dear baby a,

happy 14 months, my sweet girl!

a year ago, you were two months old and being blessed at church. crazy how different you are today!

  

i seriously can't get over you and your cuteness. sometimes, it feels like my whole body is going to go into sensory overload because it can't handle all the pent-up love i have for you.

i know. super cheesy. but, during those moments, i just have to hug you and kiss the crap out of those chubby cheeks of yours.

i'm starting work here soon. just 1-2 days a week. nothing big, but at the same time, it's huge. 

i missed you tonight after an hour at the gym. i don't know what 9 hours is going to do to me. don't worry though, daddy will be home to take care of you. just be sure to tell him how much you miss me and that you love me more. ;)

with it being your 14 month birthday today, here is what you are up to as of now:

-you like to tell us no. but, not in an annoying i'm-a-toddler-and-i-have-dominance-over-you sort of way, but in the kind of way that makes our hearts melt and we want to say yes to all of your demands. your dad usually tells you no by shaking a finger at you, so you picked that up and usually when you don't want something, you give a little finger shake back and forth and through your tears say, "uh-uh" over and over. it's about the cutest thing ever.

-you are obsessed with belly buttons. i can't lie down anymore without my shirt being lifted up. today you discovered that you have a belly button too! life is so fun, huh?

-you love shoes and will match them up and then proceed to have us help you try all of them on.

-you've gotten over the crying phase when we put you down for naps or for bed. usually i will snuggle you right before bed, but nowadays, you like to forego that part and you point to your crib instead. i get the picture.

-you like to get people's attention by waving, but then you're really shy about it and will hide behind me every time.

-you're obsessed with animals. i went to target the other day with the intent of buying you your first baby doll. i was letting you pick out which one you wanted, but you were too interested in the dog stuffed animals in the next aisle. i'm sure you can guess which one won.

-speaking of animals, you can now say, "dog". or rather, "duh". any time a dog barks in the neighborhood, we know about it. you haven't learned a whole lot more words since last month. you definitely know that 'dada' is your dad and 'mama' is me. how about you call me mama for the rest of your life? because it's pretty much adorable.

-you enjoy swimming with your bff, ashtyn czarnocki.

-you think copper's bed was designed especially for you.

-you're afraid of holiday inflatable decorations.

-and you love balloons.

you're the coolest 14 month old there ever was, sweet cheeks.

love,

mama

dear baby a,

happy 13 month birthday! even though it's a little late, you still turned 13 months and i'm still writing about it, so that's all that counts. 

so much has happened since your birthday. if i didn't know any better, i'd think that you knew you turned one because you're a completely different baby than you were on that day. it's so weird. the day after your birthday, we flew to utah and were there for three weeks. in that time, you learned a few tricks, turned into more of a little sassafras than you already were, and became the cuddly baby that i've always dreamed of having. seriously. random cuddles for no reason at all have made my day. along with these few things, here are some other things that you've been doing:

-you aren't nursing anymore! i think this is my favorite milestone out of all the things listed here. i will admit that i was super sad at first. we all know that breastfeeding wasn't the easiest thing in the world for either of us, so it really surprised me at how sad i really felt. but that quickly went away when i realized that i can go anywhere for any length of time and not have to worry about you starving to death. i can even leave you with other people and not have to stress about whether or not you will take a bottle and such. it's the most liberating feeling in the world! that doesn't discount how awesome it was to be able to do it for an entire year though. i know a lot of moms that aren't able to at all and i definitely don't want to sound ungrateful in any way. but still. i can't believe the day has finally come, even after it being a whole month later.
-you're officially walking now! whether it's free standing or holding onto a chair, you definitely walk more than you crawl. you're the cutest little walker I ever did see.
-you're a little chatterbox, too. you have mama, dada, hi, and uh-oh down pretty well, but you're always down for repeating other words that we say. even when you get them wrong. which you do. every single time.
-i don't know if it's all the travelling we have been doing for the last month or what, but you have picked up the habit of crying every time i put you to sleep. i hate it! i miss you going down without a peep and it breaks my heart to let you cry, but you and i both know you need the sleep. it's given us an excuse for lots of extra cuddles though, so things could be worse.
-every time you see a comb or brush, you have to comb your hair with it. the same goes for having to put bows in your hair when you see them or shoes on your feet. you're such a girly girl.
-speaking of which, you're completely enamored by jewelry. it's one of my biggest fears that you will rip my earrings right out of my earlobe. you love holding onto my wedding ring, too. soon enough, i'll have to buy you some jewelry of your own!
-you still love books. if you're fussy or i need you to sit still while i change your diaper, i can give you a book and you will immediately start laughing. it's adorbs. animal books are your favorite.
-actually, animal anything is your favorite. you can't see an animal without pointing it out to us. you definitely took after your mama there.
-you like to pick flowers. your uncle michael made the mistake of showing you how to do that and i can't put you near flowers anymore without you destroying them.
-you love babies. which is weird because you're kind of a baby yourself. there was a 15 month old little boy at the airport and you would squeal every time he got near you. you little flirt.
-you started giving kisses and they are so stinking cute! at first it was just a big, open-mouthed mess, but you've gotten the closed-mouth part down finally and you do it even when we ask for it. or when we don't. tonight for instance, dad and i were laying on the ground while you ran around being your cute self, when you walked up to dad, gave him a kiss on the nose, them the mouth, then walked over to me and gave me one too. it was pretty much the cutest thing i've ever seen.

