One year old!!!

Adelaide had a great first birthday today!

First, she decided to sleep in until 6:45am. Then, she had lunch and got dressed in a cute dress from grandma. I brought in french vanilla cupcakes with pink strawberry ice cream as a treat for all the kids in her class at daycare, so they had a little party today for snack time. They made her a big birthday card today, too! She is a little celebrity there.

I left work a little early to pick her up to come home and play with the toy kitchen that Ryan put together for her last night. It is the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn 2 - in - 1 Learning Kitchen.She LOVES it! After dinner, we had another cupcake with a candle in it and sang Happy Birthday. Then we went to Goodberry's for ice cream. 

What a day!

Creeping up on One

Only two more days until the big first birthday!

Adelaide has been doing SO well in the toddler room at daycare. She eats morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack, and takes her big kid nap from 12-2 everyday now on her little cot. They do cute activities, like create Scribble Journals. I am so pleased with how much she enjoys it there, and how much I think she is getting out of going to "school" everyday!

Even though daddy is being incredibly negligent about posting his Father's Day/bday post, I will still share a picture of how I dressed her in her Red Sox outfit and hat for her daddy:

Yesterday we went to dinner for Ryan's birthday at his choice of restaurants while Aunt Jenna watched the monkey. So, we ate crab legs at Hooters. 

I can't wait to post all about her big day, and then her big party this weekend!

Oh, and by the way, Adelaide has been sleeping through the night in her crib every night now for well over a week. It's amazing!

Some one please buy our old house. We reduced the price. It is an awesome deal. Buy it!!!

A few of Ade's recent behaviors

• Ade now points with an index finger, only on her left hand (we think she is a leftie, like daddy), instead of just gesturing generally with her hand.
• She has started wanting to put things back together, not just take them apart. For example, she likes the put the cap back on her sippy cup, and fit her blocks into a box.
• She does the "Shake-n-Bake" when excited - she shakes her head rapidly back and forth and waves her hands in the air. We try to provoke this all the time, as it is hysterical and contagious.
• When I read her Counting Kisses book, she is starting to point to the appropriate body parts, such as her toes.
• She says the following words: Mama, Dada, Doggie, Birdie, Book, Duck

Daddy, we are waiting on that Father's Day post!

Who's child is this?

I love looking at baby pics of us and family members and considering who Adelaide favors. I can always pick out a feature, a smile, an expression, a gesture, or an eye twinkle...

Can you pick out which ones are Mommy, Daddy, and Aunt Jenna?

All nighter

Oh yes. It's true. Our baby slept in her crib ALL NIGHT. She went to bed around 7:30, with maybe 10 min of fussing, and slept until 6:30am! I heard her on the monitor wake up twice, but she just kind of went "bla" and then went back to sleep. Ryan looked in on her once to make sure she was okay. When I got her at 6:30, she was laying her crib, eyes open, just looking around...

Also, I want to post about Father's Day since I wrote all of my Mother's Day glory, but I feel like Ryan should do it. I'll see if he will consider being a guest contributor ;-)

Day in the life...

First, sleep updates:

• Thursday - less than 5 min of fussing, and slept until 3am
• Friday - stayed asleep when I put her down, but creaky door when I exited woke her up. 3 min of crying. Slept until 2am.
• Saturday - 5 min of fussing, slept until around 1am
• Sunday - put her in crib mostly - but not all the way - asleep. 3 min of fussing. Woke 11pm, slept in bed til 2:30a, Ryan put her back in crib, 5 min of crying, slept til 6am

Ade is getting tougher to put to sleep by nursing, which to me means the beginning of the end. Here comes weaning! She acts like she wants it and needs it to fall asleep, but then messes around and climbs all over me. She seems to fall asleep faster if we just put her in the crib! Also, how do parents not worry about the arms and legs sticking through the slats?!?!


Also, I really enjoyed reading through this blog the other night, and so glad I have been keeping up with it. It is easy to forget the little routines, and what seems ordinary, especially when things change so quickly!

So, here is another day in the life update:
6am - Wake in our bed (most of the time), play until 6:30 or 7am
7am - get dressed - either daddy gets dressed and mommy showers, or vice versa, and get dogs out
7:30am - breakfast - prepare formula for school (now one bottle and one sippy) and give Ade breakfast - either Ry or I, depending who is ready - sometimes make coffee
8am - drop Ade at school - either Ry or I depending on who has early meetings, etc. - Ade was crying when we left for a while, but seems to have gotten over it just recently
8-9:30am - try to get some life chores done, depending when my first meeting starts
9:30a-4:30p - work, work, work - also whatever else I can squeeze in like laundry, bills, phone calls
4:30p - pick up Ade from school (Ry or I)
5:30p - dinner for everyone, usually daddy cooks
6p - take a walk, look at birdies, read books, play
6:30-7p - Ade says she is tired. PJs and medicine.
7p - nurse in glider, lay Ade down in crib
7:30p - Ade asleep - adult evening, some work, some play
10p - bedtime for me
anytime between 11-3am Ade wakes up, comes into bed, but maybe this will be changing soon...

It is a busy day, but life is getting much more manageable. Phew. ;-)

Malynn Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family website - Vintage photos

Have a magical day!

