Merry Christmas!

Here's Addison looking for her presents. Santa brought her a lot of great things. Her favorites? Her spoon and the boxes. She also got her two front teeth for Christmas. Probably another reason she liked her spoon so much.

This was the runner up for the Christmas card. Hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had a great first Christmas with Addison. More updates and pictures soon.

Meeting Santa

Santa made a visit to Addison's school last week and as you can see, it didn't go too well. Just another one of those "torture" moments taken to appease the parents.

The big city

It was tough getting there (bad weather and a delayed flight), but we made it. I got sick with a fever the Tuesday before leaving and finally started to feel better Friday morning. We did so much in so little time. Here's a couple of pictures before I head to bed. First thing we did in the city - ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza.View from the top of the Empire State Building. Yeah, it was cold.Macy's. Everything in the city is decorated for Christmas. There are lights and Christmas trees on every corner. Loved it!Grand Central Station happened to be right next to our hotel.Tons more pictures that I'll post as soon as I can. Work will be crazy this week since it's my last full week of the year. We both had so much fun, but were so happy to be back at home to see our sweet little girl. I missed her so much! I don't think I could get out of the car faster.

Quick update

We're back from New York City. The trip was so much fun. Thanks Michael for a fantastic birthday present.

Addison is 8 months old today. She's doing so many new things...like crawling!!! Last night was the first time. Thanks for waiting until we got back.

I'll post pics from the trip and some shots of Addison soon.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...Busy, busy, busy. Things have been non stop since Thanksgiving. But I did find time to decorate the house. Michael and I decided to upgrade the 3 foot tree and go for a bigger one. I'm still not ready for a real tree, but I do think my fake one turned out kind of nice (not the best picture). Addison really hasn't taken an interest in it yet. Maybe I'll get lucky. Her new favorite things are electrical cords and the vertical blinds. She wastes no time trying to find the quickest route to both.

Bath time is one of my favorite times with Addison. She's really starting to enjoy the water. I have some bubbles in there that I blow and she likes when they land on her. Here she is swimming with her cup. The girl LOVES cups! She won't drink from them yet, but she loves to play and chew on them.

This was after the bath trying to get her dressed for bed. Sitting still doesn't happen much anymore. She still isn't officially crawling, but loves to scoot, roll around and stand as much as possible. She'll pull up to her knees and thinks I am her human jungle gym. Who knows? Maybe she'll skip crawling and go straight to walking.

Thanksgiving pictures and others added to the shutterfly link. Check it out!

Just for you

You know who you are. Addison loves you! And so do I.

Just like old times.

Family fun

We headed to TN for Thanksgiving. Addison did great on the flights. She played for about 15 minutes and then crashed the rest of the way there and back. She spent a lot of time with her cousins, aunt, uncles and grandparents. Here she is right after a nap. Love the bedhead and can't get over that face.

Addison with her cousins Matthew and Andrew. She was so smiley and playful all weekend long.

Thanks to Michael's parents for having us. We had a lot of fun seeing everyone and spending time together.

They're back!

Check out Addison's new legwarmers. They're called Babylegs and they're great for crawling, diaper changes, and Florida days when it's cool in the morning and 100 degrees by lunch. This was her walking attire on Sunday. No part of this outfit matches. You can't tell, but that's actually an orange colored onesie. Thankfully none of the neighbors saw us. If she only knew.Hope everyone reading has a Happy Thanksgiving! I'm sure I'll have tons of new pictures to post soon.

Lesson learned

Addison is quick. I guess you don't realize it until you put her in the middle of the bed, turn your back for a second and then you hear it. Thump. Yep, it happened. She fell off the bed Friday morning. My heart dropped when I saw her lying there. Luckily, she's okay. No bumps or bruises and she was acting like herself 5 minutes later. Just a little rug burn on her nose. This was taken last night.Seven months old today and this is what she'll remember. The scabs on her nose. Glad to see that smile on her face. It sure makes me feel better.

No more playing on the bed in the morning when mommy is getting ready.

Gator Homecoming

This post is a little late...I loved going to the Gator parade as a kid. I felt the need to carry on a tradition so I took Addison to her first parade. And just like her mother, she slept through all of the police car and fire truck sirens. And I was worried she'd be spooked.

It appears from the pictures I took that she may have enjoyed her rattle more than the parade. Believe it or not, she did find all of the action captivating.And just one of her playing.

Celebrating a win

I know Erika usually posts all the entries on the blog, but now it's daddy's turn. Recently we have been teaching Addison how to clap her hands, and even though she isn't quite a pro yet, she took time to demonstrate her new found skill while celebrating the Vols victory over Arkansas this past weekend. Erika likes to give a shout out to the gaytors occasionaly on the blog, so now it's my turn. Check out this video of Addison clapping along to the tune of her FAVORITE song!

Birthday fun

We were going to go to dinner, but since I was miserable from eating all things bad for me all day (Gingerbread latte and muffin, bbq with 2 starches as sides and ice cream cake), I decided to save my birthday dinner for the weekend and opt for cereal and a yogurt instead. But I did get to hang out with my two favorite people. One slept most of the evening. The other managed to make me laugh...as usual.

The BIG 3-0

A mini snow globe? Yep! This is what I got from Michael this morning. What's it mean? We're heading to NYC!!! It's always been a dream of mine to go to NY at Christmastime. Dream come true. The tickets are purchased and the hotel is booked. I'm so excited!!! I have the best husband ever! I love you Michael. Can't wait for the trip. Thanks for making this the best birthday ever.

