Christmas celebrations and updates

We had a wonderful Christmas last week and were happy to be able to spend time with all of our families. On Christmas Eve morning, Santa came to our house early and the three of us opened presents. Later on Christmas Eve, we visited at my dad's and stepmom's house in Frenchtown and even later we drove down to Darby to spend the night with Jamey's family. After gifts and breakfast on Christmas morning, we headed back to Missoula to my mom's and stepdad's for another Christmas there. We were very busy but so glad we saw everyone on this special first Christmas for Adalyn. Here are a few of the many photos:

What a good girl this year! Checking out what Santa brought


At the Gould house


Adalyn and mommy (check out the cute boots!)


Trying out her new toy!


Santa babies!


Adalyn and Brenna on Christmas morning


Opening presents with daddy at the Maxwell house


Riding in her new wagon!


Is that Rudolf on your shirt?


Helping mommy open her new doll at the Beree house


Mmmm....loving that cookie!


Two Wii pros



Adalyn turned 11 months old on Christmas Day! She has been busy practicing her balance and has continued taking a few steps in between furniture and toys and to our arms. She can stand on her own for slightly longer periods, but does this the best when she is paying attention to a toy and not fully realizing she is standing all on her own! She has some front teeth that are so close to breaking through it will most likely happen any day in addition to her four emerged teeth. Lately, she has been having a strong preference for eating food very warm, and out of a dish just like big people eat out of. It must taste better that way! She also started taking baths in the big tub and seems to like it as she has much more room to play with bath toys. Here she is having fun in the tub:



We have had a difficult time the past few days as our cat, Roo, has been at the veterinarian's office since Sunday night. He has been vomiting and not eating anything. He is normally a 13 pound cat now down to 10 pounds. He's had some blood work and several x-rays already and there is still not a diagnosis. We are waiting on more lab results tomorrow and will go from there. Please keep our kitty in your thoughts, he is only 7 1/2 years old and we want him to have many more years with us. It hasn't been the same around here while he has been at the vet's office.

Roo wanted a private photo shoot after we took our family picture this year!

Merry Christmas and First Steps!!

We want to wish everyone a beautiful, blessed Christmas. We are so excited to spend our first Christmas as a family of three! Adalyn will be 11 months old on Christmas day, so I will post her monthly update after Christmas but she has been busy. She uses her lion to walk around but yesterday she took three steps on her own! She has done it a few times now and she can stand alone for about 5 seconds also. It is so exciting to watch her try out her balance and improve every day! We will be doing a lot of visiting for Christmas and look forward to spending time with our families. I'll be posting pictures of Adalyn's first Christmas with her monthly update.

Here are a few more pictures we took of her:

Holiday Photos

Here are some adorable photos we took of Adalyn and some family shots as well. We can't wait to celebrate Adalyn's first Christmas in a few days!!

Walking the lion

Adalyn has been practicing her walking with an early Christmas present from us. At first she wasn't too interested in the lion except for pushing his nose to hear the music and she would push him too fast and fall down. Yesterday, she just started pushing him around all by herself! It is much easier to push him on carpet and because most of our floor is not carpeted there isn't much area to work with but she is getting the hang of it.

Here is a video of her walking with the lion and the couch:




Another video walking toward the camera:

Christmas Party

On Friday night, we attended a Christmas/Retirement party with the Missoula Fire Department for my stepdad Russ. Since Russ retired this past year, family was able to attend as it was also a retirement party. It is usually an adult party, but babies have attended in the past. This year, Adalyn was the only one! She did very well and got a lot of attention! She is in a shy stage right now and is very attached to mommy and daddy but was fine with all the people and excitement until someone tried to get a little too close. Then she would let out a little worried sound and cuddle closer to me or Jamey. We ate a delicious dinner, listened to a very nice speech by both Russ and the other retiring chief and visited. The Montana Grizzlies football team has done very well this year and had their semifinal playoff game at the same time so we watched it on tv at the party. (To show his support, Jamey wore his Grizzlies football hat to the party and I actually wore two pairs of earrings to accommodate my Grizzly paw earrings as well as sparkly party earrings!)

Here are some pictures from the party:

Jamey and Adalyn waiting for dinner


Trying all the food, she ate pieces of salmon, chicken, cheese, bread, peas and potatoes and a taste of cheesecake, too!


Showing off the cheesy smile


She got so tired she fell asleep in Jamey's arms after dinner so we all carried her around until she woke up about a half-hour later


Beautiful little princess sleeping in Aunt Dana's arms


Back after the nap posing for a picture with Dana and us


The Maxwell family


My Mom and Russ

Sick, but back with energy to spare!

It has been over a week since I have posted an update. I was really sick last Saturday and even missed the last Grizzlies home football game--and I never miss home games! Then, little Adalyn wasn't feeling well on Monday and Tuesday with a slight fever and she barely slept. It took us a day to recover and catch up but we are feeling fine now.
In other news, Adalyn has been crawling all over the house on only her hands and knees and she is very fast! She has been walking around the furniture, too. She uses everything to stand and walk with and she can stand by herself for a second or two. She is getting really good at identifying objects and people. When asked where something is, she looks around to find and point at it, most recently the cats, dog and the little Christmas tree on our table. It is so cute. She says "dat" every time one of the cats walks by. I think the 'c' sound is harder to say but she knows what she means!


Helping me out with the chores :)


Such a cute little helper!


I love the hairdo (food in hair + wet washcloth = crazy new style!)

