Measure Up Monday - 44 Weeks

During Adriana's 44th week, I've been contemplating getting her hair "shaped-up."  I think she would look cuter with bangs.  Scott says if I'm going to trim it, I should trim all of it...including her "pigtails."  I agree that the "pigtails" look ridiculous on a daily basis, but they can be SO cute...

I'll hold off for now, but I'm sure the "pigtails" won't be around too much longer.  :-(

And here's the weekly Elmo picture:

Such a happy girl!

Adriana Leigh is Ten Months Old!

Well...the pictures are getting more and more interesting.  Even with Scott's help, she still just wants to dive off of the chair or attack Elmo.

At ten months, Adriana is doing all of the following:

• Understands the concept of object permanence
• Gets upset if a toy (or Mommy's purse or credit card) is removed
• Transfers object from hand to hand
• Stands holding onto someone or something
• Pulls to standing
• Says "mama" and "dada" appropriately sometimes (also, "baby," "yeah," and "hi")
• Understands "no"
• Claps hands
• "Waves" hi and bye-bye
• Bangs two cubes together
• Puts objects into containers and then takes them out
• Voluntarily lets objects go
• Has fun opening and closing cabinet doors
• Crawls well
• "Cruises" furniture
• Walks with adult help
• Takes 1 - 3 steps on her own
• "Dances" to music
• Interested in books!
• Understands some simple commands
• Forms attachment to some items
• Pushes away what she doesn't want
• Likes to push, pull, and dump items
• Understands use of certain objects (she loves to "brush" her teeth)
• Tests parental responses to behavior
• Extends arm or leg when getting dressed
• Identifies self in mirror
• Kisses and hugs people, as well as characters that she likes in her books
• Babbles with many sounds
• Does "raspberries"

Adriana continues to impress us with how quickly she picks up new ideas.  She is such a sweet and loving little girl, and we are so happy that we have such a wonderful little girl.  We love you, Adriana Leigh Herman!

Measure Up Monday - 43 Weeks

There's not much new here this week.  Adriana is still babbling up a storm.  She'll say "hi bay-bay" when she sees pictures of herself, "hi da-da" when she sees Scott, and "ma-ma" when she wants something.  She's still just taking steps here and there, but no real walking yet.  I told her she's running out of time to beat Daddy.  He walked at 10 1/2 months.

As far as taking pictures goes, Adriana loves the camera.  As in, she wants to take it from me and play with it.  So she tries to dive off the chair to get the camera, making most of my pictures turn out like this...

 It's getting harder and harder to get a good one before she moves, but I'm doing my best.

Measure Up Monday - 42 Weeks

I can't believe Adriana will be one year old in 10 weeks!  I still remember the day I turned 30 weeks pregnant.  I told Scott the baby was due in 10 weeks, and he said, "that's really soon."  And it was!  Now we're 10 weeks away from Adriana's first birthday, and I know that time will go by quickly, too.

Adriana is still wearing her 9-month clothes for the most part.  I remember switching her to her 9-month clothes the day that she turned 6 months.  I thought the 9-month clothes were SO cute, so I was excited to get her into them.  I think her 12-month clothes are absolutely adorable, too, but I feel like putting her in them makes her a big girl instead of a baby.  The 9-month outfits aren't too tight yet (some of them are getting there, but she's still about a pound away from the suggested weight), so I'll keep her in those for a little while longer.

She is teething again.  All four top teeth are close to coming in.  The gums have flattened out, and the little white bumps are getting more and more pronounced.  She had a really bad day yesterday, but she is still as cute as ever.  See...

On June 22, Adriana took two steps, and she has continued to take 1 - 2 steps every day since.  Today, she took three.  She was trying to get some of my food, so she wasn't thinking about how hard walking is...just food.  She still practices on her walker multiple times each day, so I'm sure she'll get there soon.

But for now, it's still a lot of crawling.

Finally, Adriana had her second play date with her friend Mia.  I think they get along really well.  In fact, today Adriana was giving Mia kisses.  It was SO cute!  They are both doing a good job of sharing toys.  I'm so glad she likes her new friend!

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!