October 2015

My baby is officially 4 years old.  I still remember most details leading up to her birth, but it seems like a lifetime ago.  She looks older to me and certainly acts it.  She doesn't want to be referred to as little, young, small, etc.  She's a big girl now.  I got out of work early the day of her birthday and took her for a mother/daughter mani & pedi.  Later than night we had family over for dinner, cake & presents.  Justin's mom had driven the whole day to surprise Addy on her birthday.  It was so fun to see how excited this little girl got!
A few pictures of the birthday girl on her birthday:

GROWTH

Addison seems to have gone through a growth spurt in the past few months.  She is long and lean.  While her body has grown, I don’t know that her feet have grown in forever!  She’s wearing 5T clothes and size 9 shoes.  She still has the tiniest feet!  She still fits into a lot of her 4T clothes, but some are a little too tight!

LIKES

Dresses

Princesses

Drawing & coloring with markers

Writing her name

Reading books to her stuffed animals

DISLIKES

Getting her hair done some mornings.  She wants to wear her hair down, but I won’t let her!

Scary Halloween decorations (which are out in full force right now!)

EATING

She loves the normal kid favorites, pizza rolls, tacos, mac & cheese, mini hot dogs in rolls.  She will eat chicken with lots of BBQ sauce, enjoys apple sauce and still requests fruit.

She loves to snack and have treats, what child doesn’t!  She has a new found love for Kit-Kats and wants one every time we are at Target or the grocery store.

SLEEP

She has been doing well.  Addy sleeps longer stretches at a time in her own bed.  Bedtime is sometimes a long process because she likes to drag everything out, but other than that, she is good.  She still takes naps on the weekends at home and I try so hard to get her to nap with me!  Some days she loves to and some days she wants her independence!  Makes me so sad on those days!  She likes to have lots of stuffed animals in bed with her, but her main stuffed animal is still Copper.  She still snuggles with him every night. 

DEVELOPMENT

I don’t know where to start!  Since she moved into the “Pre-School” room at school, she has really taken off with writing, number recognition, knowing her letters, counting, naming the seasons, naming the days of the week, counting the letters in her name, etc.!  She doesn’t wear a diaper to bed anymore but still needs one to poop!  She keeps saying she will use the toilet when she turns 4, but I have my doubts!  She likes to play Memory, but likes to cheat in order to win!  She knows how to change the toilet paper roll which surprised me one day!  She loves to help with the cleaning and is always eager to help.  She can undress and dress herself from head to toe with literally no help.  Most mornings she asks to do it all by herself while we wait in another room so she can surprise us.  She just recently mastered the art of putting her socks on.

PERSONALITY

Oh, where to start!  She can be the sweetest child and also be so devilish!  There are moments when I think she couldn’t possibly be any cuter.  She is sweet, kind, caring and worries about others.  There are other times when she has so much attitude!! She usually saves her attitude for me and not her daddy.  I can tell her teen years will be super fun!  She's outgoing, but respectful.  She can be super silly especially when she's tired.  She gets so animated when telling a story and gets really angry with me if I can't figure out what she's remembering!  Her memory is astounding and unfortunately mine isn't'!  I usually can figure out what she is talking about, but when I can't remember....watch out!

I want to remember...

How you always have to include daddy when you tell me you love…it has to be, “I love you too….and I love my daddy”

How Addy always wants to include the WHOLE family when drawing pictures.  She likes to have mom, dad, Brinkley and Addy drawn in pictures and wants to include all grandparents, aunts, uncles and dogs!

How she’ll give daddy “movie star” kisses
How you remember EVERYTHING!  Your memory is better than mine and I sometimes have to rack my brain to figure out what you are talking about!

Snuggling in bed before bedtime…just relaxing and winding down after a long day

Conversations with Addison

Addy: Mommy, I can see my teeth growing!

