September 2014

Addison is growing up WAY TO QUICK!  I feel like she has gone from 2 to 14 in the matter of a month.  We had a good run with the twos, but I do feel like threes will be a different story!  She is so head strong and set in her ways.  She can freak out so quickly, its like someone flips a switch!  She still has her very cuddly, adorable moments, but she just seems ready for a fight!

Here is some info on Addy - 

Currently watching: Mickey Mouse continues to be a favorite.  We have started branching out to watch other Disney favorites such as Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Mulan & Cinderella.  We have completely gotten rid of the DVD player in the car which is really nice.  
While watching a show the other morning a family had to bring their dog to "camp" while the family went on vacation...the little girl didn't want to leave her dog and Addy started crying saying but the girl wants her doggie.  She is always very perceptive and sympathetic.  It kind of broke my hearth that Addy was upset over it!

Currently listening to: It has been such a monumental month!  Where I use to not listen to much of anything (b/c DVD player was on) we now listen to most pop channels!!  One day it dawned on Addison that she likes listening to the music I listen to.  Her new current obsession is "All about that Bass" by Meghan Trainor.  Now every time we get in the car she asks for the ‘bass bass’ song. This song is incredibly catchy!  She also likes the "Boom Clap" song and sadly "Drunk in Love".  Both Justin and my sis Shelly have given me the gold star on parenting for that last song.  I guess I need to be more careful of what she is listening to!

Currently thinking about: her birthday & Halloween!  I'm trying to plan her 3rd birthday party and I'm struggling so much with it.  I have ideas, but not enough time to implement half of them.  When we asked Addy what she wanted to be for Halloween, she said Cinderella.  My mom is currently working on her outfit, but we already have some Cinderella glass slippers (Target) and white gloves.  I think she will look beautiful!  

Currently trying to figure out: Addy's big girl bed!!! She has fallen out of it once since we've taken the side off.  It's like a little day bed.  Addy loves it, but I worry about her flopping all over the place and falling out again!  For the moment, we've put pillows at the side so if she falls out, it'll be on something soft.  So far so good with her staying in her bed for nap time/bedtime (knock on wood).

Currently looking forward to: FALL. Addison's birthday is coming up soon, followed by Halloween.  I'm looking forward to cooler days and hoping to find an apple orchard somewhere around here!  

Currently reading: God's Toddler Devotional.  Justin's parents got this devotional book for us to read with Addy and she is really liking it.  It has a short one page story for everyday of the year (although she turns to several pages per night) which we read as a family.  It's really adorable to see her getting into and be excited!

Currently making her happy: Addison was overjoyed the other day when she had two friends from school over.  They were all soo excited to see one another and played very well together.  

Current Quotes:

Addison: My spaghetti fell off my plate! Womp Womp

Mommy: Addy why are you jumping around
Addison: Cause I like to party

Addison:  Mommy & daddy got married because they love each other......and they love Addison!

Working at Guppy's Desk

Caged Animals

Brinkley & Addy

Cinderella Shoes

New Big Girl Bed

Brinkley & Addy

Chatting to her friends

August 2014

I feel like I have blinked and the summer is almost over!
Here is our life in pictures:

Conversations with Addison -

Me: Where'd my little girl go? (while driving home from work one day)

Addy: I'm in the car seat

While waiting for Justin to get off the phone to go downstairs
Me: OK, daddy said he's off the phone
Addy: We waited very patiently mom

After seeing the gorilla's wrestling at the zoo, she came home and started wrestling with Justin
Addy: We are wrestling like the gorillas!

Addy: Daddy, you're kidding me! (when he wasn't following orders)

Zoo Trip

My mom & Shelly had decided they wanted to take Addison to the zoo one day.  Justin & I couldn't pass up a fun day, so we decided to crash their trip.  Ashboro is about an hour and a half away.  Addy was good on the way there and literally fell asleep five minutes into the trip back home.  It was a great day for a trip to the zoo.  The weather was slightly overcast which made walking pretty tolerable.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day:

July 2014

Another super busy month for us! Addison keeps getting older & older and the things that come out of her mouth just shock me! We were lucky enough to have Uncle Adam visit over 4th of July weekend.  We did lots of fun things while he was here and his trip seemed too short!

