Christmas 2007

We have had a great Christmas month! We were able to spend lots of time with our family and friends, which is always a blessing. We had a few great Christmas parties (one with friends, one with JM's office, and one with mine - where my very sweet boss gave me probably the coolest Christmas gift ever: a ride on the Zamboni at a Nashville Predators game!!!!!), and some family events as well! My parents had a family event at their house and it was SO great to see my cousins and also my brother and new sister-in-law. Even though we all live in the Nashville area, it's still hard to get together often.

We also had a great family dinner with JM's family. I think there were about 30-35 of us there. ALWAYS a good time! Forgive me if my memory is hazy on all of our parties, but I had a killer midterm right before Christmas :)

ANYWAY - Christmas was a blast! I, of course, had to do some last minute shopping, so I spent a lot of the weekend before out and about. Addie went with me and did great! We did have to take a trip to the pediatrician (but really, what holiday would be complete without one?), as we all three had a cold and it settled in Addie's chest. She also had an ear infection, but luckily, she seemed to feel great for Christmas Eve and Day!

We had both sets of grandparents over on Christmas Eve (a tradition we started last year). We had so much fun, and I'm pretty sure Addie didn't know what to do with herself. She was literally running around the house in circles all evening. We were trying to calm her down due to her chest cold and asthma issues, but she was really going nuts! I guess it's not every day that you have SIX people who love you more than anything in the world, all in the same house at one time :) So, who can blame her?

Christmas Day was as busy as ever - we woke up at around 7 a.m. and celebrated just the three of us. Addie was obsessed with the one gift that cost us nothing. My boss was kind enough to give us her daughter's old play kitchen and that is the only thing Addie wanted any part of! In fact, she cried when we tried to get her to check out the gifts we had actually bought for her! Ha ha ha! We then went over to Gramma & Granpa's where we spent a few hours together. Addie got a new friend in the form of a four-foot-tall stuffed giraffe. Woohoo! After that, we went up to Gran & Pop's (JM's grandparents) house for more family fun time! It was as crazy as ever, as most everyone was there. It is always SO great to see everyone. I am so blessed to have married into such a great family. And speaking of great families, we then went to my parents' house where we had even MORE family time! Addie really enjoyed spending time with Mimi, PawPaw & Gigi and stealing York peppermint patties from Gigi's house.

It was very exciting to see Addie this year at Christmas. She was so cute and loved the gift wrap and bows. She also loved all her new toys! But most of all, I think she enjoyed spending time with her family (awwww...)!

So - by the time we got home, we were definitely exhausted! But of course, we can't wait til next Christmas!

John Michael showing Addie the Advent calendar (it's an ark!) at Gramma & Granpa's
(this was at the family Christmas party the Saturday before Christmas)


Christmas morning!
Addie and her new tricycle (and Cleo helping Addie out)


The beloved kitchen


Us in our matching jammies
(JM had the matching pants, but Santa had brought him these new jammie pants and he was checking them out)


Addie's not so sure about the giraffe.


Addie at the appetizer table at Gran & Pop's
(Notice that there's only one sausage ball left, and that she's holding out a cracker - she kept licking the dip off and asking for more!)

This gives a glimpse into how crazy it gets at Gran & Pop's on Christmas Day!

"Ketchup? Check. Mustard? Check."


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!

December catch-up photos

I just realized it's been a month since I last posted, so here are a few pre-Christmas photos!

And I wonder where my mixing bowls are when I need them...



Addie LOVES wearing hats! But after all, doesn't everyone wear a hat to breakfast? No?


A winter hat and O's...what else is there in life?!

One of our Christmas traditions is that we can't agree on a tree. JM grew up having a cedar tree every year as the Christmas tree, and I grew up having the "typical" Douglas or Fraser Fir. Sooo...we rotate years. This year, JM got his cedar tree. So the next few pictures are of us picking out (and JM and Granpa cutting down) the tree from Gramma & Granpa's farm.

Off to pick out the tree!


They've found a good one!


Addie can definitely picture this in our house...minus about 5 feet...




Ready to go (those are Mommy's heels)!


Again with the hats...

A Visit with Santa Claus

As you can see, Santa is not yet Addie's BFF! Talk about a death grip on my arm when we got close! I can't say I blame her though - strangers aren't her favorite normally, much less a big stranger in a red suit with a long white beard...

:-)


Just for fun, here's last year's...

(Too young to know she should be worried, I suppose ;-))

Eighteen-month checkup (a.k.a. Bad Mommy Moment)

Yesterday was Addie's eighteen-month checkup with Dr. Hood! It went a little differently than her past checkups. This time, as soon as we started to go back with the nurse, Addie stopped right in her tracks. John Michael had to carry her back to the exam room. Once we got in there, she clung to me for dear life! I'm pretty sure this is because last weekend, we had her flu shot. I'm guessing she realized what was to come (as she was scheduled to get her last hepatitis shot yesterday)!

Anyway, Addie weighed in at 21 lbs, 9 oz. and 30 3/4 inches long. STILL a peanut! She continues to hover around the 20-25th percentile in weight and 25th percentile in height. Again, Dr. Hood said she is doing great, growing well, and staying on the growth curve well!

