Bring on the Sunshine!

Another month has passed, filled with more firsts for Addy and hours of entertainment for Brian and I.  We've been blessed with more sunshine than rain over the last month, for which all of us Seattlelites are extremely grateful!  We've been filling our down time with trips to the park, strolls along the Kirkland waterfront and play time in the front yard.  Definitely hoping that this burst of warmer weather is a good sign for our summer!

I don't think anyone is more pleased with the sunshine and warmth than our daughter, who has quickly let us know that she is an outdoors girl and likes nothing more than just plain being out of the house.  Can't say that I blame her - I think anyone would get stir-crazy being in the same house, playing in the same living room with the same toys day after day!  The joys of living in rainy Washington. :) Whenever Grumble Goose starts coming out, we just take a little walk to the park (a mere block from our house) or we just walk around the yard, looking at the flowers and checking things out.  She adores the swings, both by herself in the baby swing or on our laps, but I think she likes to watch the other kids at the park even more than that!  In the evening, Addy and I will sit out on the front stoop and throw the ball for Lucia while daddy waters the plants - so simple yet such cherished family moments. :)

Our little monkey is growing up so fast, changing and learning new things each day before our very eyes.  She's becoming much more mobile and has learned to scootch on her rump on the hardwood floor.  She almost hops on her rear, it's so funny!  She can get up on her hands and knees but isn't crawling quite yet.  The closest she comes is pushing herself backwards while on her tummy.  I'm starting to wonder if she ever will actually crawl though.  Neither Brian nor I were much for crawling as babies - I actually decided to go straight to walking at 9 months old.  I think if it were up to Addyson, she'd go straight to running NOW.  All she wants to do is walk around, holding onto our fingers, needing less and less stability each day.  She started off as Egore, taking a big step with her right leg and dragging up the left. Now she just cruises around, pretty much balancing herself.  She is constantly reaching for our fingers and when we don't let her lift herself up, she certainly lets us know she is not pleased!  My oh my, what an attitude that one has!  Needless to say, babyproofing has now become top priority in the Jones household.



It's so crazy to think that Addy is almost 9 months old, or as Brian puts it, "As many months old as you carried her in your belly." Here are some pictures of her on her 8 month "birthday":

It seems like we just always have so much going on, there's hardly any time to get done what we need to!  A few weekends ago, my best friend, Chelle turned 30.  We celebrated with dinner and drinks in downtown Bellevue.  The bar just happened to have kareoke and I thought it would be pretty priceless to sing her happy birthday Marilyn Monroe-style while she sat in a chair on the dance floor.  Hey, become my BFF and you too can be embarrassed on your birthday! :)

The following weekend I got to celebrate my first official Mother's Day! :)  My amazing hubby let me sleep in (which is considered 8:30 in our household) and I awoke to beautiful flowers and a very nice card from him and Addy.  Later we went down to the Kirkland waterfront and strolled around before spreading out a blanket and hanging out by the beach - it was an absolutely gorgeous day!  We had so much fun, I just love our family time!  It was so nice not to worry about our to-do list for a whole day!  We ended our perfect day with dinner with Mima (my mom) at our house, grilling and eating outside in the sunshine. :)

Mother's Day Pictures

Along with all the joys, the last month has brought a lot of stress and emotional times as well.  I'm learning that one of the awesome priviledges of having a baby is also having your hormones go wacky at the drop of a hat.  It's felt like perma-PMS for about 4 weeks...oh what I wouldn't give to sleep through the night without a hot flash and not cry at the littlest thing.  We have been trying to figure out our childcare situation as my aunt is going back to work soon and visiting many shady facilities was not helping to calm my worries.  We finally settled on the "rolls royce of childcare" as Brian calls it and Addy will be starting at Bright Horizons in June.  This place is seriously amazing - from an in-house chef that focuses on healthful, mostly organic food to a learning and developement program that is unsurpassed, the waterworks came on full-force at the end of my tour when I told the director that this was the first place I had visited that I not only felt comfortable leaving my daughter but was EXCITED about what she would get to experience there.  So our daughter will be eating organic salmon and brown rice while we feast on Top Ramen for the unforeseeable future...the sacrifices we make for our children. :)

Last weekend we went out to Tahuya to see Gramma and Papa since they just got back from Arizona.  It was Addy's first trip to the canal and first time seeing them since she was just a few weeks old.  I think she fell in love with them just as much as they did her. :)  She was all smiles for them both, mesmerized by Papa especially when he sang to her - such precious and absolutely priceless moments!  We are so blessed.

This coming weekend is Memorial Day Weekend and we will be going up to my Dad's for a Minifie family weekend.  The last time we were with the whole family at the lake, my water broke and Brian and I had to cut the weekend short to welcome our daughter into the world - we're looking forward to a non-eventful weekend this go-around! :)

This month...
Addy's firsts :  Scootching, on hands and knees, spitting out food, choking, throwing fits
New foods:  Raspberries, chicken, turkey, pineapple, broccoli, cheerios, kiwi, chick peas
Favorite food:  Blueberries
Least favorite food:  Kiwi