Welcome to Sesame Street

This is it! We are officially having a Sesame Street themed 1st birthday party for Miss Addison Grace! I found it really difficult (at first) to come up with a great theme for Addison's birthday. I wanted to do something REALLY special for her. Something that would be entirely original and definitely fun and personal. But how personal can a theme be when you start planning and the baby is only 10 months old? Well that was what I was having trouble with. I know Addie has a real love on for bright colours and textures, so I originally thought a theme like the very hungry caterpillar would be good. But, when I started looking at the decorations and stuff it just didn't seem right for Addie. So off to the party store to explore ideas we went. The party store had so many themes for kids birthday's and they were all cute, but they seemed so over done and typical. Then I got to the Sesame Street aisle. I took one look at all the Sesame Street stuff and realized that Sesame Street is the only thing Addison really gets excited about. She goes crazy when she sees Elmo on TV. Her arms start flapping around, she rocks (her dance style at the moment) and she starts screaming with joy. The child can not get enough of Elmo, and loves the whole Sesame Street cast. How could I have missed this for a theme? It is definitely not orginal, I mean kids have been loving Sesame Street and having Sesame Street birthday parties for 30 years! But, this party is all about Addison, and Addison loves Sesame Street. So Sesame Street it is. I already have all the invitations filled out and ready to send next week. Being on a long weekend, I want to give everyone plenty of notice. We made a trip to Michael's craft store last week and I got all the stuff I needed to make her birthday banner, I have all the decorations planned and the menu decided. Addison already has her birthday outfit, and the guest cupcakes and smash cake have been ordered (sorry, no peeking at any of it until the actual party!) I am absolutely thrilled that Addison's first birthday is going to be in our own house, and that it will be the first time that our family and friends get to see the house. We are not done with Sesame Street yet though! We will be living on Sesame Street for another week because it is also the theme I am using for my sister in law's baby shower the following weekend. Both parties are going to be similar, but unique and I am equally excited planning both. I can't wait to see all the bright coloured decorations up and see our house full of friends and family.

Dear Addison: 10 Months old

My little Addie Girl. Are you already 10 months old?? I don't know how it could be possible. I keep thinking that this time last year, when the spring weather came, I was getting so big and was daydreaming about you every day. Wondering what you looked like, and what kind of personality you would have. Well, I am so happy to have the answers to those questions now.

You have changed and grown so much this month that I am beginning to think you're going to skip the rest of your babyhood and go straight into toddlerhood. You started crawling last month, but this month you really have your knees up, and now you are very fast and hard to keep up with! You haven't gained much weight this month because you are so active and you didn't eat much when you were sick, but you are making up for that now. You are eating so well at meal times, but you still love your bubbas and are a picky eater. You really prefer sweet foods, and your favorites right now are sweet potatoes and mango.

You stood up this month! And not only are you pulling yourself up on things to stand, but when you're holding on, you actually walk around things like the coffee table and your new activity center. You are standing up in your crib all the time now so it's a good thing we lowered it a few weeks ago!

You said your first word this month. Daddy and I were not surprised at all that it was ducky. We are still waiting for you to say it again, but you usually do something one day and then wait about 2 weeks to do it again, so we will just be patient. In the meantime, you started pointing to things this week so we really know what you want, and you are also doing really well signing. Your best signs are for more, milk and all done. It is so cute watching you sign.

I am having so much fun planning your first birthday party already. I have all the invitations ready to be sent out in a week or two, and have all the details planned already. We are going to do a Sesame Street theme since it is clearly your favorite show. You have a special love of Elmo, so we`ll make sure he comes to the party in some form.

Addie girl, you are really my pride and joy. You make me laugh every single day, and I am constantly in awe of how beautiful you are and how funny you are. You are so aware of what is going on, and you really understand most of what Daddy and I say to you. My love, I am so happy to have you in my life, and I just love watching you learn and grow every day.

I love you bigger than the sky!
Love always, your mama
XOXOXOXOX

Our new kitchen!

