I'm 13 Months Old!

13 Months? 13 Months old???!! I can't believe it. I'll just keep measuring her age in months so I don't have to say 'year'. Time flies when you are having fun, and fun with Addison never stops!

Our girl is doing amazing. It is crazy how much someone so young can have such a personality of her own. I have watched it evolve up until now, but to see her be able to express keeps me in awe. When she is angry, she lets you know. Usually by way of throwing herself on the floor (who knew that one years olds did that?!) or by screaming. But when she is happy it is constant squeals, hysterical gut laughs, huge smiles, and tons of hugs. The hugs are awesome!! She even likes to cuddle up in the AM or early evening with us. It melts my heart!

She still sleeps so well. She goes down at 7 PM and sleeps through until 7AM. She knows her bedtime and goes down without a peep. We read our nightly story and listen to a song or two from her CDs then it is off to dreamland! The only time she really wakes is when she is in pain from teething or an ear infection.

She eats so great! She has a huge appetite, most days I can't figure out how she consumes as much food as she does. She also has 12 teeth now to process all of the new foods she samples!

We still are not walking yet, but she cruises around furniture quite quick. She'll move from couch to coffee table, or from couch to someone. Today even she stood by herself for a few seconds before she realized and then fell. I'm sure it will be soon enough for me that she will be walking. I'm in no hurry!!!

Snack Traps & Sippy Cups

After months of trying every single kind of sippy cup on the market, we have landed on some that the princess will use! We have been trying to introduce the cup since she was about 6 months old. She just never really liked it. She does a good (messy) job of drinking from an actual cup with no lid, but she isn't a fan of a regular sippy cup.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed the bug was quiet. I knew what that mean immediately! I looked to see her drinking a Capri Sun! Roger must have opened it and left it on the coffee table. I was so overwhelmed with pride to see her drinking from something, let alone a Capri Sun (let's be honest, they are easy to squeeze and make a huge mess!) that I didn't even take it away. I'm pretty cautious about what she eats that I don't need to get over hyped when she occasionally has more sugar than I would like. I was just so thrilled to figure out that all she needed was a straw! So now we are the proud owners of various straw sippy cups, and Addison even likes them :)

Lastly, for those of you who don't know, let me tell you about the Snack Trap. It's a cup for snack with a soft plastic lid. The lid has slits in it for kids to pull out snacks, but it doesn't allow them to fall out when tipped over. I love these things! It took Addison about a day to figure out how to work it. They are perfect for in the car or for when I just want to give Addie a snack, but don't want to put her up in her high chair. We even got the stay fresh lids for them. Now I keep them in the diaper bag all of the time :)

Still exploring my birthday loot...!

Addie is still checking out her birthday loot everyday and finding new fun things to do. I'm so lucky, this girl loves toys! She loves to entertain herself, only wanting mommy and daddy to hang out sometimes :( She is still learning how to push the walker my mom got her. She does great walking on her knees behind it.

The other rocker toy from Eyad, Luma, and Zaide we recently just took the bar off of. She can now almost get on and off on her own. She is slowing figuring out to lift her leg up to climb on things, and to turn around backwards to get off of something.

Addison's Playdate :)

We had a playdate with a friend of mine that I met through an online Mom's group. She has an older daughter Kylie an a daughter born the same day as Addison, Jessa. We went to a place in Oak Park called FoFoFiggly's . It was so much fun! And for sure it's a place that kids of all ages can enjoy.

Katie and her family are moving to Oklahoma in January. We are sad to see them go, but it is an awesome opportunity for them. We'll miss them, but we wish them the best!

Pre-Christmas Pics, I forgot to share..

I don't know how I missed posting these; blame the craziness of the holidays. We had put up our tree a little over a week before Christmas. Needless to say, Addison was intrigued. We did put all shatterproof ornaments up with plastic hooks just in case, but she did a great job of listening to "no-no" when she touched the tree. She mostly would just stare and point at the tree, we would tell her "Tree" or "lights", then 5 seconds later-lather, rinse, repeat. Ahh, the joys of teaching children what words are :)

We got presents in the mail from Nana and Aunt Kristen weeks ago. We quickly put them under the tree once it was decorated. Most of the time she left them alone, but on this day she was playing with the gifts. We got some pictures to capture the moment!

