Opening Day!

Addy's wearing her Cardinals tee for the day! Too bad it didn't work...

Yesterday, Addy and I had a normal morning. Then we went to get the oil in my car changed. While we waited, we took a walk in the gorgeous weather. Then we got the car and went home. When we got there, we wanted to go for a walk with the puppy, but the wind picked up so it was a little too cold. Addy is doing something pretty funny though. When I go to pick her up after a nap, she gives me her bear, and smiles when I say thank you. Then I ask her for her paci, and she takes it out of her mouth and hands it to me with a big smile.



Today, we watched the news in the morning, like usual. Everything was about Opening Day and how there is a petition to make it an official holiday in St. Louis. Then we went to Target and bought the last few cans of formula that Addy will ever need (hopefully)! So exciting we won't have to buy that stuff anymore! Then we stopped at the grocery store before coming home. In the afternoon, we went for a long walk with Toby. The weather was perfect for walking, sunny, not too breezy and mid-50s. Daddy was even in a better mood after a few bad days at work. I also got accepted to SCCC today! That's the school where I'll be taking my prerequisites. It's not that exciting-anyone with a high school diploma gets in :)

Slow week

Yesterday we had a busy day of laundry and cleaning up the house. Addy did a lot of exploring the house and playing with toys. Daddy came home early and so we were able to go for a short walk before dinner. It was a little chilly, but we all survived.

Today, Addy and I went to Kohls to do some summer shopping. We got a few things, we'll see if we keep them. Then we just did more playing and crawling around. Here's a few new video clips from today. The first is Addy rolling the ball (die). If you look really close at the end, you can see her little teeth :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr1AL2T2XQM

In the next one, Addy shows you just how mobile she is. It looks like she's petting Toby, but actually she really just likes to play with the noisy tags on his collar :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0HprLsHU5w

Oops...

Our snow-covered and blossom-covered tree... all the snow is pretty much gone now though.



Today was a pretty normal Sunday-we went to church and then Panera. Nothing too exciting at church, except for Addy dropping more Cheerios than she got in her mouth, so we switched to a bottle ;) After we went to Panera, Addy got her thumb and pinky finger painted for a project we are doing for one of the girls at Little Lambs. She's one of the leaders, but she will be leaving at the end of the school year to go to New Haven-yes in Indiana! So hopefully we'll still get to visit her and her cute kids :)

After we got home, we Skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Badenhop. Then daddy decided to do a house project-fixing a leaky sink. We seem to have a lot of them around here... So Addy and I were in the living room just playing when we hear daddy upstair-"Turn off the water! Turn off the water!" So we run down to the basement, however we have our nice cover over the water shut-off valve, a screwed-in, very large air grille. So I had to find a screwdriver, unscrew four of the screws before I could get in to shut off the water. Daddy came down, slightly wet and said he didn't think he needed to turn off the water for what he was doing...But obviously he did-he had unscrewed the handle to the hot water, and as it started flowing, it kept getting warmer and warmer, and ended up very hot! But he got it cleaned up pretty quick, it wasn't too horrible. But the sink is fixed, no more leaks.

Bleh

It's been a bad couple of days, from the weather (going from 85 to "rhinoceros" sized snowflakes) to Addy not taking her afternoon naps to mean people at the stores. So I'm not going to write much....

Addy is rolling a ball really well now. We were playing with a large dice today, and when she'd roll it backwards, or if I rolled it really far, she would crawl off to go get it. I think she understands the game well. It's pretty cute. She's also standing up on anything she can get a hold of now. No couch, windowsill, baby gate,or person is safe now! She also enjoys being tickled and will laugh a lot at it. And she still loves her kitchen, she can now crawl around it to get to both sides which is really cool. Here are a few pictures from the last few days too.





Just walking the dog!





Mirror Fun Time!

Another Beautiful Day

Today was another gorgeous day outside. It was 74, slightly sunny, and a little breezy-perfect for our afternoon walk. Before that, we went to our favorite mall to do a little shopping and walking around. We went to Cabela's to look at the animals, when we heard over the loud speaker that they were going to be feeding the fish in 5 minutes. So we went over and watched the catfish eat their food. Addy loved it. She just watched all the fish swimming around-very cool :)

After our trip to the mall, we stopped at the gas station to pick up milk. It had gone up by 30 cents!! So with tax, a gallon of milk was more expensive than a gallon of gas. That is just crazy.

