first Christmas

Ms. Adelaide had a lovely first Christmas - despite the snow, we made it to my parents' house for all the Christmas traditions - stockings (a new beautiful angel one for Adelaide) - breakfast cinnamon twists shaped like a tree - presents: Adelaide got a set of beautiful wooden toys hand-painted by her Great Uncle Tony - dinner with the fam ... Then we were off to Wisconsin to celebrate with the other side of the family - they made it through some treacherous weather to rescue us from holiday airport extravaganza! And our little Christmas baby had so very much fun playing with all of her aunts, uncles, grandparents in the busy Nelson house. It was a wonderful and blessed first celebration - Adelaide feels very loved and cherished all over the country!!

out = in

It's December, which means Adelaide is 9 months old. This is quite a milestone, as she has now been "out" as long as she was "in". And both of us have changed as much in these past nine months as we did in the first nine. For the first nine months, we were becoming more and more each other - I was getting used to her being a part of my life, and a part of me, and for these past nine, we've both been growing into our independence. I now feel like myself again (mostly), and she has become very much her own person - likes, dislikes, opinions, character. She is so interactive and plays lots of games: finding objects that we "hide", and hiding herself in peek-a-boo, 'grunting' responses to Joe's grunted questions, takes things "out" and now puts them back "in" as well! She gestures toward things she wants and pushes my hand when I offer her something gross. And I have an increasingly hard time convincing her that it's a good idea to do something she doesn't like. Quite a strong will in her mature little character. At our 9 month check up last week, Adelaide weighed in at 17 lbs 2 oz and 27 in tall. It's incredible that she has sprouted up from nothing in such a short time, and equally amazing the physical and emotional (hormonal?) train ride that I've experienced. So here I am, officially joining the legions of parents who say "having a baby will change your life forever"!

aaahhh!! a snowman!

I am leaving tomorrow to do the first of my residency interviews in Minneapolis (where the temp is -1F in the daytime!). Perhaps Portland felt inclined to help me prepare by delivering our first (possibly only) snowfall of the year the day before I go.

Joe and I were excited to bundle Adelaide up and take her out to romp around. As you can see, she didn't enjoy our little snowman nearly as much as we did, despite the fact that we made it exactly her size. Oh well - maybe playing in the snow isn't fun until it means you get a day off.

I am thankful for one tiny girl.

I am happy to report that Adelaide is getting over her (very healthy and normal, but still annoying) fear of strangers. For her first Thanksgiving day, we went to her Great Uncle Ken's house, along with about 30 other family members, and Adelaide did just great - she even sat with "strangers" (to her) during dinner and smiled at everyone. Hurray!!

Of course, the highlight of her day was the three dogs - a pug and two wieners - and we got a lot of laughs watching her try to chase them around. She crawls pretty fast these days, squealing and giggling and navigating obstacles in a desperate attempt to catch some fur. Fortunately for the dogs, she was unsuccessful, but a good time was had by all. :)

standing

Adelaide's great-grandparents from Idaho visited a few weeks ago and brought her this new favorite object: a wooden toy chest engraved with cowboys and Indians! It used to belong to my dad when he was little - such a treasure. She loves to stand at the edge, then squat down, moving toys from the floor and back. As you can see, she's so pleased with the toy chest, she doesn't even want to take a bath.

my little Care bear

Can you think of anything more appropriate for Adelaide to be for her first Halloween than a little pink Care bear?? Well here she is: adorable and happy as ever, dressed up as Cheer Bear, showering us with smiles. (Interestingly, my mom bought that outfit several years before I was pregnant, and the stars aligned perfectly such that it was just the right size!! Coincidence? Or divine intervention? ...) Disgustingly cliche, but you have to admit it's pretty darn cute too!

We took her trick-or-treating to two houses, and she generously shared 'the loot' with Joe!

flower baby

Last weekend we were in Wisconsin for Joe's sister's wedding (congrats Katie & Rob!!) and Adelaide had the privilege of being the flower baby. She carried her flowers (silk, in case she ate them!) through the entire ceremony, "escorted" by her godfather Danny. I have to say, she was just adorable (and thankfully very quiet).

It was also her first chance to meet lots of her aunts and uncles - they were all really excited to see her. For Adelaide, the new environment and all the new people were pretty overwhelming, and she wasn't exactly on her best behavior ... but over time we're sure she'll get comfortable there and soon enough she will love visiting her cheese-head family :)