Adeline's Baptism

While in OKC, our family shared the joy of Adeline's baptism.  Our little family also hosted brunch for family and close friends to honor Miss Adeline and celebrate her special day.


My sweet mother in law offered to buy Adeline's christening gown and I will always treasure her very kind gesture.  I am such a sucker for tradition and when William was baptized at 6 months, he was too big (fat) for a traditional gown so he wore a white jon jon with a cross embroidered on the collar.  It was perfect for his big day.  But even still, I have always wanted a long traditional gown to cherish and pass down through the family.  I found exactly what I envisioned - a long white cotton gown with hand cut lace, pintucks, embroidered flowers and exquisite details.  I LOVE it and my Adeline looked like an angel wearing it at the alter.  Thank you Gram.  For what might have seemed like a small gift truly turned out to be a treasured heirloom.


Adeline was baptized on Sunday, August 21, 2011 in the 10:50 a.m. service at St. Lukes United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City.  Dr. Long performed the ceremony which made the event even more special as he also married Dan and me and baptized William.  He's a dear family friend too.
Adeline was the picture of adorableness the entire time she was up at the alter.  Dada held her and she didn't even budge when Dr. Long placed the water on her head.  She looked around like, "what in the world are you guys doing to me!!"  But, when Dr. Long turned her to face the audience, Adeline's little bottom lip quivered and for a second she was scared.  It was very sweet, but my heart when out to her too!
William was a rock star brother.  He stood at the front of the alter and just watched as we "showed Adeline to everyone and celebrated her life with God."  I might also add that he looked quite dapper in his seersucker suit!  A proud big brother for sure!!


After the ceremony and church service, we came back to Bebe and Pop's house for brunch.  I wanted to keep the menu easy, kid friendly and delicious, so we went with fried chicken, salad, fruit, rolls and chips.  Quite the crowd pleaser.  For dessert, I wanted to have a pretty white cake with a cross on top that stayed feminine and "sweet baby".  I found a picture online and asked a wedding cake baker to copy it.  It was PERFECT and exactly what I wanted Adeline to have on her special day.  Bows, lace detail, a cross and loads of frosting.  Who wouldn't want a bite of this beauty?  I also had some lamb cookies made to match the invitation.

The invitations to Adeline's brunch were sweet baby lambs wearing gold bells around their necks.  On the bell is a gold cross.  I thought they were so pretty and perfect for a little baby girl's christening, so the the "little lamb" theme was born.  I purchased lamb Beanie Babies as party favors for the girls and paper glider sets for the boys.  I printed cards with this bible verse and tied them to the favors. 

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.  - John 10:27-28

 They all sat in a silver bowl by the front door.

I used pink and white striped cotton tablecloths that Bebe already had on hand and I placed a cute pink and white polka dot runner on top of them.  We used white dishes and the kiddie table used pink paper plates and paper cups.  I purchased pink napkins off Ebay and had her monogram placed on them in white ink.
I also ordered this adorable ADELINE name sign off Etsy and placed it on the fireplace.  There is a cross at each end and I am going to save it for Adeline's birthdays and celebrations in the future.




And then the flowers.....boy howdy, the flowers.  WOW.  It all started with my request for a flower cross made out of florist foam.  We have family friend, George, who is in the flower business and he offered to "help me out."  I NEVER dreamed he'd bring me so many flowers.  I mean, just look at the pictures.  They are AMAZING!  The flowers seemed endless and were a sea of glorious pink.  It was beyond my expectations and I will always remember how adorable the tables looked.  I have always LOVED LOVED LOVED ribbon, so George added ribbons to the centerpieces.   How cute is this?

The whole celebration turned out exactly as I had hoped.  All the details lined up perfectly and I had such a great time basking in the world of frills and pinkness.  I am so thankful for our family members who were able to celebrate our baby girl.

Adeline, you will always be more than just my sweet baby girl.  You are my answered prayer.  You are truly a gift from God.  Not a day goes by that I don't look up to the heavens and thank the Lord for giving me my second baby.  I love you beyond the stars.

Adeline is 5 months old!

HAPPY 5 MONTH BIRTHDAY TO OUR SWEET ADELINE!


Adeline, you are now 5 months old and growing every day.  You are 18 pounds 10 ounces, and you wear a size 4 diaper and 6-9 month clothes depending on what they are.  Your hair is thinning out AND it's changing to a lighter shade of brown.   If you are in the light just right, I can see hints of blonde underneath the brown.  Your eyes are still blue but they are not as bright.  I think you might end up with hazel eyes, but who knows!  


