Graduation...finally!

This past weekend was a busy one as my parents and Derek's mom made the trip from Indiana to go to my commencement at Illinois State. After 3 and a half years I finally finished my Masters Degree in Reading! I walked in the ceremony because many of my classmates were walking and my research partner convinced me that I needed to walk. Thanks Kristi! :) I am glad I walked because it brought closure and made it feel real. The commencement was short and sweet. ISU splits up their ceremonies by the various schools so we were out in under 2 hours..thank goodness. My parents have been to quite a few of my commencements and are real troopers for making the trip up for this one. They and Derek's mom were a big help in helping with Adalyn. She spent much of commencement lying on Grandpa's shoulder, but got antsy at times and needed to do laps around Redbird Arena.

Addy checking out the view from her seat.

Resting on Grandpa's shoulder

Making it official

I appreciate all of the support my parents have given me through my MANY years of school!

Derek's mom has been a huge help throughout my classes.

After commencement we went out to eat at a restaurant in Bloomington. The restaurant had so many reservations that we were given our own private dining room, which was very nice since we could let Addy roam around to entertain herself. Our friend Kim met us at the restaurant to celebrate with us. She has been a huge help with Addy when times have gotten very crazy! We appreciate all of her help!

After lunch my parents took me flower shopping to several local nurseries for my birthday present. I ended up with a lot of different flowers and got them all planted in the beds and pots.

On Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day with my parents before they headed home to Indiana. Then Derek, Addy, Derek's Mom, and I headed to the Decatur Zoo for a special mom's day. The zoo was very busy, as they had special activities planned. It was a lot of fun and Addy really enjoyed herself. She got to ride the carousel several times and loved it.

We had a wonderful weekend! I am so relieved to be done and I am ready to start the next chapter in our lives. I have already started to make a list of the things I want to get accomplished around the house. I know that Derek and Addy are also relieved that I am done. No more papers, projects, deadlines, comps and research = a much happier mommy! I also wanted to extend a sincere thanks to all of our family and friends who have been so supportive during this process! I appreciate everything you have done to help us out! THANK YOU!!

Future Redbird:)

Spring is Here!!

It has been quite a while since we have posted and a lot has gone on since our last entry. I have now completed my masters degree. I have submitted my last assignment electronically and have prepared the manuscript to be sent to the publisher. Now, all I have to do is walk in the graduation ceremony next Saturday to make it official. Yes, I am walking...my research partner convinced me that I should. I invited our parents up for the weekend and promised them that this will be the final graduation ceremony they will have to sit through for me!

We are so happy that the weather has finally warmed up (hopefully to stay)! We have taken advantage of the beautiful weather by working a lot outdoors. We have received tons of rain lately so Derek has gotten into the swing of mowing, which is not his favorite activity. We also have some wildlife in our yard, which Derek affectionately refers to as varmints. Needless to say that he has been investigating holes all over our yard with the vengeance of Elmer Fudd! Adalyn loves the outdoors and always brings us our shoes so that she can go outside to play no matter what it's like outside--light or dark, rain or shine. She just doesn't understand that we can't be outside all of the time.

Addy is currently cutting lots of teeth--6 to be exact!! She has been very cranky for the past few weeks and has been biting and chewing on everything and everyone. She recently bit her best buddy at the sitter's which was a cause for concern.

Although she isn't saying many coherent words yet, she is making many sounds and tries to mimic the things we say. She is still dancing up a storm and loves turning in circles. She now tries to sing to the songs along with dancing to them, which is quite entertaining. She is quite the babbler. Addy continues to be quite the eater and has been successfully using the spoon for foods like mashed potatoes. Although the food on the spoon doesn't always make it to her mouth, she is making progress.

School will be over in about 4 weeks, which is both exciting and nerve wracking. We have a busy May filled with the end of a school year, my ISU graduation, Brian's graduation, and many other events. However, it looks as if June will be even busier as we have a wedding, graduation party, a baseball game, and Derek will be going on multiple business trips (several to tropical regions!). Hopefully we'll be able to relax in July:)

Easter in Indiana

This weekend we headed home to Indiana to celebrate Easter with our families. I was fortunate enough to have Friday and Monday off of school, so it was an excellent opportunity to make the trip home. We headed home Thursday evening and arrived at my parent's house late that night. Addy had slept for the majority of the trip, so she was hyped up and ready to go when we got to their house. She played with all of the toys that Grandma Schum had scored at various yard sales. She finally tuckered out and headed to bed.

On Friday we headed to Derek's mom's house and helped her go through some of her things and prepare for Courtney's baby shower. Derek's mom is planning on moving sometime this spring/summer, so we have been working on getting rid of lots of things in her house, which is quite a job! Friday evening we went out to eat with my family and went to visit my cousin Gwen and her family. Gwen just had a new baby girl a month ago and she is precious! It was a lot of fun seeing them! Addy enjoyed checking out her second cousin, Owen's boy toys! She didn't really pay a whole lot of attention to little Avari, which was probably for the best!

