Fun weekend and ch-ch-ch-changes!

This post is actually about last weekend, but I'm just now getting around to posting it!

We had a very fun weekend! We started off Friday with dinner at Lynn & Kris' house with all of us, and also with Leslie & Skye! We had a great time celebrating MY NEW JOB! (I'll get to that later). It was so much fun, and Addie went down in Holland's pack 'n play at her normal bedtime, so we didn't even have to leave early! We actually stayed until midnight (yikes!).

Saturday, Addie and I met my mom, grandma, my cousin Stephanie and her mom, and my cousin's sister-in-law (Jackie) and her baby (Anya - so my second cousin!). It was so much fun! Anya is almost 8 months old and is getting so close to crawling. She is such a beautiful, happy baby. She looks so much like my cousins! Addie had fun with her but wasn't too sure about playing with her. She just liked smiling at her. Too cute! She also liked running through Stephanie's house, trying to get me to follow her (which I did, because I wasn't sure how babyproofed Steph's house was - okay, really I just didn't think she'd be crazy about a toddler running loose in her home!). So Addison thought it was hilarious that I followed her everywhere. Addie - 1, Mommy - 0. :)

Saturday night was fun, too! John Michael and I went with his parents (and their co-worker, Mandy) to the Alison Krauss concert. It was awesome. She has such a beautiful voice - we kept saying she sounds like an angel, and I'm sure that is probably true! :) We had such a good time, and Addie spent the evening with her Mimi & PawPaw and had a blast. The only bad thing was when we picked her up! I went up to my old room (now my parents' guest room/Addie's room) to get her from her crib there, and I could smell that something wasn't right. The poor baby had gotten sick in the crib! My mom and I gave her an emergency midnight bath - that went over like a lead balloon. Anyway, we think that was a fluke, because she didn't get sick at any point after that, and she hadn't gotten sick before that! She seemed to be feeling pretty good and was playing great! We are thinking she coughed (she and JM have had a cold) and kind of gagged herself. Poor punkin'!!

So I guess the last piece of news is my new job! I just started a new job as the legal secretary for the City of Franklin. I am very excited about it, because it will allow me to spend a lot more time with Addie, and is going to allow me to use my legal education. Please be thinking and praying about me as I make this huge change :)

Now, since I've been getting picture demands...

With her markers!

Addie loves trying on Mommy's shoes!

Addie using her spoon like a big girl!
(Disregard the ravioli ALL OVER HER BODY...)

We had lunch in the living room because Daddy was mopping the kitchen!
(We needed to mop in the living room after lunch, too!)

15-month checkup!

Today was Addie's 15-month checkup with the pediatrician! First, I have to say that I can't believe that she is 15 months old! Where does the time go?! It flies by too quickly...

Anyway, the visit went great! Dr. Hood said she is "perfect" (which we already knew :)). She is still a little peanut, measuring 29 1/2 inches long and weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces. I am pretty sure she lost a little weight this past week, though, because she had an ear infection (clogged tube, bummer!) and she also got two new teeth (to bring her total to 10!), which really seemed to affect her appetite - and at her ER visit a few weeks ago, she was 20 pounds, 6 ounces. So, both measurements put her in the 25th percentile. Dr. Hood said that is perfectly fine!

Addie made sure to show off all of her new skills (talking, running, and just being her normal cute self) and made Dr. Hood laugh a lot. She was such a good girl until the very end, when it was about lunch time (and getting very close to nap time...). We had scheduled the appointment for 9:30, but they were running a bit slow today, so she started to get fussy. Then came the shots. She was NOT pleased about those. It was definitely the worst reaction she's had so far (just crying, but I swear, she acted like the nurse was trying to kill her!). But overall, a wonderful visit to the doctor! 3 more months til the next one, God willing...


And...I just realized I haven't uploaded any new pics, and I'm at school right now...I'll do that tomorrow evening, and post them right afterwards!

Hope everyone is staying relatively cool!

Update!

