A Very Merry Unbirthday

Half of a year has come and gone in the blink of an eye, and it has been the most life changing six months of... well of my life.  I cannot believe my little baby girl is getting so big.  Most of the time we are excited, Alex and I love that every day she is learning new things and becoming more independent.  We are not "newborn people" by any sense of the imagination and now that she will entertain herself with toys and likes to play she is so much more fun.  But then another smaller part of me is saying, "NO! You are getting bigger every day!  Just freeze where you are right now!"  Oh well, I just thank God every day for the time we do get with her because she is such a blessing and a joy.  

She can sit up on her own completely, there are very few times she even topples over.  She still hates to be on her belly, so I don't know when she will crawl (hopefully not for a very long time still! :)  Her favorite thing to do is sit with her toys all around her and just take her arms and scoop up every single toy at the same time trying to get everything into her mouth.  

With the warmer weather upon us we could not wait to get out the kiddie pool and see her response. It has all been positive!  She is a little fish and loves to just splash in the water, float around in her rubber duck, or (most shocking) stick her face in the water.  On top of that, she must drink out of our glass every time we have water (if she got her way it would be any liquid but I am putting my foot down at not giving her green tea or beer!)  If I was every leery about germs or baby slobber before I have gotten over it now.  She will stick her face in our glass blow bubbles or, more often, lick up the water like a dog). 

It is for this reason and others why we have started referring to her as "fourth dog".  There are so many ways that babies are like dogs I don't know why people used to get offended when I would compare our beloved canines to their snotty children.  1) You teach children all the same commands as a dog ("sit", "stay", "no", "leave it") 2) they like to have the back of their ears rubbed... but maybe this is only my child? 3) they both cost a fortune if you take care of them properly 4) inevitably you end up making silly goo-goo voices while you are speaking to them.

Tomorrow we are going to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga.  I am so excited to watch her surrounded by fish!  The aquarium also has a butterfly room, which thousands of butterflies are just out flapping and landing all over you.  I think she will either love it or smush a bunch of butterflies with her wildly flailing arms.  Hopefully for the butterflies sake not the latter!

Family Visits and Music Class

Last week my family came down to visit. Really Tami and Rachel only stayed one day and Alex came down for the entire week. Addison and I had a great time with all of them, although I think she enjoyed the slower pace of just having Alex around. :) After spending just one day with her (while I was at work) Alex decided she preferred the simpler life of having Addie in daycare and just hanging out with the dogs during the day. I can understand that... it's kind of hard to have a relaxing vacation with a 4-month-old.

Kindermusik class began yesterday and will go for the next 5 weeks. We are in the "Busy Days" class so all of our songs relate to daily activities. Yesterday was all shopping and buying groceries songs. It was fun, and nice to watch Addie observe the other kids. Even though she is with other babies all day long, I never get to see how she behaves with them. She is a big watcher and just smiles and laughs whenever the older babies would talk or walk around. The class was open to newborns all the way to 18 months; Addie is the youngest and there is a boy who is 14 months. (Incidentally this little boy kept bringing Addie his paper bag during the paper bag concerto). I don't know if she looked like she really needed another one, as she was busy chewing the corner off of hers. But every time he came over, little Miss Flirt turned up the charm, smiled, and lifted up her dress. Who'd she learn that from?!

The class also incorporates different simple signs that I am attempting to learn. "Stop", "in and out", "mommy" are just a few that we did yesterday. I am not opposed to having her learn to sign things, especially since I know she will not be talking for awhile and the faster I can figure out why she is fussing the faster I can make it stop. Every time she gets a good cry fit going I have PTSD and am reverted back to her newborn colic days. I am amused though because we sign to our dogs all the time and it's just like we've picked up an extra dog... who happens to be human. I'll be interested to see what Addie does when we use the "treat" command on the dogs, and vice versa!