We go to visit our new house every single weekend. We aren't actually supposed to be at the house until it closes, but we are so excited that we just can't wait to see what has been done since we were there last. Two weeks ago when we went, they had the ceramic floors done. Last week they had the painting done. Today we went for our regular check thinking that the carpets would be done, but to our great surprise we found the kitchen was almost done! We walked around looking in the windows, and decided to stop by the model home and see if we could weasel ourselves into getting into the house (we are pretty good at buttering up the sales girl there). She took us over and we got to go in and see our new kitchen! It's still missing the sink and the range for the stove, but it is almost finished. We ordered black appliances that will come when the house closes, and ignore the hideous builder grade light fixture, we already know what we are going to replace it with.


So here it is:

What do you think?

Y3W: It's A Girl!

Y3W: It's A Girl!!

I think it is about time that I make an announcement!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

No, not mine! (not quite yet) My sister in law is officially expecting a baby girl in July! Ryan and I are so excited for this baby. It will be Jackie's first baby, the second grandchild on that side of the family, and Addison's first cousin!!

We are so thrilled that the baby is a girl because I can already see them playing together, sharing clothes, and being as close as sisters. It makes me feel good to know that even if I don't have another daughter, Addison will have another girl in the family her age. Not having a sister myself, and having my only girl cousin over a decade older than me and living thousands of miles away, I always wished for a close girl relationship, and I really want this for Addison.

Her name? Olivia Marie. I LOVE her name! I think it is beautifully simple and elegant.

I am so eagerly waiting for the arrival of my niece. Congratulations Jackie! We are already in love with Olivia

The girl can TALK!!

We officially have a first word. Remember yesterday when I said I didn't believe Ryan that Addison had said ducky? Well... I can say this now because I know he doesn't read this blog, but he was right!

Yesterday morning she looked right at her bottle and said "bubba" asking for it. Then, when I was getting her dressed, she threw a fit (she REALLY prefers to be naked) and looked right at me and said "Mama!" like she was yelling at me to stop putting clothes on.

I was really happy with this progress, but I really wanted to know if she could say "ducky" so after I picked her up from daycare, we were playing and I gave her a duck toy, and asked her if she could say ducky.... she looked right at me and said the cutest thing ever. DUCKY!

It sounded more like "duck-key" but she can definitely say it, and she definitely knows what it means.

So exciting!! Right? Do I want my 10 month old talking yet?

Wordful Wednesday

Two nights ago Ryan was giving Addison her bath, when he starts yelling for me. Assuming he needed a towel or something (because Daddy's are never as prepared as Mommy's) I grabbed a towel and headed into the bathroom. While he did need a towel, that wasn't what he was yelling about.

Apparently when he threw her toys in the tub, Ryan asked her where her ducky was and she grabbed her duck and said "ducky". Apparently she said it four times before I got there. When I went in, she was playing with her toys and babbling, but nothing even close to any word.

So I asked Ryan how positive he was that she said it, and he said he was absolutely positive that not only did she say it, but she knew exactly what she was saying. It really wouldn't surprise me if "ducky" was her first word, she has loved ducks since she first saw them, and we play with her duckies in the bath every night and every night that I bathe her I sing the rubber ducky song to her (you know Ernie's song from Sesame Street) and she LOVES the song and the duckies.

Ryan said the word was clear enough to mark in her baby book as her first word, but I think I'll wait until I hear it too.

Y3W: 9 Month Stats

Y3W: 9 Month Stats

Although Addison will be 10 months in a little over a week, she just had her 9 month appointment today. I decided that since Addison got so sick (and ended up in the hospital) at her last shot appointment and since she was so sick for the past two weeks, we were going to skip the shots today. I wanted to keep the appointment for her to check her stats though since at her last appointment (2 months ago) Addie had apparently not grown since her previous appointment (2 months before that). The doctor was okay with not giving her the shots for the reasons I had, but thought that since her reactions are getting worse and worse to the shots, and since she is sensitive to milk, it would be a good idea to see an allergist and find out what exactly is going on. While she was writing referrals, she wrote one for the opthamalogist as well so that we can talk about what to do with her blocked tear duct that is not resolving itself on its own like we had hoped it would.

