to leave. She fell asleep before we left the parking garage! Unfortunately (I blame Aunt Katie) she didn't think she needed to continue her nap once we got home, so she entertained herself in the toy room while all of us grown-ups tried to rest.

"So what do I do with these eggs now?"

Adele and Daddy with "Bucky"

A kiss for Mommy:

"I like teddy bears, Mommy!"


I almost didn't take her on the carousel because she was getting really fussy, and wouldn't let go of me, but she perked up as we rode, saving me the embarassment of having a screaming child on a ride!

"Bye, bye Museum!"

A Cow Says...

Moo.

(Or, according to Adele, "Mbooooooooo"...but it's close enough!)

She has repeatedly answered "mbooo" when I ask what a cow says. It started last night when she was looking at her *favorite* ornament (a cow....I think she likes it because it's right at eye level when I hold her in front of the tree, but I "moo" every time we look at it.)

This morning she was babbling away when she woke up, and we sat in her rocking chair and "talked" back and forth for a long time. Finally I decided to see just how smart she is. I asked, "Adele, what does a cow say?" and without any prompting, she quickly answered "mbooo". We went on talking, and a few minutes later I tried again. Same answer. The girl knows what a cow says!

Thank you Sandra Boynton!

I Really Shouldn't Pick on Daddy...

especially when he makes such awesome videos of our Ellie Belly. Enjoy.



(but we are pretty sure he does have pink eye...)

Uhoh...

Guess who hasn't been washing his hands very much today...





That's right...DADDY!!!!!





...and he REALLY hates eyedrops.

Guess I'll have two "babies" to administer eyedrops to whie they sleep...

Oh Yeah....

Now I remember.

I had actually intended to write a blog about Miss Adele...not me and my chapped hands.

Adele started to play a new "game" with me today. I guess I'd call it the "thank you" game...? She takes a toy, hands it to me, and I say, "thank you." Then I give her the toy back, and we start over. She played the "thank you" game with several toys (or "things" at least...) at different times throughout the day. It was very cute. She didn't say a thing, but I have a feeling that soon enough she'll start "talking" while we play too.

Speaking of talking, at her doctor's appointment this morning, she sat as quiet as could be. She was actually a very patient patient this time. Until Dr. Freeman started giving her diagnosis, that is. Then Adele started gabbing away. Dr. Freeman's voice rose. So did Adele's. It got prett loud. So loud, in fact, that I'm sure patients in the waiting area could successfully treat pink eye. It was actually pretty cute that Adele wanted to be the "Doctor" that much.

On the ride home I had to tell her that if she really wants to be a doctor, she needs to learn to read and write first, then go to school, school and more school, and write papers, papers and more papers. Then, when she becomes Dr. Adele, she can give instructions to patients just like Dr. Freeman.

Poor Baby!

Adele went to bed just after 6:00 tonight. She was wiped out, and she just plain didn't feel well.

...of course, she's already been up twice...

I guess I'm wiped out too, because I can't remember why I started to blog right now.

My hands are raw from washing them so much today. Eye goop grosses me out. Like I said, I washed my hands about a million times today...anytime they came anywhere near Adele's face I ran to the nearest sink to wash them. Anytime I touched my own face I washed them. Anytime I touched anything Adele might have put in her mouth I washed them....

Then I washed the towels because I figured that they were harboring some residual eye goop.

I disinfected all of Adele's plastic toys, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with the plush things she shoves in her mouth.

I really hate eye goop!

I can only imagine what would happen if anyone in this house ever got lice! (My head itches for days when I hear about a student at school getting lice. I don't think I've ever had a student with lice, and I'm thinking that's good because my head is actually tingling right now just at the mention of it!)

Wow. Way more than you wanted to know...sorry (but isn't that what blogging is for?)

Here are some cute pictures of my poor little baby. I hope her eyes clear up soon, it's so hard to look at her with those swollen, goopy eyes!

Check out Adele's wicked expression...pretty evil, eh? Cookie looks cute, though!

Can we change this shirt to say "All Mommy wants for Christmas is to be Eye Goop Free?"

You can see in this picture (taken yesterday) that her eyes were already getting puffy.

Pink Eye

I'll be the first to admit that having a baby girl is a great excuse to have all things pink. There are some things that just shouldn't be pink, though. Namely, eyes. I guess no one told Miss Adele that. Her poor eyes were crusted shut this morning, and with her eczema acting up, she looks like a little pink raccoon. Poor little girl! Dr. Freeman says it's pink eye, and gave us some really expensive eye drops (that I get to put in Adele's eyes while she sleeps...what fun!) so hopefully she'll be looking more like herself soon!

Remember these precious baby blues?

Now, doesn't this just make you want to cry?

Pretty miserable, huh? Fortunately she's in pretty good spirits. She was tired at lunch, which is why she looks so pathetic, but even in this shot where she's laughing, she looks like a raccoon! (See her 7th tooth on her bottom right gums?)


Still want to go to the Prom, Evan?