Well, a little over one week later, Addie has no symptoms of wheezing or her cold! Yay! That day was so scary - we ended up having our first (hopefully last!) visit to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. As soon as I finished my last blog entry, I woke Addie up from a nap (she had missed her normal naptime with our trip to the pediatrician). I noticed that she was already wheezing again, and it had only been an hour since her last treatment (which was supposed to last 4 hours). I called the nurse and we counted her respirations. Addie was starting to panic a little again, so I knew she was working harder than normal. Anyway, she had 50 breaths in one minute and they like to see 40, so the nurse told me to take her on up to the emergency room. Reminder again that John Michael was out of town for all of this. I called my parents, freaking out (of course!) and asked them to meet me. I held Addie down and gave her her inhaler to try to calm her breathing (this was faster than the 15-minute nebulizer treatment, although she HATES the inhaler). I also called Cindy, John Michael's mom, and she met us up there as well. I have to say that I was VERY impressed by Vanderbilt. They had Addie back within 10 minutes and had the respiratory team in there checking her out. They gave her another treatment and monitored her. It turned out that the steroid that the pediatrician had given her that afternoon had just not quite kicked in, so the albuterol wasn't making it all the way to where it needed to be in her lungs. Phew! We finally got home a little after midnight. What a long day!

Anyway, last Friday, we saw Dr. Hood for the follow-up and she decided to put Addie on a twice daily preventive medication (Pulmocort). We give it to her through the nebulizer in the morning and again at night. There is a medicine that we can give her through the inhaler (which would be much faster and probably less annoying for Addie, who cannot stand to be still for any amount of time :)), however, she is currently freaked out by the sight of the inhaler. We are hoping to get her re-accustomed to it over the next few weeks (you can imagine we'll be giving her stuffed animals breathing treatments :)).

So before I post some pictures, I just wanted to thank everyone SO much for your prayers and good thoughts. We truly appreciate it and thank God for friends like all of you!

Addie and her "pony!"
(Look at that hair!!!!!)

Addie's princess chair!

The princess chair again! Addie is very possessive of this chair and doesn't even like for John Michael or me to be in it (we're trying to teach her the concept of sharing, honest!). Ha ha ha...


A flying princess chair!
(Can you tell we just finished reading Harry Potter? Think Hagrid's flying motorbike... :))

Sometimes I like to give her messy foods just 'cause it's cute :)
Check out the ravioli unibrow - ha!
(Aunt Elizabeth made this bib for Addie at one of my baby showers!)



After playing with her magnetic alphabet, Addie couldn't figure out why this pen cap wouldn't stick to the refrigerator! Too cute!

Scary day

So today was probably the scariest day I've ever had since being a mom. First, I'll go ahead and say that Addie is fine and was never in any true life-or-death danger. But...

Addie and I both came down with a cold this weekend. My throat was a little scratchy on Friday, but I just wrote it off as allergies. Unfortunately, Addie started sneezing, coughing, and having a runny nose yesterday, so I knew that we either are allergic to the same thing, or both had a cold. Anyway, last night, she coughed a lot, and had a hard time falling/staying asleep at first, but ended up sleeping through the night without a problem (Thank God!). This morning when she woke up, she seemed okay, but a little congested.

Around 10 a.m., I noticed she was wheezing a little bit. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it here before, but last November, she had her first episode of wheezing, and the doctors gave her an albuterol inhaler. She has had to take it three times since then; each time it has worked almost immediately and she has gone back to playing like nothing was ever wrong.

Not so much today. I gave her the inhaler around noon (after she took a nap without a problem), and when she was still wheezing after 30 minutes, I decided to call the pediatrician's office. Oh, of course, this is all happening as JM just left to go out of town for the night - argh. ANYWAY, the nurse told me she'd like to play it safe, and for me to go on and bring her in, and that she'd work it out with the receptionist. That made me a little panicked, because in the past, they've just said, "Keep an eye on her, count her respirations, etc."

SO - on we went to the doctor's office. She was fine in the waiting room (a little fussy, but only because I wouldn't let her explore due to the other sick kids in the room). By the time we got back to be seen, she was obviously having more trouble breathing. The nurse took her O2 levels, and they were fine (98), but the look on the nurse's face told me everything wasn't okay. She stepped out and the doctor rushed in. By this time, Addie's chest was heaving like crazy, her nostrils were flaring, and she was freaking out. The doctor had the nurse immediately start her on the breathing treatment nebulizer, and THANK GOD, her breathing calmed down almost at once.

