Adah is 2 years + 9 months!!

My sweet Adah-Cakes!  I don't know why we call her that, but we always have!  I love her fun personality and sweet smile!  I have been told so many times (and agree) that she could be a little model.  She should have on a prairie dress, frolicking in the meadow!  Everything about her screams peaceful and sweet!  Her hair has such a natural flow to it!  And quite often I have to have her repeat things she says because she is so quiet in her voice!

Adah adores her sisters and wants to do everything Kezzie and Austin do.  I forget that she is only 2 and find myself filling her plate with the same things/amounts, expecting the same understanding out of her, and asking her to do things that the older ones are doing.  She will always try, bless her heart!

Adah is in the book reading stage.  If she and I ever get a moment alone (and we are getting more of this with Kez in school) then she will grab a bunch of books.  I LOVE sitting in the chair just snuggling with Adah and a bunch of books!

Adah is still taking a good nap in the afternoons.  She will lay down when I put Eden down around 1:30.  She typically sleeps about 1.5-2 hours.  She wakes in the morning around 6:30/7:30.  She loves the idea of eating cereal with milk but rarely finishes it (and I only put a small handful)!  She is addicted to "samiches" (sandwiches) and will request it every time she is given the chance.  She also loves Kraft Mac-n-cheese (NO other kind will do-she seriously won't eat it) and pizza!  She isn't totally in love with any particular fruit but will pretty much always eat carrots, broccoli or sweet pea pods!  When Adah gets up from her nap she requires a great amount of cuddles.  It has taken me a while to get used to this because Keziah wasn't ever like that.  Adah needs it to wake up properly or else she is a bear!  After cuddles she wants a snack.  Her favorite things for snack time are fishy crackers mixed with raw almonds and raisins.  Supper time is a struggle though (maybe it's the snack that ruins it-who knows), she takes AGES to eat her supper.  We eat around 6 every night so I wouldn't think her snack is interfering!  She just piddles and pokes but eventually eats everything!  I hope this is just a phase!

At bed time (around 7:30/8) she gets out of bed a hundred times before she falls asleep.  She will claim she has to pee, needs a drink, needs a kleenex, and then needs to throw the kleenex away...it goes on and on!  If she isn't getting out of bed she is singing and talking to herself for an hour!  This too is just a phase, right?!

I love Adah's ability to pretend.  She will mother any stuffed animal or baby she comes in  contact with.  And she is so gentle and loving when she does it!  Sometimes I think she is nicer to her dollies then Eden!!  She loves to put them in their strollers and push them around the house, claiming to head to grandma's house or the doctor's office or library!  She is so tender and fun to watch!  One thing is for sure though, if you don't know where she is and it is QUIET...not good!  She is still holding on strong to that sweet but secretly naughty personality!

I love you miss Adah!  You are fearfully and wonderfully made by God!  What a wonder you are!

Adah is 2 years + 3 MONTHS!!

Adah, Adah, Adah!  My sweet and very curious little girl!  Adah is talking so much now.  She uses complete sentences and is using words to express herself a lot more. In the morning I will ask her what she wants for breakfast and she says, "Cinnamon Coast Trunch" (yes, she eats that occasionally!)  When Adah is "eating" something she doesn't like (or thinks she doesn't like) she will purposely hold it in her mouth for a long long time.  We have a really hard time getting her to eat like a normal two year old (what is normal?) and struggle from meal to meal to know the best way to handle it.  We have started sending her in time out for sitting with food in her mouth.  She will seriously go sit in time out and make herself gag and then eventually puke so she doesn't have to swallow her food.  This has happened on a few occasions!  Any advice?  The kid just wouldn't eat for a lot of meals if we never made her or she would just wait until it was something she likes.  So frustrating! 

Adah has taken a little reverse on her pottying (#2) since Eden has been born.  I am sure that is what did it and we are working hard to correct the problem.  Another frustration we have!!

Adah is officially in her big girl bed (2-26-12).  We gave this a try when we were all just starting to get sick and ended up putting her back in her crib, but as of last night she is sleeping in her big girl bed, no turning back.  This is a bottom bunk set up in Keziah's room so this also means they are sharing a room.  The first night they were up until 9 and then in the middle of the night Adah woke kind of scared like she didn't know where she was at. The same happened at nap time today.  I just go in and put my hand on her back and shush her and she goes back to sleep.  We will see how late they will be up tonight...it's already later then last night!!