even though i'm sad when i look at pictures, to see the little baby self you're leaving behind, i'm loving the little toddler girl that you're becoming! i love you, sweet pea.

-mama

dear baby a,

isn't it funny how this blog is titled 'the mr. and the mrs.', but really it's just turned into a bunch of letters written to you?? haha! {okay, not that funny.}

happy 11 months to you, my cutie pie, nugget chunkalicious!

  

i haven't been able to stop thinking all day about how the next time we celebrate your monthiversary birthday, you'll be a year old. an entire year old. part of me is so excited that we all made it this long and part of me wants to run away with you to neverland where you will never grow up. here is what you are up to these days:

 

-you pull what we like to call the 'scared face'. i don't know where it came from or why you even do it, but you have been doing it for a while and your dad and i bust a gut every time it happens. just recently though, you've started doing it on command or any time you want to get a rise out of us and it's hilarious. {everything you do is hilarious to us. that's what makes us good parents.} you've already got this wrap-mommy-and-daddy-around-your-finger game down pretty good.

 

{note: my computer doesn't have sound right now, so i have no idea how truly obnoxious my mom voice/laugh is in this video. don't judge.}

 

-you pretty much don't stop talking while you're at home. ever. so, when there is a binky in your mouth, it just turns into a bunch of noises coming out of your nose. it's totes adorbs.

-you don't like being taken by surprise. today, for instance, your boyfriend, dean, {i say your boyfriend, because he is totally enamored with you. you haven't decided how you feel about him yet. he's cute. you'll come around.} wanted to love on you, so he tapped you on the head to get your attention when you weren't looking. after a full on wail of a cry and some serious lovin' from dad {combined with your favorite purple binky}, you decided you might just live, but you don't ever want to experience that kind of surprise again. i can't make any promises.

-you still love books. {i may have said this one last time, but it hasn't changed. so...} if i leave you in your room to play, i can usually find you flipping through the pages of 'pat the bunny' - your favorite book that was given to you by one of your biggest fans, lauren cyr. you love that thing. every time we get to the page where you are supposed to play peek-a-boo with paul though, you get confused and think you're supposed to chew on the blanket that paul is holding. it's weird. so, there's that.

-you've been a fairly good sleeper for the past few months, but this last week has been awwwwesome. okay, you have woken up at 5:30 on the dot almost every day, but luckily you will go back to sleep until at least 7:30. until last night when you went to bed at 8:30 pm and didn't wake up until 8:00 am. i could literally hear angels singing when i woke up. {that was a lie. i didn't literally hear them, but i wouldn't be surprised if i did.} i think you've slept that long consecutively, maybe twice in your entire life. it rocked my world. #mombrag

-you can down almost two whole bananas in one sitting. i don't think that i can even do that. way to go, girlfriend.

-you love camping. how do i know that? because when it was time for bed, instead of going to sleep like a good little girl or even throwing a tantrum because you're awake three hours past your bedtime, you giggle and crawl all over your dad and me. in all honesty, i don't think this has anything to do with camping. i think you were loving the idea of having a sleepover with us. this was the first time in my life that i wished we coslept with you, so that you would know it was time for bed. {that quickly went away when we came home and i put you in your crib and i had half of our bed all to myself.} you really were a camping champ though and we will definitely be doing it again. get used to it. this is going to be your life!

