Big Girl at 9 Months!

Today Addie is not only 39 weeks old, but she is 9 months old!!  Looking back -- I carried this little girl for exactly 39 weeks the day she was born, and boy...this 39 weeks sure went a heck of a lot faster than those 39 weeks she was in my tummy!

Addie continues to grow in personality and surprises us each and every day with her ability to learn.  She is truly a blessing in our lives and we could not ask for more!  It is SO hard to believe in three months we will be celebrating her first birthday, which I have already started planning!!

Addie is a busy, busy girl these days.  She is able to get all over the new house.  Whether that is crawling or in her walker.  I am amazed by how well she gets around in her walker and runs over everything in her path to get to where she wants to go!  Along with getting all over the house, comes trouble, which Addie frequently gets herself into!  It is funny how she has learned to be quiet when she is doing something around the house that she knows she shouldn't be doing!  Every parent knows that a quiet child means "up to no good!"  Dan and I have learned quickly that the only times when Addie is quiet is when she is sleeping, getting into trouble, or pooping her britches!! 

Addie has been doing great with getting up and down from furniture.  She actually just learned last night how to get down from standing at the couch.  She was scared to do it before and would yell at mommy or daddy to come and get her.  Now, after practicing about 25 times last night....up, down, up, down, she is a pro at getting down!  Trust me it wasn't too graceful at first, but as you can see in the picture she takes her time and does it carefully!  I keep waiting for her to let go of the furniture to stand on her own, but she hasn't got that daring yet!  She just carefully walks along the couch giggling and biting the couch (she bites everything...little monster she is!)

More excitement came this week when she learned how to do "big girl" and "so big" with her arms!  She holds them up over her head and gives you the little grin she likes to give!  It's adorable!  It took me awhile, but I finally got it on camera!

Addison loves to spend time with her mommy and daddy and LOVES to cuddle.  I was thinking to myself this morning as Addie was cuddling with me, just how lucky I am to have a cuddly baby.  I have known a lot who don't like to.  Addie comes up and gives hugs and kisses on her own, without asking for them.  I just love those wet, sloppy, open mouth kisses from her!  This morning as we were laying in our bed, she had just gotten done eating her morning bottle and she thought it would be funny to try to feed me!  She kept taking the bottle and trying to put it in my mouth!  lol!  When I would pretend to eat it, she would giggle away!  She thought it was just the coolest thing to make mommy eat her bottle!

Playtime is Addie's favorite time!  She loves to play with anyone!  She also loves her play corner and it keeps her busy for quite some time as I get things done around the house everyday!  She digs her toys out of her toy box and away she goes!  Sometimes she digs a little too far and we had our first fall-in the other day.  I had a really hard time not laughing at her, but when I ran to get her she was all curled up in her toys with her hands reached out for me to pick her up.  She was whining (I think it scared her more than anything) so I didn't have the heart to run and get the camera!  Poor girl!  Her favortie toys right now seem to be her music and learning table, her toy that shoots the balls all over the room (and then she fetches them), and stuffed animals (because she likes to take them and bite them).  I told you she was a little monster!

Playing Patty Cake with Mommy!

Speaking of biting.  She still has not had her teeth break through.  This poor girl has been trying to cut these teeth for about a  month now.  We have never had any take so long!  She loves to use the 6 chompers she has though, and usually eats what we are eating in very small bites.  She loves that she has the ability to eat on her own!

Yummy, yummy pizza!!

Napping and sleeping have been an issue lately.  We are not sure why, but she fights sleep until she can't fight anymore.  I don't think that she wants to miss out on anything!  It started with fighting her naps and she is now fighting bedtime as well.  We used to be able to put her in her crib awake and in no time she would be asleep.  Now she stands up in bed and jumps as she holds on to her rails and thinks it's playtime!  Dan and I have been working really hard at shutting the door and ignoring it, so she knows that when we lay her in her crib it is bedtime.  It's not like we lay her in early or when she isn't tired, she just has decided to be difficult I guess.  Once she is asleep, she sleeps through the night and is up at 7am every morning!

Addie is a BIG girl and is in 12 month clothes and can sometimes wear 18 month clothes too!  She has been in size three diapers for quite awhile now, but I think she will move to size four in the next month or so.  I weighed her this morning on our scale and it read 21 lbs. 6 oz.  I don't know how accurate that is, but she has really seemed to slow down quite a bit this month.  We still can not fit any shoes on her feet because they are too chunky!  I actually did find a pair of sandals one day that would work for her, but she kept curling her toes and they wouldn't stay on!  I hope this gets better!!