We are soooo blessed by this girl.  I can't get enough of her sweet smile, cute little laugh, scrunched nose and most of all her tender hugs and kisses (she is my cuddler)!  God is so good to me!

Adah is 25 MONTHS!

Same story for Adah...too busy to write/keep track of things this month!  I will try to write more next month!  Pictures are the best part of these posts anyway!!

Adah is 24 MONTHS! TWO!!!

When did this happen?  When did she get so big?!

Adah is so sweet and incredibly laid back.  Her hair is adorable and she is to the point where she will let me do whatever it takes to keep it out of her face!  I had to keep the lower left picture because Kezzie took that one and it was so cute with her hair in her face. 

Adah got two new teeth this month:  her L top molar 10/29 and her R top molar 11/1.  It did bother her quite a bit too.  She was restless at night and had a hard time falling asleep.  Otherwise she has still been pretty happy during the day.

Adah hit a huge milestone this month.  I guess I don't know if you would consider it a milestone but it is a HUGE deal!  She gave up the paci!  I was planning on cutting her off cold turkey but when I took it away for nap on Halloween day and then we went out trick-or-treating, she was pretty traumatized from that (she did not like anything with a mask).  I decided she could have it that night but that the next day she was done.  And she was okay with that.  She hasn't gone back since!!  I am so proud of my big girl and yet it makes me a little sad because it's the last babyish thing left!  I guess it's a good thing we are having another baby!!  Adah is far from acting like a baby...she is very polite always saying her please and thank-yous!  One of her favorite things to say is think after every sentence!  I don't know what she is trying to say sometimes because it usually doesn't make sense.

Adah continues to have zero interest in watching anything on TV.  I'm ok with this, I just think it's strange!  She would much rather be off playing by herself!

Adah loves to jump downstairs.  This is like a newly discovered thing for the girls.  They figured out that if they take the cushions off the couch downstairs they can pretend they are at the bouncy place.  They go downstairs daily now and have so much fun!  Adah will often ask Kezzie if she wants to go downstairs with her!  They will also do somersaults off the couch onto the cushions on the floor.

Adah's favorite foods I would have to say are spaghetti and mac-n-cheese.  She gets SUPER excited about mac-n-cheese!  The kids loves it!  I have noticed Adah does a lot left handed.  She uses both hands, but I would say she uses her left hand more.

Our Adah is just so funny!  I wish I could be a fly on the wall watching her all the time because she is hilarious with her expressions and pretend play.  She loves life and loves her family (especially Keziah and daddy)!  And I can't get enough of her!  I am excited to see what God has planned for her this year!

On a side note, being that it is her second birthday today, I want to mention that since she is so young we didn't really do anything to celebrate today.  We had her birthday party yesterday and I think that was enough excitement for her and to do something today probably just would have confused her!  I'm sure we will have plenty of other years to make up for it!

UPDATE: We  had Adah's 2year well-child visit today (12/8/11).  She weighed in at 27.2 lbs. and was 34.5" tall!

Adah is 23 MONTHS!!

Look at that sweet smile!  The pictures of her in the red are when I took Keziah's month pictures (four days ago).  Adah just can't resist having her picture taken when big sis is and I can't resist using them in her month pictures!  Kezzie snuck her way into some of Adah's pictures also!  They are just so cute together!

Adah has had some problems with sleep this month.  Something in her room has scared her or so it seems.  She will lay in her bed and cry and cry until one of us comforts her.  She is definitely scared.  For four nights in a row we (mostly Brian) would go up to her room and rock her or stand holding her for a little while until she calmed down.  She would usually do fine after that and go to sleep.  But the fifth night I think both Brian and I had decided that it couldn't continue and we needed to do something about it. Aside from rocking her I tried several different things over the course of that five days...I spent time in her room with her with the door closed, looking around and talking about the different shadows, etc. I talked to her about leaving the door open and she didn't want to. I talked to her about no night light so there weren't any shadows and she didn't like that and lastly, we moved her night light to a different outlet that created less shadows.  We were spending a good half hour calming her down.  So I decided to try something that I remember worked on Keziah (you will think I am harsh) when she went through this.  I just put her to bed as lovingly as usual, when she started crying I didn't wait more then a couple minutes and then I went in there and told her in a stern voice there was nothing to cry about and that she needed to go to sleep.  She said, 'okayy' in a whiny voice, but when I closed the door again she was quiet.  It worked.  I was worried it wouldn't because Adah's personality is a lot more sensitive then Kezzie's and I didn't want to make things worse, but she was a big girl about it.  For a couple nights she still whimpered after the initial closing of her door, but I would just peek my head in and remind her that she was alright and didn't have any reason to cry.  She would sweetly respond by saying, 'okayyy'.  It was around that same time that I discovered her two bottom 2 yr. molars coming in (October 7).  I felt bad because I am sure that was part of what was going on with her when she was having trouble sleeping.  I put orajel on for a couple nights but for the most part she was done having her crying spells so I just didn't worry about it.  She is so tough!