Conversations with Addison:

One night Addy kept asking for cheese and we kept denying her.  We said she could have a banana, which she accepted.  She asked for cheese again.  This time i offered oranges or olives.  She picked the olives and ate all those.  Once again she asked for cheese.  I once again said no, so she went to the fridge.
Addy: (while opening the fridge) What's in that drawer (damn well knowing it was the cheese drawer)
Me: Silent
Addy: Let's look in the drawer

She's persistent if nothing else!  She was killing us!

Last week Addy came into our bedroom saying: Mommy come on i neeeeed you.....it's an emergency!!!!
Me: (following her into the bedroom) Yes dear
Addison: Sit on the bed with me and watch TV
riiiiight, some emergency!

Me: Addy, I love you soooo much!
Addy: I love daddy sooo much!

A Buckle Fracture & A Purple Cast

Addison had stayed home with her daddy this particular Friday because I only had to work until 1pm.  I figured if she stayed home and took a nap there, we could have a fun Friday afternoon doing something different.  We had made plans with a few friends to go to an indoor playground and Addy was looking forward to seeing her buddies!  I had decided to leave work around 12:30 to get a much needed pedicure, but Justin had said Addy was still crying after having fallen in her bedroom before nap time.  I decided to go home and assess the situation.  When I got home, she was sitting on Justin's lap and holding her arm.  Usually if she gets hurt, she just wants a kiss on her boo-boo and life is better...this was not the case.  She told me her arm hurt and she was holding it carefully.  We took her back upstairs and I decided to try and rock her to sleep.  She eventually fell asleep on me and I put her into her crib where she took a nice little nap.  I then headed over to get a pedicure and texted fellow mommy friends to see what their thoughts were.  Basically, I figured I'd be worrying all weekend about her arm and needed to have it looked at after nap.  Justin & I took her to Duke Urgent Care right off the bat because we knew if we went to her pediatrician they'd just send us along somewhere else for x-rays.  Addison was in good spirits, but still said her arm hurt.  We saw a doctor and then went to get x-rays.  Sure enough, she came back and said Addy had a buckle fracture in her left arm and she would need a cast.  I think I was more upset then her, I just felt so bad for her!  Because it was already 5pm on a Friday night, we wouldn't be able to get into an Orthopedist until the following week. The doctor would have to put on a temporary cast until we could get scheduled somewhere else.  Once again, Addy was a perfect patient.  She sat up on the big chair while the lady put this pad on the bottom part of her arm, which would harden, then wrapped it in an ace bandage.  She never once complained or cried, she was such a trooper!  After she had her temporary cast on, they gave us some instructions, gave Addy lots of stickers and we were on our way.

Temporary Cast

She did great the whole weekend with her temporary cast.  She wasn't able to have any "water" fun, but we found ways to keep her busy.  First thing Monday morning, I was on the phone tracking down an appointment with an Orthopedic.  Thankfully, we were able to get an appointment later that day!  Justin & I took Addy in where she met a few more doctors then went to the "cast room".  She was able to pick out the color of her cast and sat perfectly yet again.  They originally said she couldn't get her cast wet, but when I said I thought she could have a waterproof one they agreed she could have one.  She is still able to go to the pool and take baths in a normal fashion.  The cast will only have to be on for hopefully 3 weeks.  We have a recheck appointment for July 21st and I am crossing my fingers that everything will be healed!  Addison has been so great with this cast, but I am soo ready for it to be off!

June 2014

We've had what seems like a very busy month!  Nonna came into town for 2 weeks at the end of May.  Addison stayed home from school for those 2 weeks to hang and have a good time with Nonna.  They were busy girls! Shortly after, we made a trip to Charleston to visit Ian & Amanda.  It was a short weekend, but such a nice getaway.  We hit up a baseball game, the beach and went out to dinner.  Addison was a trooper.  She went to bed way too late both nights, but really was such a happy, good kid.  We started a parent & child swim class and Addy is doing really good.  She seems to love the water, I just hope she can learn a few things!  We also went to a Frozen themed birthday party where Queen Else showed up.  Addy was completely in awe!  It was so fun to watch all the kids be star struck.  Else did face painting for all the kids then headed back to her castle.  Last but not least, we celebrated Father’s Day!  Addy made a few paintings for her daddy and she was so pleased with the car she made him.  We had a nice family dinner at my parents while Addison played on the deck in the baby pool.

