Rolling Over

Earlier in December Adde rolled over once for Lana but we mainly thought it was a fluke. In the past week she has clearly demonstrated that she can repeatedly do it at will... which probably means the end of 'tummy time' for a while since Adde has never been a big fan of it and now has a quick way out. Here's a video from the other day...

Who is this crazy guy?

Lana and I were really excited that it worked out to catch up in person with our good friend Tim Deller over the break. Timmy was the Best Man in our wedding and now lives in Milwaukee.

Unfortunately we don't get to see each other as much as I would like. Tim's parents now live in Fort Wayne, so Friday after Christmas, he was kind enough to drive down with freezing rain to Berne to hang out for a couple hours.

It was good to see him and fun to watch him interact with Addelynn. Seeing him always brings a smile to our face.

Check out my ride

Santa got a new sleigh... yeah I am definitely the coolest kid ever! At least Grandpa Sprunger realizes I am capable of doing more than just eating, sleeping, pooping, and smiling... I can soooo drive this thing. This is definitely the coolest thing those big people have let me do so far. Good thing Grandpa Sprunger promised to buy me a big one of these on my 16th birthday....

My first Christmas

Overall it was a bit anticlimactic this year as Adde slept through most of the 'official' family Christmas times and watching Lana open gifts isn't quite as fun as watching Kit or the Potter kids tear into things. However, Adde definitely made out like a bandit and got a ton of new toys and books. Grandma Rohrer really wanted a picture of Addelynn in this outfit to remember her first Christmas. It's strange to think how different she'll be by next year...

Titus's Little Incident

Despite constantly being given a hard time from our families about the cold weather up north, as of late, Indiana has actually had much worse weather. Last week they had some extremely bad ice storms causing a ton of people to lose power, some for a couple days.

Upon our arrival, basically everything was covered in ice. Lana has been feeling guilty lately that we haven't been getting Titus out as much. We had some down time at the Rohrer's so Lana decided to take him out to play ball across the icy landscape and Titus ran his heart out. Titus even tore up a strip down the center of his nose as he picked up the ball while running full speed on the chunky ice (not that he cared).

About 10 minutes after they came in, Lana was messing with her new red coat and noticed a lot of 'fuzz' on the floor below her. Upon further inspection, she noticed it zig-zagged clear across the floor and wasn't fuzz. Apparently Titus not only cut his nose, but ripped up one of his paws and was bleeding little dots all over Grandma Rohrer's carpet. I don't even think Titus knew or cared that his paw was ripped up or at least you couldn't tell by looking at him.

So we all promptly sprang into action. Mark carried Titus downstairs to the workroom and Lana stayed there to tend to his paw. In the meantime we starting using carpet cleaner like it was going out of style. Fortunately it all came up rather easily. Lana improvised and emerged from the basement with a rag duct taped to Titus's paw. He was a really good sport about it, however the road salt drying out his paws and the jagged ice definitely got the better of him.

3 Month Pictures

So much happened around Christmas for Addelynn this year. Several Christmases and her 3 month birthday on the 26th. We think she has changed a bunch in the past few months. She doesn't look like her daddy quite as much anymore!

Raising Adde Right....

As we are attempting to be responsible parents, there are a few key issues in how a child is raised that parents just need to take a stand on. Typically grandparents get the 'free pass' to do whatever they want with their grandchild, like spoiling them, or eventually allowing them to do a few things that their parents usually don't, like staying up late. Overall it's part of their job description.

However, we have had to make it clear to Grandpa Sprunger that attempting to teach Adde to cheer for IU is completely unacceptable. We don't want to screw her up for life. We are going to raise her to be a Boiler through and through.

Lance, Jenne, and Kit gave Adde her first Boilermaker hat in support of this....

Adde meets her new cousin

Sunday night we went up to the Potters to all meet the latest addition to the family, Zane Noah Potter. Much to Jen's dismay, Zane decided to hang out for some extra quality time in the womb in order to have the privilege of sharing a birthday with his uncle Mark (the non crazy one). Yes, believe it or not, the Potter kids have an 'uncle Mark' and a 'crazy uncle Mark' yet I am not 'crazy uncle Mark'... go figure.

As you can see, Zane wasn't messing around during his extra time in the womb. Adde is 2 1/2 months older yet Zane is almost as big (only separated by 2 lbs). We also took some pictures of the two of them on Christmas Eve.

