Our fellow blog readers: I came across (through a friend of a friend of a friend--you know how it is) an opportunity to help a family adopt a little girl from Korea. They are raising the funds needed to bring her home. They're offering a great raffle, so while donating to help this family out, you could also win some cool prizes (it's really a win-win situation!). Steve and I decided to pitch in and support them and thought you may be interested in checking it out!
You can click on the raffle link above or go directly to their blog:
http://asisterforthebean.blogspot.com/
Best of luck to the family!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
How Addie celebrated the Inauguration of our 44th president
The inauguration of President Barack Obama started at around 11:30am Eastern Standard time--precisely the time Ms. Adeline Eve went down for her nap. We were a bit bummed that having a child meant that trekking into downtown DC for the festivities was just not a viable option (it was below freezing yesterday and where on earth would we change a diaper?), but being in the same metropolitan area gave us a little sense of the excitment and electricity in the air.
Steve didn't have to go in to work until the afternoon, so while we celebrated the making of history by watching it from the warmth of our living room couch, a little someone was dreaming of strawberries, butterflies, and baby dolls (that little TV on the bottom is our video monitor).
A couple more.....
Our little Ms. Sassy Pants.
Peek-a-boo!!!!
Steve didn't have to go in to work until the afternoon, so while we celebrated the making of history by watching it from the warmth of our living room couch, a little someone was dreaming of strawberries, butterflies, and baby dolls (that little TV on the bottom is our video monitor).
A couple more.....
Our little Ms. Sassy Pants.
Peek-a-boo!!!!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Monica's Parenting Tip #43493
Monica's Parenting Tip #43493:
Don't teach your child that you can see a playback of those short video recordings video you take of your adorable little one on your digital camera.
Because one day, when you're trying to capture their 14-month old shots to record how beautiful and grown-up they are, you get anger that you're not playing those videos. Instead of toothy smiles (she has 12 teeth now!), you end up with this:
and this...
and this...
and this.
Happy 14 month old, my darling little cranky-pants :)
Don't teach your child that you can see a playback of those short video recordings video you take of your adorable little one on your digital camera.
Because one day, when you're trying to capture their 14-month old shots to record how beautiful and grown-up they are, you get anger that you're not playing those videos. Instead of toothy smiles (she has 12 teeth now!), you end up with this:
and this...
and this...
and this.
Happy 14 month old, my darling little cranky-pants :)
Saturday, January 10, 2009
You've got a Friend in Me
Addie loves her baby friends! Megan and I discovered that Addie and Reese had the exact same outfit, so we couldn't resist...as tickled as we were by our "twins," the girls didn't seem as thrilled about it :)
And this week Addie has been able to put a name to a face besides Mama and Dada. She looks at a photo of Reese and says "Eese"
My friend Beth was celebrating a birthday last weekend and her parents, sister, and brother-in-law came to help them celebrate. We had the honor of watching Beth's ridiculously adorable and well-behaved niece Abby for the evening. Abby and Addie (say it 5 times fast) got along so well together! They played together, dined together, and bathed together. During dinner they had the cutest conversation with each other:
And because I can't resist that smile...here is Adeline herself, all cute and cuddly :)
And this week Addie has been able to put a name to a face besides Mama and Dada. She looks at a photo of Reese and says "Eese"
My friend Beth was celebrating a birthday last weekend and her parents, sister, and brother-in-law came to help them celebrate. We had the honor of watching Beth's ridiculously adorable and well-behaved niece Abby for the evening. Abby and Addie (say it 5 times fast) got along so well together! They played together, dined together, and bathed together. During dinner they had the cutest conversation with each other:
And because I can't resist that smile...here is Adeline herself, all cute and cuddly :)
Friday, January 2, 2009
A year in review
So this movie was started LAST YEAR (it's fun saying that now that it's 2009) and it had an estimated finish date of Addie's birthday.
Wellll.....things got busy and this got put on the back burner, but...beter late than never, right?
Happy first year, Addie! We love you!!
Wellll.....things got busy and this got put on the back burner, but...beter late than never, right?
Happy first year, Addie! We love you!!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Winter Holidays--Adeline Style
The end of each calendar year brings in a slew of holidays and their accompanying festivities. Addie has one Jewish parent and one Catholic parent, so she gets to celebrate both Hannukah AND Christmas, the lucky duck. We were able to spend time with family, eat delicious traditional foods, indulge in treats, and get fun gifts.
We've also had a few extra parties in between. My wonderful Moms Group (seen in such posts as "halloween party") hosted a cookie exchange party and Addie thorougly enjoyed hanging out with her baby friends.
While the moms exchanged cookies and gabbed, Addie formed a rock band with Chase...
...tried to help organize another "pile o babies" picture...which thoroughly failed due to the babies' increasing mobility (but isn't Wyatt's santa outfit adorable?)...
