Thanksgiving Weekend Re-Cap

You all saw our Turkey Day fun already, so now I'll fill you in on the rest of the weekend! My mom, Adeline, and I shopped until we just about dropped on Friday. We left home around 8:30am and hit the mall and few other stores before making it home for Adeline's afternoon nap at 2pm. (Yes, I know. We did a LOT of shopping in just a few short hours!) We spent that afternoon relaxing and playing outside.

Such a pretty day

That night, my high school alma mater played football in the play-offs so the guys went to watch. It was too cold & late for Adeline, so we had a girls' night with my mom. We built a fire and my mom endangered both my girls by putting them right in front of it.

Don't worry..there was a screen & my mom was standing right there.

The next morning Adeline played while we packed up to go across town to Jon's parents'.

This rocker was my mom's, then mine, and now Adeline's (to stay at the g-parents' house).

Walking around the yard with Daddy & Pappy

At Jon's parents', we met up with one of Jon's BFFs (Jon says he doesn't have BFFs) and his little family for a play date. Tiny made Adeline and Abigail matching hats, so we had to get some pictures of them together in them.

Snatching a cookie from Abigail

Mouths full of animal crackers & still absolutely adorable!

That afternoon Adeline napped for 3.5 hours! While she slept, we helped Jon's parents put up Christmas decorations. When Adeline woke up from her nap, she and her Big T did a lot of "ook ook" ing at all the pretty decorations.

So sweet

That night we had tacos and my parents joined us.

Adeline enjoyed playing with Tiny's kitchen goodies while we cooked.

We went to church Sunday morning then headed home. We had a great time, but we were all worn out. We all enjoyed sleeping in our own beds last night! I hope you all had a great time with family and friends for Thanksgiving.

Thankful

All through the month of November, leading up to Thanksgiving, I've been updating my facebook status daily with what I'm thankful for. I'm printing my blog into a book for Christmas, so I wanted to document all the things I've been thankful for this year.

November 1 - My husband & my daughter

Nov 2 - My home

Nov 3 - My dogs

Nov 4 - My job

Nov 5 - 30 degree mornings & my easy to ignite gas fireplace

Nov 6 - Adeline and all her family and friends celebrating her birthday with us

Nov 7 - Sundays

Nov 8 - My sweet little Adeline who entered this world & our hearts exactly 1 year ago today

Nov 9 - Only 7 more work days until Thanksgiving

Nov 10 - Potlucks at work

Nov 11 - All the military men & women who have & do work so hard for my freedom

Nov 12 - My much needed haircut appointment this afternoon

Nov 13 - All my college days at TCU...Go FROGS!

Nov 14 - My sweet husband who loves his girls more than anything

Nov 15 - My Mondays with Adeline

Nov 16 - Anita, our sweet nanny

Nov 17 - My 3 sweet, child-friendly dogs

Nov 18 - A safe home, a comfy bed, & a great night's sleep

Nov 19 - A great group of Godly women with whom I'm learning to be a mom

Nov 20 - Christmas decorations, and of course Jesus, who makes Christmas decorations possible

Nov 21 - Afternoon naps..I really hope I get one!

Nov 22 - My extremely loving, generous in-laws, especially Shane Richey for helping my hubby plant some really big trees

Nov 23 - The Bible, and all its lessons, promises, & stories

Nov 24 - A pretty, non-Dallas drive to my hometown (even though it's a lot further!)

Nov 25 - Yummy food & my family, especially my wonderful Jon & sweet Adeline

I am thankful for much more, but I tried to update my status with things that went along with what I was doing that day. For example, I am very very thankful for my wonderful parents. I don't know where I'd be without them!

A few pictures from our day yesterday....

Morning walk to the pond

Happy Dogs

Happy Turkey Day!

My Aunt Denise carving the turkey

Adeline & Tater Tot

Adeline's plate (no, she didn't eat all of it, but she tried & loved it all)

Snuggling with Nana

Adeline & Nana working off their Thanksgiving lunch

Watching it rain

Visiting with Ginga (our 2nd Thanksgiving of the day)

Playing with Tiny & Big T

Rocking with Daddy

We had a busy day and were all worn completely out, but it was worth it to spend the day with family. We are so blessed!

Mondays

I used to hate Mondays. Now, they're my second favorite day of the week. I love spending my Sunday evenings with my two loves all the while knowing I do not have to go to work the next day. I tell Adeline every Sunday night as I put her in bed, "Goodnight sweet girl. I'll see you in the morning and we'll get to spend ALL day together." Our Mondays don't usually consist of anything special. Usually there's always a trip to the grocery store in there and some laundry to wash, but I try to devote the majority of the day to just playing with Adeline and enjoying every second I can with her. I got a few sweet pictures of her this evening:

Her new favorite funny face (it's still a little orange from the spaghetti sauce)

She has tried to walk everywhere today. She loves grabbing mine or Jon's hands and just walking around the house with us. If we don't go where she wants, she lets go and takes off on her own. Today, instead of giving up after falling and crawling, she has just stood right back up and walked again. It's so fun watching her learn!

The look of determination

She loves looking at the Christmas tree and has already learned to not touch. She just stands in front and stares and points & says, "ook ook." It's so cute!

Our Little Turkey

Jon went camping last night and didn't get home until late morning, so Adeline and I had a mother/daughter shopping trip this morning. I decked her out in her Thanksgiving garb and we hit the road.

