Fifteen Months!

This past weekend, we celebrated Adelaida's fifteen-month birthday. I thought I'd take this opportunity to reflect on how much she has grown -- both physically and developmentally -- in the past fifteen months.

This is the first picture taken of Adelaida, just a few hours after she was born. She was stressed during the birth and hadn't had much oxygen, so was sent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) immediately after she was born. We were told that she'd probably be in the NICU for five to seven days, with a ventilator to help her breathe because she couldn't breathe on her own. Just six hours after she was born, she pulled the ventilator tubes out of her throat and began breathing on her own! I never saw her on the ventilator, but Dale did and it was a pretty scary time. Fortunately, Adelaida's condition improved rapidly and within two days she was released from the NICU and got to go home with us.


When she was five days old, Adelaida celebrated her first Christmas. She was so little! We had so much to celebrate and to be thankful for that Christmas.


For the first month, we rarely let go of Adelaida. We just couldn't believe that this beautiful, special, sweet, loving baby was ours! Adelaida adjusted well by sleeping wherever she could, which was usually in our arms or on our laps.


When she was two months old, we began taking pictures of Adelaida next to Pink Panther. I love the expression on her face in this picture!


By three months, Adelaida was so aware of the world around her. She actually put Snuffles Jr on her chest by herself and was just looking at him, as if she were waiting for him to respond to her.


Adelaida started eating solids at four months old. Here she is eating with the spoon by herself! She has since progressed to the point where she gets a lot more food when she eats, but the process is still pretty messy :)


At five months old, Adelaida started swimming lessons, started school, and became a pro at sitting up.


While taking the six-month picture of Adelaida with Pink Panther, Dale and Grant wondered if she looked shorter than Pink Panther only because she wasn't fully extended. So, they (very carefully) fully extended her and we confirmed: she really was shorter than Pink Panther!


Adelaida spent her seventh months standing up almost all the time -- while holding on to something, of course.


Eight-month-old Adelaida was doing more of everything -- eating more, standing more (and pulling herself up), smiling and laughing more. She also started signing her first "word" -- nurse! What a great time we had with our little girl.


Adelaida's nine-month picture with Pink Panther is one of my favorites: she is smiling and just about to roll away, and doing what she did so much at this age -- sticking her tongue out!


This is our little flower at ten months old, with her proud Daddy in the reflection in the mirror. Aren't they so cute!


By eleven months, Adelaida really learned to love the independence she gained by self-propelled movement. She had been crawling for almost two months by then, but really preferred standing and walking to crawling. This picture is the first time Adelaida learned to walk around the wall (rather than furniture). She also started "performing" on demand: she could clap, wave, sign "nurse," and "be sweet" (lay her head down on something) whenever we asked her to. We really enjoyed showing her off!


After so many wonderful months with Adelaida, we suddenly realized that an entire year had passed -- she was one year old!! She was as beautiful as ever and (incredibly) becoming more fun every day. Our first year with her had flown by so quickly; she had somehow been transformed from a tiny little baby whose weak little finger grasp was so special, into a beautiful, smart, loving, kind, happy little girl.


By thirteen months, Adelaida was walking -- and she got so much enjoyment out of it! For the first month, she walked around with her arms up in the air, toward either Dale or me so that she could fall into us. It was adorable.


Fourteen-month-old Adelaida could sign several words (nurse, eat, more, all done, up) and was learning body parts, like head, ear, eyes, nose, mouth, and (her favorite) tongue.


Adelaida is now fifteen months old -- a whole one-and-a-quarter years! The time has flown by and we are reminded every day how lucky we are to have our precious little girl. Although she is small for her age, she has finally outgrown Pink Panther! (And as you can see, she still enjoys tags.)