Oddly enough, her O2 levels were lower (95) after the treatment, which makes me think they must have gotten pretty low in the short time between the first reading and the treatment.

Okay, so the doctor told us that it was the time for the official diagnosis of asthma. This isn't a huge shock, since John Michael and his mom both have it, but still an understandable disappointment. He said I'll need to give her the nebulizer treatment every four hours for the next 24 hours, and then twice daily for the rest of the week. Then we'll have a follow-up with our regular pediatrician on Friday (we saw the on-call doctor today - which leads me to have to do a brief sales pitch (or whatever) for our pediatrician's office - Pediatric Associates of Franklin. We LOVE them - every single one of them). He said that she will probably put Addie on a prophylactic treatment to try to prevent another attack.

Geez.

I know asthma is very common. I know millions of people live healthy, active lives with it. But still, it scared the poo out of me to see my baby unable to breathe! I just thank God that we were in the doctor's office when the whole thing happened.

Phew.

Next post - only adorable pictures of the baby, I promise :)

Okay, I have a confession...

The real reason that I've been so absent from blogging lately is that I have a new addiction: Harry Potter!!! I put off reading the books for years, because they didn't seem like "my type." But for Addie's birthday, Lynn, Kris, and Holland sent her (us :)) the complete set (books 1-6). John Michael started reading them, and when he was on the 3rd book by the end of the week that he started them, I knew there had to be something good about them. So I picked up the third book, and it was all downhill from there :)

I finished all six books in a little over a month. So that's what I've been doing after Addie goes to bed, or when she's napping on the weekends.

With that being said, John Michael and I are waiting patiently for our pre-ordered copy of Deathly Hallows to arrive. I feel like it's Christmas Day!!!!! :)

Cute little booger...

One of the times my parents watched Addie for us while we were on vacation, she discovered the box to her booster seat. It became her favorite toy of the week. We all watched her play in it one morning after breakfast - that was our favorite pasttime of the week!

Vacation wrap-up!

I haven't blogged in forever, but it's only because we've been so busy! We went to the beach (St. Augustine) the week of 6/23 to 6/30. We had SO much fun! We rented a condo next to the one my parents rented and it was a wonderful week! And Addie had her first flights! She did so great. We were very proud of her. On the way down, she was a perfect angel. We didn't buy her a seat (next time we will - I just think she would have been more comfortable in her car seat) but she sat in my lap without too much wiggling :) The way back was a little different, but she still only fussed for about two or three minutes total - and it turned out that she was getting sick, which we found out when we got home. It also may have been because it was so early - our flight left at 6:40 a.m. Eastern time, so we had gotten up at 4:00. We almost missed the flight, too, due to the security backup at the Jacksonville airport! What an adventure...

Anyway, the week was perfect - we spent about an hour at the beach each morning (not quite enough for my liking :)), then would go in for Addie's nap time. The afternoons consisted of either more beach time, pool time, park time, or Mimi & PawPaw time :) John Michael and I really enjoyed spending so much time together, too, and went on three whole dates while we had "built-in" babysitters (thanks Mom & Dad!!!! We love you!!!).

Addie had a blast at the beach and ate plenty of sand! That's why you'll notice her paci in her mouth for most of the pictures - it was the only way to keep shells out of there. She had so much fun knocking down sandcastles as her Daddy built them, and she also really enjoyed the water! She was just too cute, and we had tons of strangers coming up to tell us how cute she is (duh! ;))

We also had a good time visiting my family - my dad lived in St. Augustine til he met my mom, and I still have aunts and uncles there (he's the youngest of nine). It was so great to see everyone, and Addie had a good time with her cousin Ben, who is 11. He kept sitting in her little travel booster seat (while it was on the floor, after dinner). She was NOT ready to share, and kept trying to push him out from behind, or pull him out by his collar. TOO cute! Everyone was laughing hysterically at her, and all she wanted was her little seat! The sharing thing will be fun to tackle soon :)

It was a perfect vacation - we really can't wait til the next one!!

So now, it's picture time!

Addie climbing to her favorite place, the end of the beach chair!

Some of Addie's new favorite toys, "shats" (shoes)!



Hunting shells!



"I could swear there were some Teddy Grahams in here somewhere!"



"Take that, sand castle!"
(er, sand blob...)


