9 Months

What?! Sweet Adelaide is 9 months old and she has changed SO much over the past month! We are incredibly blessed to have this little girl in our family. She is pure joy.

We go to the doctor in a few days so we don't have official stats yet, but we are not concerned about weight - this girl can eat! She has never turned down food and her mealtime now consists of some pureed food with finger foods (she's had sweet potato chunks, watermelon, blueberries, peas, avocado chunks, noodles, cheerios, strawberries, corn, black beans, and raspberries) and she is doing SO well picking up the food and getting it to her mouth. Though she'll eat anything, it can be challenging to give her the pureed portion of the meal because she loves to practice her ninja moves and swat the spoon away. You'd think we'd anticipate it by now, but she's so quick! We're hoping this "game" will be a quick phase.

Addy's gross motor skills are changing significantly as well. She claps and waves (though still somewhat inconsistently), loves to splash in the bathtub, and is incredibly close to crawling, but so far just scoots, climbs, and reaches. Her biggest accomplishment in this area was pulling herself up onto the coffee table. She has done it a few times - once even without us looking (oops!) - and is thrilled every time she finds herself standing.

So close!

Trying to move is exhausting!

Her newfound mobility has shown us her mischievous curious side. Ads finds everything that she should not have, tastes anything she can get her hands on, and definitely keeps us on our toes.

She found this little duck in the bath toys...

And put the entire body in her mouth! (It is now hidden until she gets a little bigger)

Ooh, what's this?

She tries to put her fingers in outlets, rifles through the recycling, and chews on the chalk from Dax's chalkboard tray if she can get to it.

That tower was looking so tempting.

But can she reach it?

She can!

And she's thrilled about it.

Our favorite development is in her language. Though she isn't really saying words (aside from Dada, which she has been doing for awhile and the occasional Mama or hi), she loves to imitate our tone and, especially, laughter. If anyone laughs, Adelaide starts to giggle, which makes us laugh harder and then she giggles again. It is so funny! The video shows her alone in her crib "talking" to an animal and giggling.

Some of her favorite things include animals (she is enthralled by anything that moves, especially dogs lately), food, and, being outside.

The past 9 months have been our best yet. Thank you, Adelaide, for bringing so much excitement and happiness to our family!

Watch me grow! (Her photo session was challenging this month so I had to include a few of the "outtakes"! And keep your eyes peeled for the toes of our little helper.)

(9 months, 8 months, 7 months, 6 months, 5 months, 4 months, 3 months, 2 months, 1 month, and 1 week old)

Summer

Though our schedule didn't change drastically since I was already home, the end of the school year made it feel that much more like summer. Plus, there are so many more events to attend and friends to play with now that school is out! Check out some of the fun we have been having...

Playdates with friends! (I forgot to take pictures when we fed the ducks and lunched with Olivia and Evie and when we did library storytime with Orion and Camille, but we also went to the zoo with Cory!)

Gardening!

Helping rearrange the rocks to fill in sparse spots

Checking on the strawberries at Grandpa Phil and Grandma Caren's

Ready to taste his harvest!

Happy to help water some plants

And refill the bird bath

Playing outside...

and playing inside!

Using his chalkboard like an easel

Goofball

"Mommy, I want you to wear a dress today and a necklace [and then picked out the one he made for Mother's Day!] so you look like a princess. And I'll be a knight!"

Her very own ball pit

And receiving some special mail!

Thanks, Denise (daycare provider) for sending a postcard from your Europe vacation! It was so fun to find in the mailbox!!

Summer is just beginning and we are having so much fun!

Love

There's a lot of love in our family and none is as obvious as Dax and Addy's adoration for each other. The other day Dax randomly said, "Guess who my favorite person is - Addy!" They are so so sweet together and I hope that their relationship continues to be great as they grow up together.

Playing together while I made dinner

Waiting for her brother to wake up from his nap

My heart is full.

Superstar!

Awhile back I posted about Dax starting to play soccer. The Pandas, his team, were a sweet bunch with spurts of energy, distractable personalities, a few who dropped out as the season progressed, and a core of 3 kiddos who had fun together, while losing most of their games pretty significantly. The last few weeks Dax started to show a little more fire and scored a goal each game. We were so proud of him!

I got to coach his team one week while Coach Laura ran a half marathon

Trying to motivate three-year-olds is not an easy task!

He works hard at defense...

and offense!

Go Dax!

Heading toward the goal...

And dribbling past the other team...

Oops! Went out of bounds for a second so he just moved the ball back in play, ha! That run did end in a goal, but we didn't get a photo.

Dax with his medal

This week was his last game until the summer session starts. It was a little rainy, but that didn't seem to bother Dax. He stole the ball from the other team multiple times and scored 8 (yes, 8!) goals! We were shocked, impressed, and so proud of our amazing boy. Who knows if soccer will continue to be his thing, but as long as he's enjoying it, we are excited to watch him play!

Auntie Shannon came to this week's game - good luck charm?

Proud of his 8 goals!