17 Months - Cheers! (March 22)

Adelaide turned 17 months March 22. We went on a spring break trip to Tucson, AZ on the 27th, and her language is starting to explode! In addition to old favorites (cat, mama, dada, dog, ball, uh-oh, this, that, and mine), Adelaide started very clearly saying cheers while clinking glasses. She also says balloon, hot, cold, cheese, sit, up, outside (outs), all gone, more, hush, sky, no. We are definitely going to have to be careful what we say, as she's started repeating things! It is nice to know what she's thinking, and nice that she understands us. When we ask her if it's bedtime, the answer is always no!

16 months old!!! Toddler-mania!

When Adelaide was very small, we suspected she had a very big personality. Now that she's a big toddler, her personality just gets bigger and more dramatic. She started full-time in the toddler room, and we went to an evening parent-involvement meeting where we learned the songs they sing in daycare. (It's a very serious daycare). More than 20 parents were seated in a circle, and the kids were in the middle of the circle milling about. Adelaide performed - she sang and danced and made faces at everyone. What a character.

Here's Adelaide making dramatic faces on her great-great grandma's rocker, going down the stairs, and working on her artwork (as well as eating the marker - don't worry, it's non-toxic, designed for toddlers).

Adelaide is in love with her "big girl shoes" - the first pair of real outdoor/indoor shoes we got her. (She's been wearing the soft Robeez up until now). We took her to the real shoe store and had her fit, and she wore the shoes out of the store into the mall. She knew it was a big deal - she grabs them and wants us to put them on over her PJs! Good thing she loves them, they were a little pricey. Hopefully next time I'll plan ahead and make a trip to the Albertville Outlet mall.

We're having fun!

New Year!!!

It has been awhile since I've updated. Adelaide has changed so much! Even in the last week she's become more little girl, less baby. She says: hi, ball, cat (sounds like dat still), This, that (ok, it sounds a lot like how she says cat), uh-oh, oh!, mama, and dada. She shakes her head no. When we ask her to find her belly button, she can, but she also shows us her belly button if we ask her where her nose is. Her report card says she doesn't know her body parts. We're working on it. She still doesn't like to sign, she only does all done and milk (when it's a real emergency).

At one year, she finally started sleeping through the night!!! But then a molar tooth started coming in, so she's waking again. Oh well. She has a really random teething pattern. Now, it is a top molar - which is skipping the canine teeth. Very interesting, painful.

We went to Florida for my sister's wedding. She was a good traveler, but it is exhausting traveling with an infant. We miss the days of snoozing and reading a book. Thankfully, she was really great on the plane and MANY fellow travelers thanked us. Thankfully, several fellow travelers were nice and allowed her to befriend them. She likes making friends with strangers. I wonder where she gets that, ha!

Happy first birthday, Adelaide!

We can't believe Adelaide turned one on Thursday. Here's a picture of Addie with red velvet cupcake on her face as she celebrated her birthday (early) with her grandma, grandpa, aunt, and uncle-to-be in Iowa. She will celebrate again Halloween weekend with her other grandma, her dad and I. (We're celebrating late since her Grandma Susan was on a cruise!) We didn't do anything special on her actual birthday - two pieces of cake is more than enough!

Adelaide took her first steps on October 11, she now toddles around a little, but crawling is still more efficient for her. She goes toddle, toddle, crawl - as you can see in the video. She CAN walk farther than that, but she gets impatient.




Addie and I took a walk yesterday and looked at pumpkins around the neighborhood. She just started pointing with her pointer finger (as opposed to her whole hand, as she had been doing for several weeks). She pointed at the pumpkins at all the houses in our neighborhood.

Standing up!

Adelaide started standing up (for more than a few seconds) on Sunday! We were at my friend's birthday party, and I wanted to show everyone that she could stand for about 10 seconds. She stood much longer than that! She will, however, decide she's done; she lowers herself slowly down.

We're taking bets on how long until she walks, and how many days she walks before she starts running. She's more of a running kind of kid. I might need new running shoes!

Ten months

I am finally updating the blog for 10 months, even though Addie has been ten months for a couple of weeks now. I have been very busy, and life is a blur! Even though it is wonderful to spend the summer with Addie, it is a little nice to be back to work. I'm glad that I have the best of both worlds - summers, and school years.