Christmas Day Pics!

Addison and her Uncle AJ
Rolling a ball back and forth for the first time with her Uncle David
Checking out the fun new doll baby from Nana
Opening presents
Checking out this fun new toy from Grandma
Caught with her hand in the cookies!
Enjoying an apple :)


Christmas this year was so much fun! To see the holidays through a child's eyes is a gift; A blessing for which I will be forever grateful. This year it was so exciting to see Addison "help" opening gifts and enjoying all of her new toys and clothes. Most of all, Addison enjoyed hanging out and spending time with her family. She is such a special girl to everyone, and she received so much love and gifts from many. We were able to stay home and relax on Christmas day, a tradition that is from my family. We would always visit the grandparents on Christmas Eve, then spend Christmas day at home in our jammies, playing with our new toys. I was so grateful to not have to drag Addison out of the house and drive her around all day. Between Christmas Eve and Christmas day, it was the perfect combination of family and quality time.

Baby Signs

Since Addison was about 6 months old, we have introduced sign language to her. According to the books I have read, you start with one sign 'more'. The sign is simple, you move form a sort of wall with your four fingers on each hand, then you move your hands back and forth tapping your fingertips from one hand to the other. We weren't overly consistent with it, except when Addie was eating. They say babies usually sign back around 9 months. Well, 9 months came and went, no signing. I know the daycare is a factor as well, they don't sign to her. Oh well. But the other day we had huge progress..

On Christmas morning we walked into my mom's kitchen where she was cooking a yummy breakfast. Addison practically dove out of my arms towards the griddle signing more. I was stunned and so proud at the same time! She even signed again after she ate and wanted more. Then the other day I picked her up from school. The kids were waiting for the teacher to give them a snack, but I had picked Addie up from the chair before she got any. She quickly turned to me and signed 'more'. Her teachers told me she signs often. Again, I was one proud parent!!
So now we will move on to new signs. Of course, I need to dig out my book and see what comes next. Supposedly after they learn 'more' the others come quicker. I'm looking forward to it!!

Christmas Eve Pics!

The only pics of Addison in her dress. She wasn't too comfy, so we changed her into jammies pretty quick. She looked so cute though!
Roger and his Uncle Ken
Really investigating her new Leap Frog Learning Bus from Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ken

Mommy and her girl :) Still lovin' the bus!

These were just Addie's presents! Such a special girl!!!

Loving her new bean bag chair from her Grandma Debbie. Aunt Cindy is helping her check it out!
Bribery by way of Kit Kat :)

Addison's First Visit With Santa!

Addison isn't quite looking at the camera, but she wasn't crying so we took it! Of course if Roger had listened to the litlle elf, he would have stood in the right place and she would have been looking straight ahead.

Our Christmas Card!

It was really rough trying to get a good picture of Addison for the card. Between her not feeling good and being so busy up until her party, I just didn't have the chance I would have liked to really pull a card together. I still love the big smile we wound up with for the card :)

A Sweet "Ma Ma" for Me :)

At night we lay Addison down around 7PM. We play one of her nighttime CDs and lay her down with her blanket and bunny. She drifts off to sleep so peacefully. The other night, she randomly woke up again around 8:30, I of course headed in to see what she was doing. As I walked in the room and looked in her crib she sat up, raised her arms, looked at me and said "ma ma". It was the first time she had said the word and I knew that she was using it intentionally. Nothing could melt my heart faster than that! I promptly picked her up and snuggled with her before I put her back down :)

Christmas Card Out-takes!

You can see the actual card when it arrives in your mailbox ;) These were some of the extras from our unsuccessful photo shoots. Not that i can blame her, she's been sick for weeks :(