Dear Eric,

Can we please move to Brasil? I knew you would say yes.
Thank you.

I miss you Brasil. Your sunny days...always. Your warm temperatures. Rice and beans. Every day. Healthy food. Palm trees. The fact that I was probably one of the only blond tall people there. Limes. Coconut juice, straight from a coconut. The extremely friendly people. The
disregard for time. Never being late because everybody is late. The tile floors in ALL the homes.

Dear Eric,
Please start looking for a job. In Brasil. I will secure our Visa's. I will plead with the embassy to let us stay. All you have to do is find a job. And learn to speak Portuguese. It's not hard. You are already used to driving a little car so that will be nothing new to you. It will be sunny all the time. You won't ever have to shovel the driveway again. Or the deck. You will never have to salt the sidewalk. Or slide into a ditch because the roads are snowy. You will never have to stay inside all day because it's to cold to go out. Or wish you had put on a winter jacket.
Can we move to Brazil please?
Thank you.
Nichole

Did I mention that I have rice and beans cooking on the stove?? It smells delicious. And makes me miss Brasil.

1 year...

Wow. How does 1 year go by so fast!!?? This past year has just flown and it makes me sad to think that my baby is becoming a toddler. There have been lots of changes in the Fitzgerald house hold...probably because I haven't posted in over 3 months. My bad. A big one being that we (I) are taking care of one of our friend's baby, Sophia. I watch her Tuesday through Friday from 7:30ish to 5:30ish. The first couple days were quite a challenge as I tried to balance two babies. My main difficulty was when in the world was I (emphasis on the word I) supposed to eat!? Adelyn and I have both adjusted quite well and little Sophia is an excellent napper! I told Tiffany I have to poke her every once and a while just to make sure she is still breathing because Adelyn never napped like that! That girl can do 3-4 hour naps in the afternoon. Crazy. Adelyn has decided she likes having Sophia around and is always trying to give her hugs, kisses and trying to "rock" her...the first time I let her rock Sophia the "rocking" got a little out of hand...so Adelyn isn't allowed to do that anymore. We are working on NOT stealing Sophia's paci. Adelyn would first take it, just to take it. Now we have advanced to taking it and giving it to mom. Next I want her to give it BACK to Sophia. Then we can work on not taking it period.
We had two birthday parties for Adelyn. One on Saturday with our friends and one on Sunday with our families. They both went really well and my meal was a hit :) We had sliders (homemade, NOT white castle), chips and dip (3 different kinds), fruit salad and cake. Adelyn received lots of great presents and loves to play with them. I must admit though, the party favors I got for all the kids (Adelyn got some too) are her favorite. It's pretty sad when 75 cents worth of toys is the favorite. Oh well. It'll wear off..hopefully.
What is Adelyn up to lately??
-Taking her first steps. She is up to 5 or 6 at a time and just cruises around furniture.
-Eating all table food. Now she mainly eats what we eat. She does have quite the milk intolerance but hopefully that will go away.
-She is still "nursing" but it has been 48 hours since the last time I nursed her. I refuse to be uncomfortable when I wean her so it's been a gradual process.
-Sleeping 12 hours at night.
-Taking 2 somtimes 1 nap a day.
-Wearing mostly 12 month clothes. Some 12-18 month.
-Wearing a size 4 diaper.
-Has 2, yes 2, teeth.
-Loves to crawl up the stairs. Luckily for me we have a gate.
-Love to give kisses.
-Says mama, dada, yes and hot.
-Has officially never had formula or a jar of baby food.
-Can make the living room look like a tornado went through in 12 seconds flat.
-Mama is still your very favorite person. It's sad. If there is an option for mom to hold you, you cry until I do.
-Love to laugh. When you know people are laughing at you, you just laugh more.

1 year stats:
weight: 21lbs 11ozs, 50th-75th percentile
length: 30.5inches, 90th percentile
head circumference: 95th percentile

You had four shots today. boo. I hate shots. And for whatever reason I had to hold your arms. Not cool.

