Lots O' Pictures

The last month at the Sass household has been filled with a lot of stress, which is the reason why the updates were sparse in December.  However we did manage to find time to snap photos of our ever-changing and exciting little lady!  This update is full of photos from Thanksgiving up to Christmas.  I hope things will settle down just a bit so we can keep up now, although Adelyn took her first 3 steps yesterday so maybe she has something different in mind!

Thanksgiving at Grandma A's

Afterwards we went to the Holiday Lights downtown - still trying to make it a tradition!

Me and my brothers, finally together after too long!  Love these guys!!!

One of my favorite photos now - in love with this face!

This face always makes us laugh and lifts our spirits!

10 month photo

Sporting one of her many 1st Christmas outfits while cruising along the furniture

Unbelievable that our baby is growing up, but she already has EIGHT teeth!

Posing in front of Grandma A's Christmas tree

Hamming it up for the camera

Having fun on her froggie and in her new bear claw slippers

Our nights are filled with entertainment from this little munchkin

Monthly pictures are getting harder to take since she won't stay put, so we will take what we can get!  Unbelievable that she is taller than the frog when she could barely filled up his chair!

Love our little Peanut!

Our little elf

Not too sure how she feels about Santa this year!

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!

Halloween Pics

Adelyn and Uncle Todd (who doesn't normally dress like a lion) :)

Reaching for Grandpa's glasses, sneaky little one!

Hamming it up with Aunt Christina

Adelyn 1st time trick or treating - in daddy's arms

In mommy's arms too!

Family pic while out trick or treating

With Grandpa & Grandma Sass before calling it an evening

Ham 'N Pumpkin

Just ask Tim and he would tell you this year's pumpkin was much easier to carve than last years.  If you don't remember last years pumpkin here is a little reminder.  Surprisingly Adelyn enjoyed playing in the pumpkin, and even tried out her chompers on the meat of the pumpkin.  Needless to say, we think this is the most adorable pumpkin!  Last night was probably one of Adelyn's favorites, she got to play in the pumpkin and enjoy a nice, warm bath afterwards.  We are excited to spend this Halloween weekend in Omaha with family and friends.  Hopefully we will be posting some adorable photos next week!

Playing in the pumpkin

Proof that I am such a ham!

Please take more pictures of me, I'm adorable!

Seriously, how cute am I?

That face makes my heart smile!

Adelyn and her Halloween basket of goodies.

Our cute little skeleton.

Crazy Eight

It is unbelievable that our little Peanut is already 8 months old, although in many ways it is quite evident.  Adelyn is always crawling to get to something, and it is usually something she shouldn't be around.  Her favorite go to toy is anything the dogs are playing with, including their chew bones.  She also loves pulling herself up to stand on anything remotely stable.  Now that she has developed some confidence with that skill she is starting to let go while standing, soon realizing she isn't quite ready for that (or at least Mommy isn't)!  She is quite clever though, today she was struggling to reach a toy while she was standing next to the couch.  Instead of whining for me to help, she went back down on her knees, put the toy in her mouth, stood back up, and started playing with the toy.  I wonder if she has been watching the dogs play too much, pretty sure we don't want her carrying her toys around in her mouth with her hands are busy.  Oh well, we will address that later. :)  Other times she seems so clumsy that I want to put one of those big sumo wrestler costumes on her to protect her as she plays bumper cars around the room.  Even with all the craziness of our curious lady, she still can change any situation just by flashing that gorgeous smile and batting those long lashes (especially to Daddy) .  In eight short months, we have learned to love someone at first sight, find patience when none exists, smile when things seem tough, find pride in the smallest of accomplishments, love unconditionally, and lean on one another all while falling in love more and more each day!  Thank you Adelyn for making our lives so much better than we could have imagined, and filling in that missing piece in our family!  We love you!

Showing how big she is at 8 months

Posing with her Froggie

I may be small, but I'm pretty amazing!

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.

On the Move

Just like the beautiful weather and leaves that are changing, the Sass household is experiencing a lot a change lately.  Several weeks ago, Adelyn began sitting up on her own.  Soon after that she began doing pushups in preparation for crawling.  Gotta strengthen those arms and legs for movement!  She began army crawling and then moved around like an inchworm.  Much to our surprise, this week Adelyn has mastered the typical crawling motion.  Most of the time she is crawling to Baxter or Ginger and one of their toys, but the most special crawling is to Daddy when he gets home from work!  This video is Adelyn crawling for Ginger's bone, thankfully Ginger has learned to get up and walk away from the annoying baby!

Last week we learned that Ady has two teeth coming in, and maybe two more on top soon.  She is also starting the "Mommy" phase where she is always reaching for me, and not wanting to be put down unless I'm in sight.  This phase has led to the final change in our home, Adelyn has learned to climb up mommy to a stand.  She isn't steady on her feet, but she gets better at it each day.  She is becoming so curious of her environment, and it is so beautiful to watch her learn.  Our sweet angel is growing so quickly, we can't believe she is 8 months this week.