Adah really loves her daddy!  She loves to lay in our bed with us/him and cuddle.  She will rub his head, give him kisses and scoot as close to him as she can.  She will also continually say, 'Hi dad'.  It's the sweetest thing ever and I am so glad that they share those moments!

Adah also loves to color, count as best as she can saying, 'two, two. Two, two, twee'.  She loves playing independently too.  We will often find her off somewhere with a toy, sitting on the floor with her legs out-stretched, just playing contently.  It is fun to watch her enjoy being by herself sometimes! 

Adah and Austin also have a bond.  He loves to make her laugh and teach her things.  She loves to cuddle him and watch him do things that she can learn!

Adah does seem to have sensitive skin like Keziah.  Her skin around her mouth gets very irritated and red sometimes and although she is potty trained, she still wears a diaper at nap and bed which causes some redness on her bottom too.

My baby girl isn't such a baby anymore.  She talks so well and I can easily have a conversation with her.  I am amazed at how fast time has gone this year...she will be two next month!!!

Adah is 22 Months!!

I have a quirky almost 2 year old.  It's hard to believe!  She has such a secretive funny personality.  I will often catch her making funny faces by herself.  And her expressions are almost always to make someone laugh!  She likes to look at you out of the corner of her eyes to see if you are paying attention!  She continues to copy EVERYTHING everyone else does and it is teaching her so much.  She is literally a sponge!  She is catching onto the idea of an alphabet and will recite many letters in various orders, she will do the same with counting.  She hasn't really ever gotten three numbers in a row but she will sometimes tell you what's coming next if you are the one counting.  If she is counting something in a book or something in front of her she will sometimes even repeat the same number over and over as if she is counting.  Adah is also learning her colors also.  She has been getting most of them right but gets in a habit of calling everything green.  I know she knows them better than that so I'm not sure why she does that.  It might be her secretive goofiness coming out because sometimes she smirks about it!

I thought maybe Adah was going to escape the whole rash problem we went through with Keziah on her face, but she didn't.  It just came a little later!  It turns out Adah has just as sensitive of skin as Keziah.  In fact, I think it is probably even more so because Adah actually itches hers where as Kez was never bothered by it.  I do have to put Elidel around Adah's mouth every few days.  Some days it is much worse then others.  She will itch it and say it hurts too.  I feel bad for her.  The elidel really seems to help though so that is a good thing.  And I know there will be an end to it if she is like Kezzie because Kezzie doesn't have too many problems with her skin anymore.

Life is so good!  Adah is such a great sleeper.  She takes a 2-3 hour nap every day and still sleeps close to 12 hours at night.  She isn't the greatest eater but that makes it easy to tell when she is growing because she will eat a ton more when she is having a growth spurt.  And this month Adah actually placed the boppy pillow on my lap upstairs in her room while I was sitting waiting to read her a book.  She climbed up on my lap and laid down on it and asked for some milk.  It was just weird.  We had a little talk about how there isn't any milk in there anymore and that when there is, it will be for the baby in mommy's belly!  She still insisted but I just got a book and put the boppy away.  She was fine with that!  I am so blessed every day by this girl.  She makes me feel loved with her hugs and kisses and I wuv yous!  She is precious and amazing.  I thank God for her every day!!

Adah is 21 MONTHS!!

Here's my Adah!  She is getting so big!  She's goofy, lovable, cuddly and very opinionated!  And her curls are to die for!  Not much has changed since last month.  Adah is a big talker, although you wouldn't know it unless you hung out in her environment and were around her for a longer period of time.  She is also shy in some ways so you may not see that side of her until she gets to know you!  It might be that she feels a little overshadowed by Kezzie's talking!  She is putting together a couple words to get her point across and will even mimic a whole sentence after someone.  She copies everything Keziah does.  She just thinks she is the coolest person on the planet.  I have noticed her try to get Kezzie's goat a few times too though (ie: putting her foot in Kezzie's way to irritate her). 