Almost 30

29 years, 11 months, 30 days
10,956 days
946,598,400 seconds
15,776,640 minutes
262,944 hours
1565 weeks

One more day...

40 weeks + 6 and 1/2 months = 100

I never thought I would make it this far. Blog post #100. Yippie!!! I just hope those out there in the internet world enjoy reading the tidbits about our lives as much as I like writing about them. So, now that we're on a roll...

We had a great Halloween. I know it's a little bit of torture for a child who has no clue what's going on, but it's all about the pictures, right? Addison was the cutest lady bug ever! Here's my favorite.The neighbors had their yard decorated for the occasion which made for a perfect backdrop. This where we found Addison the other day when we came back into the room. She's all over the place and isn't officially crawling yet. We're in for it. I have a lot of pictures to add, but not enough time. Addison and I are off to Gainesville tomorrow for the big Florida homecoming parade and Grey's Anatomy starts in 32 minutes. Will post more this weekend when we get back.

Happy Halloween!

Just a small treat. Stay tuned for more.

Addison's school had a little costume parade this morning. Based on this picture I don't think she liked being a ladybug. Hopefully she'll enjoy it a little more tonight.

One year later...

It was a year ago today that I was in the hospital with my mom. She decided to fight breast cancer that day and hasn't looked back since. She's always been positive about the surgery, the treatments and the outlook for the future. Thanks mom for fighting this with all that you have. I know it hasn't been easy. Some days have been long and some nights even longer. You're almost done. Like I said a year ago on this blog: I know you're strong and you'll be even stronger when all is said and done.

WE LOVE YOU!

Christopher Columbus?

Ok, maybe not. But we have an explorer on our hands. This weekend Addison was all over the living room. She really does have the army crawl down. At one point she made it to the cable box. I think she was trying to put me out of my misery and turn off the FL/GA game. She plays this game with herself where she throws her pacifier or stacking ring and then scoots to get it. Toss, scoot and repeat. Entertainment for at least 20 minutes! She loves the chest we have as a coffee table. Here she is trying to figure out how to get in.

She loves banging on these bongos. They sit or roll and play all kinds of songs. She'll chase them all over the place.

With all of this new found freedom it's a lot harder to get Addison to sit still. You can be holding her and she'll spot something across the room and be off, flipping and flopping, and trying to find a way to get to it. That's what's going on here. She was laying on my dad this past weekend and saw something she wanted on the nightstand. This is how she landed and gave up. She stayed there for a good 5 minutes like this.Everyday is something new. I love every second of it!

Just added

Pictures. Lots of them. Check them out!

Hodge podge

Michael's parents and my dad were in from out of town this past weekend so we celebrated Addison's half birthday - again. Second attempt at the cake. This time Michael baked it, with his secret ingredient -mayonnaise! It was so moist and yummy.

Addison has been doing really well with the solids and getting a lot better with the spoon. On Sunday night we moved on to cereal and carrots. She likey!Today was doctor day. Stats: 16 lbs, 2 oz (50th percentile) and 27.5 inches long (95th percentile). She got four shots, including half of her flu shot. She's right where she's supposed to be. Perfect, as always. :) Here she is waiting for the doc.I love this picture. Not only because she's so cute, but also because my house now looks like a 6 month old has taken over. Look at all the crap in the background. Gotta love it! I love this time of year. It almost feels like fall and you have to love that the pumpkin spice latte is back! Happy Fall! Many pictures to add to shutterfly. I'll work on that tomorrow.

Special parent moments at 6 months

It's official. I'm a nerd. You only have one half birthday so I wanted to make it special. So what does an uncool mom do? She bakes a cake - half a cake! (By the way...it was overcooked and dry so it all went in the garbage.)Addison has been on mostly a breast milk diet (with some formula) up until now. She wasn't ready for the cereal at 4 months. Tonight she got cereal and bananas. How did it go? Well...check it out!

It's been a fun and exciting six months. I can't imagine life without Addison. We're both so lucky to have her. We cherish every moment and love capturing all of the memories. Mommy and Daddy love you Addison!!!

Happy half birthday Addison!

My sweet little girl is 6 months old today. Six months old? Where has the time gone. We had a little photo shoot this morning. More pics and festivities to come...

Runny nose & strawberries

Addison has been sick (again) and due to some events at daycare (another kid being really sick) I took her back to the doc on Friday just to make sure. It's probably a new one, but it's still a cold. Because of the recall she is now off of the cold & cough and doc said that meds really weren't necessary. More for the parents sake than the child. Best thing to do is let it run its course. I think we're at the tail end of it now. Here's a pic from Thursday. She sure has the I don't feel good, don't take my picture look on her face.

I was planning on starting her on some solids this past weekend, but wasn't sure how she would do with the cold. Instead, I invested funds in the hottest new baby item - the mesh bag thingy. Insert frozen strawberry and this is what you get. By the way, she LOVED it!

***Edited to add - Just had a discussion with a mom about the strawberries. They can lead to allergies when given this early. Something a first time mom didn't know. Seems she made the same mistake. No more strawberries...***

A couple of me and my sweet girl. She's wearing the blanket on her head because her bad mommy forgot to bring a sweater to the restaurant. I guess fall is coming. I'll be better prepared next time.

Yes, that's me with dark hair.