Addie-tude & Doodles Too!

Noodle Head and Big Girl Cups

2009-01-21T21:07:00.002-05:00

I am sure that is the dumbest title ever but I could not come up with one. lol
The first pic is of Addie at lunch time. She did not even realize the noodles were there until I took them off after a few minutes. Do not worry, she went straight to the bath after her lunch. And just in case any of you wonder why my children often eat with their shirts off, it is bc I do not want their clothes to be ruined by their messy eating. :)
The second pic is of Addie drinking some milk from a "big girl cup" at dinner. She did pretty good with it. I am going to assume she cannot drink with her eyes open bc every single pic had her eyes closed. lol

I am too Southern to drive in the snow!

2009-01-20T19:52:00.007-05:00

We got snow.... and lots of it! I measured 7 inches on the table on our back patio! Connor's preschool teacher still had class so I figured I would drive in the snow for the first time. I figured it can't be too hard and the preschool is only 3 miles away from home. WRONG!!! I slid the car before I made it out of the neighborhood! I drove 15 the whole way and dropped him off fine. On my way out though, a ton of car were stuck so I had to turn around and take the much longer way home. Going in reverse and sliding around is not fun! I ended up on the opposite side of the road facing oncoming traffic and the tires just kept spinning out. I began bawling and calling Wes. I finally managed to spin the tires slowly and got moving. I was terrified the whole way home and am thankful that I made it home safe. The normally 10 minute round trip took me 1 hour and 15 minutes. Luckily our friends/neighbors from Minnesota and Alaska offered to let Wes go with them to get Connor when they get their daughter. I am glad Connor had an experienced snow driver on the way home! So that is my dramatic story about our snow day.
We see snow so rarely(especially since we are from Bama) that I took a ton of pics! Please forgive the amount of pics I am about to post. Also, there are so many of Addie bc it was her first snow and she was easy to photo bc she did not really care to move.....and couldn't in the humongo snowsuit that swallowed her. lol Next year, we will be prepared with some cold weather gear bc we had to borrow stuff from our neighbors for Addie(the ones mentioned earlier) and poor Connor just had to make do. Connor wore sweatpants with windpants over them. He also had on 2 jackets. He does not have snow boots so he wore his tennis shoes. Don't worry though, mommy kept his socks from getting wet and cold by putting Ziploc sandwich bags over his socks!!!! HAHAHAHAHA! Wes laughed his butt off when he saw that. It worked too! So us Bama folks have learned that we need cold weather gear in case of the rare snowfall and we learned to keep our butts at home and off the road. Now, time for the pictures!

Our house at 7:15 am!

Our house later at 10:00am.

Bundled up for the cold.

Standing in the snow for the first time.

Addie was not happy to try sledding.

Addie kept bringing me her gear to put back on but I knew she would be hot in the snowsuit inside. lol I managed to appease her by letting her wear her boots, hat, and glove while gazing out at the snow.

Connor got to come out and play after preschool, lunch, and nap. This is the beginning of the snow man.

Bringing some snow to Daddy for the snowman.

Just chillin.

All bundled up.

My sweet pea girl.

Being silly.

Not happy about being that deep in the snow.

Both my sweeties!

A half smile.

Playing peek-a-boo with me around the column.

The snowman is almost finished. We never got a finished pic bc the kids got too cold and the snowman fell over bc of our downhill front yard. lol

I should be ashamed!

2009-01-18T21:27:00.010-05:00

I have been so lazy and not posted in soooo long. Now I am too lazy to tell everything that has been going on so I will just post some pics from the almost month I have not updated. :) I will try to do better from now on!
A quick update about the kiddos:
Addie will repeat anything you say and is learning more new words than we can keep up with! I love hearing her sweet little voice talk! She is still sweet as pie but has a fiery little temper too! She showers us with kisses all the time and I never get enough!
Connor is blossoming into such a sweet little boy. He has such great manners. He is really enjoying preschool and doing really well. He still has the typical little boy times of trouble and whining but he sure is a sweetie most of the time.
Wes has started his Psyop schooling and I am working 10 hours a week. Nothing else really new with us.
Now for the pics.....

Discovering the kitchen from Santa on Christmas morning.

Doodles emptying his stocking. The microphone is so he can have his own when we play RockBand.

Addie's new doll stroller is a little big for her. lol

I caught Addie washing her hands in their kitchen.

The stupid pic won't upload the right way! Addie was sampling some CoolWhip while I made our dessert for after Christmas dinner.

Addie snuggled up with Daddy while he played his game.

Addie looks so cute in her little poncho.

She started out doing so well......

.....but she decided to go out with a bang!

Addie's custom made baby doll that arrived too late for Christmas.

It is always a bad sign to find these in a pile in the kitchen bc....

....you know the play room looks like this!!!

You are probably confused by this picture. When Addie gets the urge to potty, she often INSISTS on taking whatever she is playing with to the potty with her. It does not matter how large the toy is!

The kids were happy to see me when I got home from 4 hours of work. lol Notice the yuck on my face. I had either a spider bite or staph infection. It was treated like staph and looked UGLY!

As noted above, she wouldn't go without it. lol

I was folding laundry and Addie picked up 4 pairs of her panties and tried to put them all on. lol

Christmas in Dixie..........

2008-12-24T15:30:00.006-05:00

We got back from small town Alabama last night. We drove 11 hours each way with 2 kids and a dog to have Christmas with our families. Lucky for us, we are from the same home town and only have to make one trip to see all of our family. We left last Wednesday. We spent a day with my dad, a couple with the inlaws, and a couple with my mom and step dad. Other people also came to see us on Saturday and Sunday when we celebrated Christmas. Over the course of the 7 days, we were in 5 different houses. So we had to move our junk around that many times. I was sooooo tired of lugging around the play yard for Addie to nap in! It was very nice to get home last night. We came home with many gifts and some $$$$$!! The kids have a really, really nice chunk for their "future funds". Anyways, here are some pics. If you wonder why Connor is in almost none of them, it is bc he usually despises having his picture taken. Hope everyone has a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Let's start with a pic of our tree that we left at our house to die during our trip. lol

Addie the night before we left.

Doodles on that loooong car ride to AL.

Addie on the trip. She probably had it worst of all bc she still rear faces and hates riding in the car.

Outside watching the birds. It was a beautiful 78 degree day. lol

Having a tantrum bc she did not want to go inside and open presents.

We caught Addie with this beer bottle she got out of the trash. Had to snap a quick pic before taking it away.

Connor loves my cousin Hailey.

Connor opening his favorite present he got on the trip. It was a kid digital camera from Emmie.(my mom)

Connor after eating a cup cake to celebrate J Cole's birthday.

Addie and Daddy.

Addie and me.

Addie having a snack. This was at my mom's river cabin.

The stairs at my mom's cabin that got Addie a couple of times. She never fell down them bc we were good about keeping her off of them. She did fall over and knock her forehead on the first step which left a straight line bruise. She also slipped on her pants that were too long and fall into the banister with her cheek. It bruised immediately and she still has that one.

Addie loved looking out the windows at the cabin. She watched the birds and the wind blowing.

Isn't This Cute?!

2008-12-12T20:06:00.003-05:00

My mom bought Addie this absolutely adorable comforter from Pottery Barn Kids. I just wanted to share the cuteness. I LOVE it!

Pottery Disaster & Pig Tails At Last!

2008-12-11T20:41:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I made a huge mistake. I took a 16 month old and a 3.5 year old into a pottery painting place full of breakables. Let me just say that will make you sweat with nervousness. I should have known that since Connor does not care to color, he would not really want to paint. And there was no bribing him either. Thank the Lord above that we left the store without breaking anything. We did waste $60 on nothing that looks decent but that is better than paying thousands for an entire shelf of breakables being knocked over. Lesson learned.
Today, I decided to make some little pig tails in Addie's haor for the first time. She looked so freaking adorable. Even Wes said so. I thought he would hate the pig tails but he thought she looked precious. I bribed her to sit still for me to do them with a Christmas cookie. I snapped a few pics, of course. I know you all are just dying to see(insert sarcasm) so I will stop jabbering and post the adorable pics. lol

Enjoying her cookie I bribed her with.

She was walking by me when I snapped this one.

This pic is so cute and for some stinkin reason it will only upload sideways!

From the back. Addie was listening to the bear tell the story "Twas the Night Before Christmas".

More Strep, Christmas Card Pics, and Some Cuteness

2008-12-09T19:18:00.005-05:00

So much to tell, as I am sure my title lets on. lol Friday began with Connor not feeling good. It continued off and on all weekend. Sunday his neck began looking huge bc of his lymph nodes so I took him to the pediatrician Monday morning. Well, he has strep throat. Addie had it in September and again in October. We had a break from strep in November and now Connor has it again. I am sure Addie will have it soon bc she seems extra susceptible. Uggghh.
Of course, I waited until the last minute to take a pic of the kids for the Christmas cards. So Connor looks totally stoned in all of the pics bc he is sick. People are going to think we gave him some meds to get him to sit still for the picture. lol He was also forced to color a large sign that says Merry Christmas for him and Addie to hold in the picture. Make sure to look closely at the horrible bubble letters I did for him to color. You would never know I use to be a cheerleader and had to paint that crap on signs for football games all the time. They would be so ashamed. lol
Addie has become quite the little helper. She loves throwing things in the trash. Like on of our 3 cordless phones(we guess bc it is gone), a measuring cup, and the Leap Frog ABC Fridge Magnet. Luckily, the Fridge Magnet began singing the ABC's when we were taking out the trash. We were able to dig it out of all the nasty trash. The new rule in the house that I am sure no one will follow is to see what is on the top of the trash before throwing more in. That way if Addie has thrown in something important, we will be able to save it. She is doing so many cute things. She pretends to brush her hair, pretends to put toothpaste on her toothbrush,pretends to brush her doll's teeth, says bye bye to her pee pee and poop after she uses the potty, blows kisses, squeezes when giving hugs, kissing the pictures on the digital picture frame......I could go on and on.......but I will stop. She looooves getting on the couch and rolling around. She has rolled off twice now but keeps on getting back up for more.
Not much else to tell about that I can think of at the moment. Enjoy the pics!

Sat afternoon Doodles crashed out on Daddy bc he was not feeling well Friday night and slept very little.

Sunday Connor colored this sign for their Christmas picture. He was really motivated until the end. He got tired of coloring and it took a few breaks and a npa to get this finished.

Connor was quite possessive over that sign he worked so hard on. This was during our photo attempt for the Christmas card.

Addie was saying sorry. Connor looks terrible since he is sick.

Addie being still and acting innocent after I caught her rolling on the couch.

Kissing and hugging the digital picture frame. Notice the mess of her hair from rolling around on the couch.

I am hoping that Addie will leave her hair clips in her hair soon bc it is all over the place right now. It looks so cute with a bow or clip in though. Sigh.

Crazy Bed Head. Too Funny!

2008-12-04T18:48:00.003-05:00

Ever since Addie has been sleeping in her toddler bed, she has been waking from every bed time and nap time with crazy bed head. At first she was waking with all of the hair on the back of her hair all tangled up and matted. There was no combing that mess. The new thing is waking with a crazy mess on top that makes me think of a chicken for some reason. Yesterday I finally broke down and bought some detangler spray to take care of the mess in back that she wakes up with 3 times a day. lol We gave it a try this morning and it worked pretty well. Yesterday afternoon when she woke up I took a few pics of the craziness on top. She was still a bit sleepy in the first pic. If you look closely at the first and second pics, you can see the crazy hair even in the shadow! lol And the third pic shows Addie's goofy scrunched up face she makes when she is being silly.

Still trying to wake up. Look at the shadow of her hair. lol

Look at the shadow again. This cracks me up.

The silly scrunched up face Addie likes to make.

Thanksgiving and My Family has Come and Gone!

