Sunday, December 13, 2009


Happy Turkey Day
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Sunday, November 22, 2009

38 weeks, 5 days

Today Adelynn is 38 weeks and 5 days old. This is significant because Adelynn was born when I was 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant. So, Adelynn has been here for as long as I was pregnant. It's hard to believe that she is so old already. She is getting bigger every day, and she makes us smile all the time. She is very mobile--moving all over, all the time. She crawls everywhere and pulls herself up on everything. She is starting to stand without holding on to anything after she has pulled herself up. It's pretty cute because she looks at us like she saying, "Hey, look at me! Look at what I'm doing!" She also spent all day yesterday saying variations of dadadada, dada, da, and hadadada. We are thinking she is getting very close to saying, "Hi, Daddy!" Occasionally, we get a babababa or mamama, but dadadada is definitely her sound of choice.
We put up our Christmas decorations last night after Adelynn was in bed, so this morning, she had a special surprise waiting for her. At first, she was only interested in the Little People nativity that Oma bought her before she was even born. Quickly, though, she became intrigued with the tree. She is definitely not one of those babies who ignores the tree or is scared of it. We have already had to move one ornament, and the tree will be barricaded off here shortly. You'll see in a picture below her curiosity with the tree.
As a side note, today also marks the day of our first kiss seven years ago. Yes, I'm too sentimental for my own good :).


Adelynn Jo's first ultrasound photo--I was 9 1/2weeks pregnant at this point. Even here, she was moving all over the place!

Just born here. So little and precious.

38 weeks and 5 days. It's hard to believe. You can see that she's standing here without holding on to anything.

She loves the Christmas tree. (Mike is holding on to her--we didn't just let her reach over the couch on her own :) ).

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Enjoying God's beautiful Creation

Michael, Adelynn, Mom and Dad Brown, and Uncle Tyler went for a little (or long--two hour) hike last weekend. It was a beautiful day, and they decided to enjoy the nice weather before the cold stuff comes. The pictures are a little out of order, but you'll get the idea.

What a great uncle Adelynn has!!

Oma and Uncle Ty. Adelynn is just taking it all in.

Too much fresh air--she's pooped!

Father and Son

Father and Son and Mom

Adelynn's helping Daddy and Grandpa figure out where to go next.

LOVE this picture!! Oma, Daddy and Adelynn

Adelynn and Daddy

Music to our ears

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Our cute little "wabbit"

Adelynn was our cute little "wabbit," as her costume said, for Halloween. We had a great time dressing her up and getting lots of pictures. She also had a cute orange sweatsuit with a pumpkin face on the front, so she had plenty of festive Halloween wear. Adelynn's day consistent of visiting Great-Grandma Dornbos, taking some Halloween pictures with her new friend Michael, and finally, trick-or-treating at Grandpa, Busia, and Aunt Dena's house.

Yummy carrots!!

Posing for the camera.

Adelynn loves standing now (with help :) ).

Always reaching for the cell phones...or laptops, remotes, cameras, etc. Maybe we have a future techie on our hands?

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Back to blogging

Well, we are back in the blogging world. I am back to work and adjusting to juggling Adelynn and teaching. Most days, it goes pretty well. I'm thankful for great support around me, an awesome woman who takes care of Adelynn while I'm at school and a husband who is more than willing to do more than his fair share of work around the house.

We are blown away by how fast Adelynn is growing and developing. It seems like every day she is doing something new. It's amazing to us that it has been 8 months already. Time is really flying, and we are not taking any minute for granted. As I have said many times on here, what a blessing we have!!

Here are some highlights over the last couple of months:
*Sitting up by herself--that happened on her 6 month birthday

*Army crawling. She can get everywhere she needs to go now. Yesterday, she even realized she could go on the linoleum. Mike was home with her during the day and said that she sat on the edge of the carpet and linoleum for about 10 minutes before deciding that she would venture into the new territory of the kitchen. Once she was on it, though, she made a break for it and made it to the other side of the kitchen in record time, and Mike had to bring her back. She is particularly interested in papers, which makes it interesting and challenging to grade papers around her now.

