kissy face

Adler is learning to master the kiss. she knows to move in when you ask for a kiss, only downside is she has not mastered how to close her mouth. so it is giant slobbery mess. still some of the best kisses ever.

Merry Christmas

Adler got a killing in the gift department. she got enough weebles and little people to start her own town. She has a barn and a shop/slide/house, there is a bus, van, tricycle, and i am not sure what else there is so many. she loves them and so does her big sister. she got tons of clothes (to grow into.) Again she is being groomed young to be a Pistons fan. thank you to everyone who sent gifts or money we appreciate all of it.

bad mommy

i thought we had given up night time bottles. so i let us run out of formula and i had finished off all the frozen breast milk. well we think Adler is cutting molars so she was up at 5A screaming and crying. i gave her a shot of Tylenol but i am sure that she just wanted a ba-ba (bottle) to help her get back to sleep. well that was not happening. I tried juice, a squeeze, skim milk, nothing was working. ugh. i will be making the run to buy another container of formula today. knowing my luck she will drink one or 2 bottles out of it and never want it again.

Scarface

yesterday we were playing at grandma and poppa's condo after a bowl of ice cream and Adler fell on the dvd player's shelf. it originally looked like she hit her head and possibly her back. whatever it was we all saw it happen and knew it was going to hurt. there was the silent scream, that then unleashes the deafening whaling scream. i instantly picked her up and started to snuggle and administer hugs and kisses. I looked for red marks on her back and head and could not seem to find any. we all saw her hit and the scream/cry was a big one so i was sure it had to have left a mark. after another minute or so we all could see that there were long red marks on her face, two of them. luckily they were not cuts only marks, today you can still see them although they have faded. i am sure they will turn into at least a yellow/green bruise in the next day or so. until then she does look a little like Scarface with these red marks on her face. thank GOD these are only temporary.

grandma and poppa

i was not surprised that Adler did not remember grandma and poppa although she had just seen them in August at uncle Cole and aunt Meghan's wedding. she is just now one, i mean really how much do they remember so young. she was very leery about them and only wanted mommy for most the night. but after a belly full of food, some Tylenol (cutting a tooth, and a bath she came around especially to poppa as he was sitting on the floor playing blocks with her and sissy. that is the easiest way to get to be friends with Adler is get down on her level, sit on the floor, and play. i think she gets that from daycare as that is how they spend half of their day.

pretty in pink

I do it more often than i realize. i get all three of us girls dressed then actually "see" that we are all coordinating. normally i lay our clothes out the night before, but last night i was lazy so this morning i went with the grab-n-go method. I did not realize till i was slipping on my shoes and rounding up the girls to hustle out to the car that we were all dressed in pink today. i have on a pink sweater, Rigby is wearing pink pants, and Adler is sporting a pink flower top and pink pants. I am sure that when people see us out as a family they think that i picked out the match-matchy clothes on purpose and that i actually like that look. the truth is it accidental and i am too lazy to change anyone's clothes including mine once we are dressed.

world of hurt

we are going to be in world of hurt when Adler out grows her swing. that is how/where she falls asleep every night. she is getting quite big and starting to put up a fight when it is time to latch her in. normally it is only 2-3 minutes of fussing if that and she is out cold. we let her sleep in the swing for awhile before transferring to her bed to sleep the rest of the night.

new chairs

Adler has always hated the car seat. Recently she has started putting up a real fight when i would pick her up from school. She would move, kick, scream and basically try everything to get out of the chair. so we made the switch this weekend. daddy recently found two big girl car seats, where else Craig's list. these new seats were for Rigby and Adler would get the seat that Rigby currently had. Obviously the straps and settings all had to be moved back to the tiniest setting. Adler now faces forward and has yet to put up a fuss to get in the chair.

pointer finger

Adler has mommy and daddy wrapped around her pointer finger. she has figured out if she points to things she normally gets what she wants. points to juice or a banana or a toy and mommy or daddy graciously hand it over to her. God forbid she does not get what she wants watch the waterworks go full blast!

lil monkey

Adler loves bananas. i think she gets them at school. recently it has gotten so bad that is she sees a bunch of bananas on the counter she will point and start chattering until you give her one. Sometimes she will eat two whole, LARGE bananas along with other food. i love that she asks for fruit and she loves bananas so much better than crying for a cookie.

Santa

i dressed Adler in the same outfit that Rigby wore to meet Santa the first time. It is so big that she might be able to wear it again next year. ha. so Adler did excellent in the store and waiting in line to see Santa. Daddy was to place the girls on Santa's lap and i was snapping away. daddy said she did well up until he walked away and just left her with this strange man. then the screaming and crying started and that is the picture we have to commemorate her 1st visit to see the big man. Rigby on the other hand has a very weird look on her face. it is half elation and half scared out of her mind.

fat lip

Saturday after breakfast Adler and Rigby were playing in the laundry room. it is odd but they spend a lot of time there. we had someone give us some very plush bathroom carpets that i was using back there. so i think it was a very comfy spot. plus there is the access to SHOES which Adler loves. i have since moved the carpets as they were not made for high traffic and they were falling apart. all of that is really besides the point. so they were playing and i was in and out of the kitchen so i knew where they were and that they were playing but i don't know what exactly happened but i heard a huge scream. at this point Adler had blood all over her mouth and Rigby had a guilty look on her face. So i started trying to calm Adler down and screaming at Rigby to try to find out what happened and if she had done this to her sister. i don't know what happened but Adler was over in in less than a minute. a while later i noticed that she had a giant fat lip. So with the blood that she did loose she must have completely broken the skin and had a big hematoma on her lip. thankfully Santa pictures are taken from a distance. today, Monday, it is almost all gone and cant really tell that it was huge growth on her lip just a few days ago.

wavin' at daddy

Adler goes crazy like a teeny bopper at a Justin Beiber concert when she sees daddy on the back porch. if she sees or hears the back door she starts looking and once she finds daddy she runs to the glass door, waving her arms/hands and screeching "da, da."

tea time

a while ago we found a princess tea set at the GW. We got it for Rigby and she played with it often. well it has now moved to one of Adler's favorite toys. she likes to hold the cups and the spoons. she has drug them to every room in the house and left bits and pieces behind. i have picked up the tea set probably 12 dozen times this past holiday weekend. i am glad she found something she likes, but i am fairly confident we no longer have a full tea set.

rise-n-shine

this whole long 4 day weekend was excellent except for the fact that some how Adler got her internal clock out of joint and decided everyday needed to begin at 5:30A. omg!!! that is an hour before our normal school day starts. she would wake up and scream and cry not just a little fuss. she needed food, bottle, and a panty changed. so we would take care of this and then normally just want to be held and played with. she had no need to get down on the floor or play with toys. sitting on mommy's lap was more than enough fun for her. then normally just as she was starting to fall back asleep is when Rigby would get up so Adler had a whole new breath of fresh air that kept her going strong till nap time. this morning the day started at 4:30a, but i could not take it so i fed and changed her and put her back in her bed to fuss it out for a good 10+ minutes before she fell asleep so mommy could try to get a few more winks.

gobble, gobble

Adler is picky and then again she is not. she goes though bouts of loving certain foods like mandarin oranges where she wants them at every meal. then weeks on end that she just turns her nose up at them. right now she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES squeezes. she eats at least 2 a day and sometimes as many at 6 depending on what we are doing. we have fruit, vegetable, and yogurt ones. then she surprised me and ate almost everything we had for thanksgiving. turkey would have been her least favorite, noodles or mashed potatoes would be at the top of the list.

sicky is going around

***SEE RIGBY'S BLOG for the long version. so i did end up dropping Adler off at school this morning. I called after her when daddy was on his way. her teacher said that she was very lethargic, needy, and did not eat. so she thought it would be best if she went home. so far they did not have a reason to call me in (fever, vomiting, ect..) yet but they were concerned about her. i think this is what upset daddy. he had to take home TWO sick babies not just one.

the exorcist

Saturday was a surprise of a day. Adler ate breakfast fine. she was playing and babbling just like any other morning. she did not have a fever nor was she acting odd. all the sudden breakfast, dinner from the night before and even pieces from lunch from the day before came spewing out of her mouth. ugh. after is was all over she seemed fine i was the one bothered by the smell and slime factor. again right after lunch this time i got Adler out of the high chair and had taken her over and changed her diaper before she recycled all her stomach contents. it was a holy mess. carpet cleaner had to come out and Adler and i had to take a quick shower (which she HATED.) the only thing that i could come up with that was similar in both meals is that they had dairy (cheese, milk, or yogurt.) so for the rest of the weekend we steered away from diary and I told the school to do so as well. she does fine with powder formula so that is the only drink i am giving her right now.

moving up

Adler moved classrooms. She is now in with the 1-2 year olds instead of the infants. at the end of the day the teacher says she is fine but drop off has gotten much more painful. she cries when i put her down. she seems miserable. i am sure as it is just the newness of the new class, new teachers, new friends, ect... Whatever it is it breaks mommy's heart every time. boo hoo.

hairy situation

Adler has decided she likes to pull hair. since that is one of mommy's biggest pet peeves it is not working out well for her. she is not allowed to pull any hair not mommy, not Rigby no one. It is not good a good habit as we don't want her to do this at school to the other little kids. so far i am failing miserably. anytime i don't have my hair tied back she grabs handfuls of it and just yanks. it almost brings me to tears. thankfully Rigby is a little more tolerable but not much. i think it might be envy as poor Adler still does not have much hair. there is 2-3 inches on top that we could get a wicked Mohawk out of but that is about it. she does love brushes, hairspray, hair dryers, ect....

check up time

Adler had her one year check up and shots today. She weighed in at 19 lbs and 10 oz and is 2ft 7 inches tall. doc said that she keeps the snotty nose and cold due to her thumb sucking. we have tried to break it, but that is MUCH MUCH harder than it sounds. i was surprised that she got out of there without an antibiotic but doc i guess did not think she needed one.

