Measure Up Monday - 41 Weeks

Sorry for being a day late.  Adriana had a big day yesterday.  First, we were busy getting stuff ready for her daddy's birthday (today).  Then Adriana had a play date with a new friend.  Back in May, a woman in the neighborhood stopped by to ask who built our deck.  When Sue answered the door, the woman (Angie) saw that we had a baby.  She was excited because she has a baby, too.  Her baby (Mia) is 3 1/2 months older than Adriana.  Angie left her information so that Mia and Adriana would be able to get together to play.  Since I'm off work now, Adriana and I have some free time, so we went over to play at Mia's house for the first time yesterday.  The girls played pretty well together, and Adriana had a lot of fun with her new
friend.  We're looking forward to more fun with our new friends this summer, and Sue has said that she would like to keep up the play dates once school starts again.  Once we finally got home (and Adriana took a nap), we got her weekly picture taken.

You can tell she was a little worn out.  She wasn't feeling too smiley.

In other big news, Adriana is saying "mama," "dada," and "baby," and we think she knows what she is saying.  She uses mama and dada correctly.  Then when I ask who she is, she'll say "bay-bay."  She also babbles these things a lot and they mean nothing, but she's getting more and more consistent.

Measure Up Monday - 40 Weeks

Adriana was so excited to take this picture.  She was playing on the floor, and I put Elmo up on the chair.  She turned, saw Elmo, and rushed over to the chair.  She started trying to climb up into the chair.  As soon as I put her beside Elmo, she "posed," as you can see.  Clearly, she knows the drill after so many weeks of doing this.

Adriana went to the doctor for her 9-month well-baby check-up.  The doctor was SO impressed with her.  When the doctor walked in, Adriana was standing near a stool.  The doctor said, "well, my first question at this appointment is usually, 'is she starting to pull up at all?'  I guess that's not necessary since I see her standing there."  She went on to ask me questions about everything Adriana can do, and she was surprised.  She started asking me questions that she asks at the one-year appointment because she said that's where Adriana is developmentally.  I just listed all the stuff she can do in the last post, so I won't bore you with it again, but I am definitely a proud mommy today!  I'm thrilled that my little girl is SO smart!!  I'm also thankful for all of the wonderful influences that Adriana has in her life.  I know that everyone's interaction with her has contributed to her intelligence and development.  I'm excited to see what she will continue to accomplish in the future!

Adriana Leigh is 9 Months (39 Weeks) Old

Adriana is moving like crazy!  She is crawling EVERYWHERE, walking around whatever she can, and even climbing the stairs.  She fell some at first when she started standing, but is doing much better at keeping her balance now.

At 9 Months, Adriana can do all of the following:

• reaches for toys
• drops objects and then look for them
• grabs the spoon during feedings
• goes from tummy to sitting by herself
• picks up tiny objects
• identifies herself in a mirror
• gets upset if a toy (or other object) is removed
• transfers object from hand to hand
• stands holding onto someone (or something)
• pulls to standing
• claps hands
• "waves" bye-bye (she holds her hand up, but doesn't wave her fingers back and forth...she means "hi" and "bye-bye" though)
• bangs two objects together
• puts objects into containers and then takes them out
• has fun opening and closing cabinet doors
• crawls well
• "cruises" furniture
• walks with adult help
• interested in books
• pulls off hat and socks
• tests parental responses to behavior (there is a basket that I don't let her get into.  Every time she gets close to it, she turns to me and smiles to see if I will let her get it that time.)
• extends arm or leg when getting dressed
• gives kisses and hugs
• shows us she's "so big"
• is starting to sign "more"
• feeds herself (in fact, she won't let me feed her most of the time)

My mom asked me which seemed to go faster...this nine months, or the nine months of being pregnant.  For me, it's hard to say.  Part of me feels like this nine months went so quickly because I can't believe Adriana is  already 3/4 of the way through her first year.  But part of me feels like she's been here for so long since I know her so well and she's done so much.  Scott and I are both so proud of our little girl, and we feel so lucky to be her parents!  We love you, Adriana Leigh Herman!

Measure Up Monday - 38 Weeks

Elmo may not be sitting up straight, but this was the picture where Adriana looked the best.  Too bad, Elmo.  You're not the star of this show.

