Sunday

Another pretty dress for church today...

Grampa Platt's Visit

Although it was only a day, we had a great day with Jeff's Dad in town! It was so special for Addysen to have that extra time with him! A couple pics from our day...

The Morning

It's been another fun morning...but mostly because Addysen's Grampa Platt came to visit for the day!! Jeff's Dad was coming through town on his recruiting trip and was able to make it work to spend the entire day with us today!

Addysen was pretty excited...so much so that I almost got a smile on camera...almost...

She's pretty funny...definitely not a performer...she smiles when she feels like it...not when Mama wants her to!!

And of course, we had to put on a new outfit for Grampa's visit (and take the obligatory photo)!!

And a couple more...just because...

Busy Day

It's so funny to me how busy takes on a whole new meaning when you have a baby. A busy day used to mean working 10 or more hours, usually going to a client or two, driving in rush hour traffic, and then doing whatever we had going on in the evenings.

Now, busy means getting out of the house once during the day.....and keeping up with all the feeding, burping, changing, etc., etc. Just getting out of the house has proven to be a challenge at times! However, I must say, I love every minute of this new busyness!

All that to say, yesterday we had a "busy" day. I figure I need to take advantage of this time I have before I go back to work...that busyness is going to be on a level I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle yet! So Addysen and I went to hang out for a bit with our friends Rachel and Asher. I'm so bummed I didn't get pictures of Addysen and Asher together...it was really cute! Asher was definitely quite interested in Addysen and Addysen kept smiling at him when he would come up to her...too cute! Then, later in the afternoon we met Krista, Chase and Carter for smoothies at Bahama Bucks. Smoothies and those boys...yeah...quite the mess, but so much fun!! :-)

I had to get Addysen dressed up for her day...I'm seriously loving this dress up thing with this sweet girl!! It's so fun!! And of course with each outfit she wears the first time, I have to get pictures...she just loves it...

Addysen was pretty tired after our 2 outings.....quite the busy day!! :-)

And this is one of Addysen's new things...blowing spit bubbles. I read online that this is one of the "milestones" that you see...like crawling, walking, etc. Hmm...somehow I think crawling and walking are going to be a bit more exciting of milestones; however, if it's a milestone, I figured I'd better get it on camera! Ha!

Pics

Happy Morning

Addysen's best time of day is in the morning after I feed her the 2nd time. She's wide awake at that point and usually really happy...very fun!

Blowing

A few days ago, Jeff was blowing on Addysen's forehead to try to cool her off and noticed a funny reaction she made to it. He did this again earlier this morning and we got it on video...

Success!!

Yesterday, Addysen took 2 naps in the afternoon...and didn't even cry! Granted, it wasn't completely Baby Wise "approved" since I ended up trying the Miracle Blanket...but it worked!! Thanks to Krista for suggesting it...it was such a relief to put her down for a nap and not have her cry and cry and cry! That Miracle Blanket really is the best!!! It's, well, a miracle! :-)

Even better was what people say...that when babies sleep better during the day, they sleep better at night was true too! She slept 8 hours last night!

Today was a busy day and we were out most of the day so we'll see what tomorrow holds...hopefully some more Baby Wise success!

Books

I think Addysen already likes books! I sure love reading them to her at least! Yesterday we read about Clifford. As you can see, she's really smart and following along at only 7 weeks old...either that or the bright red drew her attention a bit... :-)

Mamarazzi

I have officially joined the Mamarazzi! I am now the proud owner of one of these...

...a Canon Rebel XTi!! I have a lot yet to learn, but of course, I've been making proud the name that Krista coined for us Moms with these kinds of cameras...the Mamarazzi!!

Addysen is loving it....





This one cracks me up...it's like she's saying, "Come on Mom...enough's enough!" :-)

Schedule

I'm attempting to get Addysen on a schedule....and to get her to sleep on her own without us holding her. Attempting. Apparently all this holding her for 6 1/2 weeks hasn't really helped the attempt at a schedule (although I have to say I've loved every minute of it).