big kids

Miss Ann is one of the teachers at the day care. I am not sure what age group she has but it is older than Rigby's class. Miss Ann i think also plays double duty and covers for the Director when she is unavailable as Miss Ann always seems to be the one in the know. so i had to work late yesterday and did not get out when i should to get the girls. they were almost the last ones at the school. Adler was sitting on Miss Ann's lap snuggling and sucking her thumb. Miss Ann said that the infant/toddler room was busy and two kids; Adler and a boy Joaquin, were being good but over looked so she took them to her class. I guess Adler and Joaquin (cute little boy with giant chubby cheeks and blonde super curly hair) are about to make the move to the older kids class but it has not happened yet. so Miss Ann took them to her class and the older kids played house and dress up with the two littles. I guess Adler loved it so much that when it was time for her to go back to her room she through a fit. I see that...Adler is use to her sister and Rigby who is not gentle with her. So Adler can hold her own and she LOVES attention. ha.

party recap

it was just us. we had dinner and i was surprised that Adler ate the same as daddy and i, chicken, stuffing, and carrots. after finishing dinner we busted out the party hats and cupcakes. we sang happy birthday and let her at it. she seemed to like the frosting but not really the cake. we let her eat/play for 5+ minutes, till she got the point she was just squeezing the cake though her fingers then starting to fling it. then loaded both girls into the bath. after getting all the cake removed and washed up she got to open her presents. there were a few that were wrapped in paper and some in bags. the ones in bags with gift tissue were ours, i did not realize we did not have any NON-Christmas paper. thankfully she seemed to like to pull each single sheet of tissue out of the bags and then walk them over and hand them to daddy. that was more fun than getting to the gifts. after it was all said and done Rigby was playing with the new toys and birthday balloon and Adler was playing with plastic eggs from Easter. ha. yes i did take pictures and will get them loaded and sent out soon. THANK YOU all who called to sing to her and sent gifts and cards.

Happy Birthday

a year ago today i was a sleepy momma. your sister woke up like it was any other day and needed her basic needs met = cartoons and cereal. i crawled back into bed. in hind site i am so glad i did, because when i finally did get up for more than a few minutes and went potty my water broke. it was different than with Rigby as i had no contractions so i was not even sure that is what had happened. THANKFULLY daddy had just made it home from work so i finally got up and went about making breakfast for myself and sat on the couch and snuggled with your sissy. it was about 10 minutes later i was sure that contractions had started and that we needed to start making arrangements for Rigby to get picked up and on our way to the hospital. unfortunately the hospital that we had chosen was not really close to the house and we were smack in the middle of morning rush hour so labor increasing intensified and by the time we got to the ER i was positive you were going to be born today. we spent another 1/2 hour to 45 minutes in the ER just trying to get the paperwork filled out while i was constantly screaming in pain but that did not hurry anyone. when i finally did get to my room they broke the bad news to me...NO drugs i had to do this all natural. it was more painful than i can ever adequately can explain in words. thankfully you were in a rush too and in less than 2 hours from my water breaking you were in my arms red/purple faced and screaming. you had extra tests ran on you in the beginning because of the purple face to find out that it was just a bruise from you being in such a rush to get the party started. my life was irrevocably changed that day for the better. it has been amazing to watch you grow and become your own little person with your own very sassy personality. i have loved every moment and love you more than you will ever know. happy birthday Adler, to many more!!!!

momma's guilt

I cant believe that Adler is already to turn ONE tomorrow. the year has flown by. Due to it being in the middle of a week and us just throwing a party for my birthday, then for Halloween, i guess i dropped the ball and wont be throwing a 1st birthday party for Adler. I will have to get my ducks lined up for next year i wont be able to get away with this for long. We will have cupcakes and presents and maybe balloons but it wont be a "party" per say. I do truly feel bad about it but in the grand scheme of life she hopefully wont look back and say "...if only i had a 1st birthday party." :)

plays well with others

thank God that Adler plays well with her sister for the most part. i think i got food poisoning this weekend. within 20 minutes of getting home i had a tummy ache. all day Sunday i was either in the bathroom or laying on the couch. daddy had odds-n-ends jobs to do so he was gone more than he was home. thankfully we were having a good day and Rigby and Adler would run up and down the hallway chasing each other and dragging all their toys out. i did not care if every toy in the house was taken out and played with as long as they were leaving me alone. OMG this sucks. i feel better today but still like i was run over by a Mac truck. ugh!!!

snuggly buggly

I think that Adler might possibly be the best snuggler in the whole wide world. she loves to be held. so when you pick her up she kind of just melts into you. she puts her head on your shoulder and conforms to your body. it is horrible when i am busy or trying to do a 1/2 dozen things at once i pick her up i don't ever want to put her down. i just want to hold and snuggle with her forever. this is not just my reaction to her but everyone's. the teachers at school, mommy's friends, everyone loves to hold her. even though she is not a baby any more she is a full blown toddler. it is that snuggle factor that casts a spell on you and time stops.

sleeping in

ever since Adler has picked up her cold from school she has been a much better night sleeper. I am sure it is that her body really needs it and i promise you that my body appreciates it. i love getting to sleep all night again. i still have the monitor on but that uninterrupted sleep is glorious. since i gave up breastfeeding and drinking gallons of water i don't have to get up every 30 minutes to pee either. yea!!! Adler seems like she is going to be a grumpy-Gus just like her sister when she wakes. this week i have had to go in and wake her up. so i open the door, rub her back and then talk to her a little. i normally then leave for a little bit to let her adjust. sometimes she stands by the railing waiting for me to return sometimes she just sits there and starts crying. i then have to pick her up and we snuggle for a few minutes before we can do anything else. if i try to skip the snuggle step she is bear. i love the snuggle step and never skimp. even if that means i have to tote her around with me and do double duty making breakfast at the same time.

shoes

Adler LOVES shoes. She has found the shoe drawer on the back poach and can pull it open and rifle through the shoes. For the most part she sticks to her shoes and has one pair of shiny black Mary Jane's she loves. She likes to chew on them. So they will not be going in the GW pile when we are done with them...they will be going directly into the trash. this keeps her happy and content and it not harmful so i let her dig and play and make a holly shoe mess. on Monday i took her to school and they had gotten more babies so they were talking about moving Adler up to the 1-2 year old room. I would be fine with this but i think there is only one teacher and too many kids for just one teacher but i do think more teachers show up by 9a they just are not in yet when i get drop the girls off. one teacher issue could be a problem if Adler moves because she is very needy. She just likes attention and if she wants is and does not get it she has melt downs. But also in the older kids room they all wear shoes. So to try to break her redneck habit of going everywhere bare footed i started putting shoes on her. she does not really like them for the most part. she would rather carry them around and play with them than wear them. But she is getting better. So far she is still in the baby room where she is queen and far more advanced than most the other kids. so if she does not move this week it wont be long before she does.

hungry ma

this morning Adler did something she had never done before. she went out to the laundry room and got a bib out from under the dryer. the first thing that is odd about this is that 99% of the time at home she does not use a bib. she tottered up to me with the bib in hand and acted as she wanted it on. so i put it on her and then she started opening her mouth. so i figured she was still hungry. i say STILL as she had already had blueberries and yogurt along with puffs for breakfast. So i got some more food out for her and she ate 8-10 more bites before she decided that she was done. ha ha ha.

something going on

Alder was sent home with a 102 temperature on Friday. I gave her some Motrin and it went down. I don't think it broke till late on Saturday. i don't know what is going on but something is for sure. i don't know if she has a little bit of a cold or is getting new teeth or what. she has frequent fevers, snotty nose, and fills 3-6 poopy pants daily. she is either ravious hungry and will anything and everything or wont eat at all and only wants bottles. good thing is that she is sleeping almost all night with possibly one feeding in the middle of the night. she has an appointment in a two weeks for her yearly checkup. so we will see if she can hold out that long. today she was in fine spirits and no fever but had a very raspy voice.

chocolate girl

Adler was liking being pushed around from house to house and getting goodies at each place. she just loved to watch her bowl fill up and not do anything. she had one chocolate bar that was kind of mangled when we got home because she kept trying to gnaw on it though the package.

babbeling brooke

Adler is at the stage she can just talk and talk and talk, to no one in particular. she just likes to babble and squeal. i always assume she has no inner-monologue and she is just giving herself and a running dialogue of what she is doing. "i have a block. the block is red. i will gnaw on the block. i will throw the block. SHOES!!!!! must get shoes." something like that. ha ha ha.

cheese please

Adler has been warmly welcomed into the world of cheese-lovers. we give her a slice of cheese tore up in to little bits and she goes bonkers. shoving as many little bites in her mouth as she can at one time. i can only give her 1/2 of a slice at a time and even then i have to separate the bites on either side of the tray so she cant grab too many at once and shovel them into her mouth.

rock-a-bye baby

Adler just loves to climb up into our little rocking chair. Right now i have it positioned in the corner by the tv facing the living room. So she loves to climb up in it and look at us and wave. she sits there so proudly with her face beaming like "I'm a big girl now." she is still kind of unsteady so i got some got out some of the foam letters/blocks and make a padded area by the tv. so if she falls off the chair she wont knock her head on the hard floor.

poo juice

we were running late this morning. i don't know exactly where the morning derailed but thankfully it is Monday so daddy is home to help get us out the door and into the car. then traffic sucked, and Rigby had her re-peater on (meaning she said the same 3 things, 2 dozen times.) i was annoyed and ready to get to work...where it was quiet not so much for the work part. we pulled into the school and i got Adler out of her chair go around the car and get Rigby out of her chair. then we go into the school and i drop off Adler. we wave bye-bye and outside to Rigby's class on the play ground. i noticed my shirt seemed wet. i thought Adler might have made me sweaty where i was holding her. so i fanned the shirt, still seemed funky to me. so after giving Rigby a kiss i went back to Adler's classroom. she was standing talking and catching up with all her little friends and i could see that her outfit was damp around both legs and up her back. YUCK. so they were going to change her diaper and outfit but what about mom. i had poop juice on me now. gag. lucky daddy was super sweet and offered to bring me another shirt. i use to keep a clean one in my desk when i was pumping for leaking accidents but when i quit pumping i took it home. i closed my door to the office and took off my top and put in a plastic bag and put on my 'office sweater' and went to work. luckily it is normally kind of chilly in our office so no big deal. i did not feel better till daddy showed up with a new shirt.

