The Stewart Report

I MAY have forgotten I have a blog

2009-07-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so it's been awhile since I posted to the blog eh? Since getting on Facebook I've been better about posting pictures in a timely manner and updating cute Addy-ism's, just not here. Since everyone who reads this blog is ALSO is a friend on Facebook it seemed a bit redundant. In fact I'll be very surprised with myself if I ever remember to post here again. If you read this and aren't a FB friend please just send me an invite. Life is just getting to hectic to post 3 different places.

Call it laziness if you will but I like to call it.......

Oh who am I kidding, it's laziness

Let's just say the name "The Stewart Report" may very soon be up for grabs :(

Weirdo

2009-04-07T08:54:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I posted a list of weird foods that Addy eats. Well last night we discovered the mother of them all. We went to Logans for dinner where they have peanuts everywhere and shells all over the floor. Addy grabbed a couple out of the big barrel but I wasn't really paying her much mind since she's never liked peanuts. All of the sudden I hear this big crunch. I look over and she's taken a huge bit out of the shell and is happily chewing away. THE SHELL!!! I gagged just watching her. I tried to make her spit it out with no luck. I finally had to fish around in her mouth and get the shell out since I figured a peanut shell couldn't be that healthy or good for the digestive tract.

Funnily enough I gave her a peanut a minute later (the nut part) to see if she had changed her mind about liking them. She gagged and spit it out. This kid is so awesomely weird :)

Addy speaking in sentences still shocks me sometimes

2009-03-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

We were driving home this Saturday with Lance and Jess after getting some lunch. We were teasing Addy about having to take a nap when we got home. (She would rather die than miss hanging out with her beloved Aunt Jess)

Nate: Are you sure you don't need to take a nap? You look pretty sleepy Addy

Addy: No, I sleep tonight

What?!?! Where did that come from?!?! She talks all the time but it's about 50/50 real words and her own special language, Ad-lish. When complete, perfectly phrased and pronounced sentences come out it's all I can do not to fall over :)

Catching Up

2009-03-11T12:10:00.001-07:00

It must be time for my bi-monthly blog post!

It's been a very busy, very cold few months and I blame that for the fact that we haven't been taking many pictures. Who wants to see multiple pictures of us lounging around the house in warm clothes. The up-side of not using the heat to save energy is that we get to hang out in our PJ's a lot :)

Lucky we had a 3 day spell of wonderful warm weather last week and took immediate advantage by heading to the zoo. Not only is it a great little zoo but they have the coolest playground I've seen anywhere. There is a huge padded area for toddlers and despite the fact that some 8 year old hooligans kept knocking her over Addy had a great time in there.

Checking out the local fish exhibit. Turns out local fish are booooooring. Addy loved it though

She had a great moment with this turtle. It kept walking around and looking at her. Several times they were nose to nose through the glass

"Hi Turtur!"

The petting zoo was also a bit hit. She ran right up and started petting goats, almost throwing herself over the fence in the process

This kid has no fear of animals. These were big goats, with BIG horns and even after one knocked her down she was still in the thick of it, petting them all

Man, I have GOT to get a tan!!! To bad I passed my pasty pasty skin onto Addy. She'll have to learn to love it though. The poor kid gets slathered with sunscreen any time we leave the house.

Watching the monkeys.

You should see her monkey impersonation. Complete with sounds, chest beating and lots of jumping around

I can't get over how grown up she looks here. Where did my baby go?!?!

There are no animals here, just scummy pond water. She had to look at everything though!

Playing Zoo animal at home. She sat under the clothes basket and roared at us for about half an hour

Coming to give Mommy a kiss

She loves climbing into our cabinets. Most of them have kiddy locks on them but I left it off the Tupperware drawer so she could play in there. Now I need to teach her to re stack and put away all the Tupperware she pulls out :)

She'll pull the door closed and then jump out and scare us. If you're ever at our house and she does this make sure to dramatically scream, jump and fall on the floor in terror. She's going for the big reaction

This girl LOVES hats. As soon as we get home at night she finds one of about 8 and puts it on

Oh....My.....Goodness. The cuteness is to much to bear

All of our friends were over this night to play Catan (about 8 people in all) and she was sitting there "reading" to us all.

This is her FAVORITE outfit. Of course the required hat, her jack-o-lantern slippers that rattle and favorite polka dot pants.

We've also developed a new infatuation with sweeping. I'm not going to lie, I'm strongly supporting this hobby.

Is it bad that I want to get her little cleaning supplies for her birthday? Maybe a little duster? They even make a mini Elmo vacuum that actually works! I could use some help around the house :)

GODZILLA!!!!

She doesn't' really play with her blocks yet but loves to knock them down when I play with them. Normally I can't get more than 2 stacked before Godzilla runs in and sends them flying. I had Nate hold her hostage in her room so I could build a huge castle with every block. The glee on her face at having that big of a castle to destroy was awesome :)

And that's all she wrote! Now that it's starting to warm up and we can go do things again I'm hoping to be more consistent with the pictures and posts. My parents are coming up in a few weeks to visit as well so plenty of great photo ops then

The Great Harlingen Bean Wars

2009-01-09T11:32:00.001-08:00

OK, the post title is kinda stupid, it references a really bad movie I once watched about an actual bean war. Whatever, it was all I could come up with.

In actual fact Mom bought several pounds of dried pinto beans (which elicited several remarks at the grocery store) for Addy to play with. It was an even bigger hit than the corn bins at Halloween. I certainly know a summer activity we'll be engaging in quite a bit!

Yeah, this has nothing to do with beans. It's just Addy eating her candy necklace. It also explains why she's so filthy in the subsequent bean pictures. Face and neck covered in sticky candy + dusty beans = an incredibly dirty child

Dirty and having a blast!

My Mom is probably going to lose her yard to pinto sprouts this summer. Not only did we get them all over the patio but Addy ran through the yard throwing beans around like Tinkerbell scattering fairy dust.

When burying your arms in a bucket of beans isn't enough? Just dunk your whole head in there!

Like I said, she adores her Uncle John. The two of them were inseparable all week. It was really cute and she's lucky to have such a cool Uncle

I was afraid she would try to eat a bunch of beans but for some reason she had no interest in that. Now sticking them up her nose and in her ears, totally different story

A Very Merry Christmas

2009-01-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

As usual these pictures are going to be out of order. I hate Bloggers way of loading pics backwards. Especially since I write my posts at work and have to minimize the window so it doesn't look like I'm slacking off. Which of course I am :)

Every year we have a silly string war. One year we got John so badly he ended up having to shave his head because of all the silly string in the fro. This year was tame in comparison.

Opening presents on Christmas Eve

She got a play kitchen this year and TONS of accessories. The grocery cart was the real favorite though. We actually had trouble getting her to open anything else after that

Mimi and Grandpa

See what I mean about the grocery cart? Totally infatuated

Hiding in Mimi's napkin cabinet. She could almost close the door behind her and loved jumping out and startling people as they walked by.

Christmas Eve we headed out to the island for a little beach and Dirty Al's seafood. What is it about the beach that always makes people so tired?

Enjoying a lime at Dirty Al's. If we let her eat lime's as much as she begs for them she wouldn't have a bit of tooth enamel left

A really good family picture. We were going to have real ones taken too but the wind was 40 MPH that day and we had to cancel.

Seems like every time we go to the beach I get some variation of this picture.