The Drive Home and Time with the Sprungers

Originally we planned to drive home to Indiana first thing Saturday morning (as of Wednesday it was supposed to be good weather). However, Friday afternoon about 3pm, I (Mark) was on a conference call with some people at corporate in Natick, MA hearing about how bad their weather was and that they expected another storm front in two days... which made me start to wonder when that '2nd' storm front was going through our neck of the woods. So I checked the weather only to find out that it was now supposed to dump 5-7 inches of snow starting in the Twin Cities clear through Chicago. Based on the winter weather advisories and typicall drive time, we'd be right on the front of the storm for the entire 11 hour drive (or potentially 20 hr in this case). So we called an audible, gave Lana a call to start packing, and decided to leave as soon as possible.

I got home from work about 5pm and we managed to get packed for a 2 week trip for Adde, both of us, Titus, plus Christmas presents, quickly eat and feed Adde, then quickly clean the house (one of Lana's interesting must-do quirks before we ever leave for an extended period) and still be on the road by 6pm while only forgetting 2 minor items. Lana did an amazing job getting everything around.

We definitely made the right call to drive through the night as roads were completely clear and there was little to no traffic. Adde slept almost the entire trip and only needed to eat once around 9:30. She only had one incident where she got riled up, as she started fussing a little and Mommy thought she was cold since her cheeks were chilly. We added more layers and turned up the heat a bit. Adde continually escalated until we pulled off to calm her down. When we pulled her out of her car seat the back side of her was drenched in sweat (while still having chilly cheeks).... so turns out she was fired up about being too hot and she let us know that we had made it worse. Once that problem was quickly corrected, she stayed asleep the rest of the trip.

We arrived home with about 11 hours of drive time. Promptly handed Adde (now wide awake at 7am) to Mimi and Grandpa Sprunger for child care duties, and headed directly to bed to catch up on some sleep.

Christmas Card

Merry Christmas from the Rohrers! Four and a half years later we have finally gotten around to sending our first Christmas letter. There are several good reasons why this is the year to finally sit down and write...

o The birth of our daughter Addelynn Marie Rohrer – This is the number one news our family has to share. Addelynn came into this world kicking and screaming (literally) on September 26, 2008. She has been such a blessing to our family. We just had to stop and laugh the other morning and realize how “fortunate” we really are. In the midst of a large bathroom accident and spit up everywhere, Addelynn looked up at the two of us with the biggest grin as if to say, “Isn’t this fun!” Truly, it has been fun. There is nothing like seeing your daughter’s eyes light up and a huge smile spread across her face as she responds to your voice. Addelynn has already grown and changed so much since we brought her home from the hospital. She is much more responsive to our voices, smiles nonstop (well, not quite true), follows objects with her eyes, and holds her head up. Titus is pretty much indifferent to this new addition except for the fact that his rank in the family has gone down. Feel free to check out our blog for more Addelynn updates (www.marklana.blogspot.com).

o Finishing our Master’s degrees – Actually Mark finished his degree in November of 2007, and Lana trailed along to graduate this past May. Mark completed an MBA program through Kelley School of Business at IU, and Lana completed an Environmental Education program through Hamline University. We are both extremely thankful to be finished and enjoy the extra spare time we have (or had until September 26^th).

o Traveling to Europe – To celebrate our graduations, we planned a backpacking trip to Switzerland and Italy as our last hurrah before kids. Fortunately Mark still allowed the trip even though Lana wasn’t quite finished with her last requirement for grad school – the capstone. In all honesty, we found out one week after ordering our plane tickets that we were pregnant and wondered if we would still be able to go. Even though Lana was more tired than normal, she enjoyed the trip immensely because she could not carry a very heavy pack. Many thanks to Mark for being a “Sherpa” on the trip. Some of our highlights were Bern, Switzerland and the Alps, hiking the scenic views of Cinque Terre, experiencing the rich history in Rome, and eating way too much gelato. Lana claimed she needed the extra calories for the baby.

o Continued House Projects – In our “spare time”, we have continued to update our house. This year we remodeled the basement (because the spare bedroom was being transformed into a nursery), added a fireplace, and installed a sprinkler system.

We have truly been blessed during 2008. We pray that your family too has been blessed richly during the year.

Much love,

Mark, Lana, and Addelynn Rohrer

Our Days

So two of our days together were spent working on this stocking. I have to admit that I am kind of proud of my efforts to be "artsy craftsy". A snow man was the easiest thing I could think of to put on a stocking, so I'm not sure what I will do for any other children that we have. Mark and I were given stockings like this as a wedding present so now I need to keep adding to them. Don't you like the nice mantel that we could hang the stocking on????? Someday I'll have that nice mantel.

