Adelaide - 10 Months!!!

Dear Adelaide,

You turned 10 months old nine days ago! Only just now do I have a minute to sit and write to you all the wonderful things you're doing and how much we really love you! Life is crazy busy now, with you being such an active little girl and with me going back to work. It's really hard to find time to do, well, anything!



At home, you love to be with your daddy and me. You cling to me, but call for Daddy! It's really sweet. You say "Dada" now, with purpose! Of course, you repeatedly say it all the time as part of your "talking"... but you also will just say "Dada" and we know for certain that your talking about your father. He loves it, and talks right back to you! I can't wait for the day when you're able to say "Mama"!



You can walk now! Earlier this month you took a couple of steps, waited a week or so, then took more. Now, you are walking halfway down the hall before you stumble. You take very sure, yet very fragile, little baby steps. It's so cute! You have amazing balance and are able to correct your wobbles very consistently to keep yourself upright, but when you do fall, you have a nice cushion-y cloth diaper to pad your bottom! And your daddy and I think it's so sweet that you love to walk, even though crawling is so much faster.

You clap now, all the time. The first time you did it, I was nursing you down for a nap... or so I thought. You were drinking your milk, and I was laying next to you. We were both still and quiet, and it was dark. And all of a sudden, you're clapping! Although I really wanted you to go to sleep, it made me smile - my big, happy girl!

[We tried to bribe you with a puff to get you to at least not cry for the
traditional laying-down shot, but you weren't having it!]

You also wave bye-bye (most of the time)! In the mornings, after we get ready for the day, you and Daddy stand on the porch while I walk out to my car to go to work. This is something I made your daddy do, and I'm so glad, because it's a nice way to say goodbye to you. And you're waving bye now, too, which makes it much sweeter.

Speaking of work, I am on week four of being back at work full-time. So far, I'm not enjoying it. I think about you all day long and miss you so very much. I've cried a few times when coworkers will ask about you, or on my way to pick you up in the afternoons after a long day of teaching. You, on the other hand, are loving day care. Your daddy drops you off in the mornings, and he tells me that you get excited walking down the hall because you remember where you are, and you reach out for your teachers to hold you. This makes us so happy. We're very glad that you are thriving and enjoying your days. You are one of the older babies in your classroom, and your teachers love you very much. They take really good care of you, and you have a lot of fun playing with the other babies. You're such a big girl!

Oh, and we've hit a very independent stage when it comes to eating! You don't much care for being spoon-fed anymore. Sometimes, if I have oatmeal or something, you'll take a bit, but you love, love, love to feed yourself. I was worried at first with giving you finger foods, because I was scared that you'd choke, but you have done just fine with it! It's really cute how you grab a cube of steamed veggie and shove it in your mouth. Right now, you're loving potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, mangoes, apples, pears, puffs, and graham crackers.

[Silly girl!]

Your personality is really coming through. It's amazing. Each day we see more of the little girl that you're becoming. You're silly, laughing all the time. You are so smart, making connections and figuring out how things work. You love to play peek-a-boo, read, take apart piles of things (like clean cloth wipes), and you've started to play chase with your dad. Sometimes he'll chase you, sometimes you'll chase him. You're a very happy girl, super social, and beginning to really show affection.



It's so much fun being your momma! I get overwhelmed with all the to-do's sometimes, but it's all so worth it. No matter how tired, stressed, or bogged down I am... at the end of the day I think of you sleeping in our bed and whisper to your dad: "I love that little girl."

Love, Momma

How and Why to make Homemade Baby Food.

Last night I spent a couple hours in the kitchen making baby food for Adelaide. When little miss began eating solids at six months, we already had quite a bit of store-bought baby food, mostly Earth's Best Organic baby food bought by my mom when Harris Teeter was having a good deal and she had coupons. We used them first, and now I reuse those jars to store homemade baby food. I love making her baby food at home. Coming up with different food combinations and then seeing what she likes and doesn't like is so much fun! And I like knowing what she's getting. So...

Why make your own baby food?



Reason #1 for homemade baby food: Cost.
A jar of organic baby food is about a dollar at best. Sometimes it goes on sale and you can use coupons to bring the cost down to maybe 70 cents per jar. I can instead buy a pound of organic carrots for $0.98 from Walmart (I wish I could afford Earth Fare all the time, but right now money is tight, so off to Wally World we go.). That pound of carrots can make at least 3 jars of baby food, bringing the price down to $0.33 per jar. That's a savings of $0.37 per jar working from the sale/coupon price. If that's all she ate, two jars a day for a week, I've saved $5.18 for the week. When you're working with a budget, those five bucks can be used for a lot of other stuff, like more food to make for the baby.

Reason #2 for homemade baby food: Control of ingredients.
Now, the Earth's Best Organic baby food is pretty good about keeping the baby food pure. It's rare that a jar of that stuff has added preservatives or fillers or anything else but the food. And it's organic. If you feed your baby non-organic food, you are exposing them to the pesticides and herbicides that were used to grow the plants. And non-organic meat, if that's what you feed to your child, transfers those antibiotics, hormones, and all that other nasty junk to your baby. So, if you make your own organic baby food, you know exactly what's going in that precious baby of yours.