 Here are a few more pictures to share from today and this past week!

Helping momma do laundry!  She usually pulls it out and throws it on the floor!  That's my kind of folding!

Momma and Addie!

All smiles!  She always smiles with her bottom chin to the side!

Watching Max's baseball game!

Happy nine months to our little Addie bug!  She is the light of our lives and we love her so much!

Fun in the HOT Sun!

Our home town had their annual celebration this weekend and Addison enjoyed (well sort of) much of the fun!  It was very hot here yesterday, and on top of the hot temperature came the wonderful humidity!  You would sweat just standing there!  Addie had many firsts this weekend!  Including her first parade, turtle races, and fireworks!

Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Check out our artwork from the morning...matching toes!

Look at those beautiful chubby little feet!

She fought and fought during the parade...

but our sleepy little girl lost her battle and slept through sirens and all!  Missing her very first parade...

Holding Addie is our Alice.  She raised me growing up and is now helping raise Addie when she goes to daycare on Tuesday!  She loves her Alice and Alice doesn't ever take a break, not even on the weekends!

The best thing of a parade...CANDY!!

After the parade we went to the park.  It was HOT!  This is all we could get out of Addie for a smile.  She was not only hot, but tired as well!

The turtle races!  There were some fast turtles in the bunch!  Max's turtle won two of the races!

And what completes a great weekend?  Well, fireworks of course!  Right in our front yard!

What makes it even better?  That we can sit outside on our deck and watch the town's fireworks right from home with all of our family and friends.  Life is great!

Poor Addie missed many of her firsts today.  Such a tired little girl.  The fireworks started way past her bedtime...and she slept...through the big booms and all!

Could we ask for a more perfect night?  

Nope, I don't think so!

busted!!

Drinkin' and drivin'...

can it be...

Can it possibly be that our little Addie threw her first temper tantrum today?!  She is only eight months old!

It all started this morning.  She has been having a cow lately when we change her morning diaper.  Why?  I have absolutely no idea!  It can't be any fun to sit in a stinky, dirty, ten pound diaper you have been in all night.  This morning was no different, except...not only did she not want her diaper changed, she didn't want to get dressed either!  So, I took her off her changing table and tried dressing her on the floor.  She began crying and screaming and then threw herself onto the floor, kicking her feet!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  My little girl throwing her first tantrum.  My normally perfect-acting little girl throwing a tantrum!!  AHHHHH!

So, I did what I would have told any of my client's I work with...I just walked away and ignored her.  She stopped immediately and we were dressed!  Oh the joys of mommyhood!

I thought this shirt fit the occasion perfectly...

Never Crabby! (Well...maybe sometimes!) LOL!!

38 Weeks...

Happy 38 weeks to our little Addie bug!!

Addie is adjusting to the new settings like a champ.  The move really has not seemed to bother her at all!  She loves the new house and all the space she gets to go around within it!  Although this house is smaller than our other one, the floor plan is more open so it seems like there is just as much room and more space for Addie to roam!

Pictured here is her new play corner!  I NEVER thought I would transform my home into a kid area!  I guess I just always pictured my house looking like normal and having toys in the kids' room...well reality hit!  We have this corner by the windows that is perfect for Addie since she loves to look outside when she is forced to be indoors!  I purchased the rug to somewhat go with the things in the house and the giant toy box at a garage sale for $5...yep, that's right...a whole $5!!  The rocker that you also see is Grandpa Ron's from when he was a little boy! 

When we actually got most of her toys in the box and tested the corner out, she kept herself busy for about 45 minutes as I did things around the house!  It was Great!!  I think it was definitely worth the investment!

It seems like Addison is always on the move and has really been disliking being in her exersaucer or her Jumperoo for very long.  I think 15 minutes is the max she will stay in them!  I had to move her Jumperoo to the third level now!  Here she is jumpin' in her new room as I put her clothes away!

Her exersaucer came in handy for the garage sales.  She liked to sit in this so she could turn in every direction and watch people!

Addie is talking so much these days.  She has mama and dada down well and can identify us when we ask her!  I know this seems a little early but she can also say and identify our dog Emma and Uncle Max!  When we are outside or Emma is by the patio door you hear Addie saying emmmma as she crawls to her!  Notice she says her name with the emphases on the MMM!  Yesterday when we were at the baseball game she saw a black dog and called that dog emmmma too!  I think she thinks that every dog is Emma!  On Father's day she was playing with Max and she would say his name when asked!  It is so amazing how much she is learning!