This morning I remembered hearing and seeing the flash of the camera, but I was a bit groggy and wasn't sure I remembered correctly. And yes, as terrible as it is, I brought Addelynn back into bed with me this morning. Actually she had her breakfast in bed because it was just a little too early to be up for the day. I didn't sleep well last night as Addelynn squawked a few times during the night. But she just snuggled up in our bed and slept then until 9 o'clock. Mom greatly appreciated the extra sleep too. For lunch today I took Addelynn into school. The science department has a Christmas decorating contest of the cubicles, and Addelynn had her debut as a sheep in a nativity scene that was part of the decorations. I forgot to take a picture even though I remembered the camera. Oops. She did not take a nap (other than a short cat nap in the car) the entire day because she was so intrigued with the new place and faces. Finally around 3 pm she did go down for a nap. Maybe the sleeping in did her some good!

Playing with the Camera

Mark and I decided to buy each other a new camera for Christmas this year. We opened it a little early and have been playing with it. Just last night Mark taught me how to do the basics, so I had fun playing today. What you see below is a combination of both of our attempts to use the new camera. Hopefully the pictures will get better with time, but so far we both enjoy it (Mark probably more so than me right now, but I'm guessing that will change.). We even thought about taking a basic photography class so we know how to use it.


I'm trying to remember what new developments have happened since the last time I blogged. The biggest one is that Addelynn now has a new cousin Zane Noah, who is almost as big as she is. When I heard that he came out at 9 lbs. 6 oz., I decided to weigh Addelynn, and the scale said 11 lbs. for her. I haven't yet measured her to see how their lengths will compare, but I'm guessing Addelynn will not look that much bigger.

Addelynn rolled over for the first time last Friday, but I am guessing that the rolling was accidental. I put her in tummy time and her right arm was wedged under her body. She hates tummy time, so she was fussing to get out of it and all of a sudden she was on her side and then back. I put her back on her tummy to see if she would do it again, but she screamed so loudly I decided to flip her over myself.

I also put Addelynn in the nursery for the first time this weekend. It was actually really nice to have a little break and not have to worry about keeping a baby quiet during church (actually it was during her class for baby dedication). However, she was crying when I came to pick her up and I must admit that was a little hard for mommy. But she knows that teaching Addelynn to trust other adults is a good thing.

As you see from the pictures, Addelynn has recently begun to suck on her fist. I think she finds this a suitable replacement for the nuk, and she doesn't have to wait for mom or dad to insert it. It doesn't always do the trick, but sometimes it will keep her just as content as the nuk.

I see that several of you have placed your votes for her name, but we're still waiting for a few more. And don't feel like you all have to vote with the majority!

Voting for Addelynn's nickname

So recently we have been trying to figure out how we want to 'officially' spell the shortened version of Addelynn's name. Aunt Jenne recommended opening up another voting poll for family to weigh in. We figured 'why not', it could be fun.

Let us know what you think. Please vote over on the left.


*Note - while this is fun, we reserve the right to completely ignore all of you and just do want we want in the end, so don't get your hopes up. :)

Getting Bigger

Yes, Addelynn can now face outward in her carrier and seems to really enjoy it. However, she did not like it when I was trying to dust and carry her. My friend said she just didn't like all that dust in her face, which is a good point. Below you can see her in her Bumbo and her outfit for the Sprunger family picture. I figured she should probably wear it more than once for the picture. She wore it out on her "date" with Will. On a random side note, I watched both Will and Addelynn this weekend so the daddies could go shopping (yes, really shopping for 4 hours which means I am now entitled to some good shopping time without baby), and I decided that I think I could handle two kids. Then Addelynn and I went Christmas shopping and I could hardly handle the stroller, carseat, diaper bag, purse, and packages. From that experience I question my previous statement and once again have a great appreciation and amazement for Aunt Jen!

The many faces of Adde

I finally caught some of her new expressions with the camera today. And yes, mom did forget that she had this adorable outfit because it was in the wrong age bin. Luckily the waistband is still extremely loose on her. You might be wondering if we have decided on a spelling for Adde. No, not yet. This is just my favorite right now. We're still considering Addie and Addy. This time it's not just me being indecisive. Mark keeps changing his mind too.

