A Little Laugh

You'll never guess what I did today...

So last night while the dryer was drying diapers all night, some things fell off of the dryer onto the floor and into other places, otherwise known as the open washer (now, mind you, I have a top loader--yes it's HE, but it's top loading and huge). Anywho, as I carted the huge load of laundry to the washer this morning, I did not realize that something had fallen into it from the top of the dryer.

As I went to the washer to transfer the clean clothes to the dryer, I was a little perturbed when I opened it and found that all the clothes were covered in tiny pieces of what looked like cardboard-colored paper. I was immediately mad at my dear husband, who should have been presumed innocent until proven guilty, but I'm a busy mom not a lawyer, judge, or juror member.

I tried calling Chris that instant to see what in the world he had shoved in his jeans pocket a few days earlier that could have caused such a disaster in my washer! Lucky for him, he did not answer the first time and I had some time to cool off and take care of the mess a little.

After my dear Christopher Robin called me back, I explained to him what I found in the washing machine and he just "had no idea what that could have been." Hmmmm...the more clothes I transfered to the dryer, the messier it got and then there it was DUN, DUN, DUN.......

This crunched up bag of muck is what was left of a box--yes, a box--of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal that had fallen into the washer! The cardboard-colored paper was actually the BOX! To shorten a long story a little bit, the cardboard pieces came off in the dryer and the lint trap was covered with a 2 inch thick (maybe it was 1, but it seemed like 2) layer of cardboard (probably cinnamon flavored) lint. That's all. Funny story, had to share. Christopher was never actually "blamed" and he remains innocent until the next crime occurs in this household. Thank you, have a nice day!

Happy Birthday Addie!!!

Two days after Christmas...ah, the stress level still high and excitement still brewing!

Addie turned 1!

It's so hard to believe that last year on December 27th, I was about to give birth to a sweet angel, unbeknownst to me. Of course, most of you know that my due date with the middle of January so we were completely surprised when Addie decided to make an appearance early (although I am still convinced that she was right on time and my due date was off!).

This year, the whole day was hers...filled with laughing, playing, celebrating, cake eating, and more present opening! Here's a little clip of her playing with her present from Uncle Jake at Grandma's house--FYI, my mom was unaware that I was taking a video!

After eating her birthday dinner of pizza hot dish (the MN version of baked spaghetti), we had family over for cake and ice cream. Her party didn't really have a theme, but I stuck with brown and pink since her birthday outfit was brown and pink (which I did obsess over finding that silly fabric forever!). She had a strawberry cake with chocolate icing and pink M & M's as polka dots all over. It wasn't the most beautiful thing, but it sure did taste yummy! Addie enjoyed devouring the cake and she was quite a fun little mess in the end!!!

Addie received many very nice gifts from family and friends and we are truly blessed to have so many people in our lives who care about her so much! Thanks to everyone for being part of Addie's life. We look forward to many, many, many more years of happiness with our little blessing!

And no, I didn't make it through the day without getting a little emotional! Tears of Joy!!!

Oh and I almost forgot-- in the middle of the festivities last night, she took 8 steps in a row! And today she has been walking from place to place more than ever...this is just the beginning and I'm ready for it!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas couldn't have come soon enough this year! We were so excited to celebrate our first Christmas with Addie and it ended up to be all that we'd hoped for....Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas Eve service at church was wonderful and geared towards family so Addie was kept entertained by the children and wonderful pictures on the screen during the children's message. The music was beautiful and it was great to see lots of families gathered for worship. We sat in the front row so we were on our BEST behavior the entire time!

We celebrated with Chris' mom after the church service on Christmas Eve and Addie got an Animal Train toy that she loves! When we got home, she took several steps on her own just trying to follow it! Addie dove right in to the presents under the tree on Christmas morning, without any prompting from us. It was as if she had done this before! She didn't know what to do with all her new things and she was so excited to open each and every one.

Then we went to my parents' house to celebrate some more. She figured out that she was so good at opening presents, she would help everyone else open theirs too :) After a delicious lunch of lasagna (Addie loved it!), we rushed off to celebrate at Papaw Mike's house.

Presents everywhere! The car was jam packed full with gifts to and from family and we even had to leave some of the presents at our parents' houses. (We'll pick them up soon, when we can just clear out some space beyond all these toys!!!)

Even though she was sicker than a dog for Christmas, Addie enjoyed herself and can't wait until the next big celebration soon.....

'Tis the Season!

After lots of warnings and "advice" from other parents young and old-er, we took the plunge and put up our Christmas tree the first weekend in December. Now usually I am pushing Chris to get everything out the weekend after Thanksgiving, but for some reason my "hurry up and decorate" attitude was dampened this year by the little person in our house. I could only imagine how curious she might be about the Christmas decorations since she finds new things to "eat" and "play with" in my regular decor on a daily basis.

To our surprise, Addie has been wonderful with all of this. We accomplished a lot of decorating during her naptimes on that Saturday and she was SO funny when I went to get her from her afternoon nap and brought her out to see the lighted tree. "OOOOOH" she said in amazement. I stood her by the tree and asked her what she thought of it and I could just tell she wanted to touch it with all her little heart. She would reach out like she was going to touch it, then slap her hand back really quickly. So funny! Now that it's been around a few weeks, she's getting more brave and will actually take some of the ornaments off...but hands them right to me when I ask her to and we "redecorate" together. So basically I'll say "Bah humbug" to everyone who told us it was "going to be fun" in grumbly voices because we're loving every minute of watching her explore and test the waters when it comes to what she can and can't touch. Luckily, I do not have many breakables and she really can't hurt anything anyway so that makes life easier.