Reason #3 for homemade baby food: Make what your baby likes.
Here's another way to control what your baby gets. If you know your baby likes carrots, you can use carrots with a myriad other vegetables in different combinations to introduce new tastes. Carrots and zucchini were a big part of last night's cooking. I know she likes those two veggies a lot, but instead of just mixing them together only (same old, same old), I mixed carrots with potatoes, zucchini with potatoes, carrots with celery, etc.

Reason #4 for homemade baby food: It's easy! Here's how:
All you really need is a pot, stove, and blender. That's what I use. Last night, after chopping up all my veggies, I got a few pots of water boiling, each with a different veggie. Let them come to a boil and then lower the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until soft (some veggies take longer than others). Transfer to a blender, puree, and BAM! You're done! So easy. Transfer to jars, label with food and ate, and pop those suckers in the fridge or freezer.

So, each week, that's what I do. Make a batch of homemade baby food for Adelaide. And each night, if we're having some veggies that I know she likes, or maybe hasn't tried yet, I set aside some for her before I add salt and too many spices and puree them up on the spot. That way she eats what we eat, when she can. Don't forget the pasta, couscous, and fruit, either. She eats pretty much whatever we do.

Do you make your own baby food? Any tips or favorite combinations?

You Belong to Me.

As I sit in the back room, sewing cloth wipes and working on hemming work pants, I'm listening to Pandora. And just like a girl new in love, or after a breakup, every song seems written especially for this moment in my life. They pull my thoughts back to Adelaide each in their own way. She's at daycare for another two hours this morning.

I'm trying to stay busy, but then songs like this come on and make me think of the amazing connection a mother and daughter have. That me and Adelaide have.



Carla Bruni ~ You Belong to Me

Transitioning to daycare.

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. My little Adelaide began transitioning to daycare all week. For the past two months, we've been going in for visits. Twice a week for at least an hour each visit. We played with the toys, we interacted with the teachers and the other babies. She got to experience her classroom and started forming a relationship with the people in it.

October 10th is my start date at work, but since Adelaide is pretty sensitive, her teacher and I decided to begin the daycare transition two weeks beforehand. Monday was her (our) first day. Kevin and I both got up early, got ready, and drove to the daycare in separate cars. He will be the one to drop her off in the mornings, but I wanted to go and help him get used to the routine, too, since he hasn't been visiting with us, and it's all new to him.

We have to drop Adelaide off in a different classroom with a whole new teacher for her first 15 or so minutes, until Mrs. R gets there. Adelaide wasn't used to this new teacher, but she did wonderfully. The new teacher held her, rocked her, cooed to her, and Adelaide cried for only a few minutes. Over the next two hours, I walked around the grocery store and piddled at home, trying to distract myself from this process. I cried a lot. At 9:30, I went to get her and she was burrowed into Mrs. R's chest, sleeping but crying in her sleep. It broke my heart. And I went to pick her up, she cried pretty hard for me for a few minutes. Kevin says it's her way of saying I missed you.

Tuesday the drop-off was even better. Showed Kevin how to fill out the sign-in sheet, restock the diapers and wetbag, put the milk in the fridge, etc. Another two hours. Went to pick her up, peeked in the room, and saw my baby playing in the corner, babbling and chewing on a plastic taco. She looked very content, even when both teachers weren't paying attention to her. I stood there and smiled, trying not to cry from happiness, soaking up the moment. She did cry a little when she crawled to me, but as soon as she was in my arms, we were both okay.

Wednesday was until 10:30 a.m. We both did really well that day. The image of her playing stayed fresh in my mind, and when I went to pick her up, there was no crying at all.

Thursday, yesterday, apparently was an off day for both of us again. I tell you, it's a roller coaster. We both cried off and on until 11 a.m. She was pretty clingy last night. She is also beginning to HATE the car seat. I think she's making a connection between it and Mommy/Daddy leaving.

Today she will be there until noon. She hasn't slept there but for maybe 10 minutes all week, but today she will probably knock out at some point. She is still a horrible night-sleeper, up last night at 4 a.m. ready to go. I was able to put her back down from 6 a.m. for a quick thirty minute nap, so I'm sure she will be exhausted before long. Hopefully, also, she'll drink more than 2 ounces of milk, like she has been doing for her morning feeding. Yesterday I brought half a banana for her to eat and of course she gobbled it up, but I didn't think to do that for today.

This has been such a difficult process. There has been so much that I wanted to get done with this "free" time when Adelaide's at daycare, before I go back to work. But really, it's difficult to do anything when I'm obsessing over what Adelaide's doing. All the cute faces, the new sounds she's making everyday. The way she tilts her head or holds her hand out to wave. And as of Wednesday, possibly starting to walk (she took 2 steps!!!).

