Maternity Pictures

My friend, Brittany, is a great up and coming photographer. She actually doesn't do any professional work at all--but she should, and she will someday if she wants to. I was able to convince her to take some photos of us before she moves in a week or two, and she was amazing about editing them and getting them back to us within days. We are really excited--they turned out great! Here are a few she took:

I also realized today that my 2.5-year-old has been in gymnastics a year now--that's 40% of her life, haha. She only goes once a week, and it's more fun than learning, but I was thinking of some of the things that she can do now by herself that she couldn't do when she started--donkey kicks (handstands), reaching for and swinging on the bar, putting her feet on the bar, jumping, walking on the low beam, front rolls, straddle rolls, and a front support on the bar. She loves gymnastics so much that I am going to try to keep taking her to a class when I stop teaching in October.

I should've been cleaning my house this whole time--or napping--I will regret both later! But I wanted to share these first.

Summer activities

Here is a video of Adora's first swimming class. Daddy was off work for the Monday after July 4, so he got to take her. I was so tired of swimming by the end of the 2-week session (4 days a week)!

Roller skating!

This is a painting Adora made with her bath paints. She made the blue first--Daddy. She was telling me which parts she was doing as she was making them, like his legs, arms, etc. Then, she made the yellow--Mommy. Mommy is "big" and, of course, has a red (shows up more like orange here) Sap-Saps. The "orange" on top is Adora, who is "li-lle" (little).

Adora smiling for the camera while posed on her bike. Yes, those are water shoes. She loves them because she can put them on by herself and even knows which foot they go on sometimes. Yes, she is wearing a jacket, even though this is today, because it stormed like crazy last night, and it was chilly this morning, can you believe it in Wichita Falls in June?! She is getting more the hang of riding her bike. She can mostly keep her feet on the pedals and actually tries to push them but isn't quite strong enough and/or coordinated enough yet. We were on the sidewalk and she was trying to correct her direction when she was veering into the grass. She overcorrects, of course. She must get this from her Mama who does the same exact thing on driving video games. But still, it's a start!

I bought Adora some $2 Barbie roller skates at a garage sale a few weeks ago. After one 30-second try a couple of weeks ago, she went out again today and is practically a professional now. I wanted to put all the videos on here because they were soooooooo cute, but it takes FOREVER to upload them, so I just chose the first one. You can see how much she can do by herself. . . and how helpful it is to have a strong daddy behind her just in case something happens.

Sap-Saps

Adora has named her baby sister Sap-Saps. We have started calling her this as a nickname. It's much easier to say than "New Baby" or "Baby Sister" or "Baby Girl." I was on the computer and the phone today, and Adora was, of course, starved for attention. So she comes up to me, lifts up my shirt, and says the following, while hugging and kissing my tummy:

"Ooohh, hi Sap-Saps! What are you doing? Playing or sleeping? Playing?!"

It was so sweet! I love my girls.

See early post about Adora's conversation with Melanie

Daddy's conversation later in the week.

While reading a book with a potty training scene.
Adora "he has asinit"
Daddy's interpretation "where did you hear that word" (thinking she said he has his ass in it"
Adora "he had asinit"
Daddy (now thinking its funny) "Say that again"
Adora "he pee-pee floor"
Daddy (two pages later) "oh, he had an accident"

My 10-year high school class reunion was Memorial Day weekend. It was a lot of fun. Adora joined Jake and me at the picnic and ate a whole hot dog. . . well, minus the bun. I can't remember for sure, but this may have been her "smile" face. It's blazing hot already in Wichita Falls, and unless we get outside right after breakfast, that's pretty much all I can handle without being in the water. Adora's spent a couple of afternoons playing in the sprinkler, and we've been to the Spray Park three times so far. It's one of my favorite things about this area in the summer. She's getting much braver about getting water in her face and even seems to like going under the water in the pool. I signed her up for swim lessons at the YMCA starting in July, and I think she'll love it.

Here, Adora and I are going through her bedtime routine. She loves reading her Bible and trying to identify the people in the pictures.

Jake and I took Adora to a tye-dye workshop at the art museum here. She loved "painting" the shirts. They both turned out really well, and she is so proud of herself when she wears them.

After the tye-dye workshop, we hung out by the lake and watched the ducks. She has dye on her face and looks so cute, sweet, and BIG in this picture!

Adora loves to sing, especially Old McDonald. Here is a little clip of her singing.

Conversation with Adora

Adora came to wake me up after nap. I elected to stay in bed a few more minutes while she roamed the house. She was apparently looking out the front window. Then, she ran to me excitedly:

Adora: I see a stwollah!
Me: You saw a stroller?
Adora: I see a stwollah!!
Me: You saw a stroller outside?
Adora: AAAHH! (her frustrated sound when I don't understand her)
Me: I'm sorry, I don't understand you. Can you please try again?
Adora: I see a . . . mouse!
Me: OOOHH! You saw a squirrel!!!

(Somehow, squirrel and stroller sound exactly the same when she says them. Every single time, I think she is saying stroller!)

More random

This video is of Adora doing gymnastics January 19.

Fort Worth 05/07-05/09

Jake went cross country to Fort Worth this weekend, so we joined him. Friday, Adora and I drove up and visited with my high-school friend, Katie. I forgot to take any pictures of her with her 9-month-old son :( But we had fun playing at the park! Jake got in after Adora had gone to sleep Friday night, but Saturday, we went to the zoo! We were there a little early, so Daddy and Adora swung on the swings "weally high!" while we waited for the zoo to open.

Here is Adora's beautiful smile in front of the chimpanzee habitat. This chimp in the background was really acting up for us, playing, eating, and visiting us at the window.

If you look really hard, you might be able to see the washed-out ibex in the background. It was standing there staring at us for awhile, but as Jake got ready to take the picture, it started to climb down, I guess because we weren't staring back anymore.

Adora was really excited to sit on this tortoise after we had just seen the real ones.


This picture isn't great, but Adora and her friend, Celia (her daddy was also cross country to Fort Worth for the weekend!), had been giving each other really good hugs! Such good friends. So I tried to capture it and got a bonus kiss, too!

This is a video of Adora and Daddy swimming in the really cold hotel pool after dinner Saturday night. Unfortunately, our memory card ran out right after the video started, but I thought there were a couple of seconds of cute footage.

This is a video of Adora talking about rhinos!