Here are the current stats: 2 months ago, Addison weighed 16lbs and was 26 inches long. She had only gained about a pound from the last appointment and had not grown in length at all (even though she'd outgrown two clothing sizes in between appointments). So today, Addison weighed 16lbs 5oz and was 26.5 inches long. Addison had definitely gained more weight than 5oz in two months, but since she started crawling she's been burning more calories, and then add being sick for two weeks and you have more weight loss than weight gain. As for her height... well neither Ryan nor I are tall people so I'm not expecting her to be either, and at least she is growing and is healthy, she doesn't need to be tall.

We have the next appointment in May (her one year shots) so we'll see what happens in the meantime with the allergist and the opthamologist.

Right now I realize I have a little peanut for a daughter, but she's a beautiful, joyful and healthy little peanut, and that's all that matters. If she wants to stay little forever, I would love that.

Playing with Mama

What's better than spending a grey Thursday morning playing with a basket of toys? Playing with a basket of toys and your mama!

Daycare Update!

Addison had her first day of daycare today. I was so nervous I was actually feeling sick to my stomach for days leading up to this day, and it was everything I could do to walk out that door today leaving my precious baby girl at daycare for the first time.

I took Addison over a little early so that I could sit with her while she got adjusted, but when we got there, the other baby was already there plus the daycare owner's four year old daughter and they were all playing with toys on a blanket in the livingroom. So Addie basically pushed me out of the way to get to the kids and toys and never looked back! Some parents might feel a little sad if this happened to them, but to me it was the best case scenario. It means that my daughter is well adjusted, and knows that I love her and wouldn't take her somewhere (and leave her) anywhere that wasn't safe.

I stayed for 15 minutes while the kids played and I talked to the daycare owner about Addie and what she likes/dislikes, when she eats ect, and then I kissed my girl goodbye and waved from the door and I got this enormous smile from her as I left. It was beautiful, it was like she was telling me "it's okay mama, I'm going to have fun here, don't worry about me" .

When I went to pick her up, my girl was all smiles and babbles! I was told she never cried at all, laughed and played all day, and even though she didn't nap, she was very happy and a joy to have there. She even ate a whole meal for the first time in two weeks since she's been sick!

I am feeling a lot better about her going to daycare now, and very impressed with my little social butterfly.

A nice Sunday drive

Addie got this new car for Christmas (thank you Grandma Frost!) and she absolutely LOVES it! Every single day she crawls over to the car and looks at Grampie waiting until he comes over to push her around the house for a drive. She's gotten so good at it that she knows to hold on tight and immediately lifts her feet up when she starts moving. Here she is going for a Sunday drive.

Look who's standing!

Look who can pull herself up and stand on her own! Addie started pulling herself up on things this week and standing. The first couple times she did it she surprised herself though and couldn't figure out how to get down so she cried. But she's over it now and is pulling herself up on everything she can find. Today we even have to lower the crib so that she can't hang over the edge when she gets up on that. Way to go baby girl, soon you'll be able to stand all by yourself!

Y3W: Fun with Jello!

Y3W: Fun with Jello

Addison has a new obsession. TEXTURE! She loves to touch and explore the entire environment around her, but is especially enthralled with the texture of everything. The first thing she does when she has something new is feel it. It is REALLY cute the way she does it too. First she gets this intense and very concentrated look on her face, and then she very carefully runs her fingers along the new surface, exploring every little bump, dip, embellishment, or crevice. Next comes the scratch test, where she keeps the concentrated expression but puts both hands on the surface and starts scratching it. I guess it takes both methods to truely learn the texture. It is so funny and so interesting to watch.

Her favorite texture right now is satin. She loves to run the satin lining on her blankets through her hands and up around her face before she falls asleep. There are different types of satin on each of her blankets and her favorite is the black satin on her paris blanket.

So I want to develop her senses and am always trying to think of ways to help her learn and discover new things, but she makes it a little difficult for me because everything has to be edible. My first thought was finger painting, but since she'll eat that, I thought I' d make her her own jello. Here's what happened with the jello experiment: