Walking!

So the big news for the week: MONTHS after her first steps, Addison is FINALLY walking! I still wouldn't call it her main mode of transportation, but she's doing it a LOT more now. I think the reason she finally decided to walk is because she likes the idea of being able to hold something in her hands and get from point A to point B.

Thanksgiving, Polkadot shoes, Bye Bye, and BAWT!

Okay, so I am way behind! But it's been a busy couple of weeks.

First of all we had a great time with Bart's family for Thanksgiving. Bart's sister made these cute little pilgrim's hats out of marsh mellows, cookies, and chocolate. Addison loved that...come to think of it, I think that's all she ate at the actual Thanksgiving meal. She got it ALL over her face! It was pretty cute though.

Addison LOVED Bart's aunt's dog, Bear. She would hold her hand out, Bear would lick it, she'd squeal and pull her hand back, laugh, and then hold it out for Bear to lick again. It was so stinking cute!!!

We went and got a Christmas tree with Bart's family. It's the first real time Addison has been out in the cold for an extended period of time. We were worried that she wouldn't keep her hat on (she hates hats) but she did a pretty good job.

The only bad thing about Thanksgiving is that Addison had a terrible cough. There were several times that she coughed so hard she threw up. Of coarse she was her usual happy giggly self right before and after, but it sure was messy to clean up. I took her to the Doctor on Monday, and they said it's probably just some cold she got. They said it may be allergies too, so they gave us some allergy medicine. I'm not sure if she got over it on her own, or if it was the allergy medicine, but she's doing a lot better now.

The main reason I didn't post last week was because I was working on Christmas presents. Bart and I are finally done. Well, we need to like deliver candy and stuff to friends, but other than that we're done. YAY!!!

Addison has somehow acquired a taste for fashion...well, shoe fashion anyway. Last Saturday while we were Christmas shopping we went to Payless and she grabbed these pink polka dot air walks, and refused to let them go. When I took them away from her so that the lady could ring them up she was not happy with me. We put them on her as soon as we got out of the store.

They are really cute. When she's not wearing them, she's trying to put them on her feet. It really is cute, and I'm happy she's wanting to wear shoes now...but the cute factor was somewhat diminished when she threw a fit when I wouldn't let her wear them with her Red and black scotty dog dress to church. Oh well, at least she now has shoes she'll wear.

Addison totally knows how to say bye bye now. Whenever she or someone else is leaving, she waves and says, "Bye Bye." Which really sounds more like "ba ba," but eventually she'll learn her Y's.

Addison also loves to pretend to talk on the phone. She'll grab the phone, put it to her mouth, talk into it, then had it to me. I put it to my ear, say, "Hello, yes she is here, just a sec....Addison, it's for you," and give the phone back to her and the whole sequence starts over again. Ironically, when I try to get her to talk to real people on the phone she just smiles or opens her mouth real big like she's surprised and refuses to make a peep. Kids!

Last week, Bart and I finally got our Christmas decorations up. YAY! I do have one more nativity to put up. But other than that we're done.

Addison LOVES picking up things, and giving them to you. Today as I was cleaning out the dishwasher, she crawled over, grabbed a spoon, and gave it to me. So I put it away. Then she grabbed a fork and gave it to me, so I put it away. This continued until we had put all the silver wear away! (I had taken out all the sharp utensils because I saw her coming.) I've decided this is definitely something I am going to encourage!

Today Addison also surprised us all when she was eating breakfast. I was feeding her in her high chair, and Bart came over to feed his frog, so Addison saw him and squealed with delight, "Bart!" (The r was more of a w sound, but the word was unmistakable). Then I was upstairs with Addison and called down to Bart to get me something, and after I had called to him, Addison looked to the door and called, "Bawt.....Bawt....Bawt." Until he answered! Then, at Church during primary Addison was being fairly rowdy, so I let her crawl in the Hall. Bart was teaching a class at the end of the hall and Addison heard his voice, so she bolted for the classroom. I ran to get her, and after I had picked her up she screamed, "BAWT!!!" And threw her head back right into my tooth. It hurt a ton, but fortunately it didn't break skin. Addison cried for a second, and wound up with a little bump, but other than that she was okay. I'm really going to have to start working on calling Bart Dad instead of Bart.

Well, that's it for now. It was a long one, but hopefully it won't be so long before I write again.