co-sleep

it started when we went to Uncle Cole and Aunt Meghan's wedding. there was not a crib for the 1st few days in the hotel room so Adler slept in bed with Rigby and I. when we got back home Adler went back to sleeping in her crib. Now after the evening bottle we put her in the swing. she falls asleep (that is normal night routine) then i transfer her to her bed within 10-30 mins of her falling asleep. she sleeps in her crib till her middle of night feeding, which can be anywhere from 11:30p-2:30a. Once Adler got sick this last time she only seems to want to go back to sleep in my arms. this is ok for the first ten minutes after she finishes the bottle but when i try multiple times to lay her back in her bed and she throws a fit this is when my patience is limited and i just want to get back to sleep myself. so i have been taking her to bed with me. she almost instantly goes to sleep with no issues. just the closeness must bring comfort as i do not hold her. last night though, Rigby was already sleeping in bed with me as she was not feeling well. she asked if she could sleep with me on the way home from school. so of course i said yes. i did not want Adler sleeping next to sick sister so i lay Adler on the floor and have to lay there with her for some time before she falls asleep and does not realize me get up and move back to bed. ugh...

red spots

Adler is getting red spots on her upper lip and cheek. these are completely self induced. this is where her hand rubs when she sucks her thumb. i have noticed it is almost constant these days now that she is on-again-off-again sick. ugh! I have no idea how to break this habit!!!!!!

more clothes

this time grandma Robertson sent a box of clothes. these girls are both so very blessed (so am i) that we don't have do shop for clothes. just wait long enough and the mail man will bring a wardrobe to them. we now have so many super cute outfits that we have no place to put them. so daddy bought a new dresser. so now Rigby gets an upgrade and Adler will get one of her own and not have to have her clothes shoved in cubbies. This all requires a whole lot of furniture rearrangement but i think it will work.

hot, hot, hot

Adler was sent home from school on Friday with a fever. it did not surprise me in the slightest. so i took some work home and got the girls and we went home had some Tylenol and lunch and they took a nap. i kept the Tylenol every 4 hours but since she was only getting up 1x a night she was sleeping longer than the 4 hours. so when she woke up on Saturday morning she was on FIRE. i took her temp and it was 103.4, that is when i started freaking out. i kept applying the Tylenol and gave her about a 1/2 dozen luke warm baths in the kitchen sink. besides being extra snotty and a little grumpy she was ok. she was eating and drinking and peeing and pooping and not lethargic so although i hemmed and hawed about taking her to urgent care i ultimately didn't. i did get some advise from mam-maw that she got from Ethan/Ellie's doctor to alternate between Tylenol and Motrin. so i had daddy run right out and get some Motrin. Adler was already in bed with a Tylenol dose at this time so i had to wait for her middle of the night feeding to administer the Motrin. because she was so hot i had her sleeping in a onsie and because she was not feeling good i was letting her sleep in bed with me. so at about 4p i woke up and put my hand on her and she was cold. Amen! the fever broke. fever did not return on Sunday. so she is back at school today. still very snotty but not so hot.

wardrobe lotto

Adler has hit the wardrobe lotto. mam-maw and auntie Allison are spoiling her. we just got a giant box of GW specials and hand-me-downs in the mail last night. i love the fact that Adler's cousin Ellie is growing out of her stuff at the same rate that Adler is growing up. It makes it so easy on the pocket book. thanks so much for all the clothes. i will have to wash, sort and find some where to store them all. we were down to about 10 onsies that currently fit. and if you go through 2-3 a day sometimes that is not very many. now we have got to be closer to 30. it will be awesome to go through all the super cute clothes. now i just need to find someone my size that has a shopping problem that is constantly wanting to get rid of things!?!?!?!?

grumpy

Adler was up 3-4 times last night and never did really want her bottle. she wanted mommy to hold her while she slept. this morning she ate little to nothing. she has a very snotty nose again and a very low grade fever. i plied her with the left over antibiotics and Tylenol and sent her to school. i am working as fast as i can as i assume that the school will be calling any minute to send her home. i did feel really guilty dropping her off today i would rather stay home and snuggle all day. with the house in such disarray because of the remodeling project going on it just feels super-duper dirty and i don't really know if that is the place for her either. ugh.

12 minutes

12 minutes makes a world of difference in our morning schedule. my alarm clock is on my phone. before going to bed last night i did not check to make sure my phone was in the living room. instead it was still in my pocket book from the trip home. so i did not hear it go off at 6:30a. I did notice Rigby moving around then i heard Adler start babbling so i thought it must be close to time. I slipped on my glasses to see it was 6:42a. so then it was rush, rush, rush to do all of our normal activities. we did get out of the house on time but i feel like i have already ran a marathon. ugh

phone time

this morning when daddy called home i was in the laundry room with Adler. So i held out the phone for her to see daddy's picture and had it on speaker phone so she could hear him. all she wanted was to grab the phone and lick the screen (daddy's face.) if i would take it away she would fuss up a storm. she wanted to love on and talk to daddy uninterrupted, damn it!

climb on up

Adler has entered into the climbing phase. she can now climb up into the kiddy rocking chair and turn herself around to sit in it properly. this morning Rigby got the chair out and was sitting in it watching her morning cartoons and when she got up Adler climbed right up into the chair. rule at our house is 'move your meat loose your seat'...it applies to everyone. so Rigby did a bad thing and pushed her sister out of the chair. she was reprimanded and spoken to about this. while this was happening to Rigby, Adler climbed back up into the chair. Soon Adler wanted something and she got out of the chair and Rigby was standing there waiting and plopped down as soon as Adler was up. then Adler got in trouble as she wanted the chair back so she went right up to Rigby and smacked her in the face. I think i am going to have to get another kiddy chair/rocker.

pout

if Adler does not get what she wants she pouts, sort of. she will just lay down right where she is at and start sucking her thumb with her butt up in the air. it is kind of funny how she just gives up and becomes the human form of a rock. i rather that over a tantrum with screaming and flailing arms/legs.

tickle spots

Adler is defiantly ticklish. she loves to be tickled too. you can grab her and tickle her sides and she will laugh and laugh and laugh. then she will throw herself back into your arms for more. Rigby likes getting in on the game too and tickling Adler too.

pain giving and taking

Adler inflicted pain last night when she scratched my face with her Wolverine-like claws. I just clipped her nails a few days ago. it stung like 4 paper-cuts on my cheek. There are still red lines on my face today. as for taking pain, i just got a call from the school and Adler saw her teacher making a bottle for her and got so excited she began to run and tripped and hit her head on the leg of her high chair. they put ice on it but i guess it is a pretty good goose egg. I am not overly concerned as she has done this a 1/2 dozen times at home.

write up

Adler got in trouble and written up at school. She has recently started biting mommy at home when we are playing. It starts has her blowing raspberries/zerbberts on my arms or tummy but then sometimes morphs into little bites. they hurt like hell too as her teeth are super sharp. now every time she gets in trouble and gets a talking too about NO BITING!!!! Well i guess she took this bad habit to school. we talk about out and at home she gets in trouble but what more can i do at school to stop it?!?!?

ABC food

Adler is getting to the stage that she likes to share her food. i guess she does not want to give anything away without trying it first. So she will "taste" the cereal or fruit or veggie whatever it is, then she will offer it to you. When offering it she has the purest look of delight on her face. So you just palm the slimy food and fake it. She giggles and laughs and when she is not looking you just put it back on her tray.

we love you

Aunt Meghan and Uncle Cole we love you so very much and so very sorry for your loss and violation. Everyone who reads this please send extra prayers and thoughts of good will to them as their house was recently robbed.

letters home

Adler's school does a basic form daily on what was eaten, at what time, and number of poopy panties. This is also where they will leave us notes if they need supplies like need more diapers/wipes/outfits ect... well two times this week Wolverine got a letter sent home in all caps, with stars, and highlighted yellow to cut her fingernails. the first night i forgot so the second note home was even bigger. oops. she die MUCH better this time while i cut them. I know the damage those blades of steel can do. I don't know if she is scratching her teachers or other kids, but someone is getting hurt. She should be good now for maybe a week before the Wolverine claws grow back.

more like mommy

Adler went to the doctor yesterday. she had a very snotty nose and a cough that was prohibiting her to sleep well at night. one night this week i let her sleep in the swing for the second 1/2 of the night as nothing else would work. doctor said she had a sinus infection but her lungs were clear. so she got another dose of amoxicillin. doctor believes that she might have enlarged tonsils and adenoids (like mommy) and if she continues down the 'sick path' that the doctor would suggested getting scoped. i cant imagine that would be fun since she HATES getting her nose wiped i think they would have to drug her to put a scope in her nose or mouth. ugh. she was 29 inches long and 18lbs and 6oz.

big hugs

Adler was the queen of giant hugs this morning. Then i realized what was going on, she had a very runny nose and (although she hates when i wipe her nose) she still wanted the yuck off her face. so she found that she could hug mommy's leg and nuzzle and get her goal of snot-removal accomplished. GAG!! i had to walk around with a baby wipe to hurry and get her mucus off my clothes before it could harden so i would not have to change clothes a 1/2 dozen times before heading to work. when will this cold end?!?!?!?!

checking the trash

Adler has now reached the stage that she throws everything away in the trash. She thinks that playing in the trash is fun. I had to take toys out of the trash can multiple times this morning. Luckily daddy had just emptied them so there was nothing in there that we had to root around.

waving at the world

Adler has finally mastered the wave. she holds her arm up strong and bends her little wrist up and down. my favorite is in the mornings when we are all waking up and saying good morning she loves to wave as her sister. I normally have call out to Rigby to pay attention to her as Rigby is normally fully engrossed in her 'programs' by then.

fishy #2

Adler has really become a fish in the bath tub. I cant let her stay in the tub long as she is always moving, crawling, floating on her belly, trying to stand, ect... this is the same if Rigby is in there with her or not. She will crawl over Rigby like there is nothing in her way. she is all over the place. This is not good because she moves so quickly and does not listen we have had a couple of falls/slips nothing that has really hurt her but scares the crap out of me. so normally we do a quick wash and when she starts getting rowdy then she is evicted from the tub.

