NYE 2011 - 21 Months

Addison and her PawPaw

Very, very serious

She had to make sure mom had her accessories on 

Wow!  2011 was a fantastic year for our family!  Addison celebrated her first year of life, became VERY mobile and talkative and Monty completed his MBA.  We can’t complain about a thing J  We did fireworks at PawPaw and MiMi’s to ring in the new year. 

New Year’s Eve marks Addison’s 21^st month – unbelievable.  It has been a month full of milestones that have melted hearts.  On December 3^rd she called my mom Grammy for the very first time (prior to that she had said MiMi) and that same day while in Bed, Bath & Beyond she told me “I lub you Momma” completely unsolicited which also happened to be the first time she had said the phrase.  Every time she does something new and amazing I think that is the best it could ever get, but that took the cake! 

This month Addison celebrated Christmas with a real enthusiasm.  We looked at lights, made cookies and treats with Bailey (no pictures – it was a little hectic with 2 girls and sprinkles even with Kayla J), went to a Christmas tree lighting at Clark Gardens with Bailey, had a party at school and at my office and a number of other festive things.  Notice a visit with Santa was not on the list as this terrified her in our November encounter with St. Nick.

She is really getting a cute little personality and is talking up a storm.  She loves to come up to anyone she knows and say ‘up please’ to them and grab their hand and direct them to where she would like to go.  This can be anywhere from the pantry to play in her room.  This phrase also means that she would like to be held; we just use it in context to determine which one she needs.  She is now talking in complete sentences which are about 5-6 words long.  The first one I heard was “I don’t see the cheese” when we were grocery shopping in her room.  The list is too long to write, but there are many more like these.  She also answers ‘yea’ to pretty much anything you ask and can name virtually all animals and all colors.  She starts her counting at 8,9,10 and likes to stop the alphabet at A,B,C.  If you listen to her talk to herself when playing independently in her room, you will hear far more letters and she does start counting at 1 – that little stinker won’t do it with us! 

With a personality also comes the occasional fit, and by occasional I mean at least a few a day.  They are very short lived and when you ask if she wants to take a nap, she quickly stops whining/crying.  She is still going strong without a pacifier and hasn’t even asked about it lately.  She continues to love Olivia, Dora and Bubble Guppies on TV as well as all Eric Carle books (really all books but those are the favorites).   We are so very impressed with all she does and can’t wait to ring in another new year with our fantastic girl!  

Christmas Morning

Olivia and a sucker - what else do you need in a stocking???  

Happy girl showing off her kitchen

Cooking is serious business

Guys - someone called in their first order to my restaurant.....

PaPa - the vacuum is work, check out my kitchen over there

A baby and a new piggy bank to learn to count

She seriously shouted "SHOPPING" when she open the shopping cart - smart, smart girl!

Obligatory sucker break

Backpack, Backpack -we love our Dora!

Lisa stop posing for the picture, we have serious work to do here!

This was the first year for us to begin to really establish traditions in our family now that Addison is able to participate in so much more.  We debated as to whether or not Santa wrapped presents, where Santa would come (Grammy’s or our home), and various other things.  In the end, Santa brought stockings to our house, large unwrapped gifts to Grammy and PaPa’s and a ton of fun no matter the location.

Following Christmas brunch at Grammy and PaPa’s (this is the only one for which pictures exist at current) we headed out to PawPaw and MiMi’s for round 2 followed by a trip to Granny Virgie’s for round 3.  We didn’t make it home until 10:30, but we had a fun day of wonderful memories with our family.  We ended our night singing happy birthday to Jesus and look forward to telling Addison more and more about his birth and our salvation in the years to come.  

Bye-Bye "B"

When Addison was born we made the decision to use a pacifier to soothe her.  We decided to call her pacifier her "Binki".  Over time it was shortened from "Binki" to "Binx" to "B".  The only true attachment Addison had to her "B" is when she was tired.  She would either ask (or whine depending on her level of tired) or dig for it in her bag pocket and get it out on her own. Monty and I have also used it to hush a whining child on a few occasions, but sleep was her only true 'must have' time.

At her 18-month appointment Dr. Ramsey noticed she had a pacifier (whining during the hour long wait in the doctor's office that happened to fall during nap time) and commented that she would like to see it gone by her 21-month appointment.  The thought of life without "B" for Addison seemed unimaginable.  She has had one since her little life began so a "B" free life did not seem logical.  I simply dismissed the comment and thought to myself I know many children older than Addison who still have their pacifier.

As her 21-month appointment approached I really began to think that we do need to try a "B" free life to see how it would work out all the while knowing this was way too traumatic of an exercise to put my baby through.  Turned out, it was not as awful as I had imagined, and, in fact, maybe I was the one with the attachment of a quiet, easy way to put Addison to sleep.  On Wednesday, December 21st, we had our first night without "B".  It was not too traumatic.  I had to rock (sway) and sing her to sleep (she actually thinks I am quite good) like I did when she was much younger, but she didn't really cry too much for "B".  Thursday was a bit more rough (no nap while at Mimi and PawPaw's) but with rocking & singing it was not more than 10 minutes until she was asleep.  Friday was better than Thursday which provided great encouragement.  Tonight, Christmas Eve, Addison went to sleep without rocking (which was normal before life without "B") and went straight to sleep.

