Angel is growing up...

We love when she makes this face after she says "Uh Oh"

Deciding what to get into next...

Double Bonus - snacks and a noise maker!

I fall in love with this face everyday!  Are we really lucky enough to be blessed with her sibling!!!

Springtime a little early!

The last several weeks have been unseasonably warm for South Dakota, so we have been lucky to spend most of our family time playing outside, going on family walks, grilling out, and all around enjoying the beautiful weather!  Adelyn is almost finished with her swim lessons, she gets to play in the water with Mommy and Daddy every Saturday.  Surprisingly she does well already kicking every so often, but by far her favorite thing is to lay on her back in the water resting her head on Daddy's shoulders and crossing her ankles a la pool lounge chair :)  At least she is enjoying the water!  She also just finished her first Kindermusik class, which she loved!  Each week she got to spend time with new friends singing, dancing, clapping, and learning about new senses.  But probably her most favorite thing of the class has to be the book of farm animals that came with it.  She always brings the book to us and wants us to "read" the book to her basically making funny animal sounds with each page.  Now that I think about it, I haven't read that book in a while - the hiding spot must be really good!  Our little lady is blossoming into a more active toddler every day.  She walks around everywhere and tries to get into everything!  This past weekend she graduated to a convertible car seat, which she loves since it sits higher and she gets to watch the cute baby in the mirror!  She has also started working on her attitude and displaying to us that she is strong-willed.  Little does she know, her very own Mommy has mastered that so it will be a fun battle between the two of us.  Good thing Daddy is so even-tempered and knows how to calm us both down! :)  Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks!

Doesn't know what to expect yet

Still relaxing

So excited at the end of class

12 month photo

enjoying the sun with grandma

Hi Mommy!

Walking on uneven ground with a little help

Playing with her blocks

Her big kid car seat!

What mess?

This morning I thought it would be fun to try a craft with Adelyn.  I wanted to make a turkey out of her handprint.  I know, I know, I was being a little naive.  Ok a lot naive.  I even wanted to do each finger a different color.  I actually tried to accomplish this, little did I know I wouldn't even get a clear fingerprint.  Isn't it amazing how much things change when you have a baby.  Last year I would have freaked out and made it my life's mission to get the perfect print.  This year I just watched and laughed as she made a mess, and I treasure the masterpieces she made.  If you look close you can make out at least part of a handprint!

Yup those are tears, all she wanted to do was snuggle with me, and we did - paint and all!

Finally some smiles, she really enjoyed playing in the paints.

Hey at least we had fun!

Adelyn has also taught me that my plans are no longer something she has to abide by.  These next few photos are our attempt to get 9 month photos.  Needless to say they aren't as posed as some of the younger ones.  Either way she still is adorable!

Here I come!

Hey!  I'm just gonna lean on the frog and chew on my block, so take the picture!

Will I seriously need to do this pose every month?  I'm getting too big for this mom!

These last few photos are Adelyn getting caught in the act of misbehaving.  Actually they are just glimpses of her having fun with all her toys.  She couldn't reach her toy on her own, so it only makes perfect sense for her to climb inside her dinosaur to get the extra height!

Ummm, hi Mom!  She is so stinking cute!

Loving her toys!

Our sweet angel!

This year the Sass family is incredibly thankful for our amazing family and all their support.  We are also very thankful for each other and the unconditional love we share for one another!  Most of all we are thankful to spend our first Thanksgiving as a new family!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Peanut and Pumpkins

This past weekend marked the beginning of another family tradition.  In years past, Tim and I went to Vala's Pumpkin Patch with other family members.  This year we took Adelyn to begin our own tradition.  Hopefully the height measurement stand will still be there in the future, it will be fun to see how big she gets over the years.  Next year she will be able to do a lot more of the activities, but it was still fun showing her all the things we like about Vala's.  She went on a hayride so we could pick out a big pumpkin (cute pictures to come of Adelyn & her pumpkins), and even enjoyed a little bit of Mommy's snow cone.  She was such a good girl at Vala's especially since we spent most of our time outside in the crazy wind.  Last year walking around Vala's we were so excited to take our Peanut after she was born, and it was so fun actually having Adelyn there with us and enjoying our favorite October activity.

