Video of Addie being a smiley little bear

Addie has begun to smile all the time, much to the delight of those in her company.

What tickles her the most? Watching us eat--so when trying to make her smile for the camera, there are a lot of eating noises on the audio. Therefore....there's a song to save you from hearing us go "yum yum, mmmmm. munch munchmunchmunch" over and over...and over again ;)


Enjoy!

What does a baby do with her her spare time?

Being a baby is VERY busy these days. There's a lot of pressure to develop a strong resume for college applications pretty much from birth, so Adeline has quite a full schedule:


Today we went to her first yoga class! Here she is lookin' all granola in her namaste onesie and peapod hat. (Note: about 3 seconds after I snapped this cute smile, she spit up all over the onesie--remember "Addie the volcano?" About 3 seconds after that, she started wailing--good thing I got the cute picture, eh?)


I'm a HUGE proponent of reading to children--I honestly believe you can't start too young. I try to read her a book every day--some days she actually stares at the pages, exciting me into thinking we have a literary genius on our hands, other days...she looks out the window, grunts, and passes gas. Here she is sporting her "Very Hungry Caterpillar" outfit in support of spreading baby literacy.

Addie is trying out for the very competitive baby hand sucking team--we're not talking little slurps here people. When this girl sucks on her hand, you can hear it through the whole house! Here we are practicing for the playoffs.

And finally, Addie has been working on developing her tone and musical abilities by following in her daddy's footsteps and becoming a full-fledged U2-phile. Here, Addie and Daddy sport matching t-shirts that say "Achtung Baby" (the name of a U2 album, for those who don't know) and "Achtung Daddy" (my clever take on the album's name for the sole purpose of creating the T-shirts). Surely she'll be a renaissance woman of musical instruments 15 years from now as a result of all the music she's been hearing since being in my belly.
Steve has already talked about getting her an electric guitar and lessons for her 5th birthday. Living vicariously through your children...can't go wrong with that, right? ;)


Next up...luge lessons?

2 Months Old!!

Today is the day that marks Adeline's first two months of life! I can't believe it's gone so fast, but yet again--it feels like she's been a part of our lives forever! Addie and I celebrated with a post-lunch photo session.


I'm so happy to be 2 months old today!!


Remember that we were planning to take photos of her in the laundry basket to watch her grow? Well that photo was of Adeline at 10 days old. This is her at 2 months:



Here's Addie continuing her plans for world domination by doing her best "Dr. Evil" impression:



It took awhile for her Pooh Hat to fit...


Psst, Daddy, I have a dirty diaper...

More smiles from today's photo session

Mom, why are you making those funny noises? You so silly...


I like rocking in the chair! Wait, I'm falling over...



(Okay, to be fair, I think this smile was gas-related, but the rest are real!)



Mom, isn't it time to put away the laundry?


She loves watching us eat. This was her laughing at me eating my lunch yesterday

We can't get over those smiles! Happy Birthday, Adeline!

Major diaper explosion + no extra clothes = naked carseat baby.

Bad Mommy Moment Today: I decided to leave the house without making sure the diaper bag was fully stocked with a spare set of clothes. One big diaper explosion and....naked carseat baby time!

Have no fear worriers amongst the blog readership, it's an unseasonably warm January day--almost 70 degrees


Earlier in the week, however, it was not warm at all, but it was sunny so we decided to take Addie for a walk in the carrier that our neighbors gave us. All bundled up...



...and bouncing around in the carrier apparently puts the little bear to sleep.


Unlce Dan was Adeline's first official babysitter when Steve and I went to buy a second car (2005 Subaru Outback wagon!). This is how I found the pair when I got home. She looked content...I think we'll ask him back ;)


The Happiest Baby On the Block...

Happy New Year From Addie!

As is evidenced by this series of smiles, Addie is feeling much better. She's wearing an outfit worn by her Daddy when he was a baby! It was a bit tight on her so this was probably the last chance for her to wear it--Daddy Steve was even more of a peanut--he was only a bit over 4lbs when he was born! According to the docs at the hospital this weekend, Adeline was 75% in her weight and 85% in her height! Even though her virus caused her to lose a bit of weight at the hospital, as you can see by her cheeks, she's not starving ;)

One of her many nicknames is "little bear" and we think this outfit made her look like a cuddly little cub!