It is so funny how I often underestimate how strong she really is.  We are so proud of how quickly she was able to move on from her "B".  It makes us sad that she is becoming such a big girl so quickly, but we could not be more proud.  We will miss "B", but will never forget her sweet face in the morning with her pacifier.

Cherry Park

Following the September 15th corporate and partnership filing deadline, I took off on Friday for a three day weekend.  We had lunch at Chick-fil-a and then headed to Cherry Park in Weatherford for an afternoon of fun. It was past our naptime so the visit was brief, but Addison got in a lot of trips down the slides and time in the swing.  You will notice in the swing pictures she is looking off to the side - there was a 3 year old boy in the next swing she found very fascinating.  Wonderful way to enter a beautiful fall following a record setting 71 days of 100 degree plus days this summer!

College Station Cuties

We visited the Howells in College Station one last time before Cate arrives in October.  We were not sure how Addison would handle an entire weekend with a friend, but she absolutely loved it.  They played so well together and laughed an giggled throughout the weekend.

We went to Cheddar's on Friday night where the girls wooed all the other dinner patrons. We got back from dinner and Addison and Emma had a bath.  Neither one of them were sure why they were sharing a bath, but loved it nonetheless.  It is a good thing Addison loves water because Emma loved to dump the cups on her head.   Addison was a great sport and smiled the entire time.  I think she liked the company so much a little water was not a big deal in the least.

Saturday morning we got up early - funny how that works with kids :) and had breakfast and went out to Kristin's parent's land.  The girls scoped out the cows (both mooed) and rode the Gator with theirs dads to go and get a closer look.  No such luck with the cows, they ran away, but they enjoyed the ride.  Emma went to the chicken coop to show Addison the chickens, but in true Addison fashion she looked from a distance and didn't want to get nearly as close as Emma.  I will take the blame for this trait - I cannot blame her in the least.  They had a fun time and were super stylish in their boots.  Addison's are on loan from Emma, but she has some at home that were a birthday gift from Emma we are ready to break in this fall.

Kristin and I took the girls back to their house for a swim to cool down.  They had great fun and Addison provided Emma an education on drinking with the hose entirely in your mouth - not sure why but she loves this even though it makes her cough.  They had another bath and got dressed for their lunch and naps.  While they were napping Kristin and I shopped, of course.  You can never pass up a Target trip!

We went to dinner at Layne's and then dropped by the Association to get a quick campus visit in.  The girls had their pictures taken in the new Aggie ring and looked so super cute.  Monty jokes this is pushing her to be a Longhorn, but I will take the opportunity to keep her in maroon as long as I can.

What a wonderful weekend with great friends.  We can't wait for Cate to arrive and play.  I am sure she will be just as wonderful as big sister Emma!

16 Months

Addison is absolutely verbal these days.  It amazes us daily how a word we did not know she knew she will say out of the blue in perfect context and shock us all.  Here is a break down of her favorite words she can clearly say:

• Gubba, Gubba - she literally wakes up each morning saying this the instant we go in her room.  This stands for Bubble Guppies on Nick Jr., her favorite show.  In fact, she can turn the TV on with the remote and will stand there and say Gubba, Gubba until it is on the screen.  (Little worried about this...)
• Elmo, light, elbow, bite, chip, bubble, eye, peach, my, Dora, Lilly, Lisa, PaPa, PawPaw, duck, meow, hallo (hello), hi, up, B (binki), ice, wa-wa (water), milk, fish, shoe, nana (banana & Monty's Nannah), Pappy, toot, apple  
• MiMi - Addison's version of TV
• NO, NO, NO
• Baby
• Many more that escape me...

She is still very much a lover of books.  She impresses us because one of her favorites she can recite with us. The book is called  Moo, Baa, LaLaLa.  The book starts a cow says moo, a sheep says baa, and three singing pigs say lalala.  If you say a cow says ____, etc. she will fill in the blanks by herself.  We are so amazed and proud.  She also has books for each letter and she and Monty are very fond of the "K" because she knows when kiss is coming up and will 'kiss' on that letter - genius, I must say. 

In the last month she discovered babies.  It is a bit funny because she has always had them available to play with, but one day she just made the discovery and needs to have one more often than not.  Lucky for us, she does love a particular baby, but she is really happy to play with virtually any baby.  I do have a back up of her favorite in the event it ever disappears, but I am relatively certain she would be happy with any doll.   

I was happy to think Addison was going to be immune to separation anxiety, but alas in the last month or so she has fallen victim as all children do.  Each time we go to the nursery (or dawn the doors of our church or Grammy and PaPa's church) she immediately begins to cry knowing she is going to be 'left'.  This has been really hard as we hate to see her cry, but I think we are slowly making our way through this as all other children do.  If nothing else, MDO will be great for her start in the fall to re-acclimate her to life outside of her family.  It has been so hot she has spent a great deal of time at home or Grammy and PaPa's this summer. 

