A Modern Day Baby Book: January 2011

Weekend

Just some pics of our girl from our peaceful weekend.

I took a short weekend trip to visit my good friend Meg in Hutto, Texas. I also got to see my cousin Kyle one last time before he deploys to Iraq for a year. It was a great weekend! Meanwhile Addie and Daddie had quite a weekend of their own!

Meghan and Reagan.
Yep, they rhyme!

Love it just as much as I love this couple!

Out to lunch with Kyle!
And in California...Daddie hit the gym with Addie in tote for some play time!

After lunch we were off to an authentic cowboy store in Texas called Allen Boots!
The boots were amazing! Wish I could have brought home a pair!

My day was complete with more pictures of my baby girl spending some time swinging at our favorite park.

In Texas...we were off to the Lone Star Bakery where Kyle and I had some of the best doughnuts EVER!

Later that night I got pictures from Kevin of a Popcorn Partay!

The next day, I went with Meg to see her 10 week old baby! Such an honor to see that little heartbeat!

One glowing Mama.
Then it was off to some Texas Bar-B-Q at Rudy's!

Daddie sent pictures of another park day. But what he didn't send is pictures of her first trip to Chuckee Cheese. I was crushed. Ha! Ha!

On my last day I got to meet two of the most sweet, well-behaved, and cute-as-a-button kids, Hannah and Camden.
I will never forget Camden singing "Mighty Machines" in the backseat of the car, with the most adorable southern drawl. And Hannah, all you have to do is click on the link to Meg's blog and see her infectious smile and then you will know just how precious she is.

And to my dear friend Meg, whom I've known since junior high. We've gone from innocent dreaming teens, to experienced grown women. We've been through a lot over the years and what I cherished most about this trip was seeing you so happy and natural in your role as a mama and wife. You are simply amazing and I wished badly Suisun City and Hutto were neighboring cities (with a Hobby Lobby located somewhere in the middle).

She's got a baby in there!!!

Addelyn and Her Baby

Love this little mama!

A Mama's Deep Thoughts on MLK

As I think about today and it's importance, I think back to my classroom days. I remember sitting at the carpet with my adorable first graders and realizing I was a minority in my own classroom. As I looked at all of their sweet little tan and brown faces, I wondered how on Earth I would teach them about the ugliness of this world. How would I teach them that there once was a time that tan and brown kids could not go to school with white kids? And so I stumbled my way through talking about being kind to people no matter what they look like, for I knew to ignore this man's legacy, would be a failure as a teacher. I can only hope that what I left their innocent and impressionable minds with that day, was a simple message of love and acceptance.

I hope to teach that same love and acceptance to Addelyn, not only through words but actions. I want her to be knowledgeable about other cultures, but keep her mind open and stereotypes at bay. In return, I hope my daughter can grow up in a world where she is not seen as the "white girl" or called names because of the color of her hair. I want her to be recognized and loved for being a kind and compassionate person. This is my calling.

In my classroom with some of my much loved students. I can remember each and every one of their names and I have no doubt, my eyes would light up if you were to ask me to tell you a story about them.

A Buck Fifty

Time for our 18 month report. The stats are in and this little girl is in the 90th percentile for both weight and height. She weighs 27 pounds and 13 ounces and is 33 1/4 inches. For a number of reasons, she has definitely thinned out. In the past she has always been wider than she is tall, and I can't believe how much older this makes her look. I'm going to miss those rolly polly legs and arms.
I also thought I'd take a moment and list her latest milestones...

Her walk has turned into a run and she can now go up stairs by herself. We let her do it all the time. How's she ever gonna learn if she doesn't practice?
She is starting to string phases together, such as "Hi-yo (hello) Mama mole." Much love for my glamorous Cindy Crawford mole.
She climbs onto chairs, tables, you name it. We encourage her to climb as high as she can and reach for the stars.
She has taught me that she really does still like oatmeal, applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese, just not when I'm feeding her. She now prefers to use a spoon to feed herself. Sometimes that means grabbing the food with her fingers to place it on the spoon and then attempting to place it in her mouth. Maybe one explanation for the thinning out.
She loves to express herself through books and drawing. We feel a child should be free to express themselves all over our walls and we look forward to having a "colorful" home.
When we get her out of her crib each morning or from naps, we ask her to leave her paci in the crib. She spits it out and doesn't think twice about it. We think we'll try to break her of sleeping with the paci when she's about four or five. We want her to feel secure.
Last we have bought and introduced her to her first potty chair! She is almost ready to go diaperless and we're hoping no more diapers by the end of this month!

All kidding aside, as always we love this little bug. There is lots of laughter in our home as we watch her grow and learn and we are thoroughly enjoying her growing abilities to communicate to us. We are so proud of her and can't seem to get enough hugs and kisses from her.

Do you speak Addelynese?

I have always envied that mommy-child (or daddy-child) secret language. You know when a friend's toddler is trying to tell you something and all you hear is gibberish, until the mom (or dad) translates for you. Well, I am proud to say that Addie and I's secret language is blooming. Although she says quite a few words very clearly such as, pizza, yellow, happy, bear, bus, and many more, we have a little list of, what I like to call, Addelynese words. Here's a little vocab lesson...

wa-wa = water
nummy, nummy, nummy (repeat rapidly) = I want some or I'm hungry.
beet beet = blanket
iBaba = iPod
gum = phone
bubu = flower
ch*eese = cheese
geesh* (see explanation below) = fish
k*itty = kitty
gogo = flamingo
bee-it, bee-it (in a croaky voice) = frog

Many of the animals, often have to be interpreted, by her interpretation of the sound they make. For example, this morning she started saying "roar" out of nowhere, alerting me that there was a tiger on the wall at the doctor's office. And if I go too fast on a page that she knows the animal sound, she will often turn the page back to point and make the sound of that animal before we can continue on with our story.

*And as far as the asterisk goes... she's developed a sound that is quite like the gargling sound made in the German language. So when she says words like cheese, kitty, or fish, she sounds like she's speaking German. So cute!

Poor Little Bug

Our baby girl woke up with the usual cold symptoms Monday morning and has continued getting worse. She's ran a low grade fever, has had coughing fits so bad she pukes, is short of breath, and is now diagnosed with her first ear infection. We are hoping the worst is over and that she's on the path to recovery. Until then, I will try not to worry about other possible outcomes and instead enjoy all of the extra snugglin' time I get with my girl.

As a warning to friends, the doctors have told me RSV is rampant right now and it is highly contagious for the first 5-8 days from when the symptoms appear. I was also told Addie will probably have symptoms 4-6 weeks. Ugh.

Baby's First...

ponytail! Or shall we call it a mullet-tail! Hee! Hee! Kevin and I were having so much fun tonight chasing her around and snappin' pictures of her mullet-tail.