After dinner, we went to a church meeting, so Addy got to hang out in the nursery. The babysitter said she was really good most of the time, but then got a little cranky so she gave her some cheerios, and then she was great. But then one of the babies got a bottle, so then she wanted a bottle, and then she was good again. It was really funny when we walked in, at first she didn't see us, too busy watching all the action. Then she saw us, and got really excited, then started crying. So Josh picked her up, and she kept crying. So he gave her to me, and immediate silence. Sooo funny. Silly girl :)

Happy 11 Month Birthday!

One more month until the big first birthday! Ah, last year at this time I was huge, wearing mostly only Josh's clothes and feeling bleh. This year, much better :)

Addy is doing very well in her crawling now. She can get to just about anywhere she wants to go. She's pulling up to stand on just about anything she can get a good grasp on, and is becoming more confident about gliding around every day. She can bend down to pick up things while she's standing against something, but most times cannot get back down to sitting after she's stood up. She's still attempting to walk, but her favorite game is just to fall toward you, without taking any steps.

She now loves clapping, high fiving, handing things to you, and she still is doing her other "tricks". She's even starting to wave to strangers without being prompted, especially to little kids. She's starting to learn where facial features are. She is also starting her giggling phase where everything is funny, which is really really fun :)

She's still being a picky eater, loves grains and dairy, likes fruit and will eat some, and doesn't like veggies. She'll eat fruit and veggies from the baby food containers, but not in chunks from her plate. Hopefully she'll start trying more someday, we just keep putting things on her plate. Her favorite thing to do with those things though, is to throw them on the floor, then she laughs when Toby eats them up. She also has 6 teeth now, 4 on top, 2 on bottom, to help her eat all her food!

She still loves playing with her toys, especially noisy ones. She really loves books too. She'll turn the pages and look at all the pictures, from all different angles. Then if I ask her if she wants to read it with me, she gets really excited. She also is starting to like her baths a lot more, which makes it fun for everyone, except for the fact she has learned how to splash water. It gets me wet, but it's really not fun when she gets it in her own eyes!!

Spring is Here!

So if this is the first full day of spring and it's 81 degrees, I'm not excited to see what this summer is going to bring ;)

Today was a busy day-we dropped off our lawn mower for a tuneup, and then did some birthday party shopping. Party City is really cool-cooler than factory card outlet! We got some great stuff for pretty cheap, so I'm excited about that. Addy was having fun playing with our stuff while she was in the cart too. Then we went to JoAnn Fabric to get some fabrics to make a few things. Let me say-I LOVE the new key fobs for the truck. No more having to go around to the driver side, then back to the passenger side if I want to put stuff over there-definitely worth the money :) After a nap (maybe, again, I'm not sure), we played for awhile. Addy today did a new trick which was really cool-she can roll the ball back and forth!! I got really excited when she did it, so she started getting excited and was really getting into it. She rolled it at least 10 times :) Josh got her to do it for him when he got home too! Then I had bunco night next door and now I need to do the dishes....bleh.

Beautiful Weekend

Here's a pic of her toothy grin!

Yesterday, I went outside first thing in the morning and pulled weeds and cut down the grasses around the storm drain. I filled a yard bag and a trash can with all the yard waste :-O Then, I took Addy to the park to meet up with her friends Brady and Maddie. Miss Maddie is walking like it's nothing now! She of course fell a few times, and she didn't want to stay on the padded playground area-just wanted to walk off the slight edge, which for the babies is huge :) After a fun time at the park, we went home and got a nap. Then we went for a walk in the nice weather with daddy and Toby, played with toys and Addy went to bed.


Shopping for a wheelbarrow, this one looks perfect!

Today we went to church. Pastor told a funny story today about his 3 year old daughter. She was walking around the house, holding a little box, and she told him that the box was love. He said ok, and dismissed it. Then she came back later and told him again, this is love. So he had to ask, what is in there? She said, "Diamonds, diamonds are love." That girl knows what she's talking about!! hahaha! After church, Addy had a nap, then we had lunch and we went to the park. Then we went to Lowe's to go wheelbarrow shopping. We are hoping to put down mulch in the next week or so, if it doesn't rain. Then after Addy's next nap, I took Toby and Addy for a walk around the neighborhood. We didn't go far, it was a little too warm in pants, and Toby was panting. We aren't used to 81 degree temperatures yet! (We've turned on the air twice now, just for a little bit, to help cool the house down so we can all sleep.) Then we had a successful meatloaf and scalloped potato dinner before playtime and bedtime. Now for a little basketball to finish the night.



Today we thought we'd try Addy's Ohio State t-shirt, to help cheer them on to victory. It's a 12 month shirt and fits perfectly. Like, any smaller and her belly would show. Then we tried on a pair of jeans she hasn't been able to wear. We baby-safety pinned the back to make them smaller, and rolled them up. But then they were looking cute as capri's, so we rolled them up more. The size on the jeans: 6-9 months. Ugh.

