Happy Halloween!

This year was so much fun with Addy being a little older.  We went to a friends house where we met up with 5 other couples & 5 kiddies.  We enjoyed pizza & beers and then put the little ones in their costumes so we could do some trick-or-treating.  We of course attempted some group photos, but that proved to be pretty difficult!  Oh well, they all looked adorable!  We probably hit up about 15 houses, but that was plenty for all involved.  Addy rode in her stroller and we took her door-to-door. She at first seemed like she was going to pass out from being tired (it was already near her bedtime), but she was a trooper and hung in there!  By the end she was kicking her feet happily and clutching a few pieces of candy she had received.  It wasn't a super cold night, but cold enough...her lamb costume & hat was perfect for keeping her warm.
Halloween was a success!

Addy is wondering why everyone is dressed up!

Still a little confused, but not minding it

Showing us her glow stick and trying not to fall asleep!

Brian & Brooklyn, Justin & Addy , John, Nolan & Elyn, Joe & Dex and Mike & Molli

12 Month Well Checkup

Addison's 12 month visit went fairly well.  Addison & I were lucky to have her daddy with us...I hate shots just as much as she does and can use all the moral support I can get!
She was measured & weighed when we first got there, here are her stats, although they are the same from a previous post.
Height - 30.25 inches
Weight - 20 lbs 15.5 oz
Head - 45.5 cm
Next up was a finger prick to draw blood, poor thing didn't like that very much!  She cried a little, but was OK after the band aid was put on her finger.  It was then her life's mission to remove said band aid. 

Dr. Sarah than came in to look her over and said she continued to look good.  She said her gums had some swelling which are probably the cause of her latest whiny outbursts.  The goal is to wean Addy off formula over the next month or so and to switch from bottles to sippy cups.  Should be fun...
Other then that, she was happy with her progress as she continues a healthy growing pattern.  Last on the agenda was to receive a round of 3 planned shots and 1 flu shot.  YUCK, I absolutely hate that part!  Again, thankfully Justin was there and I was able to scoop her up right after and calm her down.  Next well appointment is in January when she is 15 months.

Addison's 1st Birthday Slideshow

Thanks Aunt Shelly for putting this together!

12 Months Old!

WOW, a year seems to have flown by!  I can't believe I have managed to do a post every month...I can't wait to have the blog published to a book so we can look back on it whenever we'd like.  Addison continues to entertain us and keep us on our toes!  She is such a happy kid and I honestly can't believe a year has come and gone. 

Size Stats:

Height - 30.25 inches
Weight - 20 lbs 15.5 oz
Head - 45.5 cm
Development:  Guess who can roll over finally!?  It only took close to a year!  Daycare was conerned about her moving up to the 1 year room while not being able to roll over, so we worked at home on it.  She gets the idea finally and doesn't cry when I put her on her back.  I honestly think she just didn't know what to do and it made her scared/nervous.  Not anymore! 
Addison continues to crawl at rapid pace!  She still only crawls on one knee & one foot.  She has started to wear sneakers at daycare and her left shoe gets all scraped up on one side because that's the foot she drags!  We recently saw Addison crawl up the first step at our house so she could unload her diaper bag.  Justin & I were kind of shocked and we weren't expecting her to be able to do that at all!  She is becoming very comfortable with us holding her hands and taking steps.  She will be moving to the 1 year old room very soon at daycare where 95% of the children already walk, so they all seem to think she won't be far behind.
We are slowly learning to "give" kisses, but it is more of a bite at this point.  This was a big month teeth-wise. Her two fangs are in and the two front teeth have pushed through the surface as well.  It also looks like the teeth on the other side of her fangs are pushing in.  She still just has her two bottom front teeth and I can't really see anything else down there. 
Addison knows to clap when we sing, "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands" and she also knows what sound a dog makes.  She has the cutest  little "woof, woof" sound and makes her lips all pouty when she does it. 
We've always known Addy loves bathtime, but recently she's decided to scramble to the back of the tub I pop the drain to empty the water.  She looks like a crab trying to get away from me because she does't want to get out.  Fun times!
Personality:  I feel like Addy is oozing personality...everything she does I find amusement in!  She still has her diva tendencies and I find that Justin & I are constantly trying not to laugh at her when she does something bad!  She has started to point at us, kind of like she is yelling commands.  The other day Justin told Addy "no, no" and pointed his finger at her and she just pointed right back to him!  It took everything out of us to not laugh at her!!

