Sick, sick, sick

We, like everyone else has had their fair share of doctor visits in the the last month or so.  We’ve had ear aches (x2), rashes (x2), bad colds, pink eye, coughs and some mysterious bump on her neck.  With all of these ailments we have to give a decent amount of medicine over the last several weeks.  So much so, our little toddler with her limited communication skills has come up with her own sign language for medicine. 

This little example is when we had to give her 2 types of medicines which is why she is using both of her fingers.

Thankfully she doesn’t give any resistance to the ear drops, eye drops, droppers, etc during this crazy sick season.  I have never been more ready for spring/summer.

Love is…

A sweet treat for me.

Unlimited refills on his beloved G2.

A pretty good combo…

Love is not Hot Tamales, it’s not powered G2 Gatorade mix, for me, Love is being with someone who takes care of you.  Someone who loves you and all your craziness and thinks of sweet little treats to remind you that you are loved and taken care of. 

I love my husband and my family more than I could describe in one little paragraph.  I am grateful for our love for each other.

Snowapalooza 2011

Snow, snow, snow….we got our first snow of the year.  According to Dave it wasn’t ideal for making a snowman, but he managed to make a solid 3 footer and a pretty nice fort in the front yard with this not so great snow.  

I am so thankful that Dave likes to go outside and “play” in the snow, I love the snow, but from the inside while I sip on my hot chocolate and with mini marshmallows :) 

Addie loved the snow and wanted to go outside but every time we would bundle her up after a few minutes she was ready to come back inside.  She liked her snowman and waves at him every time she sees him outside the window .  She LOVED eating the snow, I am pretty sure her diet yesterday consisted of 80% snow.  No wonder she was starving right before bedtime :) She wasn’t too sure of sledding and probably only made it down the little hill about 1 time.  She enjoyed taking her car outside and being pushed around like it was sunny outside, crazy girl

Here is her first time outside just after her nap, not too sure about it all and of course Dave HAD to wear his beard/toboggan combo.

She was not happy once we got inside and she had on wet clothes

Daddy made her a snowball to play with and she started to get the idea of this snow thing….

Once we hinted about going outdoors she was quick to grab a hat and whatever shoes she could find….

She loved watching Daddy make her snowman and the final product

A few details I can’t forget….

This post is to help Mommy remember what milestones I don’t want to forget :)

As this year comes to a close I can’t help but feel incredibly blessed.  In my prayers every night I thank God for our family, our health and our friends.  I can’t believe how fortunate we have been and are. 

This year I want to remember so many things for Addie.  I often look back at pictures stored on our computer and I am always blown away on how fast and how much Addie has changed. 

1/2/2010.  This picture makes me laugh for so many reasons..

12/3/10.. My big girl

This year Addie has gone from an active crawling baby to a running toddler with countless energy.  She loves dogs, from a distance.  She loves to see dogs, hear dogs, but not touch or pet any pets.  Addie loves to play with her kitchen sets and her imagination is starting to take off.  She loves to pretend to feed us cookies she has found behind the couch or serve us silly plates with her fake foods.  She loves her stuffed animals, especially any of the dogs or monkeys.  She loves Curious George and could read her George books over, over, over and over.    The winter months have been tough because this girl loves to be outside, she loves to play outside, go to the parks, see the ducks, almost any activity that will take us outside.  Obviously because of where we live we still get to enjoy outside play dates, it’s not that bad : )

Addie also loves to laugh, her laugh is my favorite sound in the world.  She often squeals when she laughs or the thought of laugh which always gets us to giggle.   She recently started her fake laugh when she hears others laughing, she doesn’t want to miss out on anything that is funny :)

Addie loves her cousins, and her friends.  She has a very sweet heart and will give hugs willingly and often.  She is still shy so if there are a lot of kids around she tends to be more of an observer than a participant.  She is content observing from the sidelines at times.  She hates when people are sad, she is eager to make someone feel better whether it be with a hug or kiss or getting them a treat of some sort. 

Speaking of treats, Addie loves her chocolate, or candy of any sort.  She got her parent’s sweet tooth.  She is still a great eater, she loves hummus and will often only eat hummus for lunch, dinner, breakfast, snack, you name it.  She loves fruit, eggs, chicken, sausage, cheese, avocados, chips and of course fruit snacks.

