Happy 1/2 Birthday, Addison!

Addison turned six months old about a week ago. We can't believe she's already 6 months! She is doing more things day by day. We are totally smitten with this baby girl! I took her to the doctor on Friday for her 6 month check up, and here are her stats:

Weight: 15 lbs. 11 oz. (50%)

Height: 25 1/2 inches (50-75%)

Head: 97 %

Here she is at her check-up waiting for the doctor to come see her.

Some things I want to remember that she's doing right now:

• Eating vegetables. So far, she's tried peas, green beans, carrots, butternut squash, and sweet potatoes. Green beans are her least favorite right now, but she will eat them. I recently started fruit with her. She's only had applesauce, and seems to like it.
• Sitting up. She can sit up for several minutes straight without support. This is really nice, because we can put her in a high chair when we go eat, and she likes to be able to sit and not be crammed in her car seat. This skill has also come in handy when I take her to the store, because she can sit in the front of the cart and look all around or play with toys while I shop :)
• Becoming more and more aware of her enviroment. I went into her room the other day with her on my hip to get something, and she started crying a little because she thought I was going to put her down for bed (she had just gotten up from a nap not long before this). As soon as I left the room, she was fine :) I did this twice to see if that was what had made her upset, and she did the same thing both times.
• Giggling and laughing more everyday. For the longest time, you had to be hysterical to get good belly laughs out of her, but now she's letting loose with the good laughs more often.
• Continues to squeal, yell, fake cough more and more.
• Continues to put whatever she can get her hands on in her mouth, and she will wiggle or move to get that little something to put in her mouth.
• Does not like having something taken from her that she is enjoying in her mouth, and will tell you about it...not that I blame her :)
• Loves to be sung to, and really likes the songs that have motor movements to go with them.

Okay, that's enough. I just keep on thinking of different things she does now, but I don't need to go overboard :)

This is what happens when you cough with a spoonful of carrots in front of your mouth.

This was taken by Stephen. They were playing peek a boo together with the burp cloth. She loves her daddy!

Trying out her swing in the backyard. Some friends of ours were getting rid of their swing set, and were giving it away free of charge...we were happy to take it off their hands.

In her hippo towel after bath time. She still loves her bath time!

This picture was taken on her actual 6 month birthday, so I had to include it. Just sitting up on our bed playing with toys.

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Addison! You have blessed our lives beyond belief these past 6 months!

40th anniversary bash!

Last weekend, we flew to Memphis to throw a suprise 40th anniversary party for my parents. My four siblings and I decided months ago that we wanted to do this for our parents, because we knew they would love it! Stephen, Addison, and I flew in Friday and stayed with one of my sisters, and the party was Saturday night. We were in town all day Saturday, and my parents had no idea. The party Saturday night was AWESOME! My parents were completely shocked!! They thought they were going to a dinner to honor a friend of theirs in the construction business, so we had them completely fooled. When they found out that this was a party to celebrate their 40 years of marriage, my parents went back and forth from laughing and shedding some tears. It was one of those moments that I will always remember and cherish, because they felt so honored by us and the family and friends that were there. We even had a slideshow of old and new pictures taken over the last 40 years....one of my sisters went over to there house one weekend when they were out of town and got the stash of pictures :) Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Stephen and Addison at the airport on Friday before we flew out.


Carter, my nephew, loves holding Addison.


Stephen playing poker with Sam, another one of my nephews.





A guys picture from the party: (from the left) Stephen, Will, Tommy, Jason, and Jeff




The happy couple. My mom had several pictures from the night where she was waving at the camera :)



Ashlee and I. Ashlee is the 3rd girl in the family and I'm the 4th.

Here's a family picture we took at the end of an evening of dancing: (from the left) Tiffany, Ashlee, Wes, Dad, Mom, Lesle, and I.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

this and that...

Well, next week is the start of a new school year, and I will be back to work. I'm working four days a week, and have many different feelings about going back to work. I'm nervous, excited, sad....it's all bittersweet because I will miss Addison but I do enjoy my job! She's staying with an in home sitter that's 2 minutes from my school, so I can stop in and see her on my lunch break if it doesn't upset her when I have to leave again. So, keep Addison and I in your prayers during this transition time.

This last week, I had inservice. So, my mom and grandmother came to town to watch Addison for me this first week. I got spoiled with having them cook a couple of dinners, clean my house, and love on my baby girl!! I think having them watch her this first week definitely helped me prepare for next week. Here are a few pictures from the past week or two.