Toothy Grin

Today, what struck me most about Addy is that her top teeth are really growing in. Her grins include her teeth now much of the time. She has been feeling her teeth with her tongue a lot lately, which is funny to watch.

Today we went to the car place first thing in the morning-daddy now has working key fobs for his truck!!! Woohoo!! They were already coming in handy today with the errands we ran. After that, we picked up a replacement leg for our ottoman, and by then it was time for morning nap. After that, we played a lot. We were going to go outside for a walk, but as soon as Addy woke up, it started raining, and the rain just poured harder and harder all through lunch. By the time Addy went down for her 2nd nap, it had stopped. I'm not really sure if she took her second nap though. I heard her making noise about 5, 15 and 30 minutes after I laid her down. At about 40 minutes she started crying for me, and didn't want to lay back down. She was pretty tired before bedtime, so I'm guessing if she did sleep, it wasn't long. We ran a few more errands, then tried to go to the park on the way home, but I didn't bring her a sweatshirt, and it was a little too cold to stay without one. So we came home, put on sweatshirts, leashed up Toby and went for a walk instead. Then daddy came home, so we ate, played and Addy went to bed :)

I also had Addy giggling at one point today, and in the middle of it, she said "HA!" really loud, like a grownup. It was pretty funny :P

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Shake those beads!

*Correction to last night's blog. During the pediatric first aid class, daddy started holding Addy. He passed her to me at some point, and she farted really, really loud. After that, the farting didn't stop. Didn't phase her, but sure was funny :)

Today was a busy day. First we played in the morning. Then we went to the DMV, Walmart and the grocery store. At Walmart, lots of people said hi to Addy, and Oh how cute...blah blah. Addy wouldn't wave hi to any of them, just smile. She did wave at 2 people though, neither of who waved back. Maybe she was trying to cheer them up :) After a long afternoon nap, she was quite cranky. After a few graham crackers, she was happy enough to take a short walk-it couldn't be too long, 82 degrees is HOT!! yes, that was the temperature today :) Sunny, a little breezy, very nice. On the last leg of our trip, we saw daddy at the end of our driveway. So we walked a little bit with him, then had dinner, playtime and bed for baby. If only we could get Addy to eat her vegetables. Today during lunch, I put a few different steamed veggies on her plate, and she had a blast dropping each one to the floor and watching Toby sniff them (because of course, he doesn't eat them either...) Someday maybe she'll take a bite...

Stay at Home Days

One picture I forgot to add to the last post



Tuesday, Addy and I spent the day doing laundry, dishes and cleaning up the house from our vacation. We slept in until 9 which was awesome, and then she even took a two hour and a one and a half hour nap. So we didn't get too much playing done, but we did get caught up on sleep :) Daddy even came home early, which was awesome. We had a meeting in the evening-Pediatric first aid. We both learned quite a bit, and Addy was a very good baby through it! The lady who hosted the group really wanted to play with Addy too, it was funny :)


Today we stayed home again-this time we got our 66 degree day and we sure took advantage of it! We spent some time playing, but then we took Toby out for an early afternoon walk in the beautiful weather. We played outside a little after the walk, and she thought it was hilarious to take my sunglasses off my face. Addy took a long afternoon nap again, which was nice. Daddy came home early again, so we had enough time to take a short evening walk too. She tried to play the glasses game with him, only his weren't sunglasses. She tried to put daddy's glasses back on him, and that was pretty funny. Today, Addy successfully passed one of her questions from the behavior assessment last week that I said no to. She dropped a cd on the ground while she was standing, leaned down, picked it up and stood back up. She was so proud of herself too :) She also glided from one chair to another today, which was also pretty cool. She just keeps doing new things all the time!

Christmas in March!

Aunt Maddi, Cousin Abby, Aunt Ally and Addy!

This weekend was a busy "vacation" weekend. Friday was a travel day-we drove with only one stop! Very impressive :) Addy was pretty good, but now needs to be much more entertained with toys than previous trips. First we stopped by the Gentry's and we dropped off daddy. Then, since everyone left, we went to the Badenhop's for the evening.

Saturday, daddy spent working on Great-Grandma's floors. Addy and I hung out with Grandma and Grandpa Badenhop, and then with Aunt Sarah when she got there. We went out to Casa's for Aunt Sarah's birthday meal, and then had cake and ice cream. Addy loved the ice cream and ate almost a whole scoop of it!