Going pantless

Okay, so this will be a quick post, but I just had to write it...so yesterday Addison wore some pants that are a little big for her. When I put her down for her afternoon nap, she just talked and played for quite a while (which is pretty normal).

But then it got to be like an hour and a half, and she was still up talking to her self. This was pretty unusual, and we had to go somewhere so I decided to go up there.When I opened the door there was my little girl, standing on the side of the crib smiling at me, pointing at a book she wanted that she had thrown on the ground... completely naked from the waste down.

She had gotten both her pants and her diaper off, and was just chillin in the buff. No wonder she was so happy for so long. I wanted so badly to run and get the camera, but I knew if I left she'd start crying and usually when she starts crying really hard, she poops. I didn't think it was worth the risk.

Day Care, Bums Up, and Belly Blows

Okay, that picture has absolutely nothing to do with this week, but I didnt' take any pictures, and let's face it, blogs without pictures are just plain boreing. Plus I like that picture of Addison and Bart's dad.... :o)

We made a HUGE change this week. We finally broke down and put Addison in daycare...well, sort of day care. It's basically this lady and her friend, and they do it out of her house, but it's pretty much amazing. I knew Amy was really starting to get overwhelmed, and one day my friend Richelle told me about how her cousin uses this lady to watch her one year old son while she works part time, and she absolutely LOVES her. I guess he was having a hard time crawling, and they really worked with him and got him to crawl.

So, I started looking into it. It was kind of a miracle really. I had known about her for over a month, and was thinking about using her next semester, but I really didn't like the idea of a day care type thing, even if it was in someone's house and very good, so I had put off going to visit and ask questions. Then last week I finally decided that I'd call and set up an appointment to visit either the end of this month or the beginning of next month. I called, and they said, "Well, why don't you come tomorrow." My head said, No, I just want to come at the end of the month, but I heard my mouth say, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," which was especially crazy because I was really busy the next day and I really hadn't done much research on what to look for in a good day care.

So, I was up late that night researching, and basically everything I read said, this is what you want...but if you're going to be doing family care (i.e. in someone's home), you probably won't get a lot of it. I was like, "Great. Oh well, hopefully they'll have everything else." I went and observed what the kids did for the morning (which is when Addison would be going), and asked them all my questions. And all that stuff they said you wouldn't get in a family care, they had! And so much more!! They have scheduled story, game, art, outside, singing, meal and free times. It was neat, orderly, and clean. They disinfected their toys regularly, and the infant toys daily. They are a registered child care business, so they have to keep up with state standards. All of their workers and subs are licensed and have had background checks, and they keep up to date on the latest child development and care issues by going to training meetings, and even teach some workshops up at UVSC about child care/child development. The babies each have their own rooms to nap in. They will do your bedtime routine with your baby. There have about 7 kids (8 including Addison) ranging in ages from 6 weeks to four and they really try to develop sibling like relationships between them. They Hold and cuddle the babies, they provide age appropriate activities, they pretty much have everything!

I was SOOOOOOOOO impressed. And they had one infant spot left. (Babies are considered infants until age 2). I was praying to know if this was what we should do with Addison, and I just got the greatest feeling! I let them know that we had agreed to pay my sister through the end of the year, so there was a chance that Addison wouldn't be able to start until January. They told me to just let them know as soon as possible.

This was on a Thursday, so I figured I'd talk to Amy about it some time during the weekend and then call them back on Monday. Amy called later that day, and although I wasn't planning on talking about it, I heard myself bring up the subject. Amy said it was okay with her even if we just started her right away and that she could use the extra time. I talked to Bart about it that night, and he thought it was a good idea too. So, on Friday morning I called them back and asked if I could come fill out all the paper work and have her start on Monday. They said to come on over. While I was there, they were telling me that they were really happy I had called back because someone else called right after I left asking if they had an infant opening. They said that they did, but that someone was looking into it so the lady said she'd call back Friday afternoon to see if it had fallen through. So if I had waited until Monday, the opening may not have been there.

The first day was a little hard. They said she cried for about 15 min after I left, but then had a pretty good day, but when I got there she was crying again because they had just put her coat on her and she didn't want it on. The next two days, when I picked up Addison, she was very mellow, and it took me a while to get her back to her normal happy squealey mood. Every day they told me she was doing really well. Eating well, sleeping well, and playing and laughing and everything, but the fact that she either wasn't happy or wasn't herself every time I went to pick her up was leaving me with an uneasy feeling.

