milestones and what not.

I think I'll just start with some cute pictures of Adelle, since they're not really related to the post.

Here's Adelle during bath time. I just wanted to show off her pretty face and long eyelashes :D

Here's Adelle's favorite bath time pastime (that's a mouthful -- the words, not the rubber ducky).

I cannot tell you how many times we have found Adelle chewing on her binky like this. So silly.

so i bet you're all wondering what we're up to these days... well at least our cute little girl.

just a day after my last post, so on August 12th, Adelle started pulling herself up to standing in her crib. she did that for a few days and then started doing it with furniture around the living room. about a week ago she started doing a LITTLE cruising (walking while holding on to furniture), but she only does it if she sees something really worth getting. also, she has been crawling since just a couple of days before she turned 9 months, so also just a few days after my last post. She is very quick and already pretty sneaky. also, about 2 weeks ago (so right after she turned 9 months) she started saying "dada" somewhat consistently. she definitely knows who "dada" and "mama" are and will sometimes try to say "mama," especially when she's crying.

we had adelle's well-child 9 month visit on Monday and the doctor couldn't believe how healthy and on target she was! she now weighs 20 lbs and 10 oz and is 29 inches tall (that's 3 inches in 3 months). the doctor also said, because she's getting all the nutrition she needs and eating so well, that we could start to phase in whole milk instead of formula and also more finger foods (you know, since she already has EIGHT teeth). she's already had a lot of finger foods, but i think we're going to start giving her veggies primarily in the finger food form because she has developed this habit to start talking and blowing out air and making silly noises as soon as she gets a spoonful in her mouth (only with veggies or something she doesn't quite like as much as fruit), making it gets all over her and us instead of you know, into her body.

i've gotten to go to a couple rehearsals now for the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. I don't think I knew what to expect when we (my mom and I) started, but it is such a wide range of people - experience, background, AGE, etc. Overall it's a fun time, though I forgot how much Charles Bruffy loves count singing :) I'm enjoying singing again and look forward to the performances and other opportunities it may present.

Oh, and I'm 25 now, as of Saturday the 29th. So far, it feels good :P

Update!

Hello hello! Not a ton has been going on for us. We just had a transition in the house where we work, so that has kept our hands and calendars pretty full. Transitions can be really challenging -- especially when we don't have all of the information -- but we're doing the best we can with what we've got!

On Saturday, I had an audition for the Kansas City Symphony Chorus. I have been looking for ways to get back into singing for a while now, so when they emailed me about auditions (I signed up for updates from them), I was excited to get involved. I was out the door on time to take Adelle over to my parents' house while I was gone, but then everything else went wrong. First of all, I wasn't paying attention and headed for the wrong highway. Turns out I could've gone that way, but without directions, I didn't want to get lost. So, I turned around and lost about 15 minutes. Then I decided to take the North Lawrence exit to KC and there was a huge detour once I got over the bridge. I got so lost in North Lawrence trying to figure out where to go that by that time, I had burned about 35 minutes, meaning I would undoubtedly be late. Well, I was late, but only by 5 minutes and they were running about 10 minutes late! So, I had just enough time to fill out my audition form and then sing. The audition was actually fun. Charles Bruffy, the director, worked with me a little bit, having me sing my song in different ways ('Pie Jesu' from Faure's Requiem) follow by a little sight reading. Then at the end of the audition they welcomed me to the choir and gave me the music! I'm really excited to sing on a regular basis again and my mom auditioned too, so I'll always have someone to ride with.

Fun Adelle things:

• I can just lay her down on the floor, give her a bottle and she'll hold it and drink it on her own.
• She is SO CLOSE to crawling that we're having to baby proof now, except while I was taping some cords to the wall, she started going around me to get to the part that wasn't covered yet and she keeps moving what we have in front of the TV stand to cover the electronics (uh oh!). She is pretty quick pulling herself around with her arms and she does this push up thing (hard to explain), but lately she'll go forward with one knee and then lunge. So, I think she's pretty close to figuring it out. It's so funny to watch. Oh and this morning, I went in to get her and she had pulled herself up on her knees holding onto the railing of the crib. NOOO!!
• Adelle has FOUR top teeth coming in all at once! We discovered them about 3 days ago and she had been a bit fussy, so that explains it! We're having to slightly medicate her in the morning before her first bottle, or she refuses to drink it because it hurts her teeth so much. So when these fully grow in, she'll have EIGHT teeth! The top 4 and the bottom 4. She's growing up too fast!!!
• She'll be 9 months old on the 19th, just 8 days away! We've been watching the Friends DVDs again and last night we watched Season 10 The One With Emma's Birthday and it made me cry. Before we know it, Adelle will be a year old! It's going by way too fast. Before we know it, she's going to be asking for help with Math that I can't do anymore...
• And now for some pictures representing her new "skills:"