So Thankful

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for our family, friends and the blessings in our lives. This year I am especially thankful for my beautiful baby girl Adalyn and the privilege of being her mom. It is truly the most rewarding thing in the world to see her smile, hear her laugh and feel her reach for me.
We spent the holiday visiting and enjoying two Thanksgiving meals. We traveled to see Jamey's family for an earlier meal and then to my mom's for a later meal. Adalyn enjoyed visiting with everyone and showing off her standing skills. She also tried out her cousin Brenna's horse jumper and loved it, of course!

Found a chair to stand with at Aunt Jen and Uncle Trav's house


Giving "five" to Grandma Coral


Showing off her drum skills


Sitting with Brenna, two girls growing up fast!


NO more headband, mom!


Cats have the coolest toys at the Beree house

10 months old

Adalyn turned 10 months old today. It is quite difficult for me to believe that we'll be celebrating her first birthday so soon. I've started getting a few things ready for her party and now I better work on it some more as the busy holidays are here and then her birthday is just a few weeks after that. Here are some pictures of her this morning:



Sitting in the big chair



Standing in the living room


Doing a backwards wave



At 10 months, Adalyn:

-Has 4 teeth through, the bottom two and the top two eye teeth (little fangs!)

-Can pull up to stand throughout the house (using the couch, chair, kitchen cabinets and chairs, toilet and bathtub, bed, crib, etc. to stand)

-"Cruises" walks around things holding on as she goes (playpen, crib, couch to couch, and using us to hold on to)

-Lets go with one hand and briefly with both hands

-Waves, claps, gives a low "five"

-Babbles a lot, mostly da da sounds and says things that sound like words but not consistently yet

-Has been feeding herself pieces of puffed cereal since just over 8 months, and now loves feeding herself pieces of toast and cooked vegetables too

-Has been drinking out of a cup with help starting at 6 months and has been using the cup with a spout by herself for about the last two months

-Loves eating spaghetti and lasagna jarred meals, all types of fruit, our pasta and rice dinners that I puree for her, baby oatmeal and most vegetables

-Not so fond of eating potatoes, chicken or beef with vegetable jarred meals, and carrots

-Loves her mommy and daddy and sometimes takes a while to get used to anyone else :) (but after she does, she loves playing with everyone!)

-Entertains us every day with her cute smiles and new tricks!!

We sure do love our little girl!

Still loving that jumperoo!

Here is a video of Adalyn clapping a little and doing her jumping thing. This is still one of her favorite toys! She jumps so hard and swings her body forward now and actually moved the whole thing about four feet across the living room just by jumping in it this morning. Warning- this video's movement may make you dizzy! :)

Flu shot at the doc's

We took Adalyn to the doctor to get the second part of her flu shot on Friday. She was very happy riding in the car. She didn't mind the elevator ride up to the office. She was enjoying the waiting room. She even smiled at the nurse when we entered the exam room and when she sat on the exam table. Then we started taking off her clothes and she was NOT happy....she knew what was going to happen next, clothes being removed at the doctor's office usually results in several sticks with a needle! She got her shot and a snoopy band-aid from the doctor and was fine as soon as we left the exam room. She now weighs 18 lbs, which is about the 25th percentile, and she is 29 inches long, which is about the 85th percentile. Her next appointment is for her one-year checkup and immunizations and is scheduled for the day after her birthday.

Baby's Best Friend

Adalyn and Bailey have been interacting a lot since Adalyn has become more mobile. Every morning they "play" together. Usually Adalyn wakes up, then both she and Bailey eat their breakfast, then they get into things and play with toys for a little while before I get Adalyn ready. It has been really fun watching Adalyn and her best dog friend. When we got Bailey, she came from a home with an 18-month-old boy. The day we picked her up to take her home, she was running around and stealing his toys, circling him and hopping all over like the crazy little puppy she was. It was so funny and now it is funny to see Adalyn stealing her toys and playing with her! Lately, the favorite game is tug-of-war with Bailey's toys (of course they can only play when I am present, in case Bailey gets too rough)and Adalyn likes to give Bailey her toys and pat her, too.

Adalyn and Bailey "caged" under the kitchen table


Playing tug-of-war



Sharing toys

Sitting, Standing, Waving, Clapping!

Wow, two posts in the same day! I just wanted to add a little update on all of the new things Adalyn has been doing lately. Yesterday she started clapping her hands together! She has continued her cute waving, crawling and sitting up all over the house as well as attempting to climb up on everything. She keeps me very busy chasing her away from the pet's water dish. Today she was taking a nap in her crib and I heard some noises a short time later. I opened her door to find her standing straight up in her crib and looking around. She also stood up in her pack and play today and then got the biggest smile.

Here is a video of Adalyn waving the other day:

New Car Seat!

Adalyn needed a new car seat as she had reached the length limit on her infant carrier seat. It arrived this week and we love it already and can't wait to install it in the Jeep tomorrow. We decided on the Britax Marathon car seat based on a list of recommendations from the car seat safety technician at our hospital and numerous consumer reviews. It should be a wonderful seat for Adalyn and she will have it for a long time, as the length limit is 49" and the weight is 65 lbs. Most of the baby gear we have for Adalyn is neutral-colored for future use, but we got this seat in a pretty floral print as she'll be using it for quite a while and she is so darn cute in it! She was taking a nap when it was delivered and woke up to find it in the living room and then spent a lot of time exploring and climbing all over it.


Flowers everywhere! Having fun sitting in her new car seat



She even likes it when buckled in!