Birthday Presents from the Grandparents

Addie was given an adorable Build-A-Bear Bear from her Meemaw & Papaw (Greg's Parents). It came with a sensational pink outfit and tennis shoes. When you squeeze bear's hand, Meemaw's voice sings to her and tells Addie how much they love her.
Addie shows her appreciation by putting bear in her mouth. The ultimate stamp of approval.



Addie received from Grammi & Poppi (Niki's parents) several great interactive books,
a fabulous hand-made sweater & hat set,
and these fun balls, which she has played with like crazy already! 

Ah, the good 'ol days

We will fondly remember the last few weeks. Sadly, the streak is over and Addie's reflux has returned. We are re-acquainting ourselves with the sad, poor sleeping, crying, clingy child we know too well. We are dissapointed, but accepting. Please pray for us as we will probably be waking up at night again and worn out during the day. We'll keep you updated!

Addie Fights Back

It is starting to become habit that each evening, before retiring Addie upstairs for bath and bed, we Spanglers all get rowdy and crazy. There is much laughing, shrieking, chasing, and delight.

Last night I took a turn tickling...
then Greg did some rough-housing...
then some chasing and more tickling...

but then Addie decided she had had ENOUGH!



She grabbed the spray bottle for the cats off the coffee table...
and aimed it right at Greg.


This picture is not posed- I SWEAR- she did this on her own. Thankfully the camera was right next to me!


"EVERYBODY BACK OR THE DADDY GETS IT!"



In serious, but GOOD news, Addie seems to be feeling a lot better lately. The ear infections have cleared up, and it seems like the reflux might be under control for now. We have had TWO GOOD WEEKS without any unhappiness due to health issues. This ties for the longest record of peace with Addie's body (last time it happened was September).

It means that things have been especially fun and happy around here. We really enjoy healthy Addie. She is a much happier, flexible, well-slept version of herself. She is eating like a horse and we think she may be gaining weight too! We will get her weighed next week at her one year well-check doctor visit. Thank you to those who have been praying for her, and for us. This break has been such a blessing to us.

Getting Ready For A Bath

Last night, Greg took Addie into her room to get ready for her bath while I was getting the tub started. When I peeked in the room, I decided to grab the camera.

Here is Greg, towel on his head, washcloth in his pocket, getting Addie ready. I had to laugh.
Here they are playing. Addie was very hyper, squeeling and laughing. 

Hello New York!

Addie is really into waving lately. After a web chat with Niki's parents in which she was heartily encouraged to wave at the computer, she somehow got the idea that everyone on a screen that waves is waving at her. The next morning when she saw people on the Today Show waving, she waved right back!
Now she waves hello to New York almost every morning.
This is just a cute picture I threw in as a bonus for you all! 

Book Time with Daddy

Greg got home from work last night just in time to share in Addie's book time.
Now when Addie looks at books, she likes to hold the book open in front of her and "read"- meaning she makes the sound "rrr rr rrrr grrr rrr" over and over to herself. It is adorable! 

Merry Christmas From The Spanglers!

Our year at a glance
Well, the time has come for me to wax eloquent and summarize an entire year of our lives for friends and family far and near. Not a small task, but I’m ready to try. For those of you who just visit this blog for the pictures, I apologize.



Family Trivia
As you would probably expect of first time parents, most of the exciting events in our year revolve around Addie. But how many of you (besides her grandparents) are really going to enjoy us telling about the milestones in her life? Instead, I’d like to try to paint you a picture of what each of us are like these days…

Addie is very much like Niki- likes crowds, people, activity… is stubborn (Greg says determined)… really likes what she likes, really hates what she doesn’t… thoroughly studies a new thing or person before deciding if she likes it… adores Greg! Yes, Little-miss-daddy’s-girl. Her first smile was for Greg. First laugh- for dad, first word- dada, first steps- to dad. She does the most peculiar things, like she always crosses her ankles when sitting and she skipped crawling, just went right to walking. She is NOT your average kid.

What Greg likes most about being a dad:
-He likes pushing the stroller. He’s a stroller hog
-He likes that he can say “his girls”
-He likes it when Addie rests her head on his shoulder
-He likes their special daddy-daughter “call” (each night after her bath, when Greg gives her her medicine, Addie makes a unique gargling noise. I have tried to make the noise and I can’t, but Greg can, so it must be a father-daughter thing)

What Niki likes most about being a mom:
-She likes watching Addie understand something for the first time- like how to use sign language to communicate
-She likes that everyone thinks Addie is cute (how shallow is that?)
-She loves looking at Addie while she is sleeping and peaceful
-She likes that Addie has SPUNK

It’s a Good Thing She’s Cute…
Niki & Addie have spent large quantities of their time this year at doctor’s offices. Addie was diagnosed with Acid Reflux at 4 months and it continues to haunt her and challenge us. Honestly, though this isn’t the perky upbeat news usually included in Christmas letters, it has dominated our year more than any other factor in our lives. We take each week individually, watching Addie for symptoms (crying, screaming, lack of sleep, spitting up), adjusting medication doses, and making due the best we can. Additionally, Addie has been sick with sinus or ear infections several times as well. We are really thankful for a good pediatrician and gastroenterologist (tummy doctor). Sometimes Niki feels like their offices are second homes! We also have visited a pediatric cardiologist, pediatric ophthalmologist (both for issues that have cleared up- praise the Lord) and for Niki- an Endocrinologist (also for an issue that has now been healed). We are thankful that Addie is probably going to outgrow the acid reflux eventually and that none of her health issues are a serious risk to her health. We can’t state enough how thankful we are for that!

