Back to PA Again!

Yup, Addy and I were home for a whopping day and a half before we turned around and headed back to Pennsylvania!  In my defense, I had to come back to take my Pediatric Advanced Life Support class.  They only offer it once a month and you have to sign up about 6 months in advance to claim a spot.  And since my PALS license was about to expire, I had no choice but to come back to NC for the class.  But then, bright and early on Wednesday morning, Addy and I hopped on a plane to Philly to visit Aunt Tina, Uncle Jay, and Holly Heinnickel!

We stopped for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel when we got there Wednesday morning.

Holly got groomed for the occasion, and she looked so beautiful in her red Christmas bow!  She may or may not have started out with 2 bows and manged to remove one somehow ;)

This pic was taken while we were waiting for Jay to get home.  Tina and I were heading to Allentown to run the Lights in the Parkway 5K and Addy was gonna hang back with Uncle Jay.  I took this picture because Holly was so good with Addy, just resting her head there nicely.  But when I first opened this pic I laughed because while we were getting ready I told Tina that she looked like a criminal in her all black running outfit.  So that's what pops out at me when I look at this picture now.  (To Tina's credit, she did put on a colorful fleece over top of her black shirt.)

I didn't take any pictures at the Lights in the Parkway run, but we had a great time!  Mom ran it too, and so did several of Tina's friends.  Afterwards they had hot chocolate and hot cider for us runners.... and cookies too!  We all said we would definitely run that race again.  I thought it would be hard to see in the dark, but your eyes adjusted pretty quickly and it wasn't too hard.  That was the first night race that I ever ran, and I liked it!

And let me just say that Jay did an excellent job with Addy on Wednesday night.  He had to put her to bed and everything!  It was the first time he had ever watched a baby by himself....first time he ever changed a diaper too!  But he knocked it out, no problem.  It was funny, because Jay was telling us about his evening and he mentioned that he held Addy in his recliner for about 20 minutes because "you know, she was holding her hands up to be held."  Tina and I looked at each other like "What?  She never does that for us!"  Nor would she ever tolerate being held in one spot for 20 minutes.  But it's just the magic of Uncle Jay I guess.  She's been mesmerized by him since day one.

The next morning, it was time for Addy's weekly pictures. 

We had some major lighting issues with the first one.  Duh, close the curtains.

How cool is her little outfit???  Always stylin'.

Tina, Addy, and I did some Christmas shopping on Thursday, and Addy was such a trooper.  It's tough shopping all day, but she hung in there.  Probably because we made sure she still got her two naps.  We left after nap number one and got back around 3 for her to take her second nap.  Because anyone who knows Addy knows that she would never nap on the go.  Too much fun stuff that she might miss out on!

On Friday Mom came up to Philly and we walked around downtown Chestnut Hill for awhile and checked out the park down there.

Look at Addy's face it this picture.  She's like, "I don't know about this Aunt Tina.  It might be dangerous."  Come on Addy!  Live it up!

Even with Grandma at the bottom cheering her on, Addy does not look convinced.

Whew!  Safe and sound!

Addy and Grandma :)  (By the way, Addy's coat in this picture was a Christmas gift from Aunt Lauren, and Addy has gotten soooo many compliments on it already!  Thanks Aunt Lauren!)

OK, there were some really horrible shadows for these pictures, but that is Addy at the bottom.

I had to stand in a very specific spot to make a shadow in Addy's face so that she could open her eyes.  Doesn't she just look thrilled to be there.  She's like "You people are crazy.  What are we doing?"

Look at Addy.  Sock in one hand, reaching for Holly with the other.  God forbid she ever keep her socks on!

Later that evening, before we put Addy to bed, we decided to drive by a house that Tina saw with lots of Christmas lights. 

Wow, talk about festive!

Little did we know, we could get out and walk around!

And get our picture taken with Santa!  Addy is still skeptical of the big man in red, but with Mommy holding her she tolerated it.

A little blurry, but you get the idea.  Going there was a cute, fun thing to do with Addy.

Her "I Love Santa" shirt was very appropriate considering that we just got to see him!  The words on the shirt may not necessarily be true yet, but we can pretend ;)

"Mom, this is ridiculous.  I'm not even doing anything right now."

"Here, let me get a picture of you."  (I love how she has a few random strands of hair that cover her ears on both sides!  Some may say she needs a haircut... I say it keeps her ears warm.)

"Fine, I'll throw you one smile for your photos."

Addy loved this little cubby hole in Tina's kitchen.  Tina usually keeps her Kitchen Aid mixer there, but Addy declared it her spot while we visited.

Addy was mesmerized by Tina's tree... and she may or may not have broken that ornament that she has her little fingers on there.  But I'm pretty sure I fixed it.  Shhhh, don't tell Aunt Tina.

 

The next day, Addy and I headed home to NC so that I could work that night and the next night.  It was a whirlwind trip (as our trips to PA often are), but we had so much fun!  Only a few more weeks until we are back up there again for Christmas!

