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.

Up, up and away

Last weekend we took Adelyn on her first trip (traveling to Omaha doesn't count), we went to Estes Park, Colorado for a family reunion.  We were a little nervous how Adelyn would handle the flight and the travel in general.  We are so blessed, we have such an amazing little traveler.  She was asleep before we took off, and didn't wake up until we started the descent into Denver.  I tried feeding her when we took off, but I'm not sure I was real successful.  She didn't seem bothered with ear pressure issues on either flight - such a blessing for a parent flying with a baby!

On her first plane ride

Little stinker

 The first day we spent in Estes Park was very chilly, overcast, and a bit rainy.  Luckily we were all dressed for the weather, so we walked around "downtown" with some family.  We quickly learned we made a great purchase with the Baby Bjorn, especially since it was on consignment - 60% off!  It was so much easier than the stroller, and Ady could easily take a nap and we didn't have to worry about her slumping over.  It was extremely nice when we went through airport security on the way home.  I was starting to take it off, when a TSA official instructed me to leave it on and walk around the full body scanner.  They swabbed the palms on my hands, and we were on our way.  I was so relieved because I didn't want Ady exposed to the scanner and radiation.  I digress... we had such a great time in Colorado we forgot to get the camera out so we don't have many photos from the trip.  Adelyn saw the mountains and wanted to get into the spirit so she decided to cut her first tooth.  On Sunday, Tim noticed two little white "peaks" in her lower gums.  Hopefully once she cuts this tooth, we can get back to sleeping through the night.  I guess we can only hope, but if that is our only issue with Adelyn we are blessed!!

Love Adelyn's new hat!

Sleeping baby while we played miniature golf.

Just a few weeks late, but I added some 7 month photos to this post.  Our little peanut is getting so big, she can now sit on her own.  She has started to move around like an inchworm, she is days away from actually crawling.  She just needs to move her hands then she is off.  I'm enjoying my last few days of "freedom" before I have to either be in the room with Adelyn or barricade her in one area.

7 months and sitting up on her own.

Seriously mom, how many more months do I have to lay on this frog....I don't fit anymore! 

Apple a day...

A few Saturdays ago, we took Adelyn on her first outing to the apple orchard near Sioux Falls.  Obviously the Huskers were playing since we were decked out in our red gear.  The day started a little chilly, but turned out to be beautiful while we were picking apples.  Looks like we found our September family tradition - Adelyn enjoying picking and eating some apples!

On the tractor ride out to the apple trees

Adelyn goofing around - notice the missing lens from her glasses?!?

 We walked in the apple tree shadows deciding which apples we wanted to pick, trying the different varieties.  So we stopped for some photo-ops only to have Adelyn put her special touch on them. ☺ We spent several minutes searching for Ady's lost lens - we were the crazy family looking on the ground for a tiny lens while the other families were looking in the trees for just the right apples.  Hey, we never said we were normal!!

Just a second before this was the perfect picture,  but I still love candid shots

She wanted to try the apple since daddy did.

 Once we finally started looking for apples, we tried a couple of varieties to find just the right kind.  After Tim had taken a bite of an apple, Adelyn started sucking on the inside fruit while he was holding it.  Funny thing was we were going to introduce apple puree to her that afternoon, but I guess she wanted to try it sooner!  Whoever was holding her had to pay attention because she would lean so far over just to reach (and taste) the apple that was in the other hand.  The photo below is funny because she is grasping Tim's hand so if he moves his hand away, she will go with it.  Such a persistent little girl, wonder where she gets that trait?

"I'm gonna hold onto your fingers so you don't take that away again!"

"Fine, I'll just get my own apple if your not sharing!"

After the orchard, I had to go to work so Tim went home with Adelyn.  She ate her pureed apples for the first time, and they quickly replaced carrots as her favorite food.  Lucky for us, we have a secret weapon in our arsenal.... carrot & apple puree.  We can pretty much mix anything with that and she will eat it, well I guess we haven't tried peas.  That is still the one food she actually gags when she eats it, or acts like she does.

Next year's trip to the orchard will be much different with a little walker.  It will be fun to watch her explore the orchard, and try a few apples of her own!

Sneaking a bite of Tim's apple on the ride back to the car.

Let's go to the Zoo!

Yeah!!!  Let's go to the zoo.  Little did I know, her sleeve was under her left arm instead of above it.☺

The weekend we took Adelyn to her first Husker game we decided to make the weekend of firsts - we took her to the Zoo!  Surprisingly she seemed to enjoy it, and actually was interested in some of the animals.  I think her favorite animals at the zoo were the jellyfish and the white tiger - who was roaring and pacing.  Both animals were active and Adelyn enjoyed watching both for several minutes, which in 7 month old time is pretty good.  After the excitement of the Husker game, it was nice to enjoy a beautiful day at the zoo!

Watching the fishes with Daddy.

One of her favorites - the jellyfish tube!♥

Watching her other favorite - the pacing white tiger.

Watching more cats with mommy.

In the middle of watching the polar bears, she decided she had enough!♥♥

Yet another nap - wouldn't it be great to be able to just nap whenever you got tired!