Adelyn has recently...

...mastered the fork. 

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congratulations!

Our dear dear friends, Zeb and Bekah, had their sweet baby girl yesterday morning. We went to visit them last night and she is just the sweetest little thing! Claire-bear is a proud big sister! :)
Congratulations, you guys! We love her already! :)

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a day at the park

The weather the last few days has been AMAZING...so obviously we spent the afternoon at the park today :) If every summer day was like this, then I wouldn't be such an advocate for a 3 season year :)

my baby won't let me go down the slide with her anymore! I had to watch from the side....a little broken hearted...not gonna lie...

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fun with friends

It FINALLY worked out for us to have dinner with Tommy and Amber this weekend.  We miss spending time with them, but completely understand that their life with Miles has been BEYOND busy...so every minute we get to see them is EXTRA SPECIAL :)
Miles is scooting around everywhere...he likes to pull himself up, but forgets how to get back down :) It's pretty cute. Adelyn was running circle around him (like she does to everyone), but he didn't seem to mind.... he is the most easy going little boy! :)
Anyway...Tommy, Amber, and Miles....we had a blast with you guys and can't wait to do it again SOON... :)

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updates

Super baby is 19 1/2 months. Today we had her 18 month check up :)
The most exciting news?  *drum roll, please*.....
Adelyn is officially sleeping through the night!!!!!! She quit her night feeding a little before 12 months, but she would wake up between 1-3 times each night just freaking out and couldn't calm herself down...there were nights we let her go for 3 hours and she'd just be hysterical. Our conclusion was that she is such a vivid dreamer that she was getting woke up from dreaming...she talks alot in her sleep still, but hasn't woke up for a week and a half! Woohoo! FINALLY :)

Stats:  32 1/4 inches long (70%-ile).
             24 pounds ( 55%-ile)
             46 1/2 cm head circumference (50%-ile)
They were "concerned" with her weight because she hasn't gained more than one pound since her 12 month check up.  She eats pretty well, though, so I'm not too worried...they want her back in 2 months for a weight check and if she's falls down on the curve any more, then...well I don't know what :)

(please excuse the Beetle-esque hair...she has become a pro at yanking out the pigtails, ponytails and barrettes)

Favorite words: "hot" "hi" "bye" "why" "mom" "yeah" "bab" (aka baby)  "uh-oh" "woah" "wow" "um"
Favorite phrases: "where are you?"  "oh boy" sometimes she pulls out an "I love you"
Favorite foods: really she eats anything, but she gets really excited for blueberries, milk and pizza
Favorite pastimes: reading reading reading. "cooking" . coloring. playing with her jewlery and purses :) {yes, she is a girly girl}. playing with her babydoll. peek a boo (aka: where are you?). being the seeker in hide and seek. playing outside. playing with Claire-bear. Rough-housing with daddy--for a limited amount of time, though :)
She has also figured out that she can grab your hand and pull you around where she wants you to go. Today we walked around the kitchen island about 50 times. :)

Baby boy update:
Not much here. He flips and kicks and punches like crazy almost all the time. We love peanut butter banana sandwiches :) and cereal cereal cereal! :)
We are in our 6th month now...woot woot!
People have asked our plans for sleeping arrangements since we live in a 2 bedroom house. Adelyn is going to stay in the crib in her room.  Baby boy is going to sleep in a  pack n play in our walk-in closet when we move him out of the cradle that will be next to the bed for the first month or so (it's too cold in our house in the winter to get up out of bed!).  We'll eventually switch him to the crib and get Adelyn a twin-sized bed (I don't want to spend money on a toddler bed that she will use for maybe a year or so)...depending on how the baby's sleeping habits are :)

Not much else going on....we are doing some minivan hunting/research. I'm not a huge fan of the idea of being a minivan mom, but I agree that it's the most practical option since we are getting rid of one car and going to need another... it will be nice to have more space for roadtrips :)
I REALLY want a Honda Odyssey, but even used or through the auction, they are still at least $20,000(!!!!!) since we don't want to take out a loan of anykind to pay for the van (student loans and a mortgage are enough debt, thank you very much)...that's going to have to be my "dream" vehicle for now...maybe a few years down the road? ;) For now we are looking at a middle of the line Chrysler or Dodge....we've found a few that may be a good deal and quite a few go through the auction... so with my step-dad's help (thank you, Rob!), we are on the hunt :) Wish us luck :)

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please pray

More heartache. More prayers needed.
Some friends of ours, Nate and Natalie Klauser, found out a few years ago that having kids biologically is going to be near impossible.  They adopted a sweet baby girl, Elyse, 2 years ago. Eight months ago they were picked to become the parents of a baby boy who was due to be born here in August. 
They had a few obstacles concerning this adoption, but because this isn't my story to tell....
 A few days ago, they learned that the birth mother had gone into labor and baby boy was born. They weren't notified to be there for the delivery and the birth mother was reconsidering her decision. Sunday she decided to parent the baby boy.
Nate and Natalie are heartbroken, and rightly so. Elyse doesn't understand why she hasn't gotten to meet her baby brother. Their faith and trust in the Lord, and their love and forgiveness toward the birth mother has been AMAZING to me, I can't even imagine the pain they are feeling.
PLEASE PRAY for them. Pray that their hearts will be healed and that they can continue to trust in the Lord's timing that one day they will have a sweet son to love.
Nate and Natalie (and Elyse!), we love you guys and we are praying for you.

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state fair time

We went to the fair yesterday.  Everytime we plan to go, I get really excited and then when we are there it's always a total let down. I don't know what I get so psyched up about.

It was Adelyn's first fair experience and she did great! We went through her afternoon naptime, so by the time we decided to go home, she was looking ready to go:

The weather was fantastic! It was about 80 degrees and there was a nice breeze, so even in the sun it wasn't terribly hot...which was quite nice :)

We went and looked at the horses, sheep and cows...it was so hot in the barns, though, that we were there for too long. Adelyn wasn't sure what to think of the horses, she clung to Nick and wouldn't let go.

We checked out the petting zoo too and she loosened up a bit there.

John Deere gave it's employeed state fair tickets and coupons for free rides and food this year, so we took advantage of that :) Nick got his pork chop on a stick...

We also split a corn dog and a funnel cake and a lemonade :) I think we only spent $8 of our own money, though, so it was worth it! :)

Nick took Adelyn down the giant slide. She liked it. She had a smile on her face and her mouth wide open when they came down. I didn't know if she would like it or not... :)

I realized that if it hadn't been so INSANELY crowded and if I hadn't been having to keep track of Adelyn, I could have gotten some really neat pictures...but I didn't...maybe some other time :)

I don't think we'll go next year, unless JD gives us tickets/coupons again. With another little one, the heat and the crowds, this isn't a yearly thing for me. :)

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