1st Candy Stash!

Here's Andrina with all of the trick-or-treat candy she got tonight. All this from only 5 of our neighbors too! Of course she can't eat any of it but I thought it was a cute picture to take. She's also in her Halloween jammies; they have little ghosts all over them and they say "BOO" on each foot and the butt too. Aww! She's so cute! Time for bed soon, she's had a very busy day for a 3 and 1/2 month old baby.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Here's Andrina all dressed up in her little black kitty cat costume for Halloween!

Soooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!

Off to go on her first trick-or-treating now!

Another Day at the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we all went to the Pumpkin Patch with Andrina, so she got to go twice this year. Here's some pictures:

Happy Fall!

Happy Halloween!

Stranger Awareness

Andrina exhibited her first instance of stranger awareness today. She was being held by someone she had never met before and she got upset and almost started to cry. Mommy had to take her back to make everything all better!

Kitty Cat Clothes

My sister Doreen bought me a bunch of adorable kitty cat clothes for my baby shower in May. They are all 3 to 6 month sizes so Andrina is just now able to start wearing some of them (which is great because I got all newborn size clothes at the shower). The onesies are now fitting (albeit a little roomy) and so is the cap and booties. I think some of the matching pants will fit too but I have not tried them on Andrina yet. I also think the jammies will fit soon too. The black outfits may not fit yet. Anyways, here is an adorable picture of Andrina in some of the kitty cat clothes that Auntie Reenie bought her. Thanks Auntie Reenie!

Favorite Toy

Here's some pictures of Andrina playing with her favorite toy:

So cute, she just loves to play with this toy! And now she can play with it more since she can grasp objects and manipulate them better!

Bath Time Pics

Just want to post some pictures from bath time last night.

Isnt' Andrina such a beautiful baby?

Laughing Out Loud

Andrina reached another developmental milestone this afternoon-laughing out loud! I was sitting in the rocker glider in her nursery, having Andrina "stand up" on my lap, when she laughed a short laugh! Then a few minutes later she did it again when we were playing the "wheels on the bus" game, more specifically when "the wipers on the bus go swish swish swish" and I made the wiper movements with her arms. I'm not supirsed that she laughed when she did. Andrina loves it when Tom and I have her "stand up" (smiling and cooing) and she loves the "wheels on the bus" game. Of course, more smiling and cooing with that too! Mommy is so proud of you!

The Terrors of Tummy Time!

Andrina is a very easy baby to care for overall. She's does not cry that much. She does not fuss that much any more. She loves getting a bath. She does not mind getting her diaper changed at all. She smiles, coos, babbles, plays, and interacts with others. She's reaching all of her developmental milestones. And she is doing better with naps. Her biggest problem has always been TUMMY TIME! She hates it, and I mean she HATES it! Usually, within a few minutes of putting her on her belly she starts crying, which quickly turns to screaming! I've tried everything-getting down on the floor with her, face to face, laying her on my chest, laying her across my lap. I had bought her a boppy tummy time toy that helped a little bit but not much. Everyday tummy time is difficult. Once in a while, she will go a whole 5 or 6 minutes before she starts crying. So today I was very pleasantly surprised when she went a whole 11 minutes! She even seemed to be enjoying herself. She smiled back at me and cooed some while on her belly. I was thrilled! This is PROGRESS! I only hope it lasts and is not a one time thing. Although it may be as I bought her another boppy tummy time toy and it was the 2nd time she used it today. So maybe it was the novelty of the new tummy time mat. Here's some pictures:

Andrina seems to be enjoying herself.

A close-up, and she's even smiling!

Getting upset now. This session of Tummy Time is not going to last much longer...

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

Here's a picture of you and Andrina when she was a newborn:

And also a picture of me and you when I was a new baby!

Lots of Love, Shellie, Andrina & Tom

Conversations With My 3 Month Old Baby

A few days ago (10/15), Andrina reached another milestone-Babbling! It was amazing! So amazing that I didn't even blog about it that day. Becca and I had our usual lunch date with our babies but aside from that, I spent most of Andrina's waking moments talking with her, not to her. Andrina almost always initiates smiling during diaper changes (she initiates smiles at other times too, playing and being held and smiles back but she doesn't' have that almost 100% smile initiation rate that she does during diaper changes). So it was no surprise to me that it was during a diaper change that she stared making some "ahh blah guhh bah geeh" type sounds-stringing them together. It just blew my mind! So I started imitating her babbling and she loved it! She'd pause for a second then give me one of her full-body smiles that I am addicted to, and then start babbling again! So amazing! I love knowing that her mind is processing what is happening during those pauses-that she can influence other people. I also love knowing that she is learning that my imitation of her sounds means that she is important to me (that's an understatement-she's more important than water or oxygen)! This is the beginnings of her having a greater understanding that Mommy loves her. And it seems that with each new stage in Andrina's development, I fall more in love with her than I was before. This "babbling" process that we now share, it shows how close we are, all that love there is between Mommy and Baby. I thought I knew what love was before I knew Andrina. I was wrong. Baby love is the BEST love! Romantic love has NOTHING on Baby love!

