Dear Adeline

Dear Adeline, 

On your first birthday, I want to tell you that I have loved you since the very first moment I knew I carried you. I knew with every ounce of my being that you would bring our family so much joy-  that you were a missing piece meant to be with us.

Sure, the last year has been hard- harder than I ever could have imagined, but you my darling, you are wonderful. 

I am impressed by your strength- strength I felt when you were in the womb- I felt you kick and move, wiggle and twist. Your kicks were strong enough to make me stop in my tracks. Your entry to the world was a challenge and you fought every moment with me to be a part of it. I hope you are always this strong, this world needs strong women.

It's funny to say, but I like the way you view the world with caution and suspicion. Your sister bounds into life headfirst- she loves people with such faith in their goodness she is bound to get hurt- she will need you to temper her enthusiasm, just as you need her now to help break down your caution in new situations. 

  

I have been amazed that despite how suspicious you are in public you have always been loud and chatty at home. Even before you had words you had an incredible range of noises- and you can mimic almost any sound letting people know exactly what you want- and with great volume. 

You are also pretty funny, you love to dance- shaking your booty and waving your arms, and letting out the biggest laughs when you get tickled or when you blow raspberries on my belly.

Oh sweet Adeline, I wish I could keep you small forever, I so dearly love all of your baby kisses and constant hugs. I love how right now I can fix all of your problems, and even when it seems daunting and overwhelming- Mama can fix everything. 

But I know you can't stay small, every day this year I have watched you grow bigger, meet more milestones (always early), and loose more and more of your baby clumsiness. This past year we have watched you go from immobile to running! You climb stairs and stand on chairs (I really wish you wouldn't stand on chairs). You went from needing to nurse all the time to being the great consumer of...carbs...and sugar...with the occasional vegetable (you will get there with the veggies- I am sure)

You like to practice your fine moter skills by picking up every tiny toy/rock/choking hazard you can find in our less than toddler proof apartment. Right now you especially love putting things in other things- small toys inside cups and bowls, closing things in boxes, hiding things in cabinets. I am hoping that eventually this means you will like cleaning (I need at least one person in this house who helps without complaining). 

In addition to moving things around so I can't find them, you enjoy watching Sesame Street (you "sing" along with the theme song", drawing, and having books read to you. You like to walk next to the cart in the grocery store, and you scream with excitement and wave when you see the school bus. 

Adeline- Please love cats forever as much as you do right now- you get so excited you squeal and it melts my crazy cat lady heart. 

This year has also been Cordelia's first year as a sister- and she loves you as much as Papa and I love you, remember this, even when she yells at you and tells you to go away. Sisters are our best friend's forever- you will always have each other and don't let anything disrupt that. Love each other unconditionally, I always knew she needed you- and you need her just as much. 

Dear Adeline, Happy first birthday. Thank you for being part of our family. Thank you for keeping us smiling when the world seemed dark. Thank you for being our baby just when we needed you.

Love, 

Mama

Adeline's Winter "One"derland

I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to blog about Adeline's first Birthday- I'm not sure if I was too busy doing the mom thing, or just too much in denial about my last baby officially leaving babyhood and entering kid-dom?

No matter what the reason for my blogging delay, surrounded by our friends and family we celebrated Adeline's first birthday on December the 10th 2017, and it was perfect. The theme was A Winter "One"derland and held the party in the community room in our apartment building- which oddly enough was the same place we held Cordelia's first birthday. 

The whole room was decked out in silver, white, blues, and purples. We hung streamers and shinny snowflakes from the ceiling, taped transparent snowflakes to the large windows, and covered every flat surface with purple table cloths and fluffy, sparkly garland. 

 

In front of the massive fireplace I hung this banner I made that had a photo of Adeline from each month of her life. 

We of course had themed foods, which included:

*A snowman shaped cheese ball, with snowflake Ritz Crackers

*Snowman noses (baby carrots)

*Penguin snacks (goldfish)

*Snowballs (rice crispy treats)

*Polar ice caps (blue meringues) 

*Snowman decorated string cheese

*Snowman Arms (pretzel sticks)

*White chocolate snow flake pretzels 

*White cheddar poof "snow balls"

and to drink we served

"melted snow" (water) and "glacier ice" (kool aid)

A special thank you to my sister Lori for making all of our signs and labels. 

My sister Shauna made the perfect winter themed Oatmeal "Pup" cakes - the same flavor we had for Cordelia's first birthday. 

And a darling Smash cake which was eaten the most daintily of any smash cake in existence. 

The birthday girl wore a brand new mama made dress for the occasion. It was made from an almost sheer white polka dot cotton fabric, lined in lavender cotton, and has peak-a-boo white ball fringe on the bottom (to look like snow)

And don't let these photos fool you- she only kept that headband on for about 2 minutes. 

And when the party was over, and we had said all our goodbyes, put the leftovers away, and tried our best to clean up all the glitter- we both felt like this! 

Why Was Six Afraid of Seven? Because Seven Ate Nine!

That's actually a misleading title for this blog post- because this post is sharing photos from Adeline's eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh months- but for some reason that silly kids joke kept running through my head.  

Maybe because I feel like the months have eaten each-other- surely time has done something funny and sped up, or moments were skipped?  

But I guess that's part of parenting, time moves in weird ways. When you are in the grocery store with a screaming kid but you can't leave or there will be nothing for dinner- time moves extra slow, each second takes at least three. But when you are trying to make sure you write blog posts, or finish your to do lists, or simply just want your baby to stay a baby- then each second must speed by like it's only a quarter of a second. 

I've kep up taking these monthly photos- some of them really near the end of the month,  but all more or less on time, but I never could quite make it to publishing them. At eight months Adeline could pull herself up to stand and would walk about while holding on to the couch. She had two teeth and loved to bit. 

At nine months Adeline she could say "Mama, Dada, Nana" and "cat". 

She had a strong distrust for strangers, and never smiled at people who talked to her when we were out and about.  But Cordelia made her laugh and giggle like crazy. 

She started being able to stand on her own, without holding on to anything. 

She loved every food she tried- but preferred to feed herself.

and still did not sleep through the night. 

At ten months Adeline started to walk! 

and fall down a lot. When I took these photos she had a big bump on one side of her head from the sidewalk, a small scrape on the other side from a toy house, and rug burn on her nose from the hallway outside of our apartment. 

At ten months Adeline had two teeth, four words, and two signs. 

She still loves food, hates strangers, and isn't so impressed by sleeping in her crib, or sleeping through the night. 

but she loves playing with other kids, 

and she shares my obsession with cats. 

That brings us up to date at eleven months. 

Adeline finally sleeps in her crib, and sometimes even in her crib in her bedroom- and sometimes if we are extra lucky and she is super tired, she even sleeps all night long!

She can say "mama, dada, na-na, cat, hi" and "no". She knows the signs  for water, more, all done, and eat. She especially loves goldfish and likes to share them with our cat Ninja while she watches Sesame Street. 

She dances whenever she hears music! She also claps, waves, blows kisses and raspberries, and roars like a lion. She makes more noises than any other kid I have met. 

and she stands up to her sister when she pushes her around. (Adeline screams at Cordelia or bites her on the hand, or roars at her, which is kind of funny)

Strangers still do not amuse her. 

She has seven teeth (all of a sudden)! She can walk from the car to the apartment, but often wants to walk in the direction she wants and not where we want her to go. She doesn't run yet, but she is getting fast!  She fills our lives with adventure and happiness every day.