...and convinced Chase to break into the Mommies' cookie stash. Yum! Too bad for the babies we got it cleaned up before the others got wind of the conspiracy.
The first night of Hannukah led us to Grandma Eva's house where Addie snuggled in with Uncle Dan in front of a football game...
...opened some fun presents...
...oohed and ahed over the calendar we made for Grandma, starring Adeline herself...
...and waited excitedly for the delicious latkes (which were, of course, fantastic).
We got Addie 8 little presents which she opened up on each day of Hannukah (okay, most of them we just handed to her...and we did forget some days--surely in future years "forgetting" a gift won't be as easy), but she loved them!
Here she is hugging day 2's gift--a little stuffed monkey. Gotta love the Target dollar aisle!
Then it was onward and upward--we drove up to New Jersey to celebrate Christmas with the Silvestro side of the family. Uncle Doug and Aunt Alli hosted at their house, so we bundled up, packed up the car and headed up for the fun!
Doug and Alli have all the comforts of home that a baby needs. They have their own portable crib, they've covered all the outlets (thank you!), and they even have a super-cool Batman hooded towel for Addie (and Alli's nephew Chris) to use on visits.
Addie got to explore her stocking on Christmas Eve.
And we found her hiding in Doug and Alli's crazy huge stocking (yes folks, it's 4 feet long, and it was FILLED with their presents for each other
Christmas morning was fun, cozy, and filled with fun gifts!
After a few days, we headed south to Gramma-san and Poppy Silvestro's where we got to catch up with the extended Silvestro clan...
...be snuggled and kissed all day long...
...and got even MORE cool gifts, like this tutu, which she clearly adores.
All this celebration and fun is wonderful, but it certainly tires a little girl out!
Happy Holidays to everyone and a Happy New Year. 2008 was an amazing amazing year for us and we want to thank each and every one of you who have followed our journey from brand new parents of a little itty baby to slightly more experienced parents of a curious, fiesty, expressive, vivacious toddler.
Love,
Monica, Steve, and Adeline Eve
We've also had a few extra parties in between. My wonderful Moms Group (seen in such posts as "halloween party") hosted a cookie exchange party and Addie thorougly enjoyed hanging out with her baby friends.
While the moms exchanged cookies and gabbed, Addie formed a rock band with Chase...
...tried to help organize another "pile o babies" picture...which thoroughly failed due to the babies' increasing mobility (but isn't Wyatt's santa outfit adorable?)...
...and convinced Chase to break into the Mommies' cookie stash. Yum! Too bad for the babies we got it cleaned up before the others got wind of the conspiracy.
The first night of Hannukah led us to Grandma Eva's house where Addie snuggled in with Uncle Dan in front of a football game...
...opened some fun presents...
...oohed and ahed over the calendar we made for Grandma, starring Adeline herself...
...and waited excitedly for the delicious latkes (which were, of course, fantastic).
We got Addie 8 little presents which she opened up on each day of Hannukah (okay, most of them we just handed to her...and we did forget some days--surely in future years "forgetting" a gift won't be as easy), but she loved them!
Here she is hugging day 2's gift--a little stuffed monkey. Gotta love the Target dollar aisle!
Then it was onward and upward--we drove up to New Jersey to celebrate Christmas with the Silvestro side of the family. Uncle Doug and Aunt Alli hosted at their house, so we bundled up, packed up the car and headed up for the fun!
Doug and Alli have all the comforts of home that a baby needs. They have their own portable crib, they've covered all the outlets (thank you!), and they even have a super-cool Batman hooded towel for Addie (and Alli's nephew Chris) to use on visits.
Addie got to explore her stocking on Christmas Eve.
And we found her hiding in Doug and Alli's crazy huge stocking (yes folks, it's 4 feet long, and it was FILLED with their presents for each other
Christmas morning was fun, cozy, and filled with fun gifts!
After a few days, we headed south to Gramma-san and Poppy Silvestro's where we got to catch up with the extended Silvestro clan...
...be snuggled and kissed all day long...
...and got even MORE cool gifts, like this tutu, which she clearly adores.
All this celebration and fun is wonderful, but it certainly tires a little girl out!
Happy Holidays to everyone and a Happy New Year. 2008 was an amazing amazing year for us and we want to thank each and every one of you who have followed our journey from brand new parents of a little itty baby to slightly more experienced parents of a curious, fiesty, expressive, vivacious toddler.
Love,
Monica, Steve, and Adeline Eve
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
13 months, a visit from Erin, and signing
Guilty mom here...Adeline's 13 month birthday came and went and we didn't do an official photoshoot! It's partially because we've been busy, and partially because this girl just isn't a sit-around-and-smile-at-the-camera kind of kid anymore. Luckily, Erin came for a visit and there were tons of smiles to go around and to rec.
Erin, take me for a ride on the nemo mobile!
Momma, that tickles!