2008-12-02T13:00:00.006-05:00

Wow, time is flying! I cannot believe that December is here, Thanksgiving has come and and gone, as has my family. My Mom, step-dad, and brother flew in on Thanksgiving day. They were here until Sunday night. When they arrived, Addie ran to me and would not leave my arms in the beginning. She quickly warmed up to them and was back to her sweet normal self. We got started cooking. We had a huge feast! Just in case anyone cares, we had: fried turkey, honey baked ham from the Honey Baked Ham Store, squash dressing, tomato pie, broccoli and rice casserole, green bean bundles, rolls, cream cheese pie, and cheese cake. Everything was yummy! The next day we left the kids with the men and went out to do some shopping in the Black Friday madness. My mom bought a lot of gifts. Since our home town only has a Walmart and Belk she was in heaven here in Fayetteville. We wanted to go to Raleigh but figured that would be waaaay too long to leave 3 kids with 2 men. lol The only gift I bought was a new baby doll stroller for Addie since her other is slowly falling apart. I bought a few other things that we just needed. It was so fun to just go out and spend time with my mom. It has been a long time since we have been able to do that. The rest of the weekend was spent just spending time together. We watched the Auburn vs. Alabama game on Sat. All of us were disappointed except for Jim(my step-dad). Other than the football game, we had a great weekend! The visit ended when I took them to the airport Sunday night. Their flight got delayed a coupe of hours which thenmade them miss their flight out of Atlanta. They did not get home until Monday around lunch time. Gotta love Delta and Atlanta.....NOT! Anyways, here are some pics from the long weekend. Hope everyone had a GREAT Thanksgiving!

Patiently waiting for some yummy dinner on Turkey Day!

Addie really likes the musical reindeer.

Considering grabbing an ornament.

And going for it!

Yummy yogurt.

Gotta love that messy smile.

She has my chubby chin.

Sweet blue eyed girl!

Watching tv with Paw-Paw Jim.

Sitting around with Emmie.

Telling Emmie & Paw-Paw Jim goodnight and good bye.

Dancing and High Fives!

2008-11-26T23:00:00.002-05:00

Up Close With Addie

2008-11-26T22:34:00.002-05:00

Sharing means caring!

2008-11-20T20:15:00.003-05:00

Most of the time, Addie and Connor are fighting over anything and everything. No matter what it is, they both want it. It may be an old cheerio one of them found under the couch, it may be a toy, it may be my nice pewter measuring spoons someone swiped from the kitchen drawer, it may be who is going to throw a piece of trash away, it may be the tv remote, xbox remote, or phone, it may be who is going to use the downstairs bathroom, or it may even be me or Daddy. I guess I can stop bc you probably get the idea that they fight over pretty much everything. Wait! I thought of another one. They fight over that damn baby stroller and the cozy coupe worse than anything. But in the midst of all the fighting there are the sweet moments. And let me tell you, they melt my heart! These moments are rare and I consider myself so lucky when I manage to see them..... and when they actually last long enough for me to grab my camera. Today I after a long day of squabbling, I caught them sitting in a bucket from Connor's toy storage together. They were laughing and having a good time. After a bit, Connor got tired of sharing his bucket so he went to get another one for Addie. Then they both enjoyed their own bucket. It was so cute to watch them play and enjoy each other without fighting. Below are a few pics I was able to get.

Playing nice in the bucket. Notice Addie has the highly sought after pewter measuring spoons. lol

After Connor went to get Addie her own bucket.

Other stuff going on around here. Wes is gone for a few days. We will be missing him while he is gone. This time next week, my mom, Jim, and J Cole will be here!!!!! I am so excited about them coming. Saturday will be a whole month that Addie has been wearing panties and out of diapers. She still does great on the potty and I am so proud! She is also doing really great in her big girl bed and seems to like it. Connor still really likes school even though he hesitates before going in. Guess that is all for now. I got one more pic today that I thought I would share. Addie's shirt had a hood and she wanted it on for a good part of the day. This isn't a very good pic bc she would not slow down. But she just looked so cute walking around inside with her hood on. :)

Cute little thing walking around with her hood on inside.

A Cold Day & First Night in Big Girl Bed!

2008-11-18T18:52:00.005-05:00

Today was a cold day but we managed to get outside for a few minutes after running an errand. I got some cute pics of the kids. Of ourse I will share a few below.
Big news of the day is tonight is Addie's first night in the toddler bed. We were not sure how she was going to react. She went to sleep and never made a peep! We cannot believe it. Below are some pics of us putting her in it for bed for the first time. The yellow stuff is not part of her normal bedding and do not match. It is temporary until Emmie gives her the quilt from Pottery Barn that matches the other Pottery Barn stuff on her bed. We want her to be nice and warm until then though. lol

I like this one. I think I am going to make it my new big pic at the top of the blog!

Addie liked being in the fort.

Addie says "Hi"!

Happy girl!

Silly boy!

The windblown look.

Connor was trying to carry Addie.

Looks like she likes it.

Ready to be tucked in.

Laughing at Daddy.

Now good night! We cut out the light and never heard another peep.

Hi Again!

2008-11-16T19:48:00.003-05:00

I seem to be posting less and less I have noticed. I think there are many contributing factors. I have started working part time doing play therapy again. Sometimes I feel like no one reads it so why post. I usually do all my posting at night and now that it gets dark so early I seem to go to bed earlier. I am going to try to post more often though.
First, lets talk about Doodles. He is doing great at "school". His second day was Thursday and he was reluctant to go in. After he saw that they were starting their day with Play Do, he happily told me good bye. When I picked him up 3.5 hours later, he told me to go back to work bc he did not want to leave. I had not even been at work but it made me kinda sad that he wanted me to leave again. :( At least I know he likes his pre-school time though.
Addie is doing great using the potty. I am so glad we did it so early. The only problem is, as much as she talks and says, she does not say potty. I have tried so hard to emphasize it this past 3 weeks but she will not say it. She is doing and saying tons of other new things but not the one thing I want/need her to say the most. When we are home she goes to the bathroom door when she needs to potty but she needs to learn the word or sign for potty so she can tell me she has to go when we are not home. I am sure she will catch on soon though.
I am getting tired so I will end this with a few pics. Bye for now!

Addie stuffing her face with some waffle.

Now that is some bed head!

I had this turned the right way....dunno why it turned it the wrong way.
I love when my kids do chores for me. lol

This shows how sweet Addie is. Every time he goes to time out she goes and loves him. As you can see by the look on his face he hates it. He also likes to cover up with the rug so she touches him less. lol

Connor's First Preschool Day!

2008-11-11T20:17:00.002-05:00

Connor went to preschool for the first time today. He was a little shy at first and we thought he may get upset but he did great. There are 3 other kids in the class and he seemed to click with them right away. He hugged me and then blew Wes and I a kiss as we left. We picked him up at 11:30. His teacher said he had trouble sitting and doing the activities but he just has to get use to things being so structured. He also spilled his juice at snack time because he could not sit still. Other than these things she said he did great and he just needs a little time to get use to everything. I know Connor really enjoyed it because he has already asked if he can go back to "school". I am so glad to have found such a great little preschool so close to home where his best friend is going too! And the owner/teacher is so great. She has her degree in special education and has worked as a teacher in reg classrooms and doing special ed. She also use to do Early Intervention Play Therapy like I do. We are so blessed to have found such an amazing place for Connor to learn!

Connor is going to preschool!

2008-11-10T21:01:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow Connor will have his first day of preschool. He is going to go half days on Tuesday and Thursdays. I think he will really enjoy it, especially since his best friend from across the street just started last week too. I am really glad that Wes is off tomorrow so we can both take him for his first day together. I will post tomorrow evening about how his first day went.
Also, here are a couple of pics of Addie all bundled up to play outside. No pics of Connor today bc he was riding his bike around the block with "Mop".(the nickname Doodles made up for Wes' mom)

So tired so here are some pics.

2008-11-09T21:51:00.003-05:00

I am too tired to really type anything but here are some pics. It was a nice day so we spent some time outside.

We had a fun Halloween!

2008-11-03T06:45:00.006-05:00

Halloween was tons of fun. I was so surprised by how much Addie enjoyed trick or treating.
The kids had a package arrive from Emmie, PawPaw Jim, and J Cole. They opened it up right before we left. We went trick or treating at 6 which would normally be Addie's bed time. We went with our neighbors. The kids had a great time! Connor always got second helpings because he continued to stand there so people threw in more candy. lol He was just waiting for Addie I think. lol Addie carried her little mini basket around. I was surprised that she seemed to understand what to do. She would walk up and hold out her basket. She sometimes said thanks after something was put in her basket. She was cluching candy in both hands and wouldn't let go. Too bad mommy won't even let her eat any. lol She did get to eat some pretzals someone gave her. We got home at about 7:45 and Addie threw a fit. She was so tired. She was flailing and I was scared something was wrong with her but she was just tired. She went right to sleep. We ordered pizza because Granny sent pizza $ for Connor and Addie. While we were waiting for the pizza we sat outside and handed out our candy. When the pizza arrived we ate outside. We had enough left over for both kids to have some for lunch the next day. Didn't want Addie o miss out on her pizza! Connor went to bed at 9 which is pretty late for him. He had lots of fun though. The next morning he woke up asking to have his toys opened from us and Emmie that he got for Halloween. Here are some pics from our evening.

Addie with the pumkins in her Halloween dress.

Look at my little pumpkin!

Fred and Pebbles Flintstone!

Our little Pebbles

Connor checking out the toy we put in his basket.

Addie with her gifts from us and Emmie.

Checking out his John Deere set from Emmie.

Silly boy!

Addie was helping herself. She knew what to do!

Does Pebbles suck her thumb?

Mean mommy won't give her any candy so she chewed it with the wrapper on. lol

Handing out candy from our house.

15 Months Old Today & a Great Potty Day!

2008-10-30T20:28:00.003-04:00

Woot woot! Addie had the best potty day so far today. And today she is 15 months old. I am so incredibly proud of her. She peed on the potty 8 times today and pooped once. She only had 3 accidents! I think this is great since this is only our 6th training day! I hope she continues to improve. I took some pics of her today on the potty since she is 15 months old!

Using the potty like a big girl!

Peek-a-boo is one of the things we do when bored.

And as usual, she makes the time to do a little thumb-sucking. lol

My sweet, silly girl is growing up so fast!

Playing Nice... I Love It!

2008-10-29T20:21:00.002-04:00

Everyone thinks I am nuts!

2008-10-29T19:35:00.004-04:00

Everyone thinks I have totally lost it bc I am trying to potty train Addie even though she isn't even 15 months yet. We have been going to the potty since last Saturday. That is a huge part of why I have not had time to post. She hasn't quite got it yet so it requires many trips to the potty to sit for long periods of time. lol She has done well though. She poops and pees on the potty a lot. She has accidents but I think it is bc what we are doing hasn't really registered yet. But I think it is starting to. She now goes to the bathroom door when I say potty. She also claps and reaches for the windowsill, where I keep her rewards, after she poops or pees. I will continue to update about her progress but so far I am a very proud mama!
Work is still going good. I usually work Mondays and Fridays. I had some cancellations last week so I rescheduled them for today. Connor must have been having a good time bc when I got home he told me to go back to work! Kinda hurt my feelings. He normally does not want me to be out of his sight.
About 15 mins ago, Wes informed me that one of his extra hard drives died! Of course it was the one that had all our pictures on it. The last ones transferred from my camera had not been burned to disc yet! I will die if Wes cannot recover them. I was pretty big b!tch about it but I LOVE my pictures and will be crushed to lose any of them. Please pray that he is able to recover them somehow!
Gotta run for now bc there is much to do. Due to the potty training, I have no chance to get anything done during the day. Addie has been asleep since 6 and I have not done much productive yet. Gotta get busy.

Addie's first piece of pizza! She loved it and ate the whole piece. It was pineapple and sausage.

Big girl is sitting on the potty!

Addie is wondering when she gets to get off the potty!

Cute Hair Clips For Sale!

2008-10-19T11:37:00.006-04:00

I have recently started making these cute, simple little hair clips for Addie. I have decided to also sell them. They are so expensive in the store, so this is a more affordable way to have a variety of clips to go with all your little girls' outfits! Below are pics of what I currently have available. Each set is $4. This price includes shipping. If you are interested in purchasing some clips, you can email me at happymommy526@yahoo.com We can communicate and work out the details through email.

1 & 2

3 & 4

5 & 6

7 & 8

9 & 10

11 & 12

13 & 14

15 & 16

17 & 18

19 & 20

So much to tell....

2008-10-18T09:44:00.004-04:00

This time I am going to try to keep it short. I know that y'all don't care about all the dumb details.

Addie is feeling better. But Thursday morning she broke out in a rash. It was a pretty bad one so we went to the doc. She had a reaction to her antibiotics. They also retested her for strep and she was still positive. They said said she should have been negative since she had 5 days of meds. So she got new antibiotics and hopefully they will get her well. She now has 5 teeth. 3 top, 2 bottom and working on 1 more top. She is talking up a storm and is just sooooooooooo sweet.