Adele's New Man?

We ate lunch with Amber and Evan today (check them out at The Connors Family) and while Amber was grabbing a to-go box, I put Adele's high chair right next to Evan's.

They were pretty cute with each other. Adele would reach over and grab Evan while he was looking around, then she'd look away, and he would grab her. It was almost as if they didn't want me to see how "interested" they were in each other.





Watch out, Daddy!

More from Thanksgiving

It'll be Christmas before we know it, but somehow I'm still finding things from Thanksgiving to post.

Enjoy:

Then again...

...maybe there is a *little* bit of "Cheese" in her :)


Even though she's been pretty touch and go with eating solids lately, I wanted mac-n-cheese for lunch, so she got it too. I hope she likes it this much again tomorrow!

"Prelude to Winter"

Even though we don't live *that* far south, our local news teams go crazy when we are expecting even the tiniest amount of snow. On Saturday we got about an inch. We didn't have TV on all morning, but Daddy joked that they were probably calling the "storm" "Prelude to Destructive Winter Blast 2009" I decided I would *have* to blog about that!

I grew up in Wisconsin, and Daddy grew up with lots of lake effect snow, so we don't mind snow. We were both pretty excited to take Adele out into her first snowfall.

Here's what she thought of it:

"Umm...it's really cold out here, and there's something on this bench"

"It's not funny, I'm really stuck!"


Nope, not a "Wisconsin Girl", is she?

One Month Left...

Then I have to go back to work :(

Oh well...I'm too busy enjoying my baby to worry about that right now!

Adele went over to Laureli's today while I took Will bowling. I think everyone had a blast! Laureli skipped her morning nap because she was so busy playing with Adele, and I didn't even have Angelia try to put Adele down for a nap because I knew that would be a losing battle! (I guess we'll have to schedule all of our playdates for the morning from now on, since when I had them both in the afternoon they just took turns napping...) Adele wasn't at all fussy when I picked her up, so I can only assume that she had so much fun she forgot to get sleepy. When we got home, Adele ate lunch and took a 2 hour nap...yay!

One of Adele's favorite things to say is "Ada". It sure sounds like she's saying her own name, but I don't think that's what she means most of the time. Sometimes it means Dada, and others it means "What's that" (Something I've realized that I say A LOT during the day). Today Adele said a new "word" (...or something that sounded kind of like a couple of words at least.) In addition to asking "what's that" throughout the day, we go "looking" for things, and when we find them, I say, "There it is". One of Adele's favorite things to "find" is the picture of Daddy in the piano room. She can look through the banister on the stairs and see the picture (we often wave to "Daddy" when going upstairs). Today as we were headed up the stairs, Adele pointed to the picture and said "eah is". The "is" part was very clear. What a smart little girl!

Speaking of smart, Adele has learned some of the figures in her nativity set. She definitely knows Mary, and sometimes she knows Baby Jesus. She also seems to know the cow, but gets it confused with the goat sometimes. All night tonight, we would ask her to find Mary and she'd go right over to Mary and pick her up! We do talk about the Christmas story several times a day, and she holds the figures from my "real" nativity set as well as the ones from her own. It's so cool to watch her recognize the figures! It really makes me wonder just how much she understands about the world!

Well, that's all for now. I hope I start feeling better soon so I can enjoy my last few days at home with my little girl!

New Hangout

Adele was playing in the kitchen today and found a cool new place to hang out:



She played in there for quite a while before I opened the other door.



Can you guess what we did when she finally came out?

First Haircut

It had to be done. Adele's hair was in her eyes, and she doesn't keep her barettes in long enough for them to do any good. I cut her hair while she sat on my lap facing away from me, so it's a little crooked, but it'll grow out! Daddy got some cute pictures of the process!

Bye bye rat tail:

She was pretty well behaved for me (she liked chewing on the comb!):

It's not nearly as short as it looks in this picture, but it's not in her eyes anymore, either!


By the way, I need to thank Tisha for bringing up haircuts on the phone tonight. Daddy overheard my part of the conversation and for some reason decided that we might as well go ahead and cut it!

More Thanksgiving Pictures

These are from Tim and Laura's:

Tim and Laura found adorable onesies for James and Adele. His said, "Good things come in small packages" and Adele's said "All Mommy wants for Christmas is a silent night". Too cute. Too bad we couldn't get both kiddos to look at the camera at the same time:


James helps Daddy with his video editing:

Sitting with Grandpa:

Both babies watched Daddy load up our car:

Thanksgiving Pictures

As promised...

These are from Memaw and Gramps' house, and are not in order:

"What's my Daddy doing?"


"Helping" Memaw prepare dinner:

Snuggling with Aunt Katie and her bottle:

"Hmm, what's in THIS cupboard?"

She's trying to get Gramps' mustache:

Say "Cheese!"

"I got it!"


She dragged this piano into any nook and cranny she could find:

Playing with one of the new toys that Memaw got her:



Stay tuned for more...