Y3W: Merry Christmas Addison!

Merry Christmas Baby girl! Daddy and I are so excited to share our first Christmas as a family. This year Christmas is going to be very busy! It's Christmas Eve now, and today you are spending the day with Grammie and Grampie Knight (probably being more spoiled than I will ever know) while Mama cleans the house and packs and Daddy is at work.

Later, Daddy and I will come over and we're all going to have Chinese food for dinner before we go to church. You have a beautiful little dress to wear to church tonight, but if you're too tired, we may have to cancel church this year and tell you the Christmas story ourselves. It will be bedtime after church and we're hoping you get a good night's sleep since tomorrow is going to be so busy.

Tomorrow is Christmas day, and we are going to be hurried all day. Daddy likes to refer to the "run run Rudolph" song when we talk about how busy a day it is. We're going to get up at Grammie and Grampie's, open all your presents and then get ready to go to the airport! Grammie and Grampie are taking us to the airport so we can catch our plane to Miami, and from there, we're going to rent a car and drive to Marathon Florida where we'll meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Phillips, Aunt Nikki, Aunt Jackie, and Uncle Ryan (who left last night to drive). We should be in Marathon around 10pm. It's going to be a long day sweet girl, but it's your first Christmas and it is going to be fun too!

Merry 1st Christmas Addison!!

Love Mama and Daddy

xoxoxoxoxo

7 Months Old

Dear Addison,

This has been one busy week for you and me. We are getting ready for Christmas AND for our first real family vacation, all happening on the same day. But, even though we've been busy, and I'm posting this late, I did not forget that you turned 7 months old on Monday.

It is so weird for me to remember this exact day last year because daddy and I were just getting our first ultrasound of you. I cannot ever explain to you how I felt when I got to see your little body and count your fingers and toes on that day. It was this day last year that we found out we were getting a daughter, and boy have we loved that you are our little girl.

So here's what you've been up to this past month. You've decided you like to sleep through the night, but only if you get to sleep in mommy and daddy's bed. I usually put you down for the night at 8pm and you will sleep until midnight, then you want a bottle. You're still only drinking a 5oz bottle, but if I feed you and put you back in your crib, you'll wake up at 2 and then again at 5 am before getting up for the day at 7:30am. If at midnight I put you in with us, and you share my pillow, you sleep until 8am. Most nights I keep putting you back in your crib, but lately I've been so busy and sick with a cold that I just let you snuggle.

You are teething right now and it is really hard for me to watch. I hate watching you in pain, and sometimes your little gums hurt so much that even your baby advil doesn't help. You chew constantly on your fingers, and anything else you can get near your mouth, and your cheeks are all chapped. You are starting to get a little drool rash around your chin, and have been spitting up quite a bit lately too. I can feel the little edges of teeth through the gums, so I hope they break free soon and you are no longer in pain.

You are doing really well at eating solid foods! So far you've tried sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, rice and oatmeal cereal, pears, bananas, applesauce and prunes. Your favorites are applesauce and prunes, and you hated the peas. You eat solids at breakfast and at dinner every day, and when I have time off with you, you get them for lunch too. You usually eat quite a bit and then still drink your bottle.

Your little personality is getting stronger every day. You are hilarious and you know it! You love to imitate your family members blowing raspberries, and fake coughing, and you have the cutest laugh. Your favorite things to do right now are to bounce in your jumperoo, play pat a cake, and pretty much anything involving your daddy. You are extra snuggly with your mama, but you love to play with your daddy. You are no longer afraid of uncle Ryan, but you now hate the bird tapestry that Grandma Phillips has in her hallway. You look at it and cry, or scowl. No one really knows why you hate it, but you will turn your head in its direction to scowl at it when we turn you away from it.

As far as milestones go, you made your first signs a couple weeks ago. You signed "more" and "milk" and although they weren't perfect, you did a very good job and both mama and daddy knew exactly what you meant. We practice signing every day, and you love the songs we know in sign language.

Tomorrow is Christmas eve, and I cannot tell you how excited your daddy and I am to celebrate our first Christmas together as a family. We can't wait to see you open your presents, and we even got you your own vegetable and turkey dinner. I am anxious about our plane ride in the afternoon, because I am afraid your ears are going to pop and you'll cry the whole time, but I am trying to think positively that everything will go smoothly and you will sleep.

Well baby girl, I'd better go for now, you are awake from your nap and want to play. Here are some pictures of you this month, my beautiful 7 month old baby girl.

Investigating mashed potatoes at your great grandfather Phillips house

Playing video games with daddy

Playing in your jumperoo

Enjoying the wrapping paper from your Christmas party

Love always, your mama

xoxoxoxoxo

Addison's Christmas Party

Friday was Addison's first Christmas party! It was held with our mommy and me group and it was so much fun! 8 of the 10 babies were there and it was super cute watching the babies play with each other. Addie loves playing with the other babies. It's really cool that they've known each other since they were literally weeks old, and they actually recognize each other. I am fascinated by Addie's clear preference for Xavier though. We won't tell Daddy that her BFF is a boy, but wow did she pick a cute one!