The big update for you this month is your introduction to rice cereal.  William gave you the first bite on a plastic spoon in our kitchen and you had NO CLUE what to think.  Your face turned sour and you cried.  ha!  We only gave you about 2 bites before we decided it was just not a big deal.  So, we took a break and tried again one week later.  The second time we gave you the cereal, you seemed to tolerate our attempts.  I started making the cereal soupy to help you get use to it.  Now, 4 weeks later you cannot get enough of cereal!  You now like it thicker and the funny thing is that everyday around 4pm you get excited and want to EAT instead of taking a bottle of milk.  So, 4pm is cereal time!  You know exactly what is coming your way when I put you in the high chair.  You kick your legs and start shrieking with delight.  I cannot make it fast enough for you!  

UPDATE:  The doctor in OKC doesn't think you have eczema!  He thinks it might just be a touch of dry skin.  I hope so!


The other big deal for you this month is our first battle with eczema.  I have watched so many friends deal with eczema on their baby's skin and I always wished that my kids would avoid the "itchys."  It just seems to be a bug, and none of my friends have a solid cure for the condition.  It just doesn't look comfortable.  Well my sweet baby girl, I think you have eczema on your left leg.  So far, the worst signs are in the cracks of your skin where your ankle meets the front of your foot.  The other spots are on the backside of your left leg right where your knee joint is located.  My heart goes out to you!  I have tried my best to keep you from trying to scratch your foot and I think I have finally found a couple of good creams.   You are a champion at tearing off band aids, so I just try to keep the areas moisturized.  Hopefully when we return to VA the humidity will restore your baby fine skin.


You are such a joy to your family and everyone you meet.  You are CONSTANTLY smiling.  If I tickle you under the arms, you just howl!  Your giggles are infectious and I cannot stop kissing on your adorable face.  You can almost sit up on your own and you actually prefer to sit up rather than laying on your tummy or back.  You can roll side to side.  You are so funny with your pacifier.  I love to watch you pop it in and out of your mouth and pick it up and stick it in your mouth.  You are perfectly content without it, but it does help soothe you when you are sleepy.


You still take 30 minute naps throughout the day, but at night you will sleep from 7pm until about 5:30 pm.  I usually give you a 5:30 am bottle and you will go back to sleep until 6:45am or 7am.  You are partial to one particular blanket in your bed (and it's not even cute!) and I have found that keeping this blanket nearby helps you go to sleep!  You are also very good about being in your bed to fall asleep instead of needing to fall asleep on Mommy or Dadddy.  We LOVE to hold you and take advantage of it often, but I do know that you like to stretch out in your bed.  


You also babble and talk all the time.  You say DADADADA over and over again, but I don't think you associate it with your "Dada" quite yet.  Also, when you are terribly sleepy, you will close your eyes and babble your way to sleep.  


Adeline, we adore you.  Not a day goes by that I don't look at you and find myself mesmerized by your presence.  I am so proud of you and wish time would stand still so I can snuggle your tiny (but big) body just a bit longer!  I love to carry you around the house and tell you about everything I am doing while you watch me in wonder.  


William asks everyone, " have you seen my baby?  do you know what my baby can do?"  He also calls you "his girl," "his baby," "his best girl," and "his lovey dovey."  It lights up my heart!


We love you Adeline!

I love my WBB

William and I were just driving down the street one afternoon and out of the blue -


William:  "Mom, I love you.  You are my hero and I just don't know what I am going to ever do without you around.  I need to stay on earth forever with me because you are my very best friend in this whole world."

OKC AIRPLANES!

We have been having a blast here in OKC!  The weather is SO HOT - in the hundreds!  But, we haven't let it slow us down.  I tend to get William (and sometimes Adeline) up and out the door in the early morning when the temps are in the low 90s (believe me, you feel a huge difference!) and we run some errands with Bebe or meet up with a friend at the park.  It's enough to feel like we are out and about with the world and gives William an adventure.  One of his biggest thrills has been riding in Bebe's new minivan!  He LOVES it and keeps asking me when we are getting one for our house!  Maybe one day - I must admit they make 'em pretty swanky now!


One afternoon during a driving adventure, we ended up close to Wiley Post Airport.  Like a magnet, William recognized the area around us (which always shocks me. great memory that kid!) and asked if we could eat lunch at "that place Pops took me too where they have the fence and you can walk up and see the airplanes."  He was talking about The Runway Cafe at the Wiley Post Airport.  Since it was 115 degrees and we had no plans, we made a mad dash to the cafe for lunch with my little pilot.  He was over the top delighted.  We grabbed a window seat and watched a few private planes take off and land on the runways.  William was in his element!  LOVED IT!