Sunday, as soon as we woke up, we went to visit Aunt Katelyn at work, then went over to the Gentry's. We had Christmas in March with the whole family, and we got to see daddy again. Everyone was tired from working on the floors at grandma's, but they sure look great! After Christmas, we went to church and then some of us went out to Steak N' Shake for dinner. Addy ate about half of my milkshake...I don't know about that girl! Then we went back to Grandad and Grandma's for playtime before bed.

First thing Monday morning, we went to visit Diana and baby Maci. She was one day shy of 1 month old, and she slept through most of our visit. She sure was cute though :) After our visit, it was time for Addy's nap and then a trip to IHOP. Addy enjoyed daddy's strawberry pancakes and visiting with family before we left! Then we picked up Toby, and she was asleep before we even got to aunt Katelyn's work to say bye and get a few drinks for the road. After about an hour, we got to Ball State and made some computer-stuff donations to daddy's old school. We visited for awhile, and then hit the road for the long drive back. Before we left, the forecast said we would have a 60 degree day when we got back. Instead, as soon as we crossed the Mississippi River, there was a layer of snow on the ground. Apparently we had 3 inches on Monday morning! It took us 2 attempts to get in the garage, but we did it. :) What an exciting and fun Christmas trip!

Daddy Day

Yesterday, we had a guest blogger. Enjoy!:

Today was a special day, Addy and Daddy were together the whole day while Mommy made a campus visit to a potential pharmacy school and volunteered at Church for a soup dinner. We started our day by attending Ash Wednesday services in the morning. Addy was mostly good and looked through many books. She started to get cranky and had some Cheerios for a snack. Daddy made the mistake of letting her play with the Cheerios container. Addy has a new habit of throwing things when she's done with them or doesn't want them. When she threw the container, it popped open and spread Cheerios EVERYWHERE!

Next we went up to receive ashes and Addy seemed perplexed as to why the nice priest was touching her forehead. When we got back to our pew she kept trying to grab at the ashes on Daddy's forehead, it was funny. When we got home I told her she was a good girl at church and she shook her head "No" in response, it was cute.

It was then time for Addy to have a bottle and take a nap. She went down and slept for only 20 minutes and started crying a lot. I checked to see she had her pacifier and bear and tried to put her back to sleep. I noticed a horrible smell in her room and assumed it was the diaper pail. When she didn't go back to sleep, I did a smell test on her diaper and almost passed out. It was the stinkiest diaper I've ever witnessed. After cleaning up the "explosion" Addy was able to nap for an extra hour.

Addy had her dinner after her nap and we had a visit from one of Daddy's co-workers who brought over a switch to borrow for Daddy's conference. Later Addy had snacks while Daddy ate fishsticks. Then it was time for jammies, bottle and bed. It was fun to spend a whole day all by ourselves.
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Today (Thursday) Addy and I spent all day at home. We played for awhile, cleaned up the house after daddy's day yesterday and then we had a special guest. A lady from Parents As Teachers came and evaluated Addy and gave us tips and ideas for Addy's development. She passed all the tests well-one test she even performed at a 13-14 month child's level!! Yea Addy, she's advanced when there is food involved ;) Other than that, it was a pretty quiet day. However, we did enjoy this video. If you know the old spice guy and his commercials, this video is AWESOME!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkd5dJIVjgM

Weekend Visit

Addy and Kate, from Little Lambs

Saturday, Grandma, Grandad, and aunts Ally and Maddi came to visit. Addy got to show them all of her fun toys and her crawling skills. Then we had potato soup, played some games and relaxed.


Sunday, we went to church and then to downtown Main Street. We walked around in the beautiful, but chilly, weather. Then they had to leave, so we went home and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Yesterday was laundry day. We did get to go for a walk though, since it was sunny and only a little chilly again. If it gets to 50 degrees, we go outside :) And we have our first sprouts from our indoor garden-tomatoes and sweet peas. Hopefully I can keep them healthy :)

Today we went to Sam's Club and picked up 13 bags of lettuce for the Ash Wednesday supper at church tomorrow-our refrigerator is very full :) Then we went shopping for birthday party decorations at Hobby Lobby. They had the best selection at the best prices :) And we made friends with a very nice guy who said Addy was too pretty to be a boy, and he was jealous of her hair ;) Addy also made friends with a baby who looked to be about her age in the checkout line. Very cute :) She definitely does not like rain in her face though-we found that out when leaving. Another thing that really makes her mad is if I take MY cell phone away from her while she's playing with it...

Toby, channeling Lady and the Tramp, with a Twizzler

The past few days, we've been working on lots of new things. Addy successfully drank out of a cup all by herself today. There was some spillage, but she was able to bring the cup to her lips, drink, bring it back down, then take another drink, all without me holding it-a big step. She was having trouble before today with not tipping the cup herself.