The party was great. We ate good food, had good conversation, the babies played and entertained each other, and there were so many hands around that it seemed like there were more mamas than babies. We also did a secret Santa gift exchange and Addie got a couple really cute outfits and a first Christmas blanket.

Here are some pictures of the party.

Addie and Mama opening her present Addie enjoyed eating the wrapping paper more than the gift itself

Addison + Xavier = BFF

8 Babies on a couch, does it get any cuter than that?

What's all this white stuff?

Well Addie girl, this is what it looks like out our front door today.

Welcome to the snow belt of Canada. Last winter we hardly got any snow at all, but that was the first year that Mommy and Daddy had ever seen a winter like that around here. I'm sorry you weren't lucky enough to live in Hawaii or some other tropical place that is warm and beautiful all year, but you are lucky to have a Mommy and Daddy who know how to enjoy the snow!

You're in luck! Because we get so much snow, Mommy and Daddy are experts at digging snow forts and we also know how to make a mean snowman. Mommy can't wait to teach you how to skate (maybe you'll even love figure skating like Mama used to do) and Daddy swears he'll still be good at snowboarding when you're big enough to stand on your own board. Another advantage to having parents who grew up in the snowbelt, is that we know where all the good sledding hills are and aren't afraid to ride with you on a crazy carpet or a GT.

I can't believe how much snow we have already Addison, What a first winter you're having! You should see how cute you are all bundled up when we go out. Here are some pictures of you in your car seat all nice and cozy and in your new snowsuit.

Weekend Wrap Up

We packed A LOT into this weekend.

Friday Addie and I spent the day with my mom. My little brother was kind enough to put my winter tires on for me (which it looks like I'm REALLY going to need this winter) so while he was doing that, us girls went where else... shopping. We went to Toys R Us and my mom got a few toys for her friends kids, she got us our umbrella stroller for Florida, and I got Addie a bundle me for her car seat. If you don't have one, get one. It is so much easier to snuggle her into that than trying to fight to get her coat on and then strap her in while she's all bulky. Addison clearly loves her little baby nest since she now falls asleep as soon as she warms up in there. In the afternoon, I left Addie with my parents while I did a little Christmas shopping. Ryan and I are almost done our shopping, and I am excited to finally finish it this week!

Saturday we went with my parents to Drysdales Christmas Tree Farm. First we went to see Santa. They have this entire little cottage set up so that when you walk in, it's like walking into Santa's house in the North Pole. Very cute. But the best part is that you can take your own pictures for free! You just give Santa your kid and start snapping away. Addie did much better with this Santa than the mall Santa and although she still didn't give us a smile, it was very cute the way she was watching him so intently. Then we went on a sleigh ride with these beautiful horses through the tree farm, and Addie really enjoyed watching everyone on the sleigh and seeing the horses moving. After the sleigh ride we got some hot apple cider, and then went off to the gift shop. I found the perfect Baby's First Christmas ornament there. It's a glass ball, and it is open on one side with a yellow glass duckling right in the middle. On the top it's etched in the glass ball to say Baby's First Christmas. Considering Addison's love of ducks, it couldn't be more perfect.

Next we left Addison with her grandparents and went to look at some houses. It is really handy having Ryan's dad as our real estate agent. He knows exactly what we're looking for. This time of year there isn't much on the market in our price range, so when we saw this house that was a little below our budget and had everything we were looking for, we jumped on it.

Sunday Ryan's dad called the listing agents office to get some more info on the house since it had only been on the market for like 4 days. The office said that there had been 10 showings on Saturday, it was booked up all of Sunday and there was already an offer on the table. The sellers had decided to wait until 5pm Sunday to review all offers. So Ryan's dad put our offer together, we even offered them $3,000 more than their asking price, and we waited.

Unfortunately, there had been 4 offers altogether by Sunday at 5pm and when ours was considered, it sounded like we bid the highest amount, but we lost it due to our condition that we have until the end of March to close. The couple wanted to sell immediately. Because of the multiple offers, we never even got a chance to negotiate.

Ryan and I were pretty disappointed, especially since we have been looking for months and this was the first house that we both loved. It really had everything on our need list, and just about everything on our want list too. A little discouraging, but at least we've now been through the process and know it's not that scary, and we have faith that God will find us a home when the time is right. So for now we just keep looking. We know our house is out there somewhere.

Christmas Card Preview

I am working on photoshopping a picture of Addison for our Christmas cards, but here is a little preview of our little Christmas baby:

Weekend Wrap Up

Wow. Is the weekend over already? This weekend was a complete blur.
Friday night we went to dinner with the lovely ladies I work with for our Christmas get together. It was nice for me to get to meet all the other team members I have since we are all self contracted and most of them I had never met before. Poor Ryan was pretty bored though. Maybe next year I'll go stag and he can have some alone time with Addie girl.