Four generations of women in the family.


Addison is teething, so she will put anything in her mouth and chomp down. Here is Addison chewing on the top of a baby Tylenol bottle that has the little chewy "bulb" on top. My mom gave her that to chew on in the car when she was getting a little fussy and she liked it. She doesn't need a toy to put in her mouth, she'll grab for watches, bracelets, necklaces, hair, her outfits, fingers, etc.

This is now how Addison likes to sit in her bumbo chair most of the time. This position allows her to get anything within her reach. The other morning she tried to grab 3 items within a minute, so I was trying to get to those items before her to keep her from getting them or knocking them down :) She's growing up so fast!

Below, is a short video of her sitting up by herself on our bed with a special guest appearance by Layla. Lately she likes sitting in a chair with a few of her toys. She'll go from toy to toy and put them in her mouth while she's sitting up in the chair. The back and the sides of the chair give her support if she needs it. Like I said, she is growing up so fast! It's amazing at the changes that occur in a matter of days!

I hope everyone has a great week!

New experiences...

Lately, Addison has done or experienced some different things. Such as:


I mentioned in the last blog post that she has started rolling over. Since this has started, nap time may consist of me going into her room usually more than once and seeing this sweet, innocent face, and having to roll her back over. Doesn't she look so proud of herself??


Today, I caught her staring at herself in the mirror on her activity jumper. She did this for over a minute. I guess she's taking after her aunt Ashlee and I, because we are both known to look at ourselves in any surface with a reflection :)



We went to Target the other day, and I decided to see how Addison would do sitting up in the shopping cart. Someone made her this cute shopping cart cover as a gift, so I was eager to try it out even though I knew she wasn't 100% ready to do this without my support. She did need my support several times during the trip to keep her upright. She enjoyed it for the most part, but she did cry a couple of times. When she cried, I would get her out and carry her for a few minutes, then I would put her back in the shopping cart and she would be fine again. I'm always up for trying out new things :)

Addison loves to "pet" Layla when Layla is close to her. Layla is really a great dog, and will let Addison do anything to her. I guess it helps that Layla likes any kind of attention she can get :)

Today, I decided to put together Addison's space saver high chair. I put it together in her room, and then put Addison in it so she could watch me clean the guest bathroom. Who knows, I may even use it when I feed her!


* Sorry if the pictures aren't the best quality. I've been in the habit of using the camera on my phone more than using our real camera, because it's more accessible at that time.

5 months old!

Addison Darby turned five months old yesterday! The time has flown by! I've got to be home with her for five months before going back to work, and have so enjoyed getting to watch her grow and do more new things every day. This little girl has become such a huge part of our lives these last several months, and has filled our hearts with so much joy and love. Sometimes when I lay her down for nap or bedtime I sing the song "I love you with the love of the Lord, I love you with the love of the Lord. I see in you the glory of my King, and I love you with the love of the Lord." It brings tears to my eyes every time, because those words sum it all up for me! We love you baby girl!

Okay, here are some things I want to remember that Addison is doing right now:

• playing with toys when she has her tummy time
• doing more things with her little voice: screaming, squealing, fake coughing, cooing
• laughing more often
• watching, touching, trying to suck on our dog, layla. yes, she has attempted to try to put layla in her mouth like one of her toys.
• plays or puts in her mouth a variety of toys. she will also suck or bite down on our fingers or arms...think she might be teething!
• is doing well with eating oatmeal. she likes the oatmeal better than the rice cereal.
• can really make herself bounce in her activity bouncer
• can hold her body up on her legs when we hold her up, and has even started to make herself bounce up and down when we do this.
• rolled over for the first time today! she has been close to this for a while, but finally did it this morning during tummy time! i've been waiting for this to happen, but she was going to do it when and only when SHE was ready :)
• has days that she's fine in her carseat and days that she is horrible in the carseat :)
• still loves to sit up, so we are working on doing this with as little assistance as possible
• loves grabbing her right foot and hanging on, and has only gone for the left foot a couple of times.

I know there are some other things I'm leaving out, but I think that's the majority of them. I am not good about keeping up with the baby book, so this blog is my way of recording milestones that she's doing month to month :)

Playing with her toys while she's on her tummy.

This was this morning a few minutes before she rolled over for the first time :)

t
This was her in one of her precious outfits after church last Sunday.

Look at that body!

This is the face I usually get when she sees the camera on her.

