2 Months

Baby Girl is 2 months! Phew, what a whirlwind.

• Sleeps incredibly well. At 6 weeks I was given the go ahead for letting her sleep for however long she wanted to at night. She consistently sleeps from about 9ish pm to 7ish am. It’s kind of a dream, and I know it won’t last, but I’ll take it!

• Truly hates the car. Instant way to make her cry.
• Started smiling at me very early on. At her 2 month check up, the doctor asked if she had started laughing yet. I hadn’t been paying attention to that, so now the whole family has been working extra hard to try to get her to laugh. And we recently discovered she has a cute little dimple in her left check!

• She started sleeping in her own room at about 7ish weeks. In our new house, the master is on the main floor and Emmy’s room is right above us. Since she sleeps through the night, I haven’t had to do the trooping upstairs in the middle of the night, though I’m sure that will come soon.

• She has really started fighting naps. She will do one solid nap a day where she will go 3 hours between eating and sleep the whole time, but that’s basically it. Hoping it is just a growth spurt.
• Emmy will not snuggle in the moby baby carrier. She will fight it and likes to rear her head back so she can continue to look around.

• Is very strong with her tummy time! She can hold her head up really well! And she has rolled over many times, though some of it may be because she gets tired so her heavy head pulls her down so she rolls over.

• When she cries, she squeaks. It actually has scared some people thinking that she was aspirating. She has done it from the very beginning, though.
• For Halloween Emmy wore a pumpkin costume. It is a 9 month outfit, and I remembered last minute that she could wear it, so we rolled the sleeves and legs, but it was still massive.

• Miss Emmy can belch like no other. She has huge burps, and the other kids crack up when she does it.

• All the kids fight over who gets to hold her and love her so much! We agree.

• And a random bit about Reed because it is really funny and needs to be remembered. The boys are doing virtual school right now because of the pandemic. For the most part, they don’t complain too much. They are able to finish it fairly quickly. Reed really hates doing his english class, though. It is a struggle to get him to sit down and do it. One day he declared, “ELA is my arch nemesis!” We really got a kick out of his word choice in describing his feelings towards his least favorite class.

10 Months

^Those eyes

^That stare

^That slight smile

She is so fun. And now commences the blurry pictures. I am still including them because I want to remember everything from this fun stage.

^Her little determined smirk trying to get to the window before I catch her.

^That little tongue.

She is so fun. I know I’ve probably said it a million times, but she is so fun. So so so fun.

Things that have happened this month:

• Has said, “Daa (dad), baaa (not confirmed, but i think this is ball), ow, and Aflac. Seriously. She said Aflac. So here is the story- My parents gave the boys two Aflac ducks that say “Aflac, Aflac, AAAAFLLLLACC!” The boys think they’re hilarious and play with them often. The other day I was watching a show, and an Aflac commercial came on. Kenny thought that was funny because he didn’t realize that Aflac was a company. Adelaide heard us talking about the Aflac commercial, turned around, crawled across the room, grabbed the duck, and said “AHHHLAA”. Kenny and I just looked at each other and started busting up. She said it so clearly we both knew what she was trying to say. It was hilarious.
• Has a hard time at night now. Sigh. I knew she wouldn’t be a good sleeper forever.
• Now that it has cooled off a bit, we’ve enjoyed playing outside more. Reed thinks it is such a treat to be able to play in the front yard. (Because we allow the boys to play in the backyard by themselves, but not the front.) Adelaide enjoys being outside. She is so funny, though. I think she touched the grass one time months ago, realized it was not soft, and so has never tried to crawl off the blanket. She just crawls around on the blanket and plays by herself while I sit next to her and crochet. It is so nice.

• She learned how to climb onto the hearth as well as stairs. She can climb to the very top of the stairs now… so it has become a bit more interesting in our house.

• It isn’t uncommon for me to see her right by me playing with my yarn and/or trying to steal my hook.
• She still doesn’t have any teeth… She has been acting more fussy than usual though. I am suspicious that she is going to get one soon.