 

We continue to get into trouble each and every day...surprise, surprise!  Addie knows the meaning of "no," but most of the time chooses not to listen to it.  She usually just turns, smiles, and tilts her head at you.  She already has learned how to play the cards!

Naps have decreased to about two per day.  One in the morning and one in the afternoon.  They are not long naps, only lasting about an hour or so.  Here she is napping with Great Grandma... 

and daddy...

Addie is pretty well eating what we eat for meals.  I just make sure they are soft and chopped for her to eat easily.  She really just let us know that she was ready to eat food by wanting food off of our plates.  I keep the 3rd foods on hand when we are having something that I don't think she is ready for and for when we are out and about.

Bath time!!  I moved her back to her pink tub for the time being.  We don't have the big deep sink here like we had at our previous house, so it would be pretty hard to get her chubby butt into our small sink here!  That is one of the first things I want to do...get a bigger sink.  We just need to sell our other house!  So here is Addie getting ready for her bath.  I lay her on the floor to get her clothes off and she immediately gets up and pulls herself up on the tub so she can watch her tub fill in excitement.  She loves her baths!  At this house we have a restored claw foot tub, which is pretty awesome to take baths in!!

On a note from mommy...All I have to say is between moving, cleaning, organizing, working, taking care of Addie bug, and the rest of the stuff I do each and every day...I am truly exhausted!  I can not wait for the rest of the boxes to be unpacked!  All I have left is the decor for the house.  I am praying for some restful days soon, but realizing that our little Addie does not offer many breaks!! All in all, I am loving life with this little girl--even though she wears me out!

GO UNCLE MAX!!

Today Addie and I went to watch Uncle Max play baseball!  Here are some pictures from the game!!

And of course some pictures of our adorable Addie!!

She was not in the stroller long.  This girl does not like to sit still! Here she is walking with momma to the field!

Watching the game...

Have a great night!

Daddy's Day!!

We celebrated Dan's first father's day today, and as usual we had a lot of running around to do!  We spent some time in the morning together before heading to see Grandpa Ron to celebrate his birthday and father's day.  After that we went to see Grandpa Russ, and then had the night together as our little family of three!

As you can see Addie had some much needed cuddle and playtime with her daddy today.  With all the chaos of moving we have not had time to do as much of this as we are accustomed to.  Addie loves to play with daddy and he can make her laugh doing just about anything!  Her eyes just light up when she sees her daddy!

  

Happy first father's day to my wonderful husband!  You are an amazing daddy to our little Addison.  We love you SO much and look forward to many many "dada" days with you!

Playin' with Daddy!

So the time came for daddy to open his gift and Addie was pretty reluctant to give the gift to daddy.  She really just wanted to eat it!  She has become pretty determined these days and as you can see in the pictures she will crawl over whatever she needs to and reach what she wants.  This is usually our cell phones, but tonight it was daddy's card!

I also want to wish my dad a happy father's day.  Dad, thank you so much for all you do for us, I honestly don't know what we would do without you at times!  You mean the world to Addie and I can't wait for you to teach her all you taught me!  Thanks for being such a great dad to YOUR little girl for so many years!  We love you!!!

As you can tell in the picture my dad loves pictures!  The photo session with Grandpa today was pretty crazy!  If Addie was smiling Grandpa was making a funny face or had is eyes closed, and if Grandpa was looking okay, Addie was looking annoyed with all the picture taking!  So here is our best shot!

Three generations...Two generations of dads!  To my father-in-law...I also want to thank you for all you do for us.  You welcomed me into the family like I was your own daughter and I am so happy with the relationship we have!  Thank you so much for being such a great grandpa to our little Addie!

I can not believe just how much our lives have changed these past eight months with Addison.  Dan and I were so nervous to become parents in the beginning (okay, mostly me)!!  Now we are "mom" and "dad!"  Two titles that mean the world to the both of us!  Happy father's day to the greatest daddy in the world!!  I feel so lucky to be able to spend the rest of my life with you!

37 Weeks...

I can not believe how fast this week flew by for us!  We have had a very busy week packing, moving, and unpacking!  Addie has been staying with family much of the time because the little stinker just gets herself in too much trouble...lol!  I have missed her so much this past week and am hopeful that by this weekend we have life back to "normal" and get started on our new routine in our new home!