9 Month Stats

Adelyn had her 9 month doctors appointment on Monday. Everything went really well and she is meeting all of her milestones. Shes slowed down a little on the growth chart:
28.5in long-75th percentile
19lbs 11oz-75th percentile
18.5in head circumference-97th percentile
Hallelujah her head is back on the charts!!! We are no longer setting records ;) (They never were worried about her head size, since big heads run on my side of the family.)
I am so happy that they didn't have a fit either when I refused the flu shots. She just said I have to let you know. That was awesome, I was prepared for the worst. So we escaped WITHOUT getting any shots! woot. woot. We go back February 3 and have to get all of her 1 year shots then...that will stink.
Mini-vacay next weekend for the Fitzgeralds! I am so excited and so ready :)

9 months

Baby Adelyn, today you are 9 months. It makes me sad how fast you are growing but yet each day you are doing new things. We have just gotten the all clear after 10 days of harrowing (more for me) illnesses. You had croup, bronchiolits and pneumonia. Yikes. You gained back all the weight you had lost while you were sick and I am VERY happy about that.
At 9 months you:
-are crawling everywhere!!! you have been for about 3 weeks.
-you pull to standing. and started that only a couple days after crawling.
-you eat practically everything. we still have yet to find something you DONT like.
-you wear a size 3 diaper.
-you are in mostly 9 month clothes but are starting to wear 12 months because you are so long and I hate it when your little ankles hang out in the freezing cold.
-you nurse 3 times a day.
-you love water.
-you take 2 naps a day. one at 10 and one at 3ish.
-you say mama and you know who it pertains too :)
-you still love Lakota. she always lays by you and you poke her eyes, pull her hair, pull her lips, yank her ears and she just stares at me, like "Mom are you really going to let that happen?"
-you weight 19lbs 12ozs and are 28 1/2 inches long.

You have your well baby doctors visit next week (no shots!!!) so we'll see how you measure on the charts then :)

Discovery

I have discovered that just because it didn't put a little squiggly underneath the word doesn't mean that it isn't misspelled. Oops. Hopefully I fixed them all.

Those People

Well I can honestly say that we have officially been Those People. You know, the ones when you are in a restaurant that have the child who is arching her back in the high chair, flinging toys and making loud noises. Or the ones who are in the store and as soon as the stroller stops moving the child starts sobbing. Yes, Those People. We went to 84 East and the first happened. Yesterday I went to Children's Place and the second happened. Neither time was nap time. At Children's Place I was even shopping for YOU. Most definitely not me. I must say though, while we were at the Children's Place we weren't THOSE PEOPLE. The ones who have the child that is flailing her arms, screaming and knocking things off the racks. If I ever am on my way to becoming THOSE PEOPLE I sure hope I leave before it gets to that point.
While I was at the mall I was hoping to shop for myself. I desperately need some long sleeve shirts, probably because I keep wearing the same thing and we all know how warm it's been here lately. Alas, I decided I didn't need long sleeve shirts bad enough to become THOSE PEOPLE.

*Sniff*7 Months Old*Sniff*

Adelyn, Adelyn J, Miss Adelyn, Addy, A, Goose, Gossey, Baby Adelyn. Those are our terms of endearment for you so far. Of course honey, sweetie and all of those can be added to the mix too :)

-You nurse 3 times a day, eat meals 3 times a day and take 2 naps.
-You are sitting exclusively. For long periods.
-You will rock back and forth on your hands and knees.
-You LOVE water. LOVE.
-You are in 6-9 month clothes.
-Size 3 diaper.
-Wave good-bye. Or hello. Either way.
-I still cannot find anything you do not like. Hopefully the trend continues.

Prunes
Pears
Mangoes
Potatoes
Peas
Watermelon
-You can now blow raspberries. I was all concerned because you weren't doing this and I had been reading other babies do it much earlier. Little did I know if I just did it at you a couple days in a row, you would do it ;) Your dad wasn't very impressed. He seemed to think it wasn't developmentally important. Silly mommy, thinking blowing raspberries is important.
-STILL have not had a drop of formula. Or canned baby food. Go me. Your daddy helped me make baby food the other night. We made enough for almost a month. After we were done he said (and I quote) "I don't know how you do it."
-You LOVE your blanket. Or hot pad. Depends on which parent you ask ;) You heard it here first though...it WILL NOT leave your crib. Unless if we go on vacation. It then comes with for your pack n play.
-Have graduated to the Recaro Como in Pink. You love it. You were 4 lbs and 3 inches away from outgrowing your other seat but you do enjoy this seat so much more because you sit up.
-Still have not gotten your first teeth. I don't even look anymore. I figure I'll know once you bite me. I'm looking forward to it.

I love you baby girl!