Proud Mama

About a week ago I had a friend of mine watch Addy for a few hours since daycare was closed. She has a daughter the same age as Addy so the girls got to spend the day together. She sent me a few pictures throughout the morning and it was so cute to see them hanging out. When I picked Addy up my friend asked me if Addy had any new words she was saying. I told her that she had started saying "baby" recently. I also told her that she had picked up a few signs because we had been reading this sign language book a lot. Then my friend held up the very same book and ask if it was the one. I told her the signs Addy knew but figured there would be no way she would actually do them in front of her. But I tried anyway and opened the book to the "hat" page and Addy immediately padded her head. I was speechless. I turned to the baby page, Addy didn't do the sign but she did say "baby". I couldn't believe it. Then when I got to the telephone page she immediately held her hand up to her ear. I was such a proud mama!

Christmas #2 and #3 and #4...

After spending a few days with Brian's family we headed out back on the road to spend some time with my family. First it was the Christmas Eve celebration at my Dad's. Everything was such a whirlwind, I didn't do a very good job of taking any photos. But it was filled with lots of excitement! Addy got to see lots of relatives including her Great Grandma Ruby. The following day we headed over to my Aunt and Uncle's for a Christmas Day lunch. We played a fun trivia game about my Grandma and Grandpa and Brian learned a lot of interesting things about the Fox side of the family. Then the next day we had another get together for brunch and a Christmas celebration over dinner with just my immediate family. Addy got lots of great time to bond with her cousins and with my Dad and Kathy. It was so fun to see her really warm up to everyone, even though it did take her awhile.

We're Back!

We got back yesterday from our trek to the midwest for Christmas and I'm happy to report that we survived the travel with very few disruptions. After hearing the horror stories of those traveling back east we consider ourselves very lucky. The trip did start however with a two hour delay which pushed our 11 pm arrival to 1 am. We then had a 2+ hour drive to Wisconsin so we pulled into Brian's parent's around 4:00 am. Luckily everything was so much better after that. Here is a summary of our time with the Evert's with photos.



This snow isn't so bad. I don't know why my Dad hates it so much.



I'm not so sure about this sledding though, doesn't someone want to carry me instead?



Well at least Gramma is on the sled with me this time, maybe Grandpa wants to sled too.



This isn't what I had in mind Grandpa.



No really, this isn't much fun. Are we there yet? Won't someone come pick me up?



Finally Aunt Heather came to my rescue.



All that sledding made me really tired. I love napping on Gramma's lap.



Um, who is that person in that hat? I'm not sure what to think of that.



Mom, are you sure this is ok?



I even had time for a playdate with my pal Ellie.



Is it time to open presents yet?



Finally! This is what I was waiting for!

Where It's At

A few months ago Addy's favorite place to play was under the computer desk. She could endlessly entertain herself by playing under the desk. Well, that spot has now been replaced by the pantry/closet. She is constantly in the closet pulling everything out that she can reach. I've watched her countless times pull everything out, put it on the floor and then put it all back, just to repeat the whole thing all over again. That cycle can entertain her forever.

Liquid Diet

After spending all day Thursday with Addy, I thought for sure she was on the mend. She got her appetite back and was in very good spirits all day. That's why I was so surprised when Brian woke me up at 4 am on Friday to tell me that Addy had thrown up in her crib. He had already started cleaning it up so I came and helped try to get Addy back to sleep, as I was holding her I noticed she didn't look so good so I made a mad dash for the bathroom. I made it just in time before she threw up again. We repeated this same scenario one more time. Finally around 5 am she fell back asleep for good. Brian stayed home with her yesterday, he took her to the Dr. just to make sure and at least she doesn't have an ear infection. The Dr. said to just keep her on liquids for awhile as her stomach might not be ready for real foods. So far so good, she hasn't been sick in over 24 hours and I think she's on the mend for real this time. Just in time for all of the Christmas goodies!

Wash and Repeat

Yesterday was quite a day. It started just like any other, I heard Addy waking up so I went into her room to get her, but I was instantly overwhelmed with an awful smell. She had thrown up in the crib and it was terrible. So I cleaned it up and gave her a bath to start the day off. I will spare you all of the details on how the rest of the day went but let's just say she had 4 baths yesterday, we did 3 loads of laundry and now our house is sparkly clean after having to scrub most of the kitchen after an "incident".
Amazingly through it all Addy was in really good spirits. She doesn't have a fever but she clearly isn't herself. Brian was home with her yesterday and now I'm home with her today. I just hope any baths she might have today would just be for fun, not for necessity.