On Saturday we had Courtney's shower at Derek's mom's house. Courtney is Cory's wife, who is Derek's brother. The shower went very well. Many of the people who came to the shower saw Adalyn for the first time. She really enjoyed all of the attention. Saturday evening we suprised Derek's mom by arranging for all of her brothers and sisters to meet us at Shyler's in Evansville for her birthday. It was really hard to keep the secret from her, but it was a success!

We celebrated Easter on Sunday at my parents. We braved the chilly and windy weather to hunt eggs in mom and dad's front yard. Addy's seemed to get the hang of it, but enjoyed picking the eggs up and then tossing them over her shoulder. On Sunday evening we took Addy to her Grandma Freihaut's house so that she could see her in her Easter dress.

Addy's second Easter was much more eventful than her first. Instead of sleeping the day away like she did last year, Addy ran all around the house playing with her new toys and making it nearly impossible for me to take pictures. She loved seeing all of her grandparents and continuously asked to go outside to play. Hopefully the next time we head to Indiana it will be much warmer and she can spend lots of time running around in the yard.






Hunting eggs at Grandma and Grandpa Schum's House

Addy got a golf set from her Grandma and Grandpa. Let's hope it warms up enough to play OUTSIDE very soon:)

Bye Bye Bottle!

Lots have things have happened since our last post, but since I still have a bit of homework to do I'll keep this short and sweet.

I survived the big presentation my partner and I had to give at the Illinois reading Conference. Despite having a cold and a fever that day it actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated...go figure! We ended up having a packed room and about 70 people come in to hear us speak about our research in my classroom that focused on using technology in the classroom to motivate readers and writers..OK I won't bore you with any details....just know that it went well and I didn't pass out when all of those people kept filing in (although I came close!) I also want to thank all of my family and friends for giving me so much support during all of the preparation for this conference. It helped to know that you all had confidence in me!

OK..now on to the good stuff--ADDY!

Hmm, where should I start? So much has happened in the past few weeks. The biggest Addy news is that she is officially BOTTLE FREE. We had taken a few of her bottles throughout the day away, but last Saturday we decided to just try to get her to quit cold turkey. Addy did great. She has taken to the full time sippy beautifully and there's no turning back now. Old Dr. Brown is gone for good--packed away in our "baby" storage area. Oh how wonderful it is to not have to wash and transport bottles! We are very proud of our little girl.

As a little reward for giving up the bottle, we gave Adalyn her very first Oreo and she loved it!

After getting her one year pictures taken it seems as though Adalyn has taken it upon herself to get a bump and/or bruise on every part of her little body, especially her face. She is a true roughneck and takes many tumbles throughout the course of the day. I'm sure that this is just the beginning of many interesting "boo boos" to come. Sometimes I think I take them much harder than she does.

Addy has had a cold for a few weeks now. During the past week she started to develop a cough that sounded like it was settling in her chest and was waking her up through the night. We decided to take her to the doctor on Friday and he gave us an antibiotic to help clear it up. Hopefully it will do the trick and our little girl can sleep soundly through the night again.

This past Saturday we went to Addy's very first Easter egg hunt, which was at the zoo. It was certainly interesting to say the least. Addy participated in the zero to 3 hunt, which really isn't a hunt at all! It was basically a circular area of the zoo in which everyone surrounded with their little ones and waited as the toddlers were tortured by having to look (but don't touch) at the hundreds of plastic goody filled eggs in front of them. Needless to say...the event didn't go as I had envisioned, but nothing really does with a one year old! I was most amazed at the crazy parents that accompanied some of the toddlers. There was one mom next to me that ran around holding her child's basket and picking up as many eggs as she could while her child wasn't anywhere near her. Derek and I certainly weren't prepared for this craziness! After all of the hunts were held, there was an "All Age" hunt that everyone could participate in, so we also let Addy hunt in that one. I took it upon myself to protect Addy from being trampled by the big kids, although I think she could have held her own! Basically I walked around with her and handed eggs to her and then she put them in the basket. After all of the kids went through their eggs and the area was empty, a few empty ones remained. Adalyn had a great time going around picking up the empty ones. She didn't even care if they had both halves. I think that this may be the beginning of a new game at our house. She has been carrying her basket full of eggs around everywhere today!!

We are looking forward to Easter break, as we are preparing to make the trip to Indiana. Hopefully this week will fly by!

ONE YEAR & Easter Photos!

We finally got Adalyn's one year pictures taken today. We also got her Easter pictures taken too! I have included a few of the pics below. Happy Spring:)

The photos are a read-only file, so my computer won't let me rotate them! Sorry!

SPRING FEVER!

It's been a while since I last posted. These past few weeks have been very hectic. I have been preparing for several big presentations for my Masters class. Last Saturday I had my first of 2 presentations. I was nervous about it and preparing and cramming for it all week. I think that the presentation actually went pretty well. My research partner and I have one more presentation at the Illinois Reading Council Conference this Friday. I'm not too nervous yet, but I'm sure that I will be soon. Speaking in front of people isn't exactly my comfort zone. Okay..now on to more interesting things....

