Addison loves her accesories!

Addison has recently become obsessed with her "beads". Her grandma bought her a jewelry set with a bracelets and necklaces and she LOVES it! She wants to have her necklaces on at all times! It is too cute!

How is this comfortable??

Addison loves to sleep! (she gets this from her daddy) Quite often she will sleep for 3 hours or more in the afternoon. One afternoon I actually went in there to wake her up and found her in this position...crazy girl! 

Week in Review

Not much has happened this week. Nothing exciting anyway...our days were filled with playing, cleaning, cooking and running errands. One thing that I have noticed about Addison is that even though we buy her fun and interesting toys she seems to find the oddest things around the house to entertain her!! For example, she LOVED playing in a huge wooden trunk at her cousins house and she also played for hours with a set of mixing bowls I have. However, most of her time is dedicated to her favorite activity: walking and climbing. She discovered the stairs in our house and loves to go up and down (only with me right by her side of course!) and she is completely unsatisfied by merely sitting and playing she wants to GO somewhere!! My back often hurts from holding her hands as she happily walks around the house or tries to chase our dog. She has been taking steps on her own but certainly has not mastered walking by herself yet. Part of me can't wait for her to be able to take off, but another part is sad because she is growing up so much and the older she gets the more independent she becomes! I miss our holding her and cuddling with her! 

One highlight of our week was getting to meet my in-laws new puppy. They got a teacup yorkie named "Bitsy" and she is adorable!!! So tiny!! Addison wasn't sure what to think of her when they met on Saturday but she slowly warmed up to her little friend.  We are looking forward to lots of fun with grandma's new puppy :)

                           Addison and her Cousins entertained by the giant trunk

                                                  Addison and little "Bitsy"

                                                   Addison loves her new friend!

I'm Back!!!

No I didn't go anywhere...but I have not posted in a LONG time. I have completely neglected my blog for the past two months! I'm sure no one even reads this anymore because I haven't posted in so long! I have no excuses...none. I have simply been lazy and caught up in the holiday season. Everytime I would think about blogging, some other more exciting opportunity came along and so my blog has been neglected. I'm sorry, but here are some updates and I have many new pictures posted below!

Trip to Kansas

On November 19th my sweet grandmother passed away to be with the Lord. She went very peacefully and though we miss her and are sad she is no longer with us, we are very glad that she is in a better place now with no more suffering. My family decided to postpone the memorial service until all the extended family could attend so we celebrated her life on December 28th in Kansas City. My dad delivered the eulogy and he did a wonderful job of honoring her life. It was bittersweet as we remembered what an amazing lady she was and what an incredible legacy she left for us, but missed her all the same. I hope many of the same things can be said of me as were said of her that day. Even though it was a sad time, it was also good to see relatives and family that I hadn't seen in quite a long time. Our last night there we ate at a fun restaurant downtown called the Peachtree and had a great time! 

Part of the fun of the trip was the car ride. We spent 20 out of the total 60 hour trip driving. When I say "we"...I really mean Joey. He refused to let me take a turn! So needless to say, I did alot of reading and we had a good time talking together. My brother rode with us part of the way (which was an experience in and of itself) 10 hours in a car with a person who is ADD is interesting! However, we survived :)

Too much time in the car...

Hanging with my brother

Dinner at the Peachtree with my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin

Addison is 10 months old!

Month 8 and 9 seemed to fly by! I cannot believe that she is 10 months old. Joey and I are amazed at how quickly she is growing up right before our eyes. I am already starting to think ahead to her first birthday party! Here are some updates on our little Addison...

-Addison is high energy!! She is still laid back in the sense that she doesn't get frustrated or upset easily. However, she has been in constant motion ever since she started crawling and now she is pulling up and trying to walk!

-Addison isn't walking yet, but she is very close! She has even taken a few steps on her own. She no longer wants to be held, she wants DOWN! She dives out of our arms towards the floor and several times we have very nearly dropped her as she catches us off guard! She is very independent and wants to be able to do everything on her own.

-Addison is a FLIRT. Joey is going to have his hands full!! Recently, one of her Sunday School teachers told us laughingly that she is always into the boys! When we went to a Christmas party over the holidays Addison was enamored with a guy who is a family friend. She wanted to walk to him all night and then she would look at him and act shy and hide her face on my shoulder. It was hilarious watching her! 