Connor has been doing great since his "surgery". He has not had any more screaming night wakings covering his ears and noises do not seem to be as much of an issue but still bothersome. He has decided to quit being so picky about eating and he seems to be minding better. He is probably improving all around bc he is getting better sleep due to not having the crazy screaming night wakings. Also this week he surprised us 2 nights in a row by ASKING to go to bed. One night he asked at 7:15 and the next night he asked at 6:15! Of course we obliged! lol

My work has been going great. I am up to 11 play therapy sessions a week. So I am working almost 7 hours on Mondays and almost 7 hours on Fridays. Thursday I caught myself saying Friday was going to be a long day. How awesome is it that a long day for me is less than 7 hours?! lol I am also really enjoying the kiddies I am working with a lot. It also feels so good to come home and have both kids pile on me and love me. I can tell they miss me.

Today we are going to a birthday party for 2 sisters. They are our neighbors. I feel sorry for Connor bc it is a princess party. He will probably enjoy the cake though! lol

My mom, stepdad, and brother are coming to visit for Thanksgiving! I am so excited. My mom and brother have only been here once and stepdad has never been here. I wish my mom would just buy the tickets so they won't change their minds. BUY THE TICKETS MOM!

RUSTY, if you are reading, HI! I saw that you made a comment. It is funny that I saw that this morning bc I was just thinking about you this morning. I had a Thomas Square bagel and they always make me think of you since I first had them on our trip. lol I miss you so much and hope we will see you around Christmas-time if we make it home. Awesome job on the running. :)

Couch-5K Update.......I Suck! I am lazy! I must like being fat! I have only ran 1 of 3 times this week. I was starting week 1 over after last weekend was so terrible. And I blew it again. I am going to try again next week to get going with week 1. I just need to get a routine going and get use to it. Right now I keep thinking I will do it later and just never do it. So someone kick my botty into gear. Tell me to stop being fat!

Seems like I had more to tell but I don't remember! So here are some pics. :)

Caught playing nice!

Addie decided to give the baby stroller a try.

The rash she had on her tummy and back.

Feeding herself! Addie did well with the spoon. She just spilled some.
The food all over her tray is bc she dumps her plate when she is done.

Happy girl!

Wearing Connor's hat.

Craziness around here!

2008-10-13T20:32:00.006-04:00

It has been a while since I posted bc things have been a little crazy around here. I will sum it up as short as possible to inform you and not bore you..... also bc I have some shows recorded on DVR to watch. lol My grandparents left on Wednesday after a great visit....and took Wes with them. Wes needed a ride to AL to pick up his new Harley so this worked out great. They all left on Wed and Wes came back on Sunday. Shit hit the fan while he was gone. Addie woke up Sat morning burning up and had a fever of 102.5. Also while I was looking for the thermometer the power went out in half our house. Half the upstairs and half the downstairs. Crazy. I panicked bc it was an overwhelming morning. Nothing worked to get it back on so I gave up. It miraculously came back on and I was so thankful. We went to the doctor's Sat morning sick hours. We got the news that Addie has strep throat again for the 2nd time in a month and a half. Crazy! So she got antibiotics and we came home. She rested most of the day and her fever would not go away. Later Sat evening the power went off again. It kinda dimmed and then was gone..... in half the house. I had no idea what to do. A neighbor came and tried to figure it out and gave up after a couple of hours. I finally decided to call an electrician bc I didn't want us to burn up in an electrical fire! Of all 20 electricians with big ads that said 24 hour emergency service, only 3 answered. First one says $125 to come out and $125 per hour. So $250 for 1 hour. Second said the same thing. Third one was a family owned business that was actually interested in hearing what was going on. She suggested I call the power company to come check first bc if it is on their end, it will cost me nothing. She said if it is something on my end then to call her back and they will come for $125. I thanked her over and over for helping me and not trying to rip me off. The power co came and it was their fault! Yay. When our house was built 2 years ago they knicked the main power line to our box when they put in the water and sewage. It gradually got worse until we finally lost part of our power. Problem solved. They did have to cut all the power to the house while they worked which sucked bc I had to sit in the dark with a flashlight until 11pm. So worht it though to have the problem solved and for free! Sunday Addie still felt bad and was feverish off and on. Wes got home yesterday and the kids were both so glad to see him. I was too! I dunno why everything has to happen while he is gone!
Today Wes was off and I had a couple of hours of play therapy scheduled so he was home with the kids. When I got home both kids climbed onme and showered me with love. It is so nice to know they miss me when I am gone. A few miracles happened this evening. Connor cleaned up all his toys all by himself. The whole time he was doing it he kept saying "Look mommy, I doing so good!" It was so cute. He also cleaned his plate at dinner tonight. We had fried Tilapia and green beans with new potatoes. He ate all his fish(chicken as he thinks) and had 2 servings of green beans and potatoes. This kid wouldn't touch a green bean until now. Didn;t really like potatoes unless they are mashed. We were so proud! He even said they were delicious! For eating so good he had some yogurt(which he thinks is ice cream). lol Not much other interesting stuff to tell about. I will post some pics now so I can go watch some tv. :)
Oh wait...there is one more thing. I have decided I am way too fat and lazy. I am heavier than I have ever been while not pregnant. So I have started Couch to 5K. You can read about it here: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml I started last Thursday but then all the crap over the weekend got in the way. I started off fresh today. I have a pic of the kids bundled up for our run while they had breakfast. Wes went too since he was off. Wish me luck bc I need it!!!

Ready for a nap in her new wool knit pants.

Connor was in time out and crying so Addie went to love him. As you can see he hated it!

A pic of Addie on her sickly, cranky Sunday.

Connor was happy to see Daddy, especially when he mentioned a surprise!

Connor enjoying his surprise from Daddy.

Bundled up this morning for the run. They had their breakfast and milk. lol

I don't really have much to say except...

2008-10-04T19:33:00.006-04:00

War Eagle!!!
Now for some pictures. :)

Sweet hugs!

Sweet kisses!

Always sucking her thumb.

Just sitting around.

This is my 70 year old PawPaw after he took Wes' motorcycle around the neighborhood.

Granny & Papa fell asleep watching football. So sweet, even after 52 years.

Addie giving me a smile so I will help her down.

Looking so cute in her cheerleading outfit!

Our little cheerleader and football player.

Riding his tractor.

Driving the cozy coupe.

Busy, Busy

2008-10-02T20:49:00.004-04:00

So things, have been busy around here. Yesterday my Granny and PawPaw arrived from Alabama. They are staying for a week to visit. My Granny is an awesome cook and we will be eating so good for the next week. lol We are so glad to have them here for a visit. Addie has already taken to them. This morning they stayed with Addie because we had to take Connor in for "surgery". PawPaw took a little nap this morning and from what I hear from Granny, he woke up with a stash of toys on top of him from Addie. My sweet girl is sharing. lol
So about Connor's "surgery". I dunno what I should really call it. It's not really surgery but it was something important and he was put to sleep..... He was put to sleep for a hearing test, to take out the tube in his ear, and clean his ears. Don't go thinking I am a bad mom bc he needed his ears cleaned. He has abnormally small canals that cause a wax problem for him and this will be an ongoing problem for him. It is nothing we can help. Connor was in a great mood for being woken up at 5:45....until they gave him Versed(spelling, sorry mom the anesthesia lady but I am just guessing) 3 of us were restraining him and he spit just about all of it out. Luckily it was only to relax him and not the real thing. lol He had just enough to make him cranky instead of relaxed. They took him back and about 45 min-1 hour later he was done. I dunno whether to call our news good or bad. The good news is the hearing test was normal but the bad news is that we have no answers for Connor's EXTREME issues with noise. Now we must further evaluate and investigate to look into the sensory type stuff. As the doctor put it, we now know that his hardwiring is normal so it seems his perceptions of sounds is the problem. So it is good that his hearing is normal but it still leaves us with no answers about his noise issues. Everything else went good too. He removed the tube that was left and cleaned his ears. We will be seeing the ENT again soon to see how much wax has accumulated to see how often this will be a problem as well as discuss further evaluations for Connor's noise issues. When we got to see Connor he was still unaware and kinda upset. He was fine when he got to come to me though. He took his Teddy with him to surgery and they bandaged Teddy's ear up. They also gave Connor his mask to bring home and his stuff that held his IV on his arm(gauze and board). When we were leaving we quickly realized how loopy Doodles was. He was jabbering crazy talk and could not even stand up. He was quite hilarious. Wes and I laughed all the way to the car and all the way home. When we got home he still couldn't stand well. About an hour later though he was back to his wild self. You would never even know he was put to sleep or anything. So all is well and Connor is back to normal.
I am really tired so sorry if this post is all over the place. I am going to post some pics and go to bed.

Teddy after "surgery".

Doodles giving Teddy the gas. lol

Addie loves to swing and wanted another turn.

Playing in the playhouse.

Addie and Granny having a good time.

Addie loves sliding. She was laughing and snorting the whole time.

Addie gave it her best shot to get to the top.....

And then she pouted and got mad when she couldn't do it.

Bracing himself for the bottom going down face first!

About our beach trip....

2008-10-02T20:27:00.002-04:00

Well, things got busy around here and I forgot to blog about the details of our beach trip. Now it is kinda old news so I will just tell a bit about it. lol We stayed at The Dunes in Myrtle Beach, which is super nice, but the reason we really love it is the indoor water park. They have a lazy river, 2 water slides, a kiddie pool area with lots of cool stuff, etc. Connor loved the slides! He got to the point where he would swim across the lazy river, go up the steps, down the slide, and start over while Wes was watching him. Addie befriended 2 sweet little girls in the kiddie pool area. They were 3 and 7 and just loooooooved Addie. They played ball with her the whole time we were there. We also went to the beach for a little bit but Addie hates the sand and Connor preferred the water park. We also went to dinner. My favorite part of the beach is always all-you-can-eat crab legs. We decided to try a new place that ranked highly on tripadvisor.com. It was called Captain George's. It is located on the corner of 28th and 17(you will see why this is relevant in a minute). We got on 28th and came to 17 Business and spotted a seafood place so we parked and went in. As we were being seated, I realized this place did not seem nice like the reviews on tripadvisor had said. So I read the girl's shirt and it said Captain Bennett's!!! I stopped the girl lugging the highchair and menus to let her know I thought we were at the wrong place. I said, "I think we are at the wrong place. We thought this was Captain George's." She says, "Oh, no this is Captain Bennett's." Awkward silence...... I say, "Ok, well we are going to leave now." She looks a little ticked and we leave. lol When we get to the parking lot Wes says "Damn babe, I thought you could have come up with something better than that!" lol I was just telling the truth. So we realize that Captain George's that we want to go to is on 17 and not 17 Business. So we drive a little farther and arrive at our destination. And it was quite delicious by the way. The kids were very good and allowed mommy to eat many many crab legs! The next day we went out on the beach before we had tp check out. After we checked out we went to lunch at Margaritaville. The kids really liked it because of the music. They were both just a dancing. So anyways, that is our last beach trip.

The rest of our beach trip.

2008-09-28T21:38:00.007-04:00

I am tired and watching some tv so I am just going to post some pics from the rest of our trip. I will post about what we did and tell about it tomorrow night.

Walking to the beach this morning.

Connor reaching out to hold Addie's hand.

Wondering what the crashing sound of the waves is.

Finally walking in the sand.... bc she has shoes on. lol

Catching a nap before check out. So sweet!

Walking around after lunch at Margaritaville.

Connor had a little tantrum/meltdown because he wanted to go back to the room because the sound of the waves bothered him.

And still upset....don't worry, he was fine after we couldn't hear the noise anymore.

Playing in the sand boat at Margaritaville.

One last trip on the balcony to say bye to the beach.

Daddy showed the bear some love since Connor would not.

Getting a ride from Daddy.

Guess where we are!!

2008-09-27T20:38:00.006-04:00

At the beach! We came to the beach yesterday for a quick trip since Wes had to miss our last trip due to a training that came up. Just wanted to share some pics of our trip so far. I will post more about it when we get back home tomorrow.

Up with the early morning sun.

Playing in the condo's indoor water park.

Playing in the ocean.

Jumping the waves.

Running from the waves.

Not liking the sand.

Swimming with Daddy.

Connor is not scared any more.

Our kiddos are so cute!

Love that smile!

Always sucking that thumb.

Oh my goodness, she's so cute!

Real men wear diaper bags. lol

Playing in the sand.

Having a good time!

Pics from today with new camera

2008-09-25T21:49:00.005-04:00

I just took a bunch of pictures today with the new camera. Here are some of them.

Addie is holding my camera that quit before my last camera bit the dust at the fair. lol
This new camera is my 4th since Connor has been born.
I got the 2 year protection plan for this one!

Yummy snack time!

Looks like a full mouth!

