Christmas Pictures

Well....Alida's first Christmas has come and gone :-( Too quickly as usual. She did an awesome job ripping the paper from her gifts and was, of course, more interested in the wrapping then the gift itself!! Hope you enjoyed pictures of Alida's first Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

We love you all!!!!

Some recent pics....

Asleep after a car ride.



Playing in the dryer (I swear it wasn't hot or anything!!).



Before bed with Daddy.



In the exersaucer with rosy cheeks.



Asleep after another car ride....the car is like a drug for her! She falls asleep every time!


Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!! :-)

6 months old!!!!

Oh my goodness!! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last posting!!!!! WOW! Time is flying! Alida is now 6 months old....that happened over night it seems! She is smiling and giggling all the time. People constantly comment on how happy and calm she seems to be. She impresses me day after day! There are days that go by that she doesn't even cry at all!!!!! It amazes me how she can be so happy and content so much of the time at this age. I certainly expected to have to cater to her more than I do. She is now sitting up and standing all the time. She will not sit still though. Even while holding her she will arch her back and try to scoot down....I don't know where she thinks she is going!!! She obviously can't walk yet! It's very funny!!!

Let's see....she just had her 6 month check up and now weighs 15 lbs 7 ounces and measures 25 1/2 inches. She is at 50th percentile for both weight and length. For a while there she was at 75th percentile for length and I was rooting for her hoping that she wouldn't be stuck as shorty like her mommy for the rest of her life. Well, there is still time!!

We have been down to visit Matt's sister and the twin boys a few times. Wow! They are a lot of work! Props to Christie....she is doing an EXCELLENT job! I am so proud of her, as we all are!! I only wish I could help her out more! With Alida being there I find myself not being able to help as much as I would like to. Can't expect much from a baby though, things are never "predictable". She is much 'easier' to take care of at home, that's for sure!

We are getting ready for Christmas and of course haven't even completed half of our shopping yet!!! No surprise there! I can't wait to celebrate Alida's first Christmas!! SOOOOO EXCITING!!!! :-)

Hope all is well with everyone!! I promise to get better with posting. I am going to try and post at least one picture a week - it's much more interesting to see pics rather than read postings! Maybe I will shoot for Wednesdays since that is my day off.

Here is a picture that my favorite photographer, Suzanne Collier, took recently. Visit her website - listed on my main blog page, if you are ever in need of an exceptional photographer!!!!!

I got Elfed

This is so cute!! A friend of mine sent it over and I just had to do it!!!! ENJOY!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9556397538

Any suggestions????

I am in search of some Parenting books to help me through the next year :-) I need some piece of mind and some good solid advice that I can reference when it comes to several things...the major one being sleep habits. I have talked to a lot of people and have gotten a lot of good advice....now I am looking for a good book or two so that I can have a reference on hand. Does anyone have any suggestions??? There are soooo many books on the market and I really don't want to blow money on a "bad" book. Please share any of your suggestions with me!!!! Thanks everyone!!!!

Halloween

Even though Alida can't enjoy Halloween it was so much fun dressing her up!!! She made the most adorable butterfly ever!!!!

Alida's Beach Trip

Alida's first run with cereal

At the beach.


Feeling the sand for the first time with her friend Devyn.


With Aunt Kris.


All bundled up on a windy day.



Hi all!! Alida had her first beach experience this past week. She loved it!! The ocean waves captivated her and the feel of the sand on her little toes made her squeal!! It was adorable! We spent 3 days in LBI with Mom-Mom and a few of her friends. Alida adapted so easily to her new surroundings. She took her regular naps and slept the nights through without incident (well, except for one 3 am feeding). I have to say that time and again she impresses me!!

She is still growing like a weed! She was at the docs about 2 weeks ago....she weighed 13 lbs 13 oz and was 25 inches long. We started cereal (oatmeal and rice), she seems to be ok with it....not too excited but she eats it pretty well.