Saturday we raced up to North Bay to spend some time with Ryan's grandfather since we won't be around for Christmas. Ryan's parents, his brother in law and both sisters were there too. Addie was a good girl in the car, which was a great surprise because the 2 1/2 hour drive was what I was dreading the most since Addison is only good for very short trips in her car seat. As long as I was entertaining her she was happy though, and made for a great drive.

Saturday night my mother in law made a great turkey and ham dinner, and we enjoyed spending time with the family eating a good meal, playing cards and just relaxing. Addison decided she wanted to be part of all the action too however and extended her bedtime by about 4 hours. The kid has more stamina than anyone I have ever met. Between 9am and 11 pm she had only slept for 15 minutes but she was still full of energy and the happiest baby around. She finally fell asleep at 11pm and slept until 4am when she woke up to eat and refused to go back into her pack and play to sleep. I tried rocking her to sleep and putting her down 4 times before I gave in and let her sleep with us yet again. But in my defense, I didn't want to wake up the whole house. The instant she had her head down on our bed she fell asleep and stayed that way until 9:30am when we all got up. It was actually nice sleeping in a little bit.

Sunday morning we got up, went out for breakfast, packed up and left. Ryan had to be in Toronto Sunday evening to set up a trade show booth for work, so we couldn't stay. Addie slept the entire way home. What a treat! We were only home for about an hour before Ryan had to leave, so I gave Addie her bath and massage, read her a Christmas story and she went right to sleep.

It feels like it should still be Friday night. It was so great to spend time with the family, I'm not sure Ryan's grandfather has another Christmas in him, and he was so thrilled to see his great grand daughter, it was worth the rushing just to see that. Ryan's grandfather also handed down his old hunting rifle to Ryan which was very special for both of them. Thank goodness it's staying in North Bay until spring though. I appreciate the sentiment, and Ryan got involved in hunting this year, so I do know he needs his own gun, but I am really apprehensive about having it in the house, even though it is unloaded, has a trigger lock and will be kept hidden somewhere in a gun locker.

Oh, and in case you're wondering how the baby whisperer was..... you're going to have to find a review online. I forgot to bring it with me to North Bay and Addison is currently sleeping soundly in my bed after waking up literally 7 times within an hour in her own crib.

Y3W: Still Not Sleeping!

Y3W: Still Not Sleeping

It's now been 6 1/2 months since Addison graced us with her presence. I can hardly believe that it's been that long and that she is growing and learning so quickly. But.... it also seems like an eternity since I have gotten any real sleep!

Addie started sleeping through the night at 4 weeks old, and we were so happy and everyone in our mommy and me group was jealous, until her 2 month shots when she started getting up every two hours. Things haven't changed much. Lately, she's been sleeping like this:

7pm goes right to sleep in her crib
9pm wakes up for a 5oz bottle and goes back to sleep in her crib
12am wakes up for a 5 oz bottle and goes back to sleep in her crib
3:30am wakes up for a 5 oz bottle and goes back to sleep in her crib
5am wakes up and will not go back to sleep unless I bring her into bed with us

By 5am, I am exhausted, and I have been doing really good about letting her complain in her crib and only getting up to rock her back to sleep when she starts crying, but this week I have given up. By 5am, she will go directly back to sleep as long as I am holding her or she is in our bed. If I put her back in her crib, she'll wake up every 10 minutes or so for almost an hour until she falls back to sleep.

I've tried feeding her more before bed, and it doesn't help, she either stops eating when she's full, or if she eats too much she just throws it back up (she has a small tummy that only holds up to 6oz). I am not willing to let her cry herself to sleep, but I also don't want her to think it's okay to sleep in our bed either.

What are you other moms doing that works? Aside from her dinner of cereal, with a veggie or fruit, she is strictly BF if that makes a difference.

Who does she look like?

I carried this kid for 9 months, I'm the one that couldn't sleep, I'm the one that dealt with morning sickness, I'm the one that got fat, and I'm the one that gave birth to this beautiful baby. Too bad you'd never know she was mine!

Since the day Addison was born, I've been getting all kinds of comments like " She looks just like her father", "Doesn't she look like her daddy", "She must take after her father" -> from people who don't know Ryan, and my favorite: "I'm so sorry but she looks nothing like you". At first, I thought it was hard to tell since she had that wrinkly newborn look to her, but there's no more denying it. She looks exactly like her daddy.

Here is a picture my father in law found of him holding Ryan when he was about Addison's age. If Gary didn't look almost 30 years younger in the picture, I would even swear he was holding Addison.

What do you think? Think she looks like her Daddy? (Poll on the side)

Ryan between 4-6 months old

Addison 6 months old

Me at 3 months old