Underwater

It feels like it has been raining for days. Probably because it has been. We thought since it felt like we lived underwater anyway, it might be fun to take Addy to the Aquarium. It was great. She loved all of the exhibits and seeing all of the fish and sea life. I think her favorite was the jellyfish, she couldn't take her eyes off of them. I forgot my camera, but had to take a few pics on my phone. Sorry the quality isn't the best.

Proof

As I mentioned, we are still working on Addy's transition to the one nap a day. For the past few days she skipped her morning nap and just had the afternoon nap, but instead of it being 1 or 2 hours like a normal one-year old, its 30-35 minutes. So of course, when Brian picks her up, she is wrecked.
On Thursday of this week I had my work holiday party, so I didn't come home right after work. Brian called me around 6:00 and told me that Addy was so tired she fell asleep in the highchair during dinner. I told him he had to take a picture. Here it is; proof that Addy needs to sleep more than 30 minutes during the day.

No Nap? No Thank You

For about the last week or so, Addy has stopped taking her afternoon nap at daycare. I know this is perfectly normal for her age, but it sure is hard to get used to. She is so tired in the evening that she can barely get through dinner without some sort of meltdown. Tonight was especially bad, nothing we did seemed to make her happy and she ended up going to bed an hour earlier than she usually does. She was so tired that that she started to fall asleep before I could even get her PJ's on. I knew the one-nap-a-day schedule would happen soon but so far it hasn't been a a very smooth transition. I'm hoping she can at least start taking a longer nap if she's only going to get one because 45 minutes definitely isn't cutting it.

Deal Me In Addy

We have discovered, or really Addy has discovered, a new "toy" in the house that apparently is better than anything else we have. Cards. A simple deck of cards. She is obsessed! She found the basket where we keep miscellaneous things, including decks of cards and now she wants nothing to do with anything else. It doesn't matter if they just stay in the deck, or if she throws them all over the floor, she only wants to play with the cards. It was kind of cute at first but honestly at this point I am so sick of picking up cards I'm thinking about hiding all of them from her.

Countdown

December is already here which means Christmas will be here before we know it. I absolutely love this time of year, the Christmas music and the lights and decorations. But it's also a very busy and hectic time of year; shopping and parties and travel. This was really our last calm weekend before things get crazy so we took advantage and just relaxed. Friday night Brian and I did go out for his work's holiday party and Addy did a great with the sitter, but the rest of the weekend we just chilled. I think a lot of time was spent by all in our PJ's. Nothing wrong with that.

13 months

Addy is 13 months old today and wow has a lot changed just in the past month. I really feel like now she can understand some of the things that we are saying. She knows to put her nook in the bed after waking up, she knows how to give hugs, she always turns the lights on or off when asked, and she usually stops what she's doing when you tell her no. She can also climb all of the steps going up, but coming down is still a suicide mission. She also definitely knows what she wants, unfortunately there are times when Brian and I don't, but she always lets us know that she's not happy. She has perfected the "limp body move" which is when she lets her whole body go limp and completely falls to the ground, sobbing dramatically. Luckily, she usually snaps out of this fairly quickly. Addy also really likes to copy whatever sounds or movements you are doing. She'll say things so matter-of-fact that you swear they must be real words, but of course it makes no sense. And last but not least, Addy is getting even more teeth. She has molars coming in on all sides and is up to 13 teeth!

Turkey Trot

What a wonderful Thanksgiving day. I woke up early to see big fluffy white snowflakes falling everywhere. It was just beautiful. We had a nice relaxing morning and listened to lots of Christmas music. We headed up to the Bennett's in the early afternoon and had a huge Thanksgiving dinner with tons of people. I think there were about 20 adults and 8 kids. It was so much fun but the most memorable part was after dinner Addy decided to take her first real steps! She walked 5 or 6 steps several different times, all while acting like it was no big deal. Maybe it was the turkey, or the stuffing that got her going, but really I think she was just saving it up so she could do it in front of a big crowd. This girl likes to perform. Happy Thanksgiving!

Here is some video of her walking at home from the day after Thanksgiving. We are so proud of her.

Mmmmm....