Love you, baby girl!

8 Months

Little miss is 8 months! (And I am actually writing and publishing this on time!)

What she has been up to lately:

• Gets up twice a night. I have been trying to convince her these late night parties are no good, but she has different ideas.
• Can sit stably without me being worried she will fall over. She is still trying to master getting from the sitting position to the rolling position. She is still using rolling as her means of transportation. (Though, she did scoot backwards for the first time yesterday.)
• I think she may have tried to wave for the first time at my sister. She did it twice.
• Sometimes it sounds like she is saying a word or two. Yesterday it sounded like she was saying “Heeeeeeey” when Kenny said it to her. It also sounds like she says “Mamama” sometimes. I do not think it is intentional.
• She has started working on standing. She can do it while holding our hands for a few seconds, but then her legs give out. We have been trying to do this everyday or so to help her legs get stronger.
• I bought her the cutest little Nike tennis shoes from a second hand store. They look brand new and were only $4.50. It was hard to resist.
• Was a champ on our beach vacation we went on a couple of weeks ago. It was the longest car ride she had ever been on (a little more than 3 hours), and she did great. She tried eating the sand a few times, but quickly realized how gross that was, and so didn’t try again. She enjoys splashing and playing in water, though. She also spent the majority of the time at the beach being content just sitting on my hip or sleeping on me. (Seriously, angel baby)
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• We realized how wiggly both of the boys were at this age. They were never content just sitting on our hips. They would always need to be shifted around, turned back, turned front, entertained, etc. or they would start fussing. They always wanted to get down and moving. Addie is fine with being held and just observing. Something cute she does is hard lean around you so she can get a better look at something. It is so cute.
• She is such a good baby. Very chill and go with the flow. She has such a calm, relaxed spirit. We feel so truly blessed that she is a part of our family. She is adored by all (and sometimes a little too much so).

We love you Ade-lady! (Kenny told me the other day, “Do you know that her name isn’t really Ade-lady?”)

And of course Reed magically heard me taking the monthly pictures and came running so he could make his cameo appearance. I am pretty sure that he is in every month’s pictures at some point.

Love this picture of the three of them.

5 Months

Addie girl, Addie girl. You are so fun.

What is new with her:

• Has mastered grabbing things. She is constantly reaching and playing with whatever she can, and she has started crying if she loses a toy or if it becomes out of her reach.
• She is able to roll from back to front (and now front to back). She did it twice for the first time in one day two ish weeks ago. It was so exciting. She used to hate tummy time, and it was a real chore to get her to do that everyday. She know enjoys it! She can be up and have both hands readily available to reach and play with whatever toy is in front of her.

• Because she has become so active with rolling, we have had to stop swaddling her. (Sad sad sad) She has always loved to be swaddled. Last night was the first time that I stopped swaddling her, and she woke up twice that night. (Which I know is still pretty good for a 5 month old. No complaints here . . . but I do think it is because she wasn’t being swaddled.)
• Speaking of sleep, she now gets up regularly once a night. It is usually around two or so, and after she is done eating, I just plop her back in bed, so it isn’t bad at all.
• And about plopping her in bed- I sleep trained her this month. (Best. Decision. Ever.) She typically only cries for 30 seconds or so and then goes to sleep. She was the easiest to sleep train out of all the kids.
• We are starting to get on a somewhat very loose routine. (Poor third kid.) Wake at 7 am or so, eat, play, go to sleep around 8:30. Wake, eat, play, go to sleep at 11:30 ish. Wake, eat, play, go to sleep at 3:30 or 4 ish and then bedtime starts at 7 or so . . . but she usually isn’t in bed for good until 9. As you can see, not a strict routine. It works for us, though. And now that I have written this out and think I have a handle on it, some curve ball will happen and change it all up again. (Isn’t that how it always works?)
• She now laughs and giggles. The other night, the boys were brushing their teeth, and she was giggling and giggling and giggling. It was so cute. Ken got it on video… I will try to post that.
• Kenny tries so hard to get her to laugh and giggle. It is really cute.
• Reed is becoming a bit more gentle with her. She has actually smiled at him a few times, and it seems like she has enjoyed recently when he plays *gently* with her.