Here, Adelle is sporting her new fake smile, which I'm sure she got from us. She is always imitating the things we do. So cute.

This is Adelle in her new preferred sleeping position. Bottoms up!

And here you can see her new obsession with sticking out her tongue. She's been doing this for almost a whole month now, but it's still so funny!
I hope everyone's having a good week! Soon I'll post a couple of projects that I recently completed.

Enjoy!

Clapping!

I mentioned in the last post that a goal for the week was to record Adelle clapping and overall just being cute, so this is some footage I took last night. (please excuse the clothes on the floor behind her and Luke sleeping on the couch) Enjoy!

Oh, and she has 2 more teeth coming in! She already has the 2 in the middle on the bottom row and now 1 on either side of those is just breaking through the gums.

8 months and a new missionary in the fam.

all of a sudden my daughter can do a bunch of stuff. like today i said "yay!" to her and she started clapping. then later i said "clap" and she clapped some more! so cute! and she has started waving, but not consistently yet. what's funny is watching her try to be mobile. she gets up on her knees and then doesn't know what to do, so she rocks a little and eventually lunges backwards. she's getting there though! oh, and she can pull herself up to a sitting position from being nearly flat on her back. it's so cute watching her figure things out!

on another note, my brother went into the MTC today! i'm excited to hear about his initial reaction and his experiences there. this is such an important thing for eric and i'm really glad he gets the opportunity to do it -- to go out on his own without family nearby and really learn how to work hard and be outspoken. this 2 years is going to affect the rest of his life so much and i am so grateful that he not only gets the chance to do it, but that there is nothing else he would rather be doing than serving as a missionary! yay! and so, i'm going to try not to miss him, but instead to be a good pen pal with words of encouragement and sincere interest. that's what he needs from his family, not "wish you were here"s.

back to the first note, my goal for the week is to get a picture of adelle, since she turned EIGHT MONTHS OLD on this past sunday, and also a video clip of her clapping and babbling. she is just so stinking cute.

if you really knew me...

you might know that i have a very slight bossy streak. and if you really knew me, you'd know there's more to say than that. let me explain.

i have a younger brother. he's nearly 20 now. before we know it, he'll be off to the MTC and then to the mission field (yes, I realize I'm referring to SLC as the mission field, but too bad, Utah! you're part of it too!) to learn about what it means to be self-sufficient, to realize how much he really values his personal space and time alone, to come to understand what it really means to work to the point of exhaustion, to draw closer to Heavenly Father than ever before, to rely on the Spirit for everything, to realize there's still so much to learn. now i'm faced with the realization that my little baby brother isn't so little anymore. i remember constantly ragging on him, not in the playful way an older sister would, but really just being bossy and kind of mean. i resented him for making me be the one to mow the lawn with this mentality that the able-bodied male should do it. i was annoyed that i was still the gopher even though he was the youngest. maybe i was just more of a pushover.

then there was that week in Kentucky where together we endured the nearly 10 hour car drive to a session of EFY (Especially for Youth), to be a part of my spiritual (and social) high. forced to be friends, at least for a week. now don't get me wrong, we always had our moments, though they were often heavily shadowed by my motherly attitude of "you should do what i say" or "you should feel bad for not doing what i say."

eventually i got over myself (some), got married and moved out and now we can actually talk on the phone, talk as peers, talk as brother and sister. i tease him about girls, impress him with my vast growing NBA knowledge, and watch him play with my little girl as I realize she'll be nearly 3 when she gets to play with her uncle Eric again.

but it really is worth it.

Eric, i am so excited for you. we won't be too far away and you'll constantly be in our prayers, that your time will be well-spent, not just for you, but also for the people in Salt Lake City (I guess you ARE going to a foreign land afterall, hee hee). Good luck and don't be surprised if Mom cleans your room while you're gone!

