Happy girl

This little rockstar got a full night of sleep and even slept in until 9:00! She was extra playful (and cute) this morning after getting so much rest.

Spring Fever!

Sunday turned out to be a beautiful spring-like day with temperatures in the 60's. After being cooped up all winter, we were ALL eager to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors.

Allie enjoyed her Sunday afternoon nap on the deck.

After naptime we took a nice walk. Within moments of leaving the house Addison was out like a light!


I'm sure there's more winter weather to come, but we're enjoying this while we can!

Bumbo Fun-bo

It's a corny title, I admit it.

Our little girl is getting stronger and stronger each day. She seems to really be working at and wanting to be sitting up more than before, so we decided to give a try in the Bumbo chair. She kind of liked it! It's so crazy to step back and see your baby sitting up!

Our little chatterbox

Addison has recently discovered her voice.... and she seems to really like how it sounds. Sometimes she'll really get going, take a deep breath, and try to belt her sounds out even louder. Last night she was in really rare form and I was able to get a bit of it on video for your viewing enjoyment.



I don't know if you could actually hear the toot on the video, but I promise it was there. You see how she's kind of shaking her head no to deny it was her? She's so smart.

Showered again!

Yesterday my students and their parents threw a shower for Addison and myself at school. It was fun to see my kiddos and hear their comments about Addison. The moms who put the shower together did a fantastic job of gearing it to the younger audience. They started out by giving each of the kids a card to write a note to second-grade-Addison. David and I really enjoyed reading through them when I got home. Some of our favorites include...

"Dear Addison, I hope you have fun in second grade. If you need to know 18+50 it's 68." (random, but helpful)

"Dear Addison, you will learn how to add 3 numbers at one time." (way to freak her out!)

"Dear Addison, I know you will be good in second grade. From your good friend ____. P.S. Here is a good math problem 200+500=700."

"Dear Addison, I think the best thing in 2nd grade is going outside. It is so much fun. Your mom is a great teacher. This is at your baby shower."

"Dear Addison, It is so much fun in second grade and your mom was my teacher and your mom is asum (awesome)." (she may need a little reminder of my awesome-ness by second grade).

"I hope you have a good year in 2nd grade. Do good in math. I do hope you learn a lot of stuff. You twinkle like a star!"

and my personal favorite.... (spelling mistakes included because it's cuter that way)

" If you have a litel sister she will be anowing." (annoying)

After writing their cards to Addison, they each made a model of Addison out of playdough (they could choose baby Addison or 2nd grade Addison) and had their picture taken with their model. We then enjoyed delicious cupcakes and punch and opened gifts. Once again, we were spoiled by many wonderful and generous treasures!

While I'm definitely sad that my time home with Addison is winding down to a close in a couple of weeks, I can't think of a better group of second graders to spend my days with.

Two months old!

Happy birthday, Addison!

Nursery improvements

It's been over a week since we've posted, so I figured I ought to give an update! We've had David's parents up for a long weekend and Addison sure has enjoyed having her grandma and grandpa here!

I am proud to announce (but not too proud because I realize that it probably won't last...) that Addison has been sleeping through the night for over a week now. I think I've only gotten up in the night with her once in the last 10 nights. It has been... AWESOME! So with that step taken (and the peace of mind having a video monitor), we decided to graduate her to her "big girl" crib/bedroom this past weekend. Grandma Gafford, Addison, and I took a trip to JoAnn Fabric's on Friday for some odds and ends to decorate her room with and after a couple of hours that night with my sewing machine, this is what I came up with:

(note the adorable model in the picture)

Addison continues to bring us the utmost joy. We are so thankful to have this beautiful, healthy baby in our lives!

Happy birthday, Grandma Gafford!!

Addison heard it was her Grandma Gafford's birthday today and didn't want to have to wait until the end of the week to sing happy birthday to her. She asked us to record this little ditty for Grandma and post it to the blog for her to see.



This one was an outtake, but too funny to keep it to ourselves...

Bath time- Now...

She's come a long way since then! We now have a baby bathtub with a handy little hammock for her to hang out in and we've gotten wise and turn a space heater on in the bathroom to keep her toasty warm. Here's a video of a bath earlier this week. You can see she not only tolerates baths now, but may actually like them!

Bath time- before....

Now that I've found a way to post videos a little easier, here is a video of some of Addison's first bath in Grandma and Grandpa Liddick's kitchen sink. As you can see she wasn't such a big fan...

So much for clean laundry...

This video is from last week. I'd done like 3 loads of baby laundry and had it all nicely folded and spread out all over the couch. I got pulled away by a little someone before having a chance to put it back in the basket to take upstairs. Apparently Allie took the "you snooze, you loose" or "move your feet, lose your seat" philosophy, because this is what I found when I returned...

Cutie pictures

Smiling girl

Addison received this fun new play mat at one of her baby showers recently and it has offered hours and hours of playtime fun for her. With that has come a lot of adorable smiles. I caught this smile this afternoon as she was looking at her reflection in the mirror. What a cutie!



Here's another one with a couple of great smiles...

Gift card shopping spree!

Yesterday David and I went on a shopping spree with all of our gift cards from Target and Wal-mart. Haven't made it to Babies 'R Us yet... Here's our stash so far...

Addison really loves her new swing. I'm so relieved as that means I can have more hands-free moments in my day! Here's a little video clip of her first ride on the swing... She looks completely comfortable and relaxed.

Another baby shower!

We had our church shower this morning and were blessed by many more little baby goodies! We know our moms are both at home dying to know what we got so this post is for them! Many thanks go out to our wonderful friends who went to all the work to put these showers on for us this week. We really appreciate it!

First Baby Shower!

Addison had her first baby shower last night. (Actually, I shouldn't say the first, because technically a number of lovely ladies in Indiana held a gift card shower for us in our absence before Addison was born). But this was the first shower we were actually able to attend. My WONDERFUL small group girlfriends threw a shower for Addison last night. Here's a picture of all of her new goodies!


And to top that off, these same ladies are throwing a church open house shower for us on Saturday! I simply couldn't ask for better friends. :-) Thanks so much, ladies!

Small Group Reunion

We've been blessed to be a part of an incredible small group for several years now. Through this group we have gained a number of life-long friends and have truly "lived life together." This past October we decided to "multiply" into 2 groups in order to make room for new people to join. We had a fun opportunity this past weekend to join back up to see old friends and meet some new ones. Here are a few pictures from our evening. We got a real kick out of the fact that it seems like only yesterday there were no children in our group; just a bunch of foot-loose-and-fancy-free couples. As you'll see in the pictures, that younger generation is expanding and there are several more expected to join the groups this spring/summer! Such exciting times and so thankful that we could finally be a part of a baby boom for a change!

Some random Addison pictures...

Addison's first trip to school!

I took Addison to school on Friday to meet my students and some of my colleagues. Kerri, my sub had prepped my class that we were coming, so they were instantly silent the second we walked in. Addison had fallen asleep on the drive there so she stayed cozy in her carrier for a little bit while I greeted small groups and let them come get a closer look. They've been greatly anticipating this little girl ever since I told them about her several months ago. It was fun to see their reactions and hear their comments. I gave them a chance to ask questions about her and that was pretty entertaining as well.

I think her first day of school wore her out though. Between that outing and the small group party we had at the house that evening, she was so tired that she slept the whole night through. She fell asleep in the Pack 'n Play downstairs so I decided to start the night out sleeping on the recliner until her 1:00 bottle at which time we'd both move up to the bedroom. However, she didn't ask for that bottle until 6:00! Too bad I wasted that long night in a recliner when I could have been in bed!