Adah is 20 MONTHS!

My sweet Adah!  I can't believe how much she has changed this month!  Where do I begin?  She has started saying so much this month.  She is also developing such a funny personality.  She likes to make people laugh and LOVES to show off.  Her favorite talent she shows off is her hopping and jumping!  She is really good at it too!  She continues to follow her older sister everywhere and mimics everything she says and does.  I just love to sit back and watch it.  Not being an older sibling myself, I think it's pretty funny.  I'm not so sure that Kezzie feels the same way!
Adah got her last bottom eye tooth (L) on  June 28th.  I am hoping this is it for a while.  I guess it won't be too long though and she will be working on those 2 year molars.  Ugh!
Now, are you sitting down for this next one?  I actually quit nursing Adah this month.  Huge shocker, I know.  Even I wasn't sure it was ever going to end! Don't be fooled, I LOVED every minute of it 'til the end and was so blessed to be able to nourish her that way.  This pregnant momma was just too tired for it!  I thought it was time and honestly, she didn't hardly bat an eye at it!  So on the morning of July 3rd, we were at my parents house, camping for the fourth and she was way too distracted to care that I was breaking from the norm of nursing her.  The next morning was the same.  It wasn't until we were home on the morning of the fifth that she noticed something was different.  But still hardly cried and was satisfied when I offered her some juice instead!  Just a short 5-6 months before I start nursing the next one! 
Another new thing for Adah this month was she got her hair cut for the first time on July 5th.  She cried for the first few minutes but mainly because she wasn't sitting on my lap anymore!  She watched Austin get his hair cut and then it was her turn.  She looked like such a big girl sitting up there on that booster.  My biggest fear was that it would ruin her curls.  I think it only made them stronger!  Such a doll!
Another thing I want to remember is Adah maybe had Hand Foot and Mouth disease starting July 11th.  Keziah definitely had it the week before complaining of a very sore throat and barely eating anything.  But Adah never stopped eating or complained once.  She had blisters on her toes and maybe a couple on her hands but she definitely had some blisters on her throat.  I just don't understand why it wouldn't have bothered her so we aren't sure if that was what it was.
That's all for now...until next month, my faithful readers!

Adah's First Haircut!!!

Adah got her very first hair cut today!  Yay!!  I have been so scared to get it cut in fear that she would lose her curls but they are definitely still present!  Her hair was getting kind of dry on the ends so I thought it was time, plus it was getting pretty long.  However, I didn't cut bangs because I regretted doing that with Keziah so it was just a trim today!  She cried pretty hard at first but I think it was because right before that she was sitting on my lap watching Austin get his hair cut and then all the sudden I was plopping her up there away from me...let's just say she has attachment disorder!!  She got over it pretty quick and just sat there looking like such a big girl!  I should have gotten a shot of her sweet curls still in tact!  I can't believe how big she looks!

CEREAL!!

Adah ate cereal with milk for the first time today ALL BY HERSELF! She did such a great job! She hardly spilled any!  And she is definitely a fan of rice krispies! 

New Seat!

A few days ago we ordered Adah a new car seat off amazon and today we received it.  She is becoming more and more unsettled in her rear facing infant seat so we decided it was time.  We have liked Keziah's car seat so much that we got Adah one just like it.  I was just curious as to what age Kezzie was when we switched her around and it was March 18, 2009 (almost exactly to the day)!  Click here to see Keziah in her new seat when she was Adah's age!
I love comparing them at the same age to see what cute little individuals they are!  Adah has so much more hair then Kezzie!  And Kezzie seems so much longer then Adah!  It's funny that without even realizing it we do a lot of things the same way as we did with Kezzie!  I can't believe how big Adah is getting and such a cutie!  She is going to love facing forward in the car!

My walking wonder!

(10/21/10) Here is Adah at the first glimpse of learning to walk.  She is successfully standing all on her own!  I think it was that same day that she took her very first step forward.  It may have only been one or two but it was the beginning of what she is doing today! 

Sometime between then and now she has become a really good walker.  She started out with only a few steps at a time and did this for a while.  She would resort to crawling after 3-4 steps.
Here she is on 11-5-10.

Then she went onto walking between things.  We would challenge her to walk longer distances between Brian and I and eventually she started doing it all the time!  She is getting really good at stepping over obstacles and keeping her balance in the process!  I even caught her standing all by herself from the middle of the room earlier this week! And she is a pro at kneeling down to pick something up and standing back up with it in her hands.  Her little legs are getting so strong!  I think she is sleeping better because of all the activity too!  Here she is just last week (12/10/10).  I finally got around to getting her on video!