-Eating is a battleground. Addison has recently decided she no longer wants baby food and cereal... she wants real food! A week ago, I finally gave up. She wanted nothing to do with her baby food. She pushes the spoon away or spits it out! The girl has some spunk!! Anyway, I decided not to battle any longer so she is now eating table food. She eats cut up grapes, cheese, bites of chicken, bananas, cheerios, and yogurt (which is her favorite!). She loves exploring new foods and we love watching her. When you first give her something new she sticks out her tongue for a taste and then scrunches up her face in disgust and then if its good she finally opens her mouth. Her favorite foods are: french fries, yogurt, cheese in any form, and ravioli (well of course she is part Italian!). However, I am having a really hard time getting her to eat fruits and vegetables! Needless to say eating is the one area she has a difficult time with so all of you experienced moms give me some advice on how to get her to eat something nutritious!

-Addison has two more teeth. Her top front teeth finally came in. Just in time for Christmas! She looks so much older with top AND bottom teeth and she can certainly chew :)

Silly Maddie...

Maddie is our 1 1/2 year old golden retriever. We love her so much, however, we have recently come to the conclusion that she has some serious psychological issues. She is bizarrely afraid of everything! She doesn't seem to understand that her job is to protect us...she feels we are there to protect HER. Here is a glimpse into life with Maddie...

Example # 1:

This Christmas we bought her a new water bowl that automatically dispenses water into the bowl. She is constantly thirsty so we thought it might be a good idea to get her this new water bowl so we wouldn't always be refilling it. So the night of Christmas we got it for her, filled it with water and let her try it out. She would not even enter the bathroom (which is where we usually keep her water) She just stared at it...so what did Joey and I do? What every loving dog parent would do. We got down on all fours and pretended we were drinking out of the bowl to show her it was safe. We even sprinkled some of the water on her so she would start drinking. Then, Joey literally picked her up and forced her into the bathroom. She FINALLY crept to the bowl and lapped up a few sips. Then, the water dispenser made a noise as more water flowed into the bowl. This creeped her out and she ran. She would not come near the water bowl after that. We tried and tried but she was deathly afraid. Does anyone need a new water bowl?...We have one for sale!

Example #2

A few days later, I heard Maddie barking in the kitchen wondering what could possibly be agitating her. She never barks. Come to find out our ice cream scoop had fallen off the counter and freaked her out. She was ready to attack the poor defenseless scoop! 

Example #3

Maddie spent a few days with Joey's parents as we traveled to Kansas City after Christmas. Joey's dad took her for a walk in the morning and the sun happened to hit at just the right angle to cast a shadow of them as they walked. Maddie was subsequently freaked out by her own shadow and had to be reassured before continuing her walk! 

Maddie brings so much happiness and fun to our house. She is a 56 pound lap dog who greets us every day with wagging tail and hugs. We wouldn't have her any other way! Her funny quirks entertain us and just make us love her all the more!

My Funny Girl

A week ago I was washing dishes and I let Addison play on the kitchen floor beside me. All of a sudden I head a weird noise so I leaned down to see what she was doing. Addison was having a "make-out session"with the dishwasher! She was literally kissing it and licking it. We have a stainless steel model so the cold hard finish was I'm sure what intrigued her. I almost fall on the ground I was laughing so hard. My first reaction probably should have been to stop her, but of course I did what every loving parent would do and grabbed my camera. I know she will thank me for this later! 

Holiday Highlights

Decemeber was a whirlwind for our family. We seemed to have something going on every single weekend! Joey was able to take two and half weeks off of work so we enjoyed lots of good time together. This was our first Christmas with Addison and it was so much fun seeing everything through her eyes. Christmas morning was just the three of us at home. We all cuddled up in bed for a while and then opened presents together. Later we were fortunate to be able to celebrate with both sides of our families and exchange gifts. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner at Joey's parents house and sang "Happy Birthday to Jesus" at the end. Addison got some fun gifts...she is so spoiled!! But honestly, I think the wrapping paper and bows were just as exciting! We are so blessed to have wonderful family and friends who made this holiday season so special! 

                                                 Junior High Christmas Party at Church

                                                                   Merry Christmas!

                                           Addison opening presents Christmas Morning

Maddie got presents too!

I like the wrapping paper the best...

Grandma's Girls!

Opening my stocking

Dad had to help opening most of the presents :)