Snow Days

Evansville got hit with a batch of ice and snow this past week that had a huge effect on many people in this area. My parents and grandparents lost power very early Wednesday morning until late evening Thursday. There were tons of families and businesses without power for a long time, even some who still don't have power back yet. We were feeling very fortunate that our power stayed on...until Friday morning when it flickered on and off and then finally stayed off. Not wanting to stay the night in the cold with our babies, we packed up and headed to my parents' house for a little sleepover.

Our power came back on at some point very early Saturday morning, but we decided to spend the day at grandma and papaw's house playing in the snow. This was Addie's first experience playing in the snow and she LOVED it. We bundled her up and put her new snow boots on (which she was SO excited about) and headed out for a morning of fun. Chris took Addie on the sled and she was loving every minute of it, despite her freezing cold, red nose. She even went down a smaller hill by herself again and again. I was thankful that mom watched Lydia so I could be a part of her experience and play too :)

We had warm cookies and hot chocolate waiting for us when we came inside, mmmmmmmm it was yummy! After lunch, Addie took a nap while I watched a movie with my parents (and Lydia) and Chris played in the snow some more in my dad's Polaris. I just love days like this and didn't really want it to end. I am hopeful that the ice will melt enough for people to get their power back on, but I must admit I'm a little sad to get back into the normal routine of the week.

A gorgeous icy tree


Big girl on her own


My snow angel


Beautiful girl


Pulling Daddy

Happy Baby Girl

Lydia Mae turned 3 months old this past week and I didn't even realize it until a good friend reminded me (thanks Stephanie!). I guess with all the snow and ice we got this week, my brain took a little vacation. Our chunky monkey is such a happy and wonderful baby, sometimes it's hard to believe she's really ours to keep. She has been "talking" and laughing more and more lately and she just loves to smile at people when they talk to her. Lydia especially loves watching her big sister and just smiles with delight when Addie talks to her. She's extremely mellow and goes with the flow most of the time...I'm hoping this is a reflection of how her teenage years will be ;)

I have been trying to capture her laughing on video for several days now and finally got a little clip. I apologize for the shadow on her face, the lighting was bad in our room and I couldn't get her to laugh on cue in the well-lit living room. Enjoy!

Eating her big sister


Hanging out with her pal, Rene (who was born the day before Lydia)


Mommas and our chunky girls--Josi, Rene, Lydia, Me

A Great Ending

Other than a great visit to the doctor on Monday, our week did not start off so well. Among many other little issues, our old man dog, Joe, started in with doggy diarrhea very (I mean VERY) early morning on Tuesday. It wasn't a fun couple of days, but he visited the vet and I think his medication has kicked in. Addie decided to add to the sleeplessness by getting up very (once again, I mean VERY) early the few mornings when we desperately needed just a few more minutes of sleep. Lydia, well, she's Lydia and just slept through all the chaos and was a little angel.

Thankfully, Thursday was a WONDERFUL day around the house and everything went so well I thought I was dreaming. Addie got to have her first experience with finger painting and it was so much fun!

Trying out blue

Making a sweet little mess :)

Smelling it (and almost tasting, but got caught)

Friday, our friend Josi brought her little girl (who was born the day before Lydia!) over for a visit. We had a great time watching the babies play and staring at them in disbelief that they're just about exactly the same size (little chubbers :) Unfortunately, I forgot to get my camera out to catch these two together, but we know another play date is in our future soon.

My favorite moment of the week happened today at lunch. Addie and I were eating spaghetti and she hopped down for a moment to give Lydia a kiss and call her "sugar plum"...I didn't think anything of it and I looked back at Lydia a few minutes later to see this:

Spaghetti sauce eyebrow!

I wonder who did it!!!

Isn't she innocent??

These are the moments I cherish and hold dear in my heart...sisterly love at it's best!

Winding Down in 2009

After all the excitement of Christmas and Addie's birthday, it has been very nice to be on a slower paced schedule so far this year. We didn't do much around here to celebrate the New Year, in fact Chris and I both forgot it was even New Year's Eve most of that day. We did our usual routine of putting Addie to bed and we watched a movie (I don't even remember what we watched, how sad!). I am proud to say that we made it to midnight, but that's been kind of a normal thing lately too.

The first full week of January started off by a visit to the girls' pediatrician on Monday morning. I had been anticipating this visit for a while, just to find out how much weight our little chunky monkey had put on and talk with the doctor about some of Addie's not-so-great habits that have developed since Lydia's birth.

Little Miss Lydia Mae weighs a whopping 14 pounds and 2.5 ounces and is 24 1/4 inches long. She is off the charts for her age, to put it nicely. Needless to say, she is a wonderful little eater and we are both doing very well in that department :) She is also a great sleeper and I won't say much more on that subject for fear of jinxing our good streak we have had going for a while ;) We are enjoying getting to know her little personality more and more every day. She responds with smiles and even almost laughs when we talk to her...and she also babbles right back at us in her own language, it's so sweet.

Love those rolls :)

Big sister Addie is tall and skinny, but we knew that already. She weighs almost 26 pounds and is 36 inches tall. We discussed the pacifier issue with our doctor and decided to "leave the nummy with Dr. Cochran so he could give it to a little baby to use." So far (only about a day and a half in), she is falling for it and doing pretty well. Getting down for a nap was tough yesterday and I decided to pull out a different brand of "nummy" that she can use only at nap and bedtime. The next few days may be difficult for all of us, but we figure if she mastered potty training and carried on complete conversations with us before she even turned 2, getting rid of the nummy should be the last big step into two-dom. Wish us luck (and pray hard!).

