Updates...

What's been going on?

I think I get the "worst mommy of the year" award in terms of keeping up with my child. Addison is over a year old and I have yet to put pictures in her baby book (or even completely fill it in!) I don't have any sort of scrapbook and all the photos we take are in random assortment in a box on my desk. The one thing I try to do somewhat faithfully is write a monthly update of what Addison is doing and learning on this blog-most of it is really for my sake so I can look back and remember all the fun milestones and memories. The only problem is that I haven't done this in over 3 months! (oops). So here goes...

1. Addison is talking! This just started about a week ago. Her first words were "bye" and "baby" and she has been working on those for quite a while now...but that was it. However, in the past week her speaking ability has exploded! She now can say cookie, cracker, ball, up, daddy, puppy, Maddie (our dog), and Caden (her cousin). She is adding new words every day! Of course she still refuses to say "mommy"! We love hearing her talk and each day she seems to add more words to her growing vocabulary! She knows most of her animal sounds too. She can do the sounds for a cow, sheep, puppy, snake, kittycat, and duck. 

2. Addison loves trying to put on our shoes and walk. She also loves to watch me put on make-up. She tries to imitate me and it is too cute! She loves trying on my jewelry (necklaces and bracelets) and the other day when  I was painting my toe nails she insisted she wanted some too...so I painted a few of her fingernails! However, I quickly took it off afterwards. Having a girl can be so much fun!

3. Addison is OBSESSED with dogs...she calls them all "puppies". Whenever she sees one she starts doing a little high pitched barking noise..."woof woof". She gives Maddie hugs and kisses all day long (she is way more affectionate to her dog than us!) and we got her a stuffed puppy dog that never leaves her side. She is crazy about animals and dogs in particular! 

4. Addison is learning how to feed herself. She has done this for quite a while now by just using her hands...but we are adding in silverware which she hasn't been a big fan of up until now. We got her some little forks and spoons and she has suddenly taken an interest. She's really into eating yogurt with her spoon and though most of it ends up everywhere but in her mouth she is making progress! We clap for her when she takes "big girl bites" and actually tries to "stab" her food with her fork. Yea....it doesn't take much to get us excited these days :) 

5. The topic of food brings me to another one of Addison's favorite things...EATING. The girl is super skinny but you would never know it by the amount of food she consumes!! She eats everything in sight. Some nights she eats 3 full pieces of pizza and the other day when we were at a hamburger restaurant she ate her burger, fries, some of my mother in law's burger, mushrooms from Joey's burger plus lettuce, bacon and yes my friends...RAW ONIONS off of my plate. Crazy!! She will eat just about ANYTHING we put in front of her...that girl is a bottomless pit!

6. Addison LOVES the water. She has no fear in the pool and I typically get soaked during bath time...Joey calls it the splash zone!! She loves to splash us and laughs when we get wet!

7. Addison's favorite things: swinging, playing "peek a boo" with the curtains, eating french fries, taking the batteries out of the remote (almost EVERY day), eating french fries, trying on mom and dad's shoes, eating french fries, reading books, eating french fries, playing with her "babies", climbing on everything (she is fearless!)  and in general just tearing the house apart!! She is into everything! oh, and did I mention she loves french fries?? 

8. We are learning how to discipline. Addison has recently learned the word "no" and is not afraid to use it...on us! At times when we tell her she can't do something or we take a toy away she says "no, no, no" back to us and sometimes will throw a fit...this is new territory for us so we are learning as we go! :)

Addison's 15 month stats:

34 1/2 inches tall (95th %)

24.2 lbs (25th %)

She's long and lean! ...I'm jealous :)

Trying on Daddy's shoes!

Feeding herself yogurt with a spoon...what a mess!

Hawaiian Girl (her grandparents brought this back from their vacation)

Garden update!

Joey looks thrilled doesn't he?? :)

So...the garden is growing well. Or perhaps I should say my zucchini squash is doing well. This plant has literally overtaken everything else in my garden. What started off as a small plant only a couple of inches tall has now grown HUGE! Joey says the plant is on crack...I might agree...I pulled this zucchini squash off tonight and it was at least a foot long and 10 inches in diameter. We don't normally measure our vegetables, but Joey thought maybe we had set a record (we were clearly impressed with our gardening skills) Alas, the record is a 65 lb zucchini squash so we have a long way to go! :) ha!

Anyway, everything else is growing well: basil, cilantro, and mint are all doing great and we have also picked off some good looking cucumbers! However, the zucchini plant has kind of overtaken everything else and is threatening to choke out my other plants!

Tonight I cooked the squash. I found a yummy recipe that was simple and quick using ingredients I already had in my refrigerator! I used some of my fresh basil in the recipe as well! I posted a link to the recipe just in case anyone out there wants to try it: 

Farmers Market Squash Saute 

Blessings...

