Addie is 9 months old!

Addie turned 9 months old on February 3rd!

She is starting to smile & grin more at people, but also starting to show some signs of stranger adversion too.  She's also easily overwhelmed when a lot of 'new' people are around and sensitive to loud noises. 

Addie is 'talking' a lot now...saying "Da Da" and "Ma Ma" and "Ga Ga".  She's also signing some.  She'll sign "milk" with her hand while she's nursing, "more" with her index finger & palm and "all done" by waving her hands over her tray when she's full.  It's amazing to me how babies can communicate with us :-)  She's still drinking her milk from bottles at school...and holding them all by herself, but we're still trying sippy cups to make that transition a little easier in a few months.

 
Addie loves to play on the floor with her toys and she's getting up on all fours a lot now and rocking back & forth! Not crawling yet, but has mastered the 'launch, stretch & reach' tactic to get what she wants. She's also trying to pull up on her knees holding our hands. She's learning a lot from her big brother & she'll be running around like he is very soon   :-)

Addie has 6 teeth now...those top middle ones finally came in!!  She's got a nice gap too...hopefully she won't have any crowding issues like Josh does.  We can hope that only one of our children will need braces, right?! :-)

Addie had her 9 month well visit with Dr. Fitch too.  She weighs 14 lbs 14 oz and is 27" long.  At this same age, Josh was 15 lbs 3 oz and 27" long.  Even though Addie didn't grow as much as he had hoped during the past 3 month time period, Dr. Fitch is encouraged by her development and said "positive growth" is what's most important & we achieved that!  He also checked her iron, which is perfect!  That means we don't hae to supplement anything.  She can keep on nursing and eating solids too.  She eats pretty good...still prefers fruits over veggies, but we're still giving the veggies to her (mean, aren't we?!) :-) Dr. Fitch gave us the go ahead to start giving her what we eat (minus the 'choking' foods, shellfish, nuts & milk)...so that's helpful for me.  I can just puree up what we're eating for dinner!!

I have a feeling her 10 month blog will have a lot of new developments since she seems to be changing so quickly these days!

Addie is 8 months old!

On January 3rd, Addie turned 8 months old!  She's a happy little girl, but already has an opinion about things!  She makes us laugh with her grins.  She loves to clap along to "If you're happy & you know it, clap your hands".  She is very attentive to her surroundings & tries to watch everything, including Josh!!!  She gets so excited when she sees him...that just melts my heart!

Addie is still a great sleeper & sleeps 11-12 hours each night.  She is still taking 3 naps at home (on the weekends) but not at school.  The morning & mid-day naps are typically 2 hours each and the late afternoon nap is about an hour long.  At school, she's lucky if she gets an hour nap, most times its two 30-minute naps...so she's a little fussy and tired in the evenings.

Addie is eating more & more foods.  She's got 3 teeth now and working on #4.  She's got the two on the bottom and one of her eye teeth on the top.  #4 is the other eye tooth...no signs of the middle top teeth yet.  Seems weird to me, but the pediatrician said every child is different, so we'll just have to wait for the middle ones to push through.  She really loves sweet potatoes and would eat applesauce and bananas at every meal if we offered it to her!  She gobbles those up.  She's not a huge fan of broccoli or black beans, but she'll eat them. 

Addie is trying really hard to get up on all fours and when she does, she'll do a little rocking back & forth before falling back on her belly.  She moves around a lot in her crib though by rolling around.  It won't be too long before she's mobile!

If you're happy & you know it....

CLAP YOUR HANDS!!!

  This morning I got Addie on tape clapping along as I sang (and I use that term VERY loosely) "If you're happy & you know it".  She was so excited & animated about it...she had pretty good timing too! 

Addie is 7 months old!!!

Oh, how the time is just flying by...I know I say this every month, but I really mean it!  Before I know it, I'll be planning Addie's first birthday (that's bittersweet)!!  She is the 2nd oldest in the school nursery...there are lots of itty bitty babies in there now! 

We officially have another thumb sucker in the family!!  Addie is sucking her thumb now on a pretty regular basis.  She is still sleeping like a champ at night.  She is definitely showing signs of teething, but I cannot see/feel any bulges indicating that a tooth will appear soon.  Everything she can get her hands on goes straight into her mouth...including books, toys, her feet, fingers...you name it!  She has discovered her toes & fingers.  It's entertaining to watch her play with them!

She is eating cereal, pumpkin, applesauce, prunes, sweet potatoes & pears now and can't seem to get enough of it at lunch & dinner time!  Addie is rolling over all around now to get where she wants.  Her preferred method is still to hollar until someone picks her up or gives her the desired toy, but if she must, she can get to it!  She's sitting pretty all by herself and much more graceful now when she does fall backwards. 

Addie has developed separation anxiety and a little adversity to strangers.  She likes to have Josh, Momma or Daddy around her at all times!!  She does well at school though...she seems to love her teachers.  She gets especially excited when she sees Ms. Linda (who I recently found out feeds her)!!

Here are some pictures from our 'photo shoot'!! She sure is getting big!

I LOVE this little grin!!

She loves playing with her toes!

Addie's a little stinker!

After battling Addie to try & get her to eat baby food for almost a month now...I think we finally figured out the problem....MOMMA!  I tried rice cereal, oatmeal, applesauce & even pumpkin puree (Josh tried it first & he really liked it) :)  She wouldn't eat any of it for me...she'd throw her head back & forth & cry...flat refusing the food. 

