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!