Alida has apparently decided that she doesn't really want to take the bottle anymore, which has been an issue for some time but after getting better has gotten worse again. We've tried different nipples and different bottles but she just seems to really like nursing more than anything. It's a really hard thing to deal with....the guilt is not easily dismissed :-( All I can do is hope that God finds a way for me to be with her more and more each day.

4 months have come and gone!!

Alida as a Scarecrow!!

In the corn maize.

Alida with Mason and Olivia :-)

In the pumpkin patch.

On the hayride with Daddy.

Can you believe it??!! 4 months have come and gone!!! I am still in shock at how quickly my little itty bitty baby is growing up! I want to have another little one!! Did I just say that?! HA!! I guess Matt’s in for more trouble than he expected. Recently we discussed how many children we would like to have…Matt is happy with just Alida but I am dying to have at least 3 children! He says that 2 is the limit!! :-( I guess I will have to give it some time and see where God leads us!
This past Sunday we met up with friends at Freddy Hill Farms for some Fall Fun!! Alida couldn’t enjoy it but she sure got some visual stimulation!! I had a great time! We went on a hayride, through a corn maize, picked pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, and watched the pig races!! It was so much fun! I think that Matt even enjoyed it. It will be even better when Alida can run around and take it all in!!

Her Old Navy Romper....

I had to post these pics real quick. I just think they turned out so good!! Her outfit is sooo cute! ENJOY!

It's been a while....

Alida staring at her fingers....


In my favorite little outfit! It has flowers on the rear too!! :)


Blowing bubbles!!


Alida and her favorite person :) (until she turns 16!!)


Smiling at Mom-Mom!

I absolutely cannot believe how fast Alida is growing!!! Matt and I measured her the other night because she seems to be outgrowing her PJ's already!!! (they are 3 - 6 month size) She is 25 inches long already!!! We go back to the doctor in about 2 weeks - I'll bet that she weighs a good 13 pounds! She has been doing all kinds of cute things these days....she picks up some of her toys, she brings her hands together and clasps them and then brings them to her mouth, she blows lots of bubbles and even makes a cute noise when doing it, she giggles at all kinds of stuff (and then usually gets the hiccups if she laughs hard enough), she smiles constantly at everything and everyone, she lets out playful little screams on occasion, she babbles a lot more than she used to, she is inches from rolling over from her back to her belly, she does 180's when she is lying on her back, the list goes on and on.....can you tell that I am a proud momma or what??!!


Well, work has been ok...I miss Alida terribly and pray for a miracle so that I can spend more time with her. Matt has started his new job and seems to really love it!!! I hope it works out well for us. Soon we will be putting our home on the market so that I can go back to school...hopefully it all works out. Hope everyone is doing well!!!!

My little Dutch baby!!

Every time I go to post a picture I can never decide which ones to put in!! I take about 5 - 10 pictures every day ( I have been told that I NEED to stop doing that). It's just so hard not to!!

Well, I had to share the most recent....I LOVE the last one. My granny (Alida's great-granny and namesake) knitted the hat, sweater and booties before she passed away. I just love how cute they look on her - just like a little Dutch baby!!!

Not much is new - Alida is still sleeping through the night - 10 hours like a champ and growing like crazy - 11 lbs 12 oz last time we checked. I head to work this Monday (I'm trying not to think about it too much). I will miss Alida terribly but I know she will be in good hands!! I will probably be posting a lot more once work starts - I get a little bored there sometimes :-)

Back to work :-(

This is Alida at her first picnic in VA!

This is Alida and her best friend Olivia!!

Daddy burping Alida...she always looks so much older when she sits up :-)

A smile actually caught on camera!!!

I cannot believe how time has flown!!! In two weeks I have to return to work :-( Something that I am not looking forward to! I absolutely love being a mom and spending time with my little angel!!! I don't necessarily hate my job but who wouldn't rather spend time with this beautiful little baby?! Every day she changes a little bit more. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait until she could smile at me.....now I can't wait till she laughs!
She went to the doc the other day...she already weighs 11 lbs and 6 oz!! She is growing so fast - she measured 22 1/2 inches long. Almost 4 lbs and 3 inches since birth!!
She is still sleeping through the night....every single night!! Anywhere between 8 and 10 hours! I am not looking forward to the nights where she wakes at 3 am and won't go back to sleep. I pray to God every night that she keeps sleeping like a champ. I am sure that she will be up all night the night before I go back to work.
So, for motherhood....I love it! I feel as though I could join my sister and have 7 more!!! Matt would never ever agree to it though :-)

Growing and Changing!