Decorations & Titus' Birthday

Last night I finally got around to finishing Christmas decorations. I had everything dug out and spread out over the entire house when Addelynn decided to be extra needy. So I sat and rocked her while helplessly looking at the piles of decorations for hours. As soon as Mark got home, he received a special screaming present and I could finish my decorations. She seems to enjoy the tree as she looked at it for quite a while today. I decided that I should start wearing her Christmas outfits since she has 5 of them and most will be too small by Dec. 25. This one is already to short.

You might be wondering what this is exactly. Well yesterday was Titus Walter's birthday. I did not have a present for him, so I made a makeshift layer cake for him. I know some of you are probably thinking that I've lost it. And if you didn't think so from the picture, the video will probably convince you. (I actually debated posting the video for that reason.) Anyhow, Addelynn is moving up from party hats to custom cakes in her birthday videos. The video also shows her in her Bumbo seat and how she can sit up so well already.

One last post

So apparently I am in super posting mode as this is the third one of the day. There is so much to get caught up on. Last Wednesday was Addelynn's 2 month birthday. I took pictures one day early in her 12 month onesie. I can already see so many changes in her over the last month. She is definitely much more responsive and is trying to vocalize different sounds. She also is eating less frequently, but unfortunately is having much larger amounts in her diaper. Over Thanksgiving she had so many blowouts it was ridiculous. She also has much better control over her head. She got a bumbo over the break and she does a really good job holding her head up in it. I think it is obvious too from the pictures that she has filled out quite a bit more in the last month. See what you think. I posted both rounds of pictures.

Thanksgiving

Mark and I both agree that we can give the "best baby" award to Addelynn after her stellar performance in the car seat. We were amazed that in that long of a trip, she only screamed for about 15 minutes of the 27 hours in the car. Her car seat performance voids any past crabbiness or future crabbiness (someone will need to remind me of that later I'm sure). The one time she was screaming was due to a blow out in her car seat. As soon as she did not have her poop pressed up against her body, she started smiling and cooing at me. Mark took one for the team and changed and changed her after the blowout in the oasis bathroom over interstate 90. I thought they got lost in the bathroom.

Below are some of the pictures from Addelynn's first Thanksgiving. I realized when working on this post that we didn't really take many pictures. She met so many people for the first time and we didn't get a picture. So I apologize to those of you who do not appear in the slide show. We'll do better with pictures at Christmas.

Addelynn Loves Elmo

Addelynn received Elmo for Christmas from her second cousin (at least I think that's the correct relation) Dalton at the Hiatt Family Christmas. She loves Elmo! I just had to get this on film and share it. She has become much more responsive. I have several more pictures to post from Thanksgiving and from her two month onesie pictures. Hopefully I'll get those up later today. There is just so much to do today to get caught up. Enjoy her smiles!

Addelynn Marches

Thought this was pretty funny when she started marching to the music. She did this repeatedly earlier this morning, and we caught it tonight on film. Mimi thinks she will have bruises on her heels because she sometimes bangs the metal frame of the bouncer.

Funny Sleeping Poses

Addelynn has been sleeping in some funny positions recently, so we thought we should post some of those online. She napped on her side the other day and had her arms out in the air while napping with Mimi. Hard to believe that Wednesday will be her two month birthday.

Maybe you can see her arm position better in the picture below. How does she do this?

Addelynn has had a few other firsts this week. After her doctor's appointment she was given the okay to be out and about, and she has done just that. Mimi and I took her shopping on Saturday to the mall and she did a fabulous job. She just looked around at the new scenery and slept. However, she was a bear that night, so maybe she shopped a little bit too much for her first time. On Sunday Mark and I took her to church for the first time and got to show her off. I was nervous the entire service that she was just going to scream out because she tends to do that at random times. But she was really good in her daddy's arms. She seemed to enjoy the music quite a bit, but I guess she heard that in the womb. And she has been smiling and cooing like crazy. We'll try to get that filmed and posted to the web sometime soon. If we don't post again before Thanksgiving, have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone. I know we have so much to be thankful for, especially this year with the birth of a heathly baby girl.

My First Shots

Well, today was the day for Addelynn's two month appointment, which meant her first round of vaccinations! We had a guessing game to determine her weight before we went in. I guess her grandmas know her better than her parents as Grandma Rohrer won last time and Mimi won this time. She weighed in at 10 lbs. 2 oz. (50th percentile) and 21 1/2 in. long (25th percentile). She is definitely a growing girl. Dr. Olson was pleased with everything.

