Countdown to Crawling?

I'm not sure if it is all the people around to watch her while she plays in the floor or if it is all the large carpeted spaces in my family members' homes, but this girl is getting closer to crawling every day. That stomach seems to get in her way. Dad better get those baby gates up!

Tired Baby

We are in College Station and it has been so fun to catch up with both friends and family. I think we've seen almost everyone there is to see for this trip: Grandma and Grandad Clarkson, Mary Lynn, Mike & Shaela, Matthew, Katie, Porter, Dan & Amber, JD, Emily & Luke, Tilly, Joe and Melissa, Emma, Chris & Jamie, Dave & Serena, Bob and Sun, Gramma Berg & Ann...phew! Tonight we'll see Lori, Annie, and Chloe Blad. Busy Busy!

Addie seemed to really like seeing Emma yesterday. I sat her on the couch next to her yesterday to watch "Signing Time" and she just stared at Emma. Then she tried to touch her which she never does. She's really coming out of her shell with all of these people around. What a rude awakening she'll have next week when it's just the two of us again!

Addie has been so good about traveling too, despite some difficult teething nights. She's pretty tuckered out today. Luckily we're driving back to Houston today and maybe she can start catching up on her rest before we fly to Iowa on Friday! Luke took this picture yesterday morning before church. It was chillier than expected so I just left Addie in her jammies for the morning. He also got a really cute video, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to blog it from Emily's computer. Maybe I'll get it up tomorrow. I think she likes Luke. Or maybe it's the camera she likes...she really smiled it up for him.

Take Two

Last night we played "Take Two" (also known as Speed Scrabble) at Nana's House. It was really funny. Granny tried for a while, and just got frustrated. Then we convinced Pops to play and things got pretty funny. His first round out while we were all adding up our scores he sadly said, "All I've got is 'me' two ways!" It was hard not to laugh at the irony of my dad spelling two of his favorite words. :)

Basking in the Sun

We are having so much fun here in Houston! Both days we've been here it has been sunny and warm. So nice! Plus, we've gotten to have lunch with the cousins (except Emma!) both days which was really cool too. Addie loves being out and about. It's such a change from our ordinary life. She also loves the big carpeted living room at Nana's house. I just sit her down there with some toys and she is happy as a clam for at least 30 minutes. She doesn't crawl yet, but she manages to scoot herself all over the floor on her bum.

This weekend we'll go to Bayou Bend to see Serena, Sun, and Bob. Then we'll head up to College Station until Monday morning. When we get back here on Monday, the Blads will be joining us for a few days. So much to do...so little time! I love this picture of Addie and Pops. They are pals.

Hairdo Queen

 

I realize it's a little early to be trying to fix this girl's hair, but I just had to try. I'll wait a few more weeks and try again! :)

Anthony is starting his nights rotation tonight so I'm catching up on my blogging while I watch AMC's "Shirley it's Easter" Shirley Temple marathon. I'm hooked! At least it isn't "Stepmom." Seems like every other time he works at night that movie is on and Anthony will call to see how I'm doing right in the middle of Susan Sarandon making a quilt out of her children's photographs. I'm choking up just thinking about it...

Happy Easter!

 

Our Easter Sunday was a pretty good one despite the cold weather. I had to put an extra onesie under Addie's Easter dress because it was too cold for her but she still looked pretty cute. She was a little bowhead today and she handled it well.

 

The picture of our Easter table setting was definitely worth posting. Not because I'm so proud of my decorating skills but because I love that my husband knows me well enough to take pictures of the table setting on holidays. I laughed when I went to upload Addie's pictures and found this.

 

Anthony said I have to add some details on our interesting meal. The food was excellent. Steak & Salmon prepared by Brent and Anthony on the grill. Yummmmm. We had an array of good fresh veggies to go with it and some good bread. There was a twist to the event, however, because Holly invited a former Vietnamese coworker of hers and her significant other (named An?) who brought her five year old daughter and unexpectedly a one of her friend's daughters (who did not speak English). The meal was awkward at best.

An was a complete stick in the mud. I was making do with the lame conversation, but I got really thrown when he complimented me on the butter. Yes, the butter. "Wow, this butter is so good!" Like I made it or something? Then a conversation commenced about whether it was salted or unsalted and what brand it was. Of course I didn't know the brand, so Anthony tried to remember whether it was store brand or the one with the Indian lady on it. I was thinking..."Are we REALLY having this conversation?" If that doesn't paint the picture, nothing will.