Adah is ONE!

Adah is such a joy to have in our lives! She is an amazing and smart little girl.  I don't think I can even begin to remember all the things she can do/say but I will give it a shot (why don't I learn and just keep a log?)!

Adah signs: milk, bath, book, more, eat, drink, all done, shakes her head yes and points to things/places she wants to go.  I am a huge advocate for this because it is so handy when trying to communicate-at dinner time especially!   She says many things, mostly only Brian and I can understand because we taught them to her but some of them actually do sound like what she is saying: banana (nana), bye bye (baa baa), apple (ba um), baby (bay bay), mom/mama, dada, yum yum, moo (for cow), meow (me me), barks like a dog, blub blub (for a fish), she tries to neigh (horse) and baa (sheep) but it just comes out sounding like a cough,  puts her hands in the air and says 'ta da', plays peek a boo, tickles you and makes a tickle noise, understands the word NO and looks at you with a cheesy grin to see if she is going to get away with it anyway!

Adah got her 9th tooth (top right molar) on her birthday.  All day I was feeling in there because she wasn't acting like herself and finally at bedtime I felt it again and there it was, just barely sticking out of the gum!

 Adah is starting to learn her body parts.  She points correctly to the following (most of the time): eyes, nose, ear, hair, teeth, tongue, mouth, fingers, foot and belly.
Adah's current schedule goes something like this:

Wake at 7am, nurse at 7:30 (sometimes earlier), nap at 9ish, wake at 10:30/11, nurse at 11/11:30, lunch at noon (eats whatever we are having with water or milk in a sippy), nap at 1:30ish, wake sometime between 3 and 4, nurse by 4 (usually has a snack at this time too), supper at 5/5:30 (whatever we are having with water or milk), nurse at 7:30 with bed to follow around 7:45.  She sleeps through the night only waking when her teeth are bothering her and usually a little orajel will do the trick!

This month Adah really took off walking.  It's funny that she is already walking...she looks so little!

What a wonderful first year we have had with our Adah!  I can't wait to see what this next year brings!  Praise God, for He is the one who gives us such awesome blessings!

This was how we spent the day of Adah's first birthday:

She got to open her gifts (2 books and a Leap Frog play b-day cake-so cute), we ate her favorite lunch (mac-n-cheese) and peas along with pears, and for dessert she got another shot at a cupcake.  But she still wasn't a fan just like at her party so instead we let her have a few licks of a tootsie pop.  She LOVED that!  And since we didn't have any more cupcakes left, Kezzie got a sucker to celebrate with too!

Happy Birthday Adah!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!

Adah is 11 MONTHS!