She stepped into this and thought it was hilarious!



"Woohoo! I'm ready to dig!"


In the condo on our last day there
(shameless picture to show her cute curly hair, I admit :))

A weekend away

This past weekend was different, to say the least! John Michael's best friend from high school and college, Nick, got married, and he was the best man in his wedding! He got married in Atlanta, and when they announced the date a little over a year ago, we decided it would be a good weekend away, just the two of us. So we did it! I almost chickened out at the last minute and wanted to take Addie, but we ended up going alone and had a great time. We definitely missed her like CRAZY, but it was a nice adult weekend. And the funny thing was that most of the bridal party was away from their kids for the first time, so we kept each other occupied very well!

It was so much fun to see our friends and to catch up! I had a few teary moments, but nothing a phone call to my parents to check on Addie couldn't take care of! The hotel where we stayed (and where the reception was) was very nice - the Evergreen Resort in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Our room had a balcony overlooking the lake - it was beautiful! We would definitely go back again. And of course, Nick and Christie's wedding was beautiful too! We really enjoyed seeing them and spending time with them, and also John Michael's other roommate, Alan, and his wife Cindy. Cindy and I enjoyed our Saturday (while the boys were doing wedding stuff) by getting pedicures at the hotel spa! See? I told you we stayed busy to keep our minds off missing the babies (their son Jacob is 17 months old)!!

Early Sunday morning, we met my college best friend, Kendall, and her boyfriend Brayden, for breakfast. It was so great to see her - it has been over 2 years since we last saw each other, and we are trying to get better at staying in touch!

Addie had a blast with her grandparents (she stayed with my parents Friday night and John Michael's parents on Saturday night). She was definitely well on her way to being spoiled and made sure we knew it by testing her limits with us Sunday evening at home :) She was thrilled to see us though, and was not happy about me leaving the room even for a second that evening! It was amazing to see how much better she had gotten with her walking, even in two days!

It will definitely be a long while before I'm ready for a weekend away again. But we're excited, because we're all going to Florida at the end of this month with my parents! YAY! You'll see in the pictures from this weekend that the sun will be good for me... :)

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm pale...

And I just realized that's the only really good picture I took this weekend! I'll get more from Cindy and post them later...

Silly me!

I forgot to post the most exciting news from the past couple of weeks - Addie is officially walking. She had been taking a few steps here and there for a little over a month, but she's now walking almost all the time (as opposed to crawling). She is absolutely ADORABLE when she walks, and it is amazing to watch her determination - if she falls, she gets up without a second thought and just keeps on going.

I took this little movie with our camera. She has her paci because it's almost bedtime :)

Welcome, Maddie!

Today, I had an exciting day! I got to spend time with two of my good friends from work, Ashley and Beth. Ashley and I went to Murfreesboro to visit with Beth, who just had her first baby, Madelyn Elizabeth, on May 21! Maddie is an absolute doll - she is beautiful and has the sweetest disposition! I am so happy for the whole family! Congrats Beth & Derrick!

What a little peanut! Maddie was 6 pounds, 1 ounce when she was born!

Ashley, Madelyn, and Beth




Just us girls!

A busy few weeks!

We have been so busy the past few weeks, but have had so much fun! I finished school for the semester on May 15! It was such a relief to be done for a little while. Then, on May 18, John Michael and I had our fifth anniversary! Where has the time gone?!? We went out to dinner to celebrate and had such a good time! We laughed, because when we were on our honeymoon, we decided our "plan" would to return to the British Virgin Islands in five years to begin trying to begin our family! HA HA HA...Obviously, we decided we were ready sooner than that, and now we have our sweet Addie. Anyways, I am so lucky to have John Michael. He is a wonderful husband and father and Addie and I both love him to pieces!

THEN, this weekend, we had Addie and Holland's joint birthday party. It was SO much fun! We had an awesome crowd there and I think everyone had a blast! Both kiddos were absolutely adorable and they both got lots of wonderful gifts. Thank you so much to everyone who was able to be there!

Lynn and I had fun planning and putting everything together (including the cakes, which turned out AWESOME - yes, I'm tooting our own horns - I'll post pics of them as soon as someone sends me some)! She never ceases to amaze me with how great she is at things like this! I think I learned a lot from her this week, and also from our friend Leslie. Thanks, and love you both! And an extra special thank you to the Drs. D'Amico, for letting us have the party at their home!
We love you guys!