 

 

 

-you have always loved peek-a-boo, but now, you've learned to do it back to me. you'll do it with anything - blankets, towels, sunglasses, cheerios. some items work better than others. it's freaking adorable how hilarious you think it is.

-i'd like to say that you're getting close to walking, but i don't know what happens when a baby gets close to walking. i mean, you pull yourself up to things and cruise along them, like it ain't no thang, but word on the street is, that some babies do this for months before they actually learn to walk. i'm really hoping it'll happen before your first birthday, because i would kill to see you and your cuteness, toddling around in the tutu i'm making for you. that means you have a month. get on it, girl.

 

i know it's not much, but it's 11 o'clock and i'm tired. so, i'm peacin' out. keep being the ridiculously adorable girl that you are and know that i love you, sweet pea!

 

-mama

 

dear baby a,

You’re 10 months old today!!

 I can hardly even believe it. Just stop growing up, please! Here is what you are up to as of today:

-You are crawling on hands and knees now. Finally. You've been belly crawling for a while, but you just found out this week that crawling on all fours is a lot faster and takes a lot less work. Not to mention, it’s super cute to see your little bum in the air, everywhere you go.
-You pull yourself up to everything these days. Your walker, your changing table, a basket, my leg. EVERYTHING. You can usually get out of it, but on the rare occasion that you can’t, you freak out. A lot.
-I found out today that you hate grass. You cried every time I put you on it, but you were perfectly fine on the cement. Ya weirdo.
-You have gotten to the point that I think you know when dad has been gone for most of the day and when he comes home, you get excited. Most of the time you smile and are super giggly, but sometimes you even put your head on his shoulder! That’s actually a really big deal in this house.
-Speaking of which, you’ve been really cuddly this week and I love it. For the past few nights, I haven’t been feeding you when you wake up at night {which has been a lot because you’re teething.}. Instead, I just give you your binky and cuddle you and you put your head on my chest and fall right back to sleep. There have been times where it’s 1 in the morning and I know I should go back to bed, but I just have to sit and soak up the moment with you for ten minutes. I’m sad that you don’t feel good, but it does my heart good to get some snuggles in with you!
-You have 2 and 1/2 teeth. That 3rd one should break through any day now! I think we're all pretty excited about it. For more reasons than one.
-I think you’re addicted to Cafe Rio just as much as I am.
-You’ve gotten really big into pointing lately. Half the time, I don’t know what you’re pointing at, but it’s like you want me to notice every little thing around me. I love seeing that tiny little finger pop up.
-You’re really into ordering Copper around. Or at least that’s what it looks like. You will point at him and yell, but the weird thing is, you don’t do it to either dad or me. Just Cop. You love him so much. He just tolerates you.
-You have ridiculously tiny feet. You’re still in size 0-3 month shoes. I keep buying you size 3-6 because I know you’ll grow into them and all, but as for now, your feet keep slipping out of them and it’s kind of annoying. Where did you get your tiny feet from?!
-If I put socks on your feet, I can guarantee that they will be off of them in a matter of seconds. I rarely will open the car door to get you out of your carseat and see you with socks still on. It’s okay though. I’m not a socks girl either.
-You love going down the stairs, backwards. Your doctor said that now that you’re crawling, one of the first things we need to do is to teach you how to properly go down the stairs - on your belly with your feet first. You can’t do it on your own yet because you’re kind of a shorty, but every time I show you how to do it, you think it’s the funniest thing ever.
-You motivate me to keep the kitchen clean. I can’t leave you to play with your toys in the living room when I have stuff to do in the kitchen anymore. You want to be right by my side and of course, you manage to find every piece of food {or not food} on the floor and it goes right into your mouth. Gross.
-You love books. Reading stories with Dad is seriously one of your favorite times of the day. You like turning the pages for him.
-You’re slowly learning ‘nose’, ‘ear’, and ‘mouth’. You’ve known ‘nose’ for a while and will point to mine when I say it, but you haven’t quite caught onto the other two yet. You mostly just like to point them out, even when I don’t say them. I will be looking at you and you will grab my face and fling it to the side, just so you can touch my ear. Or you’ll poke me directly in the eye. That’s always fun. You love that my eyes open and close.
-I bought you a picnic basket for Easter with play food and cups and plates and your favorite thing about it is taking everything out and scattering it all over the living room. Same with the remote console downstairs. You don’t give up on that thing until every last item is taken out of it.
-You can’t hold an ear plug without it going directly into your mouth. And that’s just gross.

