Ohio or Bust

We just returned from a ten hour drive to Ohio over Memorial Day weekend. We surprised Alan for his 50th birthday along with everyone else from the family (except one cousin, Jaime)! It was a blast. Addie ended up having a fever on Sunday-Monday and was pretty fussy so the drive home was difficult. She slept MAYBE two hours the entire trip. On the way out she was wonderful. I took her to the doctor Tuesday afternoon and, of course, her fever had gone away. But the doc said it appeared that she had developed a sinus infection. She has already been treated for two previous ones, so I was a bit leary of putting her on an antibiotic again. I still haven't filled it. But I'm thinking I might have to. She's still getting her teeth so it's hard to tell what's causing the discomfort.

Our family in Ohio is just marvelous. We stayed at Angela's house (our niece! Weird, huh?) and she was very accommodating.

The first day we were there, we went to COSI in Columbus with Cory, Beth and Rowan. We had a blast and the girls were awesome. Neither one of them were fussy and we stayed until 5:30 pm. Of course, once we got in the car, we realized Addie's binkie was lost. Rowan fell asleep promptly, but not Addie. We thought we'd just let her cry herself to sleep, she'd surely sleep, right? WRONG. She went biszerk! We finally had to stop at Kroger's and get her a $4 binkie. Yes...$4! What we will do to get the girl quiet! She fell asleep quickly and guess where the binkie was? On her lap! Geesh!
Anyway, here are some pics of her having a blast:

Addie---The girls were trying to catch some water droplets that shot up out of the ground.

Rowan

Addie soaked herself at the water table.


We were playing in the sound room. I'm acting like a monkey...now you know why my child acts like one too.

Here's Alan opening his gifts at Angela and Chris's home.



Me and Katelyn on their cool blow up slide! Everyone kept calling me Katelyn, so I decided we should get our picture taken together to prove that we must be long lost twins....born very far apart.


Can you believe I didn't get one picture of any other family members? I never had my camera with me when I wanted to get a shot of something. I'm counting on others to send more photos to me.

We scheduled family pictures for 11am on Sunday at the park. As soon as we stepped on the trail to meet the photographer, it started to sprinkle. Then we heard thunder. Then the sky let her rip. We were drenched. Some people ran ahead to get under a bridge , and the rest of us ran back to the bridge on the other side of the creek. We took a picture of them across the way and a picture of us. We ended up having to postpone our pictures to the evening.


The twins, Christian and Tylar, were prepared.


Lisa, one of my wonderful sister-in-laws, was calling our family on the other side of the creek.


Debbie, one of my other great sister-in-laws, held Addie for a while.


Sydney, Brad, and Brenna






The final picture of the entire clan (minus Jamie):

15 Month Checkup

We took Addie to the doctor today. It appears that she's completely healthy and normal. Dr. Williams didn't seem worried that she won't drink milk, as long as she's getting calcium from the foods she eats.
Here are her stats:
Weight: 20 lbs. 8 oz. 25 %tile
Height: 30 3/4 in. 75 %tile
Head: 25.25 cm 50 %tile
Clothing: 12 mos (sometimes 18 mos.)
Shoe: 4 (almost 5)
Diaper: Size 3
Teeth: 4 (but she is getting 4 upper teeth all at the same time. They've barely broken through, but their still there.

First Real Haircut

Addie got her first haircut last Thursday. She did really well...at first. We kind of pushed our luck each time I said I wanted it cut a bit shorter. I was hoping for an adorable bob cut, but it's not quite thick enough or long enough on the sides. She still looks pretty darn cute and I don't have to worry about "fixing" her hair. She never leaves bows or hair ties in anyway.







We are dealing with climbing a LOT these days. If I turn around for 10 seconds she's on top of the table. She loves to climb in the chair with her booster seat. It's like an indoor jungle gym. Of course, she just about gives me a heart attack everytime she climbs it. Her shins are covered in bruises. It's nearly impossible to cook dinner b/c I feel like I need to be by her the entire time. Micah got this idea to put the chair on the carpet and cover the ground with pillows. We're hoping she'll get her passion for climbing out of her system and be done with it. It hasn't worked so far.