Addy once again freaked out about the sand. This time though we didn't have time to let her get used to it. So some very accommodating grandparents and an uncle carted her around on the their shoulders the whole day. This is probably the only time her feet touched the ground.

Very accommodating

I can't really explain this one. I know Nate wasn't hungry. Mom cooked enough food for a small country. I'm still full!!

Making orange juice with Grandpa. One of many reasons I love the valley, fresh squeezed orange juice year round.

Addy fell head over heels for her Uncle John. Quite literally in this case

The first day we were there it was pretty cold (for valley standards). Again this picture has no explanation. I just love every one's reactions to Nate

Grandpa and Addy plugging up the hole in the fence so the neighbor dog couldn't come over to poop. It didn't work.

Addy comes from a long line of pyro's. I'm proud to say she was just as infatuated with the fire as both her parents and uncle. Hopefully she won't be as bad as John and I were as kids though. At 11 we burned down an entire clubhouse and at 14 John set himself on fire. Good memories :)

Okay I take it back. She may be as bad as John and I.

22 months and she's already set herself on fire :)

She LOVES hat's. If it's not Nate's beanie then she's sporting my Titans ball cap backwards or an old Togo army hat I have.

Nana (Nate's Mom) got Addy this table and chair set for Christmas. We've been having lots of tea parties. But if you don't slurp loudly and appreciatively you have to leave the table. She's very particular about tea drinking etiquette.

Christmas Parade

2009-01-09T07:45:00.001-08:00

I'm going to have to do several Christmas posts just because there are so many cute pictures this year. I always marvel at how photogenic that child is.

This year we ventured out for the Mt Juliet Christmas parade. We had a blast but it was freezing!!

You know you live in Tennessee when the most popular "float" in the parade is a tricked out tractor

Addy was infatuated with the candy throwing aspect of parades. She ran out several times to grab some but only managed to grab one starlight mint. No worries though, she clutched that mint proudly all day and I found it in her pocket weeks later

Getting a better view. There were some crazy big kids who kept knocking her down and blocking her view.

Nate and I were both hysterical at the poor dog's expression on the "Spay Station" This same truck is frequently parked in front of our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. We're banking on there NOT being a connection there :)

Addy demonstrating her BRRRRR face. It was seriously freezing. About 20 degrees with a strong wind. Unfortunately about 4 days later she came down with pneumonia. Again, we're really hoping there wasn't a connection

These camels also cracked me up. They were on teeny little roller skate wheels. Probably fine for pulling a 40 pound wooden camel down the aisle at church. Not so much when battling it up our hills. The poor guys pulling them were just dying and you could hear them complaining from where we stood.

Addy and Aunt Kristen.

After the parade we had our annual "Gang Thanksgiving" Now that Kristen is back in school we rarely get to see her so Addy was thrilled.

Guilt

2009-01-05T08:42:00.001-08:00

Yes I feel very guilty that I haven't posted since Dec 1. There isn't a single picture of Addy up from Christmas, her visit to Mimi and Grandpa's or anything else for that matter. They exist, I promise. And soon they'll make it to the interweb

This was an odd holiday season. Intense spurts on insane activity interspersed with incredible laziness. There didn't seem to be a happy medium. Depending on the day I either didn't have time to load, proof and edit or just didn't feel like it as I was so luxuriously relaxed.

Either way I have been shamed and my first resolution for 2009 is to get pictures loaded before the end of the week. I promise. Unless it gets really busy again :)

The above is pretty much the only picture I have right now, since my dad took it. It's cute though isn't it? Three generations enjoying the day after Christmas at the beach. More to come very soon. Nate is going to the Titan's playoff game this Saturday and not taking me so his payback may be picture duty :)

Monkey Joes and a Happy Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a random and out of order post. Mainly because I have a horrible cold and I just don't have it in me to battle blogger getting these pictures in some sort of chronological order.

Fun times at the park. You know you live in Tennessee when your park is named Charlie Daniels

Addy has always hated swinging, it freaks her out. This day she ran right over to the swing, climbed in and swung blissfully for about 30 minutes.

I don't get this kid and her mood swings. One day we hate something, the next day it's the greatest thing ever. At least it keeps us on our toes!

Playing outside the church after Thanksgiving meal #1.

Nate has such a huge extended family (on both sides) that we have to rent out a church hall. We also have to eat two Thanksgiving meals that day which makes for a very long day and a very full belly. Let's just say Mary learned a few years ago to keep Tums in the car.

Addy playing with the extend-a-wall and wearing a fetching Indian headdress. Do all kids love these retractable walls? I remember being infatuated with them myself as a kid.

Uncle Lance showing Addy how to ride a trick properly.

I don't have an explanation for the crazy eyes. I think he just ate to many dumplings

Getting a lift from Cousin Emily who LOVED having her own real life baby to play with. Even though said real life baby is only a year and a half younger and a few inches shorter

Addy got a little possessive of the trike. When Aunt Christy tried to ride it Addy simply sat on the front wheel.

A rare picture of Mom and Addy. And we both have our eyes open!! Trust me this is as rare as spotting an elephant in the wild, in Tennessee

Messing around after a bath

Here's where the Monkey Joe portion of the title comes into play. Nashville finally got one! And we love it, we've been several times already and at $5 for all three of us to get in the price can't be beat.

The great thing about having a toddler? We didn't have any quarters and couldn't turn any of these rides on. No problem! Addy just turned the wheel, pushed the buttons and laughed away like it was the best toy ever.

When we took her back the second time we did have quarters so that's the last time we're going to get away with it. Now that she knows these things bounce and shake she's going to insist on the real deal.

Being bucked off by a killer whale. Literally, we both went flying. I almost torn my ACL again trying not to land on and crush Addy.

She's probably a bit to young for the bouncy part. She couldn't stand up at all and spent most of the time either flat on her back or scooting around on her butt. She loved it though. Everytime she fell down she would just roll around giggling.

9 and O!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-10T14:27:00.001-08:00

9 and 0! 9 and 0!!

Nope, I can say it all day and it doesn't get old :)

Keep it up boys! I'm preparing my vocal chords for some serious playoff and Superbowl screaming!!!

OBAMA!!!

2008-11-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

I've been very good and haven't mentioned any political affiliations or leaning's on this blog. Mostly since the vast majority of my extended family are Republicans who get Christmas cards from the Bush's. But suffice it to say I am ecstatic.

We got to watch history being made last night. Got to see our country stand up and make a decision that could change everything about us. Watch someone with morals and integrity, a man who actually told the truth, answered questions and kept his promises become our next President. The sight of a million people in Chicago, standing unified for one man and one cause brought me to tears. It was an amazing night for our country and it's my fervent hope that we can keep this attitude of cooperation and change alive.

I've never been patriotic and spent most of my life wishing I was a Togolese citizen. But last night, for the first time, I felt those patriotic feelings for this country. I was proud to have an American passport, proud that I had cast my vote (for the first time) and proud that my daughter will be alive to see these changes.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-05T07:45:00.001-08:00

Getting ready to head out.

Thankfully it was an unseasonably warm so she didn't look like an Arctic Fairy Princess

So excited!! No clue why but we're very excited!

Speaking of Fairy Princesses it was clearly the costume du jour. We went trick or treating with our immediate neighbors, about 6 kids in all and 3 of them were Fairy Princesses.

