Adalynn's Birthday Pictures

How many different pictures can I take in our tiny back yard?  I have to keep coming up with stuff to keep it interesting!  I found this little chair at a thrift store for $5.  Some sanding and painting, and Adalynn loves it!  It matches her room and brought lots of smiles for pictures. 

These pictures were quite the ordeal.  We have had rain every day for the past 2 weeks, and as far as the forecast goes, rain every day still.  So we had to sneak them in one evening between downpours.  I am still learning how to work this new lens I got, and I am pretty clueless so I was anything but quick.  Chad was on stand by with a bib to keep the drool under control.  I would shout wipe, and he would attack before it got to her dress.  Jordyn stood behind me and was on smiling duty.  Although it doesn't take much to get a smile out of Addy!

Happy Birthday Adalynn!

What a sweet little girl we have!  It seems like it has been such a quick year.  As I put her down for her nap on her birthday, I threw her blankie over my shoulder and she snuggled up to me and laid her head down.  I looked at the clock and it was 12:45 and thought how at that exact time one year ago, she was wheeled into my room, and I got to snuggle her for the first time.  Even then, she was snuggly and wanted to be held.  Not much has changed.  I will openly admit that it has not been the easiest year.  Coming from Jordyn who was as mellow as could be to Addy, who has much more extreme ups and downs, it has been hard for me to figure her out.  But through it all, she has wanted to be held and snuggled.

Adalynn at 1 year old:

• Has taken several steps, but is in no hurry to walk.  She can go from crawling to siting to standing in the blink of an eye, but then slowly lowers herself back to her knees to get from A to B.
• She LOVES Jordyn.  And Jordyn loves her too.  They play so cute together.  She puts up with a lot from her big sister.  She is always her pet, or prince, or baby lion.  And she takes it all in stride, just happy to be involved.
• She can get pretty feisty.  She is not afraid to take a swing at Jordyn if she is not getting her way.  She is pretty territorial when it comes to toys and gets down right mad if you take her stuff away.
• She is on the go!  She can climb up and down the stairs with ease.  She is a wiggle worm and her little temper shines through when you try to restrain her or keep her still.  I used be a snob and I could not figure out why parents could not just keep their kids in the chapel during sacrament meeting.  I am now eating my words, and I totally get it.  I am exhausted by the time we go home.
• We went to a new pediatrician for her 1 year appointment to get some different opinions on her speech and communication skills (our previous dr wanted her to start therapy).  I really like this new dr and he didn't seem at all concerned about her communication.  The only word she says is "momma" and she says it all day long!
• She weighed in at 17 lbs 12 oz.  I was so nervous about the dr giving me a hard time about our skinny minnie, but he was satisfied and said she was healthy as could be.  She was 28.5 inches long.
• Addy loves to play patty cake and catch.  She is also really into the game where she hands me stuff, and then I give it back to her. 
• She is off her bottle and on the sippy.  She is off formula and onto whole milk.  She eats most table food and is not very picky.  Thank goodness!
• She has two little bottom teeth and her top right one has poked through this week.  Which makes her a little extra whiney!
• She is sooooo drooly!  Oh my word!  She wears a bib every day and by the end of the day her shirt is drenched.  Notice in the pictures below.  I wish I could say it was a teething thing, but it has been a consistent problem since she was about 6 months. 

We had a quiet little birthday celebration for her.  We blew up balloons and literally played with those all morning long.  That afternoon, we splashed in our little back yard pool and played on the new slide her grandma Dyreng sent her.  That evening we skyped with both her grandparents while she opened presents.  And of course, the cake!

 

The cake!  She was so funny about it.  I love the video and how she is stretching with everything she has to get to the cake!

 

It should also be noted that my cake baking and decorating skills are zero.  I see cute little smash cakes on pinterest and wish I had that talent.  I just don't.

She was soooo tired.  Look at those big sleepy eyes!

Water Babies

During the month of June, Jordyn went to swimming lessons twice a week.  I am not sure she learned much, but she loves the water and really enjoyed it.  The first few days, I tried to contain Adalynn in her stroller.  Then I gave up and put on my swimming suit and got in the water with her.  She loved it!  We spent the next few weeks wading in the water and soaking up the sun!

Traveling

I have become one of those Utah natives who goes back every month!  The girls and I went back in May.  My mom gave me a plane ticket for my birthday.  While we were there we went to an adorable Peter Pan musical at the Hale Theater in Orem.  It was so cute!  Afterward, we met Peter Pan in the parking lot.  He sprinkled pixie dust on the kids and then held Jordyn up so she could fly over the parking lot.  Adorable!  Thanks mom for such a fun weekend!

On the flight home, we were delayed and ended up waiting in the airport for over 3 hours!  Not fun alone with two little kids.  But we made it through and because the flight was delayed, so many people were re-routed, which meant I got to take the car seat on the plane!  The result....two sleeping girls before we hit 1,000 feet.  Tender mercies!

In June, I took a friend back to Utah for a complete "Mormon" experience.  We went to temple square and did tours of the conference center and the church history museum.  We watched the Joseph Smith movie in the memorial building.  We found an afternoon to go to the zoo.  Chad's grandparents were kind enough to let us stay with them and Jordyn enjoyed their attention and talked their ears off!  Then we headed down to Sanpete for a temple session, some boat time on Yuba, and the pageant.  Another big thanks to my mom for watching my kids all day while I played!

With the May trip and the June trip behind us, we are headed back in two weeks with stops in Idaho and Utah!

Under the Apple Tree

We have this beautiful apple tree in our back yard.  Really, it is kind of a sickly tree and barely produces any fruit.  But every two years, for about 3 weeks, it has the most beautiful blossoms.   I took some pictures of Addy at 10 months, and of course Jordyn wanted in on the action too.

Luckily, we took these pictures when we did.  Just 3 days later, this is our beautiful apple tree looked like.  Just for reference, this picture was taken on Mother's Day.  Seriously!  All that snow in the middle of May!