Sleeping through the night & Sitting up too!

Just wanted to let everyone know how rested everyone is in this house. For three nights in a row, Addison has slept the entire night. In fact, last night she slept for 11 1/2 hours STRAIGHT! We've been letting her cry at night when we put her down initially and it has broken my heart to listen to it. But in the morning, I'm so glad we ignored her protests from the night before. I think it is probably the hardest thing I've had to do as a parent...YET...but she's so much happier now! The dark circles under her eyes are starting to go away too! YEAH!

Here's Addie in her swing. She isn't content to just sit there much anymore so I think it won't be too long before we'll be putting it away. In this pic, she's trying to get a toy out of the basket while the swing is moving.














Addison prefers her tummy. We don't worry about rolling her on her back because she changes positions throughout the night on her own.















One night while I was preparing dinner, Micah gave the rice pilaf box to Addison. Here's how she entertained herself.














One final comment: MICAH PASSED HIS PHYSICAL THERAPY BOARDS!!!!! We just found out on Wednesday and we're both ECSTATIC! No more studying in the evenings...for a while at least!

Addie and the puppies

We went to T-town this weekend for my 10 year reunion. I can't believe I've been out of H.S. for 10 years!

Addie is finally starting to learn to sleep without being swaddled. I won't share the details on how we got there, but I assure you, it was very hard. In the beginning, we had to swaddle her when she was colicky to calm her down and somehow she got addicted to it. She's no longer a "motion-junkie" but rather a "swaddle-junkie".

Anyway, we had a very terrible night on Saturday as far as sleep goes but last night was fine. Today, Addie has slept for 2 hours in the am and 3 hours+ in the pm. If fact, she's still sleeping...I should probably wake her so that she won't protest sleeping so much this evening.

Here are some pictures of her this weekend. She got to meet Lynn May's new puppies on Sunday. Boy did they make her laugh...she just couldn't stop giggling. It was so fun to watch her enjoying herself since she was so fussy that day from lack of sleeping the night before.

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Lucas and the Bunnies

We have quite a story about Lucas. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures or video of it...but I'll tell it anyway. Lucas (our playful pup) found a rabbit's nest in backyard about four nights ago.
Since he had disturbed it, we took him inside without touching anything. The next morning and the next day after that, it appeared that the mother had abandoned them. When I checked on them Tuesday morning they started trying to crawl out of their burrow. I had lost sleep over them the night before wondering what to do so I called Lakeside Nature Center and left a message. They didn't call back so I just kept Lucas inside. Later that evening, I couldn't stand how stir-crazy he was, so I let him out and told him to "leave it" (the burrow). He did for a very long time, but I had to go inside and trusted him to follow my instructions. He did, but the bunnies didn't . I looked out the window to check on him and he was looking all around him on the ground. I ran outside and the bunnies had crawled out of their nest and were rooting all over him for some milk. By this time, he was laying down and one was trying to nurse on his "tit" (this must have been the smartest of the three), one was rooting on his paw and the other was on this shoulder. All the while, he was licking and nuzzling them. He was so incredibly gentle! I yelled for Micah to come quickly. At that point, he called the nature center again and they called back with information for me to put them back and rebuild the nest. I guess the mother comes back at dusk and dawn to nurse so she hadn't been able to since Lucas is out at those times. Also, the volunteer told me to make a design out of thread on top of the burrow and if it was disturbed, then that would mean the mother was back. If she didn't come back, they told me to bring them into the center on Wednesday. Luckily, for the bunnies, the mom came back that night! Lucas was not so lucky. He stands at the door and begs to go out about 99% of the day. Hopefully, they'll grow up quickly so that Lucas can have his backyard again...but I think he'll miss his new friends!
Here's a picture of the nest the night that Lucas first discovered it:

The bunnies had no hair and their eyes were still closed.

I have to throw in some pictures of the baby, she's sooooo cute. We've had a busy week of visiting with friends, miniature golfing, and shopping. We're trying to stay out of the house for part of the evening so that Daddy can study.


Addie loves to let the dogs lick her hands and feet. She laughs hysterically. Hopefully, she'll think they're that cute when they accidently knock her over once she's able to stand.


Addison HATES cereal. I try to feed it to her every day, hoping she'll decide she likes it, but so far...not happening. She closes her mouth and just laughs at me when I open my mouth and make yummy sounds. If I do happen to get any past her lips, she spits it out immediately.

A Visit with the Snows

Micah and I got a chance to visit with my friend Mindy last weekend. She and her husband, Tim, live in Texas with their 9 month old, Sadie. Here are some cute shots of their girls together. Unfortunately, we didn't get too many shots because our little miss was fussy. She slept really long in the am but wouldn't sleep the entire afternoon so she was "fit to be tied" once we got to Mindy's home.
The last time we saw Sadie was at Christmas time. She's so cute. I wish we could see more of them.

