Happy New Year!

Happy new year to all!!  2010 was a fun year for our family!  We completed our first whole year of parenthood, purchased the family dairy farm, sold a house, celebrated Addison's first year of life, and are still living to tell about it all!!  I think I will call that a good year!

Today I was looking back on our post from last year and was amazed at how much can change in one year.  I could have never imagined what would be in store for our family in the approaching year.  Addison has grown and changed so much in the past year and has reached so many milestones just in a year.  First it began with rolling over, sitting up on her own, then pulling herself up on things, crawling, walking, and now running all over the place.  Not to mention all of her cognitive milestones from babbling, to talking and communicating her needs and wants!  She has grown into such a wonderful daughter and Dan and I were just talking last night (or should I say very early this morning) how much being parents means to the two of us and how much we love and adore our little Addie.

Last year I set my new year resolution to get into shape and to keep the weight off that I had lost.  I am so proud to say, probably for the very first time in setting a new year resolution, I have met it!!!  Not only have I kept the weight off that I have lost, but I weighed myself for the first time in quite a while yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to have maintained my weight 5 lbs. below my goal weight!  Trust me, I didn't expect that after the holidays!  This year my resolution is to begin more educational time with Addie while I am home with her.  She can learn so much at this age and I feel that I should take every advantage I have to make learning fun for her!  My second resolution is to remember to live in the moment.  I find myself feeling sad that Addie is growing up so fast and I realized that if I keep doing that, I am going to miss out on the wonderfulness of her in this very moment.  So NO more of that!  Okay, my last, yet most important resolution.  To open my bible more often, putting God at the center of my life, and teaching Addison.  I know that if I do this, everything else will really fall into place.

Dan's resolution was similar to mine last year, and when I had him step on the scale yesterday he has lost 32 pounds since last year!!  Great job honey!! Dan's new year resolution for 2011 is to make things work so that he can spend more time with his family.  Addie and I don't see much of him because he is so busy with the farm and his job, and not only is it hard on us, but hard on him as well.  So...we are going to find a way to spend more time as a family, and I guess that is kind of included in my resolution too!  I am going to help him out in any way possible!

So, for Addie.  Well, lets just say that I said that her new year resolution last year was to have her first word be "mama" and she didn't follow through.  DARN!  Her first word was of course "dada" - go figure!  BUT she started saying "mama" around Mother's Day this year, and that was the greatest gift EVER!!  She has now evolved "mama" and "dada" into "mom" and "dad"!!  No joke, she is like a little teenager and calls us mom and dad, has been for the past month or so.  Dan and I can't figure it out, because even when we reference ourselves to her, we say mommy and daddy.  Just goes to show that she really does have a mind of her own!

We celebrated New Years Eve at my parents house.  We had planned to go to our friend's house, but didn't know what the weather would do, so we decided to stick close to home.  As you can see, Daddy wasn't even close to making it until midnight!  I woke him up when the countdown began, so he was able to see the ball drop!

Uncle Max even made it to midnight!  Kool-Aid mustache and all!

Today we just stuck around home.  It was freezing outside and I didn't want to take Addie out.  I did some paperwork and Addie had fun with all her new toys.  Later in the evening my parents and Max came over to play with Addie.  Addie is always bringing Max books for the two of them to read!  

Addie also went potty on the BIG potty today!!

Wishing everyone a blessed 2011!

15 months old today!!

I still like counting in months.  Makes me feel a little bit like Addie is still my baby, although she completely acts like a little toddler.  She is growing into a beautiful little being, and we are loving every minute of her! 

Addie learns so many new things each and every day that it is overwhelming to even begin to list all she is capable of doing now.  It is astonishing how much she is able to take in, and I only wish I had half of that ability!  She learns so many language skills all the time!  She is able to communicate pretty much anything to us and if she can not say it, her pointer finger seems to work well.  She will repeat anything you ask her, and has come up with her own words for many of the things she communicates to us.  She can recognize pretty much all of our close family members including some of my aunts and uncles!  She can identify and say the names of all of her uncles, her aunt, and even some of her great aunt and uncles!!

She loves to role play.  Really loves being mommy!  She got two babies for Christmas and we have taking care of them ever since!  She does all the things a mommy would do.  Santa also brought her a 'Potsy' for Christmas and she loves to pretend she is cooking and then feeds me!   She got so many for Christmas that it is truly overwhelming!  She drags out so many toys during the day to play with that the house has toys all over when the day is done!  And BOOKS, she loves books!  We read to her all day long!  Usually we will be playing with toys and all of the sudden she yells "book!"  and she will go and get one off the shelf for us to read.  Sometimes we read and other times Addie like to read to us.