 

Addie's expression says it all!

Polly Want a Cracker?

 

I gave Addie a baby cracker today. I think the pictures tell it all...she loved them!

Precious Sunshine

 Today we had about 3 hours of sunshine that was sooooo needed. It has been gray for almost an entire week and I'm on the verge of snapping! Today we had a little window of sunshine that was just enough to get a walk in and a few pictures. Grandma Sun is here visiting from Palestine so Addie has been having fun with her. Since we have seen so little of the sun this year, Addie always squints when she is outside so I bought her some shades. She doesn't mind them, but when she's in her stroller looking all around they get knocked off. I guess we'll have to reserve them for laying out by the pool. :) I love this picture of her and Sun...she smiles so hard sometimes! Funny girl.
 

Warmish

 
 
Anthony took Addie outside in the garden today for a few pictures. He was so excited that she sat on the bench so well. I was so excited that there were no injuries! The weather was really nice yesterday and today...almost warm! Anthony took a picture of Addie and I yesterday before church too. I should have had him take one after. I guess it got warmer than the maintenance people were prepared for or something...it was insanely warm in our building. I think Addie has my hot gene. Her little cheeks were bright red and she was so sweaty. If I hadn't had to teach I think we would have just left...I have my priorities! Either way, by the end of church we were both a sweaty mess & Addie was barely dressed. At least everyone got a good laugh out of her chubby rolls! Brent and Holly could not stop staring at the dimples on her knees. So funny.

Silence

 
The past few days have been full of this image here. Addie has her pacifier in ALL the time. Even when I take it out, she picks it back up and pops it in. Her poor little mouth has been hurting her so much. Here she is watching Signing Time with her upside down pacifier. The only thing that lets me know she's enjoying herself is that she wiggles her right foot to the music. So sad!

Smile!

 
For anyone who needed a smile today, I thought I'd share!

Eating is Better With Teeth

 
Adeline cut both bottom teeth this week. She's been pretty needy about it, but she won't mind being able to sink her teeth into food soon I'm sure. In celebration of the new teeth, we let her try out a glazed donut today. Yeah right, this is a frozen bagel that she likes to chew on. It looked like a donut in the picture though, so I had to at least throw it out there. With the new teeth some new expressions have arrived, mostly involving the tongue, and new noises. I got a few "la la las" and "ba ba bas" today. I use to think it was ridiculous for anyone to take note of the fact that their kids were using consonants, but I've read that babies much younger than her can do it so I was starting to brace myself for speech lessons. Phew! Good thing we got that milestone out of the way.

Sailing into Spring?

 
 
 
Since Anthony is pining for a sailboat I just couldn't pass up this little sailor dress. Plus, the novelty of Addie's blue eyes (we both have brown) makes it fun to put her in blue. The first two pictures are just her playing with her mirror...one of her favorite things to do. It's so funny when she looks in the mirror (pic #1). She gets up so close and stares at herself. Anthony was really proud of himself for catching the last shot. No, she cannot stand on her own. Somehow he managed to prop her up while I was out of the room and get this shot. The series of pictures he took even includes gradual shots of her falling...OBVIOUSLY I was out of the room. Crazy man.

Anthony got to watch Adeline yesterday while I taught New Testament. It was her naptime, so he swaddled her and layed her on the floor in an empty classroom. Then he and Brent sat out in the hall talking it up while she snoozed. He thought he was pretty clever. Hmmm...such sacrifice!

Tell me what you really think!

First Time for Everything

I ventured out on Wednesday for the first time with Addie in the stroller and Simon on the leash (for those of you who may not know...Simon is a dog, not an older child.) It could have been a disaster since everyone and their dog (Ha!) was out enjoying the sunshine which usually provokes Simon into a lot of barking and chasing. It went really well. Simon exhausted himself pulling us for about 3/4 of the trip. Then at the end he just tried to walk fast enough with his little tongue wagging to stay out of the wheel path. Addie really enjoyed watching him run ahead though so we'll definitely be doing it again. She just held onto her chubby feet in the air and cooed.

On Tuesday as I was changing Addie's disgusting diaper, for the first time ever...she reached her sweet little hand down and grabbed the yucky diaper. I was barely keeping everything contained as it was and then she did that. All I could do was laugh. Luckily this was her pre-bath diaper change, so we were on our way out of those clothes anyway. I'd heard this would one day happen...