I am excited to get back into the classroom and teach. Pinterest has reawakened my creative spirit and renewed my desire to teach fun art projects. I'm not so excited to get back into the school as a whole, as I usually get stressed dealing with all the other stuff that comes along with teaching, including dealing with other adults. This year my schedule will be even more fast-paced than ever before. I'll have to find time to run down to the conference room to pump twice a day on top of the crazy schedule. I've been assigned some pretty substantial tasks on my global committee, even though I wasn't there to speak up and say I haven't done this before. There is a new teacher evaluation form I'm not familiar with, a new online social network for teachers that I'm not familiar with, a website I have to create from scratch after losing my old one, and let's not forget 800 kids' names that I probably forgot over the past year that I'll have to relearn.

It'll be an adjustment. It will, in so many ways. I hope it won't take long for us to figure this whole new way of life out. Right now it feels unnatural to be apart from my baby girl. I miss her so bad. And I did so good this morning dropping her off, but in this moment tears are welling because I wish beyond wishes that staying at home was an option, but it's not. Thankfully she's doing great, and hopefully she doesn't ever doubt this love we have for her.

Adelaide {9 months}

Dear Adelaide,

This letter comes a week late. You turned 9 months old six days ago! We have less than three months until you're a year old, which blows my mind. With each month comes so many new things... I can't imagine what three more months will mean for your development and personality.

It's been a big month! You're now waving hello and goodbye, although you really just throw your hand up without moving it around. But it's the beginning of a wave at least.



You smile REALLY big when we sit out on the porch waiting for Daddy to come home and you see his Jeep pull up. You now recognize that the Jeep means Daddy is inside of it, and soon you will get hugs and kisses from him!

You've started to dance! Usually it's when you hear drum beats, but sometimes with music, too. You bounce your little booty up and down, and it's really cute!



You're talking up a storm these days. Well, you always have, but now instead of just vowel sounds, you say "Bah bah bah" and just last night you started saying "mah mah mah". Sometimes you also make a "kah kah kah" sound.

You love, love, love to play! Especially at night, right before bedtime. Although we should be making sure it's quiet-time, we can't pass up the fun rough-housing you like to do then! You crawl all over us, laughing and throwing yourself on top of us. It wears Momma and Daddy out, but we really love it.



Oh! And you give kisses! It's so sweet! If either Momma or Daddy says "Kisses", you will lean your head in so that we can smooch on you. You haven't connected your mouth with the act of kissing yet, but that is how you kiss for now. We'll take it!

Finally, just three days ago, you started going to school (day care) all by yourself for a little bit in the mornings. The first day was just a couple of hours, but you and Momma both cried a lot. We really missed each other. We're not used to being apart. The second day was a lot better. We were better rested, and knew what to expect. You cried a little bit when we left, but when I came to pick you up, you were playing and babbling, happy as can be! And finally, the third day (today) was really good, too. I missed you incredibly, as you were at school for three whole hours, but you were calm when I came to pick you up. You'd eaten a rice cake and drank some of your milk, and had played a lot. You were ready for a nap when you got home!



I think you'll be great at school. I only wish I could be there so I could see all the cute things you do. I'm jealous of your teachers, but I know we'll be used to this routine and separation soon. I wish there was a way I could stay home with you always, but this is the way it has to be, for now.



I love you so much, little one. My heart is so big now that you're in it. You're my whole world now. I hope you can feel just how much you mean to me.

Love, Momma

Adelaide makes music!

Here's the video we took of Adelaide enjoying the xylophone at the Musical Petting Zoo on Saturday. She's completely adorable, loving the sounds of the instruments, and doing her awesomely sweet head tilt. Love this girl!

Boone Trip

Labor Day weekend, my father-in-law called to offer us a free room at a friend's cabin for a couple nights. We had another Bradley class reunion that Saturday morning, but decided why not? A free mountain vacation? Yes, please!

The Bradley reunion was awesome, of course. Seven different families tied together because we all had our babies within a couple months of each other. And of course all our babies are amazing. In May, at our first reunion, our babies were still practicing tummy time. Now, they are crawling and cruising all over the place! Next time, they will be walking, and then talking! Gah!

Anyhow, it was great to get away for the weekend. The type-A part of me (a really big part) freaked out with such short notice, but it worked out fine, even if we did leave the house a mess. The drive was great - Adelaide seemed pretty content. It was only just over 2 hours to get there. Not bad at all!

It was nice to hang out with family and visit with my pregnant sister-in-law. It was crazy crowded in downtown Boone, so even though it was my first visit there, we pretty much stayed at the house. We did venture down to the grocery store to get ingredients for a very tasty vegan pizza that has become my most favorite pizza to date. I may do a Yummy Monday post on that sometime!

Adelaide was pretty clingy the whole weekend. Don't know if it was because she was a little sick, or if it was because we were in a new place with semi-unfamiliar people. Either way, I could barely leave her side. Made it a little less relaxing, but all the same, it was great to get away.

The house had an amazing view, as you can see in the photos. It was a mile high. The guy who owns it lets friends and friends of friends stay there for free. Oh, to have that kind of money! I'd live there year-round, it's so nice.

Any mountain weekend is a great weekend for me!












My preggie sis-in-law!


My cutie nephew!