What a fun little stinker!  I could hardly get a sit still and smile kind of picture this month but after two different photo sessions, I think I managed to get some to show you!  Sometimes the best ones are of her laughing it up anyway!
Adah gained two more teeth this month.  #7 arrived sometime in the last week of September (top left-next to the front left), #8 (bottom right next to front ) came through October 3rd.  She is lookin' pretty cute with all eight in front now.  I am wondering when her next will arrive at the rate we are going!  Although, we have managed to get through the rest of this month without anymore appearances!
Adah is doing great learning all the things she is watching happen around her.  Kezzie teaches her good and bad things!  How to giggle and dance, how to get frustrated and yell and even hit!  I don't think Adah would like life very much without her big sister.  She thrives so much on everything Kezzie does!  But Adah also likes her alone time.  She doesn't get very much of it but when she is by herself (away from Kezzie) she plays very well.  It reminds me so much of what Kezzie was like when she was her age.  Adah loves to play in her farm pulling the animals in and out and can make several animal noises (cow, dog, cat and sheep).  She also likes to 'drive' things around the living room and make an engine noise.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a car, however, she knows it is a car that makes that noise!  She will also do the razz noise if she is cold (like after a bath I often catch myself doing that noise).  She can sign bath, milk, more, eat, drink, bye/hi.  She gives kisses if you ask her to and if she is in the mood (that's the key-if she feels like it!).
Adah is in an excellent routine right now.  It is as follows:
Wakes about 6:30/7:30am and nurses
Baby cereal with breast milk and culturel around 8ish.
Down for a nap around 9am
Wakes from nap around 10:30
Nurses around 11/11:30
Lunch around noon (whatever we are having-veggie, main dish, fruit and drink)
Nap at about 1:30 (no more nursing at this time!)
Wake around 3/3:30 and nurses
Ready for supper around 5 (similar meal to lunch)
She doesn't get cereal before bed anymore
Nurses around 7:30pm and goes straight to bed!
This month we got a toothbrush and have started brushing her pearly whites before nap and bed time.  She loves it and thinks she is so cool.  She has a stool in the bathroom that she gets to stand on while I brush them and she feels so privileged, you can tell!
Adah is walking more and more with assistance and will even brave a one-handed walk.  She is a pro at walking behind her baby stroller and other things that will move ahead of her (ie: up-side-down hamper, chair, etc.).  I know I lost my 10 month bet, but I am pretty sure Adah will be walking by the time she is a year old!
I don't know if I mentioned that at the beginning of October we got rid of all door handle things (on Kezzie and Adah's doors).  There was one on Adah's door to prevent Kezzie from going in her room the second Adah made a peep, but we took it off.  There are times where this is still a nuisance (ie: if Kezzie hears Adah awake in the morning and gets out of bed and goes to 'visit' her before I am ready to start Adah's day-that is sometimes a problem).  Adah will play in her crib after a nap or waking in the morning really well.  This will sometimes buy me an extra 20 minutes if needed!  So for Kezzie to go in there and let Adah know everyone else is awake makes Adah really upset!  I don't have any plans to put it back on the door handle though!  It can also be really fun for Adah!  If Adah is upset in her crib and I need a few extra minutes to finish something up I just send Kezzie up and she will play with Adah making her laugh!  Sometimes Kezzie even gets in the crib with her and they have so much fun together!
I am so glad that my girls get to go through life together and I can't forget to mention what a great big brother Austin is too and how lucky both girls are to have him.  He is always protecting them and trying to make them laugh.  He will never admit that he enjoys their company as much as they enjoy his, but he does.  I love that they all have each other to grow up with!  My three little blessings-and I can't believe my littlest is approaching ONE!

Where's Adah?

So, I was sitting in my recliner this morning doing my own thing and I looked over to see that Adah was going after a ball.  I thought, 'ok, that's great, she's going to play with that ball.'  Next thing I know I go into the kitchen to do something and think again, 'I wonder where Adah is and what she is up to now.'  I came into the living room where she was last seen going after the ball and she isn't there anymore.  I noticed the stairway gate was open and started heading up the stairs.  I didn't see her on the first flight so I continued up the second flight.  Low and behold, there's Adah three steps from the top...with the ball in hand!  I sometimes let her climb up in front of me on the way to nap or something but she hasn't ever tried to get on the stairs on her own.  It's just never been a problem.  Plus, the gate is almost always closed.  I guess we are going to have to be extra careful to make sure it gets closed for sure!  She seems pretty steady on them by herself, but when I watched her get to the top she was ready for a rest and almost fell backwards off the top step.  She was way too close to the edge!  It was pretty funny though to see her going up all by herself.  When I found her I said to her, 'what are you doing, miss?' (in a playful kind of way) and she just got really excited and giggled and tried to go even faster.  So sweet!

Adah is standing unassisted!

She's been doing this about a week now and thinks she is pretty hot stuff! I, of course, do too!!

Adah's first REAL meal!

Over the past couple of days Adah has started to eat a little more people food (see previous post), but today she really had a full meal: cut up chicken, peas and mandarine oranges.  She loved it all and ate almost every last bit!  You can tell when she has a full belly because she starts pushing all her food off the edge of her tray!  She also enjoys a sippy cup of water at this time!  My baby is growing up!

Adah is 10 MONTHS!

Adah is such a big girl.  She continues to learn so many new things!  And before we know it we will be planning her first birthday party!  This month Adah got a huge amount of teeth so I will start with that: Adah's second tooth (bottom front left) came in 8/30, third tooth (top front right) came in 9/6, fourth tooth (bottom left next to front tooth) popped through 9/19, fifth tooth (top right next to front tooth) came in 9/25 and number six (top front left) came through 9/26.