Adelaide seems to be forming rudimentary language, she's trying to say dog, cat, and dadda. Just a few sounds, but they're getting more consistent. She also thinks a squirrel is a dog. She can now walk very well around furniture, the wall, and with a push-toy. She's a big giggler now, and loves to play with (and eat, ew, if we don't move fast enough) toilet paper and kleenex.

She won't take a bottle at daycare, but loves to eat finger food, and soft adult foods. Her favorite food is risotto - the way we eat it with chicken, garlic, mushrooms, and parmesan cheese. She also love greek-style pasta (a la Northwestern Steak House for the Mason City folks).

What a fun age! Here is a photo from the day before she turned ten months:

Nine months - jumpin' and jivin'!

Here's a video of Adelaide (almost nine months) jiving to some live jazz music at a restaurant in Lutsen, MN, during our recent trip to the North Shore of Lake Superior. The song is one of her favorite jazz tunes, Blue Monk by Thelonious Monk, but my camera has a lousy microphone. She's such a music lover! She still sings when we go for walks and when she's happy - a cute, wordless tune.


We are teaching Adelaide sign language - she can do one sign so far (the sign for "milk", no surprise there). Adelaide can now crawl quite quickly on all fours, make a pleasant little clicking noise and can blow raspberries, pull up and stand with furniture, and walk a along the furniture. She now eats soft finger food (like bread or puffed cereal), which is a good way to keep her happy while we eat :) She loves to laugh - especially at her daddy.




She has her two bottom teeth, and two teeth on top, but those are not the usual front two teeth - they are the next door teeth. In other words, she inherited the "Osborn Fangs". Her front two teeth are coming in now, so hopefully I can get a photo of the fangs, but it isn't as easy as it sounds to get a photo like that.

We are having a blast this summer! It will be hard to put her back in daycare this fall!

Eight Months

Adelaide is eight months old! As hard as it was to go back to work when she was three months old, it is really nice to be home with her at this age. We're having so much fun! Adelaide is scooting on her belly still, she hasn't moved to true crawling. This is mainly because she doesn't seem to care about crawling. The 'worm' gets her where she wants to go, and this way she can concentrate on learning to pull up and climb. To that end, here is a picture of her climbing onto 'the baby shelf.' We think that the coffee table designer must have designed it as such. She pulls off all her books, and then climbs in.



Another favorite activity each day is our music time. Addie is big on singing - she sings on walks, when she plays, looking in the mirror, and in the car along with late 1990's Latin pop. She has her own ipod playlist for the stereo, which includes much world music, Johnny Cash, and blue grass. She also likes to play her piano/xylophone. We thought the xylophone would be too hard, but she can get a pretty good sound out of it, when she's not teething on the mallet.




Here's my bathing beauty! Adelaide now loves swimming, and I finally got a baby pool so she can practice for her swim class. She loves the water, and isn't afraid to put her face in! Unfortunately, putting her face in allows her to drink the water. s At least the water at home has less chlorine than in the pool. She will kick and paddle, and splash.

Adelaide scoots!

Adelaide finally progressed today from scooting an inch or two to actually scooting a few feet! This is great news because she was getting frustrated by her lack of mobility! I have a video of her scooting, sorry about the bad camera work. I couldn't get a photo of her little emerging tooth, she wouldn't open wide for me. When it's bigger, it will be more obvious, and easier to capture.




Here is Adelaide meeting her Great Grandma Osborn in Omaha!

Seven Months!

Here's Adelaide in daddy's Rock Band box (his birthday present).

Adelaide turns seven months tomorrow! I can't believe it. In the past couple of days, she's started the real babbling - with consonants and vowels. It sounds like "ba, da, and ga." She started creeping. She's up to about 2 inches now, but she really wants to go. This weekend we are taking our first plane ride to Omaha to see family. A nice, short plane ride (and Grandma Susan for an extra set of hands/extra lap). She likes the Ergo carrier now, so we don't have to bring the stroller, which should help. She is so happy to play and go places now.

Meeting Great-Grandparents!