And I hope you'll forgive me in advance for my poor pen pal skills, but we'll do our best!

Love, your youngest big sister, Heidi.

craigslist

I love looking at antiques and random stuff on craigslist and came across this:

life is so good when you choose to be an active part of it.

i got up this morning determined -- determined to do something more than i did yesterday, specifically to start the day more active and involved in the outside world. so, i went to the grocery store. :) i loaded up adelle in the stroller and walked down the long street to hy-vee, where we browsed a little while, got some things we needed, and walked back home again. this is one of the nicer days we've had in a few weeks, so it was really great to be out in it. adelle fell asleep on the walk home and i was just trying to keep her legs shaded (i'm sure i looked silly walking to the side of the stroller, pulling it rather than pushing it from behind).

this has been a really busy week and i've really enjoyed it:

on thursday evening, i got off some time from work and went with my sister kelly to the mormon tabernacle choir in kansas city at the sprint center. we had a lot of fun and even got there a bit early. we were playing games on her iphone watching people running in at the last minute (this is one of the most embarrassing things for me about the LDS culture... always late! ... and i am guilty of this at times as well, but not for something like this -- there were lines of people walking in through the first song). i probably wouldn't have gone if it wasn't for my friend Greg who is in the choir and sent me 2 tickets, but i am glad i got the opportunity to be there. it reminded me of some goals/desires i once had that got pushed to the backburners while life happened... more on that later.

friday after we worked half a day, luke, adelle and i packed up the car and drove to st. louis to my brother Craig's house. we stayed there overnight and then went to the St. Louis Temple on Saturday early afternoon to go with my brother Eric and my sister Kelly, both of them going for the first time. my brother Eric is preparing to leave for the Mission Training Center to train to be a missionary in the Salt Lake City South mission. it was a really great experience to be in the temple with so many family members... i just wish that everyone could've gone. i am definitely grateful to Craig and Vanessa for being willing to stay and watch the kids. it was a really great trip and just reminded me of how Luke and I need to be making a better effort to go often. there are always reasons not to go... it's so easy to say you're too busy or that you can't get off work, but when it's really important to you, you make it the priority and honestly, when we told our boss how important it was for us to go, she found people to be on call for us herself and made sure we got to go. that was such a huge blessing and definitely not something that always happens.

i'm tempted to start rambling, so instead i'll just end with a super cute Adelle picture from today.

Adelle pic of the week:

I hope you will overlook the messy sweet potatoes on her face and notice how stinking cute Adelle is in her daddy's KU hat. What's funny is that she kept it on for a really long time... it didn't even bother her. Then of course Luke put it over her eyes and she tore it off and threw it on the ground.

I like her.

blog surfing.

i really don't blog surf very often. i stick to the blogs i know and have been invited to read... most of the time. but every once in a while i'll do a little blog surfing and come across something that looks kind of like this:

This blog is open to invited readers only

http://{insert clever blog title here}.blogspot.com/

It doesn't look like you have been invited to read this blog. If you think this is a mistake, you might want to contact the blog author and request an invitation.

Makes me feel like a total stalker.

{insert awkward scream here}

quick update!

I'm sorry I've been away for so long, but I just wanted to do a quick update and let everyone know that all is well. I took this picture of Adelle today and just wanted to let everyone know that she's just as cute as ever :) She's a really good eater and we're slowly working in the puffs and soon she'll start meat (at the end of the week when she turns SEVEN MONTHS on the 19th!). She babbles pretty much constantly and is playing with different sounds. She thinks the 'p' sound is hilarious and does it a lot, as well as the 'b.' She's growing up too fast!!!!

In other news, my little brother Eric got his mission call last month and will be serving in the SLC South mission. He goes into the MTC on July 22nd and we're all really excited for him! Very soon, we will go to the temple with Eric as well as with my sister Kelly. I haven't been to the temple since before I was pregnant, so I am REALLY looking forward to that. And I'm really grateful to our boss who is so understanding and said she'd be the backup so we can be gone on the weekend.

Unfortunately, this is all I have time for at the moment, but I'm going to try and play a little catch up here soon. If not, I'll at least be blogging more frequently than once a month. And in the meantime, check out my craft blog!