Happenings

So here's a bunch of pictures at the random going-ons at our house.

Bubble bath beards:Painting at dad's work.When she made the H in this picture she said, "Look mom, it's an H!" :) I told her that H was for Hannah. She said, "Yes." :o)Sisters Playing:Addison got the crown from my sister Amy who was at a study abroad in London. She has a wand that matches...someone may be a princess this Halloween.
Hannah is getting more and more alert. She's been teasing us with these little smiles for the past few weeks. We finally got a picture of it. Hopefully next time we can get a better picture.

Father's Day

A few weeks ago Bart & I went to Kneaders. When I saw the sandwich box I remembered that one of our neighbors when we were first married told us that those boxes could be used to make shrinky dinks. I instantly thought of a Father's day project for Addison. A Father's Day key chain.

Here are the supplies: A plastic sandwich box (it HAS to be #6 plastic...look for the recycle signs with a 6 in the middle of them), tin foil, scissors, permanent markers, a ruler, sand paper, and a hole punch (I forgot to put it in the picture). I also used paper towels in an attempt to keep permanent markers from getting all over Addison's high chair.

Addison drew on the sandwich box which I had cut in the shape of a key chain. The plastic shrinks to about a third of the size it starts out at. When I was done coloring, I added a special little Father's day message and punched a hole in the corner. The hole punched by a regular hole punch is a little small after the plastic has shrunk so if you want to use it as a key chain, you need to make the hole a little bigger. We heated the oven to 350 degrees and popped the plastic into the oven on the tin foil for 2-3 min. The first time I ever did this we did it on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil, but I think it heats more evenly on just the tin foil. (Shortly after the picture above, the shirt came off because I could rapidly see it covered in permanent marker).A word of warning if you decide to do this...it will curl...BIG time. You will be certain that it has curled beyond repair, but have patience. It will flatten itself out. AT one point I even grabbed a wooden spoon to try and flatten it out, but on my way back to the oven with the spoon, it fixed itself. Have faith, it will flatten. And here is the finished project. To the right is the key chain. To the left is a little thing he can hang up in his window. Addison was pretty proud of them.For Father's day I told Bart I'd make him anything he wanted for dinner. He chose this steak and spicy shrimp rice with "guacamole stacks." It was really good...the rice was a bit spicy though...I like spicy, but I think next time I'll only add one teaspoon of hot sauce instead of two. We also had raspberry limeade, but I didn't get a picture of it. It was a yummy meal.

This was Bart's favorite part of the meal though. It was a cherry, peach, apricot pie. I was a little skeptical at first, but it turned out REALLY well. Bart said it's the best pie he's ever had! :)
The cherries were from our cherry tree. This is the first time then tree has EVER produced...well, more than 4 cherries...I thought the tree was barren, then a few weeks ago we went outside and saw this:

YAY! They are delicious.

Happy Father's day babe. I'm so glad you're the father of our kids. They couldn't have asked for a better Dad! I love you!

Hiding

This is what greeted Daddy when he came home from work today.Addison likes to hide.

Update

So I was looking through our camera pictures and realized I hadn't posted about a lot of things that have happened. So here goes:

The Saturday after Hannah was born, Robyn's kids had their closing social for the year. The kids did a little performance. Addison and her friend Abbey sang the ABC song and twinkle twinkle little star. Nyla stood in front of them and told them, "Okay, we're going to sing the ABC song" and then went to give them a sign to start, but Addison had just jumped in and started singing. Poor Abbey didn't quite know what to do and finally joined Addison at, "Next time won't you sing with me." That's why Nyla decided to have them sing twinkle twinkle little star as well. Once again she told them what they were going to sing, and Addison jumped in before Nyla gave the sign. Fortunately this time Abbey joined right in with Addison. It was really cute.

All of the kids also sang "The Ants go Marching." The kids all wore red bandannas and aunt antennae. Each had a part that they did. Addison and Abbey were "5 by 5" where the littlest stops to "Jump and Jive," at which point they got up and started dancing and jumping. It was really cute.

I just realized that I haven't blogged much about Abbey. Abbey is Addison's best friend. Abbey is the one that runs out to greet Addison every morning I drop her off at Robyn's or Nyla's. Addison is ALWAYS telling me about what she and Abbey did. They absolutely love each other! I'm so glad Addison has such a good friend. Abbey's mom & I traded numbers at the social so we're planning on getting together and playing this summer. :)

Grandma Francis and Sarah came into town for the weekend that weekend too, so they got to see Hannah & Addison's little performance.