10 Months!

Dear Nug,

You are getting so big!  In a few short months you won't be a "baby" anymore, and I really can't believe that.  This past month has been my favorite with you so far... but I say that every month don't I?

No doctors appointments this month, so I'm not sure what you weigh these days, but whatever it is, it's the perfect amount :)  Speaking of your lack of a doctors appointment, I'm so glad to say that you have never been to the doctor for a "sick child" visit.  So far, we've only gone for your scheduled "well child" appointments.  I know the day will come eventually, but we've made it ten months so far!

One of the biggest changes from last month is that you are much more mobile now because....you've started crawling!  And once you started, you caught on very quickly and you are quite the little cruiser.  I can't take my eyes off of you for a second, or you'll be two rooms down the hall!  I was reading your 9 month letter and saw that you were just starting to go from laying down to sitting up at that point.  Wow, amazing what can happen in one short month!  Now you are proficient at that move, you are a crawler, and you just started pulling yourself to a standing position.

I think one of the best words to describe you this month was given to you by Pap Hetrick: cautious.  I hadn't really thought of it that way before, but it's definitely true.  It's amazing to me how smart you are already, and when you are faced with a new situation, it honestly looks as though you contemplate the dangerousness before diving in.  And a lot of times you choose not to dive in.

For example, at Pap's office, you would crawl all around, but when you arrived at the slight ramp down to his exam room, you would stop every time and turn around and go the other way.  Not risking it, huh?  And when you pull yourself up, you only do so on low surfaces so that you can quickly sit back down if need be.  It's so funny!  And no cruising for you.  I'm sure you figure its too dangerous.  So when you are standing, you are gripping on tightly and plastered to one spot.

You have become quite the imitator this past month.  And this, my little girl, never ceases to be a form of amusement for anyone that's with you!  When we were in H-burg for Thanksgiving, you first imitated Uncle Lee when he made a face at you.  Everyone got such a kick out of it and you loved that!  So now, when I scrunch up my face at you , you do it back, and we both get a laugh! 

You are always so interactive with everyone, and to this day, one of the most common comments we get about you is how alert you are.  You do not miss a beat Addy.  Not one single beat.  Which leads me to my next point, your sleeping.  You are still a great sleeper, taking two naps a day and sleeping 12 hours at night, but you have become a very light sleeper.  I can seriously tiptoe into your room, in complete stealth mode while you are sleeping, and your little head pops up like you were never asleep at all.  It's wild!  You usually fall right back to sleep, but you don't want to miss a thing.  And you never did.

You wave hi/bye at anyone and everyone.  Sometimes it's still backwards, and looks more like "come here", but it's adorable anyway.

I would say that your newest fun move is the "shimmy shake".  That's right.  I have no idea how this came about but all of the sudden when we say those words you shake your little torso around and smile!  It's the cutest thing and never ceases to get a laugh from those around you :)  I'm gonna try to get a video of that one soon, so that I have it forever :)

You can also do the "touchdown Steelers/so big" move where you raise your arms above your head.  You learned that in Hollidaysburg too, and you seem to throw your arms up whenever we say either of those things.  Daddy's girl for sure :)

Here are some of your 10 month pictures:

All dressed up for church

It was so hard to even get you to look at me for these pics, much less smile.  Your toys are much more fascinating than I am, I know ;)

In one last ditch attempt to make you look at me, I took a toy away.... and I got this!

My favorite?  The last one, hands down!  I laugh every time I look at it.  What is it about a picture of a screaming baby that is so comical?

Speaking of screaming baby, we have discovered a new thing about you this past month, and that is that you are a drama queen already!  Yup, at the ripe old age of 10 months.  You scream like above if we take anything away from you, and you've taken to flinging yourself around in a tantrum too.  I have a feeling that Daddy and I are going to be in for some epic tantrums from you.  Especially if they are starting already!  And I know another thing we're gonna be in for: the incessant "why" question.  You are too smart for your own good, and I have a feeling you'll be whipping out that word in no time.  I can see it now ;)

We are have really started branching out with your food, and have been giving you a lot more table food this past month.  You are an expert and picking up little bits of toast, cheerio, whatever with your thumb and pointer finger.  And you like to have a piece in both hands at all times.  We are trying to instill healthy eating habits, so no sweets for you yet.  You are just a baby!

I don't know if it's from all of the new foods or what, but you have had some nasty diaper rash lately.  It's been going on for over a month now and it became so bad that we stopped using our precious cloth diapers for over a month.  We started putting you in disposables so that we could use the heavy duty rash creams that are a no-no for cloth diapers.  It eventually cleared up pretty well, but was never fully gone.  Despite religious use of the cream with every single diaper change.  This week we decided to go back to cloth because its supposed to be so much gentler on your skin, but your rash has gotten worse.  But we're not giving up yet, so last night I did hours of research on ways to treat diaper rash while using cloth diapers, so we're gonna try a few more things before we throw in the towel.