We love you, beautiful baby!

Graduation

 

 

So when Kenny was 4 months old, I made this graduation cap and gown for him so that he could wear it when Ken and I graduated college.

I then decided that I wanted all of our kids to wear it as babies, and then when they graduate high school, I will display these baby photos of them next to a picture of the 18-year-old them. Good idea, huh?

So here are Addie’s pics. These have been in my drafts folder for… a long time. And I apologize for the poor picture quality. I don’t know why I didn’t grab my nice camera for them. I just used my phone camera, and you can tell. Not the best quality, and I doubt that she will fit in the outfit anymore for me to try to retake these with my nice camera.

Maybe someday I will get all three’s baby grad photos together and do a side-by-side comparison, but today is not that day. Today I am too tired and lazy to do that. (Keepin’ it real.)

 

And Reed decides he wants to help…

 

 

And Addie does not like it.

And the photo session is over. :)

So there you have it. My feeble attempt of trying to continue traditions with the babes even when they are the third child. (So sorry, future Addie.)

4 Months

Managed to scratch her check right before I was going to take pictures.

Such a happy, good little girl!

Has found her hands!

Loves to kick and play with her feet. If she is focusing hard on grabbing something, she will kick kick kick her feet in excitement.

Getting close to rolling over, but still hasn’t yet.

Is more curious and focuses really hard to grab and study things.

Look at that droll!

Uh… so whoops this has been sitting in my drafts for a month. She is a week shy of five months, but better late than never, right? I am not going to add anything to it because to be honest I can’t remember when she started doing things at 4 months or what should be saved for the 5 months post.

I promise to write a good 5 months post, though! This is my public declaration. (And sorry future Addie.)

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Baby baby baby. Guess she hasn’t gotten the memo that she has to stay being my baby forever!

It truly is unfair how quickly it goes. Having a newborn was so fun this time around. With Kenny, I was so stressed being a first time mom that I didn’t really enjoy it. With Reed, he had silent reflux, so he would just scream when it was time to nurse, and that took some time to get all straightened out, so I didn’t really get to enjoy a newborn with him either. I totally understand now why people say they miss having a little newborn. She is so easy going. (Thank heavens because of the not-so-easy-going siblings.)

Blessing Day

What a beautiful little day for Adelaide to be blessed!

My parents and Tracey and her family were able to come down, and it was very special.

Addie wore the dress Tracey made for Averi and Emeri’s blessing days. She made it out of her wedding dress! It was very special.

And a sweet little man who was visiting the ward wrote down the highlights of her blessing and gave it to us after the meeting. I put it in her baby book (and may be one of the few things in that book 🤦).

It is always so sweet to see my babies get priesthood blessings from their dad. Always something that I cherish and hold the memories close to my heart. ❤️

Love you, Adelaide Grace Alford!

3 Months

And so it begins… writing this post 2 weeks late.

Anyway, baby girl is 3 months! (How did that happen?)

She has changed and grown so much in the last month! It is hard to document it all.

• Towards the beginning, she was really struggling to do tummy time. She would hardly lift her head up at all. When we would put her on her tummy, she would just scream and cry. Towards the end of the month, she started getting a lot better, and we saw a lot of improvement!

• Sticks out her tongue sometimes when she smiles. It just is the cutest thing!

• Loves bath time. Just chills in her tub completely content.
• Has rooooooollls. And I love it. She is the first baby we’ve had that actually has some meat on her bones. When we bathe her, we actually have to make sure we clean in between her rolls. With the boys, I would read baby books, and they would say you need to make sure you do that, but I never had to worry about that with the boys. They were (and still are) so skinny!