This week I had to turn on our air conditioner for the first time in about six months. This led to a really intelligent conversation between Anthony and I. Last week we got a new furnace. The big green metal box that had previously occupied space in our utility room was replaced with a small shiny metal box that was about half the size. The only other thing you can see near the unit is the ductwork. When I saw it, I halfway wondered to myself, "Where is the air conditioner?" I quickly moved on to another thought assuming that the nice man who replaced the furnace would have let me know if he took my air conditioner.

Yes, the air conditioner did turn on when I ran it this week so that was all good. It was just funny when I mentioned to Anthony that it got hot enough to turn it on because he looked at me and said, "Did it work?" I smiled and said, "Ha! You were wondering where it was too!!" We both enjoyed a little laugh over our how clueless we were and decided it's all fine as long as that invisible air conditioner can cool the house. :)

La La La!

Here are just a few clips of Addie playing. She loves to lay back on the boppy and shreak, so if you are wondering what she's doing...that's it! She'll do it for at least 10 minutes at a time. There are also some with her phone and some new toys that Nana bought her.

Wedded Bliss

Five years ago today Anthony and I were married so I thought I'd recount a few points of interest.

A few things that we've done in these five years:

Children: 1 PERFECT Child, Adeline Park :)

Pets: 1 Not-So-Perfect Dog, Simon

Places Lived: College Station, Texas
Temple, Texas
Iowa City, Iowa (Wow are we boring??)

Vacations: Banff, Alberta, Canada
La Jolla, California
New York City, New York x 2
Mayan Riviera x 2
Minneapolis, Minnesota x 2
Nashville, Tennessee
Chicago, Illinois x 2
Park City, Utah

Outdated Cell Phones: 5

Cars Owned: 4

Car Accidents: 3 (Julie 2, Anthony 1 with a pole)

Jobs: 5 (Julie 4, Anthony 1)

Friends: Too many to count!

Here's to another fabulous 50 plus...and the ambulance siren waking up my baby!

Warm Woolen Mittens

 
 
 
Our friend Tiffany sent this red turtleneck and gloves to Addie for Christmas and I'm finally getting a picture posted of them! Several weeks ago I took a ton of really cute photos in this outfit only to realize after undressing her and putting her down for a nap that there had been no memory card in my camera. I know, there is usually a message to that effect when you turn on the camera. I think the process of staging the picture and getting everything ready somehow distracted me.
Addie's been teething this week and while her extra crying is not great, tonight for the second night in a row she let me rock her to sleep. I really can't remember the last time that happened. She is such a good baby, but when it's time for bed she wants to be in her bed. It was so nice to just chill in the rocker with her. I must say, there wasn't much risk of me falling asleep (which would have been really great) while I rocked her the way I used to because it takes so much effort to hold her big self up now! I'll just take what I can get.

Parenting Tip

So, being the new parent among a lot of experienced parents, I don't often have any advice of value to add to a conversation. As of last night, however, I now have a tidbit of information that some may find valuable: It is a smart idea to always make sure your cell phone is not in your baby's crib when you put them to bed. Yes, I'm sure many of you never thought of that so I thought I'd share.

Last night before Mom and I went to bed I was trying to find my phone. I have the alarm set on it and I didn't want to be waking up anyone at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday so I had her call me to find it. Even while Mom was ringing my phone I couldn't hear it ringing. I continued looking and then it dawned on me that the sweatshirt I was wearing has a tendency to drop things when I lean over to put Addie to bed. I went to the video monitor and turned it on. Sure enough, there she was smiling and bouncing around. I'm sure she was really excited to hear my ring and thought it was time to play. When I went in her room to get it and give her a pacifier she was just kicking her legs and smiling. It was so funny. I felt so dumb! I left the room and went to my bed where I sat and watched her eventually stop bouncing and smiling to suck her pacifier and go back to sleep. What a little angel.

Yesterday we took Addie to the photo place in the mall to get some pictures taken. It was really fun. The first thing we did was some nudes in a little clawfoot bathtub with little rubber ducks. She just smiled away and had so much fun. Then I put this cute gauzy white dress on her and a straw hat. I thought for sure those pictures would be my favorite but the bathtub ones were just too good. We have fun taking pictures here all the time, but this lady was so good at getting her to smile into the camera. We'll definitely be doing that again. If anyone wants to see the pics, just email me and I'll send you the link.

Peaches for Free

We have ice like crazy today and it's such a bummer. We got ice last night and this morning. In a few hours we're suppose to have a blizzard...they always say this but it hasn't happened since we've lived here so we'll see. The lights are flickering so something is up! All the tree branches outside are bending down from the weight of the ice. Addie is business as usual though!

