Remember This Cutie Pie?

She put herself down for her own nap today. At nap time, she announced that she was a big girl, and that she would go up to take her nap all by herself. I opened the gate at the bottom of the stairs for her, and told her I'd be up in 5 minutes to check on her.

I expected to hear her door slam, followed by Adele singing either "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" or "Happy Birthday" in her loudest voice.

Instead, I heard nothing. I only waited about a minute (maybe less!) before going up. Her door was closed (guess she finally learned how NOT to slam it), her night light was on, and she was tucked cozily into her bed...Melt my heart!


And....two and a half hours later, this is what I found:



Now if I can just get her to teach Anna to do the same thing...

(Actually, I love snuggling BOTH of my girls at nap/bedtime...too bad Adele isn't one for too many snuggles anymore!)

Indiana Beach!

In honor of Daddy's birthday, and Anna's two-month birthday (not really, but the timing did happen to work out that way), we went to Indiana beach with Grandma, Bapa, Uncle Tim and James. Adele was just tall enough to do the rides with Daddy, and to go on the kiddie rides by herself, and she had a blast!

Anna and I tried our best to stay out of the heat (I didn't get a ride pass, so I was just there to watch!). She showed her angelic side (until the ride home, at least), giving me tons of smiles, and generally just hanging out!

Can it be? A sleeping Anna...in the CAR?

Resting up for the big day ahead!

Bumper Cars with Daddy:

Riding the train with Grandma while Daddy and Bapa rode "Man" roller coasters:


Adele and James sharing a boat:
There was actually some "Drama" on the boat ride...Adele kept ringing the bell, which must have annoyed James, so he turned around and "held" the bell so it wouldn't ring, yelling at Adele the whole time. Adele started crying, and in-between picture taking, I tried to get James to let go of the bell (although, I'll admit, the bells WERE annoying!) Ah...kids!

Bapa's fishing for a smile!

The best part about lunch was the air conditioning! (Well, that and Anna's smiles!)

Adele and Daddy "flying like Peter Pan" on the cable cars:

Riding the ferris wheel with the gang (minus Anna and Mommy):


Grandma teaching Adele about strategy on the water ride!






Antique Cars with Grandma, Bapa and James:




Anna just hanging out in the stroller:


One very excited (and tired!) Adele:


Driving a jeep...just like Memaw! (She was SO serious about steering the jeep, but she did give a few smiles for the camera...I just missed them every time!)

Riding on a whale. There was a mermaid in the middle, but she spun with the ride, so Adele didn't really see her until she was leaving the ride...She tried to run right through the ride to get to the mermaid...SO cute!

Another picture of our happy camper!


Documentation:
That Daddy DID in fact ride the "big" roller coaster before we left. (Bapa didn't believe that he'd actually do it...not that he was scared, just that he was tired.) Daddy said he would ride it many more times if the girls hadn't been ready to leave. I actually think I might have gone on this one too, although I haven't been on a coaster since my 21st birthday (I don't think...).

2 Month Stats

At two months old, Anna weighs 12 lbs, 12 oz, is 23 1/4 inches long, and is just full of smiles for Mommy, Daddy and Adele!




She is a pretty calm baby, and really only gets upset when she's tired. Or when she's in the car, although we're working on that one! She screamed for over an hour on the way home from Indiana Beach before she finally gave up and just stared into space!

She loves playing on her "elephant" floor mat, and is getting quite skilled at hitting the toys that dangle from it. She still loves her "bears" mobile, and doesn't hate the bouncy seat. She is getting better about lifting her head during tummy time, but loves to lay across my legs, which also strengthens her neck muscles, so I'm not too worried!

She sleeps in her crib at night (well, in the co-sleeper, which is in the crib) and often sleeps 8 hours at a time! On Sunday night she actually slept a 10-hour stretch for the first time ever! She sleeps in her swaddle, and I think that helps her to sleep for such long stretches! Naps are usually in her crib (also swaddled), unless we have visitors, in which case, she doesn't want to leave the "action" and prefers to snuggle in my arms (which I don't really mind...) And occasionally she'll still sleep in her bouncy seat, which was Adele's favorite nap-time spot at this age (well...when Adele napped at this age, that is!)