Then we ran into an old friend, Jim Johnson.  He was having lunch and told us how he flies his Piper Saratoga for the Angel Flight group.  Angel Flights are for very sick or injured people who need transportation for their families to hospitals out of the immediate area and even out of the state of Oklahoma.  He invited us to come over to his hangar after lunch so William could see his plane in person.


I think this was the highlight of our OKC vacation!


We got to the hangar and William could barely stay seated until we stopped the car.  He leaped out of the minivan and walked right over to the plane.  It was pristine - shiny red and off white.  Jim came out to greet William and William spoke right up. He asked a ton of questions, looked at the airport map, gave Jim some insightful airplane statistics and "wowed" Jim with his wealth of aeronautical information.   Mr. Jim let William climb in the seats and sit in the cockpit.  He got to press the controls, test the flaps, listen to air traffic control and move the gears.   My little guy smiled from ear to ear and he could CARE LESS that we were standing in an airplane hangar in 115 degree heat.  He loved every second of his private tour.  Mr. Jim even gave William a cute Angel Flight t-shirt and toy airplane.   THANK YOU SO MUCH!


After that impromptu thrill, we headed home to cool off.  We've had lots of fun since the airplane tour including bouncing in the bounce house with Elin, making mud pies in the backyard, putting hand prints in the newly paved driveway, playing in the Omniplex and just hanging out!


We are off on vacation to Colorado tomorrow and our reunion with Dada.  Oh how we have missed our Dada!  As I said earlier, I have lots of pictures but will have to upload them when we return to VA.  I will keep you posted as we bask in the glorious surroundings of the Broadmoor.


And, my sweet little Adeline is more precious than ever.  I just want to freeze time and enjoy 4.5 months old for a little longer.  I can't stop kissing her fat cheeks and scooping her up in my arms! She reaches out for me with a grin that melts the sun.  The mix of rice cereal and spit up is scrumptious to me and I could bury my nose in her belly forever.  She is always smiling, loves to blow bubbles, screams and hollers in pure delight, and is growing like a weed.  She is delightful to be around even though she naps about 30 minutes at a time!  She sleeps through the night (thank you rice cereal) and I LOVE to hear her babbling in her crib around 5am.  It's the best excuse for an early morning wake up call.  I usually go in and scoop her up and she snuggles right on my shoulder. I give her a bottle which she downs in about 10 minutes and then she takes a snooze in our bed until 7am.  I get a little more rest and then spend quiet moments watching her dream.  I love you baby girl!  You are the delight of my heart!

OKC in August 2011

We are in OKC for the month of August and we are pretty much sweating our tails off.  The weather is a cool 90 degrees at 7AM, and by noon it is a mild 112 degrees.   every single day.  BUT, we don't care!  William, Adeline and I are so happy to be here!  The weather has not stopped us from having a blast.


I am using my mom's computer and I don't know how to load my pictures onto her computer.  So,  I am going to keep blogging and load the pictures once we get back to VA.  


The flight from BWI to OKC was a piece of cake.  My pilot, William, is a champion flyer and Miss Adeline was a gem.  When my kids are babies, I take the night flight so the youngest will sleep.  Works like a charm.  Adeline had her bottle and slept the entire 3 hour flight.  Pilot William played games on the Ipad and gave me a detailed play by play of the skies from his window seat.  We arrived on the 31st around 9pm - 92 degrees upon our arrival.


William spent the first day at Bebe and Pop's house reuniting with his playroom of toys.  He was thrilled to see his airplanes were intact, his parking garage still worked and he spent a lot of time rummaging through the basket of odds and ends toys.  He was perfectly content.  We even had a visit from Mac and Meme!


I went over to Ryan and Jessica's house to meet my new nephew, Reece William Johnston.  He's a real cutey patootie and big sister, Elin, is oh-so proud of her new status!  Elin has come over to play several times which has been very fun for William and given Jessica a break.


Bebe and Pops showed William and Elin their new present - A HUGE BOUNCE HOUSE!  They couldn't stand to wait for Pop's to blow it up, so why not fire up the bounce house in their bedroom?  ROCK ON!  The kids thought it was the coolest thing and bounced their brains out into the evening.  


The next afternoon, I took William and Adeline over to Bubba and Gram's house for lunch.  Gram loved her important job of watching Adeline and giving her a tasty bottle while I sat outside and watched William climb on the water fountain in the backyard.  Bubba found some airplanes in the garage and he and William spent a good chunk of time discussing the parts and packing them up to fly in Bebe's yard.  


I'd say the first few days of our vacation have been loads of fun!  We can't wait to see Dada in CO next week!