Adah is waving hello and good-bye (9/1).  At first this was a whole arm kind of thing but has recently become just her hand and sometimes looks a lot like the sign for milk.  Which brings me to her next talent-she can sign milk (9/9).  She never really has a need to ask for milk because I feed on a schedule but whenever I lay her on her side to start the process she will sign milk and often times if somebody (like Kez) asks for milk she will hear the word and sign it.  It's so cute!  Adah is playing peek-a-boo (9/10).  She LOVES this game.  Daddy and Kezzie are the funnest for her to play with and make her laugh the most.  She will also use her blankie or her arm to cover her own eyes.  She does this A LOT during the day-at lunch, during diaper changes or in the midst of playing!  You have to pay attention to know that she is trying to get you to play!  Adah just recently learned how to clap (9/26).  She used to do it when she would get frustrated but it was more of a 'throw-her-hands-together-and-wave-them-around' kind of a thing.  Now she realized it can be a fun thing to do and does it when there is music or when we cheer for her.  She also dances (9/25).  Sometimes she will get up on her feet holding onto something and bounce erratically or sometimes she is lazy about it and just rocks on her bum.  She will of course have a huge smile the entire time too!  And do I even need to mention how much she loves babies?  I mean, look at her in the pictures...she ADORES all babies/dolls.  We have one that laughs or cries when you push its belly and she will giggle and smile at it and hug it.  So pecious!

This month was special because Adah got dedicated at church.  If you missed that post you can click here.  I had to back-date it so it got buried in some other posts.
And I have to admit that I lost my bet with Brian (I bet him that Adah would be walking by 10 months).  It wasn't ever really a true bet because it wasn't like Brian was rooting against her walking, but whatever you call it, I was wrong.  She isn't walking yet but is getting stronger and even frequently walks holding onto just one hand.  She is a very fast cruiser around the couch/coffee table and has even stood unassisted for a couple seconds on purpose!  I will bet she will be walking sooner than Kezzie was but who am I to say and honestly, I don't know if I am ready for that anyway.  She is just growing up WAY too fast!  I will leave this post with her recent schedule.  I doubt it's much different then last months however that is going to change in the next couple of days because I am going to be dropping a feeding putting her down to 4/day :(.
6:30/7:30 wake and nurse (I  have to make note that this is such a wide range because she will often wake at 6:30ish and squeal/talk but then be completely silent until sometimes as late as 7:30).
8:30 cereal mixed with culturel and breast milk.
9ish nap-10/10:30 wake
10:30/11 nurse
Noon lunch-usually a #2 veggie
1:30 nurse (this is the feeding I am dropping out) and down for nap-3:30 wake
4/4:30 nurse
5 supper-#2 veggie and half #2 fruit
6:30 1/4C cereal mixed with half #2 fruit and water
7:30/8 nurse and bed (sometimes she gets to stay up and listen to Kezzie's books and devotions before I nurse her to sleep)
Adah is such a blessing.  I love how she makes me laugh every day!  I love how she looks at her big sister and brother.  I love how she plays so well by herself.  I love how she is so interested in what Keziah is doing and learns so much from her.  I just love it all!  I am such a lucky mommy to be home with my kids all day long!  I am so blessed that my husband goes to work so that I can be home with them!  God has blessed me beyond measure!

Adah is 9 MONTHS!

In an effort to get this post up and published I am going to list the several milestones Adah has accomplished this last month. I can't believe it when I look back at my notes and see that she just learned to sit herself up to a sitting position from her belly on August 2nd. She must have wanted to practice her new skill at all hours because a couple days later she started crying in the night and when I went into her room I found her sitting up staring at the door!
Another big deal in the life of Adah is she got her first tooth (bottom right) on August 1st! On August 3rd Adah took her first few crawls...finally since she has been thinking about the idea for a while now! On August 5th I found Adah standing in her crib when I went to get her in the morning! Adah pulls herself up to everything and even thinks about letting go from her support (8/11/10). I have a bet with Brian that she is going to be walking by 10 months! However, Adah is pretty much moving along the same track as Keziah did and she didn't walk until 13 or 14 months old!
Adah FINALLY learned to get down from a standing position all by herself on 8/26. I say finally but it really only seemed like longer than it was...she would always cry so much when she couldn't get back down! It took a bit of practice and a few falls that just scared her, but she realizes now it's no big deal and that the floor really isn't that far away!
Adah is now walking along the edge of things (couch, coffee table, etc.). She still looks really nervous doing it but does a great job! And I think it is safe to say Adah is a full-time crawler today. Over the last couple of days I have noticed her preferring her hands and knees to her belly and elbows...oh the ways she is growing!
Adah had a 9 month check up this morning. She weighs 18 lbs. 8 oz. (50%). She is 28.25 inches (75%) tall and her head is 17 inches around (25%). She didn't have to have any shots so that was nice! Although you wouldn't know it by the way she was acting when the doctor was looking her over...she screamed bloody murder! We had to have to doc look extra close at her ears because she has cold symptoms and was around her cousins who were sick last weekend. When she is nursing especially you can hear the congestion and I feel so bad for her. However, the doc said everything looks great and that she may not even have a cold after all...it might be seasonal allergies-yuck!
Adah has a great routine going. She is still an avid nurser feeding five times a day.
Wake at 7/7:30
Nurse upon waking
1/4C Oatmeal baby cereal mixed with culturel and breast milk around 8:30.
Nap at 9
Wake at 10/10:30
Nurse around 10:30/11
Veggie at 12
Nurse at 1:30
Nap right after milk
Wake at 3/3:30
Nurse at 4/4:30
Veggie and Fruit at 5
1/4C oatmeal baby cereal mixed with fruit and water at 6:30
Bath around 7 every other night
Nurse around 7:30
Bed for the night right after milk.
She will almost always fall asleep on me at her afternoon nap and bed time. It's the sweetest thing and a highly valued time by me! I love cuddling my baby!
Adah is such a blessing and fun little baby! I am pretty sure Kezzie is even starting to like her a little!!

