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.

3 Years!!

Today is Mike and I's anniversary. We have been married for three years. It seems like longer, but in a good way :). We have seen a lot of changes in a short time--we both got new jobs, we bought a house, and the biggest change of all, had a baby. I am so blessed to have such a great husband who is such a great dad.

Our pictures are back on our computer as of late last night, so I will post some new ones soon.

6 months old

Adelynn Jo is 6 months old today. It is so hard to believe. I spent the day reminiscing with Adelynn about what had happened at whatever time it was 6 months ago (OK, Adelynn, 6 months ago right now, Mommy just got her epidural...6 months ago right now you were born...6 months ago right now you met your grandpas, grandmas, aunts and uncles for the first time...No one can say I'm not sentimental). I know Adelynn appreciated hearing everything :). We are amazed at how we can love our little girl so much and yet fall more and more in love with her every day. She fills our lives with more joy than we ever could have imagined. James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above..." We are SO thankful to God that He entrusted us with Adelynn.

She is growing and changing each and every day. Yesterday she started to get the hang of sitting up, and today, she was sitting up for minutes at a time. We listen to her coo and babble (quite loudly sometimes) and watch her roll, pivot and scoot to whatever toy she has her eye on. Mike and I have decided that our favorite thing to see is Adelynn's eyes light up and her huge smile when she sees us or when we talk to her. She is just so much fun!!

We have pictures to post, but the Internet wasn't working on our computer with the pictures. I will post them as soon as I can.

South Haven

Mike, Adelynn and I enjoyed a little summer vacation on Mike's parents' boat. We were thankful they let us use it again (this was our third summer doing this), and we really had a great time. The weather was in the low '70s, which was the perfect temperature. Mike and I got a lot of reading in, and Adelynn enjoyed playing in various locations on the boat. We had different "stations" set up for her, so we could put her in different places when she seemed to be getting bored. Adelynn and I did quite a bit of window shopping, and we even did some real shopping as well. I decided I have two new favorite stores. I found some really cute things for Adelynn and even managed to pick up some things for my classrooms this year. Of course, the food was great, too. Adelynn even took in her first movie in a movie theater. She doesn't know that, though, because she slept through the movie, and we had her ears covered the whole time, so she was none the wiser.



I'm ready to go shopping Daddy!

Watching the ducks. I counted 53 at one point.
The swimsuit was purely just for show. She had no need to wear a swimsuit, but it just looked so cute with the hat!!

Working on that flexibility.

Such concentration--it takes two hands to shove those toes into her mouth

Chatting with Mommy after a fun day


Getting ready for the dinghy ride--check out the sweet life jacket. Adelynn was riding in style. This is the most sun Adelynn saw all week. We had her so covered up. I think she's going to be surprised some day when she realizes that there is actually something called sun, not just shade.

Smiley girl

In her little beach cover-up. Again, this is really just for looks--she didn't get to go to the beach or go swimming.

Beach baby (without the beach)

Adelynn has many cute swimsuits that she received as gifts when she was born. I am having a ton of fun putting her in her swim suits with matching hats whenever I get the chance. This particular day we headed out to Grandpa and Oma's house to lay out on the deck enjoying the beautiful sun out at the lake. Of course, this was one of the opportunities for Adelynn to wear one of her swim outfits. Adelynn's idea of laying out is playing in her Fisher Price UV protected covered seat in the shade. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it and post it. I am borrowing it from a teacher, and it has been great to have during the summer. The particular outfit has a matching hat and cover-up that coordinates with the matching suit and flip-flops--yes, flip-flops. Adelynn is a girl after my own heart!

You can kind of see the outfit here.

This is a better picture of the cover-up and hat, and the swimsuit with the matching flip-flops. She had just kicked off her flip-flop here, but it made for a good picture because you can see how the flip-flop matches the suit.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Mike celebrated his 28th birthday yesterday (August 4). I am so thankful to have such a wonderful man for my best friend, husband and father of my child. Adelynn and I are truly blessed. This birthday was extra special for us because it was one year ago (on August 4) that we heard Adelynn's heartbeat for the first time. That was such a cool and amazing day, and it was fun to think back to that moment while we were holding Adelynn. What a miracle and gift from God!

We took some pictures of Mike with his birthday cake and Adelynn, but I'll put those up later.