Adah is such a sleeper.  She typically sleeps until 8 and takes about a 2.5/3 hour nap around 1ish.  She goes to bed by 8 most nights too!  Most days Adah wakes up from her nap dry, but there is never a night she doesn't wet her diaper.  She is doing great going potty and hasn't had an accident in a long long time (knock on wood).

Adah is finally getting into reading books.  It used to be that she would pick out a book for 'you to read' and then she would sit up on your lap and refuse to let you touch the book.  She would just want to flip through the pages or find her favorite page to look at it.

Adah loves waking up in the morning and says 'mo-ning' when you walk into her room.  She gives her paci and blankie a kiss and nicely places them on her pillow.  As we pass Keziah's room she always asks, in her own way, where Kezzie is.  We get down stairs and she says "Hi Ziah" about a hundred times!  The girls play while I get their juice/breakfast.  Adah loves to eat cereal and bagels.  But she really doesn't care much for her juice right away in the morning like Kezzie does.  She typically doesn't drink it until snack time.  She just isn't that ready for liquids in the morning.

Adah loves to sing "Happy Birthday."  She is so cute when she sings it!  We have a little cake that has candles that light up on it and you can blow them out and it sings happy birthday to you so she has come to know the song well.  Of course, you only catch a few words here and there, but it is adorable!  She also loves the clean up song!  Here is a video of her singing while she picks up some beads she purposely threw on the floor!

That's our sweet Adah!  I can't believe we are so close to celebrating her 2nd birthday!

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 is 19 MONTHS!

Here is my 'pretty in pink' girl!  She is such a little doll!  She loves the camera and is always smiling or pretending to be mad and ignore you when you take her picture!  The picture on the bottom row of her in the rocking chair, she is doing just that!  She was trying to get me to take her picture the whole time I was taking a picture of Keziah and then when I focused on her she pretended not to notice me and purposely wouldn't smile or look at me!  Such a ham!

Adah has gotten in 2 more teeth this month.  The two top eye teeth.  I didn't notice exactly when they came in but sometime between June 15-18 ish.  I think she just has one more to go and she should be set for a few months!  I love the mouthful of teeth because she is able to eat things a little more easily!  Although she never keeps a bite of carrots in her mouth long enough to swallow, she can easily chomp a bite off a baby carrot and chew it to bits!

Adah's vocabulary has improved dramatically!  She is saying so many things and easily tries to repeat what you ask her to.  Her mind is a sponge and does a great job remembering all the words I teach her.  It's so amazing.  One of the sweetest things Adah started first repeating and then saying on her own is "I love you".  I keep telling myself I need to get this on video because it's the sweetest words you'll ever hear!  Ever since she was a little baby I would hold her in my arms with her looking up at me and with much expression (I get my head swaying back and forth and eyes closed) I say, "I love you".  That is exactly how she would repeat it, expressions and all.  Now she just says it.  I really think she knows what it means too.  She will come give me a hug and say "I wuv ooo".  When she says 'you' her lips pucker!  It's so sweet!  I will never forget it!

A big milestone this month is that we dropped another feeding!  As of June 21st Adah had her last night time breastfeeding.  It went so well when we dropped her nap time feeding that I thought we would start with her night time one and do her morning one last.  I think she is tired enough at bedtime that she just goes to bed without questioning it too much.  The first night was torture for me so much that I was second-guessing the whole thing but knowing it had to happen eventually I pressed on and night two was much less painful.  And Adah continued to do so well too.  She asks for it every-once-in-a-while, but I just tell her she can have water instead and she is satisfied.  She has a sippy cup of water in her crib with her and it's pretty much empty by morning!

Another healthy and blessed month!  I am so thankful for my little Adah.  She isn't so little anymore!  Oh how I am loving watching her grow!

Adah is 18 MONTHS!

