Blessed family

Nothing really major has been going on this month. Still haven't seen a tooth. Addie is walking very well now and rarely falls. She's talking a bit too. She says "dada" and "duh"=dog, and occasionally says "hi". Why is it that the mom puts in so much work and they say "da da" first?

Anyway, here are some highlights of the last couple weeks:


Addie really likes spaghetti and hotdogs.



Rowan and Cory came over to visit us this weekend. They played nicely together (for the most part). It will be fun to see them together more at Christmas.



Addison still loves to play with everything that she shouldn't....The trash can for one example.


As she gets older, it's becoming more and more evident that Addie is a smart, playful, and sweet little girl who loves to talk (LOUDLY) to anyone who will listen!!! She loves her "Peekaboo" book (Thanks Tara!) and remembers to flip the flap down to see the baby's face everytime. She's also started to recognize signs, such as "milk", "more", and "all done". She loves to be chased and ride the "horsey" on mommy's leg. And everytime she hears music or I sing to her, she dances...it's adorable!



We are incredibly blessed with this little girl God has entrusted to us. It brings tears to my eyes to think that He has trusted us enough to parent such a joyful and special little girl.

Happy Thanksgiving

We got together with the Wilsons and the Morgans for an early Turkey Day. Here's a picture of Addison with her cousin Sydney. Aren't they sweetie pies?


Addie walks EVERYWHERE all the time now. She's really a toddler trapped in a baby's body.


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Very Funny Video (VFV)- Micah captured the essence of the video with one question: Who spiked Addison's sippy cup?



The weather was absolutely awesome so we got to spend more time outside than usual. We found her outside with her E-pa when we got back from a bike ride.


Addison loved eating at the bar...we don't have one of these at home. She could watch us cook while she snacked away. She did give us quite a scare though b/c she pushed on the counter with her feet and tipped the chair once.

Lucas spent a lot of time outside. He wanted in and she wanted out.

Addie is trying to talk so much now too. She says duh for dog (we think) and she tried say kitty/cat by making the "k" sound. She's imitating our intonation too. One time I said in a strong, loud voice "Bad dog" to Lucas (shocker, I know) and she mimicked my tone as she babbled. It was so funny!


As expected, Addie loved looking at the lights on the tree. She stopped to check them out briefly...then went on her way!

Walking Baby

We finally got a picture of Addison walking. She is walking most of the time now. Of course, she falls a lot...but she thinks she's pretty talented anyway.


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We take her to the doctor today for her 9 month check up. She'll be nine months this Friday! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. :(

UPDATE:
Her doctor's appointment went well yesterday. She's 27 1/2 inches tall and in the 75%tile for height. However, she is only 17 lbs and 8 ounces which puts her in the 35 %tile for weight. That's not really a surprise to me since the girl hardly eats and never stops moving. The doc said she's not concerned though because once they start walking around, they thin out a bit. She's healthy in all other aspects which is the most important thing.

Fun Videos

We haven't gotten a video of her taking steps yet, but we're bound to soon. It seems that she is brave and tries to walk when our camera is no where near us. And we've got the camera rolling, she just squats down and crawls away!

Here's a picture of her standing on her own. She does this a lot now and has pretty good balance...even correcting herself when she almost falls.


This clip shows how she squats and then stands back up on her own.


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Addison climbed in her swing backward yesterday and started swinging herself by holding onto the dangling toys on the side. She's so independent and busy!


Here's the video of her swinging:

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Addison is getting fast at climbing up the stairs. She'd probably be fast going down them too, but I don't think it would be a pretty sight. There would be a lot of crying afterward, I'm sure!


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I just had to add a picture of our first "baby". She sleeps most of her life away. We only see her act lively when there's food or a walk involved.

Our Dainty Dinosaur

Addie was a dinosaur for Halloween. We went and visited a few friends and neighbors and then called it a night. She was incredibly quiet and docile so we thought it was best to get her home and in bed in case it was "the calm before the storm".

Daddy and daughter getting ready to "TRICK OR TREAT"!





Here's Addison checking out our neighbors' (Bill and Edith) home. There was much she could get in to!


Our dirty dinosaur couldn't wait to get in the bathtub.


Addison's E-pa and Mema came up on Sunday to get some snuggles in. She was unusually cuddly so we had to take a picture. Now I know why she was so calm and cuddly. I found out today that she has an ear infection in her right ear. Poor baby. She was just so fussy today, I knew something wasn't right and she had a temperature last night and all day today.



IMPORTANT NEWS FLASH: Addison took two steps!!! Unfortunately, Micah wasn't here to witness it, but the dogs and I did! I'm not even sure she knew that she did it. She's also become quite efficient at climbing up the stairs. This girl is CRAZY! It's hard to believe she isn't even 9 months old yet!