Enjoying some dinner!

Looks like she is all done!
Connor loves spaghetti!

Cleaning up after dinner!

Addie thinks Connor needs a bit more washing so she hands over the baby wash. lol

Soapy head!

Most.expensive.fair.trip.ever!!!!

2008-09-25T21:35:00.003-04:00

Sunday I had the brilliant idea to go to the local county fair. I thought Connor would enjoy seeing the animals and riding the rides. Wes was hesitant but we decided to go. Below our are costs due to going to the fair and some pictures from our outing.
Entry to fair- $18
Tickets for Connor to ride 3 rides-$10
Cost for Connor to ride pony for 1.5 minutes- $5
Seems like we spent more $ but I can't remember on what....
And the big killer....when we dropped our camera on the concrete.....$300+
So, we had to buy a new camera yesterday. Total sucky!

Our team lost!

2008-09-21T09:48:00.003-04:00

Well, Auburn lost last night. Darn! We did have a good time watching it with friends though. Just wanted to share a few pics of the kids yesterday evening in their Auburn gear.

My goofy boy missed a bit of ketchup on his mouth when washing up after dinner. lol

You probably can't tell but Connor had his pants on backwards. lol

Getting tickled by Daddy.

Enjoying the nice weather!

2008-09-20T13:18:00.003-04:00

I am so glad for some nice cooler weather. The kids like it too because I am happier to take them outside to play now now. Maybe now that it is cooler, I will make use of the double jogging stroller. Right now all our downstairs windows are open and it feels so nice. What a great day for some college football. The Auburn vs LSU game is tonight and we are having people over to watch it. The kiddos also have on their Auburn gear. They look so cute. I will get some pictures to post later because they are napping right now. Addie wore her cheerleading outfit last Sat so today she has on an hand sewn Auburn peasant top with a denim skirt. Connor is sporting his jersey and khaki shorts. I will definitely get some pics of them later and make a post. Hope everyone has a great day and WAR DAMN EAGLE!

Here is a picture of Addie enjoying the nice weather a couple of days ago.

The Videos

2008-09-17T13:53:00.003-04:00

First is the uh-oh video. Usually Addie says uh-oh anytime anyone drops anything and keeps saying it until it is picked up. She sometimes says it when she even sees things on the floor. She needed a little encouragement for the video bc she clams up eveytime I try to get her to do something. lol

And here are both the kiddos doing some dancing to some music Daddy played for them. Sorry Connor does not have on his shorts but he forgets to put them back on after he has had to #2 on the potty. lol And by the way, I am a total dummy for turning the camera sideways!!! Sorry. Still cute though.

Good videos to come!

2008-09-17T07:08:00.001-04:00

I have a couple of cute videos to share. I have been meaning to put them on here but they take so darn long to upload. So coming today will be "Uh-Oh" and "Booty Shaker". lol Stay tuned!

Oh-no! She's sitting in my chair!

2008-09-12T14:22:00.002-04:00

We heard Connor shrieking this in the playroom yesterday. We went in to find this:

Addie has figured out how to climb into Connor's recliner and the battles have begun! lol

Addie got a gift! Actually we all did!

2008-09-12T14:04:00.005-04:00

If you know us or read the blog then you know I cloth diaper Addie. It is loads of fun and the diapers are super cute. I frequent a website called diaperswappers where people talk about cloth diapers and buy and sell, etc. Wool is a material that can be used as a cover to keep from leaking and as ADORABLE pants. I saw all the cute longies on diaperswappers and wanted to get some for Addie for the fall/winter since they can be used as covers and cute pants. Did you know wool will absorb 30% of it's weight?! Anyways, I was having trouble finding some longies knit to the measurements Addie needs so I made a post about it on the website. A super sweet mama sent me a message saying that she would like to give us her daughter's first pair of longies since they are Addie's measurements. I cried because that was so kind of her. She could have sold them and gotten a nice chunk of change for them. But instead she wanted to pass them on to us for free; she wouldn't even let me pay shipping. She only asked that I pass them on to someone else when Addie outgrows them. It's like the sisterhood of the travelling longies. lol They were Matilda's first, Addie's first, and will be someone else's first! Cool huh?! Anyways so I got some pictures of Addie in the longies and she looked so cute. Here she is!

Bad girl pulled down the blinds.

I am embarrassed bc I had no idea the fireplace glass was so dirty.

So that is the story about Addie's gift. But actually we all got a gift. Wes was not due to come home from a training until later this week but he got home on Tuesday night. He called and told me to be there in an hour to get him. Doodles was sooooo excited. When the van pulled into the parking lot he saw Wes in the front seat and exclaimed"There's my Daddy!" He was so excited. It is so nice for Wes to be home. I had bought steaks to cook for him the night he got home and stuff to make red velvet cake(his fave) but since he showed up early we did all that on Wednesday night. What a good wife I am! lol
We are going back to the beach in a couple of weeks since Wes missed our last trip because the training came up. It is going to be fun to go together this time!

Toddler Talk

2008-09-07T18:04:00.002-04:00

I love toddler talk. It can be so cute. Each stage has a cuteness about it.
Addie is just learning words and to talk. She has 16 words that I know of. The cutest thing she says is uh-oh. She says it anytime she or anyone else drops anything. I love it. I drop thing just to hear her say it. lol And she says it over and over and over again until the dropped item is picked up. lol I tried to video it today but of course that is the one time she won't say it. Other big news about Addie is that she is cutting 4 top teeth. It is about time she get more chompers. She only has the bottom 2 right now. More are on the way though that is for sure. They seem to bother her at night. She woke up the night before at 4:30 crying and went back to sleep. Last night she woke up 2:30 crying and didn't go back. I went in and gave her some Tylenol and Orajel and she went right back to sleep.
Connor totally cracks me up with some of the silly ways he words things. Addie likes to say no and when she does Connor says "She no'ed me Mommy; Addie no'ed me". He means Addie said no to me but it comes out all wrong. lol Another one is when I tell him to find something or for example when I say put on your shoes, he says "Where ism?" Instead of where are they it comes out where ism. It is hilarious. Another thing he does is he always feels the need to tell you when he has a booger. When he says "I got a boogy mommy" you never know if he means in his nose or on his finger. lol
Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Poop on the floor?! No Way!!

2008-09-04T20:24:00.005-04:00

Today we were in the grocery store picking up a few things we need. While I was trying to decide which block of cheese I wanted, I hear Connor loudly saying "Eeeeewwww it's poo-poo mommy". A nice employee comes and speaks to Addie and tells her how pretty she is. She then says hi to Connor and he points to something on the floor and tells her "Nasty Poo-Poo". She looks closer and says, "I think it's just squished grapes honey." It was hilarious. The lady was stifling her laughter and so was I. Connor was very concerned about the poop on the grocery store floor and talked about it the whole time we checked out and all the way to the car.
Last night, the fire alarm in Connor's room started beeping that the battery was low. Connor freaked out because as I have mentioned in earlier posts, he has issues with noise, like auditory sensory processing issues. It was while I was putting him to bed and he started screaming "Oh no, we gotta get out of here". I explained the beep to him but he kept his ears covered and was very upset. I took the battery out but it continued to beep. I could not find a 9 volt anywhere in the house or garage. I even called the neighbors. Finally a friend suggested I take one from another alarm so the one in his room will stop beeping. So I take the battery from the one downstairs and put it in his room. All is good.... for a minute.... and then he hears the one beeping downstairs and freaks out. Finally I turned his music way up and laid down with him for a minute. He forgot about the beep once he couldn't hear it anymore. He then allowed me to leave and went to sleep still covering his ears. This morning when we woke up and came downstairs, he kept being bothered by the beep. He wasn't freaking but kept getting flustered and asking what is the beep. After Addie's morning nap we went to the store and were able to get a battery... and extras for the future. Luckily we see the ENT again next week and we will talk about further evaluating him for auditory sensory processing disorder since there hasn't been improvement over the past 2 months.
Addie is still taking antibiotics for the strep throat but seems to feel fine. I think she is hard core teething now though. She is just a bit cranky and clingy which is unusual for her. Bout time she teeth since she only has 2 teeth. lol Something new I noticed she is doing is "singing" with the ABC song. We have the leap frog letter thing for the fridge that sings the ABCs and she loves to carry it around and dance to it. The past 2 days I have noticed that she "sings" to the tune of the ABCs. I am going to try to get a video bc it is so cute. She has also decided that she needs to make a smack sound every time she gives kisses. It is so cute. She gives hugs and kisses ALL DAY LONG. Yesterday my neighbor/friend watched them for a couple of hours and she said Addie gave hugs and kisses to her, her daughter, Connor, her baby dolls, and even the dog the whole time I was gone. She really is so very affectionate and it is so sweet.
Well, it is getting late so I will end with a few cute pics I got of the kiddos today.

I caught them in the drawer together and had to grab the camera!

Addie was trying to give Connor a kiss. He was covering his mouth and turning away.

And this is a couple of pictures of Addie being naughty yesterday. Callie just sits and endures it all. She is such a good dog.

Looking so innocent.

Pics from the Beach

2008-09-01T21:47:00.009-04:00

I am sure some of you get soooo tired of seeing so many pics of the kids.....but that's what this blog is about. I love using this blog to share my babies and our lives, with our friends and family that are too far away to see us. It is getting late so for now I will just post the pics and will post more details about our trip later.

Checking out the sand.

Petting the sand turtle. lol

Trying to put her glasses on her baby.

Connor and his best friend.

Connor playing in the water with Mr. Greg since Daddy wasn't there to take him.

I also wanted to share this cute video of Addie communicating with the birds. She loved them. Please ignore the conversation in the background.

We are home!

2008-09-01T15:38:00.002-04:00

We are back from the beach, so I just wanted to do a quickie update. After day 1 of strep throat, you would never know Addie is sick. She takes her medicine like a champ and has been her happy usual self. The beach was great. I got really sad when I got there and realized Wes wasn't gonna be with us. I knew he wouldn't be there because of the training that came up but it really hit me hard on the way there and when we got there. Also, Wes called and said he is feeling better. I am relieved that he apparently does not have strep too. He was so sad to hear about Addie getting so sick. It was a total bummer to come home and Wes to still be gone. I am being such a baby because 17 days is nothing compared to 15 months. Anyways, just wanted to say we are back, it was fun, and Addie has been feeling well and taking her meds. I will try to come back tonight after they are in bed to post some of the MANY pics I took.

Today Topped Yesterday

2008-08-27T21:36:00.003-04:00

This post is going to be straight to the point because it has been a loooooong, crazy day. I was awakened at 4 am to Addie crying. I went to check on her bc it is unusual for her to wake at night. She was BURNING up. I have never felt anyone so hot to the touch. I couldn't find the thermometer so I gave her some Advil and she went back to sleep. She woke up at 6:30 upset again. I found the thermometer and her temp was 102.8..... and that was after Advil!!! I can't imagine what it was at 4 am before the Advil! At 7:30 Connor went to Candy's house(our neighbor/close friend) so I could take Addie to the doctor. It was pouring down rain so I was glad to not have to take him. On the way to the doctor, the radio alerted about tornado warnings. I was nervous about being out and about not being with Connor during possible sever weather. We made it to the ped and I got drenched on almost every inch of my body but managed to keep Addie dry. :) We found out that Addie has strep throat!!! I have not known any one so young to have it and the ped says she keeps seeing it in kids younger and younger. So we got antibiotics. On the way home, I could hardly see to drive bc of the rain and the roads were starting to flood. Addie slept during all of our time in the car and most of the day. When she was awake she was upset and wanting me to hold her. This evening when she was awake she played a good bit and was in a pretty good mood considering. She went to bed and will hopefully feel better tomorrow for out trip to the beach.
Also, this morning Connor's furniture was delivered. I didn't know exactly what time they were coming so I was not able to shower for my first appointment for work this afternoon. I was so ill that they showed up at the end of the 2 hr window and I actually could have showered. Oh well. My first work appointment went well. I hated leaving Addie when she was so sick but it was for less than 2 hours and with a friend at our house. The family I met was great and the little boy is going to be fun to provide play therapy to. Back to Connor's furniture..... it looks so great! I will post pictures when I am able to get the old dresser moved out of his room. I was too busy today. I want to show a pic of the finished product. He really likes it and says it is "cool".
Tomorrow we are leaving for the beach. I am so sad that hubby can't go because he is gone for some training. I also can't believe Addie is sick for the beach trip. I hope she is feeling much better tomorrow.
One last thing...... Wes has been pretty sick for the last week. Really sore throat, feeling awful, and such. We assumed it was sinus and thought his throat was hurting bc of drainage. Now I am concerned that he has had strep and we just didn't realize. I have no way to talk to him and let him know that Addie has it and maybe he is where she got it from. I know that strep can be super dangerous when untreated so I am praying this is not what he has! I hope he will somehow be able to call soon so I can let him know. So a few prayers for Wes would be nice. :)
sgtsudswife, thanks for the comments. It is nice to know that someone reads what I type. :)

This Day is FINALLY About to End!

2008-08-26T21:50:00.003-04:00

This has not been the greatest day. I stayed up waaaay too late last night even though I knew I had to take Wes in for his training at 4 am this morning. When we got home from dropping Wes off, Connor didn't want to go to bed(but finally did after we peed, brushed teeth, and changed into new pjs like it was bedtime). I thought maybe they would sleep later but nope! So, I was a tired, cranky mama today. We really didn't do much at all today. It rained most of the day. Tonight, when I put Connor down for bed I asked if he knew where Daddy was and said "Daddy is at work". I said yup, he's at work. He then said Daddy's far away. We explained that Daddy would be at work for XX days but I think he thinks Daddy is gone on deployment again. He said he misses Daddy. Poor little guy just doesn't understand.
Addie has a couple of new words. A few days ago when noticed she is saying "here" when she hands us something or tries to give us something. And yesterday she started saying snack.... actually she says "nack". It is so cute. She said it tonight when I put her in her chair for dinner. lol. She thinks all meals are snack.
Remember me talking about doing play therapy for Early Intervention part time again? I start tomorrow! I will only be working an hour tomorrow. It will be touch and go until I get all the referrals I need to get my schedule filled out. I am planning to see 15 kids a week for therapy and currently have 4. I hope the rest come quickly so I can get into the groove of things and not just working an hour or 2 at a time. Anyways, wish me luck tomorrow.
Also, Connor's new bedroom furniture is being delivered and set up tomorrow and he is so excited about his new bed. Here is a link to see the furniture we got him(his is full size): http://www.havertys.com/Product_11207?curIndex=47&resultCount=69 Tomorrow I will post pics of Doodles with his new stuff in his room!

God Was Watching Yesterday!

2008-08-25T21:28:00.003-04:00

I know God sees us all the time but he was protecting Addie yesterday. After church and lunch, I had Addie on the floor and was changing her diaper for her nap. Connor was sitting in a leather glider/rocking type chair with a metal frame that is pretty top heavy. It was out of it's original place because Wes sometimes uses it when he plays his XBOX 360. As I was snapping Addie's diaper closed the chair came crashing down with Connor on top of it. The metal frame hit the side of Addie's head. I flipped out because I didn't know how bad she was hurt. The frame is metal, the chair is HEAVY, and all Connor's weight came crashing down with it. She immediately got a goose-egg over her ear and was screaming. Connor was terrified because it scared him too. We didn't know if we needed to have her checked out and were able to call the on call nurse for our ped's office. She told us what to look for and not to take her to the ER unless she started vomiting or acting funny. I was crying and upset and soooooooooo nauseous. I was literally sick from the thought of how much worse it could have been. If Addie had been a few inches over, she probably would not be with us any more because it would have crushed her skull. And that thought makes me sick. I am bawling all over again right now. I just cannot believe how close we were to having the worst thing imaginable happen to us. Thank God Addie was not a couple of inches over and God was holding her in his hands. It is so scary to imagine all the what-ifs. When I think about it I also feel like it was my fault for not stopping it, but I didn't even see it til it happened. I told Wes that we will keep the chair where it is supposed to go because it is next to the wall and can't topple backwards so easily or we will be putting it in the garage until the kids are older. I am not going to risk our kids getting hurt over a stupid chair! It already threw my Paw-Paw one time too so it is notorious for flipping over. I am so thankful that things were no worse than they were. Next time you pray, thank God for looking after Addie!

Dear Army,

2008-08-25T21:12:00.002-04:00

I was already really sad that you are making my hubby go to a training when we have rented a beach house for the long Labor Day weekend. We spent our $ on a vacation that we cannot even go on as a family now. If that wasn't bad enough, now you are making me wake the kids at 4 am so we can deliver him to you. Sometimes you really stink. Maybe our next vacation will not be ruined by you. You better at least take good care of him while he is gone! Good night, since I have to wake up so early.
Crankypants of the night,
Ashley

Thank goodness for my little tattle-tell!

2008-08-25T21:00:00.003-04:00

When I let my Mommy guard down, Doodles keeps me informed on Addie's wrong-doings. Earlier today, I changed Addie's dipe which was full of nasty poopy. For those of you that don't know, we use cloth. The phone rang as I was finishing up and the diaper was left on the floor. Totally gross.... I know..... but something came up and I left it for a second. I forgot about the diaper and Connor came running to me saying "Oh no, Addie got the diaper!" He said it in a way I can't describe, he was very distressed about it. lol. I ran in the living room to find Addie walking around with her poopy diaper. Thank God she hadn't opened it up! I grabbed it from her and washed her hands and checked for poop. I then properly rinsed the diaper and put it in our pail. Bad momma, shoulda done it to begin with! Oops! Later in the afternoon, Connor came running to me while I was unloading the dishwasher and said "Oh no, Addie taking off her diaper!" Again he sounded very distressed about it. I went in the living room to find Addie ripping off her diaper. Silly girl. She knew momma had slipped up again and wanted to keep me on my toes. We have recently changed almost all of our cloth dipes from velcro closure to snap closure because she can take off the velcro. I still have a couple to sell(and buy something new that snaps) and have been using them bc she sometimes doesn't mess with them. Well she decided to show me today! lol I will be listing our few remaining velcro diapers for sale tomorrow. Luckily, I had just changed her diaper minutes before this happened so she hadn't soiled it and made a mess when she pulled it off. So, little Miss Addie is keeping me on my toes and living up to the "Addie-tude" in the blog title. And Doodles is helping me out by being my little tattle-tell.

Only Mommy's Can Handle Sweet Snotty Kisses!

2008-08-21T09:54:00.002-04:00

I love my kids so much. I love their tight hugs, pats of love, sweet kisses, and smiles meant just for me. BUT a couple of yucky colds can make these sweet acts of love from my children a nasty thing! LOL. Addie is very affectionate. She is always wanting to give hugs and kisses. It was already borderline yuck when I had to wipe that sea of warm drool off my mouth and nose. But now that she has a cold, it's a whole other ball game. It is GROSS because her nose has been pouring! I love that little girl so much that I just purse my lips, take the kiss, and run to the nearest wipe or tissue. Lol. The hugs also mean a little gift left on the shoulder of my shirt. Connor's hugs and kisses aren't as bad yucky as Addie's are right now because he knows how to wipe and blow his nose..... sometimes in tissue, sometimes on his shirt, or on his arm. So, you gotta give him a look-over before he grabs on for a hug too! Daddy better keep his distance until these colds are gone because he already has trouble handling Addie's drool kisses. Only a mommy can relate to and lovingly accept these things from our sweet babies.

Downtown Today & Self Feeding

2008-08-19T21:30:00.007-04:00

This morning we went downtown to walk around for a while. I got some cute pics of Addie and wanted to share.... of course. After the downtown pictures are some pics of Addie self-feeding. She made quite a mess but did really well scooping a bite and getting it in her mouth.

Afternoon at the Park

2008-08-19T08:19:00.005-04:00

Wes got home early yesterday(quite the norm these days and it's so nice), so we took the kiddos to the park not far from the house. We were planning on swinging the kids but a rather large family was taking up all the swings. So, we decided to go across the street to the lake. There was a new pier so we were able to walk out. It was nice. The ducks weren't around but Daddy spotted a few fish and couple of turtles for Doodles. Addie could care less. She just liked walking around and looking at the water. Here are a few pics from our little outing. Please forgive Addie's bad hair day. She has decided she likes her head to be against the bumper to sleep which ruffles her hair up and gives her a conehead look. lol

Dancing to Country

2008-08-17T20:51:00.001-04:00

Little Country Girl Cute Video

2008-08-17T20:10:00.005-04:00

Addie is so darn cute, especially when she dances. Connor got one of those music cards from my Uncle Mike a while back and Addie has taken a liking to it. I got a cute little video of her dancing to the music. I hope y'all enjoy it. The video is currently uploading so while that is going slow as molasses, I will share a few pics. :)

Video of Addie:
Video is in next post because I am a blogger idiot! Sorry!

Here is Addie showing off her new cloth diapers yesterday. One is pink with sock monkeys and the other is pink dot minky. She carried the super soft, pink minky one around for about 10 minutes.

Here she is giving the diapers a taste test. Good thing they are brand new and never pooped in!!

This is Addie wearing her new sock monkey diaper. It was hard to get a good picture because she has a cold and has been a bit cranky.

I think this picture is so cute. Addie looks deep in thought.

The video is still uploading. Gosh this sure does take a while. I guess I can tell some stories from this past week. Addie went to the doctor Monday because of poop issues. We were told that a bad bug has been going around. We were given a med to help restore the healthy bacteria in her gut. She also told us about this awesome cream for her sore booty from all the pooping she has been doing. Addie got better but is now having problems again. So tomorrow I have to take in a stool sample. YUCK! She also has a cold now and is a bit cranky.
She also said her first 2 word phrase this week. She said "Tank You" clear as day. I am so glad hubby was right there bc otherwise he would have said I was lying.
Oh, yay the video is done now. So I am going to add it and go watch Weeds with hubby.

The Zoo!

2008-08-10T21:31:00.022-04:00

Saturday we went to the NC Zoo with another couple and their daughter. It was a crazy whirlwind of a day. The day started out with us getting ready for the zoo trip. At a few minutes to 11, I was parked in front of the computer trying to get Addie 2 diapers that were going to be stocked at 11 am. They had 2 in her size that I wanted and when I clicked to buy them at about 1 second after 11, they were both gone. Sold out in 2 seconds! Dang it! We needed those diapers. I am getting rid of Addie's diapers that have velcro closure because she can take them off. And just in case you are confused, we use cloth diapers. And they aren't cloth diapers like I wore as a baby, so don't think that. They are cute, fun, and we love them. But explaining the diapers is a whole other post. Anyways, we had put off leaving for the zoo so I could get the diapers and then got nothing. So we made the 2 hour trip to the zoo. My friend Candy and I went in her SUV with the kids and the guys rode their motorcycles. I must say that seeing my hubby ride a motorcycle scares me to death. I was better off not seeing him ride it. Those things just scare me. The plan was for the kids to nap on the way to the zoo but they didn't fall asleep until we were about 30 min from the zoo. So they had a real short nap. Everyone was happy and ready to go when we got there though. The zoo has 2 parts: North America and Africa. Each part takes about 3 hours to see so we were only able to do one part. We did North America bc our friends saw Africa last time they were there. We will go again soon to see Africa. I think it will be more fun. When we first got there, there was about a 15 min period when I wondered what the hell I was thinking when I suggested the zoo. Connor had to pee which was fine and dandy....Until he said he had to poop 5 min after he had been to pee. I took him to poop and he did nothing. We got snacks since we had been in the car a while. I got Connor an icee and cotton candy. They do not give out lids and straws at the zoo so he had to have a spoon for his icee. He decided he didn't want it from a spoon and spit it down his shirt. What a little turd!! He took one bite of cotton candy and didn't like it. Next time I will know to give him the free juice and water we brought from home instead of getting him something special. Addie was fussing and whining bc we were just sitting there while doing all the potty trips and waiting in line for the food. I thought I had made a huge huge huge mistake. But when we got going, things went great! Addie never cried the whole time. She just watched everything and everyone and was a happy camper. She coulda cared less about the animals. lol Connor really enjoyed getting to see everything and the cool playground they had. It turned out to be a great trip and I am glad we went. I think our favorite thing of the day was the seals and sea lions. Here are some pics from our trip.

Spongebob eating Daddy. No wonder Doodles wouldn't get out to see Spongebob.

The gators!

Instead of sitting on the seat, Connor wanted to stand on it for his picture. And then he thought it was super fun to jump down.

We really enjoyed watching the sea lions and seals swimming.

Wes and Connor watching them swim.

Addie was just chilling.... and giving me a smile and wink. lol

Who woulda thought the polar bear would be snoozing and sunbathing?! I didn't think they liked the heat!

Connor really liked the play ground but didn't get to do much because of all the other kids running wild. I hate when parents don't keep up with their kids or tell them to act right and take turns.

Having a lick of Daddy's ice cream to cool off.

I love watching my big guy and little guy walking together. :)

Connor was giving the flowers a sniff.

Mr. Black Bear was having a terrible hair day. lol

The bison are soooo ugly! They were like big bobble heads. There heads just wobbled the whole time we were watching. lol

Addie was all smiles, even at the end.

Addie wanted to play peekaboo instead of take a picture.

Mommy is looking a little rough after an afternoon pushing the double stroller up hill in the hot sun.

This is how we found Addie when we went to get her out of the car. Notice all the snacks under her chin. lol

My Little Talker!

2008-08-06T22:00:00.003-04:00

*Edited 8/10/08* to add Addie's new words. She said 2 new words just yesterday and she is saying baby now too. Her new words yesterday were "uh-oh" and "boo".

As many of you know, Connor had a speech delay and needed the help of Early Intervention to get on track. Going through that with Connor has made me stay on top of what Addie is saying. There is a dry erase board on the fridge with all her words written on it. It is such a relief that she is already saying plenty of words. So here are all her words:
1. no-no
2. dada
3. mama
4. dance
5. night-night
6. hey
7. dog
8. yay
9. thanks
10. teddy
11. baby
12. uh-oh
13. boo
I also believe she has started saying baby(added to list on 8/10/08) and bite but want to be sure before I add them to my list. I usually say bite before giving her another bite of food and yesterday she said something similar every time too. So I just wanna see if it is coincidence. Also, Addie is in love with her baby she got for her birthday and it sounds like she says baby.
I am sure no one cares about this silly list but me, but it makes me feel good considering the delay Connor had. Thanks for letting me share!

I Have Been Meaning To Tell Everyone!!!

2008-08-04T07:33:00.002-04:00

As of Friday, I am employed! I had 2 therapy agencies wanting to hire me to do play therapy for Early Intervention kids. On Friday I made the decision of which agency I wanted to work for and am now hired! Everything has just worked out so beautifully with me working part time again. The money was the highest I had expected so working 20 hours a week is going to bring us in a nice chunk of change, even after child care cost. It will be so nice for money to not be so tight for a change. The child care situation has worked out perfect too! My friend Elizabeth will keep them on Monday and Friday. She is leaving her job with Early Intervention to get her master's. My friend and neighbor, Candy, will keep them on Wednesday. I cannot imagine 2 better people to watch the kids for me. I will never have to worry about my sweeties. I do think I will be sad about leaving them 3 days a week though. :( But I will only be working 3 of the 7 days a week. I should be and am very grateful that I have the skills to make the amount of money I will be making, that I will have such great friends caring for my children, and will bring home so much money from just part time work! Anyways, enough about me....
Yesterday I got a double jogging stroller. I have this dream that it is the solution to getting rid of this fat body! I use to be in such great shape and had such an awesome body. In high school I did every dang sport and was just so fit and in shape. Well looking at me now, you would never know it. I can hardly walk the mile around our neighborhood, much less run it. But that is the goal. To start running while pushing the kiddos in the jogging stroller. Anyone that knows me, knows I am about the most competitive *itch alive. So the plan is for Wes to go running with me every evening. My competitive nature will make me run just to keep up with him, even if I want to fall over and die. So wish me luck! I will update about my progress and I am sure this will be good for a few laughs. Well, guess that was more about me.... moving on to a new subject.
Addie has her 1 year well baby visit this morning. We are seeing a new doctor because our last one would not see us if I made the decision to delay vaccines. Well I made the decision to delay and so now we are seeing a new ped. Because of the vaccines Addie had up until this point, she will only need one shot today following Dr. Sears delayed vax schedule. She is already kinda ahead on the delayed schedule bc we went by the CDC vax schedule up til this point. Next month she will have to go for more shots, but I don't mind all the extra trips to the doctor just to spread things out a bit. I would rather do it this way bc she will still be fully vax'ed, it will just take a bit longer to get there. And we will get to fully vax'ed without bombarding her body with so much at one time. Anyways, enough about the vaccines. Addie's last day of nursing was on her first birthday. She has done so well. She has not cried or fussed to nurse one single time. She has been drinking her milk and is happy as a clam. I was so worried about that transition and worried she would be upset with me but she has done beautifully.
I dunno what else to talk about right now so I am going to go play with Addie after I wipe Connor's butt. He is telling me he is done pooping. He is calling me to come "wash my bunt". He sounds hilarious when he says it. Have a great day everyone!

First Birthday Party!

2008-08-03T21:42:00.021-04:00

Addie's birthday party was yesterday afternoon. I was a stressed "you-know-what" most of the day because I had so much to do and so little time. Luckily I managed to get everything done except fix my hair. I doubt Addie cared what a wavy mess my hair was though. lol We had a great time socializing with friends and celebrating our little girl! We hung out, ate some food, drank some "beverages", sang happy birthday, had cake and ice cream, and opened presents. Addie enjoyed the cake as the pictures will show. She got so many gifts too. She got a big playhouse, tons of clothes, tons of books(awesome bc she LOVES books), a baby doll(which she LOVES and carries every where), a stroller for her baby doll, the Little People doll house, SUV, and school bus, an Auburn cheerleading outfit, and savings bonds. Connor has taken a liking to lots of her new things too. His favorites are the doll stroller(which he used to push Woody around all day), her playhouse(even though he has his own in his play room), and her Little People doll house and vehicles(which are all pink). Wes cringes every time Connor plays with these things. I explained to him that this is normal. He wants to see these things because they are new. And he could care less that the SUV and school bus are pink bc he is only 3. lol Anyways, we had a fun afternoon and are thankful that we had so many people to celebrate Addie's very first birthday with.
Oh yeah, I made the cakes. It was my first time to EVER bake a cake. So cut me some slack. I was almost in tears decorating it because I could not get it to look near as cute as the picture. But I did the best I could. It wasn't the prettiest but it sure did taste good!

Here are the cakes. The little one was just for Addie.

Waiting for some cake!

We were singing happy birthday.

Yummy icing!!!

My sweet girl covered in sweet icing.

My sweetie has the sweetest smile ever.

Opening presents.

Addie giving me a big kiss.

My baby holding her baby.

Addie pushing her stroller.

Playing in her play house.

Addie and Daddy

Me and Addie

Good thing the party is over because somebody got cranky and tired.

Cupcake with Hot Pink Icing =

2008-08-01T08:00:00.003-04:00

Hot Pink Boogers and Pink Diarrhea the next day. lol. Yesterday morning Addie woke up with a big ol' hot pink booger hanging out of her nose. When she woke from her morning nap, I smelled something FOUL coming from her diaper. I found quite a surprise when I took off the diaper and found pink diarrhea. Her little tummy is not use to all that sugary junk. Oh, well she enjoyed the cupcake and was still finding a way to share it with Mommy the next day! lol.

Addie is One Today!

2008-07-30T21:47:00.007-04:00

Trust me when I say that I am about to post probably waaaaay tooooo many pictures. But I want family and friends that aren't here with us to experience her birthday too! Addie woke up about 45 minutes early today. I guess she knew that is was an important day..... her important day. We had breakfast and did some playing. She then had her morning nap and a bath when she woke up. She had an early lunch and went down for a nap because her pictures were scheduled for 1:30. She did great on the pictures even though she got mad after I put the tutu on her. So she was unhappy in the tutu and the birthday dress but we still got some good pictures. After pictures we stopped by the Great American Cookie Co and got her a cupcake for after dinner. When we got home we played and showed Daddy how awesome her pictures were. Addie had dinner, her birthday cupcake and song, and then a bath to get all that icing off. She nursed for the last time ever, brushed her teeth, and was off to bed. This was such a bittersweet day. One year old is such a milestone but the time is just going by too fast! I am sad that the baby days are slipping away and Addie is blossoming like a beautiful flower but I am so happy and blessed at the same time. I will try to not put too many pics but it is so hard to choose which ones to leave out. Forgive me if I put too many. :) Oh yeah, there will be more pics to come after her party on Sat!

Love that sweet face.

Looking at our bedtime story book.

Our book is perfect for first birthday pictures.

Standing up so big!

Squatting down for a cute picture.

I love this one!

Happy for a minute in the tutu.

Such a sweet picture.

Sad face. :(

Photo session is now over!

Cupcake after dinner. She wants to touch the burning candle.

She started out slowly.

But got going real fast after the first bite.

She even wanted to share with Daddy. What a sweetie!

I think she must have enjoyed the cupcake.

Very confused about her pink hands. lol.

Last Day As Zero!

2008-07-29T22:09:00.006-04:00

Tomorrow Addie will be 1 year old. I cannot believe it. I have cried many times throughout this day. I cannot believe that this baby stage is over. Why is this such an emotional time? Is it because she is our last baby? I dunno. I have had such a beautiful year with this baby girl. She has been such a good baby. She has always slept great, never fussed or cried much, been so happy and social, and is just sooo beautiful. I am so grateful that God blessed us with this angel. I dunno what else I want to say as I sit here crying. All I know is I love my sweet baby girl so much and cannot believe how much she has grown in this first year. Thanks to everyone that has been a part of Addie's first year! I hope you will continue to watch her grow up whether it is in person or over the computer. :) I am so emotional and feel like I have so much more to say but nothing is coming out. So I will share the last pictures I got of Addie before bed as a "zero" bc tomorrow she will be 1! I know all these pics seem boring and the same to some but they are so very special to me! Well, I just uploaded my pics and they are rotated the wrong way for some reason. I dunno why bc they are not like this where they are saved on my computer. I can't believe this stupid thing messed up at a time like this when these pics were important to me. :(

My happy girl is going night-night before her birthday.

When she wakes up she will be a year old. She looks happy about it!

A full body shot of my big girl.

Looking to tell Mommy good night.

A few pics I meant to share.

2008-07-29T21:17:00.004-04:00

I have been meaning to post a couple of pictures from recently but have just been lazy about getting them from the camera to here. lol. So, I finally got to it tonight.

Worst case of bed head after nap time ever!

Addie loves her Piglet.

Mad at the dress for getting in her way.

So happy to be walking.

Caught doing a no-no!

One of Addie's new favorites.

Stuffing in a strawberry.

Connor playing with Addie. She was laughing.

Connor giving me a thumbs up after some chocolate ice cream.

I Feel So Special!

2008-07-26T15:07:00.003-04:00

A few posts ago I posted about being contacted by the best therapy agency in town to do play therapy for Early Intervention. Well, my interview was Tuesday and she let me know on the spot that she wants to hire me. That same Tuesday, I received an email from another therapy agency in town wanting to hire me. She already knew me a little bit from when I worked with the Early Intervention before Addie was born. So I went to discuss details with her this morning. So I actually have my choice of the 2 agencies!!! This is awesome. I can't make my decision yet though bc the first agency is still working out the numbers for how much she can pay me. The numbers for the agency from today were nice and I can only hope the others are as good. The great thing is both agencies said I can work as much or little as I want. So I am planning to do part time on Mon, Wed, and Fri. I just have to decide which place I want to work for when I hear back about the money. Child care is going to work out nicely for the kids too! I can't remember if I posted about that in the previous post so here it is again. My friend Elizabeth is leaving Early Intervention to get her Masters and she has no internship on Monday or Wednesday so she will keep them in our house those 2 days. On Wednesday my friend and neighbor Candy will watch them. This is perfect bc Reagan and Connor are best friends. Also, Candy and Reagan are sooooo sweet to Addie. So anyways, things are looking up on the part time job front..... and it is doing what I love! I will be doing therapeutic play with babies birth-three with developmental delays. I will make a difference in this world. :)
Anyways, just wanted to post about this and will post again later.

Teddy goes to time out!

2008-07-25T12:53:00.003-04:00

Connor treats his Teddy like his child. Since he was about 1 he has loved his Teddy from Old Navy. He is actually on his 3rd one. Well, Teddy # 3 was just too nice and new for Connor so he kicked him to the curb. Addie took him over and sleeps with him. She hugs, kisses, and snuggles him. Yesterday I washed one of the Teddys and Connor was happy to see him when he came out of the dryer all fresh and clean. He gave Teddy a big hug and then proceeded to put him in the time out chair. I thought it was pretty cute, but it got cuter! He then sat with Teddy in time out! I got a couple of pictures.

Teddy getting put in time-out.

Connor joined Teddy in time-out by choice.

Addie is just walking all over the place now. She can even walk while sucking her thumb, carrying a big toy, and drinking from a cup. lol

Here she is standing, drinking, and smiling all at once. lol

Walking and drinking with her eyes closed. Now that is talent! lol

They just melt my heart!