That’s all that I can think of as of now. I can’t believe how much you are growing and learning. It’s exciting to see the new phases that are happening, but it’s breaking my heart that you are slowly becoming more of a toddler and less of a baby. :( I sure do love you, sweet pea!

Love,

Mama

dear baby a.

happy 9 month birthday today, sweet cheeks! 

i can't believe you're 3/4 of a year old. oh, how quickly time goes by. i wish i could slow it down, but then again, things keep getting more and more fun with you that i think i would be missing out on a lot. we went to the dr today and they determined that you are ridiculously disproportioned. your head is huge and you're way short. it's weird. but at least it makes for you being adorable! here is what you're up to these days:

-you've learned how to army crawl. you can get up on your hands and knees, but you can't quite go anywhere yet. i think it's because of your big head and belly.

-you are eating all kinds of foods. you seriously eat anything that i eat. except for the really sugary stuff. which i eat a lot of. you choke a lot too. which scares the crap out of me. i thought that you could handle bigger stuff and just bite it off, but you don't. if it can fit in your mouth, it's going in there.

-you love mirrors. mostly, you like seeing me in them, but you'll take whatever you can get.

-have i mentioned that you take a binky now? it's awesome. sometimes you will wake up from your nap, then find your binky and fall back to sleep. it gives me so much time to get things done!

-you shake your head when i shake mine. it's tots adorbs.

-you are starting to babble 'mama' now! you've been saying 'dada' for a while and dad doesn't hesitate to rub it in. ;)

-this may sound crazy, but i swear you keep trying to say copper's name. every time we say it, you give a cute 2 syllable noise or just say 'per'. i'm pretty sure you're copper's best friend.

-you can walk along the coffee table downstairs! puffs are your biggest motivator. you get really frustrated when you don't get them right away though.

-your giggle is absolutely contagious!

-you have a hanging toy in your car that sings songs when you pull the cord. every time i put it up when I put you in your carseat, you give me this grin like, "hey, are you looking?" and then you pull it and smile so big and look over at me to make sure that I saw it. it pretty much makes putting you in your carseat the best thing ever. 

-speaking of you and your carseat - you love it. very rarely do you cry in it and if you do, it's because you're hungry. and even then, you are a rockstar and usually just fall asleep in a few seconds. it makes life so good that you love it!

-after waking up every two hours at night for like a month, you slept the whole night through for like 5 nights in a row, and now the last two nights, you've woken up once. that's not that bad really, but i just want you to sleep through the whole night always. :(

-you now throw full-on temper tantrums. if i take something away that you shouldn't be playing with, you throw your head back and cry so hard. it's sad, but really funny.

-usually when you wake up from your nap, instead of crying these days, you just babble all cute-like to yourself. then when I come get you, you stop whatever you're doing and stare at me before you get wiggly and bounce up and down and giggle. it's the best post-nap greeting ever.

so much of your personality is starting to show. you still aren't much of a snuggler at all, which honestly makes me super sad, but i love that you are happy and content when i'm holding you. you act like it's your happy spot and that makes me happier than i can even put into words. i've had you in the boba wrap a lot this week and i love being able to kiss your little head any time i want. also, you love seeing yourself in the mirror when you're in that thing. you laugh like none other. people used to say that the love they have for their kid makes their heart want to burst and i never knew what that was like until i met you. my heart has felt like it's wanted to pop out of my chest multiple times this week! you have been the best thing that has ever happened to our family, little girl and i thank God every day that i am blessed enough to be your mama. i love you, sweet pea.

love,

mama

and baby makes three.

well folks. it happened. zachary and i became parents. we have an 11 week old human being living in our house. {the important word here is 'living'.} i've been wanting to write this blog post almost every day for that 11 weeks, but haven't been able to. lately, it's been mostly cause i'm busy, but for the first 6 weeks it was because every time i thought about it, i wanted to break down and cry. i'll give you more on that later, but for now, there's a cute little miss in our life that you all need to meet.

