Thursday, May 21, 2009

Verb conjugation?

Tonight we were out in the front yard while John Michael watered the flowers and Addie picked clover. She started getting a little too close to the street so we called her back. When she didn't come, I went after her and said, "Addison Leigh, you need to listen to your daddy and me and BEHAVE!" to which she replied, "But Mommy, I am being have!"

Awesome.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Seven years

Today is our anniversary! John Michael and I have been married for seven years. Sometimes it seems like just yesterday and other times I can't remember when we weren't together! I really don't know where to begin when talking about my sweet husband. He is one of the sweetest, smartest, most caring, most loving, and most SELFLESS men in the world. Of course, I have always known these things, but in the past year, they have become even more evident. John Michael keeps me grounded when I start to freak out about things. He is my biggest cheerleader and has more confidence in me than I ever could have for myself. He has not even hesitated, nor has he ever complained, about picking up extra duties with the babies and around the house with my study schedule. He is my very best friend and is an even better father than I knew he'd be. I love him even more now than I did the day we got married (although I never thought that was possible). I feel so very blessed to have him in my life and look forward to many more years together...


Prom 1999



Arizona 1999



May 18, 2002



Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Happy Birthday, Addie!

Okay, I'm three days late, but better late than never! I still cannot believe Addie is THREE YEARS OLD! I also cannot believe that I am the lucky one who gets to be her mommy. Um, excuse me, her "mom." Hehe. She is everything I could have ever hoped for in a child. She is sweet, strong-willed, extremely intelligent, loving...I could go on forever. I am so very proud to call her mine. Her teachers comment all the time on how smart she is. Of course, we know that, but it's still always nice to hear someone trained in early childhood education compliment you on your child :)

Probably the thing I am most proud of lately is how very well she has adjusted to Landon being here. She is the best big sister! I am sure jealousy will rear its ugly head when he starts getting into her things, but for now, she is nothing but loving. She always wants him near and wants to kiss him and love on him. She also wants to give him a "checkup" every day with her new doctor kit :) I know there will be moments between them when they think they hate each other, but I just pray that this love is always there.

Addie is on a little "princess" kick lately. She wants to wear a dress every day and gets upset to have to put shoes on because she wants to "show off [her] pink piggies!" I told her yesterday that she had to wear her tennis shoes or her flower shoes (a little pair of mary janes) and she said, "But I want to be a princess!" Wow. Then when she was getting dressed, she said, "Ooh, I am going to be so beautiful!" She has also started really paying attention to jewelry. She pointed out my earrings and said, "Your earrings are so pretty! Who gave those to you?" I told her that daddy gave them to me and she replied, "Oh, Holland bought me some earrings." She doesn't even have her ears pierced (nor will she, for a while...)! Then this morning she asked me about my necklace and if she could "borrow" it. Look out boys! High maintenance girly girl on the way ;)

Although, another great thing about Addie is that she is just as rough-and-tumble as she is girly. She is practically fearless (except for bugs) and bounces off the walls (sometimes literally) with the best of the boys. She continues to be a "protector" at school and stands up to all the "bullies." She's just precious. I love her more than I ever thought possible!!

Here are some stats. At three years old, Addie:
* weighs 27.5 pounds (10th percentile)
* is 35 1/2 inches tall (10-25th percentile)
* can carry on a full conversation with us
* knows all of her numbers and letters
* can count to 20 in English and 10 in Spanish
* knows her colors in Spanish
* knows most letters' sounds
* says "pink and white" are her favorite colors
* says her favorite movie is The Little Mermaid II (but she just calls it "the one with Ariel's daughter!")
* says her favorite tv show is "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"
* says her best friends are Emma and Holland
* says her favorite toys are her new doctor kit, her shopping cart (for a year and a half running!), and Candy Land
* loves to be outside swinging and climbing
* is the cutest girl in the world!!!



We celebrated Addie's birthday at Nana & Papa's house, where a lot of the family was there celebrating Mother's Day. Two for one ;) As you can see, Addie had a blast! I'm not sure that she was ever still for a minute.

(birthday presents from Mommy & Daddy first thing in the morning)








New tricycle from Mimi & PawPaw. I missed getting a picture of it, but she insisted on putting fried chicken in the basket and driving around.




She passed out about 5:00 that afternoon and woke up for a few minutes before bedtime, but only long enough to open the presents she wasn't still enough to open earlier in the day :)



We love this little girl so much it hurts! We are having so much fun watching her grow up, even if we wish it would slow down just a little :)

Friday, May 08, 2009

Figured it out

Okay, so I think I mentioned a while ago that during Landon's fussy hour(s) we had to just wait it out until he was done fussing?! Well, we've figured out what will calm him down - I have to feed him while standing up and bouncing him (while he's latched - I'm skilled, I tell ya). Check out these legs and tell me how buff my arms will be by the end of this phase:


I'M EXHAUSTED! But yay for a free workout. Now it's after this type thing that when the Wii Fit asks where I've been for the past week that I want to tell it where to shove it. ;)

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Two months!