On Saturday, Addison was invited to her friend Hailey's 2nd birthday party. We had a lot of fun. She really loved Hailey's new jeep. Addison was enthralled with the little radio in the dashboard. She must be incredibly intelligent b/c she left it on AM radio and listened to the news about Pakistan and Serbs and all the conflict that is occurring in that region.


This little boy driving the jeep got out and opened the door for her when she wanted out. It was precious.

P.S. WANTED
We have a huge favor to ask anyone who's willing...we have to find a place for our sweet lab, Kaylee, to stay the second week in July. We'll be in Colorado for a family vacation. Usually, my mom and dad watch them, but they will be visiting my brother in Australia that month and so we have to make other arrangements. We have a pretty good idea where Lucas can stay (he gets along with everyone, everything, everywhere). But, Kaylee is not so friendly to other dogs. She's an alpha and it's hard for her to adjust. She's also had a hard life. Before we adopted her she was shuffled from home to home while her owner was sent to prison. To make a long story short, she's perfect in every way and totally easy to care for (she's trained very well and won't get on your furniture either). She's so gentle and loving with children too. She lets Addie climb all over her and dig in her food dish while she's eating. Aren't you impressed? We were wondering if someone could keep her at their house for the week? We would be willing to pay you what a kennel would charge, we just don't want to put her in one b/c it's depressing to be stuck in a cage all day and she's very tender-hearted.



She's just sweet as can be. I promise you will enjoy her so much you probably won't want to give her back...but I couldn't live without her, so you'd have to, of course. :)

Mother's Day weekend

Last Thursday, we went to the Children's Peace Pavilion with my friend Dana and her adorable
son, Isaac.









We had a great Mother's Day weekend. I went to a brunch on Saturday with my Sister-in-law, Debbie, and Addison. That afternoon, I got to go shopping for some much needed clothes ALL BY MYSELF. It was awesome. I also got a certificate to a spa that I plan on using very soon.

My mom and dad came up on Saturday evening and hung out with us until Sunday afternoon. We had a blast watching Addison. She's doing this new thing where she sits down on the floor every time she wants to eat something. We think she either got this from watching the dogs (they have to sit before they eat) or from church. In the nursery, the toddlers have to sit before they can eat their animal crackers. Where ever she learned it, it's pretty funny to watch. One morning, I kept feeding her chocolate chips b/c she was so cute just sitting there and saying, "mmm" with her hands up (She doesn't say "more" yet).
Her booster seat was on the floor and she decided to sit and wait for her snack there instead of the floor.


Addie really likes to say "no" when someone tries to stop her from doing something she wants to do (like every toddler, of course). Check out this video we took on Sunday:

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Did you notice how Memaw and Epa are cracking up in the background? That's because they don't have to worry about them anymore...they're all done with temper tantrums. I have to admit, even her "tantrums" are a bit cute right now. Although I'm aware they eventually won't be.

One morning last week, Addison was drinking from her sippy cup and looking at me with her brown eyes and I was so overcome with emotion. I am so privileged to stay home with her. I love my husband so much and appreciate him for supporting us so that I can stay home. It is the best thing I've ever done in my life (besides marrying Mjbh, of course). I don't regret my choice to stay home one moment of the day. It's worth every sacrifice we're making.


Yesterday we went to a water park with my friend Cathy and her son, Malachi. He's one month younger than Addie. They were so cute to watch.










That's all for now. Glad you checked in on us.

A Funfilled Saturday

This little girl is such a delight. I love everything about her (okay...except the whine she does around dinner time). She talks so much now and loves to do animals sounds. She signs "all done" when she's had enough to eat, is done listening to a book, or doesn't want me to sing to her anymore. It's so cute!!!

Goofing around on a Saturday morning.


I took Addison to the park while Micah helped a friend cut down some trees in his yard. She had a blast! I did too!


still swinging


Addison picked some dandelions and carried them around with her the entire time we were at the park.


Do you want to smell it?


On our way to Chick-fil-A later that evening, Addie was in a playful mood in the car. She does this thing with her eyes that is really funny. She's kind of doing it in this picture....you can see her eyes through her eyeglasses.


The Chick-Fil-A we went to was so clean and had the coolest play area.


Addie is experimenting with eating a pretzel. She has no upper teeth yet, so she just gummed it a bit and handed it back to me.


She prefers craisins instead.