This is one of her new favorite things to do.

We spent the afternoon decorating for Christmas and....

Planting Trees (well 1 tree, the other 2 in the backyard are waiting until tomorrow).

Adeline has really started walking more and more every day, but today she has really taken off...

This Week's Happenings

Monday we went for Adeline's 1 year well child check-up. Her stats are as follows:

• Weight: 19lb, 13oz - 25%
• Height: 31.5in - >97%
• Head Circumference: 18.5in - 90%

She's tall, skinny, & smart! The doctor said not to worry about her weight. Since she's started moving so much lately, it's very normal for weight to drop. I know she's never hungry, so I'm not worried about. My girl loves to eat!

Monday was also a big day for us both because it was Adeline's last time to nurse. :( We had gone down to just once a day and I dropped that on Tuesday. She has taken just fine to it. I actually think she prefers bottles because it's so much faster. Yes, she's still taking a bottle. She will not take milk out of a sippy cup, but I'm just not going to fight it right now. She is still drinking breast milk because I have a TON of it saved in the deep freezer. We tried mixing in an ounce of cow's milk in each bottle, but she broke out in a rash, so we stopped doing that. As her milk supply gets low, we'll try it again and if it still doesn't work, we'll switch to soy. She eats yogurt and cheese daily and has no adverse reactions to that, so who knows what the deal is! She drinks breast milk three times a day now (morning, afternoon, night), but not as a sleep aid. She still goes to her crib awake and puts herself to sleep. I think that really helped the weaning process.

Today we had play group! I didn't get many pictures because it's almost impossible in a room full of babies to not be holding someone. :)

Playing with Jill and Kellen

Brrr...

It's finally getting (& hopefully staying) cold outside!

Friday Night Festivities

We've had a fun Friday night. Adeline got to wear her new denim jacket she got for her birthday from her Aunt Kiersten & Uncle Emil.

She looks so big

Then, we turned Adeline's car seat around to face forward! She meets both requirements of being 20 pounds and a year old. Everything we read said it's best to leave it rear-facing for as long as you can, but I think it was as long as we could. Her legs are getting so long that she was all cramped.

I think she likes it!

We shopped for Christmas lights then met Shane and Juliet for dinner. Adeline chowed down on some fettuccine alfredo. That girl loves some pasta. She was very happy all throughout dinner, but also very loud. She managed to stick a straw up poor Uncle Shane's nose! He was a very good sport about it, though.

Sweet Girl

Then we came home and got our groove on!

ONE YEAR OLD!

Our baby girl is 1 today! I can't believe how fast the year has FLOWN by.

We had a very fun-filled day, today. I wanted to make her birthday extra special. Jon and I decided to start a tradition where on our kids' birthdays one of us will spend the day with them doing lots of fun stuff just for them. This will be a way to make them feel special and have some Mommy/Daddy time devoted solely to them. Since Adeline's birthday fell on a Monday this year, I was automatically it since I didn't have to take off work. Next year we'll have to fight over who gets to spend her day with her. :)

First, we skipped the morning nap and went to Baby Bookworms at the Fayetteville Library. We met Shannon and Westin there for some fun song and story time.

Posing with my birthday girl

She got to play with some bells

Then, Adeline and I headed to Bentonville to preview a Gymboree class.

She took a little nap on the way

She loved crawling around on all their fun toys!

Jon took a late lunch so he could be home when we got there. Afterwards, we had a few minutes to play before nap time.

She loves all her birthday gifts!

When Daddy got home from work, we went for a walk to a nearby school so we could play on the playground.

Trying to keep the wind out of her ears..it didn't last long

Sliding

What are you doing, Daddy?

Swinging

When we got home, we gave her another present from us..a Rody!

She loves her

We then cooked pasta for dinner, Adeline's favorite meal.

Yummy!

Then we sang to her again and she got to have part of a chocolate cupcake for dessert :)

Now she's in bed a little early. She was worn out from such a busy day. I think she enjoyed every minute. I enjoyed every bit, too, and to make it even better, everything we did was FREE!

What is our girl doing at one year?

• Nursing twice a day (morning & night)
• Eating just about everything under the sun
• Wearing size 4 diapers
• Wearing 12-18 month clothes
• Size 4 shoes
• Taking 2 naps a day, but sometimes skips the morning nap for special occasions
• Sleeps from about 8:30pm-7:00am every night
• Walking more & more - just started this weekend having really good balance & taking about 5 steps in a row before sitting
• Standing up from a sitting position without pulling up on anything
• Holds up 1 finger when you ask, "How old are you?"
• Has 9 words: Momma, Daddy, Bye Bye, Up, Uh Oh, All Done, Hello/Hi, Look, Baby
• Can put in & take out various objects (animals in barn, balls in basket, etc)
• Gets the concept of the shape sorter, but can't quite get them to go in all the way without help
• Gives sugar - big, wet, open-mouthed kisses that I could get all day long!
• Feeds self with spoon very messily
• Loves to throw things, especially balls
• Will NOT wear bows or anything on her head :(
• Assists in dressing by pushing arms through shirt holes

I'm sure there are lots more things, but I'm worn out from our busy day. I can't believe how much has changed in a year. I would have never thought my life would feel so full and complete. The simplest, mundane things are exceptionally enjoyable now because of her in our lives. We love our sweet girl so much and can't wait to watch her grow in the years to come. I just hope they slow down a bit!