UPDATE:  We went to Adah's 18 month check-up on the 6/14/11. We decided to see a local doctor instead of driving to Waterloo since they recently started doing well-child visits in the office now. We saw Dr. John Epperly and he did an excellent job.  I felt like he was thorough and asked all the right question.  She had to have one shot which she of course cried through but did great!  We also got the ok to stop her Fer-n-sol (iron drops) since her iron has been low in the past.  She weighed in at 25.2 lbs. and was 31 5/8 inches.  Her head was 18.75".  She is growing nicely and seems to be ahead on the developmental charts.  The doctor asked things like, can she walk backwards, can she stack things, can she go down stairs holding onto the railing, etc.  Yes to all of the above!!  She is starting to talk more but still has a limited vocab and he thought that was just fine! Overall it was a great apt. 

Adah is amazing.  I love watching her learn and do new things!  Her smiles and giggles are so contagious!  I love this stage of life (I think I say that with every age).  Here are some things about Adah this month: 
Adah dropped the feeding before nap on 5/17/11 leaving her nursing in the morning and right before bed.  I say Adah dropped it but really I made her do it because I feel like I can't keep up anymore with trying to chase a three year old, keep up with a twelve year old and create life inside of me!  She still asks for it every day and I just tell her no and offer her a drink of water.  She will give me a pouty lip for a second and then take a drink of water and then I lay her in her crib!  I feel bad but I have no desire to give it to her at that time anymore.  I am very content with the two times a day because, although I haven't taken advantage of it, I could potentially feed Adah in the morning and not return until bedtime if I wanted!  Of course, that would require me to find a qualified and willing babysitter!  Any takers?  Just kidding!!
Adah got a new tooth (bottom right eye tooth) on 5/26/11.  This has not been an easy process and I fear what the other three are going to bring.  Adah continues to use sign language very well.  I wish she were talking a little more but she will get there and if she's anything like her sister we will one day wish she would forget how (just for a little bit)!!  She is talking more and more though and I am getting really good at figuring out what she is talking about!  Almost everything she says resembles what she is trying to say it's just hard to understand it.  And she is very willing to try to repeat after you when you ask her to!  Here is a picture of her getting ready to take a bath but she is asking me where the water is because I haven't started it yet!  She LOVES her bath, by the way!  I'm not sure if I have talked about this before but Adah lives for her bath!  We all take turns getting to tell her when it's bath night because we get such a rise out of her!  Have I mentioned how totally awesome Adah is at potty training?  She is staying dry ALL the time (more than her older sister)!  She wakes from her nap dry and wakes from a 12-13 hour night's sleep dry!  I am so impressed with her!  And even though she can't express that she has to pee/poop with the actual words, she does a really good job of letting me know she needs to go!  I am just never really sure what's going to come out! 
Adah has a lot of favorite things to do.  She loves to put things in and out of compartments, she loves playing with her babies and feeding them and taking their diapers off, she loves coloring, she loves to cuddle her mommy and big brother, and loves seeing her daddy in the morning and gets so excited when he comes home at lunch time, but I would have to say Adah's biggest thing she loves to do is ANYTHING her big sis likes to do.  She will follow her anywhere, let Kezzie beat her up/drag her around by her arm, do whatever Kezzie asks her to, pester Kezzie (because she likes to make her scream), give her hugs and kisses, and share her food and drinks with her.  She also really likes to read books with Kezzie!  She rarely complains through any of this, I guess for the mere fact that Adah just loves her big sister!  I realize this is the month that Adah should be getting her 18 month shots and a check up but unfortunately I will have to post an update because I couldn't get her in to the doctor until the middle of June.  We are giving our local doctor's office a try since we usually travel to Waterloo for all her check ups!  I guess it was a little harder to get into when I needed to!  We will also be getting her 18 month pictures taken soon so I will post on that in the near future also!

Adah is 16 & 17 MONTHS!

Adah at 17 months!

4 days before 16 months!

This was actually a result of me taking Kezzie's month pictures.  Adah just had to have her picture taken too and they turned out so cute!  She is such a ham ball!

16 months old!

Here is Adah at 16 months!  She loves glasses, headbands, goggles, hats, etc.  Pretty much anything that she can put on her head/face she will wear around for quite a while at a time!

Adah is such a copy cat!  I don't know what kid isn't at this age but it's so fun to watch her try to imitate you!  Adah loves birds!  We have a bird feeder right outside our living room window and she gets super excited when birds come to eat!

Words Adah says: Hi, Ahtin (Austin), up, out, done, apuhm (apple), gook (book), baby, lanna (cousin Alanna), lella (Bella), puppy, cat, meow, moo, baa, quack, duck, off, hot...I will have to think some more!  She is great at signing: milk, book, eat, please, movie, drink, all done, more, hello/bye, bath, thank-you.