Now...for the pictures!

"Hmm...this could be good - don't you think, Holland?"



"Yup! It's not too shabby!"




"But enough of being dainty - I'm going in!"




"Now that's more like it!"




"Seriously? This is child's play!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADDISON!

Well, Addie is officially ONE YEAR OLD! Where did the time go?! It seems just like yesterday that she was born. The year has flown and has been absolutely awesome. She has changed so much and is doing so many fun things. She never ceases to amaze us! She is almost walking (she takes steps but seems more content to crawl for the time being), has six teeth, has about five verbal words (although lately, everything is a "hyat!"), and can sign "more," "all done," and "outside." Each day is more fun than the one before it, and we have a hard time believing our friends who tell us that it just keeps getting better!

Addie had her one-year checkup on Friday, and Dr. Hood was very happy with her development! She is still a petite little princess - 25th percentile for both height and weight (28 1/2" long and 19 lbs., 8 oz.). We are supposed to move fully to whole milk now - that has been fun so far! She also eats pretty much everything we eat now, and lets us know whether or not she likes something by dropping it to the floor :)

Today we had such a fun time. We had a little party for Addie - my parents (Mimi and PawPaw), John Michael's parents (Gramma and Granpa), my grandmother (Gigi), and John Michael's grandparents (Gran and Pop) came over to celebrate Addison's birthday! Everything went so great and Addie put on quite a show! We pretty much just all sat around and watched her the whole time. What could be better?! :)

Here are some pictures from the past few days.

On Thursday, Addie's birthday!


We were playing the game "Clap your hands if it's your first birthday today!"
We got it on video, too - I'll post it if I can ever figure out how :)



From today's party, with Gigi. We learned our lesson and had her wearing only a diaper this time!


Gramma, Mimi, Gran, Granpa, Pop, PawPaw, and Gigi - all watching Addie Leigh!
(Pop used to be the chief photographer for The Tennessean, Nashville's newspaper, which is why his camera is all fancy schmancy ;))


The cake! I got it from Publix. It's supposed to be a "1" but looks kinda funny to me :) No big deal - it was YUMMY! The little cake to the right was the one Addie was smooshing. Publix gives you the baby's cake for free when you buy a big cake! Woohoo!



Addie's new crocodile toy. It has these cute blocks that stick in the top. She's obsessed...



Four generations!
We also got one of my mom, grandma, Addie and me - but not on our camera. I'll post that one as soon as I get a copy!

Finals time and a preview

So sorry I've been away from blogging for so long! It's finals time at school. I actually only have one exam this year, but it's in Bankruptcy Law and it's even more complicated (and boring) than I expected. But it'll be done in less than a week, and hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things!

Addie's birthday is tomorrow! I can't believe it. One year ago today was my due date. We had gone in on May 8th and set an induction appointment, so I knew (pretty much, at least) that she'd be born on the 10th. We were so excited! I didn't sleep at all that night, knowing that sometime the next day, Addie would be born! What a wonderful day it was. But I'll save that story for the birthday post and instead post some pictures from the past few weeks.

We had chocolate chip waffles - mmm! But I'm a little embarrassed about the mess on my face...




Yay! Open, close, open, close!

(John Michael and I got this outfit for Addie before she was born - we had gotten so many 0-6 months clothes at our baby showers that we decided to exchange a few duplicate outfits for some "big girl" clothes)


Pre-birthday celebration with Aunt Lynn, Uncle Kris, and Holland. I made cupcakes for us instead of a big cake - that will come Saturday!



And *this* is how you eat a cupcake!



Yummy! Cake is my new favorite food, Mom!

We had to take the kiddos for a bath immediately after cake - I guess we'll have a few more rounds of this between now and Holland's official birthday, June 2!


My new laptop from Aunt Lynn, Uncle Kris, and Holland! Holland and I will be blogging in no time!