She has had free reign of the house since she started opening doors back in June.  This means she helps herself to any and all items in our home within her arm's reach.  She also learned on the SAME day to climb on the couch and chairs.  It is funny to go in to the living room and see her on the couch with the remote in hand pointing at the TV willing it to come on. On the times she is able to make it come on with the right combo of buttons, she absolutely beams at the accomplishment.

Another wonderful month with our wonderful girl.  

Swim Lessons

Addison had her first taste of swim lessons this year with the Red Cross.  The lessons were Monday through Thursday for two weeks from 6:00-6:30.  It was obviously not on her own yet, but sometimes I think she would have preferred that mom and dad not have been there so she could socialize instead of swim.  She LOVES the water, but I truly believe she loved the social aspect just as much.  Her class had four other swimmers which was the perfect size.

She made a ton of progress during her sessions.  The true objective of the class was to get the children comfortable with the water.  Luckily all of the kids in the class were water babies so we were able to focus on learning some basics.  The first objective was to learn to blow bubbles.  As you can imagine, this is not entirely natural.  Her instinct was to hold her mouth open as we moved through the water (meaning she drank some good chlorine water), but she caught on very quickly and now blows bubbles in the pool and daily in her bath.  She also worked on her back float (much better when you sing twinkle twinkle), using her arms and legs, jumping off the side and being passed both with her head in and above the water.  PaPa and Lisa came for the last night of class, the presentation of skills, and Grammy and Dad were out of town and were very, very sad to miss.  This was the only night that Dad missed! She was a star and we are looking forward to our class next year.

Bubble Blower! 

Bubbles and Legs!

Happy Girl

Not only does she climb all things at home, she climbed the wall of the pool.  Notice everyone else is swimming :)

Addison swimming after the duck.  She even called it duck!!  

Swimming with her head fully under water.  She popped up happy every single time!

Jumping off the side for a grand finale - what a great time we all had!

First Hair Cut

Addison has followed in the footsteps of both of her parents with respect her hair.  When I say hair, I mean the lack thereof.  She had a ton of dark hair when she was born which subsequently fell out and was replaced by lovely blonde/brown hair.  Her hair has really started to grow, but unfortunately the back is growing much faster than the front. Every time I go in to have my hair cut I tell the stylist about it and she says Addison needs a cut to spur new growth.

The thought of getting her hair cut troubled me because she has the most perfect, adorable curls in the back.  I finally gave in to have it cut while we were in San Antonio so she could go to a kid's salon, but unfortunately she wasn't feeling well and didn't think that would make her feel better.  I had it cut when we got back during one my appointments (1 day later on July 22, 2011).  As you can tell, Addison isn't feeling her best, but she had the iPhone during her cut and was a perfect angel!  In the end, the cut was not traumatic and since she looks adorable no matter what, there was little to get excited about.  Here is to many more cuts in our future....

Waiting for her cut & style 

Cute curls!

On the way to our new look

Finished product - beauty queen (all though you can tell not her usual smiling self)

Austin's San Angelo Wedding

Addison and I traveled with Grammy, PaPa and Lisa to Austin Haire's wedding in San Angelo (Monty had a tournament).  It was a long car ride for a 15 month old, but between 2 iPhones an iPad, box of raisins, babies and book, we made it!  We dropped Grammy off at the church about 45 minutes before the wedding started to see if Ronda needed any help and while the rest of us headed to Sonic.  These days Addison LOVES ice and will walk around with a cup of ice an eat every piece until it is gone.  She actually even asks for ice.  We got this particular cup as a distraction during the wedding; a 15 month old has a very unpredictable personality.

When we arrived at the wedding I had full intentions of sitting on the back row to make the inevitable exit when Addison started to talk; Ronda had a different plan in mind.  She wanted us to sit on the 2nd row as family!  While this was a lovely gesture, you can imagine my hesitation!  We did sit on the 2nd row and Addison was a champ.  She had a snack trap in each hand - one with Goldfish the other with Honey Nut Cheerios.  The four of us set in a row and had the ice cup, Binx, sippy cup and books/toys all ready and at her disposal.  The wedding lasted about 30 minutes and she made it through without any major issues.  She did get a little chatty and did grunt as she was trying to get on to the seat, but all in all I could not have asked for a better outcome!  Following family pictures, we headed out for the reception.

The reception was just what Addison needed; room to run freely.  She did just that and at one point even tried to go through someone's purse on the back of a chair.  Oh the lessons left to teach!  She at a ring pop from the candy bar, her cheese stick and fruit we brought and then topped the night off with a bite of wedding cupcake.  Needles to say she slept the 3 1/2 hours back and did not mind our 1:15 a.m. arrival in the least.  On the upside, I did give her a bath right before we left and brought her pajamas for the trip home.  Congratulations Austin and Sarah; we had fun!

Sonic girl!  Notice the snack trap in our other hand!

Reception venue with Lisa

Addison - a lover of art already!  

Oh ring pops how you make me sticky!

4 girls

Oh, and punch.  Tonight I discovered my love for punch.  Oh the rules you break to keep her happy!