Addy was just excited to hang out with the big kids. She's hoping this gets her in with the gang so she can start playing with the neighbor's motorized jeep.

She tried so valiantly to keep up with the other kids but those short legs were just no match for 6 year olds hopped up on sugar and screaming and running from house to house. She was a real trooper though.

She made it to about 5 houses and carried her own pail the whole way.

She was so excited that at times I was running to keep up. Well not running exactly, but limping with purpose at top speed.

We have GOT to get some streetlights in our neighborhood. I never realized before how pitch black it is out there. Very spooky :)

We have a REALLY hilly neighborhood and while going down the hill was no problem hoofing it back up proved to be more than she could handle. Thankfully Daddy is always around to give a hand.

Whew, that's a big hill

"Seriously, I'm getting winded here!"

"My back! My neck and my back!"

Finally home!!

Okay, everyone knows of course that Nate was just goofing off and those pictures are all staged. We're weird like that. Addy didn't though. She was very concerned about Nate and kept poking him with her wand to get him up.

"Okay, I put a bunch of stuff in this bucket. What exactly was it?"

She got a decent haul but still doesn't like sugar. I gave her a small bite of chocolate and she of course gagged and spit it out.

However the grape sucker was a HUGE hit!

This is literally the first piece of candy she's ever eaten and even that she didn't finish. Nate found it later hanging off the back of her head :)

She did get a nice little sugar buzz off the 9 licks though. I'm really hoping this anti-sugar stand lasts.

She spent most of the night (and the rest of the weekend) taking all the candy out of the pail, lining it up on the table and then putting it all back in. Who knew that mini snickers would be such an engaging toy! And surprisingly low cal when you don't eat any of them!

Days later she is still dragging her candy around. She won't eat it but does gnaw on it through the wrapper. And she's all about sharing. I can't count the number of pieces of soggy wrapped candy I've been handed over the last few days.

All in all Halloween gets a big thumbs up from Addy. It was so fun to watch her experience everything for the first time. She was so grown up too. She ran up to each house, grabbed her own candy out of the bowl and said "thank you" almost every time. We just get prouder and prouder and she gets cuter and cuter!!

Countdown to Tootatootoo

2008-11-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

Addy was ALL about Halloween this year. From the costume to carving pumpkins to trick or treating she had a blast. We tried to teach her to say "Trick or Treat" but the closest she ever got was Tootatootoo!

The first time we put Addy's costume on, several weeks before Halloween, she totally freaked out. She kept yanking on the skirt, twisting around to pull on the wings and eventually threw herself to the floor in a dramatic fashion crying "No Mama NO!" Imagine my surprise when a few days later she came trotting into the living room clutching the costume asking to put it on. I put it on over her PJ's and it was an instant hit.

Wearing her costume over her clothes was a theme repeated many many times over the ensuing weeks.

I am VERY happy to say that since this picture we installed a new screen door. Needless to say it was needed.

Helping Daddy clean out the pumpkins. She wouldn't put her hand into the pumpkin but loved playing with the seeds and goop after Nate pulled it out.

The finished pumpkins. We had a "Nightmare before Christmas" theme this year and they turned out awesome. There was an attempt at a Joker pumpkin to but it didn't really work. I guess some things just don't translate into fine pumpkin art.

Jack Skellington, Addy's favorite. Every time she walks past she gives Jack a pat on the head.

This is her little sleep mat from school. They send them home every Friday to be washed. This particular Saturday she unrolled her mat all by herself, spread it out on the floor, covered herself up and pretended to sleep. Being cute and entertaining all the time is exhausting! She also laid several stuffed animals on the mat and covered them up. I missed that picture though since she had stolen the camera and run away with it. She REALLY has a thing for cameras

The Third Foodie

2008-10-28T11:39:00.001-07:00

Anyone who knows Nate and I knows that we are die-hard foodies. We love to try new things and are always the first to dive into a strange new dish. The more eclectic the better! Obviously we've tried to introduce Addy to as many of those same foods as we can. And let me tell you this kid is weird.

She HATES sugar of any kind. In fact give her a cookie and she'll gag and spit it out on the floor. She never had a bite of her first birthday cake, we totally faked the picture by smearing cake on her face. And the list of foods she does like is even stranger for your typical 20 month old. In the interest of remembering as my brain gets feebler and feebler I decided to write down the list of things she's loved so far

- Hummus

- Salt and Vinegar potato chips, I gave her one of those hoping to get a great face out of her and instead created a monster.

- Artichoke hearts

- Steamed carrots, she eats so many steamed carrots I'm afraid she might turn orange. In fact who has heard of a kid that considers extra carrots a treat?

- Pasta covered in creamed spinach

-Blue cheese, both in dressing form and consumed straight. I almost fell out of my chair when I caught her sneaking chunks of blue cheese off my plate at the restaurant

- Mushrooms

- Gorgonzola, the strange thing is she won't touch cheddar cheese (especially not those digusting slices that aren't even cheese) but LOVES the stinky french cheeses

- Baked pita chips

- Salad, what kid likes salad! I didn't like salad until high school at least

- Black olives

- Sushi, not sashimi though, we're not that bad. But I don't think its going to be a big leap for her. As soon as the doctor okays the raw fish I have a feeling she'll jump right in

-Shrimp

-Balsamic vinaigrette dressing

- Asparagus

I'm sure that list will grow as time goes on and I can't wait to let her try more and more stuff. Is it to early for Pho? Ethiopian food? A little fufu and sauce!!! Thank goodness we didn't get a picky eater! Well not in the normal sense. She'll get stuck and only eat one thing for awhile but unlike normal kids she gets stuck on things like grilled fish and broccoli, or chicken and peas. No chicken fingers, hot dogs or french fries in our house!!!

Pumpkin Patch #1

2008-10-27T13:52:00.000-07:00

This was Addy's first trip to the pumpkin patch with Nana and Papaw. Obviously NOT a fan of the hay bale. This is the prime reason we skipped the hay ride at pumpkin patch #2.

Cutest little pumpkin ever!!

I love this expression, and we see it a lot. I imagine in her head she's saying "What do you want you crazy people?!?"

Nana always finds the cutest handmade holiday outfits. I swear both times she's worn this dress people have fallen over themselves when they see her.

Pumpkin Patch #2

2008-10-25T13:46:00.001-07:00

This was Addy's second trip to the pumpkin patch but because I can't remember Linda's snapfish login I'm going to post them out of chronological order. Since I post everything weeks late anyway it's not like anyone is going to notice!

We drove out to the rich people's part of Nashville and went to the good pumpkin patch. It really was a neat set up, they had two barns the kids could run around in, tire swings, little log cabins, hay rides and all kinds of other activities.

One of the barns had a hay bale maze set up inside. Addy ran right in and kept up with the bigger kids.

Her favorite part BY FAR, were the corn bins. She could have poured and sifted corn for 3 hours. And trust me, she wanted to.

In fact every time we tried to move on she would break out in heartbroken tears, weeping for the corn. Of course as a typical toddler she was fine once we were out of sight.

Addy really wanted to pet the goats but I guess that's a pretty big insurance liability.

Case in point!

Not crazy about the chickens and turkey. They were pretty mean too, squawking and nipping at the chicken wire. Could it be hundreds of kids running around screaming and throwing feed at their heads upset them? Surely not

Ah corn, much better.