you found me

Adler is walking very well now. she seems to kind of lead with her hips so more like a saunter than a walk. but she has mastered it and can really move. i can be in the bathroom getting ready or in the laundry room folding clothes or in the bedroom making the bed and she will toddle in and i will look at her happy face and shout "you found me" and she will just crack up and make a bee line for me/my legs. we can do this a 100 times a day and she never tires of it. watching her face light up with recognition i can do it the 100 times too. she also kind of likes the chase (when she is not hungry that is) she will waddle after me and i will stay just one step ahead of her and she giggles the whole way. in the end when she does capture me i lay down on the ground and surrender and she crawls all over me and gives me lots of open mouth kisses and raspberries.

end of an era

Breastfeeding is over. kind of makes me sad. i LOVE our nights together just her and i up snuggling together. since she got sick and started sleeping all night i was no longer doing night feedings and without that contact my supply dramatically fell. since i HATE pumping i think we are closing shop. i only made 6 months with Rigby since she never did latch/nurse so we made it to 10 months with Adler. I don't know how these women do it that cause such controversy that nurse their kids to ages 9,10,11,12?!?!?!?!?! I really wanted to keep it up for the whole 1st year, and i think i would have been able to if i got to spend more time with her, but with her at daycare and me at work it is just not working. :( she has learned to hold her own bottle so she is almost to the point that she really does not need any of us to help her but she does love snuggling so she will always be up for someone to pick her up and love on her.

outta this seat

when we go to school i leave the car seat in the car and just unbelt Adler and carry her into school. Well she knows the deal and the minute i open that car door she is moving and wriggling her arms to try to get out of that seat belt. she has never really liked the car seat and is always eager to get out of it, especially if someone is going to hold her.

knock, knock

Adler sleeps in the office. if you have been to the house you may remember that the office has pocket doors. so when they are closed just about anything can make them move in their openings. walking by them fast or the A/C kicking on can start them making a knocking sound. Adler has learned this, so when she wakes up and if she is crying and no one has come she will get up in the corner of her bed and start pushing on the door and with the littlest push she make the door start clanking.

wolverine strikes again...

I put Adler to bed about 7:30ish. Well let me take that back. I fed her a bottle and put her in the swing. there she fell asleep after putting up a mild fight. we let her sleep in the swing 20 minutes or so before moving her to her bed. she did this flawlessly. this was the last time i saw her. i have the monitor on but she (especially when sick) has been sleeping thought the night. She never fussed so i did not see her happy face till this morning. when i did i was shocked to find that she was marked. she had a big 1/2 inch slice in her forehead. she had also turned 180 degrees in her bed. she must have done this almost silently as she did not wake up and fuss anytime though out the night. now if she would just let me trim those nails maybe we would not have these gashes out of her beeeeautiful face.

achoooo!

bad news, our cold is back or possibly a whole new one. UGH!!!! she is back to snotty nose and a croup-y cough. ah, the joys of day care. she is also gnawing on her fingers and thumbs a lot these days so i think it is possible she might be cutting another tooth too. today as i dropped her off at day care i gave her a shot of Tylenol for good measure as she was already a whinny baby at 8:30a. Rigby is also very stuffed up and congested so now that they are off the amoxicillin for a few days they both have a bug again.

growing up fast

Adler is growing up too fast!!!! She is getting to be such a big girl and so smart. I credit some of that to her sister. Rigby is always willing to show Adler new tricks. Rigby is really getting into trying to play with Adler, which I love, but sometimes Adler does not want to play with her and there in lays the problem. Rigby is learning too. this morning mommy was in getting ready and putting on her make up. Rigby comes in and grabs my foundation sponge and starts dabbing her nose. Then to make sure that sister is ready too she dabs some make up on Adler too. No there was no actual foundation on the sponge she had, but how cute that she not only wanted to make sure that she was "lookin' good" but that sissy was too.

dragon baby

Not sure what show/program it came from but Rigby tends to call Adler a dragon. when Adler gets crawling or toddling after Rigby and Rigby does not want her to chase her she will scream out "oh no dragon" and run and hide or jump on furniture. the best is when Rigby gets away from Adler she will almost say to herself "that was a close one." the first time i heard her mutter it i almost fell on the floor laughing at her. the things this kid says and does.

peek-a-boo

Alder is always up for a game of peek-a-boo. she loves it. we always play every night at bath time. a game could arise at a moments notice especially if she is getting cranky. Rigby likes to play it with her too and they both seem to get a kick out of making the other one laugh.

wakin' up smiles

lately, Adler has been sleeping all night - YEA!!!! Sleeping well into the morning. on the weekends i let her sleep all she wants and don't wake her but during the week i have had to start walking her up to get ready for school. we go with a gentle wake up because no one likes being shocked into the day. so i just dim the lights in the hallway and open the doors. so then she can hear the commotion of the day going on in the house. normally this awakes her and she sits up and acclimates herself to what is going on. by the time i go back to check on her she is awake and standing or sitting at the rail and checking out what is going on with a giant smile on her face. i greet her with a "good morning gorgeous" and we have huggy snuggle time. then we go out and say good morning to Rigby and sometimes give her hugs and kisses or a quick game of "got you."

85%

I would say Adler is 85% better now. she still has a slight runny nose but for the most part the horrible snotty nose and constant cough are gone. we still have a little medicine left. I think it will probably last one or two days past the 10 day mark but i am giving it to her till it is gone as the longer she is on the meds the longer she has a change to recover before catching a new bug. she is sleeping all night. daddy had the idea to run the humidifier in her room. it is a Vick's brand humidifier so i can add a Vick's pad to it. i think what has really helped is the noise it makes. that semi-loud rattle/whirl that it makes is wonderful white noise and she has done amazing the last few nights after finally getting to sleep, actually staying that way.

orange

the other day i noticed that Adler likes orange foods. for lunch that day she was having peaches, carrots, and sweet potatoes. She also has been known to shovel in some oranges, and mangos. ha. daddy went grocery shopping today and got her more options and colors to eat.

1/2 day?!?!

Will today be another 1/2 day? So far every Friday that the girls have been in day care daddy has had to go and pick them up because one or the other of them had a fever or gotten sick. I would say that Rigby is 90% on the mend but I think Adler is only about 50%. she is still really snotty and has a phlegmy cough. I wish there was something more we could do to help her out. We still have a few more days of medicine. fingers crossed she makes it all day !!!!

xoxo

Adler is such a loving baby. i guess i should really call her a toddler now, but i just can't. she will grab a hold of you and hold on to your leg like she is hugging. as evident in school she likes to kiss (previous post). they are normally just an open mouth slobber but i love them no matter how wet i end up.

shake 'em up

Adler has early on learned to shake her head "no." not really realizing that it means no, but that is the only direction she can currently shake her head. every time she shakes no we always shake yes at her so this can go on for some time and she just thinks the game is riot and laughs and laughs. we always say yes/no while doing it too so you can hear Rigby saying "yes/no" sometimes trying to start the game up with Adler.

Tina Turner

i guess that Adler's poor throat is raw from her coughing and the post nasal drip. as it has affected her voice it is a few octaves lower and has an almost smokey quality to it. so now when she babbles she sounds like Tina Turner.

breast feeding

i was once asked if i liked breast feeding and i said i hated it. i miss spoke then and wish i would have immediately taken the statement back. i hate pumping, being tethered to that stupid machine drives me bonkers. actually breast feeding miss Adler has had its ups and downs but mostly it is awesome to have time just me and her and snuggle. this is something i never did get to experience with Rigby. she never did latch on so she was a bottle baby. I really want to keep up breast feeding for the calorie burn alone, but i think we are nearing the end. Maybe because she is super sick, but Adler has slept all night for 3 nights in a row. good = sleeping all night, bad= only time i actually get to nurse her. so i am afraid my supply is dwindling down to nothing, and because my daytime pumping efforts are producing very little output. i really had the goal to make it a year, we aren't far off but i wanted to nurse till she was ready to give up that bottle. oh well for now we will just play it by ear and see what happens.

massive bubbles

Adler has a new found talent. she can blow snot bubbles about the size of a golf to baseball. gross for sure but i bet that has to be some kind of record right?!?!?!!

troublemaker

I cant really blame Adler for this cold epidemic that ran ranpent though our house this weekend. but she was sent home on Friday with a 102.7 temperature. i was a little worried but she was eating and drinking just fine so we did not make a trip to the doc. her fever broke some time on Saturday which made me breath a little easier. obviously she was still not feeling well yesterday as i gave her Tylenol at 6:30p and nursed her and she went to bed. she did not wake up till almost 7am. this is the 1st night to go all night no feedings nothing. i would be impressed if it weren't for the fact that she obviously needed the rest as the cold was kicking her butt. i did check on her a few times to make sure she was still breathing. this morning when she got up she had boogers and snot harden all over her face. poor thing must have been fighting them all night to be able to breath. :(

102.7 - OH NO

Just got a call from school and Adler has a temp of 102.7. unfortunately, mommy cant leave work, her co-worker is on vacation so i am stuck here. lucky daddy is doing handy man work and has a much more flexible schedule. so he is headed over to pick her up. we did have a chocking/vomit incident this morning that i am fairly confident is unrelated but not 100% sure. they did say she was drinking, eating, and peeing so right now it looks like just a temperature. so daddy is going to get her and evaluate her attitude and give her a dose of Tylenol to reduce the fever. she might also be cutting more teeth. she did have a very rough night last night and was up quite frequently for no real reason but to bloody murder scream even if mommy was cuddling. i know it is probably just being exposed to all the other kids and is a "cold" but still makes my heart sink to my shoes. good thing it is Friday and she can be home all weekend with us to love and care for her.

day 3 of school

uneventful for Adler. i was just told she was a "good girl." one of the other teachers did say they really liked Adler because she had a really fun personality. i agree!!

up, up, and away

obviously we had two flights to get to and from Chicago. on the way there Adler and i were in the same row but not same isle as Rigby and daddy. it was almost 8p when we boarded which is Adler's bed time. so after erecting a screen so i could whip out a boob i fed her and she slept almost the entire time. now on the way home that is a different story. she did eat and take a tiny nap but was still up for over 2 hours of the flight and antsy and fussy the entire way. she did not sit still or be quite for more than a few minutes at a time. we were constantly having to pass her back and forth. i think a lot of it was due to her having a full/wet panty and we had no diapers. they were in the suitcase and since we were in the last row of the airplane we had to put our bags up front to make sure they made it on the flight. ugh. she does have some diaper rash that we have been treating with powder to get to calm down.

