Cajun-Style Baby

Last weekend, we went to visit Steve's Grammy, Aunt Robbie, Uncle Jimmy, and cousins Big Doug & Greg in Louisiana. Addie's first big expedition, and what an expedition it was--with four plane rides and over a dozen hours in the air or airports! But not only did she do great, sleeping through almost three entire flights, she had a blast and so did we!

Here's Addie checking out the view from 35,000 feet:



This was Addie's first time meeting Grammy and Aunt Robbie, and she loved them both from the start. As soon as she saw Aunt Robbie at the airport, Addie cracked a giant open-mouthed smile...which continued the rest of the weekend. =)


The four-generation shot on the Picco side:


Addie's first (bigperson) pool experience came this weekend, too. She was a little suspicious at first, but soon splashed away like a chubby little fish!


"Why swim for myself when I can just ride on Daddy's lap?"


Lots of splashing and fun = tired baby (the one wearing the hat).


But never fear--an hour nap and some food in the belly bring Happy Adeline back to play.


Ads and Grammy swapped stories all weekend. Grammy's had to do with growing up in India, meeting Steve's grandfather in World War II, and raising five kids. Addie's were more like: "Babababa damama bah."


Whenever we were with Uncle Jimmy, Big Doug or Greg, we were cooking barbeque, watching soccer, or eating...with the camera tucked away somewhere else. So here's a picture of us all with Grammy, but you can just imagine their faces instead of ours if you like!


Eskimo kisses from Grammy, passed on to the new generation--they're loved by everyone!


We had a great time and want to thank Grammy (and Socks & Sin the cats!) for letting us stay over, and Aunt Robbie for driving us around and taking care of everything. Addie had a blast and is already looking forward to coming down again... =)

Happy Father's Day, Steve!!!

Yesterday was Steve's very first Father's Day! How did we celebrate? Well, we spent almost the entirety traveling, but hey, we were all together!! :) We went to visit his side of the family down in Lafayette, Louisiana and we had the most wonderful time. I'll be posting pictures and stories from the trip in the next day or two, but for now....some "Addie and Mommy get ready for Father's Day" fun that transpired last week:

Fingerpainting!!! I don't know who had more fun, me or Addie!


First I got some non-toxic fabric paint and let Addie at it on a t-shirt

Just a little messy. Oh so happy.

Here's the final product:



I knew the fabric paint was non-toxic, but I wasn't sure how hard it would be to wash it off Addie's body, so we limited the paint time with that stuff, but what fun is that? So I also got some Crayola Non-Toxic Washable finger paint to make a big old mess (er....card) for Steve.


Wheeeeeeeee!!!

Hmmm....what would this taste like?



It's bathtime already??

Oh yes it is :)

Too much fun!!


So the t-shirt was Steve's present from Addie.

This was my present to Steve. Thank you so much for being the best father you can be to Addie. Better than I could ever have imagined. I love you so much.

7 Months. Yes, really!

Addie is now 7 months old. 7 months seems WAY older than 6 months. Like she's almost a toddler or something, right?

What's new in this 7 month old's life? She's been bouncing around on her butt a lot while sitting up---bounce bounce bounce, she moves across the floor. Bounce bounce bounce, it gets her closer to something she wants to put in her mouth. She can bounce so much that she can make a full 360 degree circle, all while sitting up and bouncing.

Addie is no longer the passive little baby smiling at the camera--I took a LOT of pictures of Addie yesterday and most of them were blurry--she's always on the move--she just doesn't stop! A few selection's from this month's shoot that are actually still:





I tried to get all artistikoosh this month.




Oh yeah, and she's still completely obsessed with the camera strap.

We also had a visit from Aunt Vera this week-- Addie had a fun time playing with Aunt Vera and trying to eat her jewelry ;)


We're heading to Louisiana this weekend so that Addie can meet her great-grandmother "Grammy" (Steve's mom's mom) and her Great Aunt Robbie, Great Uncle Jimmy, and Great Cousin's Doug and Greg. Keep an eye out for pictures from the trip and her first plunge into a big-person pool, and hopefully stories of the travel that go something like this:

"Addie was great! She slept the whole time on the plane."

:)

Addie, the happiest baby ever (er...most of the time)! And some "breaking" news...

