8 Months...

7 Months - Eating Pasta

She still doesn't really like solid foods, as you can see in the video, although she's pretty much decided she's not going to eat baby food, either! She takes lots of bottles and whatever solid food she manages to swallow.

So much personality in such a small package!

Happy Halloween!

I couldn't pick just one!

The Sour Face

Six Months

Adison at 2 weeks and 6 months... with the same bear. It's hard to believe she was ever so small!

The past 6 months have gone by so quickly. We are still so blessed, amazed and thankful to have our little miracle with us. She truly is a joyful, delightful baby, and she makes me laugh every day.

She has learned to roll over, from back to front, but has only done the reverse twice. She still is able to move very quickly by wiggling around on her back. She can get three or four feet off the blanket on the floor before I notice!


She's eating baby food now, but still hasn't mastered the art of chewing. Feeding time is a mess, and it takes a long time. Most bites get processed two or three times before they stay in, so Daddy refuses to feed her!

She laughs all the time, and babbles. She said "ma ma ma ma" this morning, but I can't count it because she doesn't mean it yet. She loves to squeal/scream just to hear her own voice. She has also developed a fake cough that she uses when we're not paying enough attention to her. She can stick out her tongue and blow raspberries, but saves it for special occasions.

We sure love our girl!

More From Adi

I love it when she gets all excited and makes her huffing noises...

An Adi First

Videos Only Grandparents Could Love

Sorry, folks... this is seriously interesting for the grandparents, and not for anyone else. :) She's not used to this camera, so she got really serious when I turned it on and just stared at it.


Tummy Time!


Sleepy Girl


Look at those thighs...

Even though she's not doing anything particularly interesting, she's still adorable to us!

Adison Laughs

A Good Day...

I'm trying to find a good app for my iPhone to update these blogs, or it's never going to happen. The hours I spend on my desktop computer, if I even get hours in a day, are spent feverishly catching up on design work, personal finances, etc.

Blogging is a luxury, although we're faithfully posting pics to our Facebook accounts.

I am having some deep thoughts on Motherhood... if I can remember them! I often think, I should blog about that, but then the moment passes and I can't remember what I was thinking.

This has been and continues to be the best time of my life. The hours spent staring into her sweet face are being logged in my memory, as I know she will soon grow and leave this phase behind. In the past 9 weeks, she's already grown and changed so much. (The tightness of her "I Love Daddy" onesie is a testament to the little piggie's growth. She LOVES to eat.)

Yes, my daughter is flipping the bird. What can I say? She's still adorable, even when she's mad.

Six Weeks

Oh, how our lives have changed in six weeks!

I had my follow-up doctor appointment today, and woo-hoo! I am 154 pounds. That is less than when I got pregnant. I have been so blessed to only gain 20-some pounds during the pregnancy and to lose it so quickly after. (The picture to the right is at 2 weeks after delivery... I managed to fit into the outfit that I wore in our anniversary photos the year before. It was a tight fit, but it felt great!)

She smiles now, and makes noises. We're still working on getting her on a good schedule, but she only wakes me up once most nights, and some nights she lets me sleep 7 or 8 hours! (Of course, I get up between 4 AM and 6 AM most mornings now, and I used to get up at 8:30 AM, so technically she's waking me up twice.)













She has stolen our hearts, completely. What a miracle she is.

I sing to her all the time:

You are so beautiful to me
You are so beautiful to me
Can't you see?
You're everything I hoped for
You're everything I need
You are so beautiful to me

Sneak Peek

Check out our baby bump photos!












UPDATE: More photos here... of the girl!

A Whole New World

On Monday, April 6, 2009 at 10:41 pm,
Adison Nicole Leeuwner entered the world.
She was 8 lbs, 21.5" and all perfection.

Martin posted updates and photos to his Facebook profile throughout the entire delivery process, and continues to post photos on an almost hourly basis.

The Leeuwner, Folland, Lembo, Pauls and Beere families are all excited about the new arrival.