Here’s a conversation with Addison…

Addy & Nonna were outside playing with bubbles when Addy came up to the door and said:

"Daddy, call me if you need me"

Justin: “Ok, thanks!”

Addy: "OK, go back and do your work"

Some photos from the month…

May 2014

Here we are at 31 months and I feel like Addison's 3rd birthday is rapidly approaching. The summer weather is starting to set in and I can't wait to spend many weekends at the pool or swing set.

ADDISON

• Likes to be in charge...she thinks she is the boss and orders pretty much everyone around
• Doesn't like to have dirty hands and wants to wash them immediately after she is done with a meal
• Is obsessed with the movie Frozen...she loves singing and dancing out all parts and it kills me when she asks her daddy to join in.  It melts my heart to watch them dance & sing together!
• Can count to 20, but gets a little mixed up on the teens
• Can sing the alphabet except for one tiny part, she says J, K, J, K instead H, I, J, K...otherwise perfect!
• She is Justin's mini-me...she has his mischievous ways & looks

FAVORITE FOODS

• Macaroni and cheese
• Cantaloupe (she calls it Candy-Loop)
• Pizza
• Dip for Veggies
• Carrots
• Pancakes
• Trail Mix (loves to pick the M&M's out first though)

SLEEP

• Bedtime: 8:00 pm
• Night sleep: 10.5-11.5 hours (most nights she makes a guest appearance in our bed anytime between 1am-4am)
• Morning wake time: Anywhere from 6:00-7:30 am
• Nap duration: 1.5-2.5 hours
• She still sleeps in a crib with all her buddies, but I feel like we should be moving her to a toddler bed soon...not sure how soon though!

SPEECH

• Her vocabulary has really exploded, but she seems to have developed a minor stutter as well.  She gets stuck on the first word of her sentences as of late, but the doctor assured me this is very normal at this age.  You can tell Addison's mind is going a mile a minute so it makes sense she might stutter, but it breaks my heart when I know she's trying to get something out and gets hung up on a word.  I usually try to tell her to calm down and say it slow.  When people ask her her name, she replies with Addison Crooks.  It cracks me up that she gives first & last name.
• My favorite happened the other night when she told me "I love you sooo much mommy" without being prompted.  She was just sitting on my lap casually and looked back at me to say it.  On the flip, my not-favorite is when she tells us, "Leave me alone or don't bother me, I want to be alone” How can she say these things at 2 ½! 

PLAYING

• She is crazy about babies ... she feeds her dolls, changes their diapers, puts them to bed, rocks them
• Reading books
• Stickers
• Loves to be outside at the playground and I have to FORCE her off the swings.  She could swing all day at this point!
• Is a very helpful cleaner, she loves to help dust, wash the windows or tidy up

HEALTH

• Addy has an ear infection in her right ear currently.  She takes oral meds & gets ear drops to clear it up.  She is so good at taking her meds and doing the drops.  I felt so bad when she looked at me and said her ear hurt.  I asked her if she wanted to go to school and she said, "No, I want to fix my ear".  She knew which ear hurt and sure enough, it had some gunk build-up and an infection.  I'm glad she can voice her pain, it certainly helps to know what's wrong!

POTTY TRAINING

• We have barely dipped our toes into the potty training process. Addison has a stand-alone Minnie Mouse potty that sits in our living room.  I also have two little seats that fit on top of our toilets.  She really hasn't been interested in trying.  She has sat on the toilet several times, but nothing "magical" has happened as of yet.  She is still scared of the potty at school...I think it's too loud!  I am not above bribing her, but I just want it to be on her terms.  She knows when she's gone to the bathroom because she will tell me, so hopefully that's a step in the right direction. 

Conversations with Addison

Daddy & Mommy: Dancing and pumping our arms in excitement while sitting on the bed
Addison: “Guys, slow down!”

Addison: “Daddy, look at mommy.............. She pretty”

While Grandma was putting Addy in her car seat, she accidentally bumped her head

Addison to Grandma: “Say you're sorry”