Addie's Foot Fetish

If it is not her thumb in her mouth it's her feet in her hands. Addison has suddenly become enthralled with her lower extremities, most notably her feet. She loves to watch them fly around as she kicks in the air and she will grab hold of them with her hands and roll side to side, just chatting to herself. There have been a few attempts to actually get the foot in her mouth, one was successful but the others have been hindered by the fact that she is slightly chunky.

Life as a single parent still sucks but we are definitly used to our routine. It will be interesting to see when Alex gets back how much he will disrupt our flow. I suppose we will then just have to get into a new routine; life's all about changes and going with the flow. With such an easy going happy baby, I am sure it will not be difficult.

Bed time is a dream most nights. She will let me know when she is starting to get sleepy, usually around 8:00. I try to push it a little later, because I have found if she goes to sleep at 8:30 then she only wakes up once instead of twice at night. Weird how much difference 30 minutes makes. I don't know how much the cereal is really helping her sleep more, to be honest there is absolutely no difference. I guess everyone who told me babies sleep better when they start eating solids just got lucky babies!

This Wednesday starts our first Kindermusik class. Kindermusik is a national organization that brings music appreciation to all age levels. The class we have signed up for is entitled "Busy Bee" and we will be singing songs and playing musical instruments that all relate to our daily chores. Hmm, a song to help me get through laundry? Whatever works!

I have posted a few pictures from our four month photo shoot. I am Shea Halliburton's new biggest fan. This woman worked wonders for us because Addie was so cranky that whole day (of course) and just did NOT want to be photographed. But these pictures are amazing and I love them. I hope you enjoy them too. You can see more @ http://byshea.com/addisongrace

Four-Month Doctor Visit

Yesterday, Addison and I returned to the doctor for her four-month visit. She was blissfully unaware that she had to get shots; a luxury that I know she will only be able to experience a little while longer. As always random people were stopping to say hi to her, including nearly every nurse in the office. She turned on the charm, no surprise there, and smiled and cooed at everyone. Her height and weight check only confirmed the obvious, that she is a healthy baby, still in the 75th percentile. I was slightly annoyed because my suspicions were confirmed that she has in fact out-grown the diapers I just bought.

Even the shots were tolerable, I had to hold her arms down which was terrible but she took it like a rock star and as soon as they let her legs go and I picked her up she was done crying. The rest of the night she was a bit sore, but just slept it off (no complaints from her mother!).

Each day she is making more noise and really getting out actual vowel sounds. Occasionally a consonant will be thrown in too. She still cannot sit up yet, but she's trying. There is always something in her mouth, most often her thumb. If she does not have her thumb then she is attempting to put one of her many toys in her mouth, a feat that is becoming more manageable every day as she can hold on to something for longer periods.

My favorite new experience however is her new found fascination with the dogs. Before she ignored their presence (which I think they enjoyed). Now they will pass by her line of vision and she will smile and swing her arm out in a feeble attempt to grab them. If they are sitting next to me, and she is on my lap, she will hold onto their fur or an ear if she's lucky. The response from the three of them is varied. Shia is the most tolerant and will just stare at her wearily. Dakota will sit for a minute but once she starts banging on him he quickly finds another seat. And poor Snoopy, who has been in protest of her since the beginning, won't even come near her.

I wish I had some exciting story to post about the Farmer's Market, but because of last weekend's weather we did not attend. I am making plans for this weekend though, and should hopefully have some pictures as well!

Our Rollie-Pollie

The name Rollie-Pollie (or Rolly Polly... I don't even know if those are real words but I have said them many times) definitely fits Miss Addie for several reasons.
1. Her thighs... talk about rolls. I mean this girl has definitely got some chunky little legs on her and I love it! She is also sporting what I like to refer to as a "ghetto booty". She did not get that from my side.
2. She rolled over today! It all came about as we were lying on the bed playing with a toy. I set her an arms length away from me and little by little she wiggled her way over to me. Then as she was reaching for her thumb she pushed off with her leg and flipped herself all the way over from her back to her belly. I think the whole experience shocked her a little bit, but the thumb quickly soothed the situation and she fell asleep. I was so excited at first but now I realize... with her even the tiniest bit mobile I cannot leave her random places anymore. (Not that I am a negligent parent but now I have to be extra careful.)