Then came the shots...She had three needles and one oral vaccine. The oral one was first, which was supposed to be the easiest, but I think she disliked it the most. It was cold and apparently tasted like grape kool-aid, two sensations Addelynn had not yet experienced. After the first swallow her face scrunched up and she started to whine. The full out cries came soon after. The nurse did an excellent job with the shots as she had them all lined up and they went in one right after the other. Addelynn was not too fond of them, but wasn't absolutely histerical. After she calmed down, we went for lunch at Culver's since the doctor said we have no more restirctions!! So Culver's is the first restaurant she experienced. She will be enjoying her burger, fries, and ice cream later tonight.

The doctor told us how much tylenol we could give her if needed for her irritability, and I, being a new mom, though that we should just wait it out and see if she became grouchy before giving any. Around 4 pm (the shots were at 11) she started crying differently than I've heard her before. I went to check on her since she was sleeping in her crib and she was crying in her sleep. I knew this was not good. I cuddled her and she kept crying, I fed her and she continued. Then I summoned Mimi to bring the tylenol asap! It took her a while to calm down, but she finally fell asleep on my chest and has been sleeping there ever since. I don't want to move her if I don't have to. Let's hope she is not a bear the rest of the evening and tomorrow.

Below are some pictures of her trip to the doctor and a few of Mimi with her as well. I think Mimi is having a pretty good time here with Addelynn.

Facing the cold

Last week I really needed to get out, and so did the dog. We decided to face the cold, which meant bundling up Addelynn in her snow suit. She looked like a huge blob and barely fit in her car seat. Now I know why they tell you to put blankets over your child when fastened in the car seat instead of wearing a snow suit. But we were just riding in the stroller to the park, so it was okay. She was so toasty warm when we got back inside that I think it would be fine to do again.

She has been much more expressive recently. Mark even said that she is crossing that threshold of being interactive enough that he is really enjoying her. He said before his goal was just to hold her and keep her quiet. On Saturday she smiled at both of us. For a while it's been questionable if she was smiling or not, but on Saturday it was for sure. I thought maybe I could get her to smile for the camera today, but you will see that didn't exactly work out so well. At least you can see some expressions, just not the ones I wanted.



We're excited to travel back to Berne in a week so she can meet more of her family. I must admit that I am nervous about having her in a car seat for 12 hours. I don't know how she'll do with that.

Happy Birthday to Mimi

After several attempts, we finally have a video that Addelynn did not fall asleep or poop during the taping. She was really tired this afternoon. Perhaps her first trip wore her out. She really looked like she was smiling right before I had the camera ready to record, but I missed getting that. So happy birthday Mimi! We love you!

My First Overnight Trip and Mommy Has a Breakdown

Yes, it's true. I did have my second breakdown of her life while up north with my good friend Liz's family. Mark was gone on a business trip and Liz offered that I go up to see her family with her. We (Liz, Lana, Addelynn, Titus, and Maggie (their dog)) went up on Monday. Steve and Will were already up there deer hunting (I guess Will wasn't hunting quite yet). For some unknown reason Addelynn decided to get really crabby when she was eating. She started doing this to me in the early afternoon and I just thought she was burpy or not getting enough to eat. After the third feeding session of her screaming at me, I could not take it anymore. The last time she was so red in the face I thought she might explode. So of course I start crying because I don't know what's wrong or what to do. Liz's family took Addelynn for the next few hours so I could recover, but I just couldn't stop crying. I called Mark and apparently got him all worried because he tried to call me later in the night to see how I was, and I didn't answer because I wasn't by my phone. He then called both Steve and Liz on their cells to check on me. Needless to say, I was still crying off and on the entire night when I would think about it. I think I just was overwhelmed and really, really tired. Titus had also contributed to the frustrations as he had treed the family cat and once it came down, he continued to chase and torment it. He is always naughty when he's up there and I just want him to have one trip when he doesn't destroy something (the last few times it has been Liz's mom's flowers). And I had a latte that morning, which might have contributed to her frustrations with me.

Fortunately she got back in her groove that night and had a normal night's sleep and was fabulous the next day. I have now calmed down about the entire episode and can't believe how upset I got. At the time I was all afraid that I was experiencing post-partum depression or the baby blues and that got me worked up too. I just need to take a chill pill!

So those two days passed very quickly and now Mark comes home tonight!! I was so glad to be out of the house and learning too what it's like to travel with a baby. It also snowed on Tuesday in Minnesota, so we took some pictures out in the snow. We took them quickly so she wouldn't freeze. Other than that we slept, ate, played with the babies, and planted tulip bulbs. Today I need to do laundry and sleep some more. She had a strange night, but I had her out of her routine from the trip home.