*Going from lying down to sitting up--this makes time in her crib a little interesting because when she wakes up, she just sits up now rather than lie down and fall back asleep

*Pulling herself up on her little play table, which has turned into pulling herself up on everything, including the furniture, us, her book basket, her pack-n-play at Paula's, and just this morning, her crib. I went in to get her this morning and she was standing up with her little eyes peeking over the top bar. Good thing Mike moved the mattress all the way down a couple of weeks ago!

*2 teeth (one is really showing and the other just peeked through)

*Her first go-round with amoxicillian (I'm sure I spelled that wrong)--she LOVES it, thankfully, and we just laughed because we remember so well the smell and taste of that thick, bubble gum medicine from when we were little

*Solid foods--rice cereal, vegetables, fruit

*Mastering (well, not quite) a sippy cup

*Lots of babbling--we have had "confirmed" cases of dadadadada, bababababa, hi, and Lynn--a couple of these--I'll let you decide which ones--may be a bit of a stretch.

*Maybe waving--time will tell

*And, finally, we've even had a few temper tantrums. These are just hilarious, for now :).

Below are a sampling of pictures to get you caught up in the life of Adelynn Jo:

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Trying to escape out of her crib. It was right around this time we moved the mattress down to the lowest level.

Headed to her first triathlon to watch our friend Sarah race. She was rocking the Tigers hat and her sweatsuit from Uncle Denny and Aunt Jo.

My daddy said that peas are disgusting...

and I agree!

Yuck! (She likes them just fine now, though)

This is one of the only pictures that looks like me when I was a baby.

This is what we usually see. Adelynn is a super happy baby.

Adelynn and Mike have this uncanny ability to make each other fall asleep, and I can't resist the photo ops.

Little monkey

We just love seeing that smile--no visible teeth here, but she has two of them now. One of them you can really see every time she smiles.

7 months old exactly in this picture

Daddy asked me to help Mommy tackle some of the laundry, so I agreed.

Crawling has led to all sorts of interesting predicaments. She loves this table, especially now that she can pull herself up and play all the instruments. Mike and I learning all the songs, too:
Hello...the phone is ringing so I say hello...hello-hello...Good-bye, when I'm done talking then I say bye-bye...Bye-bye.

Carrots today (notice the covered pool in the back--sad :( ).

I put her in here so I could take a shower. I guess Adelynn wants a pillow in there with her now, and this is the best she could come up with.

Adelynn got to meet her Great-Grandma Brown--4 generations of the Brown family.

Adelynn chatting it up with Great-Grandma Brown.

4 generations with the Vissers

All ready for the cold weather.

Miss Paula brought all the kids to school for the homecoming assembly.

Adelynn is starting of early in following in Daddy's footsteps by studying Aunt Dena's human anatomy and physiology homework.


Adelynn pulled herself up onto her basket of books.

Then, she sat down and looked at her book.

This is what I walked into this morning (Adelynn's 8 months today). She had pulled herself up and was peeking over the top bar. She's a mover and a shaker. It's crazy how far she's come.

Finishing up summer

Here a bunch of random pictures to from the summer:

Adelynn LOVES the pool and couldn't get enough of it this summer.

Riding on Daddy's shoulders always gets huge smiles.

Swimming with Auntie Lynn--you can how she tried to put her mouth in the pool. She kicks her legs and moves her arms in the water.

Tired out from playing so hard

This is her make shift shade tent on the boat. Everyone else got to enjoy the sun and play in the water; Adelynn had to stay in the shade under the folding chairs. Maybe next summer we'll let her experience Lake Michigan...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Adelynn--she is 5 days old in this picture, and it was her first day in her swing.

This is Adelynn around 6 months old. It's hard to believe how big she has gotten.

This is pre-army crawling. She could still roll around and scootch all over, which is why she is partway under the couch and off the blanket.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! She loved the candles.

Happy girl in her swim suit. She spent a lot of time in her pool wares this summer.

Go Detroit Tigers!!! What a big girl in her shoes, jeans and Tigers shirt.