We hear this often from our loyal blog readers: Addie is always smiling! Wow, she's always so happy!

Yes, Addie has been a smiley baby for most of her life, since the very first smiles that her uncle Dan elicited way back when she was a mere 4 weeks old. Besides a few weeks where her sleep at night was at its worst and she was a total grumpola....she really is quite a happy baby.

But then we heard a few people say: "Wow...she NEVER cries, does she?" Um....well, no not never. Addie is still a baby and babies cry when they want or need something, so she cries every single day. Several times a day. Luckily, when we figure out what she wants (sleep, milk, food, water, to chew on my cell phone) she stops crying. The beauty of a blog is that you get to select the photos that go up and so we tend to either select the super-cute-smiley ones or the funny ones. But here's some proof to our readership that Addie does indeed cry.


And she cracks herself up...



And she's learning to wave...much to the delight of the fellow shoppers at Target/Costco/wherever we may be. They say "aww...look at the baby, she's so cute" and she'll reward their adoration with a big arm flap in return.


And she listens intently...usually without blinking! "Uncle" Orin and his brother Tomer came for a visit...

....here Addie is listening to Orin making his famous trumpet noises and watching his silly faces.


And she really loves the pool. Here she is getting ready for her second pool jaunt...this time in her cool rashguard surfer-girl bathing suit.


Laughing with Daddy in the (HOT) sun.


And this girl not only loves swimming in the water, but she loves drinking it. From a sports bottle to a glass, if we're drinking water, she gets very very intent on having a sip for herself. Here's a video of her chugging it down.



And now for the "breaking news"--yesterday we were giving Addie some water from the glass and we heard a strange sound that we hadn't heard before--a sort of "clinking" noise...could it be? A TOOTH? So we stuck our fingers in her mouth and felt...yes folks, a sharp sharp point breaking through the gum. Those gummy toothless smiles that you love so much will be no longer :)

Miscellaneous summer fun

With the weather as warm as it has been, it seems that summer is officially here--okay, I know it's not "official" for another couple of weeks. But when the sunblock is out and hats are required...it's summer.

What does summer mean to Addie?

Swimming!

This was Addie's first time in a pool! She was a little hesitant at first ("hmm...this water is cooler than my bath...and why am I wearing clothes and a hat?") but she loved it after just a few minutes. This baby pool with detachable sun shade will be worth its weight in gold if it keeps her entertained and cool this summer--and it only cost us $15! woohoo! I'm hoping to have a lot of pool parties with Addie's baby friends Anne, Reese, et al, this summer.



You can see more pictures from our fun pool-party here:

Watching the summer storms

We had a huge storm over the weekend and while Addie looked towards the window with every crash of thunder, she wasn't ever scared. Watching the rain come down entertained her for quite a few minutes (in baby-time, a few minutes is eons in terms of attention span!). And no, she's not pulling herself up yet, I put her there and she stayed put.

Drinking coffee

No, silly, we don't give Addie coffee, we actually don't drink much coffee ourselves. But we do like meeting up with other people who do! Here's Addie hanging out with "aunt" Danielle at the Java Shack.

Being silly

Okay, being silly is just what happens all the time in the Silvestro household, but in the summer, silliness seems to be more fun, right? Here is a series of photos from some bath-time antics.

"Do you think anyone can see me?"

"Yay, Daddy found me!"

"Mom, please sing that bunny foo foo song again as you dry me"

"oooh...what's that white stuff?"

"I can spin it...and it looks like it tastes good..."
"Ew, that didn't taste as good as I thought it would"

Summer foods!

Summer to us means fresh fruit like watermelon and strawberries...yum! I can't wait to hit the farmers markets to get fresh seasonal peaches to make for Adeline. For Addie, summer means getting to try even more new foods--Yesterday was Addie's first taste of peas!


Despite the lack of a smile here, she really did like it. We love this pic because it looks like she has a fluorescent green goatee :)

Birthdays!!

Yesterday was Steve's 28th birthday! Happy Birthday!

Addie loved helping him open his presents.


Father and daughter playing with their respective toys. Daddy--a video game, Addie...the gift bag that held the game.



Hope you're having as much summer fun as we are!!