We painted the house on Friday and Saturday.  Thank to my Aunt Vicky and cousins Meg and Maddie for helping!  Addison's room is now a nice shade of yellow.  I took her in it the night we were done with her crib, and most of her other things set up, and a huge smiles appeared on her face.  I think that means approval!  Got to love our little Addie's smile :)

We moved on Sunday, which had to be the worst day to move EVER!  It rained most of the day, which made our move pretty messy!  Thank goodness my dad has an enclosed trailer that we were able to use to keep all of our things dry.  Not only did the rain mess up our day, but our appliances did also!  First our fridge was too big for the kitchen...ugh!  Our kitchen at our old house was probably almost four times the size of my new kitchen, so along with packing came a lot of getting rid of kitchen things!  Anyway, so our fridge would not fit...but thank goodness for the handiness of my dad!  He noticed a spacer in the cupboards that he could move to make it fit and cut my counter top!  What a great dad I have, he saved my day!

The next day we went to install the dryer and our dryer would not fit into the washing closet.  At this point I didn't think anything would go right for us, but we also made this work by taking down some of the interior trim.  Thanks to my wonderful father-in-law for creating magic there!  I now have laundry up and going!

Now we have the slow process of unpacking and organizing.  I got the majority of it done yesterday, but still have a long way to go.  We also still have things at the old house that we are going to have to move eventually.  Prayers are definitely needed in the house selling department, I don't like paying two mortgages!

And so now on to Addison...what this post should be all about!  Between all of this chaos, she has been adjusting so well!  Her first night in the new house she slept fabulous.  Last night was her second and she did even better!  Last night she went to bed around 10pm and didn't get up until 7:15am!  She ate a bottle and went back to bed until 9:30!  That has been about normal for her lately.  We have had a hard time getting her to go to bed early!  I was sure not to wash her sheets and blankets so the smell would be familiar to her and it seemed to do the trick!

As far as milestones, I missed my first one while she was with her Grandma and Grandpa Hillegas while I was painting on Saturday :(  She is now able to climb stairs!  Thank goodness we now live in a one-story house and the stairs to the basement have a door!  She is doing great with her standing and pulling herself up and has now began to scoot very slowly along objects.  I can tell it still makes her a little nervous since she has taken a few tumbles!

Her teeth have been giving her so much trouble this past week.  We have been fortunate with the others not to have too much going on with her.  They have just popped up!  These teeth that are trying to come in have given her just about every symptom possible!  Drooling, runny diapers, diaper rash from the runny diapers, runny nose, coughing and gagging (mainly on her saliva), low-grade fever, chewing just about anything she can get into her mouth, ear pulling, and a face rash.  I think that about covers them all!  I actually think that she is working on her first molars, but your guess is as good as mine!

It is sad to say that I don't have too much more to report on her!  It has been a hard week and a half to be without her so often.  Both of us are accustomed to being together most of the day.  When I go to pick her up the excitement from her melts my heart and then makes me feel guilty that I left her all day (even though she is with family).  Like I said before, I am SOOO ready to get into our routine and spend much more needed time with Addison!!

 Here are some of our pics from the week!

Scooting around the new house in her walker.  This is before we moved, so she could go anywhere and she absolutely loved it!

One of the last pictures taken at the old house.  It makes me sad as I type that!  We have lots of great memories at this house that I will forever cherish!

"Good morning from my new room!"

Have I mentioned just how much trouble this little girl gets herself into?  She is always doing things that she shouldn't, trying to explore her world!  In this picture she crawled under her Jumperoo to play with it from underneath.  She kept trying to pull herself up in it.

Playing with her new toy!  I still have not got my new camera yet, so I am using my big camera.  It is a wonderful camera, but hard to haul around.  It also has a very bright flash and Addie will not even look at the camera if I have it on.  If she does look she always has her eyes closed, so we took one without the flash!

Makes a big difference when it is on!  She loves her new toy.  If you push on the top, the bottom spins and throws the balls all over.  Addie then goes to get them!

In trouble...again!  So hard to keep her out of things when they are still all over the house!  She climbs the boxes, digs in them, and tries to eat them!  Here I think she was trying to stand up so she could eat the flap of the box, but don't worry daddy was standing there to make sure she didn't fall!

I am sure that this week will be just as busy as we continue to unpack and get organized!  I am having a huge garage sale at our house this week as well.  As if I didn't have enough to do!  Everyone enjoy their week!