• The boys lovingly like to call her “squishy” because of her squishy checks and thighs.
• Sleeps a lot! Baby girls needs her sleep. At the beginning of the month, she would occasionally get up at 4 or 5 to eat and then take a long time to go back to sleep. Now she usually sleeps until I have to wake her up in the morning to go to preschool and what not. And she sleeps a lot during the day. There isn’t much awake time.

• She had her blessing day this month (I need to do a separate blog post about that. I’ve been meaning to finish that draft for a while.)
• She has an uncanny ability to blow out. And it isn’t because her diapers are too small.
• She sleeps really well with the boys running around being wild. I think she actually sleeps better with the noise.
• Loves her brothers!

• Still likes to be swaddled when sleeping.
• Loves to snuggle up against mine or Ken’s chest to sleep.

• Got to chomp on a hot dog for the first time because of big brother Reed. (He shoved a chunk of hot dog in her mouth because he didn’t want it… had a long talk to him about that.)

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• Is a very chill baby and a champ and just going with the flow of our sometimes hectic lives.

We love her so much! She has only been in our lives for a short amount of time, but I truly can imagine life without her. She is such a good, sweet baby. We love you, Adelaide!

Two Months

Baby girl is two months, and she is a dream baby.

• Loves to coo and “talk”. Still not sure if a laugh has snuck out or if it is still a coo.

• Loves to look at mine, Ken’s, and sometimes Kenny’s face. I think she almost always fusses when Reed comes near her… For valid reasons. (Knee to the face, stuck a popsicle stick down to the back of her throat, “helps” her swing extra fast in her swing, etc.) 🤦

The look she gives me every time Reed comes near. “Help!”

• Eats and sleeps really well. Putting her down for bed at night has been easier. I used to sit and rock her into a deep sleep so she wouldn’t wake up when I put her down. Now, I rock her enough so she is drowsy/kinda asleep, and set her down and she just kind of grunts and huffs for a bit and then falls asleep. (Most of the time at least.)
• Loves to be held upright. Don’t you dare think about cradling her in your arms. Instant crying.
• Loves to be swaddled. Like really loves. If she is fussing and crying, it is usually because she is ready for her nap. I wrap her up, and she usually stops crying right away.
• Has quite the hair situation. It goes from fuzz, to a few strands of random super long hair on the top of her head, to bald spot, to 1.5 inch long hair ring around the nape of her neck. Girlfriend has quite an array for a grand hair adventure on her head. She has her bases covered for all hair occasions.
• Ken now wears Addie in the Moby as well. Has been nice for my back because baby girl is getting big.

• Her hair and eyebrows have lightened up so they aren’t as dark. Hard to say what her hair color will be because Reed’s was similarly dark but then he turned blonde. Who knows? 🤷
• Gives the cutest side smiles. Right when she is about to give you a big grin, her mouth goes into a side smile pucker, and it is so cute.

• Got a new swing that rocks her from side to side and it has been a game changer. Wish I had this when all of my kids were babies. (Saying that makes me feel old…)

• Has enjoyed being dressed up for church… Or at least I have enjoyed dressing her up.

Mid-shoe being kicked off. Skills.

• Loves to go to craft stores with me when the boys are at preschool.
• Does not enjoy tummy time at all. At all at all. It is actually something her doctor wants her to work on… Which is easier said then done. She screams so hard and just won’t lift her head.

We love you baby girl!!

Addie in Her Nursery

Last night Addie slept in her nursery for the first time! I’ll admit that I crept in on her a few times to make sure she was ok.

The last five or so days she has been waking up for a feeding in the middle of the night at around 4 am or so. It is sort of unfortunate timing because I am not able to get her back asleep until 5:30ish, and then Ken’s alarm goes off at 6, so sometimes my days get started at 4 am because I can’t get to sleep fast enough before I hear Ken’s alarm. Honestly though, getting up only once at 4 am is great with a little baby, so I’ll take it. She spoils me.

Anyway, I tell you all of this because she slept all the way through the night last night! What a nice introduction to the nursery!

Being in her room for hours a day while I feed her, I am dreaming up all sorts of ideas for how I want to decorate her room… I just need to find time to do it. One day!