Rollin' with my homies

Addison finally learned to roll over on to her tummy....she's been rolling from tummy to back since Easter. Now that she can roll both ways, she does it constantly. She's like a little roly poly.



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Ignore the commentary on the video....I'm a complete dork! - Beth

Addie Sue has something to say.

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Addie's First Fireworks!

We took Addison to see the community fireworks display in the late evening. Luckily, she had a short nap so she was fun to be around. The fireworks didn't scare her at all like we had suspected. In fact, she was mainly interested in the people around her, not the bright lights in the sky.

Addie and Daddy


A shot from the back of her head.


Addison did not want to lay down. Here she is trying to sit up.

Here are some photos taken earlier on that day. Addison loves her mega-saucer. She loves to play with the toys that spin and push the buttons that have animal sounds and pictures. We put a bow in her hair for fun! We're not quite sure if it's cute, funny, or just funny-looking!




Finally, I got some shots of her trying to get Lucas. Addison is really starting to get interested in the dogs. They come up and lick her often, but I never get a picture of it. She holds her hand out for them to lick her or she tries to grasp their fur when they walk by.

An experiment with video

Just in case some of you out there would like to see and hear Addie Sue laughing, here she is. This is a quick clip of her with her E-Pa and Me-Ma back in May. Enjoy.


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Here's one of her in the tub from today. Don't worry, it's safe for all ages. My favorite part is the noise Addie Sue makes at the beginning of the video.


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Our week in a nutshell...

Things have just been chucking along...no major changes. Ruthann (Micah's mom) came out to stay for the week to help out around the house. I helped out with Vacation Bible School at East Alton every evening and so Ruthann watched Addie so that Micah could study. She also watched her on Thursday so that we could go out and celebrate our anniversary. I hadn't been to a movie in so long...so we went to see "CLICK". It was cute and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Here are some of the latest pictures of Addie Sue:

Addie isn't sure what to think of her Johnny Jump UP!


These rings are good, eat them I will.


... and don't let them ever put me to sleep again. Amen.


Addison loves her baby doll!


Addie is sitting in Kaden's Bumbo chair. I really want one but I don't know if I can justify the cost.

She still seems to be napping well...but her temper tantrums persist in the evenings. Today I managed to lay her down without being swaddled for her afternoon nap and she is still sleeping. She put herself to sleep too which really surprises me because she usually plays with her feet and then screams when she's beyond tired. Then I have to swaddle her really tight and get her to sleep despite her protests. I've seriously never known anyone to hate sleep as much as Addie. I'm going to assume that the reason she doesn't like to sleep is because she is so INTELLIGENT that she just can't turn her brain off. How's that for positive thinking?

Our New Nephew

Joyce and Ken had their baby on Tuesday morning... check out their blog to see more photos. They have finally named him...Kenneth Tobias Griffin "Toby". I love his name. I don't think I know of any Tobys- except for Toby McGuire and Toby Keith. He was a huge baby! At 9 days early, he was already 9 pounds!

Meet Kaden Elliott Edwards

Our friends, Carrie and Ben Edwards, had their little guy yesterday at 2:11 pm.

Meet Kaden Elliott Edwards
7 pounds even

So cute! It will be fun to watch him grow!

More Pics + Father's Day + Shots

I'm a BIG GIRL.
Addison sat up like this for about 15 minutes yesterday while I cooked dinner. She was really concentrating on getting that butterfly toy in her mouth. EVERYTHING must go in her mouth...could she be teething? We'll see!

Addison got her shots on Tuesday...here are her "battle wounds".


On Father's Day, Micah really wanted Addison to get a taste of what it takes to "fill his shoes".


Here are some more photos of the Hunt's when our Ohio gang came out:
The adorable twosome: Tylar and Christian

Angela andAddison


Two sets of Twins-Christian, Andrew, Tylar, and Aaron


Alan, leader of the Ohio Hunts.


From Left to Right: Angela (holding Addie), Felicia, Tylar, Andrew, Katelyn, Haley, Lauren, Aaron, and Christian (floor).

One final note: We could really use your prayers for patience as we deal with Addison's newest ordeal. She is still falling asleep on her own , but she is waking shortly after in the evenings and is impossible to get back to sleep. We couldn't get her down until about 12:30 last night and we resorted to shining a flashlight up at the ceiling to keep her from fussing. This has been going on for the past two weeks (ironically- ever since she started napping wonderfully). Micah and I aren't getting much time to visit with each other. We just take turns handing her off when we've had enough screaming- ear plugs have been helpful. WE'd really like to avoid having her cry it out until she's a bit older. We tried to let her cry for 20 minutes last week and she was so frantic, I thought she was going to throw up. We're starting to dread the evenings around here (esp. Kaylee and Lucas since their missing their evening walks). Micah should be studying for his boards, but hasn't had much success with all the screaming going on around here. Anyway- your prayers and thoughts are much appreciated.

Our Ohio family!