Adelaide's baptism was last weekend over Mother's day! Four generations of Gienapp women. It was her first time meeting her great-grandparents! She was very good during church - she especially loved the music. My first mother's day, and Addie sent me flowers! She also made me a handprint with a picture and a frame. She now sits up for hours playing (as long as people play with her). She seems very close to creeping - we really need to baby-proof!

Six months and Sitting up!

Adelaide has been showing interest in sitting, sitting with support for awhile. Over Easter weekend, she was up to sitting for about six seconds before she fell over. At the same time, she didn't get a lot of chances to practice, because she was held the entire time! She went from arms to arms to arms.

Then, after work on Monday, April 13, she started sitting - really sitting - for several minutes! I knew she must have been practicing at daycare. Sure enough, they spent a long time on Monday practicing sitting with her, and now she can do it!

She is now sticking her tongue out at people (in a nice and funny way), and it's really cute. I'm trying to capture a picture. Please note: In real life she's really smiley! She makes cute faces all the time, but she is really curious about the camera, and so we have difficulties getting the really smiley faces.

I can't believe she's six months old tomorrow! She's about 17 pounds (we'll go to the doctor soon). She's growing out of her 3-6 month sleepers. She now loves peek-a-boo and "So big!" What a big girl!

Roly Poly Adelaide

Adelaide now is rolling over back to front and front to back. Around March 27, she was sleeping on her side, and in the morning rolled onto her belly and cried. She had forgotten how to roll back! Over the weekend and during our spring break she started rolling from back to front a lot! She remembered how to roll back (usually) and is now a roly poly Adelaide. This was really fun, because Addie and I went to Iowa March 30 - April 1 to see her grandparents just back from Florida. Her grandpa hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving! She now REALLY wants to crawl and get into stuff. You can just see her plotting. She's close to sitting up, and she started with her baby cereal. (Early according to some books, and late according to others - we split the difference). She loves sitting up (with help)!

I finally printed off photos (the first time to have hard copies ever). Over 200 pictures! Most of them had been uploaded to Picasa Web Albums, but not all. While her grandparents held her, I caught up and ordered photos! I'm putting them in albums little by little.

She loves walking outside. That's good, because so do we. She fell asleep bundled up in her stroller Thursday, even though it was only 40 degrees out. She's wearing the snowsuit her grandma Susan made. I think this summer, stroller naps may be the only way I get her to nap.

Five months!

Adelaide was five months old yesterday. She celebrated by going over to her grandma's condo for a visit. (Actually, we celebrated by having a grown-up date.) Unfortunately, she cried a lot. She may have been tired (notice a pattern in the posts about resisting naps?) or it may have been that she isn't used to the condo. She hadn't been there since Christmas, and she just kept looking around as if to say, "This isn't my home!" She's planning on visiting grandma's place more (instead of just the other way around).

Saturday, Addie and her friend Sydney had a playdate(along with my friend Kristin and I). We went for a long walk to and around Lake Como. That was three miles (with a quick snack break for all at the coffee shop on the lake). It was the first time Addie has made that trip on the OUTSIDE. I told her how she had made that same trip almost every day her whole life on the INSIDE. It was so warm and nice!!!! Addie also enjoys walks at her daycare. They put 6-8? babies on a special wagon equipped with baby seats. That is pretty precious. Daycare is going better - I mean, I'm getting more used to it anyway. We're tempted to buy the cool swing they have there, it is magic for her sleeping, but she'll grow out of it so soon.

She learned a new screeching sound - it's hard to explain. We think it means, "Look at me! Pay attention to moi!" because she screeches when she's happy and really mad. It is still kind of cute for now, but it could get old. She doens't roll over stomach to back very often - she rolls over back to side, and is really working on rolling back to stomach. She loves standing in her exer-saucer.

Four month rolling over!

Our little Adelaide started rolling over on Sunday! (Stomach to back). We are so excited! She is becoming such the little character: laughing at daddy, sucking (and gnawing) on her hands, and repeatedly slamming her legs down in the crib. We aren't sure why she slams her legs down in the crib, but by doing so, she can inch her way around and lay perpendicular to the way we left her. She will FINALLY spend longer amounts of time in her various baby carriers, so I can get a few things done. She especially likes facing outward so she can look at the world.