I love Disney World. I have so many wonderful memories there from family vacations growing up. And, Ryan and I have enjoyed two vacations there as adults. So, though I would not normally bring an infant down - I used to think to myself, "Who would bring a baby here?" - we had a great time. I went to Orlando for a work conference early Monday morning, and then Ryan, Adelaide, and my parents headed in Wednesday. We spent Thu-Sat at Disney, and flew home Sunday morning.

I am still working on grabbing pics from the videos, and uploading everything, but here is the album link I am adding to.

Though Ryan had a tough time at home by himself while I was at the conference, we will all happy to be reunited Wednesday night. Ade really tested Daddy on the plane ride, but he showed up with a good attitude and Ade showed up in her IBM tshirt! When we got back to the Dolphin, I told Ryan to go out and unwind. He headed over to the Boardwalk ESPN Zone while I cuddled up my baby that I missed so much and went to sleep.

Thursday morning we checked into Port Orleans French Quarter and brought our stuff to my parents room since our room wasn't ready yet. Then we headed to Animal Kingdom. Ade took a lovely nap in her stroller, and then woke up in time to enjoy the safari ride. As usual, she spent a lot of time cheesing it up for the other guests. She is a total entertainer... wherever could she have gotten that from... ;-) She loved the characters too. We went back to the hotel for a nap, a play in the pool, and then Ryan, Ade and I went to downtown Disney to have an Irish dinner.

I will have to finish my tales after I get through the Friday and Saturday videos... stay tuned.

As for day 3's sleep story, Ade fell asleep in about 30 minutes tonight, even after after a 3 hour nap at daycare. Steady improvement, that is what we like!

Quick update

Last night Adelaide was asleep in under 40 minutes, slept until around 10:40p again BUT this time she put herself back to sleep, and didn't wake up again until 12:40a!

I am really, really pleased with this so far! Ryan and I are so proud of our big girl!

Next week, if the rest of this week goes well, we can start pushing her to stay in her crib all night. Phase 3 is weaning...

Also, they reminded me at daycare this morning that they like the kids to be off the bottle when they move into the 1 yr old room. I have to just shake my head at how hard I worked at getting her to take a bottle only a few months ago, and now that she loves them I have to work at taking them away. Anyhow, she does fine with the Avent sippy cup lid instead of a bottle nipple, so I ordered more of those, and will keep transitioning. She drinks fine from all manner of cups, but she can't really hold them herself without a huge mess. She likes to tell us she is done eating by throwing the items left on her tray to the dogs, and dumping her drink out onto the floor.

Here is hoping for day 3...

Crib training, day 2

Ade went to sleep after about 45 minutes last night. I couldn't believe it. The ironic part is that as soon as I had my evening "freedom" all I wanted to do was sit in bed and watch TV!!! I resisted the urge and at least sat on the couch in the family room to watch TV (and do the bills - fun, fun!). I checked on her before I went to bed, because I could not just rely on the monitor. She was all cozied up with her bunny and blanket, no worse off for a little crying.

She slept a solid 3 hours, and then woke up around 11. I was already asleep in bed, so Ryan brought her down to me. She fell back to sleep in our bed within 5 minutes, and woke up at 6:45am. A great night overall.

Tonight, it is 7:51pm, and she is really winding down after about 30 minutes of fussing. We still hear a whimper every few seconds. She really does try to fight sleep, poor baby.

We were happy last night with 45 minutes and I would be happy with that again tonight. Everyone who has done it told us that it will work, but it is so hard to believe. It breaks my heart to walk away while she is crying and holding her little arms out to me! I really do know it is best for her to learn to go to sleep on her own, and have a good rest in her own bed. When I remember that it is about her, then I feel better. I guess parenting can't always be about making them happy and giving them what they want... sigh. I think that is what grandparents are for! ;-)

I am working on the Disney videos and pictures in the evenings that I suddenly have free, so expect those soon.
Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a pic of her peeking in her toybox (it has been quiet for 5 min now... fingers crossed...):

Crib training...

Yes, I have a whole Disney trip to post about, but I am in the midst of crib training, and I need to post to take my mind off the crying baby I left in her own bed for the first time.

I know that everyone tells me this is healthier for everyone, and I know Ade can't stay the baby in the bed forever, but this is really so awful.

We followed Ade's normal bedtime routine, and then sat in her room and nursed her instead of taking her to our room. She fell right asleep and I rocked her for about 15 more minutes. Then I tried to lay her down, but she woke up of course. I patted her back and talked softly to her and told her to be a big girl and go nunny. She started screaming her head off. I told her I loved her and left the room. We have been listening to her scream, then settle to fussing, then wind back up again for about 25 minutes.

We had planned to have Ryan go in after 5 or 10 min and tell her it is okay, but she keeps winding down and I certainly don't want to make it worse... it is tough to know what to do...

All of the time I resented being stuck in the bed with her, but it really is something I am going to miss very much. That was special time we had together. And, I really don't think I would have ever taken that time to relax by choice. If this is the only baby I have, I will be so sad to see this end.

When you are used to having your baby snuggled up with you, just listening on a monitor for her well-being is no comparison.

Wish us luck and Ade a peaceful sleep. I'll let you know how it goes. (30 minutes elapsed...)