The Garbes' Normal Household Items!

As I did the dishes today I began to think of how many things have changed in my life since Addison's arrival.  There are so many things in our house that if a stranger would walk in they would 100% conclude that there was a baby living here.  From the high chair to the crib in her room, it is pretty evident that a tiny creature roams this household.  I then began to think of all the odd items or the "non-typical-baby" items that you learn work so well for the task at hand...

For example you may walk into our home and see this...

Doesn't everyone save their Fareway cottage cheese containers??
Well...WE DO!  These work great to unthaw breast milk for Addie!  I set the bag in these, stick them in the fridge, and by tomorrow we have milk for Addie!  We have had some trouble with little holes in a few of the bags, so it also catches the milk if it does leak out!  And if you need to unthaw on the go...just put the lid on!

Or you may see this...

This is a Tupperware gravy shaker (yes, usually used for gravy)....but not in this house!  In this house you will find breast milk!  It is great to put your breast milk in and keep in the fridge once your bags are unthawed.  Easy to read the ounces on the side and shake before pouring in the bottle!

If you are around while Addie is getting her diaper changed (and trust me...there are times when you will definitely want to stay clear!!)...

You will find her diaper changing basket.  Convenient to take wherever you change her diaper.  Which usually ends up being on the floor or the ottoman!

And then there are times when I am really forced to be creative.  Part of this comes from the OCD side of me who needs all things in my life organized.  If you go to Addie's closet...you may see this...

 From an old hanger to a "cool" hanger with ribbon to put Addison's bows, flowers, and headbands on to keep organized.  I was so sick of trying to dig all of this out.  I made this yesterday so we will see how it works!

 Even Addison enjoyed it!!

As I washed those cottage cheese containers today, I also thought about how our life has truly been blessed with this sweet, vibrant, little girl, whom we love so very much! How we adapt our lives to make them easier, especially with a baby.  I could not imagine life without our little Addie and all the little things we now have come to accept as "normal household items."

33 Weeks...

Hello everyone!  We had another busy weekend here.  Mostly filled with graduation parties!  We had three to attend this weekend and have my cousin's this next weekend.  Addison has been doing great being hauled around to all of these and has seemed to go to just about anyone who wants to hold her!  She absolutely loved being around other kids at the graduations too!  She would do her excited grunt, squeal, and wave both hands in the air when she saw another little one her size...too cute!

This week...I am SO proud to say...that Addie has began to crawl!!  She finally took a few crawls on Saturday...Yay!  She really does not move very far because she seems to crawl to a toy and stops to play with it.  It is so cute to watch her as she does it because it is still new to her and she acts like she is surprised every time she moves a few feet!  She is also beginning to pull herself up on things.  Really not much more progress on that from last week, but she really loves to stand against things!   She also loves to walk with you.  She does pretty well putting one foot in front of the other.

Another thing Addison has become fond of doing is waving.  Both hi and bye...it doesn't matter.  It doesn't matter who or what she is waving at either!  Yesterday I caught her waving at the tv, ceiling fan, and at one point nothing!  She also spent about five minutes waving at Auntie Em yesterday!  She thinks it is the coolest thing!  It was a little hard to catch in on camera, but you get the idea!

Addison got another tooth in on Friday.  This is tooth number five for her and it is on her top right.  Next to her big front tooth!  She has been a little on the grumpy side with this tooth.  A few nights of waking up around 3:30-4am and needing her mommy A LOT!  Other than that it has gone pretty smoothly.  The tooth is actually still working on breaking all the way through and it is looking like the one on the opposite side is going to be coming in soon as well!

Addie has also officially said "mama" without whining...yay!  For the past month she has been saying "mama," but only when she is whining for a bottle or for someone.  The other day she finally said it without the whine involved.  She continues to do all the other babbling on top of that and she absolutely loves to squeal!  This is her squealing face...

We came home from the graduation party on Saturday and Addison passed out on the floor before I even had a chance to get her coat off!  

Bath time has become quite interesting.  Addison does NOT sit still.  She is trying to pull herself up and move around in the bath.  I quick took this picture the other day.  You seriously can not take your eyes off her for a second!  I feel like I need about ten arms and hands to give her a bath...lol!!

Addie still loves to sit and play in the mirrors in our bedroom.  She now waves to herself in the mirror!

This is Addie's favorite place in house.  If she goes anywhere this is where she likes to go.  She goes to the window to look at the animals that often visit her!  She absolutely goes crazy when she sees them!  In this picture she is squealing to our cat Lucy.

 Have a great week!

32 Weeks...

What a busy week it has been here!  I really don't even know where to begin...