Eating:  Addison is on a great eating schedule.  We will be switching over to whole milk soon and I have to imagine it will be a whole lot cheaper then formula!  She loves to eat what I am eating and will beg like a puppy if we are eating something when she isn't.  I finally bought some plastic forks for her and she seems to like eating off of them.  She had some icing off of a cupcake the other day and loved it, so I am guessing she will love her bday cake!
Sleeping:  Oh child, I hope someday when you look back and read over this you will realize what a pain in the butt you were regarding sleep!  Thankfully I've adapted pretty well to sleeping less, but I wouldn't mind a few more hours of consecutive sleep!  Your bad sleeping habits came back on the night your daddy went to go watch the Giants play in Charlotte and we slept at grandma's house.  You were up from basically 12:30 am - 4:30 am and after taking you to the doctor's, we realized you must have been in pain from your first ear infection.  You poor baby, you were so unhappy and we felt so bad for you.  All you wanted to do was cuddle with me 24/7, so cuddle we did.  You are now back to your old "tricks" and daddy & I will be trying to break you of them ASAP.  Although it is lovely to hear you laugh & play, I just don't see why you need to wake up in the middle of the night to do this.  You will lay in your crib for up to 2 hours just chatting, laughing & playing with whatever toys are in your crib.  And to top it all off, we finally let Addy stay with grandma & grandpa so we could have a lovely 5th Anniversary night and of course, you slept the WHOLE night for them!!! 

Likes:  Addy loves to bang on the dog bowls and to find dog toys to try and chew on.  It is pretty gross, but I am guessing there are worse things you could do with your time.  She loves exploring.  She is just everywhere right now.  She loves her ladybug toy at home that she can push all around...the sounds drive me a little crazy, but what can you do!?   

Dislikes:  Addy has given me a run for my money in the diaper changing department lately, she is just not a fan.  I asked the people at daycare if she screams for them and they said no...sooo I guess you just like to give me a hard time!  She has gotten better at "sitting still" (I'm using this term loosely) when I do her hair.  I love the way pigtails look in her hair, but it is way more hard to accomplish!

Addy's 1st Birthday Party

The day had finally come to celebrate Addy's birthday.  After months of thinking of every detail, it came and went in the blink of an eye.  We were lucky enough to have my sister Amanda come into town as well as Justin's mom and both brothers, Adam & Gannon.  This kid is so loved and has everyone wrapped around her little finger!  I love sitting back and watching Addison interact with her family members...I can see the love in their eyes and hers.  It is such a wonderful feeling knowing how loved she is.
We had the party at my parents house because our little townhouse wouldn't have been able to fit all 22 adults & 6 kids.  I had taken the Friday off before her party to do last minute running around and setting up at my parents house.  I pretty much put all family members to work!  Saturday morning of the party Justin, Addison, Brinkley & I headed over to my parents.  I figured we'd do last minute party prep while we put Addy down for a much needed nap.  WELL, the nap never came!  She laid in bed and talked, fussed then eventually cried.  At 11:30 we finally decided to get her out of bed, dress her in her party outfit and be waiting for her guests to arrive around noon.
Thankfully, Addison was a trooper and did really well during the day.  She ate her lunch, opened her mounds of gifts, had birthday cake, took family photos and said goodbye to the last of the guests and then finally fell asleep for a nap.  Everyone was exhausted!  It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and lots of happy faces.  It still seems hard to believe a year has come and gone...our baby is growing up soo fast!
Below are some pictures from throughout the day...you can see just how spoiled Addison was!

11 Months Old!

Addison continues to amuse us!  She is big on personality and usually is just the happiest little thing.  This month has flown by and we are counting down the days til the big O-N-E birthday party.  I have my list of tasks I need to complete for Addy's birthday and have given my mom a list as well...thank god for her!  She didn't even blink at me when I gave her the run-down!  This is also after I had asked her to make Addison a Halloween costume as well...I am very needy! 

Size Stats:

Height - no idea!

Weight - about 21.5 lbs, but I think our scale is "forgiving", so she may weigh more

Head - no idea!