Little stinker in the pumpkin mouth.

She was 24 inches at her last appt so not really sure how accurate this is  - probably was standing too far away.

Family fun on the hayride.

Adelyn standing next to a pumpkin - I'm just there for support.

Pumpkin patch fun with Mommy.

Sitting on the pumpkin she wanted.

Adelyn with her daddy and her pumpkin.

Blowing Bubbles

won't be long now

Adelyn loves to go up on her hands and knees/feet and now she is starting to rock.  She still scoots backwards, but she doesn't really know where she is going.  So now that she has learned to rock on her knees, sometimes she manages to push herself forward only to fall on her face!  This video catches some rocking in the beginning, but then it is just our little lady exploring her world!  We may just skip crawling all together because now her favorite thing is to pull herself up to stand while holding our fingers for leverage.  Rumor has it, this was what her mother did :) so maybe she is just following the family tradition!  Enjoy!

Where did our baby go?

On her way to her first day at daycare - I felt the same way!

Adelyn has survived her first few weeks of daycare - really I'm the one that has survived.  She seems to enjoy it.  When I dropped her off the first day she looked at me a little strange while the lady took her from me, and I said goodbye.  I saved the tears until the car and drove to work crying while telling Tim I wasn't gonna make it through the day.  When I picked her up that first day she was sleeping which made me happy that she was able to rest.  Since then she doesn't mind it when I drop her off, and she smiles when I come to pick her up!  Ady even has her first boyfriend, Bennett.  I laid her next to him one morning on the mat, and either when I drop her off or pick her up she usually is right near him smiling.  I noticed yesterday that his carseat sits next to Adelyn's.  Daddy isn't really pleased about this, so he has had some chats with Adelyn telling her to take it easy since she has a history of turning boys into putty!  My only complaint with daycare is how quickly they blow through diapers.  The first day I picked her up they had gone through 5 diapers - What?!?   Apparently we aren't changing her enough, they change her every 2 hours where we do it every 3-4 hours.  Oh well as long as she doesn't have any issues and she seems happy, it works for me.

After first day of daycare!  So tired!!!

Love, Love Daddy and Ady time

 This past weekend Adelyn learned a new trick, she rolled from her back to her belly.  So now she can roll either direction, which she now knows because we placed her on her blanket while making dinner and looked back from the kitchen only to see her 3-4 feet from where she started.  I guess we are going to have to start watching her a little closer!  Time for outlet plugs and other baby proofing for the Sass house.  Just this week she is starting to learn the advantage of this by rolling over and reaching for a toy (or watching the soccer game).  We even woke up yesterday morning to a baby sleeping on her belly.  She also found her voice over the July 4th weekend, and is really enjoying the sounds she can make.  She loves to smile and talk to people even if they are complete strangers.  Lately her favorite thing to do is hangout in her stroller while we shop, she usually ends up with at least 2 people by her side making funny faces.  She is grabbing her toys and playing with them too.  I'm not sure where my baby went, but it seems like she is changing so much now!  It is unbelievable that next month she will already be 6 months.  My next post will have her 5 month pictures, I haven't had time to post them yet!

Seriously mom!

Such a happy baby!

 My absolute favorite thing is that beautiful smile!  She definitely knows how to control people with those baby blues and that smile.

