Saturday, July 30, 2011

Adeline's Personality

It seems like it's been a while since I've posted on things Adeline is doing now.  She is now almost 21 months old!  I catch myself telling people "She'll be 2 in November" when they ask how old she is.  TWO?!?  That can't be right!  She is developing quite the little personality and vocabulary.  Most of it is really cute, some of it is not.  I thought I'd share it all....

I think she's inherited the "Whittington Temper."  I'm hoping it's just a two-year-old thing, though, and not something that will plague her forever like it does me.  :)  She gets so mad if a toy or something doesn't cooperate with her.  The other day she tried to tear up a book because she couldn't get it out of a box.  Then she cried & screamed & kicked and had just the worst tantrum I've seen when I wouldn't give it to her.  It was so alarming that it almost made me cry.

I didn't get a picture of the fit, but here's another toy that really makes her mad sometimes.  If these "necklaces" get caught on her bow and she can't get them on or off her head, a tantrum ensues.  I had to put them away for a little while because I just couldn't take it anymore.

She's also very vain, but I know that's age-appropriate.  She likes to "hide" in this cabinet.   I was trying to help her hide better by getting her feet inside, but she got mad at me.  As soon as I got out the camera to get a picture, she posed & smiled.

She's really gotten into pretend play.  She likes to cook for all her stuffed animals and give them food.  Her favorite thing to do is push Ace around the house in either this stroller or a little wagon she has.  She moves him back and forth between the two and will push him around the house for 20 minutes at a time. She also usually always has her purse on her shoulder.

She is painfully shy.  Especially around other children.  She can be happy as a lark just walking along beside Jon or me, but if we walk into a room or building with other kids, she immediately buries her face in our legs and tries to climb up us while crying & screaming, "up, up, up."  My goal was to work on this this summer.  Our sweet summer nanny, Kalee, has taken her to the library for story time almost weekly.  Just last week she finally got enough confidence to go up to the reader & get her scarf for a song all by herself!  What an accomplishment!  At gymnastics this past week she also went and sat on the mat approximately 10 feet away from me with all the other kids while the teacher called roll.  It made me so happy.  We are making progress!

She loves to sing and make the hand motions to songs.  If I ever start singing them, I have to sing every one I know before we can stop.  This is "itsy bitsy spider" where the "sun dries up all the rain."

She absolutely LOVES Tulip!  She gets so excited to see her every morning.  When we get home from being out somewhere and Tulip greets us at the door, Adeline squeals with excitement.  They then spend the next 10 minutes chasing each other around the house with Adeline belly-laughing.  Adeline wants to "walk" Tulip around the block every night and will get so upset if we take the leash from her.  She would also prefer to feed Tulip every bite of food from her dog bowl, but we try not to let her do that.  We want Tulip to have some alone-time..haha.  The funny thing is that Adeline doesn't call her "dog" or even try to say "Tulip."  When she's referring to our big dogs outside, they're just "dogs," but when she's talking about Tulip she makes a kissy noise.  It's the cutest thing.
This face cracks me up!

Adeline has also learned to "read" one of her books.  It's a book on baby sign language.  She sits down with it and "reads" every page by herself.  
 She's panting like a dog (that's the sign for dog).
She's signing "it hurts."

She loves the water.  Whether it's in a pool, the dog's water bowl, the sprinkler, or the bathtub, she's going to do her best to be in it splashing around.  Miss Kalee took her to the Springdale Aquatic Center a couple times this summer.  I'm so thankful because it's just too hot for me!

She got her face painted for the first time this week.  The library was having an end of summer carnival.  I hated to miss her first face painting, but Kalee was sweet enough to send me a picture.  She had this heart on one side, and a yellow blob on the other.  I'm assuming she wouldn't sit very still.  

She has one friend she is never afraid of, no matter how long it's been since we've seen him.  She loves her Westin.  We were over there yesterday and Shannon was trying to put him down for a nap, and Adeline had a meltdown because she didn't want Westin to go night-night.

She is talking all the time.  Last night she put a whole sentence together, it might even be considered two sentences.  She said, "Shoes on, go bye bye."  It was so sweet and I was so glad that Jon and I were both there to hear it.  

We try not to watch a lot of TV around here, but we use it when just one of us is home and we have to take a shower or something, and we watch it in the car on long trips.  We have two Sesame Street videos that she loves.  She's now started recognized Elmo and shouts, "Melmo!" every time she sees him.  What have we created?  haha

We recently got switched cable providers and now have more channels.  We've started turning on Sprout, Disney, & Nick Jr for her occasionally.  If she doesn't like what's on, she repeats "uh oh, uh oh" louder & louder until we change the channel.

This morning Jon was outside mowing.  We've been keeping all our blinds & curtains shut because of the heat.  The only one we open is the blind on the back door.  She was watching Jon mow and as he moved to another part of the yard where she couldn't see him, she kept saying, "Where'd he go?"