By the way, I would like to point out that some of the Disney pictures are a bit smashed, so we look shorter (and wider) than we really are.  I know we aren't tall people, but we're really not as short (or fat) as the pictures make us seem.  :-)

First Family Vacation = Success!

Scott and I love to go on vacations, so we decided to see how Adriana would do on a mini-vacation.  We have been to a few places through Scott's work trips, and our favorite by far was Disney World.  We decided that we would take Adriana to Florida for a few days.

We left on Sunday afternoon.  Adriana did pretty well on the plane.  She slept for about an hour.  Then she played with toys, looked out the window with Daddy, and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror.  She got a little fussy at times, but I would say she did well for her first flight.

We got to our room on Sunday by 4:00, and then headed to Downtown Disney.  We ate at Planet Hollywood, and then walked around and looked in some of the stores.  Adriana loved looking at the Disney characters made from Legos.

 

She also loved the giant statue of Sleeping Beauty.

 When we got back to the room, Scott was watching TV.  He was flipping through the channels, and found one that had a bedtime story for kids.  The story was about Mickey's newest friend, Duffy the Bear, and Adriana fell in love.  She would stare at the TV and "talk" to Duffy.  She would laugh and smile whenever he came on the screen.

On Monday morning, we went to Animal Kingdom.  It rained a couple of times, and we had to stay under some shelter, but it made it nice because the weather was cooler than it would have been.  Adriana slept when she needed to, and enjoyed looking at all of the animals as we went around the park.  We're excited to take her to the zoo so she can see some of her animal friends again.

Also at the Animal Kingdom, Adriana realized that her new favorite thing to do was to eat her Daddy's hat.


There weren't too many characters to see at Animal Kingdom, but she did get to meet Rafiki from The Lion King.

Adriana also got to watch a performance that was based on The Lion King.

We sat on the end in case Adriana couldn't make it through the show.  We didn't have to worry about that.  She LOVED it.  But since we were on the aisle, we got to see some of the performers come off stage.  As some of them left, they stopped to comment about what a beautiful baby Adriana is.  :-)

The next day, we went to Epcot.  We started the day by watching a Finding Nemo musical.  It was a cute production, and the actors did a really good job.  Unfortunately, Adriana missed most of the show because she was sleeping.  She had a rough day because her teeth were bothering her, and she slept a lot that day.  She did wake up to see the aquarium after the show, and she loved seeing all of the fish!  She was so cute looking at all of the different kinds of fish.

Even though Adriana missed the show, we still got her picture taken with Nemo before we went to another area of the park.

It started to rain at Epcot, so we decided to wait in line (inside) to see some Disney characters.  It was kind of a long line, but we found ways to entertain Adriana.

Adriana knew Mickey and Minnie, and she got excited every time she saw a stuffed animal version, but seeing them life-sized left her in awe and she got a little shy.

She also got to see Donald Duck...

...Pluto...

...and Goofy.

After seeing the characters, we put on our ponchos and headed to the "countries" of Epcot.  Adriana loves flowers and plants, so she was excited to see some of her new friends made out of plants.

But the real excitement came when she got to meet Duffy!

The "countries" are known for their food...but Adriana decided that her foot was more to her liking.

Our final day was spent in The Magic Kingdom.  Adriana started the day off ready to go!

We decided to try visiting with Mickey and Minnie again because we had fast passes (sorry about the coloring; the camera was on the wrong setting and we didn't realize it).

Then we saw some of the princesses.  We saw Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)...

...Belle (Beauty)...Adriana liked her glove more than anything else...

...and then Cinderella!  Adriana LOVED her, and Cinderella was absolutely wonderful with Adriana!

After seeing the princesses, Adriana decided to see if she could remove the sword from the stone.

Then we were off to ride Dumbo.

The wait for the ride was tough.  It was completely outside and it was HOT, but Adriana decided it was well worth it.  She loved the ride!

Finally, Adriana found some more plants shaped like her friends.

And after a late night (getting back to Downtown Disney was a fiasco, as was getting back to our resort), we headed back home on Thursday.  Adriana was sure to make a few more friends in the airport before we left.

The flight home went pretty well.  Adriana was exhausted, and she slept for all but about 25 minutes of the flight.  When she was awake, she played and looked out the window.  We think she had a good first vacation, but she's happy to be back at home.  Now to get her used to sleeping on a reasonable schedule again...