Watching My Moblie

I tried to catch her watching her mobile while she was hanging out in her crib. She really enjoys just laying on her back and watching things. Hopefully you can see where her eyes are focusing in the video. You will also notice that she spits up in this video too. I can't seem to get a video without her moving some type of bodily fluid.

Sleeping with Daddy

Both daddy and Addelynn were taking a nap last night after Mark came home from work. I wanted to get out of the house so I convinced the two of them to come with me while running errands. It was not really a positive experience for us as Addelynn decided to scream repeatedly even though her nuk was in place. If one of us would reach back and touch her, then she would stop. It's a good thing Mimi will be riding back with us for Thanksgiving to be that loving touch. I'm sure Mimi won't be able to keep her hands off anyways! Just kidding mom!

I put Addelynn on the scale today and my eyes almost popped out when it read 10 pounds. I figured that could not be right, so I picked her up and figured I would try later. As I picked her up she spit up a large quanitity of milk on my shirt, so that had to be the extra ounces the scale measured. Later tonight I put her on the scale and she was around 9 pounds, 11 ounces. That is still pretty impressive considering she was "only" 9 pounds last Friday. It's so hard to believe that our baby was 6 weeks old yesterday.

Mark leaves tomorrow for a business trip to Arizona, so Addelynn and I are planning on going up north to stay with Steve, Liz, and Will at Liz's parents and grandparents. Steve is going up there to hunt so we are just tagging along so we won't be lonely here. Mark will come home on Wednesday night. I'll have to post how that goes when we return.

My First Blowout

So here I am in my new Ralph Lauren velor outfit. I'm feeling pretty trendy today. This was a gift from daddy's coworkers because mommy only buys me stuff at garage sales. But I do look a little ornery in this picture, don't I? That's because I was planning my first blow out and I planned it during daddy's watch. Mommy was out with some friends. Mommy was part of the plan too because she didn't put the diaper on correctly according to daddy. He said something about pilot error and she was saying something about the cheap diapers. I just thought it was a funny trick to play on dad.

And here is the Ralph Lauren velor outfit after my stunt. I don't know if it will ever be the same!

Here I am having to share my mommy with my brother. He always seems to be wherever she is, which means he inadvertently spends time with me too. I guess I can share. He's starting to look out for me. If I'm screaming for something and mommy is not around, he normally goes to tell her (seriously mom really thinks that's what Titus is doing).

Favorite Photos

Here are some of my favorite photos from the week so far. This week we had a lunch date with Will and Caleb (and their mothers of course - I can't handle three children under the age of 13 months) and went to vote. I am learning there is a little extra work involved when taking a child with. I was reading in one of my baby info books though that now is the easiest time to take children with. I can only imagine what it will be like in a few months.

On a positive note, we've been able to put Addelynn down for the night earlier this week. It's been 11 instead of 12 or later. The only bad news is that this change really occurred with the time change so she really isn't doing anything differently. We're working on it though. The little stinker woke up 2 times last night though instead of one. I hope that does not continue. When I heard her at 2 am I had no idea what was going on. Mark started ssshhhing her in his sleep again and I think I was dreaming that I was already feeding her. Fortunately she was really easy to put back to sleep.

New Fascination

This is Addelynn's new favorite thing to do - stare at this pillow from Mimi. Apparently my black and white photos that I taped all around her crib were not good enough. Seriously though, we have found that often when she's cranky she just wants to lay on her back and look at this pillow. She will just stare at it for about 15-20 minutes.

Yesterday Mark and I went out on another date to the Vikings game and dropped Addelynn off at Steve and Liz's. We were praying that she would be good so that they would be willing to watch her again. Apparently she slept the entire time from 11-3:30. And the Vikings actually won so it was a good day.

Today we had one major episode of projectile poop so I'm working on some laundry right now. This is the second load of the day. I don't understand how someone with such small clothes can have so much laundry. At least I don't have to iron it.

Happy Halloween

Aunt Jen had sent a little lamb outfit that Kate had worn, but I just assumed that it would be too big since Kate was born in July. But it fit and I'm glad we decided to try it. We had to go show her off to the neighbors then. So Addelynn has experienced her first Halloween and trick or treat night.