Things are getting really busy at the dairy and I officially had my first "wife of a dairy-man" experience last night.  When Dan had the dairy at the beginning of our marriage I was not one to go out and help unless he needed me to.  I guess I can officially say that none of that has changed!  He was having trouble getting a cow in the barn after she had a calf.  So this STRONG ol' momma went out to help...ha.  I had to help him get a 1400lb. cow into the barn.  Thanks to my idea of putting her calf in there she finally went in, but was very reluctant and stubborn about doing so.  It took us a good hour to get her in, but we did it...TOGETHER!  I was pretty proud of myself!  We had two calves born yesterday so when this weather warms up, I will take Addie out to see them!  Addie loves animals and does this excited grunt thing whenever she sees them!

We have also had a pretty emotional week around here. My Grandpa had a heart attack on Thursday night.  My dad took him to the ER in C.C. and he was then taken by ambulance to M.C. for treatment.  Early on Friday morning he went in for surgery to put two stents in.  He was recovering well until they tried to take the balloon pump out and found another clogged artery.  They took him into surgery and put a third stent in on Sunday night.  I went to see him today and he is in great spirits and ranting and raving that he get to go home SOON!  Good to see him acting like his old self!

Now on to FUN Addie stuff!  She has really been testing her territory this week!  She has learned how to pull herself up on things and can get to her knees.  She can pull herself up in her crib pretty well and yesterday decided that it would be fun to pull herself up onto the entertainment center so she could push the buttons!  I think it may be time to baby-proof!! 

We are also having a problem with biting...already.  She bit me twice yesterday and I am really not sure how to react when she does this.  She has bit me before and I screamed ouch...her reaction was just to laugh at me!  I told her "no, no." today when she bit me...and again she laughed at me.  I think we may be in trouble.  I know she doesn't do it on purpose and actually doesn't really know that she it getting skin when she bites your shirt, but it still hurts with those four little teeth digging into your skin!

Addie has been doing really well with expanding her tastes to different foods.  I have really been working hard on not creating a picky eater and I think it is paying off! Yay!  I am now feeding her fruits and veggies at every meal and she will even eat her fruits plain!

Here are some pictures to share from this week...

We continue to work on our crawling...

and on her yoga moves...

and goofing off...

and finally the "I give up" stage...

Here is another picture from Mother's Day.  I was getting dressed in our bedroom and sat Addison in her crib to play.  This is how I came back to find her.  Our cute little jailbird!

Thanks for reading!  Everyone have a FABULOUS week!!

A Perfect Mother's Day!

It is so hard to believe that is has been seven months since I first became a mommy.  Seven months since my beautiful daughter opened my eyes to a world that I had been missing.  I can not begin to describe how wonderful being a mommy is.  It is truly the greatest role in the world!  I am so blessed with wonderful mothers in my life!  My mom who has been there for me through thick and thin and was there as I became a mommy myself.  And Dan's mom, who has been a mother to me since Dan and I began dating almost eleven years ago.  

 Today has been the "perfect" first mother's day anyone could ask for!  Addie and I were able to sleep in this morning and went to church as Daddy was working.  After church Daddy took us out for lunch and then we went home to spend some time together (which has been rare lately!).  When we got home Addie gave me her mother's day gift.  Although she really did not want to give me the pretty wrapped gift, she really just wanted to play with it herself!!  Addie helped me open the gift from her and Daddy and in it was a beautiful mother/daughter necklace.  How amazing my family is!

Such a good little helper!

We compromised on me getting the necklace and Addie getting the box!

Mommy and Addie.

We then went in to see Grandma Jen to give her our Mother's Day gift.  We made both Grandmas a photo book of Addie and them.  They turned out great!  Addie took a nap with Grandma and got some cuddle time, and was of course spoiled to the max!

Addie and I went to see Great Grandma after our visit with my family.  She was so happy to see her little Addison before taking her trip next week!

After we left Great Grandma's house, we took off to see Dan's parents.  Thank goodness they only live about five miles apart! We had supper with Grandma Dawn and the family, and gave Grandma her photo book! Grandma Dawn loved her photo book!

I sit here this evening and smile as I write down all my memories from my first mother's day.  What a great day it has been!  Thanks to all the mothers out there who do such a wonderful job each day!  Thanks to my moms who are the GREATEST mothers in the world!  I love you both...Happy Mother's Day!

31 Weeks...

Hello!!  We are at 31 weeks and this is what is going on at the Garbes ranch...