I have found myself so thankful the past few weeks. I know I should be thankful every single day, there are so many things that the Lord has blessed us with... but often I get caught up in the busyness of life and forget the little things that matter most. However, the past couple of weeks I think the Lord has helped me to stop and appreciate things more often. One of the biggest blessings is the little smiling face that greets me each morning. Addison is such a huge source of joy and blessing in my life and we are so thrilled to be able to add to that joy by having another child. I am so excited to meet my little baby boy! We had our 21 week sonogram last Friday and they were able to check to make sure he is growing and healthy and my doctor said everything looks perfectly normal. I love to hear those words! and again, so often I take them for granted. I feel incredibly blessed to be having such a great pregnancy so far. The Lord's mercies never cease!

Some recent pics of my little cutie pie!...

Somehow we seem to get spaghetti everywhere but in our mouth!

                          Daddy's pride and joy (and little yankees fan!)

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend we decided to be adventurous and take a road trip to see friends in Dallas. The last time with drove to San Antonio with Addison it was a nightmare...lots of screaming and crying! So I wasn't sure how 3+ hours in the car would go, but Addison was awesome. She watched videos, played with toys and kept us thoroughly entertained :) She was such a little trooper all weekend! We stayed with our friends Sarah and Nick Carlson in McKinney. We had never seen their new house and it was fun getting to hang out. We spent Saturday in downtown McKinney exploring the shops and eating some great food, then Sunday I got to see two of my old roommates Katrina and Meredith and their families. It was great getting together and catching up (as much as you can with kids running everywhere!) Thanks Sarah and Nick for hosting! 

  Ready for the Pool!

     Playing with Cousin Brynn

On Monday, Joey and I were back in Austin and had a great time as a family. We didn't do anything terribly exciting, but I think sometimes just being together and having quality time is what makes the day special. Late in the afternoon/early evening we went to Joey's sister and brother in law's house. The kids played in the pool in the backyard. It was the first time Addison had busted out the swimsuit and I think they all had a good time in the water...it was HOT! We grilled hamburgers and relaxed. We love having family so close! All in all a great weekend...but I am exhausted!

We're having a BOY!

We had a sonogram Friday at our 18 week appointment and the sonographer poked and prodded and sure enough...pretty quickly she was able to determine that we are having a boy! Joey and I are thrilled and actually pretty astonished because we both really thought it would be another girl! I am so excited to be able to blessed with both a boy and a girl, and it is fun to be able to call him by name...instead of just praying at night for "it". I know it is going to be so different, but I am really looking forward to it :) Many people have already asked if we have a name and that was actually the easy part. Joey's name is a family name (He is Joseph Philip LoSurdo IV) so it was really important to him to continue that tradition. So we will have a little Joseph Philip LoSurdo V in a few months. The only thing that will be hard is knowing how to differentiate between husband and son. We need to come up with a good nickname for little Joey, let me know if you come up with anything! 

The outfit above is the first little boy outift I have gotten. My sweet friend Michelle bought it for me as soon as she found out what we were having and it is so strange to see it hanging in the closet...I am so used to being in an all pink "girl world". It's going to be hard to transition!

One of the cute things that we saw during the sonogram was our little boy had his hand in the perfect "gig 'em" sign.  The sonographer caught it and printed the picture for us. Joey was definitely proud! :) Looks like we have another little Aggie!

My (small) garden...

One thing that I love is being outside and working in the yard. I enjoy planting and taking care of flowers and plants. However, most of the time flowers and plants don't like ME! I typically kill everything in my yard! In fact someone once got me a potted fern that they said was nearly impossible to kill. You guessed it...somehow the fern died. Well, this spring we have a flower bed in our backyard and I decided I would try to grow a few vegetables and herbs. I'm no Martha Stewart, but so far the plants are looking good (nothing has died...yet!) I am such a nerd...I go and check on them almost every day to see if anything has sprouted. I started really small, I planted squash, cucumbers, bell peppers, mint, rosemary, and basil. I also bought a small orange tree that I have in a huge pot on the porch. I'll keep you posted if we get any actual vegetables! If  you have any "gardening tips" let me know :)

Food, Fun, Friends...

Last weekend Joey and I had some people over in our backyard for a crawfish boil. Joey LOVES crawfish and he got a pot and set to boil them for Christmas a few years ago. We've done it a few times and each time it's fun, but we forget how much work it can be too! It turned out to be a beautiful evening and I enjoyed getting to relax and hang out with friends. It's interesting to see how things have changed now that many of us have kids. The evenings now start and end a little earlier and it seems that kids, babies, and pregnancy dominate conversation :)