So, very unlike herself, Addie wailed the whole time Dr. Hood was checking her out! She has never done that, but at least Dr. Hood laughed it off by saying that at least she's sure her lungs are doing great :-) She was a little fussy all week long - I attributed it a phase and beginning tantrums of the terrible twos. I even pointed out to Dr. Hood that her tantrums were becoming frustrating. Then came the bad mommy part - Dr. Hood checked out Addie's ears and it turned out her left one was VERY infected. :-( She had not been herself, and I didn't even think about her being sick! She had a slight fever last weekend, but it was right after her flu shot, so I just thought it was that! I was wrong. I felt so terrible, thinking my poor sweet baby has been in pain for God-only-knows-how-long. Boo. Her left tube has come out (which is normal - they're supposed to last 6 to 16 months, and this one stayed in about 6 months). Dr. Hood said that if after a course of super-duper antibiotics the ear doesn't look better, then she will recommend reinsertion of the tube (this is her second infection since the tube fell out about two months ago). At this point, I'm up for it, as they really made all the difference in her health, and her hearing is definitely something I don't want to mess around with...I'll keep you posted.

On the bright side, Addie is already back to her happy self today after two doses of her medicine. She did not nap today and was STILL running around giggling (maybe she was delirious - either way, she was fun!)! And, I got a fair amount of her Christmas shopping done today with Lynn, which means that all I have left is EVERYONE ELSE! I feel so far behind... :-)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Mimi & PawPaw & Gigi and have also enjoyed spending time with Uncle Nate & Aunt Rissa this week, too! We hope to have our Christmas decorations out by the end of the weekend. And speaking of Christmas, we had a visit to Santa on Wednesday evening - our second annual Addie & Holland trip. I'll have to scan the picture, but in the meantime I'll spoil the surprise and just say that it is ADORABLE!

Here are a few from Thanksgiving at my parents' house...

"I loooove my rocking chair!"



I was trying to get Addie to laugh by sticking out my tongue, and instead, she decided to copy me.

Addie and PawPaw



Addie and Mimi

Happy One-and-a-half!

Okay, so I'm a week late, but last Saturday Addie turned EIGHTEEN MONTHS old! Can you believe it?! Obviously, I can't. :-) Anyway, being the huge birthday person that I am, we decided to celebrate Addie's half-birthday! We had Lynn, Kris, Holland, Leslie & Skye over to watch the UT/Arkansas game, and celebrated with a half-cake! The funny thing was to see Addie & Holland using forks to eat their cake instead of just digging in with their hands like they did six months ago.

Time has just flown. I can't believe it was a year and a half ago that Addie was born. And I know I say it at each stage, but this is truly the cutest stage that she has been in. She is talking SO much and loves to "chat" on the phone and also loves to sing to herself in the morning before we come get her out of her crib. She is becoming more shy (shier?) but she's also warming up to people more quickly than she used to (if that makes sense). She loves to read books and uses them to postpone bedtime whenever possible. She is just TOO precious! We are getting so excited about celebrating the holidays with her!

Addie's 18-month checkup is this Friday, so I'll post her stats after that. But I'm pretty sure she's had a decent growth spurt since her last appointment. She's now in all 18-month clothes (as opposed to most of her 6-9 month clothes still fitting her at her 15-month checkup), and today we went shoe shopping and she is now wearing a 4 1/2 (still little, but JM & I both have little feet) - and the last pair of shoes we bought her were size 3 (oops!). I'm excited to see how much she has grown!

The half-cake!
(Thanks for the help, Lynn! Love ya!)

"My nap was way too short!"
(Look at that cute cheerleader outfit!)


"Mmmm...cake..."
(Still half asleep - Holland was more animated, but I'm a bad photographer and the pics I took of him are blurry. Probably because he was more animated. Hehe.)

Addie-isms

So I realized that I haven't recently blogged about some of the cute things (I know, I'm biased) Addie is doing lately, so I thought I'd take the time so that I have them written down whenever I get around to that baby book :-)

• knows all of her animal sounds - but her favorites are "ssssssssssss" for snake, "dack, dack" for duck, "ha ha ha" for dog, "booooooo" for cow, and "oooo eeeeee" for monkey.
• always has to have a book and knows which her favorites are!
• shakes her finger whenever she sees the "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" book
• asked Gramma to "read, please" last week
• when I asked her to "hold on for a moment, please" she said "I hold on." TOO CUTE!
• is really catching on to the whole potty concept (no, we're not pushing it, but we did buy her a potty to sit on!)
• is learning & using even more sign language (more, hungry, outside, thank you, please, all done)
• always has to have shoes on
• always has to have Mommy (awwww!)
• does NOT like to have long sleeves on, but...
• loves to have her jacket on
• shakes her head no profusely when we ask her if she's ready for night-night
• still loves bath time
• likes to run around naked after bath time!
  
• loves to be outside
• throws tantrums often (and is cute even then)
  
• is not a morning person!
• loves the dog and doesn't understand "gentle!"
• TONS more cute stuff that I can't remember right now!
  