Videos from Today

Our Morning Routine

Believe it or not, Addelynn and I now have somewhat of a morning routine. This all came about when trying to change her bedtime to an earlier time than 12:30. For a while now Addelynn has been extremely wide eyed between 10 and 12 pm, which was a little to late for me. So daddy suggests that maybe she would go to bed earlier if we got up and started our day earlier. This suggestions didn't exactly make me happy as I am already more tired than normal and I love sleeping in. But much to my dismay, it actually has been working for the past three nights. She has been in bed around 10:30 each night and normally wakes up once around 2 or 3 am, and then sleeps until around 6:30, which is when our morning starts. This morning she had perfect timing as I heard and felt her fill her pants about four times after her morning feeding and then daddy's alarm went off. Perfect! I sold it to him as morning hang out time with your daughter and later revealed my true motive for passing her off. With clean pants, Addelynn hangs out with me while I read to her and pump, and she is normally up for about an hour before dozing off again. Then she goes back to bed and so do I. Whenever she's ready, she eats again, and then I clean her up, get her dressed, hang out, and eventually she's asleep again. Then I clean myself up. And then it's around noon and all I've really gotten done during the morning are a few feedings and getting Addelynn and myself ready. I guess though I have been meeting my goal of getting myself showered by 3 pm. Maybe I need to move that up a bit.

In the picture above, Addelynn is wearing one of her cousin Kate's outfits. It is still slightly too round for her (I know that's hard to believe), but the length is great. However she has now spit up on this outfit twice so it will probably be going in the laundry soon as it kind of stinks. Yesterday I had to pack up some of her newborn outfits as they are now too small. On to 0-3 month clothes we go! Yesterday we also went on a stroller ride and I bundled her up in her sweat suit (see picture below). When we got back to the house I realized that one of her socks had fallen off and her little foot was so cold. I felt like such a bad mom and Mark gave me a hard time for feeling so bad. I guess I should note that her "cold" foot is still attached and is working fine this morning. One funny story about our crazy mutt - At the park yesterday there were two kids flying a kite. Titus, when allowed to run free, ran straight to the kite and started attacking it. The hair on his back stood up and he started barking and charging at the kite. I thought for sure he was going to try and tear it apart. I start yelling for him to come back and Addelynn starts screaming (I read later last night that when your baby hears your voice in a harsh tone it upsets them...maybe that's why she screamed??). I let him go again and he tries to attack the kite in the air this time. I was so embarrassed.
I'll let you know if we establish any more of a routine, but the rest of the day is still really unpredictable, other than the fact that she gets crabby at night when daddy gets home. He tells her he's not taking it personally, but I might be mad too if Mark came after me with a nose sucker!

One Month Today

It's hard to believe that our little girl is now one month old. It was one month ago that we were coming home from the hospital with our little bundle. We have noticed so many changes in this first month and know that the first year will be filled with so many more. Addelynn is just beginning to enjoy mirrors (at least Grandma Rohrer and mommy think so) and looking at pictures. I read somewhere that newborns enjoy black and white photos, so I printed several out and have now taped them around her crib and changing table. I'm probably over stimulating her with images...oops.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Rohrer, Addelynn now has her first baby doll. So far she has looked at it and touched it. The Rohrers had to leave this morning. Aunt Kimmy also wanted to kidanap our daughter. We have to make sure that Kim and Mimi (Grandma Sprunger) do not conspire a master plan to actually accomplish this. While the Rohrers were here, Addelynn got introduced to the Rohrer favorite game - Settlers of Catan. She witnessed many games, and we just hope that she has her father's aptitude at this game and not her mother's. Addelynn also got one more stroller ride in as the weather was great here on Saturday. Today we had snow flurries, but nothing stuck or accumulated. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 38 degrees. I guess we will be staying inside for a while. Here she is sporting her gray hoodie and cutie hat for her stroller ride. I think she's pretty cute!Since today is her one month birthday, I started a new tradition with her (thanks for the idea Candy and Liz). I pulled out one of her 12 month onesies and plan to take a picture of her in it every month. She was not exactly thrilled with this idea as I had to strip her, put this on, take this off, wash her down, and then redress her. I think she thought all the clothing changes were unnecessary, but she'll learn eventually that's just what girls do. So these are the pictures of her at one month. At one month, at least according to the doctor visit on Friday, she was 8 lbs. 8 oz. and 20 3/4 inches long. She is growing for sure!