Addie is a pretty good communicator.  She doesn’t have many words in her vocabulary but she will figure out a way to communicate with you.  She has a few key signs she still relies on and a few words and she seems to get what she needs :)

Speaking of getting what she needs, man this girl is hard headed.  We are entering the stages of the tantrums and the fits.  A friend of ours said that one your child turned 1 the real parenting starts, and I AGREE.  Timeouts are usually a daily occurrence in our house and for the most part they work.  She is quick to give you a hug and a kiss afterwards to say sorry for whatever it was that got her in TO in the first place.  So far they are effective, let’s hope they stay that way.

At lastly she is a mama’s girl.  My 2 weeks off of work has meant a lot of mommy time for my little girl and it has been great and exhausting.  She loves her daddy but if she had her preferences she makes mommy hold her, give her baths and put her to bed.  She is my little sweetie.

I love this little girl so much and she is greatest blessing in our lives.  I look forward to all of the adventures we will have in 2011

Best Christmas Gift I could ask for

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with our extended family and it was great.  We got to enjoy mom’s home cooking, presents, relaxing, cornhole, gingerbread train making (kind of) and lots of just catching up. 

This was a bittersweet celebration as it was probably the last family get together for the holidays we will have for the near future.  There will be gatherings again but the timing of them is unknown. 

Christmas has always been my mom’s favorite holiday.  I have many memories of decorating the house while her Christmas records (yes, records) played.  While Mom decorated the inside, Dad was always working away outside with the lights.  I have more memories about traditions we had around Christmas than any other holiday.  St. Nick, the decorations, making cookies or pies, sleeping in to purposely drive my brothers crazy on Christmas mornings :)

For this past weekend it was a pretty perfect Christmas for me.  With all of the traditions and holiday hoopla we can get caught up with I was very grateful for my family and being able to spend time together.  I love my brothers, my sister in laws, my nieces, my daughter, my husband and my parents.  This was the tradition I was most grateful to have, to spend time with each other.

Merry Christmas

Our Weekend

We had a great weekend in Childress, but man it was exhausting. 

We drove in late on Friday night and got into town around midnight.  Usually we just sneak Addie back into the crib at Granny’s house and she goes right back to sleep, well not this time.  She had a hard time sleeping on the road this time and when we rolled into town she didn’t like the fact she wasn’t in her bed in her room.  We tried everything to get her to go to sleep but nothing worked so we were going to let her cry it out.  Well, that seemed liked a good plan until her screams of desperation changed to an evil little laugh behind our legs.  Little stinker climbed out the crib for the first time.  After some additional baby proofing around the crib and little more playing she finally went down around 2 in the morning.  She was up for the day at 6:30 in the morning.  Seriously!?!?!?  Addie and I got out of the house so someone could get some rest, we picked up some donuts and headed to the park to watch the ducks.  She went ALL day with just a short little 30 minute nap and another late bedtime.  The next day was a bit better but still tiring.  When we headed out of town to come home she was fast asleep within 2 minutes of the drive and thankfully slept soundly for the next 4 hours.

Despite the lack of sleep we had a great time with the family.

Addie loved spending time with her Granny.

She got to spend some quality time with Aunt Gracie.  How sweet is the picture of her cuddling with Gracie below.  Love it.

We had some typical west Texas winds which were perfect for flying a kite.  Addie started out slowly with her daddy.

Then she went solo for a little bit, she is starting to get the hang of it……

She is quickly taking it higher…

AND HIGHER…not bad for an 18 month old

We got the girls in their Halloween outfits.   How cute is our little lady bug, Kendall.

The Seal boys and their girls. I am pretty sure this was the 100th picture we took in this pose and we finally got everyone to look at the camera and even a couple of smiles (including the boys)

Butterfly Festival

What a fun, great weekend we had.  We happened to trip upon a little butterfly festival in Grapevine several years ago and this week I randomly came across an ad for the same festival and thought it would be a fun family outing.   It was definitely worth the trip even if it was a bit overwhelming for Addie.  The little festival had definitely grown significantly from years past but is still super cute. 

They start out the festival with a little parade of all the kids who dress up for the festivities.   There are small babies, kids, adults, dogs all dressed up in some sort of butterfly gear.  They judge all of the costumes and give out prizes based on age groups, we didn’t stick around to see the winners but we definitely saw some cute costumes.

 

We tried to get a shot by the pumpkins, she wasn’t as enthused about the idea as the rest of us.

Watching the parade begin

Granny, Mommy and Addie enjoying the free crafts

The release of butterflies wasn’t as pretty as you would of hoped for but it was still pretty cool

After the festival we ended up eating an early lunch at Esparza’s and buying some fresh produce at the farmer’s market.  Once we got home Addie slept for 3 hours, I would say it was a pretty perfect Saturday.