On the Adalyn forefront, she is as independent ever. They always say that once they turn one, they realize they have a mind of their own--boy do they EVER! Adalyn is pretty independent these days. She knows what she wants and when she wants and isn't real good at taking no for an answer when things can't be her way. She has really taken an interest in ALL food and wants to try whatever it is that you're eating. We haven't found a whole lot of things that she doesn't like. I did give her a taste of salsa the other night and that really didn't go so well. She actually got pretty angry at me and made a face of disgust. Maybe mexican cuisine won't be her thing.

This weekend we took a short trip to Chicago. It was the beginning of my spring break and we wanted to take a short trip before I had to start cramming for my presentation on Friday. We headed up Friday after school and stayed until Sunday. On Saturday morning we headed to the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier. It was a neat place for Adalyn to explore. She got to paint at an easel that was her height. I was surprised at how well she did holding the brush and actually painting strokes on the easel. Addy's favorite part of the museum was definitely the water area. There was a giant water table area that she absolutely loved. Unfortunately we spent a long time under the hand dryer afterward because not even a full length rain jacket could keep Addy (or her mommy) dry. On Saturday we also got to see the river dyed green for the St. Patty's day celebration that was going on. It really is bright green! During nap time, Derek and Adalyn went back to the room while I shopped for a while on Michigan Avenue. Later that night we ate at the Rainforest Cafe, walked around a bit downtown, and then headed to the Melting Pot for dessert.

On Sunday we headed out of town and stopped at an outlet mall on the way. It was a great weekend and I wished we had been able to stay a few more days. Adalyn did great on the whole trip. On Friday night she was a bit hesitant to go down to sleep because there were so many new things to check out. I was afraid we were going to have a repeat of our last trip to Chicago, but she eventually fell asleep!

Today was the first official day of spring break. Adalyn and I enjoyed the beautiful weather by going for a walk with her brand new wagon that she got from Grandma and Grandpa Schum. She loved the ride. Hopefully the weather will stay warm and we can spend more days outside and make the most of spring break!

Addy playing at the Discovery Museum.

My family sent me these flowers to wish me luck on my presentation.

They were SO pretty:)

Checking out the Lego Man

Splish! Splash!

Fun with the Fun House mirrors at Navy Pier

Walking through a tunnel to some soggy fun!

We were suprised how green the river really looked after they dyed it!

The big ONE!

It's hard to believe that it is already here, but Adalyn turned one today! It seems like just yesterday that we were in the hospital and now our little girl is an active and happy one year old. We celebrated Addy's big milestone with a party at our house on Saturday. Both sides of our family were able to make the trip from Indiana and we invited several friends from the Bloomington and Springfield areas. I think we had around 25 people, which was a new experience for Adalyn. She enjoyed having so many visitors on her turf and really soaked in all of the birthday attention. There were quite a few young guest invited and Adalyn enjoyed playing with all of them. This is the largest crowd we've ever had in our house during the cold months when the use of our outdoor space wasn't feasible. Our parents were a great help in preparing for the festivities and we are very thankful for their efforts! This was quite the experience for me as well, as I haven't ever been so closely involved in planning and carrying out a child's birthday party. Opening gifts was quite the eye opener and didn't go quite as I had envisioned. By this time addy was getting a bit over stimulated and tired and wasn't interested in sitting down and opening her gifts. In fact, I opened many of them solo style and if you looked at the pictures and didn't know any differently, you would think that it was my birthday party.

After gifts, we went on to the culminating activity--the cake! Addy ate her very own small cake like a pro and made quite the mess of herself and her parents. Her handiwork earned her a quick bath (which was more of a hosing off), which wasn't near long enough in her eyes. All in all the party went well and we were so appreciative of everyone who took the time out of their busy schedules to celebrate with us. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family!

On Friday Adalyn had her 12 month checkup. She weighed 25 lbs. 10 oz. and was 30.5 inches tall. She has definitely slowed down on the growth chart, but still tops the charts in heigth and weight. The doctor said she is doing well. Adalyn got two shots and did very well with them. We also got the "go ahead" to start Adalyn on whole milk and to turn her car seat around (which she will love)!

Today I took a half day and Adalyn, her Grandma Freihaut, and I headed into town to meet Derek for a little birthday celebration. Before meeting Derek we headed to the kiddie shoe store to get Addy her first pair of "real big girl" shoes. She had a little bit trouble walking in them at first, but she is getting the hang of it.

After picking Derek up from work, we headed to this child friendly place called "Make a Mess." It was supposed to be a place where kids can play with all types of fun intereactive things. Needless to say it was a dud. The best part of the place was when Addy and I crawled though this giant inflatable obstacle course. It was certainly interesting! Since our first attempt at fun didn't pan out, we decided to give good old Chuck E. Cheese a shot. Derek and I hadn't been to one in forever and we weren't sure what to expect. We didn't eat the pizza, but Addy got to see the giant robotic Chuck E. and rode a few little rides. She enjoyed running around and watching all of the kids and checking out the games. We ended the evening with dinner at Outback. Addy was very well behaved and attracted a lot of attention with her Birthday Girl shirt. It was a fun day!