The Rohrers Come to Visit

Grandpa Rohrer, Grandma Rohrer, and Aunt Kimmy came to visit very early on Thursday morning. They arrived around 4 am, and Addelynn was still sleeping. Surprisingly Grandma Rohrer did not hold her right away because she did not want to wake her up. However, at the first whimper she made, grandma was there to pick her up. They rocked for a little while and it wasn't until around 6 that she wanted to eat. (Quick sidenote - She also went for about 6 hours last night. Is this going to last??) Then for the rest of the day Addelynn was passed between grandma, Kim, and an occasional rotation with grandpa.









Grandma Rohrer and Aunt Kimmy got to pick out Addelynn's outfit for the day and give her a bird bath. They picked out a headband for her as well, so that is her first experience with one and she actually didn't scream when they put it on. I guess she likes them better than hats. Unfortunately, the outfit they selected only lasted for a few hours as she spit up large quantities on it. We then tried a 0-3 month sleeper and it really was only a little long for her. She definitely is getting bigger!Titus has officially lost his role as guard dog/babysitter. Toby does a much better job. Seriously, Toby is obsessed with the baby. Whenever she whimpers he is there to check things out. This morning when I was feeding her in her bedroom, Toby appeared and just layed on the floor until she was done eating. He even put up with Addelynn kicking him repeatedly last night.

Getting stronger

We're amazed at how much stronger Addelynn is getting. She now can hold her head up when being burped. Unfortunately she also uses that head to head-butt us at times. She can now grab our necks too and has a pretty good grasp.

It's now been three days that I have survived on my own. I make it my goal to get my shower in by 3 pm. It seems like the morning is filled with napping, feeding, and getting Addelynn ready for the day. Today she did sleep for a while this afternoon so I could get a few things done. Tomorrow though I will have company again as Grandpa and Grandma Rohrer and Aunt Kimmy are on their way out to visit.

Mark is doing great as a daddy. Taking care of Addelynn is becoming his second nature. Addelynn woke up in the middle of the night to eat and was screaming a bit louder than normal. Mark, still asleep, started "ssshhhing" her repeatedly. I asked him about it in the morning and he had no idea he did that in his sleep. Tonight I had my honey-do list for Mark, the first of which was vacuuming. Yet Addelynn did not want to be put down. So Mark began his debut as Mr. Mom tonight. I think he looks pretty good. Addelynn is starting to fit a little better in the carrier as well. This Friday we will know for sure how much she weighs as she has another doctor appointment.

A Slow Day

Well, not a whole lot happened today, which made for a very relaxing Sunday. The weather was beautiful again - a wonderful surprise that meant for a nice walk around the loop. Addelynn continues to sleep with one or both arms straight up in the air, so we caught this look on film. We also went to small group tonight and took her along with. She had to dress up for her boyfriends Will and Caleb. Too bad she slept through the entire evening with them. So here she is in her "party dress" as Mimi called it.

Week 3 Highlights

It's hard to believe that week 3 is already over and that we are starting week 4 with our daughter. It still doesn't seem like we are parents. Tonight we had our first date without Addelynn as Mimi volunteered to watch the kiddo. Our date ended up being a huge ordeal to print out birth announcements followed by dinner and pie at Baker's Square.

Last night Addelynn made it almost 6 hours from one feeding to the next. Must have been the prayers she said (she folded her hands herself - that was not posed). All I can say is that I am excited and hopeful that this trend will continue. Who knows though. Every time I think I've figured out her schedule, she does something totally different the next day.

She also had another bath and pooped twice during it. We had just started when she went the first time, so I drained the water and started over. Then she did it again. So bath time was longer than expected.

Grandpa and Mimi have to head home tomorrow, and Mimi has already threatened a kidnapping several times. We'll see if she gets out of here without stealing the baby. Needless to say, their help has been amazing over this week. Hopefully I can make it for a few days next week on my own. I just have to realize not as much is going to get done.

Below are some of our favorite pictures from the third week with our daughter. Enjoy!

Fall Photo Shoot

Mom and I wanted to take some fall pictures of Addelynn since she is a fall baby. We had to do the shoot in increments as Addelynn kept wanting to fall asleep. She took one nap in the "pumpkin patch". Titus apparently wanted in some of the pictures too as he kept nosing around. At the end he sat down right beside Mimi and the baby to get in on a picture. The only things productive I really got done today were these pictures and a trip to Target to get more diaper geanie refill bags. Those were much needed. Maybe tomorrow we'll do some of the touch up painting in the basement.

A Comparison

Given the typical opinion that Addelynn looks like Mark, (who feels bad that she drew the short straw) Grandma Rohrer emailed a photo of Mark at 1 month. Take a look and see what you think.