She helped me bake some cupcakes this afternoon.  I handed her the little cupcake papers and she placed them in the holes on the pan one by one.  It almost made me cry!

She is growing up so fast, but she is still our little girl.  










Sunday, July 24, 2011

Nesting Overflow

My nesting hasn't only affected the nursery.  I've let it spill over into every room of my house.

First of all, I decided that we needed my piano here in our house for our girls.  My mom brought it here while I was out of town for continuing education.  My loving husband and his fantastic brother, moved it into our house and rearranged the living room furniture so it would fit.
 The piano still needs some stuff on it or above it, or both, but I've got a couple ideas in the works.  :)

Next, I decided to organize all my crafting supplies.  I moved this from our guest room because it was never used and put it in my closet.
Every drawer has a different crafting purpose.  :)

Then I asked my sweet husband to hang this magnetic board that, two years ago I tried to get him to throw away, in my closet for me to post my crafting ideas, etc.

I had also begged my mom to bring me my grandmother's antique lawyer's bookcase when she brought the dresser & the piano.  It's now in my guest room showcasing another grandmother's beautiful quilts.  On top sits my favorite picture that I have of my grandmother and me.  Looking at this piece of furniture just makes me smile.  It is filled with love.

Then I went to IKEA this weekend with only a few things in mind, but ended up getting enough stuff to redo our bedroom!
Before


I've never really been all that happy with the bedroom because nothing in there really went well together.  I liked it all, I just didn't like it all together.  So I found something better...
After

This new rug was my inspiration.  I found it for $20 and decided I needed it in my bedroom.  Well, that meant new bedding AND new curtains.  It's a dark gray quilt with a sheer white throw at the foot of the bed.  The curtains are the same dark gray as the quilt.  IKEA doesn't have king-sized shams, so those are ordered, but this will do until then.  The family tree is something my parents gave us for Christmas, but we just got around to hanging today.  It still doesn't have our pictures in it, but it will soon!  I'm really happy with it all.

This is actually the main thing I was hoping to find at IKEA...

It's a little table for our bedroom for me to craft & sew on!  I'm really excited about it.  Before now I've always crafted at the kitchen table.  This isn't ideal because we use our table daily and I'm such a neat freak.  I would have to clean up everything I was working on every time I had to stop crafting.  Now I have a space just for my crafts!

And because I don't want it to sit in a closet somewhere, I'm trying to decide what to do with my old bedroom rug.  I'm trying it out here for a little bit to see if I like it.  I can't decide if it's too big for the space or not.  It will not fit going the other way.
What do you think?

Some more IKEA purchases:
  • Curtains for the guest room, but I bought the wrong sized rod.  It will be another week or so before those are hung.
  • Picture frames for something special I still have to order for the girls' room.
  • Plastic-ware and dishes for Adeline & gifts for other kiddos.
We also plan to hang two of the bedroom curtains in the dining room, but they need about 10 inches hemmed off the bottom first.  Hopefully we'll get that done before Annabel arrives.

I put on facebook a couple weeks ago that when a bout of nesting hits me, it's what I imagine it would be like to do speed.  My mind goes crazy in every direction (usually at 3am) with things that just MUST be done NOW.  The problem with that is, I'm pregnant and can't physically do all these things, so I must give credit where credit is due.  First of all, I thank my parents for making it all happen, what with all the furniture-hauling, etc.  Secondly, I thank my dear Jon.  He bears the brunt of all the heaving lifting, assembling, and hanging, and he never complains.  I may hear a few sighs here and there, but I know I've got it made when it comes to husbands.  The bad thing about it all is that he's a man so he has no clue what I'm going through with all this crazy nesting.  He has none of the desires I have to get everything just absolutely perfect, because in reality, most of it doesn't even need to be done.  But he goes along with it and goes out of his way to make me happy.  For that I am eternally thankful!



Monday, July 18, 2011

30 Weeks & a Bunco Baby Shower

I'm 30 weeks pregnant today!  I remember when I hit this point with Adeline I was so excited because it seemed like I was almost there.  I'm just as excited this time around!


Size of baby: Annabel is the size of a head of cabbage (16 in long & a little over 3 lbs)
Total Weight Gain/Loss: 17lbs
Maternity Clothes:  Not only am I in maternity clothes, I'm in the BIG maternity clothes.  The shirts that just hang on you because the fitted maternity shirts that were so cute when you were barely starting to show are extremely uncomfortable now.  :)
Gender:   Sweet baby girl
Movement: She is moving a lot.  I feel her all over.  Saturday night she kicked me right in the sternum.
Sleep: I'm not sleeping well.  My nose gets all stopped up when I lie down and my hips hurt and I have to go to the bathroom every hour or so.
What I miss: Being cold.  I never feel cold anymore.  The first summer we lived in NWA I was so excited because we had ONE week in August that the temps got close to 100.  Now, of course, the summer I'm pregnant, we're having a record-breaking heat wave.  My doctor wrote me a note that says I can't participate in Water Week at work anymore because she doesn't want me outside for anything.
Cravings: For this first time this pregnancy, I'm craving the same thing at this point that I was with Adeline....CHOCOLATE!  I want chocolate desserts or candy all the time.
Symptoms: All the wonderful things I'm experiencing right now are not really fit for the internet.  I can't complain though, because this pregnancy has been just as easy as the first so far and I'm just happy to be growing my little girl.
Best Moment this week: I can now say the countdown is in the single digits!  We'll be scheduling our c-section on or slightly before 39 weeks so Annabel will be here before we know it!