Adah's new trick!

I came in to get Adah out of bed this morning and I found her standing up at the edge. If she wanted to she could go head first onto the floor beneath her. I got my camera (just steps away) and when I came back she had moved to her knees. She is growing so much! She is starting to pull herself up to everything. Not necessarily to her feet but up to her knees. She does this mostly at the toy box but if I have my back turned to her she will use my shirt to 'climb' up to a standing position! She also tries to climb the stairs if she gets the chance! I guess today is the day the mattress is getting lowered!

Adah is 8 MONTHS!

This is all I have for photos of Adah this month. The ones in her chair are about a week overdue and the photo of her peeking over her bassinet in the camper is her on her actual day of 8 months. Side note: she is not going to be able to use that bed the next time we go camping!

I am in amazement that it has been 8 months already since I gave birth to Adah. The past months have been so busy and gone by way too fast. How do you ever really stand still in time? I would love to pause every stage for a little longer. It's not hard to believe how fast Adah is changing though since it seems like every time she wakes up she knows something more then when she laid down. Here are a few of the things Adah has been up to the past month...

Adah puts her knees under her and gets up on her elbows and rocks forward and back. It is adorable. You can tell the wheels are turning in her head as she tries to figure out how that will someday help her get to where she wants to go! She can also get up on her hands but it's rarely when her knees are under her and when she does she quickly plops down on her belly or face (6/30/10).

Adah started sitting up unassisted for long periods of time on 7/1/10. She is an absolute pro at this now that I am writing this almost a month later!

Adah is doing a great job getting up on her hands and knees regularly and rocks back and forth but still doesn't have the skill! (7/7/10)

Adah is really starting to 'talk'. 7/7/10-she just woke up in such a good mood and has been really vocal all day (babababa, mamamama, nanananana).

Adah is definitely saying Mama 7/8/10 and knows what it means.

Adah is still getting up on her hands and knees but doesn't quite know how to coordinate it. She will lunge forward off her knees though and move into a fast army crawl 7/12/10. She is getting around everywhere now.

Adah is getting into anything she can find...this puts Kezzie a little on edge 7/17/10!

Adah's schedule looks a little like this at 8 months old:

7:00am wake and nurse

8:30am about 1/4C cereal mixed with pumped breast milk

9:00am nap time

10:30/11am wake and nurse

11:30am give our best try at veggies...again-while mom and big sis eat lunch!

1:30/2pm nurse and bed (she will sometimes fall asleep in my arms)

3:30/4pm wake

4:30/5pm nurse

After nursing she sits in high chair while I make supper and she has raw fruit in her mesh bag thing or puffs to snack on.

5:30/6pm another try at veggies! (she loves carrots, hates/gags on sweet peas and green beans and her tummy doesn't handle sweet potatoes well).

6/6:30pm 1/4C cereal mixed with 1/8C fruit and water

7:30 start getting ready for bed

7:30ish nurse and falls asleep in my arms and I lay her in bed!

Wow, I am busy feeding her all the time. I haven't ever really written it out like that before! She is definitely not lacking in the eating department weight wise either! She is a chunker but so cute! We love you Adah and thank God for you every day. What a beautiful addition to our family you are!