You got your second tooth this past month (right next to the other one on the bottom), and I'm wondering if there is some validity to the whole "teething causes diaper rash" philosophy.

Other than the Santa fiasco, I haven't noticed any stranger anxiety from you yet.  You are content to let anyone hold you and as long as they entertain you, you're fine.  But as always, you save your biggest smiles for Mommy and Daddy (and Uncle Jay, ha ha!  You love to smile at him.).

This was the best we could get from you that day.  If you look closely at your face, you can tell that you are over it.  Ha ha!

And here is a video that I took the day after your 10 month birthday:

You are so much fun these days Addy.  I love that when I look at you I can almost see how much you are learning every day.  It's a miracle to watch you grow up and learn all about the world around you.  You are such a happy, happy baby, and seeing your huge smile never ceases to make my heart burst with love.  I sometimes wonder how many times a day I kiss your little cheeks.  Surely over a hundred.  Mommy and Daddy love you so, so many millions!!

Love,

Mommy

Happy Thanksgiving!

OK, so I'm a little late with this post, but in my defense, I have been either out of town or working every day since Thanksgiving until yesterday.  It's been a whirlwind, but now we're home until Christmas, so I can get all caught up with my blogging.

The four of us (Mike, Addy, Daisy, and I) spent Thanksgiving in Hollidaysburg this year.  We left the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and came home early Monday morning.  It was so nice to be up there for a good chunk of time so that we could get together with all of Mike's family without feeling rushed.  Most of his extended family hadn't seen us since July, and there are a lot of changes in a baby in 4 and 1/2 months.  So everyone was glad to see us (AKA glad to see Addy especially, ha ha!). 

Before we left, Addy and I hung out outside since it was 76 degrees in Raleigh!  This is when she decided to pull herself up for the first time, which I showed you in my last post.  Here are a few more pics from that afternoon:

Leaf in hand, contemplating life.

A leaf in each hand.  Happy girl :)

We decided to leave for PA at night for the very first time, because driving that long of a distance during the day with Addy is just getting tougher and tougher.  She ends up crying for the majority of the way, and she doesn't sleep at all, which means that we end up stopping every hour or so to calm her down.  Stopping every hour for an eight hour trip = no fun for anyone, and it extends the trip to about 10 hours. 

I think she's just bored.  She is rear facing in her car seat, so she just stares at the seat and she can't see us, so she rebels.  And I'm sure I've mentioned before how much better Mike is at handling this than I am.  I really hate hate hate to hear Addy crying like that, and it makes the trip so stressful.  So we've decided to switch it up a little bit and leave at night, in hopes that she'd sleep most of the way.

And it worked!  She slept until we stopped at the halfway point to gas up.  I got her out, changed her diaper, put her back in her seat, and off we went.  But then she was up and crying she we stopped about a half an hour later for me to feed her.  After that, it was snooze town until we arrived in H-burg.  And on the way back to NC, Addy never woke up at all!  We stopped for gas and everything and she slept right through it!  It was like a miracle and it's definitely the way we'll be traveling from now on.

Luca and Aunt Lauren came over for a visit on Wednesday:

Look at these two... stone faced!

Then Mike's Aunt Kelly stopped over (and Mike's cousin Luke came by too, but for some reason I didn't get any pics of him).

Addy loves to bounce!

Look at Daisy's face.  She's like, "Don't you try any funny stuff with my tail Addy.  I've got my eye on you."

Thanksgiving day (being on a Thursday, as it always is) was also Addy's weekly picture day.

What do you think of her "mink"?  Pretty snazzy, huh? ;)

It ended up the same way all weekly photo shoots do ;)

We also partook in a little bit of this on Thanksgiving:

This photo is Mike's attempt at creative genius ;)  Leave it to Mike for the only photos he takes all week to be of beer.  Ha ha!

Outfit change before the company came over

Cousins :)

Luca and his Grandma Sally

Addy and Great-grandma Mary.  Addy looks very focused on something ...as always ;)

Pap and his grand kids :)

How cute does Luca look in this pic??

Note how both of their legs are being held so that they stay in one spot long enough to grab a pic.  Neither of them look thrilled that they are being held against their will.

Aunt Lauren and Addy :)

Piano time!

Just two babies playing piano

Friday night we went downtown for the Christmas Tree Lighting...although we didn't last until they lit the tree.  Oh well, we had fun anyway :)

Then Saturday morning Mike and I ran in the Hollidaysburg 2 Mile Turkey Trot.

Yup, I got a medal.  Second place in my age group with a time of 15:33.  I got to stand on a podium and everything (for the first time in my life I believe).  What can I say?  I'm kind of a big deal ;)  Yeah, sure.  I'm pretty sure the race wasn't a full 2 miles, because there is no way I was going that fast. 

Look how proud I look.  What. a. dork.

So that was our trip to Hollidaysburg!  It was jam packed and lots of fun.  Addy turned 10 months while we were there, so I got those pics too.   But I'm gonna save them for her 10 month letter....which is coming soon.  Better late than never ;)