Yesterday, her teacher at daycare suggested bringing some baby food so they could try today. Well, I did & guess what?! She ate all of it without hesitation! To test this, I mixed up some oatmeal tonight for her & Mike fed her. Again, she ate all of it without hesitation! 

mmm...she couldn't get enough oatmeal

my lil' stinkers (all 3 of them) :)

Guess we'll have to work out our evening routine so Mike can feed Addie dinner. 

Addie is 6 months old!!!

It's so hard to believe that in 6 short months, we'll be celebrating Adelyn's first birthday!  I know I say this each month, but I really cannot believe just how fast time is flying by!  Addie had a pretty exciting half-birthday!  She had a check up with Dr. Fitch.  She weighs 14 lbs 2.5 oz, her length is 24.75" and her head circumference is 15.75".  Dr. Fitch said she is proportionately petite :)  I had to laugh and asked Dr. Fitch how she could be petite with so many rolls. LOL!  She's hit a little bit of a growth plateau, but he is pleased with her interval growth.  She's about 25% on all measurements.  Overall, he said she's perfect!  Addie is still exclusively nursed; however, he encouraged me to start introducing some baby foods now.  I tried starting rice cereal when she was 5 months old & it seemed to upset her little tummy.  I kept trying periodically & she just didn't want anything to do with it.  So, I tried oatmeal cereal next....same story :(  Yesterday I decided to try applesauce.  I mean what kid doesn't like applesauce, right?!  Well, apparently my daughter doesn't like it.  She cried & wouldn't eat it either.  So...at this point, I'll keep trying, but we may have a very picky eater on our hands :-\

 

Developmentally, Addie is right on target.  She's cooing & talking...  She's laughing & gets so excited when she sees someone she's knows!  She's rolling over all over the place & wiggles like crazy!  Most mornings (and some nights), I cannot even see her in the video monitor because she's moved around so much! :)  She is sitting on her own now!  Exciting times!  I still don't trust her on the tile, so we mostly let her sit on the rug in the living room or on the carpet in the bedrooms.  She also loves playing with Josh's toys...especially his books and playing in her Baby Einstein exersaucer!  Addie is showing some signs of separation anxiety when she cannot see Mike or myself but she will freely go to just about anyone who wants to hold her.

In addition to her regular check up and immunizations, Addie also got her 1st flu shot.  We have to go back in a month for the 2nd dose :(  She ran a bit of a temp today and was extra fussy...I hope the next dose doesn't have the same ill effects on her...poor baby!

And...last, but certainly NOT least, Addie got her ears pierced by Dr. Cevey (another pedi in Dr. Fitch's group).  She did great!  They put some numbing cream on her ears and Addie didn't cry at all when she got her ears pierced!  She's got some pearl inset studs on...  I told Dr. Cevey, "Well, since you don't offer the diamond studs, I guess she'll have to settle for the pearls!" LOL! 

Look at my beautiful baby girl!

Addie is 5 months old!

Addie turned 5 months old yesterday!  I cannot believe how fast time is going by...seems like only yesterday when I first held her! 

We made a trip to Rosenberg this past weekend to celebrate Taylor & Bryce's birthdays.  Addie did MUCH better on this road trip!!!!  Thank goodness! :)

She still loves to smile and "talk", but this girl knows what she's wants.  She gets frustrated and lets you know if things aren't going the way she thinks they should.  *Sigh* Unfortunately, I know where she gets this from and I have a feeling this will be the case for some time to come! LOL

She is sitting up with the assistance of the Bumbo and loves to see what's around her!  She's found her toes & even managed to get them into her mouth.  She is not sucking her thumb as adamantly as Josh did at this age, but constantly has her fingers/hand in her mouth.  I suspect we'll be seeing some teeth emerge in the near future.

She is still sleeping 11 1/2 - 12 hours at night and taking 1 decent nap (1+hour) and 2-3 short cap naps (30-45 min) during the day.  She's happy & it's not affecting her nighttime sleep, so I don't worry too much about it.  She is really moving around in her crib....back to tummy to side and spinning around the crib.  And much to my dislike, she's found a new sleeping position that she seems to really like :-/

A couple of firsts happened this week too.... 

Addie took a bath with Josh in the "big tub" and...

she ate dinner with us at the table last night.  She loved the cereal!!  She was ready & willing & ate the whole bowl of rice cereal!

Addie is 4 months old!!

Our sweet baby girl turned 4 months old yesterday!  I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by.  She had an appointment with the pediatrician last week & she's 12 lbs 9 oz and 24" long.  She seems SO much bigger than Josh at this age, but believe it or not, when I went back to look at his 4 month stats....he was the exact same length and only 1 oz smaller than Addie!  Dr. Fitch was very pleased with her growth & told us she looked perfect! Always good to hear that :) He said we could start cereal/food now if we wanted to, but we'll wait like we did with Josh.  She's getting everything she needs from her Momma right now!!

Addie is a pretty laid back baby...  She is still eating 5 times a day and she's sleeping from about 7:00 pm to about 6:30 am.  She takes only 1 good nap (1 hour +) during the day and the other 2-3 naps are mostly 30-45 min catnaps :)  She is starting to notice when we leave her sight & cries out for us.  She will occasionally roll over from her tummy to her back but she has mastered arching her back to spin herself around to look at something specific.  She's definitely found her voice and likes to coo and 'talk' to us while making eye contact!  She also recognizes our voices...and LOVES to watch Josh when he's acting silly!