We had Addison's seven month well-baby appointment yesterday.  Addie is on an alternative vaccination schedule so she goes in once per month for shots from month two to seven.  She will now go on a regular schedule 9,12,15 months and so on.  She will also have an extra visit between her two and three year appointments.  I chose to do this due to the studies that babes are given too many shots when they are too young.  So she will get ALL of the recommended shots, but they are a little more spread out and some are delayed.  The schedule has worked very well for Addie.

At her appointment she weighed in at 19lbs. 6oz. (87 percentile).  She was 28in. long (94 percentile), and with both put together she was in the 62 percentile.  She is a growing girl!!  Everything was great and she is healthy and right on track for growth and development!  Always music to my ears!

During her appointment I talked to the doctor about food and Addie's eating habits.  Sometimes it seems to me like she it eating a LOT!  The doctor said that Addie will tell me when she is full and to take cues from her and let Addie call the shots!  Which we have been doing.  About her orange nose...the doctor was not concerned at all.  She just recommended that I keep trying to give her fruit, even if she only takes one bite.  Although last night I was able to get three bites of peaches in her, which is quite a feat!! Other than only eating her veggies, Addie eats like a champ and is doing very well with chewing food with her four front teeth!  Just don't make her laugh while you are eating or you will have her food all over you...as I found out!!

 yummy, yummy...Cheerios!

 

As far as milestones, she continues to do new things each and every week!  I am amazed at how much she is learning at this stage and SO happy that I am keeping up with these weekly posts so that I can remember all of this!  This week she has began to give us hugs and kisses!  I love it!  She is a hugger and loves to give her mommy hugs the most!  She will also give kisses, although they are open mouth, but still mean a lot to us and is so cute!  We have not made it to actual crawling yet, but Addison seems to move more and more around the house each week.  Sometimes I will be doing something, check on her, and wonder how the heck she got to where she was!  She is also getting around now by scooting on her butt!  She has also began to show interest at pulling herself up.  She usually does it to me, either when I am sitting down with her or when I am standing up and she grabs my pant legs.  I am sure this is also soon to come! 

Addison LOVES attention.  As do most kids, but Addie is so used to getting so much of it because she is the only grandchild on each side!  Don't worry though because she will let you know when she is not getting adequate attention from the people around her!  Usually with some VERY LOUD screaming.  Dan will always say, "everyone look at Addie, she needs our attention."  Addie will stop screaming, smile, and start to babble to all of us like she had a really important story to tell!  Have I mentioned how much fun she it at this stage and how much I LOVE BEING A MOMMY?!!

As far as routine goes, it has seemed to greatly pay off keeping her on a routine.  She has actually seemed to catch on in some ways and knows what is happening next.  I can tell this because she often will get SUPER excited about things.  One example is she gets up in the morning, I change her diaper and she then goes and plays with her toys for about 20-30min before breakfast.  When I go to pick her up to eat she gets really excited because she knows it is time to eat.  By the time I put her in her high chair she is really squealing sometimes!  Leave it to our little Addie to get so excited about food!

Some of her favorite toys right now are her tea set, her ball, any kind of book (although she eats cardboard, so we usually give her a soft book or her bubble books), Jumperoo, and really anything that she can put in her mouth!  We had to move her Jumperoo to the next level because our 28in. babe was getting too tall for the first level!  She absolutely goes crazy in that thing.  I often think that the entire contraption will soon be jumping off the ground!  Oh, and I should mention her love for wipes!  She gets excited when she sees them and really mad when you take them away!  The only problem is that when she gets one out she puts it in her mouth...yuck!  One day I went to change a load of laundry and when I came out she had made is across the room, to her changing basket, and pulled out all the wipes that were left!  She was also sucking on them!  It is incredible just how much trouble they can get into in such a short amount of time!  I need to grow those eyes in the back of my head!  Here are some pictures of Addie playing with her toys...

Here are some pictures of Addison and Max.  They have a great bond and love to see each other!  Max loves playing with Addie and Addie thinks that Max is just the best thing since sliced bread!

Max was just amazed that Addie would actually roll the ball back to him...lol!!

  

Addie and Max watching t.v.

So cute!

Garbes Dairy Update:
Dan now has 31 cows.  Which means he has 9 more to get.  He has been starting the dairy, getting everything going and in order, so we have not seen much of him these past few weeks.  It makes it hard with Addie, but it should calm down here in a few weeks and we can again spend all our free time together!   We still are unsure of when we will be moving, but are thinking maybe sometime in June.  We are still working on selling our house, which is getting frustrating!  I never knew selling a house would be like that!  Prayers are definitely needed in that department!  We will keep you posted on any further developments...lol!