Walking and talking

She's been mobile (of the 2-legged variety) for a little while now, but I thought I should document for posterity. Oh, and that scream at the end? That's because I wouldn't give her the video camera. Yeah, we're trying to work on the whole Addi-doesn't-get-everything-she-wants thing. It's tough.

And here are a few of the latest tricks. A little explanation: She has this habit of standing up in the bathtub, and her Dada (who is usually in charge of bath and bed time) always tells her to, "Sit down!" The other night she was getting ready to stand in the tub and he said, "Sit," after which Addi replied, "dowwww." He thought it was a fluke, but it's not. She now says "down" (or dowww) after you say "sit." It's pretty adorable.

Cupcake

I caught the last few bites of the birthday cupcake on video. So funny.

It's My Party...

...And she only cried a little bit. Of course on this day she decided she would take a longer than usual morning nap, therefore skipping the afternoon nap. She was a little bit ornery, but she still had a fun time. I, of course, milked the ladybug theme again (since we call her Addi Bug, and her Halloween costume was a ladybug). We had so much fun planning and throwing this little shindig. A few of our closest friends came to share the day. All in all, I think it went well!

The decor

The beverages. So grateful DC is red & black.

Birthday flowers from Dada

The little lady's highchair

Wall of pictures (I will create another post about these sometime soon)

Where did the year go?

The spread

Chad's creation. Chocolate covered ladybug pretzels.

My creation. (Ideas stolen from pinterest, of course)

My sweet 1 year old!

Just starting to walk the week before her birthday...

You should see her now, cruisin' all over the place!

Presents

She loves her walker.

Now time for the cupcake.

Going in for a test bite...

Yum!

She decided it was good enough, and shoved the whole thing in her mouth!

This was seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen...

We laughed and laughed. It only took her 2 minutes to eat the entire cupcake!

That's my girl.

Finishing opening presents after bathtime

Happy 1st birthday, Addi Bug!

(Now don't expect a party like this every year. Only for big milestone years, like...16.) =)

One year ago...

We made this video a year ago and it makes me a little teary when I watch it now. It's just a bunch of pictures of Addi's birth/first few days home set to music, but it just reminds me of how special that time was. I won't be offended if you don't want to watch it, but just thought the grandparents might like to see it.

One

Head!

12/8/2011

Addi Bug,

One year ago today, you came into our lives and changed us forever. You made us parents. You made me a Mom, and your dada, a Dad. We will never be the same as we were before you were born, and thank goodness. We are better people. You, in your short life so far, have made us better people.

Now, that’s not to say we haven’t had our moments together. There’ve been many sleepless nights, countless tears (from both you and your Mama), and endless worrying. Things have not been perfect. But they have been wonderful. We have really tried to live in the moment with you. We have not pushed you to do things you weren’t ready for (and we learned very early on you were not to be forced to do anything you didn’t want to do anyway). We have really tried to enjoy the little moments, the snuggletime when you were just a little baby and the times where you would fall asleep in our arms, and not spend too much time worrying about sleeping, eating, and everything else that you could possibly worry about with your first child. I think we both knew that your life as a “baby” would pass so quickly and we really just wanted to savor every moment. You are growing up so fast, and there are so many times where I wish I could just press the “pause” button and keep you just the way you are forever.

With that being said, we love the little lady you are becoming. You have some serious personality. Your smile, with those beautiful blue eyes, lights up the room. You are so determined. You get frustrated when you can’t figure something out, and you will sit and work with it until you do. You are happiest when all eyes are on you, and all attention is focused in your direction. Now, I’m sure some of these very things will be the same traits that one day drive us crazy. But, for now, these traits are what make you you. We couldn’t be happier with how you are growing up. It would be ok if time slowed down just a little bit, though.

So, let’s take a look at what you’ve been up to the last month:

You started walking! You still prefer to crawl, but you take multiple steps in a row now. We got you a walker, and your little independent self just loved being able to take off on your own. It won’t be long and you’ll be cruising all over the house.

You mastered going up the stairs, but going down is another story.

You can now say, “wow,” “baby,” and “dog (da), and “boo.”

Forget letting strangers hold you, or even friends for that matter. You prefer mama or dada, and if you’re not in our arms, you cry. You do much better when we’re not in sight, but if we’re in the room and we’re not holding you, forget about it!

You grew another tooth (5 total).

You can accurately locate your mouth, eyes, hair, head, nose, toes, tongue, and my personal favorite, belly. Love it.

Your new thing this month is to cry out, “MamaDada!” in the saddest tone ever if we’ve stepped out of the room for a few minutes and you can’t see us. It’s probably the cutest thing we’ve ever heard and this is your dada’s new favorite thing you do.

We love you so much, little Bug. We kiss those sweet cheeks just as much now as we did the day you were born, and I hope you’ll let us do that for at least a few more years.

Happy birthday,

Mama and Dada

I love these sweet pictures of your curious self checking out the tree (and taking off all the ornaments and ribbon)

***I am thinking that I'm going to have to stop doing these posts every month, since it's something I'd like to continue with each of my kids and I don't think I can keep up with one letter/photo shoot per month, per child. So, we'll probably start doing them every 6 months. Thanks to whoever I stole this idea from, that I don't think I ever gave proper blog cred to, and whose blog I obviously no longer read (Sorry!). =) But seriously, thanks for the great idea!

Dada's Girl 2.0

Maybe she's a Dada's girl because he lets her do cool things, like enjoy her first sucker...

And she did enjoy it.

Boston

Chad had business in Boston in October, so Addi and I decided to tag along. The first few days were spent sans Dada, so we just kind of wandered the city and relaxed at the hotel. The weekend was fun, as we were able to spend a little time together exploring and eating the yummy Boston fare.

Addi and I spent quite a bit of time at the Boston Commons and Public Garden (basically a big park)

We found the Cheers bar and no I did not take my baby into the bar

We enjoyed picnic lunches at the park

We admired the pretty buildings

We went to Harvard, which has a really pretty campus

These gates greeted you at every entrance to campus

This is how Addi felt about Harvard

We walked the Freedom Trail and visited the Old North Church and Paul Revere's home

I ate a lobster and it was delish

The site of the Boston Massacre

Addi was a trooper and caught naps in the stroller when she could. Nothing like being on vacation to really mess up a kid's schedule.

On Saturday (two weekends before Halloween, mind you) we went to Salem.

This was a mistake of epic proportions. We were meeting our friends, the Williamson's (they had moved to Vermont a few months ago), and thought Salem would be a nice place to do that.

We couldn't have been more wrong. Apparently Salem has a huge Halloween-type festival going on every weekend in October until Halloween, you know to celebrate the witches. People come from all over to dress up and hang out in this weird little town. Needless to say, it took both of us hours to get into town and find each other. In the end, I'm so glad we got to see them and we had a good time just eating a very late lunch at a little cafe. (I'm even more grateful they decided not to turn around and go back home) =)

We sure do miss you guys!

Addi and I waiting for the train back to Boston.

It was a fun trip. I wouldn't mind going back without children to do all the things you can't really do with kids there (go on all the tours, eat at the fancy restaurants). It would also be nice to have a kid that can sleep in a foreign bed. My baby, bless her little heart, kept us up most of the night, most nights we were there. It was still enjoyable, and maybe we'll get back there one day!