Addie LOVES helping mommy around the house, too!  I praise and encourage her, even when she really is just in my way.  She loves that she is able to help out mommy.  The problem is that I find things in VERY random places!  Like a sock in the dishwasher after we were done folding clothes and went on to doing the dishes!  The match to that sock was found in the measuring cup drawer!  I find things like the remote, my cell phone, my shoes, and other random things that she had picked up and relocated in her toy box as well!  She just loves to pick up things!

Eating is a difficult thing in our house, when it come to veggies anyway.  Neither Daddy nor Addie like to eat their vegetables and it drives this Momma nuts!  So, I try to hide them in food as much as possible, or puree them if necessary.  Addie will eat them if they are mixed with things, so it has seemed to work.  She will eat ANY type of fruit, just loves it, so no problem there!  She really eats what you put on her plate otherwise.  She eats on her own, but there are still some foods that she needs assistance with.  She does very well with her fork and spoon and aiming the food to her mouth.  Most of the time I am reminding her to chew her food!  When I do remind her, she over-exaggerates the chewing motion to me like she is saying, “Like this, MOM?!!”

Oh, the temper tantrums have begun.  I thought that it was supposed to be the terrible twos, but it has seemed to start early in this house.  She stomps her feet, throws herself on the floor, and screams when she does not get her way.  Our reaction is just to walk away and ignore, which seems to end the tantrum quickly.  She has also began to convince another person into getting what she wants if the first person does not give in to her!  What a stinker!

We are still sitting on the potty a few times per day.  Tonight she wanted to sit on the big potty, so I put her seat on there and she did very well.  We are just taking things slow, and will back off if she seems uninterested.  As of now, she likes sitting on the potty!

Today we took our first trip out into the snow!  It was warm enough here to stay out for a little while and Addison absolutely LOVED IT!!  She had so much fun, and Uncle Max even came over to enjoy the fun while he is on Christmas break!  She walked really well in her boots and liked chasing Emma around the yard.  Here are some pictures from today…

Addie even rode with Daddy in the skid loader!!

Uncle Max sledding down the hill!!

Mommy pulling the two up and down the driveway.  It was a great workout, to say the least!

Uncle Max thought he should have a turn at pulling Addie around!

We had a blast!!

I think Emma enjoyed our company too, since she doesn't see much of Addie and I in the winter time!  We tend to hibernate when it is cold out!

Well, we hope that everyone has a safe and very happy new year!  We have Addison's 15 month appointment on Friday...the last day of the year. WOW!  How did 2010 pass by so quickly?!!

Our Merry Little Christmas - 2010

Christmas has come and gone again!  We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and even with all the running around we did, we really enjoyed all of our family.  It was a really special Christmas with Addie, since she is really beginning to understand things and was so excited to open presents!

Our first Christmas was on Thursday night.  Addie really liked opening her first presents!  She got lots and lots of books for Christmas and this was one of the many Elmo books that she received!

 Daddy and Addie!  You will be able to tell who was taking all the pictures this year.  There is very few pictures that momma was in!

On Christmas Eve we spent the day with my aunt from Hawaii, my cousin, Max, and my parents baking cookies!  That evening we went to church and all my Sunday School kids sang their Christmas songs.  The one thing that was hard for me is that I didn't get to sit with my family because I had to sit with my kids in front of the church, but Dan told me that Addie was perfect in church and really enjoyed the kids!  After church we came home to open our Christmas Eve presents.  Dan and I started a tradition last year that we all buy each other new pajamas to go to bed in on Christmas Eve.  Daddy got mommy some pink one, mommy got daddy some Packers pajamas and we got Addison a pair of Christmas ones!  We have really liked it the past two years will keep the tradition going!

Christmas morning Addie and I waited for Daddy to get in from milking before opening the presents that Santa brought and opening presents from each other.  Addie was really good with leaving the presents alone, but I am thinking next year this will not be the case!

Addie got lots of toys from Santa.  

He left some cool stuff in her stocking too! Including yogurt melts, which we had to open right away!

Addie got a slide from mommy and daddy!  Actually the only toy she got from us!  Dan and I decided that we would go a little more practical with presents from us since she was getting every other toy under the sun from our parents, siblings, aunts and uncles, and Santa!  She got lots of clothes, books, and her new potty!!

For lunch we headed to Grandpa and Grandma Garbes' house.  We had a great Christmas dinner with Dan's family and Addie was VERY spoiled with presents!

She got a Cabbage Patch Doll from Grandma and Grandpa.  You did not know if it was a girl or boy in the box.  You had to open it and take off the leaf it was wrapped in to find out!  It was a GIRL, and Addie instantly turned on her mommy mode! And you can see her new slippers from Santa that she actually keeps on her feet!

