Addalynn: 10 months

I hope your neck is flexible...or you are looking at this on an ipod or otherwise rotatable device. I am not as tech-savvy as I wish I were, so I can't figure out how to fix the orientation of these pictures! How frustrating!

Addie turned 10 months old last week. Here's where she's at:

She weighed in at 17 lbs 9 oz a few weeks ago at the doctor office. The doctor didn't like that weight and encouraged me to feed her more and more often. It was frustrating to hear that from the doctor because she said it in a very demeaning manner, implying that I was leaving her hungry and unsatisfied and she used a poor choice of words like calling her "scrawny"! This was not our normal doctor so I am glad we will not have to see her again. At the same time the doctor said that this "thinning out" is normal for babies at this age! I have tried to brush it off because I know that Addie eats well and often (except for when she is sick, like any normal person). She is starting to prefer finger food over being spoon fed baby food, so that does increase the challenge in giving her variety and abundance in appropriate foods for this age. She loves avocado pieces, so maybe she'll pack on a few pounds before we go back for her next checkup.

She measured 29 1/4 inches long...which is really long (or tall) for babies her age. So it's not like she's not growing! She is too long for her infant carseat now, so we will be changing that out as soon as it stops raining for more than a few hours!

Addie is an adept crawler now, seeking to explore and claim every corner of our home as her own. I was not eager to enter the mobile baby stage of life, but it's been fun watching her grow and learn and see what draws her interest. 

Ma-ma-ma-ma, Ba-ba-ba-ba, Da-da-da-da are sweet sounds that we love to hear from her. She also makes sounds that gives us the idea she's trying to sing, and also like she's trying to yell or call to us, imitating her siblings!

Addie is drawn to round objects and loves to hold balls of any size.  She's taking 2 naps each day that are about an hour to hour and a half long. She's sleeping 11-12 hours straight through at night. She seems to have the early-inclination of her siblings, too. That's OK. At this point I don't expect any differently and better that we're all on the same or similar schedule anyway!

And of course Peter wanted to get in on the photo-session. 

Pretty handsome little guy, huh?

Spring Break Fun

We had such a great Spring Break! I love having extra time together and time to do some special activities, too. The kids got to ride the bumble bee train at a local green house event. I underestimated how much of a thrill that would be for them but they really loved it! 

We went to the Critter Barn in Zeeland - all 5 of us - plus Mom S. and we ran into my sister and her sister-in-law. The little educational farm had lots of spring baby animals: lambs, chicks, calves, rabbits etc. Cora was all about holding the chicks!

 We also got to enjoy a day with cousins. It's so fun to watch them grow and enjoy each other!

 I think we may have seen the last of the snowfall for this season! And in its place we are having a ton of rain! April showers bring May flowers...

Easter and the slow arrival of spring

Addie's 9 month picture: the numbers are just stickers and she loves to pull them off her clothes! 

One day last week we heard Peter exclaim, "What? A Raccoon??" 

This little guy came to snack on the bird seed for a few afternoons. It was fun to watch him eat and I think he was amused watching us, too. 

Easter Eggs are to Easter what Snowmen are to Christmas. It's a season thing, not a religious thing. We had fun experimenting with different ways of decorating and dying the eggs.

Cora and I liked the ones that she scribbled all over with different colored crayons and then dyed them. 

It's hard work being a 3 year old!

I love this picture because it shows off Addie's blue eyes. I'm surprised how often even in West Michigan strangers comment on how blue our kids' eyes are! 

We lovingly call this the "Body Bib"! Cora can wear this over top of her nice clothes to keep them clean at meal times. I teased her once that she needed a body bib and she actually thought it was a great idea. Napkins just aren't enough some times! She picked out the fabric and I essentially sewed her a giant bib. She helped in some way with every step.  It turned out pretty cute, huh? 

Happy Easter! We enjoyed a wonderful worship service with our church family at Lee St and were treated with the Hallelujah Chorus as the postlude from a group of instruments: winds, strings, piano and organ. Beautiful! Then we enjoyed spending the afternoon with my parents and Deb and Eric and kids.