Bread

I got home from the hairdresser today to find Anthony and Addie playing on the couch. Right as I was hanging up my coat, I hear Anthony say, "She smells funny." I'm like, "huh? What does she smell like?" His well thought out reply, "bread." Hmmmmm. So I finish putting up my stuff and showing off my new do & go to pick her up. Yeah she smells funny, it's called a DIRTY DIAPER. He was so playing me. He says, "oh, really???" with a silly grin on his face. He didn't even lift a finger to pretend he was thinking about going to take care of it. Goober. The smell of bread will never be the same.

Swingin'

Here are some funny faces I got while Addie was in her swing this afternoon.


 

Christmas Spirit

For those who know me, you know I am generally quite into Christmas. I don't know what is happening to me this year, but I've got a bit of Scrooge going on. Maybe it's the dreary Iowa weather we're experiencing this week...who knows. Either way, my day today is rather bla and there's a good reason for it: The Hallmark Channel. Yes, last night after Anthony left for work I set out in search of a little Christmas cheer to get the ball rolling before December 1st hits and I found it on the Hallmark Channel. I watched 4, yes FOUR, movies in a row and finally at midnight when one repeated I fell asleep. Great way to start my Monday! Anyway, for anyone else who may be struggling I thought the least I could accomplish today would be to post about these movies!

One Magic Christmas: Mary Steenbergen works as a checker in a grocery store, never says "Merry Christmas" and wears a long puffy mauve coat for most of the movie. It will make you cry - the coat and the movie.

Timepiece: One story in the "Christmas Box" series. I love the series, so I gave this movie a shot. The actress in it has a horrible British accent, but James Earl Jones is in it and I still cried.

Season for Miracles: Patty Duke plays an angel in a small town. Laura Dern is a druggy mom. There's a love story. It's good, really.

Fallen Angel: It's a Christmas love story with Gary Sinise, there is a little blind girl involved, and a happy ending. :)

For the complete schedule of Christmas cheer on the Hallmark Channel, go here and for ABC Family's Christmas movies (also a good choice) go here.

Cute Addie story for the day - I just went into her room because she's waking herself up early from her nap. As I was tucking her into her blanket, she was smiling and licking the blanket. Kinda funny.

Pride and Prejudice?

Well, we got a great compliment today for Addie. A gal at church said that she looked like a baby out of a Jane Austen book. She was wearing her pink and white dress from Strausburg (yes, it BARELY still fits!) and her little black patent mary janes. So cute. The only thing wrong with the outfit were the ridiculous cartoons that were visible through her white ruffle bum tights. I don't understand why they don't just make them WHITE. I mean, does a baby really get that much enjoyment out of cartoons on her bum? I on the other hand, do get some strange enjoyment out of the ruffles on her bum. Not sure who is crazier, the diaper people or me. I would have taken a picture after church, but it was so wrinkled and soaked with spit up. I was just happy to get it off of her! The upside of her not getting much napping in during church is that we all crash in the afternoon. Before we had Adeline, people use to warn me that my nice relaxing Sundays were over. I have to say, they are just as relaxing these days, only a little more fun because of her.

Yummy!

This gal loves to eat and she's really pretty good at eating from a spoon. Nana and Pops left this morning, so it's back to just the two of us. Anthony is actually off tonight so maybe we'll play a little with him when he wakes up.
I had a "first" today. Today was the first time I got puke right in my face. It was awesome! I was on my back with Addie in the air and she puked right in my eye. It went all over my face, in my hair, and then my clothes as I moved to put her down! Wow. Luckily, this was pre-shower anyway. I'll be sure to keep all active play pre-shower from now on!
Three weeks until we go to TEXAS! I just can't wait. :)
 

Happy Thanksgiving

Well we had a very happy turkey time today. Addie was so great while I got the meal ready today. Of course, she did have a new TV in the living room to watch, which was nice. We found a super cheap (really...I've never even heard of this brand) TV that fits into the shelves on the main floor so she can watch a video or something while I cook in the kitchen.
She started rice cereal and is getting pretty good at it. The only problem is that once she gets going, you better really shovel it in cause she doesn't like pauses. She starts to cry in between every bite. As evident from all the photos on this blog, she's not exactly starving. Holly offered to feed her while I was finishing some stuff on dinner today and she couldn't get it in Addie's mouth fast enough.
All in all, the meal was great and the company was better. Unfortunately Anthony had to go to work right after we finished up the meal, but it was great to have him with us for a while. Addie is having fun with Nana and Pops and it is good to get her around other people than us so that she can be social. Christmas isn't far away and we've got to get her ready to be seen by all.
This first picture is all Nana's doing. She came in the door the other night wearing this. She and Anthony thought it would be fun to get a picture of Addie wearing it. Addie wasn't sure what to think. The second picture was last night before bedtime. Nana was helping me keep her up until 7 p.m. and decided to take her to Nick Jr. for some Dora the Explorer. We were all surprised at how it captured her attention. She just sat there sucking on the pacifier watching this show for almost 30 minutes. The last picture has nothing to do with Addie...I just like taking pictures of my pretty table tops!