I seriously cannot believe it has been two months since Landon was born. I suspect that you can expect that sentence every month :) Time flies way too quickly. Landon had his 2-month visit today, and here are his stats:

The chunky monkey weighs 12 pounds, 14 ounces and is 23.5 inches long! WHEW! 75th percentile for both. I knew he was getting big, but I had no idea! Over FIVE pounds gained in two months. At two months old, he:

*eats about every 3 hours, for 15-20 minutes per side
*wears 0-3 month and 3-month clothes
*wears a size 1 diaper, but they're getting snug-as-a-bug
*has awesome head control and does pretty well with tummy time (but fusses)
*still not sleeping through the night, but sleeps 5-6 hours. The past two nights, I've fed him around 9:30ish and he's made it til 4:15. Progress!
*is on a loose 3-hour Babywise schedule. I say "loose" due to the beast's appetite!
*does regular two-month baby stuff - not much more to say :)

He got his shots today and is sleepy and a little fussy when he's awake (which hasn't been much). We're about to have dose #2 of Tylenol, so hopefully that will help out!

I can't believe how much I love this little boy. I have been really freaking out the past couple of weeks because there was a large knot behind his ear. I thought it might be a lymph node, but wasn't sure, and was also concerned about its swelling, because what did that mean his body was fighting? The cold has been gone! Dr. Hood took a look and confirmed that it is a lymph node and that it is swollen due to his cradle cap! Phew! Bizarre. Lynn said it best when she told me that a second baby is just another Achilles heel. I feel the vulnerability that I've felt since the day Addie was born, times two. Oh, but also the love, so I guess that makes up for it :)

(Addie also had her 3-year visit, but I'll save that post for when she's officially 3 on Sunday!)

In other news...

Landon came down with his first little cold last week and that wasn't much fun. It was so pitiful to listen to him be stuffy! It took him a little longer to eat each time and he was a little bit fussier, but overall, he was still his sweet self. Addie continues to have "gunk" in her head, but her breathing is back to normal, thank goodness. I'm still confused by all these colds going around in April/May! Pretty weather should bring health, I thought. What do I know? :)

Also, very huge - I finished law school on Monday. FINISHED! As in, THE END! I can't believe it myself. It has been a long five years. On many occasions, I thought it'd never get here. Now that it's here, it's bittersweet, because the hard part is just beginning. I'll be starting bar review classes NEXT WEEK (nothing like a one-week downtime, eh?). They last seven weeks. I'm so very sad about this because that will mean I will miss Addie's bedtime Monday through Friday for these seven weeks. I have to go back to work on May 29th, so at least three of those weeks will be while I'm still on leave so I can "make up" the play time during the day. I just don't know how I'll make it through those weeks to be honest, but like John Michael said, I've made it too far to turn back now! I can do it!!! I just hope it pays off.

ANYWAY, enough about me...time for pictures from the last week or so!


A sleeping gown with a gingham tractor. I can't help but love it.


This does not even scratch the surface of how great this boy's pouts can be...


And then there's his smiles...


Addie now chooses her outfits and dresses herself with just a little help. What can I say? The girl likes patterns...





An "outtake" - looks like Addie has a one-legged Landon in a chokehold. Sweet.


There it is!



Video fun time!

As a matter of fact...

I AM going to pretend like I did not NOT blog for about three weeks and catch up with lots of posts, all in one day. So there!

I think it was two (or three? I don't remember!) weeks ago that Lynn called me and said, "Hey! Top Chef is doing a tour stop here tomorrow!" To which I replied, "How fun!" Of course, I have to admit that I was thinking it'd be fun for HER, since I'd never seen the show. :) But when she asked me to go, I said, "Sure! Sounds like fun!" (I didn't confess to her until we were there that I have never seen one single episode of Top Chef.)

They held it in the parking lot of the Belcourt Theatre in Green Hills. Although we weren't on "the list," apparently there were some no-shows so we got seats - second row! We had a blast! We took Landon with us and he was pretty good. It hit right at his feeding time, so I had made sure to bring a bottle. He fussed a tiny bit, and one of the chefs, Ryan (a.k.a. "HOTTIE"!) offered him a crostini. The other chef, Antonia, said that she thought he was a bit young, but Ryan brought it to me nonetheless. Hilarious.




"Laid back..."



Ryan made a fava bean spread on crostini that was FANTASTIC! The recipe is supposed to be on the website but it's not there yet :(