I also had my monthly bunco group tonight, but instead of playing bunco, we had a spa party & a baby shower for Annabel and another sweet baby girl due to arrive next month.
 The hostess had these cute & delicious petit fours made with both our girls' monograms on them.  I didn't get a picture of Sarah Reese's, though.
This is me with all the sweet gifts.

It was so nice to have a girl's night and get pampered and showered with gifts!  Annabel is such a blessed little girl.

Random Pictures

I have a few pictures I haven't posted so I wanted to go ahead and do that before I got behind.
 This one is from last Monday.  We got some stickers in the mail and Adeline decided Ace needed them.
 This is from last Tuesday evening.  I asked Jon to send me a picture and he sends this with something along the lines of, "Do we always look this tired?"
 Kalee sent me this on Wednesday before they went to the library.
 This is from Wednesday evening after Adeline finished a bowl of watermelon.  It was so delicious, she just had to drink the juice!

 These are from Friday morning.  I wanted some pictures of the cute outfit my MIL made.
 I had to run some errands in Fayetteville on Friday, so I thought I'd let Adeline get some enjoyment out of it too.  We stopped by the library, worked a few puzzles, and read a few books.  Nice, free, air-conditioned fun!
This is from Sunday morning before church.  My little blue-eyed beauty!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Party Animals

I bet these two never thought they'd spend a Saturday night doing this...

Nevertheless, Adeline sure enjoyed having the undivided attention of her Daddy and Uncle Jarrod.  :)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

My Girly Girl

Adeline is such a girl and I really don't feel like I've done much to make her be this way.  I do, however, think it's adorable!

Every morning, as soon as I change her diaper, we go to my bathroom where her orange juice is waiting and I fix her hair.  I do it first thing so that she doesn't get breakfast all in it.  Plus, she hates for it to be in her face and constantly pushes it back if it isn't fixed.  So I sit her on the countertop while I fix her hair and she's started really enjoying this.  When I'm done, she always turns around, looks at herself in the mirror and says, "Oooh, hair."  It's probably because I always tell her how pretty she is afterwards, but it's just so cute to me when she does this.

Also, she gets so excited when I tell her I want to take a picture of her.  She runs to her designated picture-taking spot and poses.  This is such a relief from the days of when taking pictures were a fight.

I always wear the same stud earrings, but I've noticed lately that one of the diamonds is a bit loose.  So today I decided I better take them out until I get it fixed.  I put some other studs in today before work.  I had my hair down when I left for work.  When she got up from her nap I went and got her and brought her into the kitchen.  Almost immediately she pointed to my "new" earrings and said, "ear."  I seriously doubt a little boy would notice that.  :)

After she had her snack today, I put her regular clothes back on and pulled her hair back in a little ponytail.  When I put her back down on the floor in her room, she ran over to where her bows were hanging & said, "hair, bow."  We weren't going anywhere, but I couldn't say no to a request to accessorize.  

It just amazes me how such a small child can so quickly develop such a little personality and preferences.  She never ceases to entertain me.  I wonder if Annabel will be our little tomboy or if she'll be just as girly as her big sister.....

Monday, July 11, 2011

Annabel's First Shower

I wasn't really expecting to have a hometown shower this time around because those are usually always a really big deal, but a few weeks ago my grandma surprised me by planning a small little shower for just family and close friends.  It turned out perfectly!









Having a shower for a second baby is so much fun because you get lots of fun things since you already have all the essentials.





And Adeline got just about as many gifts as Annabel..spoiled little girl!


We had such a great turn-out of family and friends who traveled from all over.


Reading with Nana.  For some reason she thought she had to have these sunglasses on.  :)

 My two grandmothers
 My two moms
 My hometown BFFs..thank you all so much for traveling to see us!
 Amber & me with our precious girls
My sweet cousins

The rest of the weekend was spent enjoying family.  We left before church on Sunday so we could get back in time to unpack and get some grocery shopping done.  However, Adeline did get a bit of snuggling time in with her Big T before we left.

I somehow managed to not get any other pictures from the whole weekend.  :(

After we got unpacked, I went to the grocery store and I got this text from Jon:
Our fun-filled weekend just wore her out!

We had such a great time back in our hometown this weekend.  We feel so blessed to have so many family and friends who love us so much.  Thank you!