She's Walking!!!

Adison stood up on her own for the first (well, second, but the first time was a fluke and not repeated again for a long time) time on Mother's Day. Then she started launching herself from one place to the next. Now, she's standing up and then walking, 10 steps or more, from one side of the room to the other! We're so proud of our girl...

Happy First Birthday!

Today, at 10:41 pm, Adison Nicole will be one!

She's had so many changes and accomplishments this year. She started driving, perfected her swordsmanship, and is reading.
OK, not really. But it has been a great year!

We have our one-year appointment later today, so I'm not sure how tall she is, but she's 22.2 pounds, and wearing 18 month pants!

She has two teeth--just got them in the last month or so!--and loves to brush them! We often put her to bed with her toothbrush because she refuses to give it up after bath time.

She loves music, to sing and dance. She's got great rhythm and Martin hopes that she'll be a drummer.

She loves her Daddy! She likes to talk on the phone and on Skype (on the big screen!) when he's away. She's a tough little cookie--we call her Danger Girl--because she loves to be thrown and dropped and in all sorts of ways be wild! Daddies are great for that.

She's so affectionate, always giving kisses. She's a very content and happy girl. She's a total clown and will do anything for a laugh. She loves watching videos of herself, and laughs at herself. She's amazing.

She eats just about anything, except for fruit. We can't seem to find anything she likes! She'll eat almost anything once (except for oranges), but then she will refuse it later. Her favorite foods are pickles, avocados, and chili. She decided about 5 months ago that she didn't want to eat anything she couldn't feed herself, so mealtime is always a big mess!

Bath time is still her favorite time, and we have lots of fun splashing to scare the dogs.

She has a million nicknames, the most popular being "Goose" (Daddy) and "Bug" (Mommy). She's also called Adi, Adi Bug, Funny Face, Milk Face, Cute Butt, Whiney Butt, and anything else that seems appropriate at the time.

She's a total night owl, and often doesn't go to bed until 10:30 or 11. In the last two weeks, she's changed her whole routine and now goes to bed in her crib with a bottle--before, she had to fall asleep with us or in the swing, and would never go to be awake. All of a sudden, she's changed it up. (For you Babywise parents, don't judge. Yes, she goes to bed with a bottle... we're working on it.)

She's crawling, climbing, walking (while holding fingers) and sometimes standing on her own. She jabbers constantly, and can say "Mama", "Daddy", "hiyoo" (hello), ti-tu (thank you), and "ya".

We have truly been blessed with Adison. Happy Birthday!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

One Month to Go!

Our baby girl is 11 months... here's a video of her "growth chair" photos.

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

More From Adi

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

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.

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!

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.

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!

Bump!

What is that? It's Adison!
23 weeks, 2 days

The shirt was a birthday gift from my mom.

We've also had a couple of milestones since my last post:

Monday, December 7
We received notice that I had been approved for AHCCCS! We're still trying to figure out all the details, but it's great news!!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2 AM
Martin felt Adison move for the first time.

Monday, December 1
Martin and I went to my check-up. I have gained 3 pounds in 5 months. My doctor said that after Thanksgiving, she's usually telling patients to slow down, but I could "stand to eat a little bit more".

I've posted more photos of the bump on our Flickr.com page. (I have awful posture!!!)

It's A...

I had a little coffee before our appointment, and she was wide awake! The ultrasound tech called her "a maniac" because she was wiggling and arching her back and not holding still at all. We got to see her hands and feet, and she clasped her hands together, sucked on her fingers, and kicked her feet while we were watching. It was magical.