Addy one morning says: I'd like Grandma to pick me up after school today
Me: OK, Why?
Addy: Because I like her

Addy: Sometimes Emily picks her nose & eats it mom
Me: Eww, that's kinda icky
Addy: Well, that's for her mom to worry about, not my mommy or me, right?
Me: Right

Addy: Mommy, the sun is finally back from vacation! I'm so glad it's back!

Referring to Aunt Amanda's new dog, Rhett
Addy: Hey, I like that guy

September 2015

We have been sort of busy the past month.  The end of summer came and went, but we are still experiencing very warm weather.  We headed to the beach for about 5 days over Labor Day and had a great time.  While at the beach, Addy really started to grasp the idea of swimming.  There was a small pool that was only 2 feet deep that she really loved.  She was going under water a lot and holding her breath to get toys we threw in.  She was a little fishy!
Addison's 4th Birthday will be here before I know it!  We are doing her party at My Gym this year. Less work for me and definitely less work for my family who I've put to work for the last 3 years! This month we started wearing undies to bed after she was dry 5 nights in a row.  We have had some accidents and it is so sad when it happens.  She gets so upset, but Justin & I just try to stay positive and get everything cleaned up quick.
Addison talks NON-STOP and asks 500+ questions a day.  I sometimes wonder how she sleeps at night because it seems like she has a million things running through her brain.  She is still big into wearing dresses.  With the cooler weather coming, I have encouraged her to wear pants/shorts.  People at school didn't even think she owned a pair of pants because all they see her in are dresses.  I started to buy some fall dresses to go with leggings, so hopefully that'll go over well.
Addison is giving me a run for my money and it's already making me scared for the teenage years.  She will bicker, argue, get nasty and throw tantrums when things aren't suiting her.  95% of the time, they are directed my way...a whole 5% is directed Justin's way.  I don't know why this happens, but there are times I have to really hold my tongue and be the adult!
We've recently introduced Addison to The Beatles.  She likes listening to them and I think she finally gets it is a band of four men and not insects.  She was very confused at first and needed to know the names of them and needed to see pictures to really "get it".  She requests their songs frequently, but her favorite is Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds.

Conversations with Addy:

Addy comes into our bedroom dressed for school in a gymnastic outfit and a necklace.
Me: You can't wear that to school
Addy: Yes I can
Me: No, it was in your princess bin which means you can't wear it to school
Addy: But it isn't a princess dress
Me: You can't wear it to school, you won't even be able to go to the bathroom easily
Addy: (While stomping her feet) YES, I will!! It's like a bathing suit and I can just pull it down and go potty and then pull it back up.
Me: YOU CAN'T WEAR IT TO SCHOOL!!

We are in the car headed to school and Addy is putting on a flower headband.
Me: You put the flower in the back, it's suppose to go in the front
Addy: I want it in the back
Me: But no one can see it in the back
Addy: If someone stands behind me, they'll see it
Me: Good point

One morning before work:
Addy: I want pizza rolls
Me: We don't have any pizza rolls, but I can get the ingredients and make them later
Addy: No, No No, When I ask for something you GET IT
Me: You are being a brat and I don't like it
Addy:  I'm not going to be your kid anymore

Addy: It's a lovely day for a bike ride

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

August 2015

At the end of July, we had Justin's parents in town for a week.  It was great to have them in town and Addison was super excited that she got to spend the week with them.  At school Addison has been working on spelling out her name, the months in a year, counting to 30 and counting the number of letters in her name.  She recently moved up to the "Pre-School" room (4 & 5 year olds).  She struggled at first, but has since gotten use to it.  I think the older/bigger kids make her a little nervous still, but she seems to be becoming friends with them. Addy is still chattier then ever.  Sometimes, I think she just says words so she can hear herself talk!  We are getting to the point of no diapers...we just bought some water proof liners for her bed so we can try and go diaper-less at night.  She has been dry for several weeks in the morning, so I think she can do it!  She still requests a diaper when trying to poop.  So frustrating to me, but everyone keeps saying she won't be doing it too much longer!! Addy had promised me that at 4 years old, she would go on the potty. Her birthday is creeping up and I feel like she will change her mind once that day gets here!  Not much else going on at this point.  We head to the beach at the beginning of September so that's what I am looking forward to currently!