Yes, we're horrible dragging her away from the corn again . As Nate put it $12 is a lot to spend for 3 hours of corn fun.

Seriously, I don't care about a corn field maze in the shape of a giant cow, or a nature walk. I just want to play in the corn.

She really did enjoy the corn maze though. No lasting scars. Although we did have trouble with the concept of a path. She kept fording right through the corn like she was on a Lewis and Clark expedition

A pumpkin just her size. Although at this point of the afternoon the nap is calling.

That's all Folks!

Around the House

2008-10-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

The first time we put Addy's costume on she freaked out, pulling at it and turning in circles looking at the wings.

The fact that we got two pictures without screamy face speaks to the power a camera holds over her.

A few nights ago Addy grabbed a lunch bag and bear and walked to the front door calling "Bye, Bye!"

I don't know if she just got confused or really likes school.

After the 1st pumpkin patch. I learned an important lesson that night. Don't wash a shirt that still has a pumpkin patch sticker on it. Poops McGee

6 and 0!!!!!!!!!

2008-10-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah so if you haven't heard our Titans are 6 and 0!!!!!! And the only undefeated team in the NFL. Going to the game is always awesome but even more so when we're winning!!!!

We had the chance to go to the game against the Vikings several weeks ago where we trounced them!!!! It was a thing of beauty made even better by the fact that we were surrounded by trash talking Vikings fans who quickly had to eat their words.

Lance and Jess got the tickets and let us tag along. Now those are friends!! As usual we screamed, yelled, made fools of ourselves and had a great time!

We've been fans for 10 years, and stuck with them through thick and thin. And boy is it nice to finally be having a winning season! 10 years has finally paid off!

This picture has no point, other than the fact that I love the Batman building on the far left. We've moved away from Nashville several times and every time we come back, either to live or visit the Batman building is the first landmark I look for when we drive into town.

Random Cuteness

2008-10-01T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is now officially my favorite picture of Addy. We were at Walmart and Nate ran into an old friend from high school. To kill time while he chatted Addy and I tried on all the glasses. We got some dirty looks and were eventually asked to leave but it was totally worth it to get this picture. I'm pretty sure my Mom had these exact same glasses around 1986.

A lazy morning. Sadly this was also a week day and we were wicked late to work. I couldn't wake them up though, they looked so sweet.

Playing in the yard and wearing every color of the rainbow. Gotta love laundry day!! You can't see but she was also wearing purple shoes, just to complete the total lack of coordinating colors.
Addy LOVES to carry her lunch bag. In fact, heaven help the person who doesn't let her carry it to the car and into school. She starts yelling BAG, BAG the second we get ready to leave and clutches it to her chest in the car seat.

Showing off her pretty new dress.

The Definition of Irony

2008-09-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

Last night, after 12 long weeks, was my last physical therapy session!! It's been a painful road, and I have to keep working out my knee at home on my own. But at three times a week and a $20 co-pay per session for the last 3 months I was THRILLED to finally be done.

When I got home I picked up the mail and started looking though it. At the very bottom of the stack was a brochure and a discount from Snowshoe inviting us to plan our Ski trip for this year. AS IF!!

Future Blackmail

2008-09-25T07:59:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist. Even mad and pitching a fit she's cute. I believe I had just taken away the remote control. Heaven forbid!!

Playing

2008-09-25T07:02:00.001-07:00

Needless to say we're quite happy to have a camera again and have taken a lot of random pictures just to fill the gap of the last few months.

Daddy and Addy playing. He can always get her cracking up

Waving bye-bye before she runs away from home. She is also obviously a daughter of mine. Not many people can walk barefoot on agragate, especially with tender baby feet. She has no problems. Nate will limp his way to the mailbox while Addy runs full out across the rocks without a whimper. That also resulted in her worst injury ever. She fell on the agragate the other day and cut her head open. Not only was their blood everywhere but a goose egg the size of golf ball. We took a picture but its so gruesome and disgusting that I decided not to share.

I'm not really sure what's she's looking at here but it cracked me up. She kept looking at the rabbits butt and then laughing. I really wonder what goes through her mind sometimes.

She's still such a poser. Pull a camera out and she looks up and smiles adorably. I don't understand how two totally un-photogenic people can spawn such a camera hog.

I think it may be time for a toy purge. The living room is being overrun and Nate is notorious for kicking the loudest toys in the middle of the night and setting them off.

Funny side note : The school bus push toy has a button where a bunch of little kids start laughing, very children of the corn. Earlier this week we were in the living room watching TV and kept hearing this creepy laughing. The toy had gotten left out in the rain and must have gotten a short since it kept setting off randomly. We were pretty creeped out until we figured out what was going on.

Addy loves to go into her room and take everything out of the drawers, item by item. Thankfully she also likes putting everything back so we let her go crazy.

Mimi gave us a great wheelbarrow with little gardening tools. I doubt this was what she meant the wheelbarrow to be used for but Addy loves putting all her stuffed animals in there. And seriously, who can resist that face :)

Don't you love her emo look? The hair just gets shaggier and shaggier but I'm afraid to trim it. I'm convinced that any day now she'll wake up and have lovely flowing girl locks.

Riding her school bus outside in the driveway

One of the perks of living in such a hilly place. She'd push the school bus up to the top of the driveway and race back down it a hundred times a day if we let her. I try to get her to go from side to side so she's not hurtling down at breakneck speed towards the cars but she's an adrenaline junkie I guess. She prefers the possibility that she'll slam into a muffler at the end.

The Wedding Dance

2008-09-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

Addy's newest love is dancing. She dances to everything, cartoons, music on the radio, Mommy and Daddy singing. She loves to dance. A few weeks ago we went to a friends wedding and saw the extent of dance fever in action.

As is often the case at weddings people were hesitant to get out on the dance floor. No such qualms for Addy! She was out in the middle of an empty dance floor getting down! She also kept trying to touch the violinist's bow. Thankfully Uncle Lance was quick and averted that disaster.

I love that at that age there is no shame or embarrassment. I wonder when that ends?

I don't know why Nate always makes that sideways leering face. We're hoping they make pills for it :)

I missed the full shot but Addy kept going up to the wedding photographers and posing in front of them. They obliged every time by giggling and taking her picture. I'm sure Vanessa is going to wonder why there are 45 shots of Addy in her wedding album.

Addy and her Aunt Kristy. Interesting side note there. Kristy is my sister in law. She is also an MK, her mom and aunts and uncles grew up in Africa and went to ICA, my Alma mater. We also share the same birthday, January 26. Talk about a weird coincidence!! Nate always jokes with Lance and tells him to get his own wife and stop copying.

Addy and Papaw sharing some cheerios. Papaw was the one that taught her the trick of holding out a cheerio to share and then snatching it away right when the other person trys to grab it. It makes her laugh hysterically every time. When she gets really tickled she snorts. I'm sure she'll hate the snorting later on in life but at the moment it's the funniest thing I've ever heard.

End of Summer

2008-08-28T06:40:00.001-07:00

It's finally starting to feel like the end of summer around here. Addy is back at school after a great summer staying with her Nana during the day and we've had some nice cool gloomy days

To celebrate I stole all of my mother in law's pictures from over the summer,

since someone (who will remain unnamed) broke our camera at the beach. Thanks to that there has been a huge gap in pictures of the wonder baby. Thankfully grandparents are notorious picture takers so I present the Nana photo dump!!