Pumpkin Patch Kids

Andrina and I visited a pumpkin farm with Becca and Ryan today. Andrina was pretty tired, so she was not the happiest with taking pictures. But we didn't stay long, we stayed a few minutes to take some pictures and buy the babies their first pumpkins.

Andrina is tired, can you tell? It's really hard trying to get two babies to sit together for pictures!

Here's Andrina with her very own pumpkin.

Here Andrina is REALLY tired while Ryan is just happy and relaxed!

One last picture of the four of us before we had to leave.

Babies cannot handle long periods of being awake!

Next time we'll have to go earlier in the day.

Teddy Bears

For everyone that knows me, you know that I just adore Teddy Bears for babies. My daughter's room was decorated in a pink Teddy Bear theme. So, I had to include a picture of Andrina wearing the most adorable outfit-she's got teddy bears on her feet and there is a teddy bear on her little jacket. Underneath, she's wearing a pink onesie with teddy bears on it (which you can't see in this picture). Thanks for the cute outfit Auntie Pat!

Tiny Toenails

It has happened; Andrina's toenails are now growing and I have to start cutting them. Which I am not looking forward to. Not because they are little baby toenails, but because I don't want to cut her! It has been stressful enough clipping her fingernails and trying to only cut the nails, not her fingers. Now I have to do that to her toenails too! 20 chances to cut my baby instead of just 10! Ugg, so stressful! I wish the doctor's office would do it for me every week. After all, they are the professionals!

3 Months Old!

Andrina is 3 months old today! 11 pounds, 8 ounces too. She's growing so fast...

On a side note, I wondered if her Halloween costume would still fit since it's a 0-3 month size (I figured that she would still fit it at 3 and 1/2 months when I bought it over a month ago). Well, I took it out and tried it on her and there is still some length in the legs and arms and there is room in the body too, even though it says it's for up to 13 pounds of baby. So I am confident that it will still fit in a little over 2 weeks for Halloween. I can't wait to take her "trick or treating"!

Another Cute Picture

Just an adorable picture I want to share. Andrina, you are such a cute and beautiful baby! I am so in love with you!

Playing With Her Food

Andrina just keeps amazing me. Tonight she was playing with her bottle while eating! I was giving her a bottle and she started blowing bubbles while it was in her mouth-so cute! I noticed this and I imitated her (I began to "blow some bubbles" too) and she just loved it. She started to do it more, then she began pushing the nipple from one side of her mouth to the other while smiling the whole time. I thought maybe she was not hungry any more and just wanted to play but she did go back to eating and she did finish the bottle too. So I think this means that my baby was multitasking. I wish I could have gotten video of it but I was feeding her so I didn't get any. I'll have to have Tom keep an eye out for this so maybe next time we can get video of it. It was so adorable, I'd love to be able to watch that over and over again!

More Bubbles

Andrina was so cute blowing bubbles while we were out with Becca and Ryan today. And she is just adorable in her little sunhat too. This may be the last time she wears it as fall weather is supposed to come tomorrow and it may be staying with us. So I am also glad that I got pictures of her in her sunhat as well. Tomorrow it will be time to bring out the warmer clothes for fall.

So cute!

Andrina, I love you infinitely. Mommy.

Grandma and Grandpa

Andrina got to visit her Grandma and Grandpa today. Here's some pictures.

Andrina with Grandpa

Andrina with Grandma and Grandpa

Little Lost Sock, pt. 2 - The Return!

I found Andrina's lost pink sock with the butterfly on it! You'd never guess where it was? In a pair or PJs, all the way up the hand part of the sleeve with the mitten flap over it, all smosshed up in there! That's why it didn't fall out when I shook it going through the laundry. I only found it when I tried to put Andrina's hand thru there and there was something lumpy blocking the way. I was going to put that pair of PJs aside too as it is "almost" too small on her. I'm gald I tried to have her wear it one last night.

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 2nd Wedding Anniversary.

Here's a picture of Tom and I on our wedding day: