Daddy

Addysen had a bit of a hard time adjusting when we first got to Colorado. She's at a tough age for a move like this...old enough to understand that everything is changing and yet not old enough to fully understand what's going on and why. Couple that with the fact that we were living with her Grandparents for the last 8 months and then we got to Colorado and not only were they not here, but Jeff wasn't here yet either since he was driving to Colorado from New York...she just had a tough time trying to figure out what was going on.

When Jeff arrived later that week, it was a huge turning point. He got to the house when Addysen was taking her nap and so when she woke up, he went down and got her up. She must have nestled into his shoulder and grasped onto him for 15 minutes...it was absolutely precious. It was like seeing her Daddy made her realize that everything was going to be ok now. She is definitely her Daddy's little girl!!

Mother's Day

We had such a special Mother's Day this year! Having made it to Colorado the week before, we were able to celebrate with my Mom, Grandma and sister! And the best part was that Jeff finished his long drive to Colorado on that Sunday so he was there with all of us as well!!

Mother's Day is such a special day now being a Mom myself. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for being a Mom...I feel so blessed to be Addysen's Mom and soon our new little baby girl's Mom as well! Addysen has such a precious spirit and I'm just so thankful for her life and for God entrusting her to me and I can't wait to meet this sweet little girl that will join our family soon!

Every year when this day rolls around, I stop and think about how blessed Jeff and I both are to have such incredible Mom's and Grandma's. Women who have invested so much of themselves in us and our siblings and made so many sacrifices for us. God has so richly blessed us and I'm thankful to have had such amazing roll models of what a Mom should be.

We intended to get a women's generational picture on Mother's Day as well as a picture of Addysen and me, but we were having too much fun and it slipped through the cracks! :-) But here are at least a few pics from the day...

My Mom, Jeff, Addysen, Cornel (brother in law) and his wife (my sister), Natalie

Addysen and her cousin Cassandra. On a side note, it has been SO much fun watching these two girls together! They have a ball together and they love playing together, chasing each other, giggling and squealing!

My Dad, Grandma and Grandpa. My Dad grilled some great shish kabobs for dinner! Num!

Rolling!

Nothing like seeing two grown men (Jeff and his Dad) rolling in the grass trying to teach Addysen how to roll. :-) Ha!

Roll, Daddy, Roll!

Roll, Grampa, Roll!

And then Daddy teaching Addysen how to do it... :-)

Miscellaneous Pics

A few other cute pics from when we were out taking family pictures...

This girl LOVES to run!! And there were lots of big open areas that she could run around on West Point's campus!

I love this last pic...with Jeff and his Dad standing there together. One of the most special things about this year was to see these two working side by side coaching together...and maybe it's just me, but somehow this picture captures what words can't about that experience they shared.

Family Pics

Shortly before we left New York, we went out to this beautiful spot on West Point's campus to take some family pictures...here are some of the best...

More New York

Some miscellaneous pictures from the couple weeks before we left New York...

Addysen with her Grampa

Addysen's Grampa introduced her to these rides you see at malls...and no big shocker here, she loved them!! The only problem is now I have to make sure I keep change with me when we go to a place that has these because she now knows that they move (they used to be just things to climb on)! :-) On a side note, Addysen loved going to this outlet mall about 20 minutes from our house...she would call it the "Outside Mall" and would often ask to go there when we'd get in the car.

Addysen with Gramma and Grampa at the "outside mall"

Addysen loved this "big chair" that her Gramma and Grampa had at their house. Whether sitting "Self" or with one of us, she loved it!

Lots of "swing/slide" time at the neighborhood park before we left...

Having all kinds of fun with stickers with Gramma and Grampa! She had stickers everywhere!!

Walk

The last couple months we were in New York, we got so many nice days and one of our favorite things to do was to take walks around the neighborhoods (often ending up at the swing/slide of course!). One evening a few days before we left, we got ready to go for a walk which Addysen typically would ride in her stroller for part of the time and walk part of the time. This time though, she went and grabbed her baby stroller...and since her baby doll was already packed, she brought her bunny along for the ride. :-) She literally pushed the bunny in the stroller the entire walk...up hills and for quite a long distance! We asked her numerous times if she wanted to ride and we would push bunny, but our big girl wanted to push bunny "Self." :-) It was absolutely so cute and if bunny would flop over at all, she would say "Uh Oh!" and have to stop to make sure he was propped up correctly...bunny needed to have a good view on the walk, after all! :-)

Spring

Having lived in Phoenix before we moved to New York, I hadn't seen "real" seasons in quite some time. Getting to see the beginning of spring this year up in that part of the country was amazing! There was green everywhere and the huge trees were full of beautiful leaves! Here are a few pics we got on West Point's campus before we left which no where near capture how beautiful it is up there this time of year...

36 1/2 Weeks

A brief break in the catch up to post something from today...

At my doctor's appointment last week, I was measuring small so the combination of that and having made such a big move and to high altitude no less, my doctor felt it prudent that I have an ultrasound just to make sure everything was ok. We went in today and thankfully, everything looks great! Our baby girl is growing very "normal" and the amniotic fluid levels are normal, etc. She is 5lbs, 14oz so with another 3+ weeks to go, she'll likely be a very similar size to Addysen (whose birth weight was 7lbs 5oz) since they gain about 1/2 lb a week at this point.

This was before the ultrasound...for those of you who've asked for a belly shot...

...and here's our sweet baby girl! I couldn't believe how much we could see this late in the pregnancy! I figured at this point, we wouldn't be able to make out much of anything, but the ultrasound tech was able to show us so much and we got to see our sweet girl's face! This is her profile...

...and this is the front of her face (the right is her forehead, her chin is towards the left)...

And this was so cool...while she was showing us her face, we actually saw her yawn! It was so precious! This is a shot of her yawning...again forehead is on the far right and where she typed "Yawn" is where her mouth is yawning. :-)

We love this little girl so much already and are so thankful that everything appears ok at this point! We can't wait to meet her in just a few weeks!

On a side note, at my appointment last week, I found out that I'm already 1cm dilated and 50% effaced! So who knows...we may end up seeing her sooner than a few weeks!

Puppy

My in-laws' friends have a puppy who had come to visit Addysen one other time and a couple weeks before we left New York, she paid Addysen another visit. Addysen was of course, THRILLED. She is so funny with dogs...she thinks they are about the greatest thing ever and gets SO excited when she gets to play with them or be near them!