July 2015

Another long month for us!  Addison had her first ever dentist appointment on June 18^th.  She was such a good patient and did so well!  The practice specializes in dentistry care for children, so they cater to anything & everything a child could want.  She did the whole 9 yards: cleaning, x-rays & exam.  Once she was done, they gave her a “coin” for the special machine to get a toy.  They were just like the little grocery store 25 cent machines, but with much better prizes.  I was super impressed with how well she did.  

Next up, a new TV for us!  Our 7 year old large TV decided to start showing little tiny white dots all over it.  It was an ordeal, but we finally got a new one and are happy with it.  After that, the washing machine decided to break…fun times!  We had to bring several loads to my parents’ house to clean stuff, but the new washer finally showed up.  Only problem, it made a horrible noise (think metal on metal).  Home Depot is replacing it, but we still haven’t gotten it yet!  

Last but not least, the AC stopped working in the dead of summer, awesome.  We moved in with my parents because I couldn’t handle the 84 degree house.  We are looking forward to moving back in to our house and having some cool air. 

In the middle of all this, we celebrated the 4^th of July.  Nothing fancy, just fireworks on the golf course.  I really think it was perfect for Addy because we were far enough away where they weren’t too loud.  She was a little scared early on, but warmed up to them quickly.  Once we head back to our house, we have to do a mad dash to clean the whole place so it’s ready for Justin’s parents.  They head here on Sunday for a week.  Addy will stay home from school and play, play, play.  She’s one excited little girl right now!

June 2015

This month has had its ups & downs.  We had to say goodbye to my parent’s dog, Abbey.  She had just gotten too old and was struggling on a lot of fronts.  It was a hard decision, but the dog had a really good life.  I thought I’d be OK, but I soon found out I wasn’t.  It was much tougher than I thought it’d be and was even more difficult when we told Addy.  She was very sad and was concerned with Shelly and my parents.  I thought it was so sweet that at 3 she was thinking of others.  Addy asked many questions about death, heaven and god and I think we answered everything well.  She was concerned about Brinkley after the fact.  She wanted to make sure she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  Thinking about that day with Brinkley is already ridiculously hard to think about so hopefully we have years & years & years until that!  On to happier things!!

Summer has set in and it has been hot & humid.  Addy has refused to wear anything other than a dress for at least a month and a half now.  I bought her some new dresses, but we got a boat load of hand me downs from a friend.  Addy is in dress heaven!  Addy started taking swim lessons and she has become part fish.  She loves the water and I’m shocked at how quickly she became acquainted with the water.  It’s fun to watch her learn things, but she thinks she can swim when she really can’t.  There is a waterslide at my parent’s pool and she really wants to go down it.  However, you are only allowed to go down when you can swim the length of the pool.  I guess this is something we will have to work towards!  Other than that, nothing new, just hanging out with friends and enjoying the beautiful weather!

May 2015

It has been a long couple of weeks!  We made a trip up to NY because we hadn't been in awhile and crammed so many things into 4 1/2 days.  We were able to meet up with lots of family & friends and Addy had a great time hanging out with lots of kids!  We split the trip up into 2 days.  We left after work on Wednesday, stayed in a hotel for the night and woke up and drove the rest of the 4 hours on Thursday morning.  The trip back was much longer and done in one day.  About 4 hours away from home, Addy got sick.  I was able to contain most of it, but I felt so bad for her!  We had to make a quick pit stop to clean her off, change her clothes and regroup.  She seemed fine after that so she may have just gotten car sick or the events of our trip just finally caught up to her.  She definitely didn't get the sleep she needed while we were there and she played hard.   

The weather in NC is hot and we have been able to hit up the pool a few times already.  Addy seems to love being in the pool, so we decided to try swim lessons yet again.  I signed her up for some private lessons in the hope that she'll catch on quick. Other then that, nothing exciting has been going on!