Playing with Coco. Well poking Coco in the ear, but she doesn't seem to mind

Perfecting her innocent "What!?" look

Hanging out at Great Grandmomma's house

The jury is still out on whether or not she's going to get Mommy's squinty eyes. Based on this picture I'd say she's in for a future of hearing

"Smile! Ok, now open your eyes, Ok Smile! Can you smile AND open your eyes?"

Addy and Coco are HUGE friends. In fact Coco is one of the words she can say right now. Normally proceeded by "NO!"

Yes, we're going through a transitional growing our hair phase right now. It's coming along though!

We've really gotten into reading lately, YEAH!!! I signed her up for a program in TN where Dolly Parton (yes I know, we do live in TN) will send her a free book every month till she's 5. It's an amazing program designed to foster a love of books in young children. Just in time too, if I have to read 5 Little Duckings to many more times I may go insane

GO TITANS!!!!!

Playing dress up. One of our new infatuations is purses. She can hardly walk across the room without a purse slung over her arm

Go to grandmomma's, get pretty and then apparently knock a few back :)

Nate is a little jaded about the kiddie pool these days. There was an incident earlier this summer that involved our kiddie pool, the Adster and a very large poo that Nate didn't know about. I'll spare you the gory details but let's just say that poo left in a diaper in the water tends to dissolve and create POO WATER!! Those were the words I heard being screamed at me as I was running errands. "She's covered in poo water!! (gag) Poo Water Mary!! Come HOME!!!" He was less that impressed when I doubled over in laughter, started crying and then told him he would have to deal with it lui meme.

Going to see the ducks with Papaw

In short it's been a great summer. Addy is getting so big, learning new stuff everyday and getting to be quite the little character. Hopefully we'll have a new camera very soon and my plan for the fall is to get at least 1 family picture that doesn't make one or all of us look like an eejit. I can guarantee at least two of us will have our eyes closed though :)

Small Photo Dump

2008-08-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

These aren't the best pictures, having been taken with Nate's new phone. But in the absence of a real camera I just had to post a few pictures to show how much the Adster has grown this summer!!

Sporting her new Titan's jersey and pigtails. I can't believe she has enough hair that we have to do pigtails everyday. I never thought we would get out of the emo bangs in front/mullet in the back phase

Slow Road to Recovery

2008-07-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well miracles of miracles everything went well. The only Mary-esque thing that happened was a nurse pricked herself during the surgery so they had to do the whole battery of tests to make sure I wasn't going to give her AIDS or hepatitis. And of course the hospital billed us for the tests. Stinking medical system. I don't even know why I'm surprised. We're also the proud owners of a $65 ACE bandage.

The first week post surgery is just a haze of pain and a nice Oxycodone induced high. I was really out of it. Which is a good thing considering this ranks right on up there on the pain scale, coming in between childbirth and having my spleen removed. The worst part for me was that Addy was terrified of the full leg brace and crutches. She wouldn't come near me for days and screamed when anyone would try to bring her over for cuddles. Thankfully she got over it and now considers a Mommy stuck on the couch a good thing as I'm always available to read books.

Now I've started physical therapy and while excruciating its going quite well. I've re-gained about 80 degrees of flexion and already have almost total extension. I'm still on crutches of course, and will be for several more weeks. I should be able to drive in 2 to 4 weeks and be back to normal in about 6 months. It's a long rehab but thankfully the crutches are giving me a great arm workout. Everything has a silver lining!!

I appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers while I was out.

ACL Reconstruction

2008-07-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

The day I've hinted at several times is upon us. The day I've been dreading and looking forward to since March. The day of ACL reconstruction surgery. And it's tomorrow.

You might not know but I don't have the best track record medically. In fact if there is a one in a million chance of something going wrong it will happen to me. I'm going in for an ACL reconstruction but I've prepared myself for possible amputation, surgery on the wrong knee, even the wrong medical procedure altogether. Prostate exam anyone? I believe in preparing for the worst and being pleasantly surprised.

I've got the best man in the world taking care of me at home, some incredible pain pills and a baby girl who can cuddle when I'm feeling really bad so everything should be all right. It will just be a long and painful week. So for those of you who's sites I visit on a daily basis (ok twice a day) that's where I am. Stuck at home, hopped up on pain killers with a wireless router that just gave out and no internet. I'll be back in a couple of weeks! I promise! With an play by play of what went wrong and hopefully a quickly recovering knee :)

No Pictures for Awhile

2008-06-26T14:33:00.000-07:00

Sadly while we were in North Carolina at the beach Addy got ahold of my camera. Apparently opening and retracting the zoom lens while burying the camera in the sand messes them up? Who knew. Anyway we were lucky to get the pictures out of the camera but that was all she wrote. Thankfully we have this wonderful thing at Dell called airpoints. Sell specific items = earn more airpoints = trade those airpoints in for prizes. We already have a TV and a vacuum from airpoints and if Nate can just sell a few more printers I'll have a new Nikon D60. The big daddy of digital camera's. The camera I've been coveting for some time now.

I hate that there will be this gap in Addy's life with no pictures. Especially since she is now WALKING! That's right, walking like a fiend and Mommy has no photographic evidence.

So if anyone needs a couple of server switches......... :)

The Beach

2008-06-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's starting to seem like all we do is go on vacation! I swear most of the time we're boring homebodies immersed in chores, work and the daily grind. There have just been several "too good to pass up" opportunities this year. The latest was a week in the Outer Banks of NC with our 4 best friends and a house right on the water. The 6 of us have done everything together the last three years except go on vacation so who could pass that up!

I am posting these in no particular order since blogger and me have issues with posting pictures. One of these days I'll figure out how to cut and paste them in the order I actually want but until then....

This is the view off our back deck, and the beach was that secluded almost all the time. We were really lucky to have the last house on the street with an abandoned golf course on the other side so we really enjoyed the "private beach".

The nice thing about being that close to the water was coming back to the house for naps while everyone else could stay out. Well that and getting to snuggle and fall asleep to the sound of the waves.

Addy and Aunt Kristen, the worst spoiler of the bunch :)

Most of the week saw Addy in nothing but a diaper and a head full of tousled beach hair. It's a good look for her!

Loving the sand.

The funny thing is we put her down on the sand the night we got there and she screamed bloody murder. But then for the rest of the week we couldn't keep her out of it. A lot of us got a mouthful of sand thanks to Addy's exuberant throwing and a good stiff wind.

Playing with Uncle Lance...

And then crawling like heck when a wave would come in.

By the end of the week she was letting waves wash up to her neck and over her head a couple of times but that first day she was pretty cautious.

The first morning she was so excited she threw herself off our bed and got a wicked rug burn by her eye. That was actually the first of three times that she jumped off the bed. Some people just never learn

Her favorite place in the world. Anything is better if you're on Daddy's shoulders

You cannot imagine how many shots I had to take before I got one of her wearing sunglasses. She can whip those things off her head faster than you can say "take the picture"

Uncle JJ cheesing

Daddy looking stern and failing miserably

Mommy and Addy. You can tell who the picture taker in our relationship is since this is one of perhaps 12 of the two of us.

Such a beach bum

I just fell in love with her beach hair.

Daddy and Uncle Lance cheesing as well. Sadly a whole week away and no pictures of Aunt Jess. I don't know how that happened since she's normally more than happy to pose for a picture. I promise she was there and even uttered the funniest line of the week

"I hate the kite, the kite is dead to me now" And trust me, she meant it :)

Daddy and Uncle Lance buried and then made a sand car around Addy. You can kind of see one of the "wheels" in this picture. It was quite creative but Addy was "helping" so it lost it's car shape pretty quickly

Taking a walk and no one to disturb us as far as the eye can see.

It's incredibly hard to sit back and let your kids eat it in front of you. I know it's part of the whole parenting process, and letting them figure things out for themselves but still. Thankfully I think she learned her lesson about crawling full speed down a slight incline.

And she's a tough kid. After we washed all the sand out of her mouth and ear she was raring to go again

Who needs toys when you have Uncle JJ's blackberry?

One last "cheesing it" picture of Addy, Daddy and Aunt Kristen in the car.

I wish we had gotten a picture of everyone together but it's tough to get three couples and a toddler to stay in the same place long enough much less find someone brave enough to suffer the 37 false starts while one or all of us makes a goofy face. One of these days we'll grow up but not anytime soon

As always you can see a lot more pictures if you click on the link "Ayden's Pictures" I just didn't feel like captioning 15 pictures of Addy throwing sand, no matter how cute they all were.

A good cause

2008-06-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

I don't normally push products but this was to good not to share. By buying one t-shirt you can feed a child in the Buduburam Refegee Camp in Ghana for a year. Whenever possible Nate and I buy products in which a portion of the proceeds will benefit someone else and this one is so close to home since I spent most of high school driving through and visiting Ghana.

Obviously the baby in the picture ISN'T Addy but you can be assured she'll be sporting her own version soon. That and the "War is Poop" shirt :)

http://www.tinyrevolutionary.com/this-shirt-child.html

Photo Dump

2008-05-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to do a photo dump. We leave for a week at the beach tomorrow and frankly I am to lazy to come up with post theme's and title's

Addy is pulling up and creeping on anything and everything. She'll stand unassisted too, but not on purpose. She'll get involved with something and not even realize that she's not holding onto anything. As soon as she does she sits down with a sign of relief that she didn't die. She's cautious like her Daddy!

See she'll pull up on anything. Even Mommy's knee. Notice the attractive blue knee brace? That's right, the fall while skiing resulted in a detached ACL. So guess who gets to look forward to knee surgery in July!

G'day Mate

As much as we miss Wednesday there's one thing that we could have lived without. Every time we turned around Addy would make a break for the kitchen.

Why you ask?

To eat dog food out of the bowl of course!!

At least she was polite and waited till Wednesday was done.

She was so proud of her pigtails that day. It was the first time I could scrape enough hair together to make two and she spent all day checking herself out in the mirror and fiddling with her hair

These USED to be put away in a basket. Once again you can't turn your back! She is quick!

Uncle John this is just for you. Our best friends, JJ and Kristin, got her a bunch of balls for her birthday. Out of a volleyball, basketball, softball and tennis balls my baby wanted to play with the soccer ball most

GOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL

We've been spending a lot of time outside while Nate works on the yard. Not that nature particularly appeals to Addy. She is more of a techie.

Cameras, phones, remotes, keyboards. That's more her style right now.

She's actually called several people AND taken a couple of pictures already. But strangely enough she only takes pictures of herself. Vain little toot :)

Just a cute little girl, slathered in sunscreen, posing yet again. She's started putting her hand on her cheek and tilting her head to the side when she wants something. It's literally impossible to resist!!

San Diego

2008-05-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

In March, after several months of good luck at work, I won the Dell Circle of Excellence Trip. Since we had JUST gotten back from the ski trip Nate couldn't get off of work. So my best friend Jess and I got to have a nice, all expense paid, girls week to San Diego! This was the view of the skyline as seen from our balcony. You can't actually see much since the blue water, blue ski and blue haze over the city all blend together.

This is directly below our balcony. All throughout the grounds were these beautiful hidden gardens.

Once again I forgot to take the camera charger and was only able to take a few pictures before it died. This parrot at the San Diego zoo was one of them. He was loose and flying around. I thought it was the coolest thing I had seen until....

We got off the tram tour and this guy was standing it front of the stroller parking. There was no zoom on this. I was literally standing three feet away. Jess and I were dancing around, screeching "Do your tail! Do your tail" People were starting to stare (as often happens when we hang out) but who cares. Our antics were rewarded....

By THIS!! So cool :)

We also had an amazing run in with a koala eating bamboo but the camera had died by then. Bottom line - San Diego is awesome. I could move there in a heartbeat. The weather, the people, the flowers and trees, the hot beach stone massage AHHHHHHHH

Sweet!!!!!

2008-05-23T06:30:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it! After posting last night that we had lost Addy's birthday pictures I came into work this morning and found a couple on my other laptop! What luck

This was about the most awake she was all night. Poor baby, in the video she is whining most of the night. Also not being a fan of chocolate the cake was a bit of a let-down. We basically smeared that on her face so we could get the required, first birthday, cake face picture.

The cake was the best part. I found a coloring page on PBS online, printed it out and voila!! Okay I said voila like I actually made that. I meant voila, I took it to a cake designer who did a fantastic job making it look just like my awkward attempts to describe what I wanted. All in all it was a good birthday, Addy got lots of fun presents and most importantly got TWO parties with all her favorite people in the world

Sad News

2008-05-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

I have two bits of sad news. For starters, inexplicably, we have lost Addy's first birthday pictures. We have lots of video (that we are unable to load onto the laptop) but no pictures. I don't know what happened but there it is, no birthday photos as promised. For anyone that happened to be there, I will be raiding your pictures and stealing them.

The second news is even sadder. Our dog, Wednesday (think Addams Family) has left. She frequently got out of the fence, no matter how many times we would patch the hole, but always came back at the end of the day. It was not at all uncommon to come home to her sitting on the front porch waiting to be let in. A few weeks ago she just never came back. We think someone snatched her. She was so sweet and friendly and was very popular around the neighborhood. Poor Addy misses her the most. For the better part of a weekend she sat in front of the door yelling "Da Da Da" over and over. She was a great dog, so gentle and playful with the baby, well trained, despite Nate and I and was our first "baby"

Wednesday, I hope wherever you are you are getting plenty to eat, have a good pillow to sleep on, are getting lots of ear scratches, and have the odd chance to munch on a dirty diaper, that was always your favorite!

50 Odd Things

2008-05-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

I got tagged today and while I never fill these things out and post them I am ridiculously bored at work. So the three people that read this blog are going to have to suffer through this one :)

1. Do you like blue cheese? Yes, I swear I could eat poop if it had a blue cheese crust

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? Are you kidding me? What kind of question is that? Of course not! I don't have a death wish.

3. Do you own a gun? No. Nate desperately wants one for "our protection" but I am terrified that I'll wake up one night for a pee and get shot. Not that I don't trust my man but he does tend to get a little jumpy when things go bump in the night

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? No flavor, just good ol plain Diet Coke

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Terrified! Going to the doctor for me almost always means they will find something they've never seen that has a 1 in 1 million chance of happening. Ever heard of auto immune hemolytiuc anemia? I rest my case.

