Adde's New Adventures

Today when daddy was on baby watch, he called me down to check out what Addelynn was doing. He decided to try her out in the exersaucer, and she just loved it. I didn't think she was big enough to sit in it, but she proved me wrong. A little bit of towel action in the seat really helped as well. Her other adventure was going out for a stroller ride through the snow. I bundled her up and shoved her in the car seat (literally) and we took Titus to the park to play ball. She fell asleep immediately (take note of this). I'm sure that was due to the fact that she was so bundled and cozy warm. I actually waited until the temperature was in the upper 20s to take her on this adventure, which seemed warm after the last few weeks.


Yesterday I had lunch with Liz and Addelynn fell asleep in the carseat on the way home. I thought she might sleep for a few more minutes, but two hours later she finally woke up. Once again, sleeping in the carseat was a hit. She has not been taking naps longer than 45 minutes for me during the last two weeks so I was really surprised that she slept that long. Last night I was so tired and did not want to have any more interrupted sleep (Yes, she has been waking up around 4-5 for who knows what reason. I think the four month mark is causing serious issues with her schedule.) that I took my pillow to the downstairs bedroom and put Mark on duty. What does the little lady do for daddy? She falls asleep at 10:15 and we have to wake her up at 7:30 to eat. She did not make a peep in between. Seriously, parenting is not fair!!

In all seriousness, sleep has been an issue for baby Adde as well as being away from Mommy and Daddy. I had to leave my class at church the other night to come pick her up because she would not stop screaming for our neighbor who was watching her. Prayer for wisdom so that we know what to do would be much appreciated. We have a doctor's appointment on Monday and I'm praying the doctor will have some insight for us as well. In spite of her "problems", she continues to be a happy baby and we are extremely thankful for that.

Lana's Decorating Projects

The basement remodel has been done for months now (minus a custom mantle that I'll get too one of these days (Lana's Edit: Mark said he would have the mantle finished when Adde can say mantle.)) and Lana has been itching to finish it off with some decorations to make it more inviting. Most of this came to bear over the past week, so I thought I give you a peek into her projects. Let us know what you think. We're pretty happy with it.

The photos are from our trip to Switzerland & Italy... they also 'pop' a little better in real life.

(you can click on the pictures to see them better)

In case you are wondering...

Yes, the bottom left really is Titus's front paw prints.
Yes, it was rather interesting to make him do it.
Yes, we are aware that we have mental issues.

Blanket Photo Shoot

We finally got some pictures of Adde on her tummy with the blanket from Aunt Betty. Our "backdrop" is from Grandma Rohrer's sewing scrap pile. I'm glad I brought that one home.

Photo Tag

So after reading my sister-in-law's blog, apparently I have been photo tagged to follow these rules.

Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.
Pick the 4th picture in that folder.
Explain the picture.
Tag 4 people to do the same.


This works really well unless you have an engineer for a husband who arranges pictures into folders within folders within folders within folders. So I made up my own rules and just kept going to the fourth folder until I actually came to a real picture. This is what I came up with. Toby and Titus hanging out in our yard.
Every summer Mark's parents come out to visit over the fourth of July, and sometimes other members of the family come too. I actually have no idea which 4th of July this picture was taken. Surprisingly these two dogs tolerate each other even though Titus is much to playful and Toby thinks he is too much of a person and not a dog.

Now comes the challenging part. I only know a few people with a blog, so you automatically win the prize of being tagged. So I tag my friend Liz, friend from Purdue Carey, and friends from Berne Jason and Maggie. Have fun!

Grab the Ball

We've known for a while that Titus doesn't really know his name when giving commands. On many occasions when Titus and Maggie have been together he responds to all commands, even those that are just for Maggie. So the other day when Adde was "playing" with her ball, I kept telling her to grab the ball. I was so proud of her for being able to grab this ball that I just kept talking about the ball and praising her for it. I looked over at Titus and he too had found his ball and was throwing it around for me to see. Not the brightest dog on the block, but he sure is loyal.


Here's Titus showing me that he can grab his ball too.

Month 4 Fun

Just having fun with the camera over the past few days. Hope you enjoy. This weekend I hope to have Mark's help with the photo shoot so she will smile in a few more pictures. Currently I get the camera where I want it, then move my head so she can see it, try to convince her to smile, and then snap the picture. Doesn't always work, but some of them do turn out okay. On a side note, nap time in the crib has been going much better the last two days. That's a big answer to prayer.

Mesmerized

Addelynn is spellbound with this new toy of hers. She just loves to stare at it. I know for most people this video will be really boring as all she does is move her head and eyes, but I figured that the grandmas would like it. I guess it shows how well she does during tummy time holding her head up (and she's not even screaming this time).

I had to show a picture of her in her first pair of jean overalls as well. I had some 0-3 month ones, but they just didn't look very comfortable, so I never put them on her. I think she looks old in them.

I had to laugh twice today when Addelynn was wailing at the top of her lungs. I looked over at her and she had her nuk in her hand waving it around just screaming because she couldn't find it. I tried to show her that it was in her hand and helped her maneuver her hand back to her mouth, but she just doesn't understand that concept yet. Mark and I both agree we'll be glad when she figures out how to put that thing back in.

Today we did a little better with naps in the crib, but that is our current struggle. Sunday did not go well in that department.

Laughing

Addelynn has been laughing for a few weeks now, but only at random times during the day. I have not found a consistent time or activity that causes her to laugh, so filming it has been quite difficult. Tonight however, after a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, she was laughing away. Mark caught the tail end of her chipper mood on video. She really was laughing a lot more before we ever started taping.



Just for fun I taped her during tummy time tonight as well. You can hear her jabbering quite a bit. That's something else she does more and more. It is fun to see her learn to communicate with us in her own unique way.

Back Home Again

Well, we are back home again from our time visiting family for Christmas. We are back in the groove, sort of. Addelynn's routine seems to be a bit off schedule still, but I think she is just changing more as she's growing up. She now enjoys getting up at 4 am, much to mommy's dismay. I used to be able to just go in and reinsert the nuk when this happened and she would sleep until 6 or 7. Not so anymore. She repeatedly screams during the early morning hours. Last night I just decided I would feed her and put her back to bed, which means losing 20 minutes of sleep instead of 2 hours of poor sleep. After feeding her around 5, she then went back to sleep until 9 am. Actually I think I like this new plan. We've also been trying to retrain Adde to take naps in her crib by herself and not in someone's arms, which has been going well, except she only sleeps for 45 minutes at most with this plan.

Below is a series of pictures that somewhat describes one of Adde's typical cycles that she repeats continuously throughout the day.

1. Engage in some activity (laying on back kicking, sitting in the swing or Bumbo, playing with my activity mat, hanging out in the bouncer) and really enjoy.

2. No longer enjoy the activity and fuss.

3. Insert the nuk for a moment of happiness. Often the activity needs to change or it's nap time.
4. Eat and have a diaper change (which are actually my happiest times of the day).
5. The cycle repeats.

John Deere Girl

We dressed Adde in her John Deere onesie to take pictures with Grandpa Sprunger and his new tractor. We think she looks pretty good in green. Mark and I both agree that Grandpa Rohrer needs to come up with another idea than his gun collection before he gets his chance for a photo shoot with Adde!!