We are trying the "Baby Wise" way of getting Addysen to sleep on her own. We started yesterday and it was not fun. I tried it for one nap...laid her down, left the room, let her cry for 5 minutes, went back in and literally the moment I held her, she stopped crying. I'd hold her for a few minutes and calm her down, lay her back down and try again. By the 4th attempt, I think she was so exhausted, she finally fell asleep.

The second nap I tried it for yesterday, this smart little cookie realized that anytime she acts hungry, I feed her...and don't put her down. So she acted hungry. So I fed her. And she immediately fell asleep. Smart little stinker. :-)

I'm on nap #2 today...although I'm not sure I should count #1 since it was just not successful. She's down now and so far is calm...but awake...we'll see how we do...

There is nothing worse than your baby crying...while sitting in the other room watching from a video monitor. I hate it. Hate every minute of it. But I'm trying to remember the long term goal of trying to help Addysen learn to sleep on her own.

The good part is, I'm done with waking her up at night. It had gotten extremely frustrating waking her after 5 hours of sleeping at night, only to have her get mad at me for waking her up and then fall asleep while eating. So 2 nights ago I let her sleep. That night she slept 5 1/2 hours and then last night almost 7 hours.

We'll see if I make it through this daytime process...I can see now it's going to be a tough process, but I'm trying.

Growing

So that I remember when...

Addysen is now officially out of newborn diapers and into 1's and out of newborn onesies and into 0-3 month ones! Wow...how time flies!

Parents

One of our friends snapped this shot of the new parents as we tried to get pictures of Abigail and Addysen the other night (see my previous post for their pics). Thanks JT and Melissa! I thought it was pretty funny...

Church

We made it to church on Sunday for the first time as a family! I was so excited to get back to church and even though I spent the majority of the service in the bathroom lounge and lobby, it was so great to be there!!

Getting ready for church was one of many examples of how life has changed:

--I used to get up about 9 or a little after to make it to the 10:30 service.

--Yesterday, I got up at 6:30...and with no time to spare, we made it to the 10:30 service. :-)

Here are a few pics of Addysen...all dressed up for her first time to church!!

A Few Pics

I just love Addysen's teddy bear so I'm trying to get her used to him. I think she thinks her Mom is a little nuts. :-)

This often is what burping time looks like after a good eating...

All ready to go to the baptism / baby dedication on Saturday!

Early Friends

Last night we were able to be a part of a very special celebration...the dedication of baby Abigail and the baptism of two of our friends...Erin and Mandy. Mandy did a great job capturing it...you can read more about it here.

Abigail was born 5 days before Addysen...in fact, her mom, Erin and I even overlapped hospital stays! Jake and Erin were the first ones to see Addysen...as they left the morning that Addysen was born and came to see her before they went home.

This was the first time that Abigail and Addysen were together and as we've determined they will be good friends, we figured we'd capture the event...

Take a wild guess which side Jeff and I were on and which side Jake and Erin were on...ha! :-)

We're going to have to teach Addysen this is NOT the way to make friends!!

But Abigail forgave Addysen and they made up... :-) (Seriously, we did not stage this...this honestly is how they ended up...too cute!)

Back Yard

After being in our house for 3 years, we figured it was about time to get the back yard started! Jeff has been anxious to do this for quite some time and after having both Dads visit and give him advice and start the manual labor, the back yard is now officially in progress!!

I wish I would have taken a true "before" picture, but you'll just have to picture all these weeds (and even more!) all in the back yard. Jeff and Dad Platt worked hard while he was here clearing out the weeds...and then bulk trash pickup got quite the pickup from us!!

These pics will have to serve as our "before" pictures...minus the weeds. Hopefully by this fall when the weather is nice, we'll have a back yard we can actually use!!

Jeff has been working on laying pavers to extend the patio as the first step. Here's how it currently looks...he's doing a great job!

Outing

Addysen and I went on a big outing this week...to the Pratchards! :-) We had a great time with Krista and the boys and it was good for us to get out of the house for a bit! It was fun to see Chase and Carter's increased interest in Addysen this time! :-)

Thanks for having us over, Krista!