Development:  Addy is still crawling with one foot down (right foot) & one knee down (left knee).  It sounds like a game of Twister!  She is trying to pull up on things, but hasn't been successful yet.  She has started to crawl around quite a bit and doesn't really like to be stationary.  She still likes to stand, but is very wobbly.  She has also mastered kneeling up like a little gopher, she looks adorable!  She has gotten very good at waving & clapping on cue.  Justin & I have also been teaching her to do "high-fives"...the dog can do it, why can't she!?  She has gotten pretty good at it, but she looks at us and smiles like you guys are so silly!  We are also trying to teach her to give kisses...it usually just involves one of us grabbing her face and planting one on her though.  I think she knows what we are asking for, she just isn't interested in reciprocating!  She may not be interested in kisses, but she generally gives out some pretty BIG hugs!
At this point Addy has her 2 middle bottom teeth and a fang trying to poke through, The fang keeps pushing down, but it is only just coming through!  If you look really close, you can see the matching fang is coming in on the other side as well...guess we will have a vampire baby for a little bit!  She is big into placing items into other items.  She loves to stuff a toy into the front hatch of her car and take it out.  She'll also be playing with a ball and try to put it in a cup and then take it out to do all over again.  I'm not sure what she is accomplishing, but she concentrates pretty hard when doing this.

Personality:  Oh boy, I think we are going to have trouble with her.  She has started to become a little diva.  She makes this scrunchy face (like she smells something stinky) when she isn't happy or you aren't doing what she wants and we see this face A LOT.  She also has learned how to "fake cry".  Again, if we don't jump quick enough for her she starts to fuss, but you can tell it is sooo fake!  I'm not sure where she has learned this!?  Lately she has been testing her limits more & more.  She knows she isn't allowed to have Brinkley's dog bones, but she'll crawl over, pick it up and we will say "no Addison" and then she will promptly smile at us and then put it in her mouth.  It is pretty funny, but I'm sure how long it will continue to be funny.  Whenever we say no, she thinks if she smiles at us, she can then proceed to do whatever it is she was going to do.  It's actually pretty darn funny.  Justin & I find that we have to turn around a lot so she doesn't see us laughing at her!



Diva Look #1



Diva Look #2

Her teachers at daycare say she is such a happy child, but recently they also told me that Addy likes to steal the pacifiers out of the other kids mouths.  She doesn't try to put them in her mouth, she just takes them away like a bully! 
I made a comment one day about one of the little boys being Addy's best friend, one of the teachers corrected me and said, "No, everyone is Addison's best friend...she loves everyone!"  Oh boy, sounds like she is going to have her daddy's personality, making friends with anything or anyone!

Eating:  Addy pretty much has whatever she wants at this point.  We do cut up veggies, fruits, pancakes, breads, pasta, cheese and cookies...yup I said cookies.  I mean not a whole one, but I'll give her a little sample of mine OR she'll reach into my mouth and try to extract some for herself!  She still has puree at least twice a day and 4 bottles (~6oz.) scattered throughout the day.  She is a good little eater.  I have tried to feed her by fork or spoon, but she tends to just want it on her tray where she can decide which food is next. 
Just the other day we let her try some peroghi's...she loved them!  She ate quite a bit and then wanted more when it was my turn to eat, so daddy & I squeezed out the potato part and fed it to her by fork which she sounded like she enjoyed even more.

Sleeping:  Addy, Addy, Addy.  We WERE back to sleeping through the night!  I might have been given a stern talking to by someone, but he did have some valid points.  I'm glad he "made" me let her cry it out a few nights.  There was only one night where she was really upset and after that she pretty much got the hang of it.  She decided just this past Sunday night that she needed to be up at 4am!?  This kid is like clockwork!  We let her cry, talk and play until 5:15am when daddy & I decided we needed to give her a bottle so she would go back to sleep therefore we'd get another hour or so before we needed to be up for work.  If (when) she wakes up this weekend at 4am, you better believe we are gonna let her work through it on her own!

Likes:  Addy still loves bath time and the time leading up to it.  I'll usually tickle  her when laying her down and getting the tub filled and she giggles up a storm.  Sometimes Brinkley will come in and lick her toes during this time and this too cracks her up.  She loves her daycare friends...she gets so excited to see them!  Her new favorite toy is this little white teddy wearing a Yankee shirt.  She holds him all the time and always is happy to see him.  We have named him "teddy", very original, we know!

Dislikes:  She gets very cranky when I have to change her diaper or change her clothes.  She has a knack of kicking her legs and landing her heel onto my right wrist almost every time I change her.  My wrist is sore daily!  She also isn't a fan of me putting bows or hair ties in her hair.  She gets ticked!  I can't handle her having ratty hair though, so I push through and persevere!

Pictures:

10 Months Old!

Double digits!  A day doesn’t go by where I don’t stop and say to myself, I can’t believe what an incredible little girl we have and I’m so thankful for her.  Our hearts bust at the seams and I’m not sure we could love anything more.  Addison has her father & I wrapped around her little finger!  It’s still hard for me to leave her at daycare because I really just want her to be with me all the time!  I know she has a blast there and enjoys hanging with all the other kids, but I think its ok to feel a little selfish from time to time.