2008-07-23T20:39:00.005-04:00

Most of the time Connor is fussing at Addie and telling her not to touch anything. He doesn't want her to touch his stuff or even her own stuff! When she yells and shrieks and babbles loud like babies do, he says "Stop yelling Addie." He doesn't understand why he gets in trouble for yelling but she doesn't. He can be such a bossy, little stingy turd to her sometimes but other times he is so sweet. When he doesn't see her he asks where she is and gets worried. He tells her night night and good morning. He hears me call her little sugar and he sometimes calls her that too. He hears me tell her to be patient while I make her food and he tells her to be patient. He plays with her and makes her giggle hysterically. This evening after I had got Addie ready for bed, she was next to me at the end of the couch. Connor laid his belly up on the table and said "Gimme a kiss Addie." She looked up and him and leaned in with that wide open drooly mouth. It was the sweetest thing. I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics. They are just too sweet. Here they are.

Planting one on Addie's forehead.

Right in the kisser.

Connor really puckers up those lips. Addie looks at him so lovingly.

Addie looks at me like, "Haven't you ever seen us be sweet before". "Get over it".

Addie is really doing so many new things. She has been dancing for a while and when she does I say Dance-Dance. She now is trying to say it when she dances. It comes out "Dan-Dan". It is so cute. She also is saying no-no all the time. Tonight when I laid her down she said "ni-ni". She was saying night-night because I always say it to her at nap and bed time and stroke her hair a couple of times. She is always picking up the phone, putting it to her ear, and babbling away. She knows what that thing is for. Also, yesterday while I was at a doctor's appointment my good friend Elizabeth watched them. She said she saw Addie pick up her lotion fool around with it and then rub her arm. She said it looked like Addie was pretending to put on lotion! Addie is also starting to walk real well and doing it more and more. She is also starting to squat and bend at the knees. So, her balance is really improving. It is so amazing to see her do all these new things. Oh yeah, her black eye is healing up nicely and quickly. Thank goodness.
Connor is doing pretty good lately. The other night he was crying and I went to check on him and he projectile vomited everywhere. And then he was fine. It was really strange. He enjoys the little boy that I keep a few hours 2 days a week. Monday we did some finger painting. Connor really liked it. He loves Play Doh too. He still hates coloring. lol. His favorite movie right now is Toy Story 2.
I had a job interview yesterday and it went really well. She told me at the interview that she wants me to work for her. This is the play therapy job I talked about last week. She told me I can do part time, full time, or whatever I want. She has never hired a part time therapist so she was going to take a few days to figure out the pay she could offer me and call me back. So, I am just waiting to hear back from her before I can make a decision. I hope it is what I am expecting it to be. If it is, I am planning to do it 3 days a week and I have my child care all figured out. My good friend Cooney(real name Elizabeth) is leaving the local Early Intervention to get her Masters. She is free on Mondays and Fridays so she will keep them those 2 days at my house. My neighbor and good friend Candy(Reagan's mom) will watch them on Wednesdays. I will be off on Tuesdays and Thursdays to enjoy my kiddos all day long. Once I hear back from her about the $, I will let y'all know.
I will end the post with pictures of Connor fingerpainting.

Here he is in his apron, ready to go!

My little artist in the making.

Addie got a shiner! :(

2008-07-20T19:54:00.003-04:00

Now that Addie is starting to walk around some, bumps and bruises are to be expected. But not black eyes!!! Today she fell and hit her cheek bone/eye on the metal bar on the end table. I immediately scooped her up and held her. Wes said"Oh my God" and I knew it wasn't good. Wes normally says "Oh, she's fine" because normally I worry about every little bump. I looked and it was already bruising and swelling. She ate dinner and went to bed shortly after. While she was eating, I snapped a pic. That is why she has a bit of food on her face. It doesn't really show how bad it looks. I am praying it looks better in the morning and not worse. Looks like we may be delaying the 1 year pictures.

They are gone! And Addie's video debut on the blog!

2008-07-19T21:32:00.003-04:00

Mine and Doodles' best friends have left for 16 days! I dunno what we are going to do without them. Be bored, that's for sure! Candy and Reagan have gone to visit family in Alaska for 16 days. They are going to miss Addie's first birthday party too. Connor asked to play with Reagan when he woke up at 7 am. He is going to have a long, hard 16 days!
Wes is gone to take a friend to buy a car so we haven't been doing much this morning. I straightened up the house and just played with Addie a bit. Here is a video of her. She took a short walk, crawled, and did some jabbering. Excuse how awful I look but it is a lazy Sat morning. Also, Addie's shirt is a bit too big but she is still just so petite. She can walk much farther than she did in this video. I made it a short distance to set her up for success for her video debut on the blog. lol. If you listen at the end she says dada and no-no-no. She decided she was too cool to wave bye-bye to the camera. It does sound like she says bye but it may be wishful thinking on my part. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-6bqQW6VXo
Also, exciting news for me! Addie said mama today. Bout time!

Is it Friday yet?

2008-07-17T20:41:00.005-04:00

I dunno why this question even matters considering I stay at home. lol. I still find myself looking forward to the weekend even though I don't work any days! This may not be the case for much longer though. A couple of weeks ago I sent out my cover letter and resume to the best therapy agency here in town for a developmental play therapist position. Well, early this week the owner called and said she has been wanting to call me but has been real busy. She wants to talk to me about a position! I am going to meet with her on Tuesday. I am hoping we can work out something for part time bc I have already got child care worked out with 2 of my best friends. If I work Mon, Wed, and Fri I can pay child care and still make quite a pretty penny! This would be the best of both world bc my children would be in the care of a best friend, it would be part time, and I would still have plenty of time to spend with the kids. It would also be nice for money to not be so tight.... of course! Anyways, please pray that this works out perfectly for us and she wants to hire me!
This has also been a big week for Addie. She has started walking from place to place instead of having to be bribed. Of course she still crawls and falls down but she gets better every day. She loves walking too! She has the biggest grins and giggles when she is walking. She also said her fist word this week. She said "no-no". It was so cute. She said it bc I had just said it to her. She says it quite a bit now. She is just doing more and more everyday. She is incredible to watch.
Connor had a fun week. I watch a little boy for 3 hours, 2 days a week. He and Connor have the best time. Not as much fun as he has with his buddy Reagan, but still a pretty good time. lol. Connor also had another appointment with the ENT this week. He passed his hearing test but was on the low side of average. The ENT and I discussed his issues with noises. He explained 2 structural things that could be affecting it and we also discussed the possibility of Auditory Sensory Integration Dysfunction. He agreed that it is a possibility. If there is no improvement in the next 2 months, he would like us to seek more evaluations to investigate the sensory issues. He is a good doctor and I am glad we are seeing him.
Connor and I are going to have a sad, boring next couple of weeks. Our best friends are leaving on Sat to go to Alaska for 16 days! I dunno what we are going to do with ourselves while they are gone.
I guess that is all for now, but I do want to share a few pics. :) I always love sharing pics!

Addie loved being pulled around in her diaper drawer by Connor.

Pasta is so yummy! And messy! Doesn't learning to self-feed look fun. At least the spork is actually in her hand for once. lol.

Biting into a big dill pickle.

The face she made after she bit into the pickle. She really likes the pickle a lot though surprisingly.

Look at my big girl brushing her teeth. I had already done the real brushing.

Reagan giving Addie her birthday present since they will be in Alaska for Addie's actual birthday.

Rice, Rice Baby

2008-07-12T12:36:00.005-04:00

I just thought this was too funny! My title is Rice, Rice Baby instead of Ice, Ice Baby. LOL. A few days ago I decided to let Addie try to feed herself some rice. She often grabs the spoon from me and gets it to her mouth so I gave her a chance on her own. She ate one bite with the spoon and then went at it with her hands. She loved it and made such a mess. It made for great pictures though! Here is my rice, rice baby! :)

Our little girl has also started taking some steps! Last Sunday we bribed her with bites of sausage off of Wes' pizza. The first time she made it 3 steps and after a few tries she could go 8! She can go about 10 now and sometimes she just falls down after a couple. She isn't really interested in walking without a bribe though. We are just going to keep working with her and she will get it in no time! She walks great beside me with just one hand held. Our little baby girl is growing up!
Also, who new Addie likes pickles?! Yesterday she was fussing while I was making her dinner so Wes gave her a bite of pickle. She made a little face but loved it. She would have eaten the whole thing if he let her I bet. I am just so surprised that she liked a pickle. She also LOVES blueberries and cantelope. I hope she keeps liking everything. Doodles is so picky so I hope she won't be.
Well I better run get a shower while the kiddos are napping. Later.

Our Fourth Of July

2008-07-11T13:24:00.005-04:00

I know it was a week ago but I am trying to catch up my blog since I was a slacker for 2 months. We had a fun 4th, maybe a little too much fun. We made plans with our friends/neighbors Candy, Kevin, and their daughter Reagan. We went to the event on post bc it was supposed to have carnival rides. We were very disappointed to see 1 ride our kids were old enough for. It was also a really hot day so we didn't stay long. While we were there Connor had to pee twice and poop once. Wes handled it like a sweet hubby so I didn't have to go in the Porta-Potty. I love that man! Here are a few pics from the post event.

Both the kiddos looking all patriotic in the red, white, and blue.

A lot of people stopped us to tell us how cute Addie was. The lady with the Harris Teeter set up took her picture.

Connor and Reagan riding the only kiddy ride they had. They enjoyed it though.

I just liked this picture of Doodles. He looks so sweet.

Doodles and Daddy. Daddy was tickling him.

Doodles and Reagan dancing to the music. I believe it was Dakota Rain playing on stage.

When we got back home we cooked out and built a fire to roast marshmallows. The kids loved making the smores. Dinner was yummy. The beverages of the night consisted of daquaris, beer, and Jager. We bought some fireworks at Walmart and they were terrible. Never waste your money on them! Connor flipped out about all the fireworks going on. He has always had some pretty serious issues with noise, some hardly noticeable sounds and others may be loud. We are beginning to think auditory sensory integration dysfunction. We are seeing an ENT about his ears and I am going to pursue having him evaluated by an OT about the sensory stuff. Anyways, he went to bed because he couldn't handle the fireworks. He was so upset I was surprised he went to sleep. The night ended for us adults about midnight. I am not used to staying up so late or use to drinking.

Building the fire in their back yard to roast the marshmallows.

The kiddos were proud of their marshmallows.

Candy and I after a few drinks. Please excuse how awful I look. It had been a hot day.

Wes with his sparkler. LOL

This is why you don't buy fireworks at Walmart. They all look just like this!

Our Trip to Alabama

2008-07-11T11:21:00.007-04:00

Wes got a month of block leave after deployment so we took 2 weeks of that to visit our family in Alabama. We are from the same hometown so it makes it easy to go home and get to see everyone. It is still super stressful because there are so many people to see in such a short amount of time. I swear that next time we go home I am making out a schedule and giving it to our families. It will tell which days everyone gets to see us and it will also say that interrupting other people's days/time with us isn't going to be allowed. Seems extreme doesn't it?! I am sure it will irritate some but I would like to be able to enjoy going "home" and not have to stress about who we will see when and who is mad about it. It was really great to see all our family and some old friends. Also, Wes went on a motorcycle trip to Colorado with his Dad and brother for a week of the trip. They had a great time and got to spend some time together. Here are a few pics from the trip to Bama.

Connor sitting on the tractor tire. This child loves tractors!

Addie and Daddy before he left for the motorcycle trip.

Addie was not happy about this photo session I tried to get of her by the flowers.

This is my Uncle Mike. He loves Connor and now says he is ready for his own grandson.

Just sitting pretty!

They both look so sweet and loving in this picture. The next picture on my camera was of Connor pushing her away and her holding onto him for dear life! LOL

This is a rare site. Connor and my brother J Cole getting along. Had to snap a pic of this.

Watch out bc Connor is driving the boat. He loved steering the boat and blowing the horn.

I love this picture of Addie and my mom(Emmie as the kids call her).

Doodles has recently become pretty afraid of bugs. If one touches him he screams and if he sees one he makes sure to let us know. So I would have thought he was afraid of lizards, but nope! My mom's river cabin had a lizard that hung out on the porch and he chased it around trying to "pet it". Well Paw-Paw Jim caught one and this is Connor petting it!

And here he is kissing the lizard! I cannot believe he did this!

Oops, I got lazy and forgot to blog!