11 months

I cannot believe that Addie is 11 months old today! Where has the time gone?! Our lives are so different - even better than we imagined - since she has been here! We joke that we have never laughed so much, never cried so much (okay, that's just me :)), but most importantly, never LOVED so much!!! I am becoming a little bittersweet that Addie will soon be one year old. I always thought it was silly when moms would be sad when their little ones were growing up, but now I see why! Each new stage is so very exciting, but it is just going too fast! I love being "Mama"! I could never have imagined how precious anyone could be to me. I thank God every day for placing her in our lives. And it has also been amazing to watch John Michael in a new role! He is such a wonderful father. It makes me love him even more than I did before.

Wow, I'm getting a little cheesy, and a little ahead of myself - better save this sappiness for her "One year" post! :) Ha ha ha !

On a "save the date" type of note - we are planning Addie's first birthday party for May 26th. She and Holland are going to have a party together, so we figured it would be a good idea to have it as close to in the middle of their birthdays as possible. Invitations will follow! Drop me an email if you know I don't have your address :)

Addie's favorites at 11 months:

Food - milk (duh!), cheddar cheese, Cheerios - truthfully, Addie likes everything she has tried, with the exception of two foods: avocados and cheesecake! Ha ha ha.

Drink - milk (duh!), apple juice, water - especially out of a real cup (a "big girl" cup!)

Toy - her soft stuffed lion - a Baby Gund toy which plays the lullaby song, her jumperoo, and her exersaucer (although she now walks around the outside of it instead of going in it)

Games - peek-a-boo, dancing, rolling a ball

People - Mama, Dada, Mimi, PawPaw, Gramma, Grampa, Uncle Lynn and Aunt Kris, Holland, Miss Judy and Miss Sherry

A few of Addie's milestones/things she is doing:

Addie has six teeth (four on top, two on bottom)

Crawls, cruises holding onto things, uses toys as walking aids, climbs stairs

Says mama, dada, dog ("daw"), cat ("cah"), and ball/block/bye ("bah"); also shakes head no and responds to baby signs "more" and "eat" and "drink"; actually signs "more"

Eats/has tried most all foods - except cow's milk, which her pediatrician wants us to wait until she is one year old to try

Addie is now fully on formula - Similac milk-based - this was bittersweet for me, but is better for my health as it became a strain for me to keep up with her demand

Addie is down to one nap - from around noon to 2 pm, and anytime we are in the car for longer than around 15 minutes

Addie uses a paci at naptime and bedtime - and also when we're around something that we do NOT want her putting her mouth on :)




I think those are all of the tidbits I can think of right now! I will update the post if I think of anything else or the baby book reminds me of something...

Addison Leigh, approximately 30 minutes old



Addison Leigh, 11 months old

Cold Easter Weekend!

Wow - the weather got so cold last week! I wasn't ready for it at all. We actually got snow on Friday! It was very pretty - I guess it fell for about half an hour. Of course, none of it stuck (thank goodness!) but it was fun to have snow in April, nonetheless!

On Saturday, Mimi and PawPaw came over to bring Addie's Easter basket to her - she got lots of neat clothes, including a bathing suit! SO CUTE! We will be going to the beach with Mimi and PawPaw in June. We can't wait! It'll be Addie's first trip to the beach.

We had a great Easter Sunday! We went to the 7:30 service at church. They didn't have nursery at this service, but Addie and Holland were so good! They started getting a little antsy towards the end of the service, but nothing a few Cheerios and a bottle wouldn't take care of :) They looked very cute for their first Easter. What a wonderful day - it has always been my favorite holiday - for its significance, mainly, of course, but also because it is always such a happy and lively time of year!

After that, we went to Gramma and Grampa's house to see what the Easter Bunny left and to have an Easter egg hunt! We had to get all bundled up, but we still had a blast! (I will have to post pictures of this later because we forgot our camera! Gramma took plenty though). Addie did so great! She got very excited to pick up the eggs - especially the ones that made lots of noise (the Easter Bunny always leaves coins in some of the eggs at Mike and Cindy's house).

We then went to Gran and Pop's house for Easter lunch. It was so great to see everyone, although Addie was sneezing and coughing like crazy! She wasn't feeling her best, but still had a good time with all of her cousins. (We know now that Addie just had a little cold - she got it from me :( - that started making her wheeze. The doctor thinks that she has inherited John Michael's asthma, as this is the third time that a minor cold or allergies has caused her to wheeze. Luckily, she is responding VERY well and very quickly to breathing treatments - we are hopeful that if she does in fact have asthma, that hers will be very mild like her daddy's).