Here are some pics of her in recent days. It's so hard to pick which ones to post....I love them all!! The last one was taken by a photographer frined of mine - http://collierimages.com/ - I just love it!!!!

The days seem to be flying by!! I keep trying to post something and then something else pops up and I don't get a chance. I sure thought that I would be keeping up with this a lot better than I have!! Alida is growing and changing soooo much every single day. Sometimes I look at her and still can't believe that she's my little girl. She "talks" all the time and seems to be quite full of smiles these days :-) I find myself spending most of the time having "conversations" with her. It's just so freaking cute!! Her favorite word right now is "Hu-ka" - I love it!! It sounds so adorable when she says it over and over. WE spent the weekend in VA and she did wonderfully!! She still sleeps all the time and rarely cries. She still fusses a good bit in the evenings but it has gotten considerably better. She now sleeps between 8 and 10 hours every night!!!! I still don't understand what it's like to be up all hours of the night....I am hoping that I never will!! :-)

Holy Cow!

I couldn't believe it when she did it.....she rolled over!!! From her belly to her back. I didn't expect it to happen this early! I thought she would be more like 3 or 4 months old! She has done it a total of 4 times. 3 times in a row and then once the day after. My girlfriends from college, Lisa and Michelle, were over for dinner and they got to witness it!! How exciting!

Alida is all smiles these days....except when she is tired, cranky, hungry or has a dirty diaper :-) I love when she gets up in the morning, that's when she smiles the most!

6 weeks old!

She keeps on changing!!! Every day she seems a little more alert and a little more mature. She holds her head up pretty well these days - when she is tired she doesn't do that great of a job but she still tries. She has started smiling a lot more too! This morning she gave me several "full " smiles. She has been giving "half" smiles where it seems only one side of her mouth curls up. This morning both sides curled up and her little eyes got squinty and she wrinkled her nose up a little bit. Soooooo adorable. I tried to get it on video then but she stopped as soon as I grabbed the camera - go figure!!
Thought I'd share a few more pics of her.....I have a million pictures, I think I might need to scale them down before I get them developed.

There goes the Friday posts.....

Doesn't she look hilarious in this pic?? She looks so much older than she really is!! Even though Matt is holding her up she is really holding her own head!! She is doing really well that these days! She has better control when she is in an upright position rather than lying on the floor - she still needs a little help from gravity!!I think I might end up with 100's of pics of the two of them sleeping together! It's not hard to get them since they both love to sleep so much!!!!

Well, I tried to post something every Friday but it was much easier to keep up with when I was sitting in front of a computer every Friday for 9 hours!!!
Alida took her first out of state trip to her Aunt and Uncle's house this past week. It was a long ride but she did excellently!! She is so adaptable....Matt and I are lucky!!!
Last week she had a doc appt., she now weighs 9 lbs and 4 oz. She is growing so quickly!! She measured 20 1/4 inches. She received her first shot and I ended up crying with her. I didn't think it would affect me but it really did!!! Poor little girl. At her next appointment she gets 4 shots.....I won't be taking her to that appointment alone!
Last night she slept for 8 hours!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it! And what's even better is that when she woke up in the morning and I picked her up she gave me a big smile!!!!! She must have been starving but instead of crying she smiled. She keeps on amazing me!!
Yesterday, mom-mom and I took her to my aunt's pool. She took a little dip and was surprisingly ok with it. She looked so cute in her little bikini and her bonnet. She didn't spend much time in the pool....maybe 5 minutes or so, then she took a nap so mommy could relax in the pool :-)
Well, time to go and feed the princess. I hear her stirring.....