6. What do you think of hot dogs? As long as they are covered in chili, cheese, mayo and onions I'm a fan

7. Favorite Christmas movie? White Christmas, although its not really Christmas until my Dad has made us all sit through a viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life"

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Orange juice and then coffee, always in that order

9. Can you do push ups? Yes but not a lot of them

10. Age? 28

11. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My first engagement ring. Nate couldn't afford a fancy ring when he proposed so he got me a plain band with diamonds. Some months later when he could swing the ring he wanted he bought it and proposed again. I used the first engagement ring as my wedding band since it had such a great story and such sentimental value

12. Favorite hobby? Can sleeping count as a hobby? I need my doctor recommended 8 hours a night!

13. Favorite Actor? Gerard Butler. A big strapping man with a Scottish brogue, be still me heart

14. Do you have A D D? No but I'm married to someone who does

15. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Squinty eyes that disappear when I smile.

16. Middle name? Caroline

17. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment
I can't wait to go home and see Addy
I forgot to take anything out of the freezer to thaw this morning
I really hope that they tell us who is in the coffin on LOST tonight

18. Name 3 things you bought yesterday/today.
Milk
Diapers
Sippy cups

19. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?
Iced Tea
Coffee
Orange juice

20. Current worry? That the bubble will pop. Things are going scarily well right now and I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop

21. Current hate right now? The guy who sits behind me at work. He doesn't have an inside voice so I'm listening to him scream about a storage cluster and he farts. A lot

22. Favorite place to be? Home

23. How did you bring in the New Year? Hanging out with "the Gang"

24. Where would you like to go? Everywhere!! I can't think of a place I wouldn't go if someone handed me a ticket

25. Name three people who will complete this? None, I'm not mean enough to do this in an email and then force other people to delete it.

26. Do you own slippers? Yes. And I love to shuffle in them. What is it about slippers that make me shuffle?

27. What shirt are you wearing? A baby blue Henley, it was clean

28. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No, I sleep really close to the edge of the bed and with satin sheets I'm always mortally close to sliding off the side of the bed onto the floor

.29. Can you whistle? I can but I don't. I tend to whistle through my front teeth (thanks Dad!) so I look like a beaver when I do it. Very unattractive

30. Favorite color? All shades of blue

31. Would you be a pirate? In a heartbeat! When I was pregnant I used to dream about being a pirate every night. I miss those dreams, it was a swashbuckling adventure every night

32. What songs do you sing in the shower? I sing along to CD's. Right now its Jack Johnson and "Across the Universe" soundtrack. I'll have to switch out soon though before Nate goes postal

33. Favorite girl's name? Chloe. I begged for this to be Addy's name but Nate maintained his veto rights for 9 months. (don't get me wrong I LOVE Addy's name) 6 months after she was born Nate turned to me one night and said "You know the name Chloe is really growing on me" ARGH!! To little to late!

34. Favorite boy's name? Jack, and thankfully one of the only names Nate and I agree on. If we have a boy it'll be a no-brainer.

35.What's in your pocket right now? My debit card and hair rubberband

36. Last thing that made you laugh? Nate singing old DC Talk songs last night. I almost wet my pants when he threw in the corresponding dance moves

37. Best bed sheets as a child? I don't think I ever had character bed sheets. Maybe that's what's wrong with me!!!

38. Worst injury you've ever had? Right now its a tie between breaking my elbow at 25 getting throw off a horse and tearing my ACL two months ago on a ski trip. I have a feeling both of those are going to twinge when it rains the older I get

39. Do you love where you live? I like Nashville. It's a great city but it's been three years now and I'm starting to get the itchy feet

40. How many TV's do you have in your home? 3

41. Who is your loudest friend? Tippie, no contest

42. How many dogs do you have? 1 named Wednesday. The cutest little lame weenie dog you've ever seen!

43. Does someone have a crush on you? Half of my customers. Although they are all IT nerds who never see girls and have NO idea what I look like. I'm just the perky girl on the phone who fixes their problems

44. What is your favorite book(s)? Harry Potter series, Little House on the Prairie series, Sex Lives of Cannibals. Honestly I can't pick a favorite. I love to read, anything anytime.

45. Where were you born? Forth Worth TX

46. What is your favorite candy? Skittles

47. Favorite Sports Team? Tennessee Titans

48. What song would you want played at your funeral? Bohemian Rhapsody. That song has been present during all the best moments of my life and nothing can shake a bad mood faster than belting out every word while headbanging. I not only want it played at my funeral but everyone has to sing along too

49. What were you doing 12 AM last night? sleeping

50. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? It's trash day, thank goodness cause the garage is starting to reek

A year old?!?!

2008-04-01T09:17:00.001-07:00

I can't believe our sweet baby is a year old. It literally feels like a couple of weeks ago that she was a tiny, red, bundled up wad that slept all the time. How quickly it went. We have pictures of her actual Birthday but Nate hasn't had a chance to do the red eye magic thing so we're going to save that post for another day. These are some of her favorite things at one year. Next year she'll probably want to drive the car and wear makeup. Must remember these cute innocent days.

Her Nana got her a rocking elephant for her birthday. She likes riding him but LOVES talking to him. They've had some pretty extensive conversations

If you push the elephants ear it makes this trumpeting sound. Linda and I both think it sounds more like one of those scary Halloween dummies that screams. Right after this picture was taken I pushed the ear and it startled her so badly she fell off. We don't do the ear thing anymore :)

If I need a few minutes of peace all I have to do is put a paper towel on the couch. She'll crawl right over, pull herself up and spend several minutes tearing it into tiny little pieces. The only problem with this game is that she then tries to feed the paper towel pieces to the dog. Wouldn't be an issue if the dog wasn't stupid enough to actually eat them!!

Her new fascination is bubbles. Can't get enough of them. She'll pull the bubbles out of her toy box and hold up the bottle until someone starts blowing them for her. We've blown so many bubbles in the last few weeks that we had to buy her a bubble gun. We were getting out of breath.

She spent days before this picture trying to catch one. We got the cheap ones at Big Lots so they pop pretty easily

Needless to say she gets quite upset when they do pop!!

Easter

2008-04-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

This was actually Addy's second Easter. Of course she was only 2 weeks old the first time so we were a little more aware of what was going on this time! She did get to experience her first carton of Cascarones. In South Texas and Mexico its a tradition to fill Easter eggs with confetti and break them over peoples heads. It's meant to bring good luck. Mom sends a carton to all our cousins with kids and this was the first year that we got included! I think Nate and I had more fun with them, Addy was pretty much just confused but at least she'll have good luck this year!! We're also hoping the dye on the eggs isn't toxic since Wednesday the wonder weenie ate quite a few of the shells.

Notice the monk haircut? I told you it was bad!!

We also did Easter lunch at Nate's grandparents. Addy LOVED her first Easter basket. All of the eggs were filled with puffs (2008 version of cheerios). I emptied the puffs into Tupperware and put the empty eggs in her playroom as toys. Every couple of days I catch her prying one of the eggs open and licking the puff dust out :)

A Weekend of First's

2008-04-01T08:27:00.001-07:00

Addy's birthday and Easter fell within a week of each other this year. Saturday before Easter we figured it was time for that first haircut. So we loaded up the Adster in her forward facing car seat for the first time and hit the road! Babies have to be 20 pounds and one year old before they can face forward. We hit the 20 pound mark several months ago and have been waiting impatiently for that one year mark.

