Back to Work

Well, today was my first day back at work. It was rough. I was excited to see my kids and co-workers again. I was also kind of a little excited about a change in routine and getting out of the house. However, I was not excited about leaving Addison all day. However, she is being taken care of by her grandmas for the next few weeks so she is in good hands! :) Below is a picture that her aunt and grandma sent Joey and I at work today. 

A Few of My Favorite Things

I haven't posted in a while and that is partly because I have been busy and partly because I didn't want to bore any of my readers with the absolutely mundane details of my life.  I didn't feel like stooping so low as to write about the blow-out diapers I have changed, the twenty five times I have read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" this week or the many places I have run errands. I know blogs are supposed to be a way to document the things you do...but I didn't want to overshare!

Anyway, as I was playing with Addison this morning I just started to think about all the things she does that make me smile...the little things that I love about her and that just led to a conversation in my head about all my favorite things so I thought I would list some of the most current ones for you. Some are related to Addison and some are just plain silly.

1. Addison recently has started to discover her hands. This is both good and bad. It is cute because she will just stare at them for long periods of time, but also not good because she has realized that they sort of taste good and I think I am going to have a thumb sucker (this is payback...because I sucked my thumb until way past it was appropriate!)

2. I also love it when Addison experiences something new (when she hears a new sound, sees a new face etc)...She gets what we call her "big eyes". She opens her eyes wide and acts like she is completely "shocked" by what you just did. You have to see it it's hilarious.

3. I love the way she is making noises and trying to "talk" to us more. Joey and I have whole conversations with her in the car sometimes. We have no idea what she is saying and I'm sure the same goes for her, but we love to pretend and make up stuff!

4. We are also experiencing more of Addison's personality. For example in the morning it takes her a little while to "wake up" before she will truly open her eyes and look around. She is stubborn about her sleep! Also, when we were at the mall the other day I tried some little shoes on her (she loved it!) and kept smiling as I put each one on. I think I have given her some bad habits :) Also...She is constantly moving. When she gets excited...she kicks her legs and waves her arms.

5. A new thing...Almost every morning we send an email to Joey. I will make a sign and take a picture of Addison holding it and then send a message (from Addison) detailing what we have done that day and making sure dad knows how much we miss him at home. It is fun and cute and Joey loves it! Most of the time he will write an email back to Addison and I read it to her.

6. Last but not least...the other evening I was telling Joey I loved it when she curled into a ball as you pick her up. He commented..."you say that about everything she does!" and perhaps it's true. I love everything about Addison! It's all my favorite.

thumb sucker!!

one of Addison's messages for her daddy

All dressed up for church!

Cousins

For those of you who don't know, Joey's sister has two kids and they live very close to us. This is a huge blessing to our family. Brynn (6 months old) and Caden (2 years old) have provided many smiles and some very precious memories for Joey and I. We love them to death! However, watching them interact with Addison has been the most fun to date. We love the fact that they can grow up together and play together. Addison absolutely adores them and always manages a smile especially when Brynn shows up. I was not able to live very close to any of my cousins so I have always felt a little disconnected from my relatives and extended family. It brings joy to my heart to know that Addison will have some fun cousins to grow up with, and it will be neat to see each of their personalities develop. Yesterday, we got the girls together for some pictures because they ended up wearing matching outfits.(This happens quite often as Grandma LoSurdo frequently buys them the same thing!-so cute) They were adorable together and I have enclosed a few pictures below so you can see them interact. Brynn is very tactile and loves to touch Addison's face....which ends up being quite hilarious at times! (Addison is on the left and Brynn is on the right)

Recap of the Week

I thought I would just give you a few numbers to recap our week in the LoSurdo house...

1. The number 4...

I had 4 traffic violations and 4 warnings. First, I was speeding (what a shocker!) and got pulled over. The cop then asked "Where is your front license plate"? Oh, here on the floor board. It got knocked off by a two year old a few weeks ago (another great story) "Hmmm...well I see that your vehicle registration is expired as well" Great...I'm getting a ticket for sure. "So can I see you insurance?" Nope don't have that either. Somehow by the grace of God he let me off with 4 warnings!! For those of you who know my traffic record this never happens to me. My luck must be changing...

2. The number 5...

How many shots Addison got at her 2 month check up (incidently a million would be the number of tears I cried watching this event happen!-completely pitiful)

3. The number 95...

This is the percentile Addison is in for height. She is almost as tall as her 6 month old cousin! We can barely keep her in clothes she is growing so fast. 

4. The number 11...

This is the average amount of hours Addison is now sleeping at night. She might even go longer if we let her. She LOVES sleep (just like her dad!), but we are totally okay with it :)

5. The number 9...

The number of days I have left before I have to go back to work-yuck. 

