A Little of This and That...

Alright, I feel as though I've been MIA in the blog world lately so it's time to catch up. I've been quite busy the last week or so because I actually SOLD some things on eBay and it got me all in a tizzy. (Not a bad tizzy I might add, it was very exciting, yet time consuming!) I listed and sold 9 items amounting to a grand total of nearly $90! It was exhilerating!!! Really it wasn't all that exciting, but it was enjoyable to watch things that have been taking up space in our small house go to a good home where they will be loved. For a few hours on Tuesday, our house literally looked like one of those pack and ship franchise places; boxes of all shapes and sizes everywhere! Addie was in heaven finding all kinds of new things to get into!

Speaking of the little darling, she has been just a joy lately, despite the fact that she's working on getting some more teeth! I have been accused by my husband of not following through with my best intentions about keeping track of the little things she does that are fun and new to us...so I have decided that rather than try to find a non-existent place to write them all in the baby book, you all get to read about them.

First of all, she loves to help me with the laundry. Since I feel like I should be getting paid by the hour to do the laundry, I try to find ways to make it more fun (for both of us). Addie sits in the laundry basket as it glides on the floor to and from the dryer to get new, fresh loads and then she plays in the basket full of clothes/towels/diapers, etc. handing me items to fold. She hasn't quite gotten the hang of leaving the nice, neat folded piles alone, but anything to make it interesting for mama.

Recently, when we read books she turns the pages on cue for me. She started this yesterday morning and did it several times throughout the day, so we'll call it one of her new tricks. It's darn cute, if I do say so myself! She absolutely LOVES books, period. We have been going to the library for "Born to Read Babies" the last couple weeks and she really enjoys seeing other kids and doing all those "sing-songy" things. Although I will say that it happens to be right in the middle of her morning naptime so she does create quite the emotional show now and then.

She amazes me more and more each day when we go outside to watch for butterflies, hummingbirds, and chickadees. The first time I saw her looking out the window at a butterfly, I couldn't believe she really saw it. Now, it seems like she sees them before I do sometimes! Even when she is sitting on my lap facing away from either of the bird feeders, if I say "Look Addie, there's a hummingbird at the feeder," she'll turn around quietly and watch it. If I whisper something to her while we're watching the birds, she'll "whisper" right back to me (of course this doesn't work the same way in church!). I read somewhere recently that babies at this age (around 9 mo.) understand a lot more than we give them credit for...and I am a true believer of that as I watch her take it all in!

We've got a big weekend/week ahead of us--Addie's getting baptized on Sunday (FINALLY!!) and then we're leaving for the Smoky Mountains that afternoon. Chris is especially in need of a vacation and I can't wait to get away from the daily routine and spend time together as a family in the mountains. We are excited to hike the beautiful trails and see nature from a whole different view. I am probably the most excited for Addie to go someplace she's never been and to experience all sorts of new things. Hopefully I'll have a lot to write about when we get back. Until then, I'll be doing laundry, doing more laundry, packing, doing last minute laundry and repacking, and getting us all ready to go on our first "family vacation." Yeah!