Addie and Daddy's Weekend

Mommy got a break this weekend and stayed in a fancy "cabin" so Daddy got to spend some quality time with Addie Sue. Father and daughter haven't spent a night together without Mom so no one knew what to expect. Not to mention that Addie was a bit nervous Daddy couldn't handle the responsibility. So what happened?

We played "Push the dog dish"...


"Opposite day at the Exer-saucer"...




I even let Addie pick out a movie to watch! She has good taste in movies just like her Daddy.


She insisted on showing me the proper way to use the remote control (apparently I've been doing it wrong).


After the movie we made scary faces at each other.


Then I showed Addie what it felt like to be a burrito.


We even had time to scrub the dirt away before Mommy came home!


So it turned out to be a good weekend after all. Although, Addie says that she gets to take a break next weekend.

Funny Girl...

I've got some good Addie stories to share. She turned 8 months last week and is acting like she's a toddler already. She's standing a whole lot more on her own and doing a good job of lowering herself to the ground without falling. She hates wearing hats now and pulls them off immediately unless I distract her and help her forget there is one on her head. Diaper changes are a nightmare now too since she rolls over right away and crawls off- she's got more important things to do.

Addie is still avoiding food like the plague. Some nights she'll surprise me and eat some carrots, but most nights, she only eats what SHE can put in her mouth. Last night, I got tired of her crying at me (with her mouth closed) everytime I'd bring the spoon near her mouth, so I just gave her the spoon and let her "explore" feeding herself. She decided to finger paint with it instead. She went straight to the bath and the walls had to have a good scrub down too.

Everytime it's bath time, one of us starts the bath water while she's in the living room or kitchen. In no time, she's peeking her head into the bathroom with a great big grin. She loves bathtime and has learned to associate the water with that special time.

Now Addison is using her "walker" to get around. It's funny when she hits the couch or the fireplace though b/c she doesn't know how to turn it around so she pushes really hard and then gets mad. Here's a video of her cruising around the family room.


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T-R-O-U-B-L-E

I had to add a post today b/c I got some funny pictures of "Little Miss". Yesterday while I was checking my email, I was aware that Addison had wandered into the bathroom. But then I heard the toilet paper roll unrolling and when I leaned back to see what she was up to, this is what I saw:


Here are just some more pictures of Addison in her pink hat her Gigi gave her. She always gets lots of compilments when she wears it, although it still doesn't keep her from pulling it off EVERY time I put it on her.






Addie is showing off her pumpkin.


And just like everything else... it went in her mouth.

Who Done it?

So we came home from eating dinner with some friends on Friday night and Kaylee greeted us with one of Addison's brand new shoes in her mouth. It wasn't on the floor, so I figured it was safe. Not the case. The shoe was torn to bits (it's leather, of course). So when I asked who did it, all I got were these blank stares.
Later on that evening, Lucas came downstairs with the other one...so we figure he's the guilty one. Unfortunately, I bought these shoes only 2 days earlier so they didn't get much use. Too bad!

Here's our pretty girl all bundled up for our daily walk.
Doesn't she just look too cute?

More pictures of her in constant motion. I'm really not kidding you when I say, "She never stops moving." Even from the moment she wakes up, she pulls herself up and starts going.




In this picture, Addison had just fallen backwards, but caught herself. Then she didn't know how to get back up and she started to panic.

Climbing stairs

We didn't do a whole lot this weekend. We visited some friends on Friday night and Addie cooperated and went to sleep in their pack-and-play while we played games. That was a wonderful surprise.

On Saturday, my folks came up to spend some time with us.
After a bath, I gave Addison an Alfalfa hairstyle.


By Sunday evening, Addison had managed to climb the bottom stair. The next step, however, is too high for her leg to lift, so she was stuck on the first step and wasn't too happy about it.

We went to the zoo last Thursday with our friends Dana and Issac. Dana is a good "teacher friend" of mine that is staying home with her child as well, so we get to see a lot of each other. Issac is sporting a new fancy neon orange cast!

Busy, Busy

Addie is a busy girl. She is pretty much doing the same things as last week, (...crawling, pulling up, etc.), except now she is cruising a bit and talking a lot. She babbles all the time...mainly saying "da, da, da".

Addie got this new toy at a garage sale and she is so funny with it. It plays music, counts, etc. and luckily it has an "off" button.

Here's a short video of Addison talking up a storm...



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Other than that, not much else has been happening. She has starting waking at night and crying out more. Her doctor said that since she's so active and she still refuses solids she could be getting hungry, so I've starting feeding her at 11:00 and I think it's been helping. We've decided not to go to her in the middle of the night other than that 11:00 feeding to prevent a night waking habit. The bad thing is that our bedroom is right next to hers, so we've been sleeping in the guest room in the basement with a fan on really high to drown out her protests. I, of course, can still hear her because I'm usually not asleep. Yes, I still have insomnia most nights. It's amazing how a person can get by on such little sleep. I'd appreciate your prayers that I can get over my sleeping anxieties and become a "normal" person again.
We'll keep you posted on how things are going next week.