Milestone

This weekend Addison rolled over for the first time! I would have never thought that simply rolling from your stomach to your back could be that thrilling, but it definitely was! Addison HATES time on her tummy so she has been trying for the past week or so to pull herself over to her back. This morning when I set her on the bed to play, she finally did it. Once she rolled over she wasn't sure what she really did she just looked up at us with big wide eyes (probably wondering why the heck her mom and dad were yelling and screaming and so excited!) It was funny because once she did it, we wanted her to do it over and over again. We wanted everyone who came by yesterday to see how she could roll over...I think she got a little tired of us, but we never got tired of watching her do it. 

Back to Brown...

So I dyed my hair yesterday. I originally wanted it to just go back to my root color (I am not even sure I know what that is anymore!). However, it seemed to end up much darker and red. How did that happen?! I am so trusting with my hair and I am always wanting a change. When will I learn my lesson. I also for some reason decided I wanted bangs even though I probably haven't had them since the third grade! Do you ever pick out the celebrity hair cut and think the face comes with it? I make that mistake all the time...Anyway, I of course blabbed to the hair lady about how much I loved it even though I wanted to cry inside. Later I vented to Joey that I hated my hair and that eventually led to my break down about my appearance in general and it was a mess...Can anyone identify with me here? Don't you just love being a woman? Anyway, my freak out is over...I am recovering and perhaps I will enjoy this new brown!

Happy Birthday Maddie!

Our golden retriever, Maddie, turned one year old! Yeah! We love her to death. In fact before I had Addison, I was worried I might love my dog more than my own child (but that quickly changed!). The other night we decided to have a birthday party for her to celebrate. She has been a little neglected since Addison arrived and we wanted to make her feel special. Yes, we are those corny dog owners that go way overboard for their pets.We had party hats, cake and presents. She loved it. She got a few rawhides, a new stuffed duck and a stuffed cat. She also got a squeeky foot. She is obsessed with shoes and feet in general. I know it's gross...

I thought I would add a few things that we love about Maddie:

1. She loves to cuddle. We started out not allowing her on the bed with us, but that changed quickly! She now loves to curl up in the mornings...often she will try to squeeze right in between us or she will sprawl out and inevitably one of us will get nearly shoved off the edge (usually me). When Joey leaves in the morning and I am still in bed she will curl up in his spot and lay her head on my pillow!

2. She has an obsession with shoes. She always curls up next to a good smelly shoe! Recently every night she has taken the inserts out of Joey's shoes and slept on them. We know it's weird, but also cute in a way...

3. She loves to eat ice! Anytime we hit the icemaker on our refrigerator she comes running.

4. Her best friend is her stuffed duck. She takes it with her almost everywhere!

5. She is freakishly scared of the vacuum cleaner. She normally hides upstairs behind the couch when it comes on. We even used the vacuum to defend our christmas tree this year, we placed it in front of the tree and not a single ornament was touched!

6. We love the way she thinks anything is a treat even medicine...you should see the way she begs for benadryl (for her allergies). We said she was cute....we didn't say she was smart :)

We love you Maddie and we are so glad you are part of our family!

It's been a While...

Ok..so it has been a while since I last wrote anything...sorry! We have been pretty busy.  Addison is growing so fast and it is amazing how time flies! Her two month check-up is next week.  We are settling into a routine and (drum roll please!) she is SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! She just started this two weeks ago and it has made life so much better :) She usually sleeps from about 10:00 pm until 6 or 7:00 am. This is a huge blessing for us! 

She is also smiling so much more now and she is making all kinds of new sounds. She can also recognize sounds and she knows my voice. Nothing melts my heart more than when she turns to look and smile as I am talking to her. Her new thing is the ceiling fan. She absolutely LOVES it. We turn it on and  she is mesmerized. Joey taught her that she can control it by wiggling her legs. When the fan stops she wiggles and then he will turn it back on. Then it stops and she wiggles some more...it is hilarious. She moves so much! Her legs are constantly in motion, kicking and wiggling. In fact, a few days in a row she has wiggled right out of her nightgown. I came in to find her in the morning smiling happily in nothing but her diaper. Crazy girl! Another thing she loves is going for car rides. For the first few weeks this was how Joey and I kept our sanity! She falls asleep immediately once we get her in the car. Now when we put her in her car seat she has huge smiles, in fact, we don't have to even go anywhere and she will fall asleep! In some ways the past 8 weeks seem to have flown by and in many ways it seems it has taken years. However, each new day is exciting watching her grow. 

Addison's First Bath

More bath time fun!

Such a cutie! 7 Weeks

Wiggling out of her nightgown