Adah is 7 MONTHS!

Adah sticks her tongue out all the time still. It doesn't seem so much like she is doing it to rub her gums anymore like I once thought. It's just her personality!
We started her on oatmeal 6/8/10 after another horrible attempt at rice cereal. She is doing pretty good with the oatmeal mixed with a little bit of banana puree and water. We do this at bed time before her last nursing of the night.
Adah is rolling all over to get places and even scoots herself with one foot while halfway between the rolls. It is so cute and frustrating to watch as it takes great effort to go very little distance!
Adah gives hugs and kisses and says mama (I am pretty sure it's intentional). She doesn't do this on command or anything but she will grab both sides of my face and faceplant her face into mine with her mouth wide open. She will also rub her face on mine. She will also wrap her arms around my neck to give me something like a hug! I love how different Kezzie's hug is from Adah's but they mean the same thing and melt my heart just the same!
Sometime in the first or second week of June we quit swaddling Adah at night and quit using a wedge (Praise the Lord). We simply lay her on her back and give her her little taggies blanket and let her decide how she wants to sleep (she usually ends up in one of the corners). We cover her with a blanket on her legs but it doesn't always stay there all night. We had one really bad night while transitioning into this...she was up 8 times that night. I refused to feed her as I knew this wasn't the problem. The next night she was up 2 times and the next only once. She is now doing a great job at sleeping and soothing herself in the night! I love it when the hard work pays off...it's so rewarding!
Adah is such a cuddler. When she is sleepy she will lay on me and almost fall asleep every time. She loves to lay her head on my shoulder too even when she isn't sleepy. I don't remember Kezzie being this cuddly! I love it!
She loves to play with her toes. And will even suck on them.
We started sweet peas 6/22/10. She LOVED IT! But not so much anymore (6/26). We quit trying to give it to her since she won't eat it anyway!

The months keep flying by...hopefully next month her post won't seem so unfinished! I feel like I am running out of time to do this but it is definitely something I look back at and enjoy! Thanks for reading and keeping up on our family!

Thumbsucker!

Adah has discovered the satisfaction of sucking her thumb. Although she still prefers the pacifier, when found, her thumb will do just fine! It's so cute too!

Adah is 6 MONTHS!!

I have done a horrible job this month at keeping up with what Adah has been up to but I will try to remember-the days seem to run together and she is just growing so fast! The beginning of the month (5/3/10) she mastered rolling from her front to her back. We also started cereal this month...not sure the exact date and it really doesn't matter because she totally hated it. I tried it for about 2 weeks straight and eventually I just decided it wasn't worth the frustration it was causing both of us. We will try again in a couple more weeks!

Adah had her six month check up a little late this time since she got her 4 month shots late. There has to be a certain amount of time in between her 4 month shots and 6 month shots. So on June 4th we went in for her check up. She weighed in at 15lbs. 14 oz. (50%). She is 26" (50%) long, however, looking back at her 4 month check up she supposedly only grew .5" in the last two months so at some point something wasn't measured correctly...no big deal-she's still average! Adah did have to get some shots and Kezzie didn't like it that she had to watch her sister get hurt. Adah was pretty crabby the rest of that day and into the next but slept pretty good at night.

Adah is getting really close to being able to sit up and does a great job of getting around by rolling. Of course, she hasn't quite figured out that it can get her across the room by any means, but if there is a toy barely out of reach she can easily figure out she can get to it by simply rolling a couple times!

Adah is still at six breastfeedings a day. And still takes 3 naps a day. She is still sleeping about 11 hours at night!

The newest look we get from her is her tongue sticking out 24/7! It is really cute but I miss seeing her smile! I think her gums must be bothering her because I can often catch her chewing on her tongue and rubbing her tongue on her gums. Poor baby!

What a joy it is having another beautiful daughter. Our family is incredibly blessed to be able to smile and laugh with Adah! With her one ear that sticks out further than the other and a new mole that just appeared out of no where a couple months ago...we love her to pieces and are excited to see what she has for us next!

First Time for Everything!!

Tonight was the first time Adah tried rice cereal. She did a really good job. I made just 1T of cereal mixed with breast milk and she took 3 good 'bites'. It was practically liquid but fed with a spoon! She made many facial expressions-both good and bad! I just decided it was time to give it a try since she has been waking up around 5/5:30am to nurse (she normally makes it to 7am). Only time will tell if this is a solution to that problem or maybe she just needs her mommy a little earlier these days!