She took a bottle from Mommy without any problems...of course, I gave it to her at the *perfect* time-she had just woken up from a LONG nap, and was perfectly content, if not a tad bit hungry! The next step will be to get Daddy to feed her a bottle, but since I'm not going back to work this fall, we're not too concerned about her needing to take a bottle.

All in all, she's just a real sweetie and we think we'll keep her!

Children's Museum

Today we braved the crowds (and there were PLENTY of crowds, thanks to the heat!) and took all four cousins to the Children's Museum.

Our day got off to a great start, especially since Anna didn't fuss one bit on the way down! (A new mirror toy for her to look at seems to have done the trick!)

(she's actually laughing here)

James and Adele had tons of fun exploring the museum, and wore all of the adults ragged!



I didn't take as many pictures as I'd like, but Daddy had the video camera, and has been working on editing all of the footage, so there may be "more"



Thankfully, the Barbie exhibit is ending soon...Adele has had quite a few "naughty" moments there! This time, she swatted a girl who was in line to brush "Her" Barbie's hair...she's had several "time outs" in the Barbie exhibit!

Raggedy Ann and Andy...

kind of...

We finally got to meet Cousin Andrew yesterday. He and Anna are only about 3 weeks apart! Adele was thrilled to have Cousin James to play with while we took pictures of the babies.

This morning I was entertaining both babies and caught a glimpse of Adele's Raggedy Ann doll and realized that the babies' names are pretty similar to Raggedy Ann and Andy, so I think I have a sewing job for the grandma's before Halloween comes!

Makeup!

Adele loves putting on "makeup." Usually that just means playing with an eyeshadow brush, but on Friday when she found the lipstick, I let her go ahead and try some. She didn't do a terrible job applying it, unfortunately, her cheek got "rashy" a few minutes later...

Anna's First Playdate!

Anna has been to a few of Adele's playdates, but today she had her very own! Jana, my teaching assistant from last school year had her daughter, Camila just 10 days after Anna was born (12 days after her due date...poor Jana!) and the girls finally got to meet today! Of course, at this age, the mommies probably had more fun than the babies did, but Anna did get to show off her cool elephant gym to Camila, who had never seen anything like it. They were so cute "playing" together!





It was fun meeting the little baby that I spent so much time working with last school year!

Oops!

How these pictures escaped my most recent blogs is beyond me!

Here is Adele all dressed up and ready to go to Monkey Joe's. She found the hat all by herself and was so proud that it "matched" that she wouldn't stop posing until we took her picture. Unfortunately, she wouldn't hold still enough to get a decent shot of her. (She is OBSESSED with "matching" right now...in fact, her underwear always have to match her outfit...it's a bit frustrating at times!)

And how could I not share "smiley" here! While Daddy and Adele were doing their thing at Monkey Joe's, I plopped myself in front of Anna with my camera and snapped away until I finally caught a smile!

Daddy Time!

Since Anna made her debut, Adele has had a lot of extra "Daddy Time". Some of their recent adventures include visiting the Indianapolis Museum of Art and a rock concert/fireworks display.

Here she is outside of the art museum:


and inside...
(don't worry...she was supposed to touch these dresses "Only the white ones, mommy!")

And here she is with Daddy at The Elms' concert:

These are pictures of the crowd from the band's website:
Can you find Adele and Daddy?

Is this better?

Some Pictures

Daddy's Girls:


Adele is practicing her multi-tasking (nursing her baby while eating dinner)...just like Mommy:
Surprisingly she did a pretty good job of finishing her meal (although she did forgo the fork after a few bites).

One of Anna's favorite positions:


Daddy was working on the deck, and Adele went out to help him (yes...in her nap-time diaper...):