We left our camera over at the Wilson's house on Monday, so we still have more photo's to post. We managed to get some saved to our computer beforehand. Here are some pics with Addison and all of her wonderful cousins:


Haley and Addison (Angela's daughter)


Katelyn and Addison (Angela's daughter)


Lauren and Addison (Debbie's daughter)


Felicia and Addison (Angela's daughter)

The boys weren't as excited to hold the babies as the girls. Isn't that funny how God creates girls to love babies from such a young age? They were so good with both Addie and Sydney!

Here's a picture of the whole crew:

The twins (Tyler and Christian) are also in this picture. Sydney is also in this picture. Travis and Elsie (The twins' parents) are expecting their third boy in September. Angela supplied the girls and Elsie supplied the boys. Don't Allen and Lisa have great looking grandkids?

We really enjoyed getting to see the Ohio Hunts. I mentioned earlier that we just met the kids for the first time!!! I hadn't even met Angela in person yet! We'll post more pictures when we get our camera back.

Addison is still continuing to nap well during the day. The evenings are starting to get a bit rough though. We used to be able to rock Addie to sleep while watching TV, but now she wants to watch it too! So, we sometimes luck out and get her to go to sleep on her own in her crib. The last two nights, however, she has fought us for two or three hours...staying up until 9 or 10 pm. Of course, she's crying with her eyes closed the entire time since she's so tired! On a positive note, she's only waking about once a night to feed...sometimes twice. Once she's out for the night, she's fairly easy to get back to sleep--for now.

Crazy Dayz!

Addison had her first dose of cereal on Thursday evening. She spit it out- like we expected. But- she kept opening her mouth to try some more. Here is an action shot of her spitting it out:


We've been spending time with the Hunt's from Ohio this weekend and had a wonderful time. I'll post pictures with them tomorrow because their visit isn't over and we'll have more opportunities to get more photos then!

I'm thinking they bring good luck because Addison has had a great two days as far as napping and eating are concerned. I'm not saying it's anything permanent...but I'm gonna enjoy it while I can.

On Thursday night and Friday, Addie and I went to Topeka to stay with my parents and we had the worst night EVER! She was up every hour and slept fitfully on Thurs. On Friday, she refused to eat and hardly slept. I was starting to get concerned about her so my mom suggested that I call the pediatrician. The Ped. office suggested I come in for a visit since it sounded like she had an earache. I guess swallowing is painful and they don't like to be put down to sleep when their ear is hurting. So we hauled back to KC and got in at 4:00 pm. The Nurse Practitioner looked her over and said that everything looked great. She's still in the 75th percentile for weight so there was no concern over her lack of eating. I was beside myself. I mean..I'm was glad she wasn't sick, but I didn't have a clue why she wasn't wanting to eat or sleep. When we got home from the doc's, Addison ate like a champ. She slept awesome that night too. Yesterday, she took a three hour nap in the am and a 2 1/2 hour nap in the pm. We actually had to wake her up because we had a pool party to attend! Both these naps took place in her crib and I just set her down when she was awake and she soothed herself to sleep.

Last night, she woke up only ONCE! And- she has napped in her crib and soothed herself to sleep three times today. Whenever we've tried to rock her like we always have in the past, she's fussed with us until we laid her down. It's like she's saying, "Enough already...PUT me down!"

Don't think I'm bragging about her sleeping habits........NO WAY! I know this is most likely a fluke and will change just when I get comfy with the idea!

Here are some cute pictures of her after a bath:







Check back in the next couple days for pictures of our visit with Alan, Lisa, Angela, Felicia, Katelyn, Hailey, Travis, Elsie, Christian, Tyler, and our KC family- the Wilson's and the MOrgan's.

Laughing, story time, and feet.

Addie Sue has a new tummy time partner! Kaylee is such a sweetie...we couldn't ask for better dogs!


We went to another wedding again this weekend, but Addison didn't go. Micah was in the wedding and we thought it would be pretty lame to have to leave this one early. His good friend Joel Baker got married.


Here are just a few shots of Addison laughing. She is laughing out loud now and it's just the cutest thing. One way we can get her to laugh is to tickle her chubby thighs. She also smiles when you tickle her armpits.





Addie isn't really into books yet. Night time is not a good time to read to her because she is usually too tired from the day and just screams at you to stop reading. So I try to read to her when she's in a quiet alert stage...a full belly helps too!
















We got Addison's three month photos taken and we'll have the pictures linked here soon. But, while we were there, we told the lady that we wanted a shot of her grabbing her feet. The lady seemed surprised and said that they don't usually get shots like that until the baby is about 5 months old. We assured her she could do it...and of course, she showed no interest in her feet at all!!! We did eventually get a couple shots of her holding them- FINALLY! Then, when we got home, guess who played with her feet for a good 15 minutes?





This weekend, our family from Ohio is coming into town and we'll get to meet some of them for the first time! We'll post pictures of our visit with them soon.