Adah is 5 months!

Adah is FIVE months old already. She has hit some pretty fun milestones this month! She rolled over from her back to her front just two days before turning 5 months old! She hasn't gotten back over yet but I can tell she is already trying to figure that out. She also moved from sleeping on the main floor of the house (in our bedroom) in her bassinet to sleeping all the way upstairs in her crib. She did really well with the transition. I don't think I ever realized how often I rolled over in the night to stick her paci in until she was all the way upstairs. It's really not that bad but definitely a nuisance! I have thought about letting her cry it out but then Kezzie would hear her and wake up. It always sounds like a good idea until it's the middle of the night and I would really rather not have to deal with both of them if something goes wrong! It is getting better though. I usually only have to get up once and there are even some nights I don't have to get up at all. Another thing Adah started this month was the 'razz' noise with her lips (4/17/10). She does it all the time! So sweet! You can tell she is proud of herself too because she will stick a little squeal of excitement in there every-once-in-a-while.

Adah is eating about 6 times a day. There were a couple days this month that she only ate 5 feedings and I was thinking she was working into that but she just must not have needed as much those days. The schedule is pretty much the same as last month. It goes something like this:

6:30am wake and nurse

7:30/8am bed

9:30/10am wake and nurse

12:30 nurse (it is not easy to keep her up this long but it is nice to get her and Kezzie napping at the same time)

1:00 bed

3/3:30 wake and nurse

5pm bed

6/6:30 wake and nurse

8/8:30 eat and bed

She is so much fun to be around. She is always happy. Always laughing and smiling. She rarely cries unless she needs her diaper changed or needs fed. She is so laid back. I always thought Keziah was a great baby but Adah is even better!

One thing about her is she does get frightened if a stranger talks to her. I think it is really weird that she already notices this but it happens almost every time.

God has truly blessed our family with Adah (which is the meaning of her name: beautiful addition). And she is just that!

Adah is 4 months old!

Adah is getting so big! I took her to the doctor today for her check up and she weighed in at 13 lbs. 14 oz. (50%). She was 25.5" (90%). The nurse said I could start giving her some cereal but I think I will wait on that for now. Unfortunately we have to go back for the shots because they were out of them so I will save that for another day (UPDATE: we went back for shots on Wed. April 8, 2010-she did great!). I'm sure the outcome will be the same as usual-painful and teary. She never handles her shots well and neither did Kez. I did have the doctor look at her cheek though. I don't know if I have ever mentioned it on the blog before but she periodically has a bright red cheek on her left side. It comes and goes throughout the day and is sometimes lighter than other times. One thing for sure is it is really hot while the right cheek is completely normal in temp and color. The doc just thinks it's eczema and wants me to put lotion on it to see if it helps. This isn't very surprising since Kezzie has it too. He's pretty sure she will outgrow it eventually.
Adah is not rolling over yet and actually shows no interest. She is perfectly content laying on her back on the floor just watching the world around her. She LOVES watching Kezzie and Austin play basketball in our living room.
Adah is such a good sleeper still. She is getting on a schedule more and more everyday. I love consistency! And I think she thrives on it too. Her schedule goes a little something like this:
7/7:30am wake and nurse
8:30 bed
9:30 wake and nurse
11/11:30 bed
12:30 wake and nurse
1:30 bed
3:30 wake and nurse
5:00 bed
6/6:30 wake and nurse
8/8:30 nurse and bed
This schedule is not particularly accurate if we have any little thing going on during the day. It completely throws her off as she is getting older and noticing her surroundings more.
When Adah nurses she will start on one side and eat there for just a few minutes. She will then go to the other side and eat longer there. She usually takes about 10-15 minutes total!
Adah noticed her hands for the first time on 3/19/10. She has since been grabbing things and trying to bring them to her mouth. It so fun to see her try to aim her hands to grab something and then try to aim it into her mouth. So sweet!
I know I mentioned before that Adah's eyes were getting darker but actually there are many days when they still look really blue. I don't know what makes the difference but some days they definitely look almost brown. We shall see eventually what they are going to be forever!
Adah is so much fun. I can never get enough of her squeals and giggles. She is so ticklish and will even share her laughs if all you are doing is laughing. She is such a happy baby with such a sensitive personality. I can't wait to see how she changes over the next month!