I walked in the kitchen only to see the cutest little girl in her Little Mermaid panties and apron

Cooking up somethin' good

Lovin on my girls

Happy Birthday Addie!

Today (Saturday) we celebrated Addie's 2nd birthday...I know, hard to believe she's already 2! We had a small party at my parents' house where we celebrated with grandparents and uncles. Addie was a bit cranky at the beginning (because we tried to encourage her to take a short nap beforehand and she wasn't quite awake yet), but she began to perk up when she saw her Winnie the Pooh cake :) Many, many thanks to my brother's caregiver, Misty, for decorating the cake for us this morning. She "taught" me, so maybe next year I can do it on my own! Here are a few pics from the party...

Ready to open some presents!

Lydia hanging out with grandma

Admiring her cake!

Beautifully done, Misty!

Blowing out her 2 candles...I got a bit teary eyed because she totally did this without any prompting, getting to be such a BIG girl :)

Taking a bite--yum yum!

Trying out her new apron

Wondering what this present is...

Pushing baby in her new stroller

Ooing and Aahing over the playdough, or "my colors" as she calls them

Thanks to everyone for all her wonderful gifts, she is so blessed! There were many "thank yous" said throughout the party and I even caught it on tape...listen for "I love it" also.

After the party, Chris and I took Addie to see her first movie in the theater. We saw, The Tale of Despereaux and it didn't hold her attention (or ours) very well. She did great for her first time, although sometimes forgetting to whisper and shouting "where'd that mouse go?!" so everyone in the theater could hear! I think she thoroughly enjoyed the popcorn and cherry icy we shared with her.

Before heading home, we took Addie to dinner at Los Bravos, one of our favorite authentic Mexican restaurants. She loves their quesadillas, beans, and guacamole dip. She was on her best behavior, even though she had such a busy day and was extremely tired.

I'll never forget this day 2 years ago...one of the most memorable and joyful moments in my life! Addie is such a blessing to us and we are so thankful that God gave her to us!

Christmas Celebrations

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas...before we turn around and celebrate Addie's birthday, I thought I'd post about our Christmas celebrations.

Christmas Eve morning, Addie and I made Christmas sugar cookies and snicker doodles. Addie did a wonderful job rolling out the dough and using the cookie cutters to make the different shapes. Her favorite was the gingerbread man since we have been reading the book, "Gingerbread Baby" a lot lately. She had a great time and even sampled her "work" before it was baked (doesn't everyone do this!).

Rolling the dough

Sprinkling the "salt" as she called it (sugar)

After a nap, we rounded up the troops and headed to the early Christmas Eve service at church. Following the wonderful service, we celebrated Christmas with Papaw Mike, Kim, and Uncle Mikey. Addie enjoyed opening her presents and even thought it might be a good idea to try on some of her new clothes.

Opening her first present

Lydia giving Mommy a Christmas grin

Trying on her new dress

Christmas morning, Addie and Lydia gave us our first present by sleeping in! When everyone was up, we began the fun process of opening gifts. Addie was an absolute hoot this year and she tried to guess what everything was before opening it (takes after her Daddy!). My favorite moment was when she was opening a soft cover book, she said, "Oh, this is my favorite magazine!" Addie helped open Lydia's presents also and even "read" one of her new books to her.

After opening all of our gifts at our house, we headed over to Grandma and Papaw's to celebrate with them and Uncle Jake and Great Grandma and Pa Downing. Addie slowly opened the rest of her presents and then headed downstairs to find her new kitchen! This was the highlight for her and she immediately washed her hands at the sink and began cooking.

Washing her hands before cooking

Stirring up a lovely concoction

I believe I can speak for Chris and I both when I say that the greatest gift for us this year was our beautiful girls. They have brought so much joy to us and our love for them just keeps growing!!!

My two favorite presents :)

Missouri Trip

Friday morning we set out for Missouri to go to my cousin Noah's wedding. The morning started off on a bad note because none of us woke up on time (the alarm was set for 7:15 and I didn't wake up until 8:50 and we were hoping to get out of the house by 9!). I suppose that meant we all needed some extra sleep before getting on the road. Once we got moving, things went extremely well...both girls were absolutely wonderful on the trip. We made two 1 hour stops along the way for lunch/bathroom breaks/snacks. Addie stayed dry the whole entire trip, which we were very impressed with! The drive out there ended up taking us 8 and a half hours, including stops. It wasn't bad, but we were pooped!

Noah's wedding was on Saturday and it was just beautiful. We were able to spend time with family afterwards and it was so nice to be able to catch up with everyone. Addie enjoyed running around the gym, skipping her nap, and wearing herself completely out. She loves my cousins' cousin Brooke, who is 8. They met at Rebecca's wedding last summer, but Addie can say Brooke's name now and actually play with her which really made Brooke's weekend I think. Addie has already stated, "I have to need my Brooke" several times since we've been home :)

We began the long trek home on Sunday morning and caravaned with my parents who had spent the whole week prior to the wedding in Branson, MO. It seemed like we had a few more stops on the way back, but both girls were wonderful again and we couldn't ask for better travelers.

Addie ready to go!

Naptime! Isn't she sweet :)

Daddy and the girls playing in the back of the van during one of our stops

The girls love their daddy

All dressed up for the wedding

Addie and "her Brooke and Grace"