Whenever I leave the room for even a second, she know it and will start yelling, "mooooommmmm".  It's pretty cute and I usually holler back, "Aaaaadaaaaah".  She thinks this is a fun game! 

One thing I am really enjoying with Adah is prayer.  We have been trying to remember to do it just the two of us before bed every night.  We pray at supper but this is different...she sits on my lap facing me and sometimes she will rest her forehead on mine or lay her head on my shoulder and I will say a prayer about her and about our day and our time together and you can tell she loves it!

A funny story about Adah:  a while ago...probably a month at least, I was doing some spot cleaning around the house.  Adah had followed me into the bathroom where I noticed some dust collecting on the kleenex dispenser.  I lightly blew some air at the top of it to blow all the dust away and apparently Adah was watching because now every time she walks into the bathroom she climbs up onto the stool and blows the kleenexes!  I can't believe she even remembers me doing such a thing.  She's my little helper, keepin' those kleenexes dust free!

Adah's schedule is pretty much the same.  And even though it's been two months since I posted her schedule, she is actually still nursing 3 times a day!  I don't see her making changes to that anytime soon, but I could be wrong!  One change she did have is she dropped her morning nap mid April.  She is still occasionally taking it, (1-2 times/week) but it is typically best if she doesn't have one at all!  This is kind of nice because it leaves the mornings open to do other things.  But one down side is the girls aren't really ready to eat/take afternoon naps at the same time anymore.  I have to push Adah to wait 'til 11:30/12 for lunch and then I have to push to keep her up until 12:30/1 so Kezzie is ready for a nap too.  It's all worth it though when I am sitting her blogging to you with no noise around me, or sorting laundry without somebody unsorting it!

I also wanted to make note that Adah quit her breakfast infant cereal mid April too.  I have religiously pumped milk every morning to mix in with Adah's cereal and when we went on our mini vacation I didn't do it while we were gone and didn't feel like picking it back up when we got back.  Adah seemed to make up for it by drinking both sides so I wasn't uncomfortable anyway!  It was an easy transition for both of us.  I still occasionally give her cereal mixed with fruit and water but mostly just give her what everybody else is having! 

We continue to have fun playing tickling games, chasing Adah around the room, rolling and bouncing a ball, and just plain loving her!  She is such a joy to be around and I can't wait to see what the next month is going to bring!  We love you Adah!

Adah is 15 MONTHS!

Well, Adah turned 15 months on the 27th of February but I wanted to wait until her 15 month check up so I could post about that at the same time.  She went today for that and weighed in at 24.4 lbs. (@75%).  She was 2' 6.25" (less than 50%).  So a little short and stubby!  But as cute as can be!  We had some concerns with Adah.  It seems like these same problems emerged with Kezzie when she was around this age.  It turns out Adah has eczema like Kez.  It's especially bad behind her ears in the cracks where it actually bleeds sometimes, but she gets it in other places as well.  She is also starting to get it around her mouth like Kezzie did.  Another concern we had was her tongue.  I see her very frequently pulling at her tongue as if there is a hair in her mouth.  The doctor completely disregarded it as nothing but I thought maybe there was a sore in there.  He thinks maybe she has the same sensitivity on her tongue as she does on her skin.  And for about the last week Adah has been dealing with diarrhea.  The doc wasn't concerned and thought maybe it is either a virus or maybe even teething.  I just hope it goes away soon!  Adah did get two more teeth this month.  Tooth #11 (bottom L molar) came in 1/29/11.  And #12 (bottom R molar) came in 1/31/11.  She is adorable with her toothy grin!  I have yet to see any signs of her eye teeth coming in...
At Adah's check up she had to have three more shots.  She screamed at the initial poke but recovered quickly (especially when we gave her a sucker)!  As if that wasn't enough, she had to have her blood drawn again to see if she is doing better with her iron.  Instead of the usual finger prick though, they had to put a needle in her arm.  Mommy was the lucky one who got to hold her arm straight and firm.  Not fun for either of us.  In the end I would prefer it this way because it was so much faster than trying to squeeze blood out of a tiny dot in the tip of her finger.  Results came back and she is still low in iron so we continue with the Fer-in-sol (iron drops) twice a day. 
Adah is saying more and more.  She said HI for the first time 2/1/11.  Whenever I go in to get her from nap or in the morning, I will say a long, drawn out, high pitched "HIIIIIIIII".  I guess she picked up on it!  It is very cute and I sometimes don't even realize it is her instead of Kezzie because it sounds so perfect!  She is trying to say many things.  If you try to teach her a word she will give it her best to mimic you!  She certainly isn't the talker her sister was by now, and that's ok with me.  I know I am always comparing them but I love that Adah is her own personal self.  She is super smart in other ways-in her own ways!
Adah is still nursing 3 times a day.  She wakes around 7/7:30, still naps in the AM (although this, I am thinking, is coming to an end...didn't I say that last month?!), and lays down for a 1:30/2pm nap time.  Bed is at 7:30ish.  She is doing so much better with table foods, but still requires some food to be pureed.  She loves broccoli though which I think is strange because she is so picky about textures!
The next thing on my mind is potty training.  I know it's a little early yet, but I am just getting it in my mindset.  She is already telling me when she is poopy so I think she is getting close...maybe in the next month or two I will give this a try!!!  I am so excited to be done with diapers again!  It's hard to believe that Kez was trained at 17 or 18 months.  We'll see if Adah follows suit on that one!  I hope so!
Make sure you check out her pictures at the top...it's so cute!  She just got done with her bath and her hair has such sweet curls.  They never last but maybe she will be a little like her mom and have some curl!
So long for now...more on this beautiful angel next month!