Diva in training

 My growing baby has outgrown those adorable sunglasses, and moved on to her next pair.  She has learned to grab the glasses from her face and fling them around.  So she now can't wear them in the car unless someone is in the backseat, since I had to pull over the other day because she was about to poke her eye with them.  She also has outgrown those cute little headbands though I'm not really sure they every really fit.  Unfortunately the one thing that is obviously from me is her big head, no comments please!  With her losing her hair it would be nice to have her wear headbands, but they usually leave an indention that doesn't go away for several hours.  Although the other day a lady at Hy-Vee said that she was adorable, and too pretty to be a boy.  Tim was holding her while this lady was oohing and aahing over Ady, telling people walking by to look at this beautiful baby girl.  She ended the conversation by telling Tim she must look like her mom.  Tim was like ummm thanks for the back-handed compliment.  I told him to relax because I thought it was sweet!  It is always nice to hear compliments on our Ady!  Now we just have to schedule her 6 month photos so our family can enjoy updated pictures of our beautiful baby girl!

Gavins Point Dam 

Love her more and more...

Showing off her beautiful smile!

Adelyn has had some pretty eventful weeks!  She had her 4 month old well child checkup and we are ecstatic to report the doctor believes we no longer need to consider Adelyn preemie!  She is 25% for weight and height, and 50% for head circumference (all for her actual age).  She is developing as expected for a 4 month old, so the doctor doesn't see the need to adjust her age any longer.  Hooray!!!  The only thing she did mention about her age was waiting to start solid foods until closer to 6 months since she was early.  No complaints from Mommy, things will change so fast once we start solid foods.  In the meantime, I can pretend my baby will stay little forever while I nurse her!

Golfing for the first time with Daddy

Yesterday we celebrated Tim's first Father's Day!  Adelyn was able to spend most of the day with Daddy solo since I had to work.  Once I got home we decided to take Daddy golfing for his big day.  It was his first time out this season so we spent some of our time looking for lost balls.  It is funny how times are so different now because before we would search and search for missing balls, and now we look really quick and then decide to move on so Ady doesn't get bit up by bugs.  Oh Adelyn how you have changed so many things, and we don't regret any of it!

How long does this golf thing last?

Adelyn enjoying the first hole, but the closeness of Mommy and being outside took its toll on her because she was sleeping before we made it to the first green.  She loves riding in the golf cart, her sunglasses protect her eyes from the breeze while the few hairs that are left dance in the wind!  We are trying to spend as much time outside as we can so we can prepare Adelyn for our favorite thing this time of year....Shakespeare!  We are so excited to bring Adelyn this year.  It won't be her first year at the event, we didn't know she attended with us last year!  This year is taking much more planning though, trying to figure out what to bring, what to wear, and how to ward off the bugs (as safely and naturally as possible).  Any suggestions are welcome!!!

Don't you think I'm pretty cute?

We started to let Adelyn play in her bumbo, and she loves it!  Her favorite thing to do is make faces at Mommy and Daddy.  We giggle, she giggles, we laugh even harder.  Last night we spent 20 minutes playing and laughing so hard our faces hurt.  She is starting to play with her toys and stuffed animals.  Well I use the word play loosely, she actually grabs them and tries to put them in her mouth.  She is starting to look like such a big girl in her bumbo especially with the tray, so she has place for her toys.

She loves her toys

 This week is such a bittersweet week.  I am working 3 days this week so both Grandmas are coming to watch Adelyn for a while, but next week Ady will go to daycare.  Fortunately it will only be for a couple of days a week, but I will hate every minute of it.  It was been nice not worrying about her while I was at work, but now the worrying will start.  As if that wasn't bad enough we are starting to talk about moving Adelyn to her own room at night.  She has been an incredible sleeper since 8 weeks, so she has slept in her pack and play bassinet since she came home.  Unfortunately the bassinet only holds babies up to 15 lbs, well our little lady is already 13.8 lbs so time is ticking.  The good thing is Adelyn loves her room, she gets a big smile and giggles when we walk into her room.  The bad thing is my baby is taking her first steps of independence.  I now fully understand and appreciate what other mothers meant when they said, "don't wish away your pregnancy your baby is the closest and safest she will ever be - inside you."

I love watching our baby grow up and do new things everyday.  Thank you Tim for realizing dreams with me, some of which I never knew I had.  Adelyn is lucky and blessed to have a wonderful Father and role model, too bad the future man in her life has so much to live up to! :)