She even had to feed the baby while she was driving her half-put-together car!  This is one of her favorite toys of all!  She is in and out of this car all day long!  I am truly struggling to find places for all of Addison's new toys.  They have literally taken over our house!

In the afternoon we headed to Grandpa and Grandma Hillegas' house for our big Christmas with the whole family.  Addie AGAIN was spoiled with LOTS AND LOTS of presents.  She loved all of them!

Waiting patiently for Aunt Vicky to open her puppy Max, who follows her around the house by putting a little bone on her wrist.

This picture cracks me up every time I look at it!  Just lounging on her new Elmo couch.  This is another one of her favorite gifts.  She sits in it all the time.  She can even lay in it!  It folds our into a bed and had a sleeping bag attached.

Another new baby and new table and chairs.

Uncle Max working really hard at opening his presents!

After opening all the presents, we played Minute to Win It games with the whole family!  It was a BLAST!  I could post SO many great pictures that I took, but I think some of my family would be after me!  So here are some pictures of our family members that will not care!

Addie being a goof with Max!  She was running around so much and my parents have in-floor heat (which makes it very warm in the room) that we had to take Addie's pants off the keep her cool!  She was sweating like a little piggy!

Aunt Brenda gave Addie a cookie and didn't think she would shove the entire thing in her mouth...well, she was sadly mistaken!  Addie doesn't get sweets too often and when she does, she makes sure they do not go to waste!  We ended up digging cookie out of her mouth because it was so full that she could not chew!

On Sunday we finished our last Christmas with the entire Garbes family.  I forgot my camera and was SO disappointed!  I told Dan that my anxiety level increases when I don't have that attached to my hand. I might just miss something that I will never be able to capture again!  Addie had a lot of fun playing with Dan's cousin's little boys.  They ran all around the church!  I did get a picture (sort of) of her last Christmas outfit.  And wouldn't you know, it is with her babies!  She has been making me help her take care of these babies all weekend!  One night she led me to the fridge with her baby's sippy cup and wanted me to put milk in it!  I had to pretend, and away she went to feed her baby.  She rocks the babies,takes their clothes off and has mommy put them on, pretends to burp them, and feeds the constantly!  She is going to be such a good little helper when we have our next one!

 Hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  Tomorrow Addie turns 15 months old!  We are going to go sledding before the weather turns nasty!  Addie got all her snow gear for Christmas, so this will be her first time out in the snow!  Should be a blast!  Uncle Max will be joining us too! 

Big Girl on the Potty...

For the past few weeks, Addie has been showing signs that she might be ready to start potty training.  She hates to be in a wet diaper and will either go get me a diaper to change her, or she just tries to get it off.  Her diaper isn't even very wet when she does it, so we thought that she might be ready.  She had also been waking up in the morning with a dry diaper.


So, for Christmas Dan and I decided to get her a potty and see what happened.  I put her on it for the first time on Sunday night.  She stood up and sat down about a hundred times, but no production.  Yesterday, I sat her on a few times during the day and got about the same reaction.  Last night before her bath I sat her on the potty for a few minutes and long behold, SHE WENT POTTY IN IT!!!  Dan and I were both standing there, and Addison's reaction was priceless.  I think she surprised herself too!  She got up looked in and we all started clapping.  I got some toilet paper to wipe and she took it out of my hands and started wiping herself!  I still can not believe it!  She has been sat on the potty a few times this morning and has not gone.  I don't know if this is a fluke or not, but until she starts fussing about sitting on the potty I am going to keep it up!  I don't want to push her, so we are not taking things too serious, she is only 15 months old (tomorrow)!  Would it not be awesome to have her potty trained?!!  No more diapers...sounds like a dream!

Here is Addie sitting on her potty for the very first time!!

It is so hard to think that raising kids can go this quickly.  Seems like she was just learning to crawl, and now we are working on potty training!  Makes me that much more happy about the decisions I made to stay home with her most of the time and only work part time!  Time goes WAY too quickly not to enjoy her as much as I possibly can.  I have a terrible feeling that before I know it she will be starting school...

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

...and all through the house, our family all scurries, just like a mouse.  

For on our way to church we go.  

To celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus, of whom we love so.

With family and friends we celebrate, 

looking forward to the Garbes family tradition that soon will await.

To open one special gift, to go to bed in.  

A new pair of pajamas, we opened with a grin :-)

In our new pair of pajamas we read books all night, 

and put out cookies for Santa's flight.

Awaiting Santa all comfy and snug, tucked into bed like a little bug.

I begin to fall asleep, when I hear mommy and daddy peep...

Merry Christmas, I love you, and goodnight.

_______________________

Hoping that everyone has a safe and happy holiday!  

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!

Love, The Garbes'