Here are a few pictures! More to come...

Bathing beauty!

(She is trying to eat her new silver monogrammed bracelet that a friend of Gramma and Grampa gave her)


Addie in her bunny coat with PawPaw!
(Cindy gave me this at my very first baby shower last year!)


Addie and Daddy at church


Uncle Kris, Baby H, Daddy, and Addie!

Real moms...

I got tagged by my friend Emily in her blog! I'll give it a shot, although I can't promise I won't edit it later to make it wittier and/or more profound ;) Read on...

• Real moms realize that their once-most-important attribute - being punctual - no longer exists!
• Real moms learn to laugh when they're on the way out the door and get spit up on!
• Real moms constantly try to do the best for their families (stole that one from Em!)!
• Real moms used to love to shop for themselves, but now jump at the chance to spend the dollars leftover at the end of each month on their kiddos!
• Real moms learn that little boys aren't the only ones who can projectile pee!
• Real moms don't think twice about wiping noses with their bare hands!
• Real moms have a hard time with the bumps and bruises on their crawling/trying-to-walk babies!
• Real moms laugh so hard they cry on a regular basis.
• Real moms' priorities change. Gladly.
  
• Real moms are in awe every day of the new things their kiddos learn - and of the miracle of children, in general!!!
  
• And last, but certainly not least: Real moms love wholeheartedly and unconditionally!
  

So I just did a few, but it was fun! I have a million more, but I'll stop there.

I tag Amber, and anyone else who wants to play along!

A new tooth and pinkeye

Well, I figured it was time for an update since it has almost been 3 weeks! I'm embarrassed :( Things have been going great! Addie's personality is really developing more and more every day. She is moving EVERYWHERE and has even tried to take a few steps (usually from a table/chair to me). She doesn't make it that far :) But she's trying, and that's what matters!

Starting last week, Addie decided she didn't want to eat very much. We let it go on for a couple of days, thinking she was just more interested in playing. Well, after it had been 3 days, I called the pediatrician and they suggested that it was probably her getting a new tooth. Sure enough, she was working on her fifth - the one to the left of her top teeth. It seemed just miserable for her! It has really taken its toll - she hasn't been herself at all. Luckily, it broke through Sunday and she already seems to feel about 250% better :) And her new tooth is cute!!

Also this weekend, John Michael went out of town on a camping trip with some of his guy friends. We missed him a lot, but we had so much fun having girl time! We spent some time with Mimi and PawPaw, and stopped by to visit Gramma and Grampa for a little while too. We also had dinner with Aunt Lynn, Uncle Kris, and Holland! Addie and Holland are interacting SO MUCH. They have such a blast together. They had baby races on Friday night :) The funniest thing was when they would realize (a.k.a. think) that no grown-ups were around - they would just laugh hysterically at each other! They are so cute and are finally playing together more than just trying to eat each other and pull hair and scratch eyes :) Lynn took a little movie of them "racing" - I'll try to get her to post it on YouTube and I'll put the link up.

Also this weekend, something icky happened. Pinkeye. But not for Addie, for ME!!! Who knew?! I kind of thought it was something only kids can get - apparently not! So far, Addie and John Michael are pinkeye-free. I am being VERY careful around them and washing my hands an insane amount. Hopefully it'll stay away from them. I can't imagine Addie going through this - it has not been fun for me so far...

Okey doke - time for some pictures! Disregard the laundry on the table. It's clean and just waiting to be folded, if that makes it any better :) Welcome to my life... ;)

"Hmm...which cracker should I eat?"

"I looove my apple juice!"


Addie after her first temper tantrum (I took the sippy cup away - I gave it back only after we had a discussion and she agreed to never throw a temper tantrum again ;) - wishful thinking, right?!)!


"I am such a big girl! I don't even need the sippy part - it's just a little messier without it, is all :)"
(I think we all know that it's a LOT messier - ha ha!)


We got this little horsey riding toy from John Michael's aunt. Addie loves it, and she can really get around well on it!
(By the way - how cute is she in that outfit?! Gotta love Target!!!)


And she always finds her way back to the wagon :)