Adah is 14 MONTHS!

Adah went to an occasional 3 feedings/day sometime in the first week of January. She got a pretty bad cold the week of January 14th so she was nursing more than usual, but I think it's official, as of January 18th she is on 3 feedings. Here is an updated schedule: Wakes at 7/7:30 and nurses. I pump milk to make her cereal for breakfast and she eats around 8. She still goes down for a morning nap at 9ish, wakes around 10:30/11. She eats lunch around 11:30/12 (still eating a significant amount of baby food because she is very picky with textures and won't eat very well otherwise). She nurses around 1:30/2 and goes down for a nap right away. On a side note: I don't know if you have ever heard about the 2-3-4 schedule (down for nap 2 hours after they wake in the morning, down for another nap 3 hours after waking from their morning nap, and down for bed 4 hours after waking from their afternoon nap), but it has worked WONDERS for my girls' sleeping habits. It isn't usually exactly like this, but it is a nice guideline and more often then not is very accurate! And it's always a struggle to know when they are ready to give up their morning nap but during the transition with Kezzie I remember only letting her take an hour nap in the morning until she was completely ready to give it up. I'm sure this doesn't work for every kid, but it has worked beautifully for mine and I think I would probably go nuts if it worked any other way! Adah isn't ready to give up her morning nap but I am noticing more that it's hard for her to get to sleep for her afternoon nap, so it might be time to start limiting her morning nap to a hour or so!! Anyway, Adah will wake from her afternoon nap around 3:30/4 and have a snack and milk or water. We will eat supper by about 5/5:30 (she will mostly eat what I make for supper (I don't know why she is more willing to eat regular food at this time, maybe because the whole family is around the table?) unless she is really refusing it then I will get out a jar or two of baby food). She nurses around 7:45 and goes right to bed. On occasion, Adah is ready for bed at 7:30!
Adah is growing so much and learning A TON from her big sister!  You can see it in her eyes, that as she watches Kezzie move and jump and potty and eat and just do things, she is absorbing it all like a sponge!  It scares me a lot too because Kezzie is into jumping off things like chairs and the fireplace and I am always afraid Adah is going to be brave enough to try it too.  And when they are taking a bath (I think I have mentioned this before maybe) Kezzie likes to stick her face in and blow bubbles but Adah tries to do this and will often inhale water and gag!  (Adah LOVES her bath and signs it and points to the stairs every night when she knows it's almost bedtime). We have started taking Adah up for her bath about 15 minutes before Kezzie and let Adah have some time in the bath to herself without Kezzie overpowering her!  It is so fun to see her find things to do and make up her own play.  She loves the squeeze toys that you fill up with water  (and laughs really hard when we spray her) and she also just likes to watch things float and she will push them around in the water like they are swimming!  Adah is trying to learn to jump and is getting really fast at walking!  I don't know if I would call it a run yet though!  As I mentioned before, Adah is still not huge on table food.  She is VERY picky about textures in her mouth so if you give her something solid with a sauce around it she will spit it out because she doesn't know how to sort the two apart.  I can't even give her #3 baby food jars because they are all a little bit ground up but with chunks in them (like chicken and stars-the chicken is puree but the pasta is full pieces).  She is picky about her veggies too.  I give her cooked carrots , sweet potatoes and broccoli, etc. and she won't eat it because of the texture but if I give her baby food carrots or sweet potatoes she LOVES them and the same with baby food broccoli.  She likes to eat green beans but won't eat them cut up, she likes them whole so she can hold it and take bites off.  She refuses corn altogether but will most of the time eat peas.  She is a great bean eater and also loves her meats.  Her new thing now is having dip.  She will eat pretty much anything as long as you put a dab of ranch or ketchup on her tray!! She continues to love most of her fruits but is still pretty particular.  She will only eat puree bananas but completely refuses them in their natural form! She is doing a great job with her whole milk.  But she definitely prefers water.  Sometime in the last month or so we had to start iron drops.  Adah does great with them as long as we mix them with orange juice or cran-grape juice.
Adah is saying so much too.  She talks more with her actions but we are so used to it that we think she talks more than she does! 
I am pretty sure that Adah will have her first hair cut sometime in the next month...her bangs are well into her eyes and I find her frustrated at this quite often!