2nd day of school

2nd day of school and Adler makes another impression. i guess another family was picking up their little boy and Adler toddles over to him. grabs his face with two hands and gives him a big open mouth kiss tongue and all. OMG!!!!!!!

1st day of daycare - update

i guess literally minutes before i got there to pick the girls up Adler was walking along their cubicle system and she bent down to get a toy and hit the lower shelf. so she got a bloody lip. so her first day was good until then, but she ended it with a bang (and an accident report.) ugh!!!

day care baby

today is also Adler's first day in daycare. i think the trip home was actually excellent preparation for going to day care. she was passed around and hugged and loved on by a lot of (to her) strangers. Adler has a very distinct face she makes when she is uncomfortable. you can see it in previous swimming pictures. she she does not scream and cry she just kind of panics and is very wide eyed. that is where she was this morning when i handed her over to one of her new teachers. they were both very sweet and kind one much older than myself and one probably in her 20's. they were telling me their feeding and napping schedule and it was a few hours off from what we currently do. with daddy she was taking 3 smaller naps and now at day care they only do one long nap from 12-2p so it will be interesting to see how she conforms to their way of life.

goldielocks

I guess Adler is "just the right size" she is 9 months and is wearing 9 month clothes. that was never and still is not the case with her BIG sister. we went though her clothes and moved the 6 month outfits to the GW pile and got out the 9 month outfits.

cry it out

Last night Adler got up for the 10p feeding and every time i would try to lay her down to go back to bed she would start crying. so i would pick her up again and after some fussing she would go back to sleep. i would let her sleep on me for 10-30 mins then try laying her down again and she would start crying and screaming. i tried the swing and that was a big fail. nothing would keep her content. when daddy got up i let her play for awhile and then after he left (4am-ish) i had enough. i put her in her bed and let her cry it out. it was a good 1/2 hour before she finally gave up and went to sleep and i was finally able to get a few hours of uninterrupted slumber.

gimmie one step, gimmie one step mister

Adler is now walking...kind of. she can take one totally unassisted step you can tell she is thinking about steps 2,3,4...ect but not ready for them yet. she can walk if you hold her fingers or if she can hold on to the table/couch. it wont be long before the girls are running sprints in the hallways.

gagging

Adler has started gagging herself. i think possibly she is cutting teeth in the back so she is gnawing on her fingers and they get too far back. also this morning she gagged herself after her liquid vitamin i am not 100% sure if it was on purpose or accident. i know Rigby did this too and still will if she is at the dinner table and not happy with what is going on or the meal in front of her. so i am not overly concerned.

secret stash

Adler loves puffs. puffs are the little melt in your mouth cereals that she is learning to self feed with. she can pack them away. we have to use them all the time in meals to encourage her to eat. or just to give her something different to snack on. they have many applications. since she could and would eat the entire container if it was up to her i portion them out. i put a small handful on her tray so she can see them, and because i know that will not be enough i will put a few in the cup holder that she really cant see in as a secret stash for once she finishes the ones in front of her. well miss smarty pants has learn my secret stash and normally eats those puffs first then the ones in plain site. the other day since i know she has caught on to my secret stash i skipped it and just put them on the tray. she then took a handful and put them in the secret stash herself. :)

grinder

i really, REALLY hope this is a phase and it only is happening as Adler is trying to get use to her new teeth. all four of the top teeth have broken through the gums there is not much to see of them yet but they are all there. she has recently started grinding her teeth and making that nauseating sound that makes me want to lurch. ugh. i very forcefully tell her NO when she starts it and she seems to get it as she will stop grinding. I hope this wears off when the newness of the teeth wears off.

shoes

Adler seems to love shoes; mommy's shoes, daddy's shoes, Rigby's shoes. well this weekend since we were going to the ice skating rink we needed to bundle her up. i put on socks and some very sparkely tennis shoes. she loved the velcro on them and thought that was super fun to play with. when she finally got the hang of it she was able to get up and walk (assisted) around.

bang on the drums all day

Adler is now where she loves making noise any way she can. loves exploring the cause and effect of slapping her hands on different items. my favorite is in the mornings when i am getting ready and she is in the bathroom with me and pounding away on the toilet lid and our metal trash can. so funny there is a low thud and the high ching of metal lid like a high-hat. nothing like having your own drum-line serenade you when you are getting ready in the mornings. many times this comes along with a lovely high pitched song as well.

stunt driver

mommy wrote in Rigby's blog when she was little and had her own car walker/toy to "watch out Danica." well i might just mean it in Adler's case. she can take that little black car and do amazing things if she wants too. it started out that she could only back up but she is way more advanced than that today. she runs down the hallway sideways backs into the den and does a three-point turn all in a matter of seconds. i was seriously impressed. only thing is you have to mind your toes because she does not and has no qualms about running them over, backing up and doing it again all with a giant smile on her face.

slap hands

Adler has now moved on and can give out high fives. sometimes it takes a little bit to realize what you are asking for but once she makes contact she will give about a dozen high fives in a row. she smiles so big you can almost see the little nubbins of her new teeth poking though. she is such a happy baby...for the most part!!!!

sit and spin

Adler has a new move. I guess it is not all that new but she has perfected it. she sits on her butt and uses her legs to spin her around in a 360 motion. sometimes when she is playing quietly she will do this over and over. it seems to exert little to no energy to do it but it gives her the ability to see and take in everything in the room. she can also turn this in to a back up maneuver but this does not happen as much as the sit and spin does.

royal baby wave

daddy is working with Adler on her wave. it is coming along but not ready for parades or pageants just yet. it started out with her extending her arm backwards and hand in the pincher pose. she has now figured out that the arm does not go backwards but she still has her hand in pincher pose but she does have a little waggle in her wrist when she is doing it. it is kind of funny watching her trying to figure it out. i am sure in a weeks time she will have it down pat.

reaching out

Adler has a habit of following you into what ever room you are in. if you are in the kitchen she LOVES the refrigerator and will try to get into anything she can (like another little girl i know) or she also likes to get down on her belly and touch the stove legs. i made it a point to get down on the floor myself to see if there was anything under there and no there isn't so i just made sure this weekend when i was cleaning that it was mopped and swept under all the appliances at least as far as her little arms can reach so she wont be getting into anything she shouldn't.

praying

Miss Adler was not happy about 3a-5a. She wanted mommy to hold her and rock her and mommy was falling asleep doing it and every time i would lay her down she would wake up, stand up, and cry/whale at the top of her lungs. i tried to let her cry it out but after 15 minutes of keening i could not take it any longer. i tried the swing, again no avail. it was horrendous. eventually she went to sleep in bed with mommy snuggling her. by the time daddy got home at almost 8a she was a supper happy camper and just babbling away at her toys and other inanimate objects, loudly too. daddy says "oh great, another loud woman." he thinks he will have to start to pray to go deaf as he does not know if he can make it to old age with the three of us competing to who can be loudest longest. ha ha.

dehydration worry

Adler was not drinking on Thursday or Friday. We were getting worried. she would eat and when i would get home she would nurse but would not take a bottle no matter what. we even went and got pedilite but she would not take that either. luckily i was home all weekend so i was able to nurse the entire time but we found out that she has 4, that is right F-O-U-R of her top teeth all coming in at once. they just all broke the skin this weekend. other than being quick to whine/cry and not taking a bottle she has been her normal self. forget it if you just walk by her, she will follow you and cry and cry and cry till you pick her up and hold her.

alone

Adler is growing up WAAAAAAYYYY too fast. she is now sometimes standing all alone. she will pull up on something then kind of push off of it and just stand there unsupported by anything but her own two legs. the innocence of my baby is almost all gone and has been replaced with the mischievousness of a toddler. how do i stop time?!?!?!?

plus one makes 3

Adler is cutting another tooth. it is funny though as she has her bottom two teeth and normally i guess you would get the top two teeth but not miss Adler she is getting the tooth between her top incisors and the eye tooth. so just to the right as you look at her. i am sure it will be quite a smile with those three wonky teeth.

time for your check up

i don't have the whole story yet, but daddy just shot me a text while they were at the doc that Adler is now 28.75 long (98 percentile) and 18 lbs (56 percentile.) i am really surprised she does not weigh more as she is very solid and quite a heft now to pick her up. will have to pry more details out of him later see if the doc said anything else.

missing you

this past weekend daddy watched the girls as i headed to Nashville to surprise auntie Meghan to be there for her batchlorette party. we had so much fun with Meghan and her friends. But i missed my girls horribly i was so happy daddy sent me pictures and tangoed me so i could see them. i miss my baby hugs and snuggles and just listening to them. so happy to be home and loving on both of my girls.

special baby handles

I think Adler believes that the stoppers on doors were made just for her. like they are special baby handles just so she can open and close doors. i guess every kid goes through that phase i know miss Rigby did too. it is all fun and games till mommy is putting her make up on in the bathroom and gets whacked in the back with the door to look down to see miss Adler just smiling up at her. errrrr....but too cute to be cross.

tank

Adler is a little tank when she puts her mind to something. if there is something in her way a toy, clothes, sister's legs she will just crawl over it. it might take her some time and effort but she is persistent and just keeps at it till she is over whatever obstacle in her way.

exorcist

Adler did her very best impression of the movie Exorcist yesterday and she has never even seen it. i am not sure of the full details of the event but her and daddy were cuddling/feeding on the couch and next thing you know she emptied her entire stomach contents out (basically a 6 oz bottle) all over her, daddy, and the couch. ugh!!!! daddy put her in the tub and turned on the shower nozzle...guess what...she HATES showers!!!!!! then he had to clean himself up. while that was happening miss Rigby had a potty accident so next thing you know she had to have a shower too (she is not too keen on them either.)

no hand towel safe

Adler now will go into the kitchen or bathroom and take the hand towels down and throw them on the ground. the only reason....cause she can.