 

Hmmmmm

There's not much to elaborate on about today, but I had to make a post just for Emily's sake because Addie just hummed herself to sleep for the first time. I'm so proud! :) Aside from that, it's been a typical upside down Sunday where the naps are goofy and her mood is just okay. We went up to the hospital for a few minutes to see Anthony, but it was short and sweet because he was busy and she was crazy. I couldn't get a smile for the photo, but had to share the outfit with everyone. She makes me look good these days. 

Pink

Anthony always loves it when I dress Addie in anything other than the color pink. So yesterday I put her in a blueish-purple top and some blue jeans. Now, the top did have bows on it and the pants had both bows and ruffles. And she did look cute. Despite that, when we went to the hospital to have lunch with Anthony all of his coworkers kept asking what "his" name was. Even as Anthony kept talking about "her" and "she" each new person that arrived asked about "him." One guy even kept calling her "little buddy." Either way, I think he now sees the value in pink. We could avoid the confusion if I would just adopt the bowhead look, but I just don't think that is for us. She can wear bows when she has hair and I will really enjoy it. I actually deviated from this rule the other day and bought a red velvet bowhead thing to match her Christmas outfit. It will probably only be used for our Christmas card photo, but either way I felt kinda shallow breaking one of my own rules. It's just that every other time I see a baby girl with one of these on it has fallen over her eyes. I'd much rather waste my time trying to keep cute shoes on her feet than a bow on her head. Anthony says we should pierce her ears...don't worry Nana, it won't happen! Not until she's been able to beg for it for at least two years. Maybe then. 

I Give Up!

I have a hard time getting Addie to lay on her stomach and hold her head up for long periods of time, so today I put her on the bed close to the TV so that she could see Baby Einstein. She held her head up longer than usual, but as you can see from the picture here she eventually gave up. She still enjoyed the view out of the one eye that could catch the TV though.
I don't take pride in talking about dirty diapers, however, she really got me today. I had gag reflex and everything. She saved up for two days and this morning while I was taking a shower she did a number to beat all numbers. It was in front and back...everywhere. She even got her hands in it which is a first of which I hear there will be many more occasions. Wow. Oh, and I realized that I have not been cutting her fingernails short enough because of the yellowish stuff underneath them after this episode. You'd think her scratched forehead would have tipped me off, but no. We were playing on my bed after the "big bang" and I noticed she had yellow fingernails!! Ugghh, I'd like to say I think I got it all but who really knows. Yummm. She is suppose to be napping right now, but she's talking to herself. :) 

Sweet Cherry Pie

Well, Addie made up for not sleeping through the night all week last night. She went to bed at 7 p.m. and got up at 7:30 a.m. I think Anthony had to plug her with the pacifier around 5:30 when he was getting ready for work. Not too shabby. When she does that, it's hard for me to complain at all when she won't take a nap longer than 45 minutes!
To top it off, last night when I was putting her to bed she was in her finest form. I wrapped her up good and snug and started singing some of our usual bedtime songs. She decided to sing along. It was insanely cute. When I stopped singing, she'd stop and when I'd start up a new song she chimed right in. I guess she didn't want me to forget how cute she is while she was sleeping for 12 hours. Sweet girl.
Look at this excellent head control! Today we're going to buy a turkey for Thanksgiving...very exciting. :) 

Stragglers

These two cuties didn't make it on w/ the last one...Enjoy!

Weekly Update

So it's been a week since I posted here...exactly a week since the night Anthony took over for me with Addie so that I could go to a baby shower. Everything has been upside down since then! He was so pleased with the fact that he got Addie to hold her own bottle while he watched TV. I was not very impressed when I was up with a gassy baby all night. Since then, I think there has only been one night that I didn't get up! Of course, Anthony is not aware of this because he doesn't notice when I am up at night...sleep must be nice. :)
All sleepless nights aside, we've had a nice week. Part of my difficulty with baby sleep at night has been due to the changing weather. I'm having a hard time keeping her room a good temperature. She's either too cold or too hot it seems. She's so high maintenance...I tell you.