Here she is taking her chance at touching the tree...SO serious!
We are anxiously anticipating the excitement of Christmas morning when Addie has her first experience opening presents. I'm sure it will be so much fun and I'm also sure I'll cry with joy. She better get lots of practice on Christmas day because two days later she'll be celebrating again for her own birthday. I have told many people that I am in denial that she's already going to be 1! It seems like yesterday we were hanging out in the hotel, I mean hospital (The Women's Hosp. is SUPER nice and I had a HUGE room!) waiting for her to be born. Another flood of emotions for me on her birthday as well! Forget Mother's Day in May---my true Mother's Day celebration is going to be December 27th!!!

Along with all the other things that keep me busy during the Christmas season, I have been super busy making Addie's stocking, Christmas outfit and dress. My dear mother is giving me the hardest time about Addie's dress simply because I am the type of person who HATES dresses. I am more of a pants kind of girl myself. I harrass my mom all the time about putting me in little fancy dresses when I was younger. The dress I made for my sweetie is not fancy by any means, but it does include a built in pettycoat--(if you don't know what that is, it's just an additional layer to make the dress more "poofy"). It turned out to be adorable and it even matches her stocking. She'll probably only wear it once (maybe twice), but the fact that it's finished and was a heck of a lot cheaper to make than it would have been to buy is all that matters to me. We're (being me) still pondering which outfit she should wear for our Christmas card picture--it might turn out to be the pants outfit (that's actually a dress with pants that match underneath--she's wearing the pants and shirt in the top picture). So, I'll include some pictures here of her in her "fancy" dress incase they don't make the cut for the Christmas card.

Gobble, Gobble

I just realized it's been almost a month since my last blog---whew, we've been busy! Lots of changes to mention since October...Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving felt like it lasted a whole week and I'm still not sure I'm ready to get back to the daily grind and I know Chris would agree with me on that one. We enjoyed spending lots of family time together over the last week, including getting together with extended family and eating lots of delicious food!

Addie woke up on Thanksgiving with big goals in mind...she decided to start walking using her little "mail cart" I received at one of my baby showers. She hadn't been interested in trying to walk behind the cart until this point, she only played with the little envelopes and things on the cart. So...since this was the most exciting thing that has ever happened on Thanksgiving (being it's her first), we took the cart with us to grandparents' houses so she could show off her new talent. She walked around delivering the mail to everyone and she sure was a big hit with the family!

Among all the attention and napless days, Addie got to try several new foods. Cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, a real green bean (yes, just one), pumpkin pie, and TURKEY of course. No, she didn't throw up and yes, she still slept through the night despite the extra sugar! I think she had lots of fun trying out everything!

She now has FOUR teeth on the top (and still just the two little guys on the bottom). I must say she is quite a different little lady with teeth. Her smile is different and she just looks more grown up. Getting these teeth in has been a treat, including a trip to the doctor's office late last Wednesday with a scare of a fever and pulling ears (we were sure she was getting her first ear infection right in time for the holiday). Addie checked out with a clean bill of health, other than the usual teething adventures.

Talking and imitating is another one of Addie's newest tricks. Besides the typical baby babble, Addie has expanded her vocabulary and actually tries to imitate me and say words I say. She's really good at "what's that?" and "who's that?" which both come out "whsat?" And she just LOVES to bark at Joe and it might be the funniest thing she does. She gets down on hands and knees and barks back at him when he is barking for a treat.

Alright, enough Addie talk for this one...Here are some of the pictures from the last week.

Halloween-y Festivities

I must admit that two weeks ago I was not planning to have Addie dress up for Halloween (I know, I know, we'd miss all the fun--but I thought it might be a waste of time since it's not like she's actually going trick or treating!). I thought of a quick costume idea that didn't involve much effort on my part and it would certainly be cute for pictures, even if no one sees her besides her mommy and daddy.

Addie is going to be a ladybug for Halloween--and thankfully, we already had a black turtleneck and tights to start out the costume. I bought some red tulle and black felt at Wal-mart and made this darling little tutu (with black dots of course) to complete the costume. Addie enjoyed playing with the scraps of tulle as I made the tutu, it was pretty cute.

Good thing I went to all the trouble of throwing something together for the sweetie because the library teacher asked us to dress the kiddos up for Born to Read Babies time today. Addie was hilarious when I first put her tutu on her...she just sat there, like "Mom, I can't move!" until she realized the big, puffy, red stuff would move with her. Her boyfriend Gage was a bumblebee so they looked incredibly cute together! Her other friends Jonathan and Lora were Tigger and a lion. The kiddos all looked so adorable! They even got to make a special craft for Halloween. Addie was interested in eating the stick on ghosts and witches more than anything. It was a fun experience!

I ended up finishing the Halloween pants (and shirt) that I mentioned in a previous blog. All that practice paid off because the outfit turned out SO cute! I am already excited to look for Thanksgiving and Christmas prints to get going on some more outfits for special occasions! This type of stuff sells for big bucks on ebay so you may see my creations up for auction one of these days when I get bold enough to go for it!

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch

I'm a little late on this blog, but the camera battery was dead and I couldn't blog about the pumpkin patch without including pictures! This past Saturday, we took Addie to Mayse Farm Market to visit the pumpkin patch. Although she was too little to play in the corn maze, she had some fun going on a hayride out to "the patch" to pick our very own pumpkin. As you'll notice in the pictures though, she was not willing to show much enthusiasm about the big day (we were there right around naptime, oops!).

We picked out several other pumpkins and gourds back at the store and we even spied a GREAT BIG pumpkin outside, bigger than Addie!

I can't wait to go back to the farm market next year when our little one will be running around and can enjoy the bigger kid activities more--for now, we're enjoying our little crawling bundle.