Anthony is off today and he's going stir crazy. (Welcome to my world!) I left for a few hours to get my hair done (yes, it's bad enough that I had to brave the storm...I have priorities!) You'd think I was abandoning him for the week. He kept following me around the house asking what he was suppose to do with "her."

Yesterday "she" tried peaches for the first time. It wasn't as successful as I thought it would be, even with me singing "Millions of peaches, peaches for free...millions of peaches, peaches for me!" I am well on my way to being an embarrassing parent! As visible from her photos on this blog, this girl is not starving but for some reason I feel it is necessary to encourage eating through singing. By the time she is a picky two year old it will be a full Broadway production.

I also bought Addie a play phone yesterday. She is always after my pink Razr phone so I found a pink flip Barbie phone yesterday to chew on instead. She looooves it. I'll have to post a video soon.

Sitting Pretty

The Road To Coolness

The road to coolness is paved with awkwardness! Someday when Adeline is thirteen years old with braces and acne I'll show her these pictures so she can see how far she's come. The first picture here is right after bathtime when I have to lotion her little face up like crazy because of her insane eczema. The Next two are before and after of a roll. Check out those big girl jams!

Ruffle Bum

Here's my little sweetie today. I had to put her in this outfit even though it is kinda "springy" because she is growing out of this size. I put a yellow cardigan on her since it's freezing today and I wore a yellow sweater set so we were matchy matchy. I used to make fun of people that did this, but now I'm seeing how fun it can be. She's turning into quite the accessory! I got this childrens' clothing catalog this week that was full of matching family outfits. Then Anthony had to listen to me dream of dressing children we don't have in matching dresses and suits for an Easter photograph. He's so nice about humoring me.

I had to post the picture of her ruffle bum cause it's just so stinking cute. Today Anthony was holding Addie in church and I just glanced over at them. I seriously couldn't believe this kid's thighs. They are so big!

Celebrities Look Like ME

Okay, so I saw this on Chris' blog and IMMEDIATELY had to copy. Anthony says I'm a dork. I don't care...this is way cooler than that website (can't remember the name) that Randi and I use to frequent in college to find out what kind of dogs we were! :)

Shopping 101

Today was Addie's first official shoe shopping experience! It was pretty exciting. I didn't plan correctly though, because just as the sales clerk was measuring her little foot I realized that I should have brought my camera!! What a cute picture it would have made. So sad. She was very good as they tried different shoes on her little wiggly foot. Every now and then she'd just look over at me like "what is this person doing??"

In the interest of showing her how proper shoe shopping is conducted, when the lady asked which pair we wanted I said, "Hmmmm, we'll take them both." Then, to make sure she's really getting trained up right, we left the evidence in the car instead of parading it all in front of Anthony. I think she'll pick up on this in no time. I can see we are going to have a lot of fun in the future. Plus...shopping sprees for her are much cheaper than shopping sprees for me so there's not much guilt!

Sweet Success

The pacifier provides almost endless entertainment lately...no matter how it is used! A few weeks ago she was acting like she didn't want to take it (not good!), so I started handing it to her like it was a toy to play with instead of directly sticking it in her mouth. Eventually it makes it into her mouth. Sometimes it's even right side up. :)

Love Bug

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm hanging out with Adeline the "love bug" today. We're going downtown to the University of Iowa psychology department to participate in some kind of baby study. It's something to do, what can I say? Actually, I feel it is my duty to make sure that my highly intelligent child participates in such studies to make sure that her segment of the population is accurately represented. Otherwise, they might conclude that babies today are just not very bright. :)

Brrrrrrrr

It's been snowing all day and we are hanging out inside sick so I thought I'd post the latest changes going on here in an effort to preserve sanity! I actually had something fun and social planned for tonight that I had to cancel because I'm sick! :( So sad. Everyone can feel sorry for me now...

- Addie reached for me for the first time yesterday. It was really sweet. Unfortunately, it was right as Anthony picked her up, but we both still thought it was cool.

- Also, when I pick her up from a long night's sleep or even a long nap and she's really hungry she wraps her arms around my face and bites my cheek. It's pretty cute.

- She's also starting to sit by herself these days, which is fun to see. She has a play piano that she likes to sit and bang on. Most other "large motor skills" (as What to Expect the First Year calls them) are on hold. She has no interest in rolling over and still hates to be on her stomach. If my stomach was that round (and it was about 7 months ago) I wouldn't want to lay on it either!