We are also exhausted, as Addie started waking frequently (every hour or so) ever since she started daycare. We are trying to get her back to four-hour periods of sleep. Of course daycare is very germy, so she just got over a bout with RSV, a potentially serious respiratory infection. Luckily, she got through her sickness without any problems. We were worried, though! Also, RSV in an adult is just a cold, so Matt and I only had to battle a run-of-the-mill cold. Today, we have her four month check-up (including, I'm sure, some vaccinations). Wish us luck!

Enjoy the following video of her rolling over (and me trying to encourage her). Notice she finally rolls over for her "people" all of you far away!

Daycare Day One

I dropped little Adelaide off at daycare this morning. She was kicking and smiling. She played with a toy, looked at the other babies, and looked at me as if to say, "It's ok mom! I'll be fine!" But it doesn't feel fine for the mom. It is so strange to be a mother, so far I just feel guilty any moment I'm not with her. Several co-workers and Facebook friends had words of encouragement that really got me through the day. One even checked on her when she dropped her own sons off at daycare (we go to the same one). I received a gift today from one co-worker - the cute lion hat that she made, thanks, Andrea! Look at how tired she is - daycare tired Addie out. She hasn't slept so much in ages! :)

3 months old!

I'm went back to work Monday, January 12. I had gotten an extension of a week for January 5-12 (she was born a week late). I took that extra week "practice leaving" (running errands and pumping) so that it wasn't such a shock to me (or to her, or to her Grandmas) on my first day back at school. "Practice leaving" did help my first week back. I miss her so much when I'm at work! At the same time, it is nice to see my students and colleagues. February 2nd will be the next major transition as she starts actual daycare, and not the one-on-one with Grandmas she has during January. She DID finally start taking bottles - voraciously so! She has finally napped some, without me nursing. It did involve a lot of rocking - but at least she slept!

Adelaide is growing out of the 0-3 month footed sleepers since she's so tall, but can still wear some 0-3 month clothes. She is starting to fill out more. She's really finding her hands, and starting to comfort suck on her hands. We're hoping this continues, as it may help her sleep. She likes to talk to stuffed animals - she likes a monkey that hangs on a monkey-themed baby gym. She loves it when her grandmas sing to her! It is so much more fun now that she can play, smile, and react!

Week 10

(December 30, 2008) Christmas and New Year's with a baby is fun, but very quiet and subdued. We went to the Christmas Eve children's service with Grandma Susan at our church. She was very good, and even fell asleep during the candlelight Silent Night! It helps that it is a very liberal church, and that you can nurse during the service. (And thank goodness for those nice, modest nursing tops!) She got tons of presents, but she didn't know it. Christmas day our friends Tara and Ross came over and Susan cooked a feast! New Year's Eve the four of us (Matt, Grandma Susan, Addie and I)ate Thai take out, put Addie to bed, and watched the ball drop on TV.

Addie naps now, maybe just because she's older - but only when I'm home to nurse her first. Hopefully she'll learn to nap when I'm at work!

Adelaide was 11 pounds 6 ounces at her doctor's visit on 12/26/08. She was also 24 1/2 inches, but we're pretty sure that they measured some of her hair as well. (The nurse didn't check very carefully).

Weeks 6 and 7

They say a dairy intolerance can cause sleeplessness, so I am trying to eliminate (or at least cut back on that). It must be working (or she's just getting older) because she is napping a bit better. She smiles a lot more, which makes it all more fun. She really likes her books (we have bedtime ones, and daytime ones). She is fitting into her little outfits now (at first, she could only wear the tiny sleepers). Isn't she a great early Christmas present to put under the tree?

Weeks 4 and 5

Here is a picture of Addie smiling on the changing table at four weeks, and with her second cousins Sam and Claire at five weeks, The thrush is gone, but Addie still doesn't nap much. She sleeps about four to six hours fewer than she is supposed to, most days. We may just be the lucky parents of a kid who hates naps! Luckily, she sleeps (usually) pretty well at night - two shifts of 4 hours each. This means fewer updates here! She smiles more and is starting to 'talk.' She did really well on our road trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving, we had such fun!! Pity I can't drive to Iowa every day.