I'm realizing that I should do this daily...maybe I'll start that. But here are some more pictures and a cute video:

They were getting along great til Addie tried to climb on Hops...

As a matter of fact, she is trying to eat the grass.


Addie makes sure the tomatoes are okay for us to eat:

A fun few weeks!

We have had a great past few weeks! We celebrated my birthday on 10/24, which was lots of fun! I got to celebrate that weekend with my parents on Friday, and then with Lynn & Kris on Saturday. We had a blast! We started off the afternoon by Kris taking a few pics of the kiddos in their Halloween costumes. Then, we went to California Pizza Kitchen and then wandered around the new shopping area at Green Hills. After that, we went to a Predators game! We had a blast. Addie was a little nervous about the crowd, but I think she was just a little skittish because she had just fallen and gotten a boo-boo on her nose (I'll post a pic). Holland had a great time, though, and cheered enough for all of us!

Halloween was awesome! Both sets of grandparents came over for dinner and to help us greet our trick-or-treaters. And Addie was the cutest little pumpkin fairy ever! She LOVED the shoes and headband to her costume (so much, actually, that she has been wearing them around the house for about a month - all we have to do is ask her if she wants her pumpkin shoes and she is thrilled!). She didn't like the costume itself so much, but looking at the pictures - can you blame her?! Anyway - here are some pics! The professional ones are by Kris.

Kris decided it'd be cute to get some of the babies together...

That lasted a long time...


Then off came Addie's costume!

We also carved some pumpkins last week!

Addie's not so sure...


What IS this thing, Daddy?!



I'll just read my books instead...
(and a closeup of her boo-boo :( )


Ewwww!!!



My pumpkin with her pumpkins



Our jack-o-lanterns :-)

A few more...

Halloween jammies! It's a little skeleton and the "bones" glow in the dark! Too cute...

Mommy, Addie and Gramma - One...two...three...JUMP!



We obviously cannot get enough of the pumpkin farm :)

Picture time!

Catching up!

Addie's favorite activity!

This was Grampa's desk when he was a little boy!

Holland, ready to roll!

I am pretty sure that Addie is in the middle of a cough in this picture, but I thought it was a pretty decent one of me - ha ha ha :)

The babies didn't quite feel like cheesing it up for this pic, but Lynn and I sure did!


Clapping for the band & Rocky Top!


Yay! It's Smokey!

Okay, I have a few more to post, but apparently Blogger is done with me for now. More later!

Babyfest 2007

I am a SLACKER and am just now getting around to blogging about our cabin weekend (two weekends ago, for the UT/Georgia game!)! We had a blast! We stayed at this cabin, which I would highly recommend! There were six couples there and FIVE babies ranging in age from 10 months to 21 months. What a full house! It was so much fun! The babies all played together well, and they all slept well both nights, too, which was a huge surprise with all the activity going on. We did have a few wake-ups on Friday evening because all the grownups were playing cards and catching up rather loudly :)

On Saturday, John Michael, Addie, Lynn, Kris, Holland and I went to campus to join JM's parents for their tailgate. Our friends Alan & Cindy and Travis & Stacy and Nate & Misha offered to keep the babies, but we wanted them to experience UT at its finest :) We had a blast, but after about 30 minutes at the tailgate, Lynn and I decided we had had enough of trying to chase the kiddos in the heat, so we took them into the Communications building and let them run off some energy in the air conditioning. Then we decided to head out (JM and Kris were going to the game - had decided all along that we didn't want to attempt the game with the babies - a.k.a., we didn't want to pay for tickets for them :)). Our timing was perfect, and we ended up walking down Neyland Drive right as the band was coming in! The security guards let us bring the strollers in front of the barricades, so we literally got front row seats. It was AWESOME! Addie and Holland were thrilled, and clapped along to Rocky Top just like the rest of us :)

We had quite an adventure getting back to the car (I'll sum it up by saying that it was HOT and stupid Andy Holt garage has independent levels and doors without handles and stupid, stupid stairwells...use your imagination), but were cracking up so it was fun :) Then, we stopped at Sawyer's, which is always a treat...

By the time we got back to the cabin, we were exhausted, but were SO excited to watch the game on tv. And, JM and Kris had a BLAST at the game, so we were happy they had gotten to go. The whole group had a good time that evening watching even more football. I'm pretty sure JM and I went to bed at about 10 p.m. that night (yes, that is 9 p.m. Central time) - it was a long day! And keeping up with 5 babies is exhausting, even when you have 12 adults!!!!

We said our goodbyes on Sunday - I think we're all really looking forward to next year! It was a great group with old friends and new friends!


Here's one pic - I have more that I will upload later (I'm at school right now):

From left to right:
Travis with Madison (10 months)
Stacy (pregnant with baby girl #2!!!! - yes, her girls will be less than 13 months apart!)
Alan (JM's roommate)
Cindy with Jacob (21 months)
Lynn
Kris with Holland (16 months)
Me with Addie (17 months)
[JM is taking the picture]
Misha with Sophie (12 months)
Christie
Nick (JM's roommate)
Nate (Nicks brother, Misha's husband, Sophie's dad)

PHEW! :)