Smiling at Steve and Uncle Dan :)


Happy New Year, everyone!

We're going home!

For those who haven't read the previous post or heard the news yet, Addie wasn't feeling well Thursday night after coming home from a wonderful Christmas in NJ. We headed straight to the hospital after discovering she had a fever of 103. Due to her very young age, they had to do a series of invasive tests, including a spinal tap :( and the results of those tests takes 48 hours, so we were admitted to the hospital and she was hooked up to IV antibiotics almost the whole time.

Well friends and family, luckily, the test results we were waiting for came back negative, so we're heading home as soon as they let me check out of this place! They think the fever was caused by a gastro-intestinal infection.

Here are a few pics documenting Addie's first (and hopefully last) hospital stay.

She loves listening to her Daddy singing to her.

The "cast" on her hand is to protect her from ripping out or damaging the IV line. See how blurry it is? She is such an active little fussbudget, that she kept hitting herself in the head and face with this thing! :)

Don't worry, mommy, I'm feeling better and we're going home soon!


Thank you for your well wishes. :) Love you all!

Monica

Adeline celebrates Christmas! =) ...then gets sick :(

Addie celebrated her first Christmas with the Silvestro family in New Jersey. I had downloaded most of the photos to the blog and was just ready to put the captions in, but put it off until we got back to DC. Well...we got back to DC and took Addie to the hospital half an hour later because she had a fever of 103. We went to the ER and she went through a bunch of invasive tests. Because she's so young, they had to do a spinal tap to rule out meningitis and we're here in the hospital for 48 hours until the cultures come back. She's doing a LOT better and the fever is gone, but she has some gastro-intestinal stuff in the form of not-so-normal diapers :) She's going to be fine, and we'll keep you all updated.

Addie was psyched to make the trip up to Jersey to see the fam. She slept for most of the car ride, and she was rarin' to go once we got there!

So were Grams & Poppy, who'd been counting down the hours until Addie's arrival.

Poppy making sure it's the same baby he saw 5 weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Aunt Alli & Uncle Douggo patiently waited for their turn to hold her....

.....and waited......

......and waited....

....and waited (cute, huh?).....

.....but they finally got their turn! ;)

Of course, by then, they had forgotten what they were waiting for and were surprised to see a baby!

Addie had a blast getting ready for Christmas--she hung her own "first Christmas" ornament on the tree, and even had her own stocking by the fireplace.




She loved it so much, we even found her hiding inside of her stocking.... But we had to pull her out, because on Christmas Eve she got to meet Aunt Anna Marie, Aunt Franny, Cousin Jen, and Great-Grandmom for the very first time!

Here with her proud Great-Grandmom!

Meeting her cousin Jen, who will undoubtedly give Addie some fashion tips as she gets older!

Four generations of Silvestros!

Addie's pre-Christmas present from the Grams & Pops was a bouncy chair, which she loved. It even plays music and vibrates, just like those chairs at Brookstone in the mall!

From her bouncy seat, Addie called for a meeting. She quickly took control of "The Family" and announced her plans to take over the world. We nodded in agreement.

The face of world domination.

Addie got more loot on Christmas Day than the rest of us combined! Funnily enough, she slept through the whole thing, which meant that we got to open her presents for her. Woo-hoo!

"Wow! A granddaughter--just what I wanted!"

Coolest Grand-daddio ever!

Addie gave her mom a very special Christmas present--a necklace with both of their birthstones.

Addie got a workout with the G-Pops. He worked day-in and day-out to build up her grip and get her head up during tummy time. Next visit: bench press!

Post-workout snuggle time with mommy!

The girls show some holiday spirit. Monica's already started swapping wardrobes with her daughter.

We hope you all have a wonderful new year filled with love, happiness & fun! We'll be sure to keep it filled with more pictures of Addie! =)