Today, I was talking to Addy and playing with her, and she made a cute face, so I kissed her and told her I loved her. She immediately shook her head no and gave me a sly grin. So I told her, fine, Toby loved me, and she kept shaking her head. It made me so sad :( Ok, not really-it was really funny :)

She also is getting very good at standing and balancing. I could tell she was working on it, because she'd push off of me to regain her balance and then keep trying to stand. We also discovered today, that if I put her on the floor with no toys, she can crawl across the entire room, to find toys such as Toby's toy, firewood or candles to play with :)

She is also enjoying baths more and can keep herself entertained, but when I ask if she wants to get out, she puts her hands up right away. I'm sure that won't last long. And I get asked almost every day if she is really that happy all the time, and I say yes, she sure is :)

Busy Days

Daddy's home!

Wednesday was a big day in Addy's life-she stood up in her play area in our room all by herself while I was showering. The first time she's stood up from sitting all by herself, without using me! She was gliding around the gates, from one corner to another-"gliding" more than she ever has. We knew daddy was going to miss a milestone while he was gone, but that was within the first few hours of him leaving! Then we went to baby sign language at the library, the bank, Target, and the Goodwill truck. Then we spent a lot of time outside because it was so nice. Then after I put Addy to bed, I spent a bunch of time on the phone and relaxing for the evening, while Josh was off gambling and winning 58K, in fake chips that is!

Thursday, Addy and I went to the dollar store and Walmart looking for birthday party decorations. We are going to keep looking.... Then, as usual, we spent the afternoon outside. It has been so gorgeous-both Addy and Toby get so excited when I get the leash out-it's so funny!! Then daddy came home from Kansas City, and then we went to a meeting at church. The meeting started at Addy's bedtime, but her babysitters in the nursery said she was one of the happiest babies they've seen. So I guess she was good for them, even though it was quite late for her :)

Today, we went to Little Lambs, where Addy's craft was pooping in her diaper. So we had our first diaper change at Little Lambs ;) There wasn't enough room at the table for her to paint, so we didn't get to do that. She did enjoy the animal cracker snacks though. After nap, we spent time outside. It was earlier than usual, but it was also 60 at 9am :) And weather.com said we were supposed to have rain at 1pm, so I wanted to make sure we got our outside time. Turns out, it didn't actually rain until 6, and we had hail twice, and major downpours. It's still raining. It's supposed to let up by tomorrow morning, so now Toby's going to go back to having muddy paws....*yea* :( Now it's just cleaning time before our special guests tomorrow!

Mobile

Sunday night was a rough one. Josh and I stayed up an extra hour, because the big storm was supposed to hit then. It was bad enough that we woke up Addy and all hung out in the basement until it was over, like 15 min. No damage by us, but there were tornado/70+ winds in some of the towns in the area. We survived though :)

Yesterday was a very busy day. We spent 10 minutes inspecting the laundry hamper, two laundry load switches (washer to dryer, more clothes to washer) inspecting the cardboard box that toothpaste comes in, 15 minutes destroying junk mail, and we spent lots of time practicing crawling. It looked warm outside, with the sun shining, but it definitely was not. Addy was saying "mum, mum, mem, mum" all day, so I'll take that as mom :) She grew up so fast....bypassed mama and mommy!! hahaha!

We also got a check in the mail from Nissan Finance for $2.87-because we paid off my car!!!! Woohoo!!!!

Today-we can now say Addy is officially mobile. She no longer stays in one place when you put her somewhere, unless there is a very interesting toy :) She is crawling pretty well, though it's not too fast yet. I'm sure that will come tomorrow :) She also was sitting in her crib again when I went to get her after her morning nap today. We planted our seeds in the house today-tomatoes, peppers, and 2 kinds of flowers. Hopefully they work-we'll save a lot of money at the store if we get both the peppers and tomatoes to grow! We also finally got to get out into the gorgeous weather. It was beautiful today-and it's really funny how both of my children get excited now when the dog leash comes out! Addy also got to rip up leaves and grass today while we were out, so that was really exciting. I also made some beef stroganoff for dinner that was fantastic. Yum Yum! (I must mention these dinner accomplishments, as delicious dinners I cook don't come often).

Here's a video for your eyes and ears to enjoy. The first part is from Sunday when she found certain phrases to be particularly funny. The second part is her watching Grover on YouTube. She finds him very amusing. At the very end, you see her crawling toward the computer-she now can get to what she wants, and I think she likes that alot!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHpgJAUv1Is