I helped with VBS a couple of days last week, and we carpooled with the Fitzgerald's those days. I saw this when we opened the door to get them out, and thought it was too cute not to get a picture of. I think this was one of the few trips that Cooper didn't have to listen to Addison fuss the whole time :)

Here's a little video I took the other day when Addison woke up from her nap. Getting her from nap time or in the morning is one of Stephen and I's favorite times, because she's always so happy to see us.

Florida 2009

Addison and I went to Florida a little over a week ago with my parents, siblings, and all my sibling's kids. Of course, we had a great time! Addison got to spend some quality time with her aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, and got spoiled all week long! I slept in a room with Tiffany and Lesle (two of my sisters), and Addison slept in a closet in the bathroom connected to that room...we definitely pack as many people as we can into my sister's condo. In the morning, Tiffany would get Addison out of her crib when she started talking and stirring, and she loved getting to share in Addison's sweet smiles and excitement she gives in the morning. Every afternoon when it was time for Addison to have her oatmeal, she would sit in papaw's lap while I fed it to her (sad that I didn't get a picture of this)...you make due with a lap when you don't have all your baby accessories with you :) The weather was not hot like Texas' weather has been, so I would take her down in between naptimes to hang out at the beach or pool and she was so content being down there....got to love those ocean breezes! She usually goes to bed for the night between 7:30-8, so I got to stay up and spend time with my family. It was fun staying up late talking, laughing, watching movies!! Can't tell you how much I love my family, and feel so blessed to have them! Here are some pictures from the week. They're kind of showing up blurry on blogger, so hopefully they won't show up as blurry on the post.


Addison at the pool. It is no small feat to get this butterball into a swimsuit :)


Look at that bathing suit bod! she's just soaking the environment in.



My sisters and I lounging at the beach.



Dad and Presley entertaining Addison on the floor.

Coby holding Addison and letting her see his stuffed animal.

My brother, Wes, and his two boys, Aidan and Ethan

Most of the cousins hanging out in the hot tub. It was just the right temperature.

Here are my attempts at getting some beach shot of Addison. It was so bright, so she couldn't open her eyes up all the way and I couldn't tell how the pictures were turning out. I got very few good ones :(

Sam, Coby, and Ethan trying to look for and catch various creatures in the ocean.

Carter holding Addsion. He just got up in the morning...don't you love the morning mohawk!

From the left: Sam, Presley, Coby, Ethan, and Peyton. This was them hanging out and watching TV in our bed one morning.

Here is Same letting Addison play with his guinea pig that he named Fat with Stripes (creative, huh?) This 8 year old boy loves the stuffed animals and has quite the collection...surely he'll grow out of it someday :)

Addison did great on the flights there and back! She has been such a good little traveler thus far. She didn't have any problems sleeping well in a pack n play while we were there....Such a sweet girl! She is 5 months old on Sunday...can't believe how fast the time has gone by!

check-up, shots, and rice cereal...

I took Addison for her 4 month check up last Tuesday. She is doing great! She got her 4 month shots, and barely cried at all. She didn't even seem real affected by the shots that day, which was such a change from last time. Of course, I gave her Tylenol every several hours to help with any pain she might be having, but last time the Tylenol didn't seem to help her feel 100%. Anyways, the doctor was pleased with her progress, and he gave us the okay to start rice cereal and then move to vegetables in another month or so. Here were her stats from her appointment:
Weight: 13 pounds, 10 ounces (50%)
Height: 24.3 inches (50-75%)
Head: 16.8 (90-95%) she doesn't look like she has an abnormally large head for her body, but it is well rounded so maybe that's why it's measuring big :)

This is baby girl after her shots....doesn't really seemed phased by them. She's just chilling in her stroller and trying to eat the straps. She will put anything in her mouth that she gets in her grasp.

Here she is giving me big smiles that afternoon after her shots.

We tried rice cereal for the first time yesterday. She didn't seem to be a big fan of it. She gagged a couple of times, and would frequently purse her lips so I couldn't get the spoon in her month. I mean does a four month old really need to have already figured out that if she purses her lips then it will prevent her from having to eat the rice cereal??? Can we say stubborn? I think Stephen and I are in for quite a ride with this little girl :) I did mix the rice cereal with formula instead of my milk, so I don't know if it was too many new flavors at once. Today, I'm going to try mixing it with my milk to see if a familiar taste mixed with the ceral will get a better outcome. So, it's trial by error, but I'm determined to keep on trying. She may be stubborn but so am I !

I really don't think we could love this little girl anymore than we already do!