The other night during dinner Brian and I were commenting on how lucky we are that Addy is such a good eater. There is nothing this child won't eat, she almost always finishes everything we give her and she doesn't usually make too big of a mess. Usually. Within minutes of us saying that Addy took her hands, which were covered in spaghetti sauce and rubbed them on her head. Then over the next few minutes she proceeded to cover almost every square inch of her face with food. We couldn't help but laugh. She certainly seemed to be enjoying it.

Snow Day. Really?

When we first switched to Addy's current daycare I remember exactly what I thought when they told me that they followed the Public School schedule when it comes to having snow days. I thought I better plan on missing a few extra days of work every winter since schools cancel at the sign of the first flake here. Sure enough, today was our first one. It was the first snowfall of the season and by 8:30 am the schools decided they would be letting out early, so of course our daycare did as well. I had to pick Addy up by 12:30.
For all of you in the Midwest, I feel like I really need to paint this picture for you. For the past week the news has only been talking about the snow that was expected to come this past weekend. Surprisingly, it did actually snow yesterday, for about 5 minutes. Nothing stuck (at least where I live) and it was fairly disappointing. It did get pretty cold last night, but when I woke up this morning and looked outside hoping to see a scattering of snow I didn't see anything except some frost on the cars, no actual snow on the ground. It did however start snowing around 7:30, but of course it was melting instantly. But since it didn't let up for the next hour, apparently that was enough. After having at most 1 inch on the ground, the schools were let out early. The roads were perfectly clear and I just couldn't help but laugh thinking about the days in Minnesota when I would wake up to 8 inches on the ground hoping for a snow day and wouldn't get anything. Here, all it takes is the chance of snow and it's canceled! Addy will never know how easy she has it!
Here are some pics of our "blizzard". Our little front yard and the park behind our house. Yes, those are kids sledding in the 1 inch of snow.

More Birthday Fun..Again

Another weekend, another birthday party! This time for Jack, who turned three. It was an awesome party at a gymnastics academy. I'm not sure who had more fun, the kids or the parents. Addy was a little young for the activities, but she still had a great time with all her friends. We were running behind all day so I didn't get the best photos and forgot to even get one of the birthday boy. Oops! Here are some shots & you can see how cool the place was.

Life is Good

I have mentioned to several people over the last few weeks that I think I am the happiest I've ever been in my life right now. I actually didn't hate high school, in fact I kind of liked it, and I really loved my college years, but honestly I don't see how it gets better than what I have right now. Being a mom is even better than I ever imagined it could be, Addy is such a joy, Brian and I are as happy as we've ever been, and we just feel incredibly lucky. I feel as my "happily ever after" is happening right before my eyes. I feel grateful every day.

Tomorrow marks 8 years since my mom passed away and although that always makes me sad thinking about how much I miss her, this year I have a different perspective on it. I realize now that what a parent wants, more than anything else, is for their child to be happy. And as I mentioned, I am as happy as I have ever known right now, so I can't help but feel that my mom is proud knowing that I feel this way. Of course it's bittersweet to be at this stage in my life and not have my mom with me, but given that I can't change what happened, I feel like the next best thing is for her to know that I truly feel happy and blessed with my life. And while it is hard for me that Brian and Adelyn will never meet my mom, we talk about her so often that I know she will always be a part of their lives. For that I am grateful.

I love you mom.

Bye Bye Nook (Almost)

Adelyn has always been very attached to her nooks. The only thing better than her having one of them is having two of them and life doesn't get any better for her than when she is holding all three of them. On the one hand I think this is a great thing because it instantly works to soothe and calm her. It truly is a lifesaver. On the other hand, if you can't find one it can mean disaster, especially in the middle of the night. She will cry and scream until she gets it. We keep talking about trying to wean her but the time just never seems right.
I have been trying to teach Addy that the nooks are only for the crib and sleeping. So every morning after she gets up I've been showing her that the nooks live in the crib and I take it out of her mouth and then we wave bye-bye to it. The first few days she wasn't a big fan and literally tried to jump out of my arms back into the crib to get her nooks. But about a week ago she started willingly dropping her nook into the crib and waving good-bye and this morning right when I picked her up she gave me a hug and then dropped her nook and waved at it. It was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. I'm so proud.

More Birthday Fun

Yesterday, we took Adelyn to a birthday party for another one year old. It was for Allia, who is also a Chef'n baby (she was the mouse at Addy's party). We had a lot of fun & ate way too much sugar (not Addy, just us...ok maybe just me). As always, Addy had fun seeing her Chef'n friends. Can't wait to do it again next weekend.