Home Stretch

We're approaching 38 weeks... and I had a doctor's appointment today. She gave us the green light - Adison can come any time now, everything is ready. The baby has turned head-down. I'm not dilated at all, but things are moving in that direction. She gave us a list of what to look for, when to call, when to head to the hospital, etc. It's really happening.

It's so hard to believe that the squirmy sensation in my belly is going to be a baby in my arms in just a matter of a week or two. (She said hopefully.) It's so hard to imagine how much our lives are going to change in that instant.

I've gained a total of 21 pounds now. It doesn't look larger to me, but all of my maternity tank tops no longer fully reach the bottom of the belly.

We're still making final prep on the nursery - Martin needs to finish the closet, and the curtains/crib bumper/ruffle need to be installed - and I need to figure out exactly what decorations should go on the walls besides just paint. But we're ready. As ready as we can be!

Here's a question for you moms - as I pack for the hospital, I am wondering what I need that I'm not thinking of. Any advice? Anything that will prove invaluable? What do I have to have for the first few days that we're home?

One Month and Counting!

Yesterday was 1 month before our due date. It's so hard to believe that she'll be here in just a few weeks.

We took a couple more belly shots tonight just to satisfy the relatives. :)

I really am just all baby, for which I am so very grateful. I think I've gained 15 pounds so far... which really isn't much. I've always joked that I'm the tall white giant around all the small brown elves who are my friends. I guess this is one positive to being so tall...

I'm feeling great. Don't take that to mean that I am not ready to get this girl OUT! I've lost the ability to do a lot of stuff that I took for granted before, but I am so blessed to have a flexible schedule and be able to lie down whenever I want. I'm not terribly uncomfortable, but I'm not ever really comfortable, either.

Life is good!

The Nursery

Pictures of the painted nursery... we have two brown walls, a blue wall, and a green wall. We've got a crib, changing table and book shelf.

We're still working on putting some shelving in the closet, and we need a rocker of some sort.

Also, some dear friends (Tonya & Terra) are sewing the curtains, crib bumper and skirt from the material we picked out, so that should tie it all together!



These hair bows were a gift from Jessica.

The green silk blanket was a gift from my brother from China. It matches perfectly!

This is so going to be Martin...

He already gags if food goes bad in the trash... I can't wait to see him try to handle a dirty diaper.

Really?

I get a lot of emails from all sorts of baby places, and most of them have useful hints and activities. However, this article caught my eye today and the accompanying picture was just so... wrong.

I think pregnancy is beautiful, but not like this.

Fabric Shopping...

I have the perfect fabric in my mind... but finding it is proving impossible! We need to get this step completed so we can register for all of the other nursery items to match. The shower is in just a few weeks, and so the clock is ticking on this project.

I have something like this in mind:

I can't find anything like it. I can find polka dots, I can find circles and squares, I can find similar colors in different shapes... but I can't find anything like it.

Time is running out, and we may have to change our plans. I'm a little disappointed.

Step 1

Inspired by some people who are really on their nursery-decorating game, we took the first step to get the nursery set up for Adison.

We bought a shed.

No, we are not going to make our infant daughter sleep outside.

Step 1 - get a shed, and get all of the lawn equipment, paint, tools, camping supplies, sports equipment, etc. out of our laundry room storage.

Step 2 - move all production and business equipment out of nursery. We also are using the closet for storage of photos, books, Christmas decorations, etc., which should go in the laundry room storage as well.

Step 3 - move all furniture out of what used to be our guest room.

(intermediate step... we have to find the perfect fabric to make curtains and other items, which will dictate our other bedding and paint colors... which influences our baby registry, so we need to get this done ASAP!!!)

Step 4 - paint, renovate closet, and install baby furniture.

We took a little stab at Step 4 today by purchasing an IKEA bookcase (in brown-black) that will be storage and decoration. We almost bought the crib, but ran into a couple kinks. Nothing's available in-store these days!

It's coming together... slowly!