The first two pictures here are some morning pics I had Anthony take on Saturday. No matter how rough the night is, she's always so stinking cute in the morning it makes up for it. This girl has mastered the chubby baby look...so funny. Check out the rolls.
My other two photos are just some good ones Anthony took while he was off this weekend. Yesterday morning he needed to go in her room to get something before leaving the house, so I turned the video monitor on to see if she'd woken up. Evidently she had, but she was just cooing away by herself. I put a mobile in her crib a few weeks ago with little jungle animals on it and she loves it. She was just chatting away with all the animals. She went on for almost thirty minutes before yelling for me, and yes, she yells. It's not a cry, she just kind of makes a loud noise to get my attention. Funny. 

What's wrong with this picture?

Anthony says Addie prefers to wear her socks on her hands. After weeks of working like crazy, he had the weekend off and they got the chance to bond. They mostly watch TV or he takes her picture. Last night he made Addie laugh over and over. It was so cute. I get a laugh now and then, but not over and over. I'm glad they got some good time together since he's going to have her on his own tomorrow night while I go to a baby shower. Maybe I should take a picture of what the house looks like when I get home? :) Last time he was on his own in the evening I got home and it looked like a tornado had hit.

Good Behavior

It was only four weeks ago when Anthony took Addie to Priesthood with him and was humbled by the greatest blowout we've yet to see. For this reason, I was really impressed that he was willing to give it another try. Lucky for him, she slept the entire time this round. In return, he gave her a star sticker in the middle of her forehead. I didn't even realize it was there until I had walked all the way through the building with her on my way to the car. I just thought everyone was turning and smiling because I had this adorable baby in my arms...till someone laughed and said, "Who did that?"
Either way, I'm glad she behaved for him. Today has gone suprisingly well considering we went through 5 hours of church meetings today. She's a very reverent child. :) People make comments about how quiet and sweet she is. I just sigh and give myself a pat on the back for being such a good parent...Ha! She's just good, that's all. She came that way.
For anyone who wants to know, here's Anthony's boring fact of the day: Pluto is no longer considered a planet. Wow, my world has changed knowing that. Hmmmm...the elementary school study of the planets will never be the same! This really should have been publicized better, I mean, there are parents out there teaching their children the planets! Truly earth shattering. 

Laundry Day

It's not really laundry day, but Addie decided to make it come early. Today's laundry load had 2 wet pj's, 2 wet blankets to go with the pj's, 9 spit up outfits, 2 spit up blankets, endless burp rags from the spits, and a diaper blowout outfit just for kicks. She's been having a little fun with me for the past few days. So what have I learned from this? Hmmm, I'm thinking that my latest resolve to shed some baby weight may have something to do with it. Broccoli, black beans, onions, celery, garlic, carrots, and red peppers have all been a part of my diet in abundance for the last week. So maybe I'll do the Special K diet w/ some soymilk! That shouldn't bother her...the problem is that I get insanely hungry on cereal alone. Anyway, that's the excitement for the day. She's literally spit up every 5 minutes she's been awake for the past 3 days. I just feel bad cause I know it's no fun for her.
She also has a nasty case of cradle cap going on. She tries to scratch at it, hence the red marks on her forehead. It doesn't seem to matter how short her nails are, she still scratches her face. Crazy girl. She's still sweet as can be though. :) 

New Addie Info for the Week

1. She loves blowing bubbles with her spit. I totally ruin the fun when I wipe her face off.
2. Once she's been sitting or standing up for a while...laying down is lame, so I have to save the sitting and standing for the last little bit before she takes her nap. Otherwise she'll want me to hold her for the whole time. She's getting a little opinion!
3. She likes fresh toothpaste breath! She sniffs it right after you brush your teeth & her eyes get big. Then she smiles. Pretty funny. Hope she doesn't hate me too much first thing in the morning when she wakes me up. :)
4. She ALMOST has a laugh...
5. Bedtime: 8 p.m
6. Waketime: 7 a.m. Yeah Baby!!

In My Pretty Garden

My very spooky Halloween began with photographing Addie as a flower and ended with watching "Hocus Pocus" with Brent and Holly. Yeah, I'm just not a fan of the scary stuff. Brent and Holly love scary movies and they were even kind enough to accommodate my low threshold for spook with "Hocus Pocus." Although, I don't know how much tolerance was going on when I had to listen to Brent's commentary on the movie the whole time..."Now Julie, I just want you to know that this part is a little scary. Just remember, there are not really witches and they can't fly...okay?" Then later, "Julie, that book with the eye...it's not real...don't be scared." Punk. We're going to miss them when they graduate! :)

It was a weird feeling putting Addie to bed and having the night to ourselves with friends. She is going to bed earlier all the time and daylight savings really pushed it up. Just after three months of having her around all the time, I keep waiting for her to wake up and need me! No need though.