Bug Hugs

My Mom took these pictures this summer and emailed them to me- I think they are precious, so I thought I'd share! I love this Lady Bug more than words can explain!

Last Day of Summer

Well, our summer vacation is officially over. I've been trying to convince myself for the past 2 months that Ada and I are bored at home, and both need some outside stimulation. That I need adult conversation, goals to strive for, people to please, kids to teach. That Ada needs a room full of toys, and to play with Kash and Presley. And although I do love my job, and Ada does enjoy daycare- those are only secondary to the precious time we have together. This summer has been so amazing; and I am devastated to be hitting the daily grind again beginning tomorrow. I will miss that sweet baby Buggaboo so terribly, I'm afraid my heart will burst! She is the total light of my life, and we belong together all day everyday! OK, I'm being melodramatic, but it's what I'm feeling at the moment. It will all be "normal" again to us in a few days.

On a lighter note, we decided to spend our last hours of vacation at the Houston Aquarium- and wish we'd have been going all summer!! All 3 of us had a blast- and will definitely be visiting again soon. We must, actually- Ada needs more exposure to fish. She kept calling them birds ("dids") as they darted about in their aquariums!



We began our day trip with a quick ride on a crocodile. This carousel is the real deal- I got a little motion sickness!

Next up: a train ride alongside Buffalo Bayou....

Weeeeeeeeee!

.....and into shark infested waters! We parked in the welcomed cool shade for a few minutes to shark watch.

Not quite sure what we think of these snaggle toothed things.....




Gotta have some good animatronics to wrap up the trainride! This scared me more than anyone- Ada was, of course, more interested in the inner workings of the technology.




Hanging with Daddy at the sunken Mayan temple exhibit...




Exploring a coral reef with Mommy- the Clown Fish were our faves.




We have a very advanced 10 month old- she's already scuba diving through shipwrecks! Teachable moment: no looting!




An aquarium wouldn't be complete without a lifesized statue of an endangered Indian white tiger! Ada is perplexed- since when are tigers aquatic animals!?





And NO Dowell family vacay would be complete without an extended stay in the gift shop, playing with the stuffed animals! My little Snake Charmer....

OK, this is Alicia, officially signing off summer blogging. It is quite possible my postings will become sparse and uninteresting for the next few months. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on Ada's ultimate cuteness, though!

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

Here's that baby girl creeping along the windowsill! She'll give me her hand and take a step or two to me with guidance (and a little fussy muss), but yesterday was the first time she really took it upon herself to embark on a leisurely cruise up and down the window. Granted, Germaine the Giraffe did provide a little incentive to make the trip....

Yes, we are still in our jammies- we are spoiled rotten and not getting dressed until late morning these days! It's going to be a SHOCKER when our 5:30 am wake-up-calls return in a week and a half (The good thing about teaching high school- getting out by 3:30pm. The bad thing- getting there at 6:50am! Add in living 30 minutes away and dropping a baby off at daycare makes for a very early morning). But, for now, we are ignoring the fact that the end of summer is quickly approaching, and we are going about our holiday business as usual!

Big Girl Milestones

Ada will be 10 months old this weekend!!! I cannot believe it. Here is what she's been up to for the past few weeks:

Milestone #1: Sleeping in her big girl crib! We have had so many sleep issues throughout the school year, I never thought this day would come! We have trouble getting her to sleep (she fights it like a total champ), we have trouble getting her to stay asleep (I feel like there was always something, teething, ear infections, bad days at daycare and wanting her Mommy, etc.) But she's doing a lot better in the crib- I'm sure it's much more comfortable than the pac-n-play that she'd been in in our room. DUH Mom and Dad- shoulda thought of that sooner. She's still not the Queen of Slumber- she's still been waking up at 1 and 3am.

But we're working on it. 1 o'clock we *try* to pat her back to sleep (sometimes its just too exhausting), 3 o'clock I go ahead and nurse her. Dr. Sears says pick 7 hours (for a breastfed

baby) that you want to not nurse- so I've been going 8pm-3am. Hopefully as she eats more and more and more solids, that will lengthen! :) I'll also probably bump those hours to 10pm-5am once school starts, since I get up at 5 anyway during the

year.