After attending a sustainable tourism conference today, I have a renewed sense of how important it is to be a good steward. I have always known it's necessary and have tried (albeit half heartedly at times) to be a conscious earth-saver, but there are so many times I allow life to get in the way. But I have new priorities now. Most importantly, I want to make sure I am passing positive values on to my child. Yeah, it may be a bit early to have her sorting through recycling; but I don't think it is too early to have her start exploring the world around her. My wish is that she becomes someone who has a respect for the environment. So, in the spirit of stewardship, this weekend Addie and I are going to a local farmer's market as well as get our own garden in order this season. I have just been waiting for the opportunity to get to one of the local farmers markets and now I finally have the chance!

Mothers Day Moments

As this was my first official Mother's Day I was hoping for something memorable. Indeed, the day was memorable and truth be told I thoroughly enjoyed it all. It started with breakfast made by my loving husband. (I had everything laid out on the kitchen counter ready to go for him!) Afterwards we drove to our local state park and went hiking with the dogs. The weather was great and after nearly two-weeks straight of rain, we were excited to see the sun. Of course the trails were a bit muddy, but we didn't care. Since it was so nice we decided to take the scenic route home and travel down some country roads we had never been on before.

While driving we passed by a little convenience store with a huge plastic cow (sporting some stylish pink glasses) and I thought "Oh how cute - let's take a picture". Alex pulls the truck over and we both hop out in a hurry. Since we were just going to be a minute and the baby was sleeping Alex thought he would just leave the car running with the a/c. (And truth be told I did not argue; after all, we were just going to be a minute). Well we take the picture and get ready to hop back into the truck. However Snoopy had other plans. When we got out of the car he had jumped on the door securely locking all four doors on the truck.

We panicked. Here we are Alex all muddy from the dogs/hiking, me sweaty and barefoot, and our dogs and infant locked in our running truck... in Kentucky. For the next 15 minutes (which felt like hours) Alex and I are pounding on the windows, jumping up and down, trying to entice one of the dogs to unlock the doors.

(Side note: what is the darn Beagle doing this whole time? Well apparently our banging on the front windows was annoying him so he climbed into the back, under the seat, and fell asleep.)

Finally the police officer we had called initially arrived. It took mere seconds for loving Shia to ferrociously attack the window when the officer arrived. Yet in doing so she pressed the window button just enough to provide a gap that we could stick our arm through and unlock the door. Who knew it would be Shia's bad attitude that would eventually save us?!

Other activities that day included a failed plaster molding art project (Addie has some wiggly toes) and a family finger painting. All in all I'd say the day was a success. And I have the picture to prove it!

Revival?

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" - Milton Berle



Is this the revivial of the timely blog post? Don't count on it. I realize that for the past few entires I have made vague promise to be more consistent in updates. Well, I am making the argument that "consistent" and "timely" are very arbitrary terms. Therefore "sporadic" and "occasional" are as consistent as you are going to get. When my hands turn idle, I will turn them to blog updates.

Lately, my days have been filled with a baby who is quite literally changing before our eyes. One day she is humming and grunting (which we considered her "talking") and then the next morning her mouth is wide open shouting "la-las" and "da-das". Of course this has got Alex and I in a constant repeat of "da-da-da-da-da" and "ma-ma-ma-ma" respectively. The competition has started on who she will call out to first. She loves the attention and will just laugh every time.

Since Alex was scheduled to leave this month, and will be gone for the next 6-weeks, we decided to start the cereal stage a little early. For the past two days we have given her just three or four little spoonfuls. At least half of it immediately comes back out with a sour lemon expression on her face. But it's all about the learning process.