Size Stats: I was only able to get her weight...

Height - @ 9 months she was 28 in (60^th percentile)
Weight - 19 lbs 6 oz (44^th percentile)
Head - @ 9 months she was 44.5 cm (70^th percentile)

Development:  We’ve got a crawler on our hands! As of August 8^th, she has started to move.  I was able to catch it on video after work and then she did it again for daddy when he came home.  It was very exciting for us!  She has a weird technique, but moving is moving.  She gets up on her hands then uses her right foot & left knee.  She kind of pulls that left knee to the next position.  It looks funny, but it gets the job done!  I’m pretty sure she has been “crawling” at daycare, but they didn’t really let on and said they like the parents to witness it first.  I thought that was nice of them, but I had come to the realization that she would most likely do it their first! She still likes to sit on her butt and maneuver her way around. 

Addison is apparently rolling over in her crib at daycare, but Justin & I have still never seen her do it!?  It somehow came up at daycare and I was shocked to hear she flips onto her tummy to sleep! What the heck child!?  We constantly watch her on the video monitor (ok, some of us more than others) and she acts like she struggles and just can’t seem to turn over…guess it’s an act!

Addy is standing up more & more lately and really just wants to use my body as a jungle gym.  Sometimes she stands to give me hugs or kisses, but most of the time when she pulls up on me she is trying to reach or get to something else.  We recently bought Addy a walker (not the one where you put the baby in and let them walk around in it), the kind that will give her some stability when she tries to stand up and has wheels for when she decides to walk.  Once she gets those things mastered, it turns into a little bike that she can sit on.    She loves to clap & wave!  It is so cute to see her get excited and clap her little hands!  Almost everything is clap-worthy!  She’s big into waving and especially loves to wave at daddy. 

Addy has been getting really good at playing fetch with Brinkley.  I’ll throw the ball; Brinkley will get it and bring it back to Addy.  Addy then picks it up and hands it to me for the next throw. So smart!

Personality:  Addy continues to be loud, cheerful & outgoing! 

I have 3 favorite times of the day:

1. When Addy wakes up and we go to grab her from her crib.  She is always very happy & chatty first thing in the morning.
2. Picking her up from daycare because she is so excited to see me and I get smothered in hugs & kisses
3. When daddy comes home from work and she is so excited to see him.  Sometimes we sit out front waiting for daddy to come home and once I see his car and tell her that’s his car she just stares waiting for him to emerge.  She lights up when she sees him and can’t contain her happiness! 

She is a super sweet little girl, but she also has a little “bully” attitude in her!  I’ve been told several times at daycare that she likes to put other children in head-locks!  Although I’d like to think she is hugging them, I’m not so sure.  She tends to yell at Brinkley and I feel like she is ordering her around…obviously she doesn’t listen, but it’s funny to watch.

Eating:  She has been trying all sorts of new things.  She really wants to be eating what everyone else is eating and somehow knows that what is on her plate is different then from what’s on our plates.  We will slowly transition her into eating the same meals as us, but for now it’s still somewhat simple as to not disrupt her tummy.  Her current favorite food seems to mandarin oranges…as soon as I take out the Tupperware containing the oranges she gets really excited.  Another current favorite is her yogurt melts; she just can’t get enough of them.

Sleeping:  As soon as we went to NO middle-of-the-night wake-ups, she got a cough & cold and has tricked me into coming back into her room.  So, although we went a whole week without getting up in the middle of the night, we have regressed.  As soon as this cough is out of her system though, it’s back to tough love!  Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned it before, but when Addy is getting her bed time bottle, she continually runs her hands through her hair.  Once I lie her down in her crib we will watch on the monitor and it looks like she is twirling her hair!  I’m not sure if she is doing it just because it feels good or maybe because she sees me doing it all the time!

Likes:  Addy continues to love being at the pool.  She also really likes cell phones and can spot them a mile away!  We tried to trick her into liking one of daddy’s old Blackberry’s, but she still wants the real deal!  She also loves her Aunt Michelle’s ipad…we may be creating a monster!

Dislikes:  She has a love/hate relationship with pureed food.  Some days she wants it, other days its like don’t even think about putting it near her!  She still gets fussy when changing her diaper or if she requires a wardrobe change. 

Pictures: She wanted nothing to do with me when I was snapping away today!  Our usually smiley girl just wanted to do her own thing.  She also got pretty ticked when I put her on her back and started to cry!  Here are some of my favorites.  You can actually see her "crawling" technique in a few of these.