around of applause

i have yet to see it, but daddy says that Adler is starting to clap. we were trying to get her to preform on command last night and it would not happen but i am sure i will see it soon enough. one of my favorite things she does right now is smack her hand on her knee. so it looks like she is just having a hell of a time and whatever it is, is a "knee slappin' good time." it is the cutest!!

floor mat

Daddy bought Adler some new toys/things this weekend. One was a foam floor mat that we set up in front of the books/toy area so if and when she falls she wont bonk her head on the hard floor the foam at least makes for a soft landing. it will prob still hurt but it wont scramble her brains like a knock on the hard floor. i know we cant do the whole house to keep her safe but every little bit counts. the thing is these blocks are inter locking and just come apart with a tug. they are a kids play toy not really meant as a safety feature so Adler and take it a part easily. we keep telling her NO and taking it away so hopefully she will leave it alone soon, but so far no matter how many times she gets in trouble she goes right back to taking it apart and putting it directly into her mouth. Rigby's favorite part is to tattle on sissy when she is eating the mat cause then sissy gets in trouble. ugh....

chillin'

since the last time we went swimming mommy/daddy acquired a baby pool float. this is a life saver so someone does not always have to hold her. Saturday evening we were house sitting so we snuck in the pool for a few minutes before dinner. the sun had already started to go down and mosquito not out just yet. the water was almost bath temp so not refreshing but it was wet so that is nice after a long day. we put Adler in her float and she absolutely still. she did not fuss or cry or smile or laugh nothing - almost no reaction. she just kind of took it all in. after a while she started to kick and then lay back and lounge and really enjoy the float. it was funny. (pictures to come.)

pull up

Adler can now pull herself up to a standing position now from almost anything. her toys, side of the crib, kitchen cabinet, mommy's pant leg, just about anything. she is also getting adventuresome and kind of sidestepping. i would not call it walking yet, but she is moving some ground. but if she really wants to get somewhere she will flop down on her butt and then shift to a crawl and off she goes.....

Beaker the muppet

Alder is so funny, she talks out of the side of her mouth. she is just now starting to switch up sides. this is something i am going to have daddy mention when he goes into her next doctor appointment as i think it is odd but i am not overly worried about it. now she is starting to make "meep, meep" noises like Beaker the Muppet did on The Muppet Show. Google it...and imagine that on a baby...too funny.

food for thought

Again like we did with Rigby we are making our own baby food. i don't know why everyone doesn't do it. i don't do it because i am worried about chemicals or anything like that i do it due to price. i saw a story on the news that baby food industry is a 55 million a year commercial enterprise. at 90 cents to over a dollar a jar it is expensive. when i can get a sweet potato for about $2 a bag and that makes quite a few servings. so far we have tried bananas, vanilla yogurt, sweet potatoes, squash, blueberries, peas, plums, beets, carrots, and spinach. the only one she did not like was peas, and i think that might be as they were frozen and i think they might be more bitter. blueberries are not a favorite but she will eat them. now we make big batches then freeze in ice cubes then get out 2-3 cubes for breakfast and lunch and 4-5 cubes for dinner. we normally do 2 different foods and mix and match so never having the same combo.

battel wounds

Adler got a couple bumps and bruises yesterday. she tries so hard but is still awkward on her feet. she hit her noggin on the book shelf and i don't know what else but there were some red marks on her when i got home. compound that with the mosquito bites she has and she looks like she has been in a month long battle. poor thing.

books, books, books

Adler has found the book shelves in the living room. there are three of them and each one is jam packed with books. most are still the board books. Adler has recently found the cubicles with the books and just like her sister did when she was that age will stand and pull one book out at a time and throw them on the floor. i remember when Rigby was this age and i would come home from work and every single book we owned was on the floor. i am sure this will be happening very soon with Adler. good thing i consider picking up toys/books the only exercise i get so i don't really mind picking up after her/them.

you must acknowledge...

when daddy or mommy come home and see Adler you MUST stop and acknowledge her, and saying hi does not count. mommy came home the other night from work and had to rush to the potty there was no time to stop and snuggle. i did say hi as i rushed by but that was NOT good enough. she cried and cried and then you heard the hands start slapping. next thing you know she was in the hallway outside the bathroom. of course the door was open and Rigby was already in there with me, as i almost never get to go by myself now. as soon as she saw me the crying stopped and instant grin. she kicked it into super speed to get to me so i could pick her up and love, snuggle, kiss and hug her a proper hello.

push it out

this morning we woke up, played, had breakfast, got changed into our daytime clothes, and were playing. Adler really likes to stand now and she pulls herself up on that wooden toy and is standing there holding on and grunting for dear life. i started laughing at her and accusing her of pooping...and sure enough she did. she stood right there and filled her pants.

upright

Adler is now trying to pull herself up to a stand on almost anything she can get her hands on. this is bad in the fact that she does not know that toys with wheels are a bad choice, or light weight toys are also a poor choice. today she even tried to pull into a standing position but yanking on my jeans pant legs. they were not going anywhere so as long as she could hold on she could have made it. there is NOTHING stopping this girl.

2nd times the charm

we went swimming again on Sunday. this time we had a much better fitting swim suit and also just wore a regular diaper. she played and splashed in the water for quite some time. we are currently on the hunt for one of those baby floats that we can put in her so someone does not have to constantly hold her.

Happy Fathers Day...

...to the best dad on earth - OURS!!! love Rigby and Adler

grumpy tummy

Adler was all shades of grumpy yesterday. daddy said she did not nap well or eat well. And i know that after an extremely late nap she did finally finish dinner but would not take a bottle to go to bed. then we were up almost every hour to hour and a half. most the time it was for a cuddle and to be held not really cause she was hungry. this morning when she got up she had a diaper full of poo so i am thinking that she must have had a grumpy tummy (as sister calls it) and with all that pressure release she is feeling so much better today.

any finger will do

Adler has been a thumb sucker from birth. these days any finger will do. she will randomly just suck on her ring finger or middle finger. i think she is getting ready to cut some more teeth. she is uber fussy, always has her hands in her mouth, and back to drooling a lot.

boing, boing

Adler absolutely loves her 'Johny jump up' toy. it mostly hangs in the den doorway and she can sit and bounce and play while daddy is on the computer. it has also been in the doorway of Rigby's room so Adler can be close to Rigby and see the movie while mommy has to do something (aka. shower.) daddy calls it her boing-da-boing and that is the sound effect that he creates while she jumps and bounces along.

standing tall

this morning Adler pulled herself up to a stand from one of her toys. we have a wooden box that has wires on the top that have beads that you can move back and forth. you see them in doctors offices a lot. well it is just her height and was able to get herself erect. she was back down just as fast as she was up. i jumped up and grabbed the camera to try to get her to do it again but no luck. i was so proud and so very sad all in one little moment. this is the end of baby-hood and thrust head first into toddler-hood. boo hoo.

toes, toes, toes

Adler loves toes. well i don't know about that for sure, but that is about the only thing eye level when she is crawling so she is always reaching out and grabbing them. she likes mommy and Rigby's painted toes and daddy's shoes. Daddy has to be watchful as she tries to chew/lick his shoes and since they are indoor/outdoor shoes this is not a good idea. the only toes allowed in Adler's mouth are Adler, but even that could become a problem now as they always seem to be dirty even with mommy mopping and vacuuming all the time.

chugging right along

Adler is full blown crawling and can move. it is not really fast but it is constant. today i saw her leave the living room and crawl to den to see what daddy was doing. daddy says that she can go farther than that. she will go from back bedrooms to living room and from living room to laundry room. so basically nothing is off limits. we have been putting a chair down to obstruct her view of Chopper and Choppers view of her. So far no incident, we might have to come up with something better than a chair blockade when she can do more than crawl.

popeye

Alder is more like her sister than we think. she too talks out of the side of her mouth. she looks like popeye and scrunches up her whole face while doing it. sometimes it even sounds like "aye, aye, aye."

thumper

Adler has now come to kicking almost exclusively with her right leg. she will do it in rapid succession while sitting in the high chair, in bed, when laying on the floor almost anywhere. it is quite funny.

witching hour

Adler will go to bed just fine at about 7:30-ish and sleep good till about 10p. i get up and nurse her and she falls asleep in my arms. i gently take her back to her room and put her in bed. then all hell breaks loose. she starts screaming and crying like i am setting her on fire. i pick her up and she calms down and goes back to sleep. this goes on for two hours. this is not just a one night occurrence either. it happens more and more frequently. this is very annoying as i normally lay down to sleep about 9-9:30p so i just get to sleep when she is waking up. so mommy then has to wait till after midnight to go to sleep and this makes for a very sleepy mommy. ugh.

slow and steady

Adler is packing on the pounds and filling out in all the right places. she is now out of the 3-6 month clothes and into 6-9 month outfits. so fun pulling them out from under the bed and going threw them as i remember when Ribgy wore the the first time. i wish i could keep oh so many of them, but i know that is not possible with are almost non-existent storage. I did keep the coming home from hospital outfits but those are about the only ones i saved. i have lots of pictures of the others to remember them by.

slappin' hands

Adler is now mobile. not quick or efficient but mobile. she is on the verge of crawling. she will get up on all fours, rock, then lay back down but by doing this she has moved. although she does not log roll she can go back and forth and vice versa again to gain some ground. it wont be long before she is fast at lightning and none of us will be able to keep up. right now one of the highlights is to make it off the carpet and to the wood floor. once she has made it this far she will start smacking her hands on the floor as it makes a noise unlike the carpet. this is funny as i remember Rigby doing the exact same thing when she was just becoming mobile.

greatest little toy

Adler loves the cap to her bottle. she love playing with it and flicking and flinging it around. it is small at one end and can fit in her mouth. the best toys are non-toys; cardboard box, pillow case, Tupperware.