On Thursday, on my way home from work I said a little prayer. I asked Heavenly Father to please let me get a good sense of how Addison was really doing there when I picked her up that day. I told him that I knew that we had gotten a confirmation that this is where she should be, but the fact that whenever I picked her up she was either sad or not herself was really bothering me. I begged him to help me feel that reassurance again.

When I got there, everyone was outside playing. Addison was sitting next to one of her friends and one of the Ladies in one of those long swings, and she was as happy as could be! She was laughing and babbling, and grabbing her shoes. Normally I pick her up, ask how she did, say thank you and leave, but today the ladies were especially enthusiastic to tell me how she had done today. One of the Lady's kids was practcing the piano before she left for school that day, so Addison and one of her friends were over there singing and dancing away. She was playing really well with the other kids and loving story time. She was taking two hour naps and never had any problem going down, and she had eaten especially well.

I was so happy! It was such a blatant and immediate answer to my prayers. When I got back in the car I was nearly crying and thanked Heavenly Father for helping me know that Addison was doing well there. I love Heavenly Father! He's so amazing! He seriously is aware of our concerns and needs, and will help us if we ask.

Addison has also learned two new things. The first is Bum's up (sticking her bum in the air and looking through her legs). She's actually been doing it for a while, but whenever you would move to do it back to her, she'd sit down and look at you to see what you were doing before you could look back at her. Well this week I was finally able to look through her legs at her before she sat down, and she though it was the funniest thing ever! It was so cute!

She also learned to do belly blows. She absolutely loves playing with my belly button, so I was laying down and letting her when she opened her mouth like she was giving a kiss, and put it on my belly button. I thought she was trying to kiss my belly button, but then she started to blow! It was so funny, I just started laughing, then she started laughing. Now she thinks it's the funniest thing ever and loves doing it. It's sooooooooooo cute!

As for Bart and I, we are doing well. This new schedule of me working in the mornings is working out well for Bart too. Now he can stay after and get more of his lesson plans done, so he feels like he's more on top of things, then when he comes home we can do things together. I like spending more time with him. It's been a ton of fun.

And it's been nice for me. I used to go to work in the mornings on Mondays and Wednesdays and then in the afternoons on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. It's nice to just have the same schedule every day. It's been a lot easier to get into routines, so I feel like I'm getting a lot more done. Plus my day isn't broken up by work. I just get it all out of the way in the morning, and then can do whatever I want for the rest of the day. It's been great!

She Speaks!

And I think she actually understands what she's saying...at least a little bit....okay, maybe she doesn't understand at all, and she's just mimicking, but HEY! AT LEAST SHE'S MIMICKING! :o)

One of her favorite books is "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can you?" In it, there's a section that says, "Boom Boom Boom, Mr. Brown is a wonder. Boom boom boom, Mr. Brown Makes Thunder." Well, Bart noticed that every time he read her that part, after he said, "Boom boom boom" Addison would repeat, "Boom boom boom." Now whenever we say, "Addison, say Boom boom boom." She says, "Boom Boom Boom."

I've also started teaching her a little bit of sign language...well, baby sign language anyway. Whenever it looks like she's done eating (ie she starts throwing stuff over the side of her high chair) I say, "Addison are you All Done?" And I lift my hands to the height of my head and shake them. Whenever I do this, she waves her hands crazily above her head and says, "Ah dun." If I think she wants more, I'll put my fingers together and say "More?" She says, "Mor" and puts her hands together. It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute. I'm not sure that she fully realizes what either means because she doesn't do the done sign before she throws her food off the tray, and sometimes she'll do the more sign and then refuse to eat any more, but at least she knows how to do it. :o)

As for the rest of us, Bart & I voted this week. I really like voting. I'm glad we live in a country where we have a say in what goes on. Even though one of the people i wanted to get on the city council didn't make it, I still was glad I got to vote for her.

This weekend we got to go to St. George for Mckenna's blessing. It was a lot of fun seeing Bart's family, and Chris gave a wonderful blessing. I'm glad we were able to go.

Well, that's pretty much it for now, until next time....au revoir.