2008-07-10T13:59:00.015-04:00

Well, I got a little lazy and forgot about the blog. We have been so busy since my last post in May. We went to the beach, Connor turned 3, we went to Alabama for a couple of weeks, Wes has been on leave, and we are just getting back to normal now that he is back at work. This will be a long post to catch up and share some stories and pictures with everyone.
We went to the beach for Memorial Day Weekend and had a blast. We ate like pigs and just had the best time. Our neighbors and great friends came to spend one day with us at the beach and it was great too. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

The four of us. This was the best we could do. LOL. Connor was covering his ears from the crash of the waves and Addie wouldn't even look.

Addie eating her first handful of sand. Yum!

The best picture I could get of the two of them. Connor had a bad case of bed head from his nap. LOL

Addie's first french fry! Oh, the horror! LOL Sometimes you just have to do these things to get through the meal.

Wes thought he was being a fun Daddy riding Doodles on his shoulders. He didn't realize the huge amount of crack he was showing everyone!

Addie did so well on the beach in her little tent. She played so well and even took a nap in there. It was well worth the $70 we spent on it!

Connor sharing with his best friend, Reagan. They are so sweet together.

Memorial Day was our last day at the beach and Connor's 3rd birthday so we took him to the aquarium. This is him and Daddy checking out the turtles.

The weekend following the beach trip, we had a pretty big birthday party for Doodles. I dunno how many people showed up but it was a lot. At one point Connor went inside and locked us all outside. He stood there sipping his Capri Sun and smiled. He did open the door after we asked him to though. Just like a kid to have a huge $500+ party with the big blow up bounce castle and not even care. The stinkin castle was almost $200 and he didn't even really like it much! We will not be wasting our $ doing another big party, that's for sure! At the end of the day, the party ended with a party guest running over our mailbox! Nice huh? LOL

Having a cupcake on his actual birthday when we got home from the beach.

Looks like I wanted a bite too! Hahaha.

Blowing out the candles at his party.

Something I have never seen before..... a kid that cares about the cards!!!!

Bouncing in the bounce castle.

Alright, so I am feeling lazy again. I am tired of blogging for today. Tomorrow I will post about our trip to Alabama, and our 4th of July. Hope you enjoy this update filled with pics!

What a busy weekend!

2008-05-13T10:52:00.007-04:00

It is so great having Wes home! We have been doing so much and really keeping busy! This weekend was jam packed and SO busy! Wes was off on Friday and I was babysitting for a few hours. That afternoon we ran some errands.
Saturday our neighborhood pool opened so we went that morning. It was Addie's first time going to the pool! When we got there no one else was there and the water was so cold. I put Connor's swim vest on and put him in the shallow end of the pool. As you can see in the picture he was not too happy. I don't know if it was because he thought he was going to sink or because the water was cold.... Either way, it made for a funny picture!
He was quite happy and had a great time in the kiddy pool when his friend Reagan arrived. Since the water was so cold in the big pool, I just sat Addie on the kiddy pool step and she splashed around a bit. She loves the water. I know she is going to really enjoy the pool when the water warms up.

Addie and Daddy for her first trip to the swimming pool!

Happy to be splashing around in the water.

After the pool on Saturday morning, we came home, had lunch, kids napped, and then we rushed off to a first birthday party. It was the daughter of a co-worker of Wes. Every wife there was named Ashley almost. It was about the only time I have remembered everyone's names. Lol. Addie really didn't enjoy the party very much. She was tired and cranky. It was really hot outside too. Connor had a blast though. They had a kiddy pool set up and a swing-set. They also brought out a jump-house after a while. He had a blast. Everyone kept asking how old he was. They were surprised to hear that he is 2. He was the same size as an 5 year old boy at the party! Connor was very well behaved too! We all had fun and it was nice meeting Wes' friends.
After the party, we went grocery shopping at the commissary. Wes wore Addie for the first time ever and they looked so cute! We were even stopped by a women in the store because she wanted to compliment us on how beautiful our family was. That sure did make Wes and I feel good.

Addie and Daddy ready to do some grocery shopping.

Sunday we didn't go to church and spent the day straightening the house for company that evening. Addie was a little grumpy and clingy which is unusual for her. You can see the picture below to see how she wished me Happy Mother's Day! Lol. Our morning started with Wes making me eggs and toast for breakfast. I love his eggs! He also gave me a sweet card. That afternoon, our neighbors came over to grill out and just hang out. They brought over a bottle of wine and Wes and I were so embarrassed because we didn't even have any wine glasses. We felt so dumb.... who wants wine in a coffee mug!! Lol. We had a really good time with them though. Doodles loves their daughter Reagan. They are best friends. Candy(the neighbor) and I have decided to start going to the neighborhood fitness center together 3 days a week! We went last night and my legs hardly work today but I am going to keep going. I am glad I have such an awesome neighbor to be friends with!

Here is how my grumpy girl told me Happy Mother's Day. Lol. She is usually so happy.
Yesterday I figured out why she was so grumpy. Her 2 bottom teeth started breaking through the skin during the night Sunday. I could feel a tiny bit of each tooth on Monday morning. She is much happier now!

Link to Our Homecoming Pictures

2008-05-08T20:48:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to share the link to Chelsa's (our awesome photog) blog. If you scroll down you will see a few of the pics she posted from our Homecoming. She is so talented and an amazingly sweet, beautiful, Christian woman. I admire her and thank her so much for being a part of our Homecoming and capturing the moments for us! We will treasure them forever!
http://chelsaschaeferphoto.blogspot.com/

So many funny stories, so little time!

2008-05-08T20:16:00.008-04:00

Our little Doodles is quite the character. I have a few funny stories I haven't had the time to blog about yet. Maybe I will have the time to share them now.
Doodles has had a favorite Teddy since he was one. He is on Teddy #3. He hates #3 bc he is new and will only have anything to do with #s 1 & 2. He has become quite the mother hen to Teddy lately. Sometimes I feed Addie breakfast in the Bumbo in the living room. On this particular morning, after Addie was done, Doodles put Teddy in. He pretended to feed him breakfast.
He then precedes to carefully sit Teddy down to play with Addie's toys in the spot I had made for Addie on the floor.
He then tells me Teddy is hungry and gets on the couch with the Boppy pillow I use when feeding Addie. He pulls up his shirt and nurses Teddy. I was laughing hysterically so the picture is kinda blurry. After lunch he puts Teddy in his booster and pretends to feed him with a fork.
I am not sure what made Teddy get all that special treatment but it was only for that one day. He also told me when Teddy had a bo-bo and was tired. I think Connor has got the pretend play thing down! Lol.

This story is not for the faint at heart. I admit it is a little gross and crazy but it shows how curious children can be! Connor got curious about what would happen if he closed the door on his pee-pee! Needless to say he didn't close the door very much and freaked out when he did it. Poor little guy.... bet he won't do that again. I bet that makes all you men cringe!

Over the weekend, Doodles played in his little swimming pool. He loved it. He was all soaking wet when he yelled out "Potty!". I told him to go pee-pee on the flowers, also known as weeds. He was so wet, I didn't want to take him inside just to pee-pee. Well that bit me in the butt today! Now that the back yard is fenced, we let him play out there and we leave the door open and windows open so we can see and hear him. Wes checked on him and came and told me I had to see what Connor was doing. Doodles was standing in the middle of the yard, slightly bent at the knees, and naked from the waist down. We watched him a couple of minutes just to see what the heck he was doing and he never moved. Wes went to go make him put his undies and shorts on. When Connor bent over to get his leg in his undies, I saw a little surprise. Lol. He had a turd hanging out! I ran out and told Wes and he brought him to the potty. So don't let your kiddo innocently pee-pee outside one time bc they may get the wrong idea!

As for Addie, she is doing so well. She has started doing so much. She is crawling all over the place and pulling up too!When I let her play in the floor and crawl she seems instantly attracted to shoes. The one thing on the floor I don't want her touching is the thing she goes for every time. Here is a pic of her just to make you smile. :)

Both the kids are really enjoying the swing set that Emmie(my mom) gave them as part of their Christmas. It just got put together last Saturday by Wes and his friend Pear. When they swing side by side they laugh and giggle the whole time. Here they are on the swingset.

Daddy is Home!

2008-05-02T11:26:00.005-04:00

After 15 long months, Daddy is home! We had a middle of the night homecoming. I was nervous about how the kiddos would do because they both love their sleep. I woke them up and got them dressed and off we went. We had to wait about an hour before the guys got there and Connor seemed to love all the excitement. He waved his flag, held up his sign, and climbed up and down the benches. When the band started playing he danced. Addie did so great too! I held her and we bounced to the music. She was all smiles but got tired toward the end. She dozed in my arms a few times. We held up a sign that said Duckett with 2 arrows pointing down so Wes could find us easy. He found us really quick. I got a quick hug and kiss and then Wes picked up Doodles. Doodles got a shy smile on his face and wrapped his arms around Daddy. He gave him a kiss and had the biggest smile. When Wes held Addie she cried. He has only seen her for 18 days when she was 2 months old and she has stranger anxiety. I took her back and got my big hug and kiss. Wes saw Doodles some more and then tried Addie again. She cried again. The third try was a charm though. She rubbed his face and gave him a smile. Since then she has been just loving her Daddy. She loves him and watches him wherever he goes. It melts my heart to see all of them together after all this time! I didn't really take many pictures at Homecoming because I hired an awesome photographer. I am sure she has some excellent pictures that I can share with everyone later. I didn't wanna be worried about capturing the moments. I wanted to focus on the special moments as they happened. I will post a couple of pics I got of us waiting at the end of this post.
We have really enjoyed having Daddy home! The day he came home, Addie started crawling. I am so glad she waited for Wes to get here. Before, she could only move one hand and knee before she fell down. Now she goes all over! Connor has been having a good time with Daddy too! They have been playing outside alot. We also all took a walk through our neighborhood. Connor rode his bike the whole way with a little help from Daddy. This morning, Wes had to go into work for a bit. Connor kept asking where Daddy was going. He looked upset when we said to work. Then I realized why he was upset.... the whole deployment, I told him Daddy was at work. So we had to explain to him that Daddy would be back later today. He was still reluctant for Daddy to leave. I bet he is going to be all excited again when Daddy gets home today. It will probably take some time to learn that Daddy leaving isn't always for a long time.
It is time for me to go make Doodles some lunch now. I will type more as time permits. If I don't post for a while, it is because I am enjoying our family being complete again!

Here we are waiting. Connor would not stop looking at the balloons on the ceiling to take a picture.

Addie's ACU diaper we had made for homecoming. It says "My Daddy is My Hero".

Addie is happy even in the middle of the night!

Intro to us!

2008-04-28T16:12:00.004-04:00

I am Ashley, a 24 year old, stay at home mom to my 2 beautiful children. Connor is 2, almost 3. Addie is almost 9 months. My hubby Wes is 24. He will be home really soon from a 15 month deployment.

Staying home with the kids makes for lots of cute, funny, sweet or bad stories. I want to remember them and have a way to share them with others, so here we are. I am not the greatest writer but I bet some of the things my kids do will bring warmth to your heart, a smile to your face, or make you laugh out loud. I hope you enjoy reading about my little darlings. :) I named this blog Addie-tude & Doodles Too! because I thought it sounded cute. Lol. Doodles is a nickname we often call Connor.

Connor is our silly, goofy, sweet boy. He has great manners. It cracks me up when he is mad and upset about something and yells "No thank you" at me. People we encounter when out and about are always so impressed to hear him say yes m'am. I am a proud mama. He can also be quite the little turd. He hates sharing anything with Addie. Everything she touches, he tells her no. When Addie is babbling and squealing he fusses at her and says no screaming. He is so outgoing and has rarely met a stranger. He LOVES being outside. He would never come in if he didn't have too. In fact he throws a fit when we come inside. He is really going to enjoy this summer bc Daddy is going to be home to put together his big wooden swing set, our yard is fenced, and our swimming pool in our neighborhood is opening.

Addie is the prettiest little thing. Everywhere we go, people stop us to comment on how pretty she is, how gorgeous her eyes are, that she looks just like a baby doll. It gives me a big head. Lol. She is also the most social little butterfly. She has a smile for everyone. She is at such a fun age. She learns new things all the time. She has recently started giving kisses when I ask. When I ask, she leans in with an open, drooly mouth. I love it! She is also clapping all the time. It is adorable. She wants to crawl but is kinda lazy like her mommy. She has my thunder thighs too. Poor thing. Lol. She is teething like crazy and isn't her normal happy self. She is still the greatest baby, even when in pain but just fussier than normal. Her bottom 2 teeth are getting ready to break through though. So hopefully she will get some relief soon. She loves her brother and laughs and snorts at him all the time.

I guess that is a good rundown of some basic info about us. I am sure I will be back with a good story or 2 soon. :)