In spite of not feeling well a lot of the time, we have tried to still have fun together as a family. We love living in Southern California where there are so many interesting things nearby! We’ve enjoyed the beach, the city, the sun. We’ve had visits from lots of family and friends and gone to do some visiting of our own too- to Phoenix and Seattle. Wow- traveling with a kiddo is a whole different thing than traveling before!

We still enjoy our cats. We still enjoy our great neighbors. We still enjoy our church- although we’ve had to be less involved now than our pre-children life. Everyone told us that having a baby changes everything, and it has, but we wouldn’t change it back for anything! As we celebrate this Christmas we are so thankful to be together. We wish we could be with each one of you too, but since we can’t, we hope this little blog will be the next best thing!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

Got Cheese?

Addie really likes cottage cheese. She likes it on her hands, on her cheeks, on her chin... and especially in her mouth. 

Family Totem Pole

Micah the cannibal...
A Spangler family totem pole! 

Hummus Anyone?

Jess made Micah a sandwhich out of red pepper hummus and he went to town!
You can tell he was enjoying himself. 

Warm Weather

Only in Pheonix can you play outside on Thanksgiving weekend in shorts and a T-shirt! Here are some shots of us playing in the backyard.



Addie the biker babe.
Micah practices his army crawl.
Ally wanted to join in the fun too. I think she is working on her parade wave here. 

Snot Factory

Addie's runny nose started on the way to Pheonix for Thanksgiving...
Can you tell in this picture that there is snot running down her face? Well there is.

On Thanksgiving day she woke up from a nap with a high fever and MISERABLE.We ended up cutting our trip short because she was a mess and headed home early.

Well, yesterday I took her to the doctor (our home away from home) because she was on day 5 of the fever. Turns out she has a DOUBLE ear infection (this is the third round of ear infections for her). Good grief! The good news is that ear infections are treatable.

The less-than-good news is that she has lost weight again. Some of you know that we have been keeping an eye on her weight for over a month now. She seemed to plateau and the doctor wanted us to keep an eye on it. First she lost almost a pound in one week, then after three weeks she had gained it back, and now she lost it again. Crazy kid. At this point we're not worrying about it, just watching carefully. That means Niki & Addie make a weekly pilgrimage to the doctor's office and weigh her. The whole trip usually takes about 2 hours. It's a good thing we like our pediatrician's office SOOO much! 

New toys and Playthings at Grandma's

Among the highlights of Thanksgiving with Greg's family this year, were the many new toys that Addie got to play with. Greg's Mom, (aka. Memaw) helps Addie with the Farm Time See'n' Say.
Addie was particularly enamored with the Tigger Airplane push-n-ride airplane. It makes LOTS of greats noises and sounds. The foam propeller spins and lights up. The handle bars have six buttons, some of which make Tigger talk about the "THparkly lighths" (prounounced with the Tigger lisp).














Greg's cousin Jason, originall from Pennsylvania, now living in Arizona, spent the day with us at the house, keeping conversation lively and keeping us in stitches. 

Bath Time Baby!

In the first of several bath times together with her cousins, Addie took to sharing the waters of cleanliness with great aplomb. Her Arizona cousin Micah start out together.








Addie LOVEs the sponge toys at Memaw and Papaw's house (These are the official names for Grandma and Grandpa Spangler)












With the trio of Micah, Ali, and Addie, there was more than a little splashing, gigling and soap-water drinking. 

It's been awhile

I realize it's been awhile since any new pictures were posted, so here are a few to enjoy.

Addie tries to fill Daddy's shoes.
Enjoying some bean soup- or bean mush actually.













We have been taking pictures lately, but not for posting just yet. We turned our livingroom into the Spangler Family Photo Studio this weekend and took our Christmas picture. We will post it a little closer to Christmas! 

The Zoo

On Saturday we went to the L.A. Zoo with some visiting Spanglers.
Here's our group: Greg and Addie, our niece and nephew Ally and Micah, our sister-in-law Jessie (on right), her friend Becca (pushing the double stroller), and Greg's mom (behind Becca).

We had a nice time, but it was a tiring day!
Here is Greg, who we now know is about the size of a gorilla.
And not quite as big as a condor.