1st visit to a pool

Adler got to get her piggy toes wet in the pool this weekend. of course Rigby had a blast she has always LOVED to go swimming. Adler like the water and the getting wet but after 5 or so minutes began crying. we ran though a lot of options and end up at the fact that she did not like having the wet 'pants' on. she does not like a wet diaper so this makes sense. i had a reusable cloth swim panty on her and i guess after it got saturated she was done with the whole pool experience. she laid out in the shade or sand the rest of the day and was just fine with no fussing.

super crackers

We have started giving Adler teething crackers. She is now getting the hang of it and really seems to like them. the thing about them is ones they get slobbered on just a little bit they turn in to mush with the sicking power of super glue. they make a mess and stick to any and everything.

ear plugs daddy

daddy is going to have to start wearing ear plugs to bed. as i am up with Adler more now than when she was an infant. i am always afraid that Adler's crying is going to wake the house so i get up with her at every fuss and try to calm and quite her. But it is the the point that i did not get to bed till after midnight and was up at 2, 3:55, 4:26, then up for the morning at 6:30. this makes for a very tired mommy. I know that legitimately Adler was prob hungry 1-2 of those times but most of it she just likes being held to sleep and fusses when i put her down. I would like to let her cry it out, but when the house is silent i don't want to wake everyone else so i suffer in silence and stay up and hold and rock and sing to Adler trying to keep her quite and sleeping.

found it

Adler has defiantly found her tongue. it now spends more than 1/2 the day outside her mouth. it is very pointy and she pokes it in and out of her mouth like a little lizard.

stinky face

Adler has learned how to make the stinky face. there is no real reason for it, not like she does it on command or if she poo-ed or anything. just something she learned from mimicking her daddy. she crinkles up her nose and sometimes forces air out her nostrils. it is a super cute face no matter when she does it. she is also getting very proficient at blowing raspberries.

solids

mommy had Adler try Gerber baby food for the 1st time this weekend. it was a blend and seemed really watery. it was left over from when Rigby would eat baby food but well before the expiration date. later that day i noticed she had a small rash on her tummy. so i chucked the can baby food and made our own. i did that for Rigby and i will be again for Adler. We have already had bananas and knew they were a hit. So i pulverized it. Also purified some sweet potatoes. she ate both. she makes funny faces so it is hard to tell if she likes it or not. But for the most part she does continue to open her mouth so i keep shoveling it in. this does not really replace a bottle as she still wants those but i guess it just adds to her tummy contents and keeps her happier. we are currently only doing about 2-3 tablespoons at a time right now. so it is not a lot, just enough to get her use to the idea and exposed to more foods.

gas powered

Adler must have had a build up this morning of gas. when i got her up she burped 3 times right away. and as we played and cuddled before sister got up she had quite a few loud farts. All of this went off with out a single fuss. But once Rigby was up and mommy had to start getting ready for work NOTHING was making Adler happy. So i figured that she had more pent up gas that was fighting to get out and was making her uncomfortable. We gave her a "treatment" which is a dose of vegetable charcoal that helps dispel gas in tiny tummies. this and put in her in the swing. She took an early morning power nap and woke up much happier the 2nd time around.

camel walk

Adler wants to be on the move so very badly. she is not only getting up on her hands and knees now she is on her hands and tippy toes with her tush up in the air. she is wiggling while in this position but has not gotten the hang of moving her hands and/or her feet yet. i am sure one of these days i will look up and she will be on the other side of the room. I keep telling Rigby to get down and show her how to crawl so Adler can try to mimic Rigby. soon she will be unstoppable.

doctor visit

Adler had to go in today for another round of shots. daddy said she did well and that she was pretty much done crying by the time she was redressed. she is 27 1/2 inches long and 16 lbs. so 1/2 and inch and one pound since her last visit almost a month ago. our little girl is growing like a weed. she is all sorts of chunky and snuggable.

rockin' on all fours

Adler is now able to lift her self up to be on hands and knees. She does not really do much but kind of rock back and forth once she gets in that position. this alone scares me as that means we are mere moments away from crawling. OMG where did my baby go?!?!?!?!

Happy Mother's Day

This was my first mother's day with two beautiful daughters. i would not trade them in for all the world. Mommy loves you both so very much.

biter

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! Adler has taking to biting nipples. she knows what she is doing too. i try to stay calm but it hard not to shout when some is biting one of your most sensitive areas. i think she is being playful as she normally does it with a smile that is until i shout at her. this is going to be a hard lesson for both of us to learn. i really want to keep this up for the full 1st year, but once we get a few more teeth in and if the biting does not stop then we might have to forgo it.

nanas

after trying cereal and getting the 'yuck' face this weekend i thought maybe we would try something better tasting. i put a chunk of ripe banana in one of the strainer ring pops and Adler seemed to like it. she sucked it almost all gone. i gave her a 2nd chunk of banana and that was used more as a weapon to see how far she could throw. so not sure if she really liked it or not, but we will definitely be trying that again.

yuck

this weekend we tried cereal for the 1st time. we have been putting in her bottle to thicken up the mixture to help keep her fuller longer. this time we tried making the cereal in to a gruel and feeding it to her with a spoon. i am fairly confident that very little made it inside her. she made faces and pushed most of it out with her touch. i remember Rigby making the exact same face when we tried giving it to her. i cant blame them as it smells bad and i am sure cant taste very good at all. so we will just keep it to the extra in the bottle for now.

pearly whites

Adler has always been a slobber-er. we keep a bowl full of bibs on the end table so they can be swapped out often as they/she is always wet. while we were home it seemed worse, but we did not know how that would be possible as it was always been an affliction of hers. she seemed to also be gnawing on her hand or trying to get someone elses fingers to gnaw on. then about Friday or Saturday i felt something sharp in her mouth on the bottom rim. a day latter you can see some white tips poking out. i think that she is not cutting one, but both of her bottom teeth.

holding on

i am pretty sure that the best part of the trip home for Adler is that she almost never had to be put down. there was almost always someone willing to hold her. she loves to be held so that was her cup of tea. i know both daddy and i are tried of the crying, and the only reason is that she wants to be picked up. don't get me wrong we love her and love holding her, but it is not conducive to have to do it 24/7 a day.

the baptisim

the entire reason for going home was to get Adler Nicole Scott baptized. we did get that accomplished. she was very good for the entire event. when we got to church pop-pop held her until it was time for the ceremony. when we walked up she was cooing and smiling for all the church goers. when she actually got the water and oil on her head she was just looking up at the preacher in amazement. after it was all over and done it was almost time for her next feeding so mommy and Miss A stuck out the back and down to the kiddy room to change diapers and feed. we finished up just in time to make it upstairs to greet the church goers as they exited.

poop or no poop that is the question

on day 2 of the trip Adler was fussy and i counted back to recall that she was on day 3 of no poop. this is the first time she had gone more than 24 hours, our girl was very 'flushed out.' so i sent daddy to get a suppository. i did not want to but i knew it would make her feel so much better to get that extra pressure off her tummy. we think that there must be some kind of trigger with the pressure of the airplane and a direct relationship to pooping as the only time Rigby got blocked up it was after a flight home. so i told daddy to always remind me no matter what to carry some poop meds with us. after the medicine kicked in she was more than regular the rest of the trip and now that she is back home she is again pooping up a storm.

all night long

i know i have many posts to do to catch up on the week we were home but the BIG news for the days is our little snuggle bug slept all night!!!! she went down (be-grudgingly at that) at 8:30p and slept till 6:30a and might have slept longer if mommy did not wake her up. But mommy was about to explode with pressure and needed the release. the only down side is i found her on her tummy when i went in to wake her up. that is not a good positions for babies to sleep so it makes me super nervous. I put her down on her back and she normally has been sleeping on her side. i did check on her at 2a and she was sleeping on her back. i am sure this is probably a fluke as she is probably just trying to catch up on the lack of sleep due to travel the day before. but keep your fingers crossed this happens more than not in the next few days, mommy would love the chance at more than 3 hours of sleep at a time.

closed toes

being here in the cooler climit is killing Adler. She has recently found her toes and loves to suck on her big toe. being her she has to stay in her warm fuzzy jammies and those toes are all covered up. so when it is time for a diaper change the pigges are loose and the 1st thing she does is get one of those pigs in her mouth and starts sucking.

1st time flyer

Adler had her 1st flight yesterday. she passed with flying colors. we only had one tiny break down but that was cause she was WAAAY past due on a nap. she finally did take a short cat nap in mommy's arms but definatlly not her regular schedule.

a little fresh air

this weekend (mostly daddy) we worked on finishing up the outside of the house. we had to do the cut in work, trim, and add potting soil and mulch to the flowers near the house. this was done when the girls were napping. as the naps did not exactly line up Adler was a terrific sport. we put her in the stroller and rolled her out on the car port where she could get some fresh air and both mommy and daddy were mere steps away. we got the house almost done. the only thing left is the carport floor it needs to be painted and we will have a fresh new look. i LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. The new shade of green is fresh and clean and makes the greens of the grass and plants really pop. We have also added some rain catchers to the back yard so hopefully we can water the yard/plants more often and not cost us a dime. This is really the key to keeping the grounds looking lush.

anti-thumb sucker

so at the check up with the doctor a week or so ago the doc said that Rigby had to stop taking a passy but also that Adler needed to stop sucking on her thumb. i don't know HOW to break that habit. We have done well with getting rid of the passy for Rigby she does not even ask for it anymore. But how do you tell a 5 month old to stop sucking on her thumb??? UGH.

side sleeper

we went out and got Adler a new big girl bed (real crib) and now all the sudden she has taken to sleeping on her side. so now that she has more room than ever she takes up as little area as possible when she sleeps. silly thing. other thing is that is always on the left side never the right...or not that i have seen at least.

sister fall

this Saturday daddy painted the house. when mommy could she would go outside and help do trim work or rake up the 10 million paint chips in the yard. at the end of mommy's day she went into the house and back to Rigby's room where we all played on the floor and watched kiddie movies. we had played for over an hour and were doing great. Alder was in her bumbo with the tray on so no way to fall out. Rigby was engrossed in her movie. i checked with daddy and he said he would not be done for sometime so i decided to risk it and take a quick shower. well i was wet and hair all lathered up when Rigby came in and was shouting 'sister fell.' so i shut off the water and soaking wet i went to check and Adler was out of the bumbo and on the floor. the tray was still intact but the whole chair was on its side. Adler was screaming bloody murder. Adler was okay. i went out to find daddy to tell him what happened and stood around till he came back in the house so i could finish my shower. afterwards we told Rigby we would not be mad but we needed to know what went on, she did eventually admit to picking sister up. Which was obvious as that was the only way that she could have gotten out of the chair and ended up on the carpet. normally Rigby does not even notice that Adler is in the room with her, especially when a movie is on. i am just glad they were in her room and on the carpet and not in the living room where Adler could have end up on the hard wood floor. we have taken the opportunity a few times since to reiterate that Rigby is not to pick up sister no matter what and if sister needs something or is crying to come and get mommy or daddy.