What a wonderful joy Adah brings to our family.  It is so awesome to see how much Austin and Keziah love her and welcome her into our family!  I know it's kind of weird to mention this after she has been a part of our family for 14+ months, but I am amazed every day at the love/hate relationship among siblings.  I remember this all too well with my own, like it were yesterday!  I am so excited to see how they grow and learn together over the next months and years!  Thanks for following along with us!

Adah is 13 MONTHS!

Here's my sweet Adah!  Already over a year old.  I can't believe it!  She is so much fun and like Keziah I haven't taken the time to log anything this month with the holidays and being so busy!  There are a couple things I can post about from memory:
Adah  got her 10th tooth this month (Dec. 8-top L molar).  She learned to say 'na na' (no no) and 'nigh nigh' (night night).  She says this as we are walking out of Kezzie's room at night!  She has learned many things this month.  I can't tell you how sweet and smart she is, you just have to see it for yourself.  She LOVES to dance.  She dances in circles sometimes with her left arm leading her (I will try to get video).  She has also learned how to do a somersault (tucks her head and puts her hands down and then we pull her legs over) and pretty much anything else big sister Kezzie will do.  She started copying Kezzie in the bath when Kezzie puts her face in the water to blow bubbles except Adah isn't as successful, so we have to try to discourage her sometimes!!  And Kezzie isn't always aware of the things she is doing that Adah can't do (ie: climb up the side of the banister on the outside)!  Someday she will be doing everything Kezzie does!  And they will be the best of friends and live happily ever after!  Isn't that the way it is supposed to go?  Ha Ha!  We will see!! 
Sorry this post is so short, we'll have lots to talk about next month!!

Family Pictures!

We decided to get family pictures taken this year by a professional photographer!  I love her work, she always does such a great job!  Thanks Ashley for the great work you do and how well you worked with my three kiddos!  Everyone please take a peak and leave a comment too.  If I get 25 comments in one week then I get a surprise and if I get 50 comments I get an even better one, so help me out!  I would love to hear what you have to say too!  Here is the link: http://ashleyschrage.blogspot.com/2010/12/whole-family.html

And if you want to view the full gallery of photos, follow this link:  http://www.ashleyschragephotography.com/, click on client viewing at the bottom right, then personal galleries, and then Uglum family.
the email address is: mybabadj@yahoo.com
the password is: AKA3

Let me know your favorites by emailing me to help me have an easier time choosing!  I would really appreciate it!  It's going to be pretty tough!

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!

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's 9 month pics!

Adah got her pictures taken at Portrait Innovations this time around. I dropped Austin and a friend off at the water park for his birthday and then realized how close I was to Portrait Innovations. I really wanted to get her pictures taken care of since I hadn't had them taken since she was 4 months old. I just happened to have one of my favorite outfits in the diaper bag as an extra and she was also wearing a very cute outfit so I decided to stop in there and see if they had any appointments available. It worked out perfect...they had time in an hour. Just enough time for us to grab a bite to eat and head back over there. We were done in about an hour and still made it in bed at grandma's house for a nice nap! I didn't think the pictures turned out too bad, although blogger/picassa doesn't do a very good job of displaying them!

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!!