Between the weather being cold and Addie's nap schedule still all over the place, it was hard to get out and about, but we managed to hit the mall for some holiday shopping and we went to Old Town Alexandria where Erin and I spent many a day hanging out back in high school.
It was sunny out but the temperature dropped right when we got there, and Addie wasn't adjusting well.
But Aunt Erin showed her some of the planes coming in to nearby National Airport...
...and took her on a walking tour of the Torpedo Factory to warm her up.
And she was back to her adventurous self.
Some more recent cuteness. Addie's friend Reese is such a hugger! Aren't they adorable?
Psst. Wanna go empty out the pots and pans cabinet?
Addie's hair is finally growing a bit, but....not quite enough for a ribbon.
Being goofy with Daddy...as usual :)
And finally, my friend and loyal-blog-follower Steph requested a video of Addie doing sign language. We've been teaching her sign language since she was about 7 months old and while it took her awhile to pick it up, she's now doing a lot of signs. For someone who gets as frustrated as Addie does (yeah, it's hard to see it on the blog because we usually post cute and happy pictures, but Addie's kind of fiesty) it's been a lifesaver to know a few things that she can communicate without words and tears.
A common concern people have around teaching sign language to babies is whether or not having signs will mean they won't need the words and will therefore be delayed verbally. Studies show this isn't true, and in fact many babies who do sign language actually have advanced verbal skills. Who knows?
In any case...the signs that we are teaching Addie are based on American Sign Language (ASL). She has adapted some of them from the original state, but as long as we know what they are, we're not working to correct her to the exact sign. For example, the sign for "bird" is touching your pointer finger to your thumb right in front of your chin--like you have a beak...Addie does a similar motion but just in the air. And Addie's sign for "all done" has evolved from a "get me out of this high chair" desperation more so than the actual sign, but again--we know what she means :).
If you are curious to see what the signs look like, this is a great website: http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi Just click on "ASL for babies" and choose the word and you'll see a video clip of each sign.
Steve and I have no hesitation of telling anyone who is interested in teaching their baby sign language---DO IT! You will not regret it! At first it seems like you're doing the sign for no reason, there's no semblance of comprehension, then suddenly...boom, they're picking it up left and right. We taught her from a few books and some videos we've checked out from the library. It's great!
So Steph...here you go, a sampling of Addie's signing prowess (both the same video, just different formats)
Erin, take me for a ride on the nemo mobile!
Momma, that tickles!
Between the weather being cold and Addie's nap schedule still all over the place, it was hard to get out and about, but we managed to hit the mall for some holiday shopping and we went to Old Town Alexandria where Erin and I spent many a day hanging out back in high school.
It was sunny out but the temperature dropped right when we got there, and Addie wasn't adjusting well.
But Aunt Erin showed her some of the planes coming in to nearby National Airport...
...and took her on a walking tour of the Torpedo Factory to warm her up.
And she was back to her adventurous self.
Some more recent cuteness. Addie's friend Reese is such a hugger! Aren't they adorable?
Psst. Wanna go empty out the pots and pans cabinet?
Addie's hair is finally growing a bit, but....not quite enough for a ribbon.
Being goofy with Daddy...as usual :)
And finally, my friend and loyal-blog-follower Steph requested a video of Addie doing sign language. We've been teaching her sign language since she was about 7 months old and while it took her awhile to pick it up, she's now doing a lot of signs. For someone who gets as frustrated as Addie does (yeah, it's hard to see it on the blog because we usually post cute and happy pictures, but Addie's kind of fiesty) it's been a lifesaver to know a few things that she can communicate without words and tears.
A common concern people have around teaching sign language to babies is whether or not having signs will mean they won't need the words and will therefore be delayed verbally. Studies show this isn't true, and in fact many babies who do sign language actually have advanced verbal skills. Who knows?
In any case...the signs that we are teaching Addie are based on American Sign Language (ASL). She has adapted some of them from the original state, but as long as we know what they are, we're not working to correct her to the exact sign. For example, the sign for "bird" is touching your pointer finger to your thumb right in front of your chin--like you have a beak...Addie does a similar motion but just in the air. And Addie's sign for "all done" has evolved from a "get me out of this high chair" desperation more so than the actual sign, but again--we know what she means :).
If you are curious to see what the signs look like, this is a great website: http://www.aslpro.com/cgi-bin/aslpro/aslpro.cgi Just click on "ASL for babies" and choose the word and you'll see a video clip of each sign.
Steve and I have no hesitation of telling anyone who is interested in teaching their baby sign language---DO IT! You will not regret it! At first it seems like you're doing the sign for no reason, there's no semblance of comprehension, then suddenly...boom, they're picking it up left and right. We taught her from a few books and some videos we've checked out from the library. It's great!
So Steph...here you go, a sampling of Addie's signing prowess (both the same video, just different formats)
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