Our Growing Girl

Can you believe it? The Bean is 2 months old! What a lady. She's turning into quite the little chunker. Look at those cheeks! At her last check-up, she weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs 8 oz!

This was her the first time she spent any real time playing in her little bouncy chair. I think she liked it. :) It's so nice that she's enjoying this little seat. That has freed up my arms for 5-10 minutes at a time. Woo-hoo!

One of her many endearing facial expressions:

And another:

Her face always looks different to me. Every time I look at her, she has already changed.

A couple weeks ago, she started to coo at us. Her favorite thing to say is, "A-goooooo." She's a great story-teller already. Oh! She's waking up! Gotta go! More later....

To Mister

Four Years Ago.......
A verse chosen by me for Gerrit:
Ruth 1:16-18
Where you go I will go,
and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die I will die,
and there I shall be buried.
May the Lord deal with me,
be it ever so severely,
if even death separates you and me.

A verse Gerrit chose for me:
Song of Solomon 8:6-7
Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.

Gerrit, I don't love you more than I did yesterday. I couldn't love you more. But I hope that I love you better than I did "yesterday." I hope I'll always love you better tomorrow than I did the day before. I'll certainly be here trying.

*There's nothing fancy 'bout the way I love you. But it sure is fancy how you love me.*

~David Barnes

House Arrest

Here's my bit of honesty for the day. As a new mom, lately I have felt like a prisoner in my own home. And her she is:

The Warden

She dictates when I eat, sleep, get dressed, and go to the bathroom.

Dear, oh dear. Before we had Adeline, when we were struggling to conceive her, I would sometimes get sad when women would talk about having a hard time with their baby. I would think, "At least you have a child." But you know what? I am learning what it means to be selfless and it is not easy.

I didn't fully appreciate the ease of life B.C. (Before Child) Before, I took for granted a leisurely shower. These days, I mostly smell like a baby or a teenage boy (due to lack of showering). I didn't realize what a treat it was to go to bed at the same time as my husband and sleep through the night together. It used to be simple to get out the door and arrive on time. Now we need to give a vague time of when we'll be arriving. There's a lot of loot that needs to come with us and she might need feeding at the exact time we intended to leave. Breastfeeding is a whole area of selflessness that I'm dealing with. There's so much to learn as a parent. We're just beginning. I know in some ways, this is the toughest time. In others, it's the easiest. The time will go by so quickly. Once she's walking and talking, I'm sure I'll miss this stage when she just wants to be held.

We are starting to be rewarded with some gummy smiles. Her personality is coming out. That makes parenting a joy. Praise the Lord for her little baby smiles, her dimples, the smell of her head, her super soft skin, the new noises she makes each day, and her cuddly little self. AND, praise Him, that Lord willing, I will one day

• smell like a woman
  
• sleep through the night with my man by my side
  
• eat a warm meal without interruption
  
• go to the bathroom when I choose
  
• be out in public without the fear that I'll leak breast milk (!!!)
  

Until then, I'm going to spend time with the Warden. She can be nasty, but she sure is cute.

New Background....Humor Me!

Forgive me for the cheesy new background. The Fourth of July comes but once a year; and I'm a sucker for the patriotic. I secretly want a red, white, and blue room in my house someday. Secret's out! I don't think Gerrit would go for that....Actually, I casually mentioned this idea to him one day. He said if the colors looked like the Twins colors, then he might be okay with it. For now, I will indulge my not-so-secret desire and decorate my blog to my heart's content. Don't be a hater.

Addie and Her Daddy

Happy 1st Father's Day to my man. I love you, Gerrit.
Thank you for being a wonderful dad to our Adeline. I couldn't do this without you! She's already got you wrapped around her baby finger. I'm sure that will never change. Thanks for loving your two gals. We love you back.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Adeline, the Wonderbaby, rolled over last night. That's right. 5 weeks old. She's a crazy person. (Probably a fluke, but it's documented nonetheless!)

As you can see in the progression of photos, she's not too thrilled about her choice to roll. I may look like a bad parent for just letting her struggle while snapping photos; but just like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, the struggle is what makes them strong enough to fly....or to roll again.

Phew. She did it. And to prove she was just fine after her adventure (and because she's so darn cute) here are some more pictures.

Here she's telling me how clever she is for rolling.

Can't take my eyes off this little lady for long. She's dangerous!

One Month Old!

I can't believe a month has passed since Adeline made her big debut! She's a month old!!!!

Our precious bundle. She's so pleasant this way. :)

I knew time would go by quickly. But that month was so fast, I hardly realized it passed. It's been a month of adjustments. Being a new parent is a rude awakening.

News flash: Infants are hard work.

Oh...you aren't surprised by that revelation? Weird. See, I got that memo, but must have skimmed the part where it said, "Everything you've heard about newborns is true!" I guess I assumed I would have a wonder-baby and I would be a wonder-mom. Well, I do have a pretty great baby. She's healthy and lovely and WONDERful. But I'm still me. A bit frazzled. :)

***
Gerrit and Addie...doing their thing. He just loves her. He asks me often to take a picture of them. We have several of them like this. Lots of father/daughter pictures.

I, on the other hand, have very few pictures of the two of us. Most of the time, I look like a tired mom with glasses on and greasy hair. But that's because hygiene is a luxury now. A complete shower is a real treat. This is the best I can do. Still tired looking, but my hair looks clean and I have remnants of yesterdays make-up. You're welcome.

This is literally her first time sleeping in the crib. She still doesn't like it for long. I had to document it!

Addie's been giving us a run for our money each night around 9 or 10. She cries almost non-stop for an hour. She's inconsolable. We've tried swaddling, white noise, car rides, tummy time, shhhing, bouncing.....oh my. It's as if she's trying to tire herself out for the night. Pray it's a phase! I actually started writing this post last night and had to come back today to finish because she was being fussy.

All in all, we are re-learning how to live life. Everything is an adventure now. We've had quite a few outings and that makes me feel more human--which is great. And she's a darling, lovable baby. One month old! Such a big girl!