We gave Hannah her first bath...I think it was the Sunday after she was born (her first bath at home anyway). Much like her sister, she liked them much better once she could be immersed in the water. Unlike her sister, she poops every time I give her a bath!!! Not a lot of poop, but always a little. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with this. If anyone has suggestions, PLEASE tell me!
Hannah has been a relatively good sleeper. She usually sleeps for at least two three hour blocks at night. VERY nice for me. And she's always willing to sleep during the day if we want to nap. :o) There was one night, though, when she decided not to start her first three hour block until 3:00 a.m. Here's she & her daddy catching up on their Z's from that night.

The biggest challenge with Hannah so far has been breastfeeding. And the challenge is really more me than her. At the beginning she wasn't quite latching on right so I got blisters. She quickly caught on, but the damage was done. Every time she ate I was in excruciating pain! To make matters worse, she frequently falls asleep when I feed her. She's getting better now, but at first it was a challenge to get her to stay awake for even a few minutes!

I went to see a lactation consultant about these issues and found out that my milk supply was low! SO depressing! So I've been pumping a lot after she eats and taking a supplement. It must be working because the doctor's not worried. He says she's looking really good, but if I'm ever worried about it, we can take her in to weigh her free of charge.

At her two week appointment she was 21.7 inches long (I think they mis-measured her at bitrth...there's no way she has grown almost three inches!) which is the 92nd percentile. She weighed 8 lbs 10.6 oz. (64th percentile). She isn't quite up to her birth weight again, but she was only 8lbs 2 oz when she left the hospital, and like I said, the doctor's not worried. I am pretty sure Addison was in similar percintiles when she was 2 weeks old too...I'll have to look them up.

With Addison, the hardest part of the first few weeks was my recovery. With Hannah it's been nursing. It's taking a lot more effort on my part. But it's been worth it.

I've read that a good way of tracking your baby's growth is by taking pictures of them with a stuffed animal. That way you can see how they grow over the months. We didn't do this with Addison, but I'm going to try and do it with Hannah. So here's the first picture with Hannah and Minnie. We'll see how long I am able to keep this up. :o)

Unfortunately, Addison is not potty trained. She has gone in the big toilet, but never regularly, and I haven't felt up to the task of dealing with wet/dirty panties even though I know it would speed things up. Every time I think, "Okay, today's going to be the day." After accident #2, the diapers come out again. As a result we have shopping trips like the one a few weeks ago where we bought nearly $100 in diapers and wipes. True, it was in bulk, but still, it made me sick. I need to really resolve to just bite the bullet and throw not buy any additional diapers for Addison so we're forced to use panties. But until I can build up that resolve, we will see things like this in our house...Fortunately Bart's the one doing the changing, and I'm the one taking the picture. :o)Daddy sure does love his girls.This is just a random picture of Addison in an outfit my mom got her. I thought it was really cute, so i wanted to post it. :o)I took this picture of Hannah today and thought, "Hm, where have I seen that before?"Oh yeah, Addison used to do that. Apparently putting your hands up by your face is genetic.Then I took this picture and once again had deja vous.Yep, I knew I had seen it beforeYou can tell they're sisters. It's not just the uncanny resemblance, but also the gestures that give them away. Silly girls.

Imaginary Pets and Pronoun Issues

Well, a few days before Hannah was born, Addison got some pets. Some cats and some dogs...depending on the day. These animals love to run around, hide from monsters, jump, and chase us. They are blue, white, and purple...so far. Some kids have imaginary friends, my daughter has imaginary pets. I don't mind though. If I'm tired of hiding under a blanket from "monsters" her pets always seem to be willing to.

Addison is also having some pronoun issues. Phrases like, "Where is her?" or "Why is her sleeping?" have become regulars around the house. (Interestingly enough, she never mixes up him and he.) I finally couldn't take it any more, and, despite Bart's assurances that she will grow out of it, I have begun to tell her to say "she" when she incorrectly uses "her."

One day after correcting her about a million times when she was talking about Hannah, I finally said, "Addison, don't say 'her' any more. Just say 'she'."

"Okay mom."

She looked fondly at Hannah, then looked back up at me and said, "I sure love h...(thoughtful pause) she."

Sigh.