Springing into Spring

Spring is in the air, bringing blooms galore and a blossoming 7 month old.  Little Miss Addyson is changing and growing so quickly, and has not only Brian and myself but our entire family wrapped around her little chubby finger!  Her personality is coming out more and more - we're officially aware that we have not only the cutest daughter in the world but also a very high maintenance, stubborn girl on our hands.  The terrible twos should be fun times...YIKES!

It's been a hectic month, with something or another taking place every weekend.  Between events, plans with friends and family and taking care of Addy, there hasn't been much time for anything else.  Brian's mom, Tracy, came out to visit and spend time with us for a few days in March.  Addy had a great time having lunch with the Jones girls, sitting in a highchair for the first time, and we stayed with Sarah and Carl one night in Tacoma.  We all took a walk on the beach in Stillacomb, taking in the beautiful views of Puget Sound on a rare sunny weekend.  The sunshine came and went with my MIL, but we were thankful to get the vitamin D even if it was just for a few days!

 



7 Months Old!



We've starting taking our show on the road more often, staying with Chelle and Scott on St. Paddy's Day and going up to my dad and Kim's house just this last weekend.  We've found that Addy will pretty much go to sleep anywhere as long as it's for the night.  Naps are a whole 'nother story and seem to be a constant battle.  But she's great at night and if I had to choose, I would choose to have a good night sleeper than a good napper!  Lucky for us, Addyson is really a happy girl most of the time.  Independent?  Yes.  Stubborn?  Hell yes.  But happy as well and seeing her smile and laugh is just the best!  She has become so much more active and inquisitive.  She loves to reach up and touch our faces, grabbing a nose or a cheek and cooing at us.  Getting home from work is the best thing ever, especially now that we're greeted by her squeals of delight and her gummy smile. 

The hard part over the last month is the teething, which SUCKS, for her and for us.  Her first tooth finally cut through the day after she turned 7 months and the second one is not too far behind.  It's obviously that she's in a lot of pain sometimes and that's hard to see.  But not as hard as getting bit when she nurses now that it's not just gums!  The first few times she bit me, I yelled out "OUCH!  Addyson, no."  This was quickly proven to be ineffective when she smiled and laughed at my reaction.  Not soon after, she was nursing one night and kept biting me and quickly looking up to see my reaction with a sparkle in her eye, thinking it was hysterical to watch mommy cry out every time.  So finally I cried out even louder and told her no with all the sternness I could muster (because I was having a hard time not laughing myself at her laughter!).  She got all wide-eyed and her lips curled down into a big pout before she proceeded to bawl.  Yep, I officially hurt my daughter's feelings for the first time and felt like the biggest piece of %$@! ever.  But it worked and I haven't been bit since!  My nipples thank me.

Addy has definitely become much more active, rolling both ways consistently now and likes to walk while she holds onto our fingers.  She can stand by herself while holdling onto something and has really gotten the hang of her bouncy chair, bouncing up and down with exhuberence.  Her favorite toy is her music station and it's so cute to watch her put her mouth on the microphone and make noises.  She loves music and books, a girl after my own heart. :)  She loves bathtime and kicks her legs like a little frog in the water.  She also loves when we make animal noises - "the duck goes QUACK!" is her favorite. :) But being outside is by far her favorite thing to do.  When all else fails and she's being a fussy monkey, we just go outside and walk around the yard looking at the flowers and pointing out various things.  We have started taking her to the park around the corner from our house and she loves the swings, smiling every time her stomach drops.  I took her down the slide for the first time yesterday and she loved that too!  The second we go outside her demeanor changes.  We blew bubbles out on the porch for the first time the other day too.  She didn't quite know what to make of the things floating around her until she figured out she could pop them - then it was game on!  It's so interesting to watch her grasp concepts, you can literally see the light come on when she understands something.  Just this last weekend she found her shadow and proceeded to move her little hand all around, following the shadow on the ground with her eyes.  I thought that was pretty smart of her!

She really likes to do things herself and is constantly trying to grab the spoon and feed herself during breakfast and dinner.  She's pretty much mastered the sippy cup, taking drinks and slamming the cup back on her tray.  She even makes the "ahh" sound after drinking, too funny!  Her food repertoir has expanded to include bananas, blueberries, apples, squash, peaches and pineapple.  Blueberries are her ultimate favorite - she gets excited the second she sees us getting them ready for her!  We still have yet to find a food she won't eat.

We celebrated our first Easter with Addyson in tow, joining the Minifie family for brunch at the country club before going off to my aunt Julie's house for Easter dinner that doubled as her birthday celebration.  Unfortunatley we didn't get a pic of Addy with the Easter bunny that I hoped for but we did get some great pictures of her in her cute little dress.  It was nice to be with the whole family, something that doesn't happen as often as we'd all like.  The only bummer was that my mom was really sick and not able to join the festivities - Mima was missed!

Amazingly enough, Brian and I have also gotten to do a few things this last month that don't involve Addyson!  Not that we don't love being with her, we do, but it's definitely nice to get out even if just for a few hours to be something other than mommy and daddy.  A few weeks ago I participated in The Big Climb with some people from work, a fundraiser for curing Lymphoma and Leukemia.  It's a climb up the tallest building in Washington - 69 flights and over 1300 stairs.  I pretty much thought I was going to die.  But it was a good time and all for a good cause!  It was just the motivation I needed to get back on the work-out saddle and started P90X the very next day!  I definitely don't have time to do it every day like I'd like but something is better than nothing.  This last weekend when we were up at the lake, I even got to go waterskiing for the first time in probably 3 years!  I was in hog heaven, even if my feet were numb icicles at the end.  Brian went to the Mariners opening home game with Peter and stayed in Seattle with Peter and Debbie last Friday night.  They had a blast, so much so that Brian even bruised his tailbone while telling a story with too much excitement, jumping up and landing on the corner of a chair!  Only my husband... :)  The following night was my turn for a night out and I went with my dad and my aunt Gina and uncle Tom to the Big Lake Bar 'n Grill, where we proceeded to indulge a little too much.  I even got up on stage and sang with the one-man-band dude!  Fun  times. :)  But not so much fun the next day - a not-so-gentle reminder that '30' is just around the corner.

 

Sitting on grass for the first time