Life's Tough Lessons

Ya know, life is full of hard lessons. Like, in order to succeed, you may have to fall a few times.

Today Addie turned herself around, let go of the ottoman, and stood leaning back against it looking out onto the whole livingroom just waiting to be explored. She hasn't yet developed the skills to stand like this, so it was inevitable that a hard life lesson was about to be learned. Namely, don't bite off more than you can chew.











WARNING: Grandparents may find the following picture alarming- view at your own risk!



I grabbed the camera to capture her standing against the ottoman and caught the following instead.



I know it looks pretty shocking.

Just to make you all feel a little better, here is a shot of her about one minute later. She is a tough little thing, huh?

May you all remember these lessons today and learn from Addie- first learn to stand on your own and THEN let go of your support.

Concentration

Lately, this is the face Addie makes while concentrating on something (usually standing or stepping). She sucks both lips, or maybe just the top lip, into her mouth (depending on the level of concentration).

I can't believe I am also posting a picture of me sick on this blog site. I am trusting you all to love me anyway.
Yes, I have been sick, I caught it from Greg who was sick last week. Addie got small bits of it both times but seems to have fought it off better than we did. In case you are counting, that is 3 illness for her in the last month.

And for those of you interested in a health update for her- we saw her Gastro on Monday to go over her reflux issues. She hasn't been sleeping through the night consistently (maybe 2 nights in a row and then it's over) or sleeping soundly during naps. We have been adjusting the dosages on her medicines but having difficulty getting everything under control. His thoughts were that it is too hard to tell what is bothering her with so much illness going on and we'll just have to keep watching once she stops being sick (will that ever happen?). We will be working hard to keep her from being exposed to any other germs and then if she is well for a few weeks we will start trying to wean her off one of her medications again. We are really thankful for a good doctor who is being very helpful. At our last visit he looked over her chart and said "It seems like a year's worth of issues just in the last month!" We agree! 

Dictator in the Making

THIS IS NOT A SPATULA!

IT IS MY SCEPTOR!

I AM THE BOSS AROUND HERE!

IF YOU CROSS ME I WILL LET YOU HAVE IT!!!










(Addie was quite aggressive and loud when given a spatula the other day. This is our interpretation of her grunts and squeals.)
(Also notice one foot up on the highchair tray- a common way for her to sit) 

Little Lady

Addie lately has started sitting with her ankles crossed like this. We think it is cute and thought some of you might get a kick out of it too. 

Two Games At Once

Addie was playing the very fun game of Stand-Up-By-Holding-Onto-Dad's-Ears (or hair)....

Timmy was playing his own private version of "London Bridge is falling Down." He kept walking under the Greg-Addie bridge and thinking it was quite great.

The only loser was Greg- who got his hair pulled, ears pulled, and a tail in his face. But he was smiling the whole time!


 

Think Outside The Box

Sure, anyone can sit in a chair like this....
But let's just see here...

Yep, that's much more interesting!





(Incidentally, this cute little rocker was Niki's as a little girl. Special thanks to the Doyle family for delivering it from Washington!) 

Behind Bars

Addie likes to stand on the chair like this- it reminds me a little of a monkey at the zoo pulling on the cage. Not a flattering comment, I know, but it's true!

A favorite game- zerberts on the back of the neck! Addie always screams with delight! 

I do not play favorites....

I will not name names....

but I love you! 

Life Lessons with Ruth

We got a visit last Saturday from our friend Ruth who lives in the Bay Area. She, being a wise and spunky woman, taught Addie a few things about life. It's amazing that our livingroom could hold two firecrackers like this at one time! 

Super Bunny Baby

Our neighbors had a birthday party last night and asked that the children come dressed as their favorite Super Hero. Well, since Addie doesn't have a favorite super hero yet, we decided to make one up. So here she is, ladies & gentlemen... Super Bunny Baby!
Super bunny tries out the swing at the park...
She approves!
A silly face we hadn't seen before.
Daddy tries to steal a kiss.

So Many Goodbyes

What no one tells you about the first year of your baby's life is that you will have to say goodbye to so many cute outfits!

Addie wore one of my favorite little outfits yesterday for aparantly the last time. It just isn't big enough any more!
So I decided to take some pictures of her in it before I put it away. **sniff**sniff**

By the way, this is the face of Addie most people see- the blank stare.

This is the face we as parents see (and a few others she knows really well).

 

Litter Box + Baby = Cabinet

Here is a before & after shot of the cabinet we bought and fixed up to house the kitty's litter box.

Not only did we not want a litter box a few feet from our kitchen table anymore, but we also wanted to protect our soon-to-be-crawler from eating little nasties.
Be bought the cabinet for $10 from Craig's List (what a deal!), and added some paint and some molding, cut an entrance for the cats and voila!

It sounds simple now, but was a good learning experience for us in the fine art of mitering.

We are very happy with the results! 

Pink Eye? Green Eye!

Just when we thought that Addie was going to be healthy again, she came down with some sort of eye infection on Sunday!

She was a crabby pants Sunday morning- wouldn't go to sleep, screaming and being angry.

By Sunday afternoon her eye was extra wet, slightly swollen, and had little green crusties.
By Sunday night, her eye had big green goopies in both corners and all over the place. Yuck!

The pediatrician said she will probably shake it off on her own, which is good, since I DO NOT want to bring the poor thing back to the doctor for the third time in two weeks!

We are washing our hands like crazy and trying to wash everything she has touched- we don't want an eye infection too!

Will our house ever return to normal? 

One Last Time

On Amy's last evening with us, she read Addie a very special bedtime story called Knuffle Bunny. (It is a great book if you aren't familiar with it). Addie listened with rapt attention.

If you look carefully on the desk behind us, you can see the makeshift pharmacy we've got going on. 

The Other Side of Addie

A fun time in the bath last night was a nice break from the unhappy baby that lives at our house lately. Of course we only get the camera when she's being sweet, but we should take more pictures of the crying and screaming and insomnia. Addie has been in so much pain from the reflux, the teething and the ear infection that we haven't seen a lot of the nice side of her. Poor thing!
The soundtrack that should go with this picture is a very happy but LOUD squeal/ scream. We prefer these screams to the other more common ones. Besides the screams, she does spend a lot of her day talking. Her favorite sounds are dadadadadada, mamamamama, and nanananana. Place your bets now on the first word- will it be daddy, mommy, or NO!?

We can't wait for the antibiotic to take affect so her ears aren't hurting her. We can't wait for those stinky teeth to pop through already and quit waking her up at night! (Last night she was up AGAIN from 1 to 3). We will have to wait and see if the new reflux medication will help- her GI doctor told me to hold off on making changes until the ear infection clears up.