so, where to start? i guess from the beginning. {don't worry, i won't go back to the very beginning. just for your sake. ;)}

•22 july 2013•

i woke up that morning at 5:27 am. i made my usual rounds on the social media sites on my phone as i tried to get myself to wake up. the top news story was that kate middleton had just been admitted to the hospital for early labor signs. yes. the duchess and i were going to have twinner babies. this was exactly what i had been hoping for all week! i kissed zachary on the cheek and told him the great news, then proceeded to get in the shower.

the entire time as i got ready that morning, all i could think about was how much our life was going to change.

"this is the last time i'll take a shower as a not mom."

"this is the last time i'll blow dry my hair as a not mom."

"this is the last time i'll get dressed as a not mom."

i was having a hard time wrapping my head around it, but i couldn't stop smiling. i then went downstairs for breakfast - zachary and i have a tradition on birthdays to have german pancakes for breakfast and we thought that this birthday should be no different.

we were told to be at the hospital by 7:00 am to be able to get everything prepped and ready to go by 7:30. well, that'd be totally acceptable for most people, but for some reason, i can't be on time to anything worth a darn. so, there we are, zachary, arika {zachary's sister/my bestie/our photographer} and i rolling up to the hospital at 7:25 am.

oh well. luckily i had already pre-registered for everything, so things went pretty quick.

we made our way to the fifth floor - the labor and delivery floor. i'd be lying if i said i didn't have butterflies up the wazoo. the nurse showed me to my room and had me change into my hospital gown. this was it. there was no going back. we would be leaving this place with a baby whether we liked it or not.

i laid on the bed as i got hooked up to an iv and waited for the doctor to come in about a half an hour later. she applied the induction gel and before i could even ask how long until contractions would start, they began to come. they were mild, but still there.

they had to monitor me for an hour and that was probably one of the longest hours of my life. not only were contractions getting harder, but let's just say that all those people who told me that your bowels wanting to be emptied was a sign of early labor - were totally right.

the moment they let me up, we took to walking the halls. it felt like i was in a movie. i didn't need to walk to induce labor because, well, the doc already had that covered for me. i walked to ease the discomfort.

after sitting on a medicine ball for as long as possible {because that thing is amazing}, back to the bed i went for more monitoring. i stayed there for about a half an hour and then the doc came in to check me. she said i was dilated to a six. yes, a six. i came in there two hours earlier at a five, how could i only be at a bloody six?! she broke my water though to speed things up and speed things up it did. not five seconds later, i started having intense contractions. like the kind that made me want to pull my uterus out. since my water was broken though, i couldn't get up and walk or sit on my exercise ball or anything. i just had to lay there. in a pool of warm amniotic fluid. uh. gross.

my goal in all of this baby having thing was to do it all without an epidural. not because i wanted to, but because i was terrified of the "big ginormous huge needle" that everyone so kindly told me about. no way josé was i going to willingly subject myself to that. that was until the contractions started bringing tears. no thank you. let's just say that the next time i have a baby {if there is a next time}, i'm asking for that epidural the moment i walk through those hospital doors. it was magical!

to spare you all the details, i started pushing like 45 minutes later and between my head wanting to explode and a couple bouts of falling asleep, out popped a baby! a beautiful, sweet, gorgeous baby. with the lungs of...err...something that has really strong lungs. man, that girl could scream! we didn't care too much. we had just experienced one of the most incredible moments in our lives and nothing was going to take away that special feeling of overwhelming love and gratitude in being able to create something so beautiful as a human life. 

adelaide candice averett

7.22.13

2:24 pm

7 lbs. 9.6 oz. 

18 1/2 inches long.

thankfully, things have gotten a lot better recently, because let me tell you - that first little bit was rooooough. but now we couldn't love this little girl more. ;) anyway, here's a video to sum up the big day. it's a little up close and personal, but arika captured everything so perfectly that i had to share. enjoy! {p.s. i don't know why, but this video kind of pixelated the pictures. for your viewing pleasure, i suggest you do it in full screen to make things crisper and cleaner. :) that's all.}

-the mrs.