That girl loves facing forward now! I have just about driven off the road a couple of times looking at her in the rear view mirror. I love being able to see her face. She points at everything out the window and just babbles away. She looks like such a big girl now

Snipping that first beautiful lock

She did great getting her hair cut, no fussing or head jerking with this one!! Of course the haircut was horrible and she ended up looking like a monk but she can pull it off. I was more traumatized than anyone and for some reason mourned that baby hair for several days. It needed to be done though, her bangs kept poking her in the eyes and she had a strange mullet thing going on in the back

Vacation

2008-04-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Back in the day Nate and I used to take a good vacation every year. For obvious reasons we haven't been on vacation in a couple of years. We decided it was time to suck it up, leave the baby for a week and enjoy some time away. So we called some friends from Austin, packed up the ski clothes and headed to Snowshoe West Virginia. It had been a good 15 years since either of had skied but thankfully we picked it up pretty quickly and had a great time!! It is absolutely beautiful up there. I bit it, hard, the second day and messed up my knee pretty badly. But like I told Nate, sitting in a cushy hotel room watching movies is STILL better than being at work.

We'll definitely be going back. There were little three year olds smoking us down the trails so as soon as the wonder baby can walk unassisted we're going to go back and see if we can make a snow bunny out of her.

The resort was at the top of the mountain so in the morning it was a 15 second walk to the snow, strap on the skis and hit a trail.

Our camera battery died so we did really badly on the picture front. This is one of two that even includes people. The other one is of Nate scratching his butt and drinking coffee in the hotel room so I spared you all :)

Snow Day

2008-04-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

We got to enjoy TWO snow day's this year. A phenomenon rarely experienced in Nashville.

Mommy and Addy trying out their cold weather garb

Addy sat in front of the door and watched the snow falling all day. It cracks me up that this was taken on a snow day. Note the lack of any snow on the ground. Only in Tennessee :)

The view from our back deck. Nothing to write home about but since it was enough to get Addy out of school and Mommy out of work we were happy!!

Crawling!!

2008-04-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

No question marks in that title! She is crawling, full stop. I fell asleep one night with a cuddly sweet baby and woke up with a full blown toddler. And of course the second she mastered the crawling thing she also mastered pulling up and creeping.

This new skill also allowed me to experience the most terrifying 15 minutes of my life. I have been so used to setting her down in the living room when I have to run to another room. Other than her screaming "Mama, Mama, Mama" non-stop the whole time it worked well. I always knew she would be sitting in the exact same spot waiting for me. Until a couple of weeks ago. I came back into the living room, no Addy. Looked in the kitchen (she loves the garbage can) no Addy. I double checked our bedroom, no Addy. Under the piano in the dog's bed? No Addy. Her bed room? The spare room? No Addy, no Addy. I was starting to panic, our house isn't THAT big and I had looked everywhere she could feasibly crawl. I had even checked outside and upstairs. No Addy!!!! Finally, seconds from calling the cops to report a very quiet, very quick kidnapper I heard a little voice triumphantly call MAMA! That little toot was hiding behind the bed in the spare room happily chewing on a hair bow. I'm several years older and we learned a very important lesson, keep a bell on the baby :)

Catching Up

2008-04-01T07:04:00.000-07:00

We have been very bad about blogging regularly, especially considering how much has happened the last few months! So many firsts for the Adster, a nice vacation for Mommy and Daddy, 2 major holidays and more funny going's on than you can imagine. I'll try and remember everything chronologically but as you other Mommies will understand, sometimes, the mind, she is not so good :)

Spring!!

2008-03-19T10:27:00.001-07:00

It finally feels like spring around here and we are taking full advantage. I promise I'll post a real entry soon but this one was just to cute not to share!!

Random Cuteness

2008-02-17T13:35:00.001-08:00

Stacking Rings... $15

Play Mat... $35

Looking your best and knowing it? Priceless

Our little Alfalfa

(and yes I had to google to know how to spell that one!)

Taking a nap with Grandpa

The first time she wore barrettes. Sadly she refused to let me get a picture of the actual barrette since she kept turning her head to smile at the camera

Our New Room

2008-02-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Since Nate and I moved into the house with the purple shutters we've spent countless hours discussing our various decorating projects and the order in which we would tackle them. For the sake of convienance the bonus room was the first to be completed. Just to give you an idea, we still don't even have a bed frame in our room, just a mattrass on the floor, a $50 dresser and two end tables with the formica melted off, presumably during an unfortunate lighter incident.

It's so nice to have a room done, albiet without pictures or curtains up, and we've already spent hours up there. Addy especially loves having that low window that she can look out and even christened the place by eating a bug off the carpet. Now only 279 more projects to go!!!

Valentine Cookies

2008-02-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

At a certain point in your life you start to get the urge to do "Mom" type things. My most recent urge was to bake valentines cookies. I realize that Ayden doesn't eat sugar and would never be able to eat one but the heart wants what the heart wants!! I went to the store, got everything I would need and prepared to tackle my next Mom project.

Everything was going swimmingly until I realized, I hadn't purchased a cookie cutter. No heart shapes, arrows or cupids to be found. Fortunately my Mom had gotten me a joke cookie cutter for Christmas. One that at the time I swore would never be used in the Stewart House. Since I was up to my elbows in dough and hadn't been able to convince Nate to run to the store I caved. So here you go, my first embarrasing foray into holiday cookies. Mom and Dad will be so proud :)

Crawling?!?!

2008-01-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

As a lot of you know Ayden is not very mobility minded. In other words, at 10 months she is perfectly content to just sit on the floor and then screech and lift her arms if she needs to be moved somewhere else. While everyone else is learning to crawl, pull up and creep Ayden simply smiles and gets carted around like the Queen of Sheba.

This weekend she finally started to show signs of mobility. Although she didn't actually move her legs she did start dragging herself across the floor towards toys that were out of reach. Between that and the fact that she's rocking back on her knees and lurching forward onto her face I think we are mere days away from actual crawling!! I know that I'll regret my excitement over this soon, and a massive babyproofing campaign is in our near future but I can't help it. It is just so incredible to watch the progression of this little person as she grows up.

I'll get pictures up soon of the kiddo and her new skills :)

Never Mind

2008-01-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

Yeah, as I suspected that's a no go on the slideshow. You'll just have to trust us that's she's really cute.

Finally!

2008-01-04T13:30:00.000-08:00

Well we've finally given in. It's time to start a family blog! For everyone who's far away (and close too for that matter) and loves to hear those little stories and milestones of the best baby ever, here you go.

For those of you, who like me, are simply addicted to other peoples blogs, here you go too. We'll try not to make it to boring :)

Sometimes I'll be writing, sometimes Nate and of course Ayden will also contribute her occasional entry. For a 9 month old she's surprisingly insightful.

We just finished Addy's first Christmas. That girl cleaned up!! At last count she had 5 celebrations. Talk about one spoiled little girl! She is now a champ at opening presents. It was a wonderful and memorable first Christmas and she has some amazing friends and family. Her Mimi and Grandpa (my mom and dad) were also up here for the week hanging out and generally spoiling her even more. It was the perfect vacation.

I am going to stretch my computer knowledge and see if I can figure out how to make a slideshow. A brief synopsis of her fabulous life so far. Or I can have Nate load some pictures when he posts next :) Hopefully we'll be posting pretty regularly and this won't be like my elementary school diary that had one entry a year.

-Mary