Here is a reenactment that Ada and I created to give you an idea of how much we love waking up in our big girl crib! (Thanks for the crib, Pop and Honey! And thanks for actually putting her in it, Grandma and Grandpa!)

Milestone #2: Big Girl Carseat! Ada was getting a little long for her baby carseat. So I went ahead and got "The Big Girl Seat" before we're paying wazoos for daycare again in a few weeks. Well, she loved it so much when I put her in it just to test the strap adjusments, etc that we went ahead and installed it. She loves being able to look out the window, see herself better in the mirror, and recline in the pretty, comfortable seat cover (I would hope it's comfortable and pretty- it's Britax's "Couture" collection!). Here she is, excited to go for a car ride!

This is a pic I snapped at a red light from her mirror- she's totally relaxed, and holding Boy Toy! :)

Milestone #3: A blooming love of books. I've read to Ada from the day we brought her home from the hospital. At about 6 months, however, she began "exerting her independence"- aka grabbing any book that came into sight to chew to pieces. Recently she's coming back around and taking an interest in these "toys with pictures and words!" She loves to play in her room, pulling books off of her bookshelf (thanks for the library, MiMi!), opening and closing pages, and feeling the books with textures. Below she is reading her all time favorite book, "Little Feet Like." She will even rub the pages with her feet instead of her hands! It's really, really cute. I'll try to catch it on video for another blog! :)

Reading "Little Feet Like." Picking out which book I want to read next.

Milestone #4: The beginnings of words. "Mama" and "Dada" have been definite fixtures in Ada's vocabulary from about 7 months old. Then, about 2 weeks ago, came "Yum Yum" and "Uh Oh!" And now, Ada is officially trying her hardest to pronounce words like "dog," "bath," "tub," and "duck." It. Is. SO. Darn. CUTE! And you can't coax her to say any of it- its all on her terms, her time, her choice. Note to self: get a video of this.

HiLaRIoUs HoUsEWoRk!

Friday is my housework day- every week I pray that Ada is easily entertained for the few hours it takes me to exercise my inner-clean freak..... Not only was that prayer answered this past week, but God gave me a little *extra* gift- Ada's entertainment was the housework!

As I dusted the blinds (yes, I dust the blinds every week- I'm telling you, I'm abnormal), Ada began giggling uncontrollably. She cracked up as I dusted, as we walked down the hallway, as we hunted the video camera; and you can even hear her excitement heighten again as we turn the camera on and walk towards the blinds in the office. I think its safe to say that Ada inherited the "clean gene"- I just hope she finds housework this hilarious in about 15 years! :)

Enjoy her sweet giggle!

P.S. No, I'm not pregnant. I'm slunching backwards, holding a chubster, and wearing a sloppy t-shirt... just thought I'd clear that up for any of you that might be getting ahead of yourselves!

Peek-A-Bug!

Here is Ada Bug playing Peek-A-Boo behind the couch... we caught the very tail end of her newfound game! Please, please, PLEASE mute your speakers! ;)

Fushia Girls

Here are some more pictures from the other day. Some of these will be printed in Black and White for the Black and White Wall!! (I need to post a photo of my Black and White Wall! It's my favorite thing in my house. Other than my countertops. And my bathtub. And Ada's room. And the people in it!)

Summerisms

Before Cirque du Soleil with MiMi- it was AMAZING!

Here are some pictures from A) Father's Day, B) MiMi's birthday (she's 28 this year! ;) ), C) 4th of July, and D) Cirque du Soleil! (I went with MiMi). Summer is only a little over half way over, so there will be more to come, I'm sure!

Note: I added the Fushia Family pic at a later time- and I'm so OVER trying to get it formatted- along with all of the other pictures. So patchwork it will stay! :)

Four Generations: MiMi, Alicia, Grams, and Ada Bug

Father's Day

Bug Moments on Video

Well, I had compiled all of these clips into a really cute "short film," but the file is so huge, that I eventually gave up on it ever uploading! So, here are the videos as individual documents- with no titles, captions, or special effects. Boring, but proven effective. :) Enjoy!