raspberries

Adler is to the stage she is trying to blow raspberries. she defiantly does not have it mastered. she will stick out her tongue and blow and mange to send spit flying. thankfully she is so young and cute so that is not offensive. i think i took a spit-shower last night at dinner as many times as Adler would try to make those raspberries.

breast stroke

Adler gets a bath almost every night whether she needs it or not. mostly because it makes her a happy baby. Just bringing her in the bathroom and laying her on the floor she gets all kinds of happy because she knows what is next to happen. now she is still using the baby tub but we have removed the sling. I do have to keep her in the big bath tub because she does her own version of the breast stroke kick that makes a giant splash every time. so to try to keep the mess to a minimum Adler normally gets her bath first then Rigby gets hers. Lately though they are in the tub together, Adler in her mini tub and Rigby in the back half playing with her toys. Depending on time constrictions sometimes i forgo Adler's tub and hold her tightly as she gets supper slippery and dunk her a few times in Rigby's bath.

whole fist

Adler has really found that thumb and sucks on it a lot. when she really gets excited she shoves almost her whole fist into her mouth. the drool is abundant. she tries yell and scream (happy) while her hand is in her mouth and it just one slobbery mess: fingers, thumbs, hands, arms, chin, chest, bib, outfit, all of it.

check up

Adler had a check up today too, she weighed in at 15 lbs and is 27 inches long. She had a few shots, i am not sure which ones, but she sure was screaming in the back round when daddy called. He said she calmed down when she got back in her car seat. I am sure today will probable be a day of Tylenol and naps for her.

sissy kiss

this morning i got up first, got in the shower then Rigby woke up and knocked on the door. so i helped her out into the living room and turned on TV. then had to finish getting dressed, soon after i heard Adler in her crib coo-ing and talking up a storm. she was not fussing so i finished up what i was doing before picking her up. after i got her i took her out to give miss Rigby a kiss. Rigby just laid there in her chair fixated on George as Adler laid a big wet slobbery kiss on her cheek. at this time is when Rigby realized what was going on and looked at Alder like "what the hell?" and wiped the slobber off. kind of funny!!

little girl, big bed

the other night when i was letting Adler "cry it out" she got to upset she rolled over in her bassinet. which in itself is not a big deal. the problem is that the bassinet is not big enough to roll over so she was pinned up against the side face down. this is a problem as she was breathing in her own breath and that is one of the things they think causes SIDS. so i was freaked out and decided the next day we were setting up the pack-n-play for her to sleep in. i could not risk her not having room in the bassinet. instead, daddy (aka. king of Craig's list) found a crib with an attached changing table and 2 shelves for free. yep, free. all he had to do is pick it up. i guess the family was moving and their daughter had out grown it. all we had to do was clean it up. it has the exact same mattress that Rigby's bed has so i have plenty of linens for it. so last night when i put her down she looks so very tiny in this big new bed of hers.

chew-bacca

Alder likes to chew on mommy's fingers. I don't mind except for my nails are always poking her in the gums and then she makes such a pained look. I try to give her toys or even direct her to chew on her own fingers but i guess they are not as tasty as mommy's. ugh.

nipple v. thumb

At some of our late night feedings when Adler is supper sleepy she constantly fights me. she will be breast feeding then take the nipple out of her mouth just to put her thumb in. I know she is hungry and wants to suck, but you would think that the one with the milky goodness would win out. I have to constantly move her hand/thumb and re-adjust and put the nipple back in her mouth. I mean this sometimes happen every 20 seconds so it is an up hill battle. I know this is why she swallows air and gets those tummy aches and loud burps/gas.

those feet

Adler has giant baby feet. they are always too big for her footie jammies. The other night i was holding her and noticed that her dagger of a toe nail had sliced a hole in her jammies and her big toe was just hanging out. ha ha ha.

formula a no go

Alder had a little rash all over the night that she had formula. So we decided to steer away from formula right now since we don't NEED it. We will just use the breast milk and cereal. Oh, and daddy says the formula poo's are hideous.

full tummy

trying to keep Adler full these days we have added a tablespoon of cereal to her breast milk bottles. now, today i added a few ounces of formula to the mix as well. All of this in hopes to keep her full. We have almost gone though all of our back log of milk from when i was totally engorged and could pump 6 oz in 5-10 mins. Now at work i am lucky to pump 4 oz a time. this is not enough to keep her full when i am not around. I HATE supplementing with formula but i don't want hungry baby either. I am going to have to do more research on what can help keep my milk supply up. I drink at least 64oz of water between pumping/feeding and this is just not enough to increase my milk supply.

1st visit

Alder made her first visit to see mommy at work today. daddy was out running errands with the girls and they stopped in to see mommy. Mommy got to show her off (actually both of them off) to all of her co-workers. Alder was so very cute and wide eyed trying to figure out what was going on and who all of these people were. Thanks Daddy for bringing my girls in, that is always such a special treat.

set a schedule

We are going to have to work up a hard and fast schedule for Alder as she was miserable this weekend. I know it was because she did not get adequate sleep during the day. we have a very established schedule for nights. dinner sitting at the table with mom and dad, bath time, mommy feeding, then in bed to put herself to sleep at 7p. she is then up normally for a feeding at 11p, 2a, and 6a. this is normally when the schedule falls apart and we go off of what she "feels like" we then feed on when she is hungry let her sleep when she is sleepy. So there is no standard eat or sleep time and if we miss her cues or misread them then she is over tired or over hungry and fussiness sets in and this could literally last ALL DAY LONG. I think this is what happened on Saturday so i spent the good share of the day with the rocking chair in the middle of the living room holding Miss Alder rocking and shhhhhh-ing her.

chopper

Chopper either HATES Adler or is DEATHLY AFRAID of her. He shakes, barks, and generally just freaks out. He was the same with Rigby but I don't get it. the girls don't bother him for the most part but he does not like when anyone picks up or puts Adler down. i have found him in the wee hours of the morning, when daddy lets Chopper roam the house so he has time outside the cage to stretch his legs and get to eat and drink freely, he is in Adler's room on the floor or couch with a death stare on that bassinet. thank God he has not tried to make a jump into the bassinet with her. I try to keep him out of the same room for both of their safety.

snuggle-sleeper

Adler woke up at 5am today and it seemed like she just wanted to play. she was not hungry and she was NOT about to stay in her bassinet. so i picked her up and brought her back to the master bedroom with me. i turned on the news and laid her down next to me and we cooed and cuddled and talked. next thing i knew though i heard Rigby screaming for mommy. I rolled over and looked at the clock at it was 7:15a, definably time to wake up. I look down and there is my little baby asleep we were just enjoying snuggle-sleeping. i was able to get the TV on for Rigby and a super quick shower in before Miss Adler woke up and wanted to eat, change, and play.

mean girl

Adler has taken to pulling hair. she also claws, scratches, pinches, and bites. it HURTS. ugh, this is not a favorite phase of babyhood. I get the brunt of it and i am not a fan of little people inflicting pain on me.

giggles

Adler has the BEST giggle. it is instantly heart warming. if you blow in her face or raspberry on her tummy she will giggle, and giggle. i love it!

rolly-polly

so i still have not witnessed it but daddy said that Adler is a rolly-polly champ today. I put her on the floor just before i walked out of the house to leave and before i even got to work daddy was sending me text messages that she was rolling around on the floor like a big girl. he said he was finally able to capture it on video so we can keep it for posterior's sake.

breaking news

I just got a text from daddy that Adler rolled over. this is the 1st time. this makes me very happy and very sad all at once. Happy that she has learned how to roll over, but sad as this is the beginning of the end of baby stage. As of right now this is the end of the babies so i wont get to relive this again...although i was not there for her 1st i hope to be there to see it many more times before it becomes old hat. I love you, Adler Nicole Scott!!!!!!!!

shedding problem

this time it is not Adler but mommy that is loosing her hair. i guess month 4 is when you loose what ever hormone it is that stop hair from falling out and looking nice. i have had at least 2 weeks of bad hair days and when i wash, condition, comb, brush, dry or anything else with my hair i almost always pull back a handful of hair. it is gross and i HATE it. i know it will only get worse before it levels off but that is one of my FAVORITE side effects from pregnancy is good hair. errrrr.....

tv hound

Adler is already turning into her sister and loves her early morning cartoons. this is NOT by design. but there is only so much a mama can do while the kids are are up and she has to get ready for work. I try to keep Adler's back to the TV so she is not forced to stare at it, but even with her back to the TV she cranes her neck to see the cartoons. we are just going to have to introduce a strick no TV poilicy and shut the thing off all together in order to get my girls to stop watching it. I know i was the exact same way when i was a kid so i dont really thing that much has changed.

meeting new peeps

Adler is a very good baby. this weekend she got to meet good friends of mommy and daddy. Aunt Katie and Uncle Dan where here from California and both loved to hold, snuggle and hug on Miss Adler. Adler also got grandparent love from Katie's mom and daddy they too had to take turns holding and hugging. It was great to see them and they gave us some wonderful news that it will take a year or so but they are moving home. Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!! mommy is a happy.

kung foo grip

Adler can really grab on to things now. Things include but are not limited to fingers, hair, clothes/blankets, and toys. i love the gesture of her holding on to one or two of my fingers, with that tight grasp.

hairy situation

Alder's hair is starting to grow back in. It is still merely just peach fuzz but she no longer looks like a monk with only that band by her ears and the bottom of her neck. there is a bald spot on the back of her head that she has warn off by thrashing her head back and forth when laying down, but i think that is normal. this morning i was teasing her because she likes to grab mommy's hair and pull that she must be jealous that she does not have any hair YET to play with. i am sure it wont be long before we have something that we can put a pretty barrette or comb in.