This first video is of Ada realizing her favorite TV show, "Yo Gabba Gabba," is on- witness the sheer excitement!

This one is of naptime- Ada style.

Mealtime with The Bug.

And a quick snippet of a dance party- hosted by the Buggy Boo.

Remember- if you're getting this via email, you'll need to actually visit the blog (http://www.thedailydowell.blogspot.com/) so you can play the videos!!

Museum of Children (ie Children's Museum!)

We hooked up with Sara and Rory last week for a trip to the Houston's Children's Museum. It was a fiasco parking, and it just so happened that every daycare, preschool, stay-at-home Mom, school teacher with summers off, and orphanage also decided to make the trek to the Museum District that day... but after clawing our way through the exhibits, we made our way up to the "Tot Spot" and low and behold, it all became worth the headache! Think: bright colors, padded toys, and ample children to watch and screech at! Ada was in hog heaven. Here are some pictures of that sweet pea!

Monkeyin' Around

We went to the zoo today!!! It was scalding hot, so lots of the animals were just takin' it easy indoors- but the few we saw brought about lots of squeals, giggles, and curious looks from Ada Bug. A lemur that kept hopping down a branch while making eye contact with the spectators got a big rise out of her. She also was intrigued by the giraffes and elephants.... however, the MOST spellbinding creatures at the zoo were... drumroll please... HUMANS! She could not get enough of babies, toddlers, kids, and teenagers. And then of course, the oversized stuffed animals in the gift shop were a blast, too. She was such a good girl in her stroller, and I love her so so so so much!

Speaking of animals... we went to Gram's last night to dog-sit Murphy while she is away visiting Aunt Mildred in New Mexico (Murph was sent away to see if Ada's allergies improved in his absence.)... and I'm sad to report that the SECOND Ada crawled around on the carpet her eyes started getting red and watery, and she woke up with gunk in them this morning. Poor Ada, but more importantly, poor Murphy! We are still not sure where he will end up- he is so happy at Gram's, but she wasn't exactly in the market for an 80 lb Lab/Boxer mix!!!

A Bug on the Move!

Ada is crawling! Just little bits at a time, but she sure is cute. Her favorite trick, though, is sitting up from a crawling position. She does it a million times a day, and is always so proud! Here is a short video of her new mode of mobility:

Last Day of School

Well, Ada and I have survived the year!!! All of the insanity, exhaustion, hard work, long hours, etc have abruptly ended, and summer is here!!! I thought I would be beside myself with excitement, but for so long we have been just surviving day to day- lesson plans (first year teacher=no preexisting plans or ideas), bottles and food, pumping, cleaning my pump, and pumping again, classroom management (barf), dinner, bathing (ha), etc- that apparently I had a ton of stress and emotions bottled up. And they came rushing out in the form of mourning the end of daycare... There are 4 ladies in the infant room at Tigerland Daycare, all of which we love- but 2 of them are extremely special to us. Miss Kim (middle, holding Ada) and Miss Stephanie (left, red hair) love Ada just about as much as we do, so it was extremely difficult leaving them that last day because Ada will be in a new room when we return in the fall. Here is a picture of our beloved Tigerland Infant Room ladies- we love you! (Miss Arlene deserves some credit, too- she's wonderful!!)

However- now we've had a few days to grasp what this 2 month long break will feel like... and we are feeling MUCH better! :)

Big Fish

We took Ada swimming last weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Dowell's- and she did AWESOME! She loved the water. We knew she loved bath time... but weren't sure how'd she do in a much cooler, much bigger, much more chlorinated, much different body of water! She splashed her heart out, and kept trying to bend down to explore the water with her mouth (of course). I'm not comfortable with her "going under" this summer, I don't think. Haven't you seen the Oprah with Dr. Oz about "dry drowning!??!!" We are going to wait until next summer to get into heavy duty breath-holding, bubble-blowing, and overall fish-like behavior. As a former swim instructor for the "Guppies" and "Minnows" at Cleburne City Pool, I am excited to teach Ada how to swim- but not yet. For now we will stick with chasing Daddy around trying to splash him. :) Here are some pictures, enjoy!