Dancing Addie

Sometimes words just can't do a girl justice so I am not even going to try. So just sit back and watch and laugh with us. And yes she picked out her outfit for this performance.

.

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veteran's Day to the smartest, sweetest, hardest working, most handsome, selfless soldier/veteran/father/husband!

And probably the only soldier who smiles in ALL of his pictures! We love you!

Picture of the Week

The blog has been slightly neglected due to the fact that our house is officially on the market. I must say though that 809 is IMMACULATE.

Unless...

Put Me In the Zoo

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse. It was the perfect zoo for a young toddler. Not too big, not too small.

Wanna know which exhibit was Addie's favorite?

Not the dog...

Not the pig...

Not the pachyderms either...

It was....

The Penguins!!!

Miss Manners

The fastest way to melt my heart:

Cue the sweetest little sing song voice ever heard in all the land. Tank eww (Thank you) says the adorable little voice when given a toy that is just beyond the reach of her diminutive little body. It is by far my favorite thing to hear her say (other than Mama of course).

Addie's language has developed by leaps and bounds this month. Our little 15 month old is learning how to communicate verbally! She can say a couple of phrases (ok, some are really just compound words!) Sentences are just around the corner.

Other words learned this month:

• Moe (more)
• Bubbas (bubbles)
• Anna (Anna is our neighbor)
• Diepah (diaper)
• Bah (ball)
• Duck
• Ahh done (all done)
• Addieee (Addie)
• Hiiii Daddeeeee or Hiiii Mama

She has also learned animal noises as well. She knows that a cow says "moooooo", and that a sheep says "baaaah baaaah". She can also identify all of her body parts.

The video below pretty much speaks for itself. You've just got to love the bubbles in her hair!

I do realize that I ended a sentence with a preposition in that sentence. Having a child acquiring language makes me that much more aware of grammatical shortcomings. I'm working on it.

Medal of Honor

I found this story on CNN very touching. Most of the filming for this segment was done on Fort Drum. In fact the recipient was in Nathan's brigade on his 2nd deployment. You might want to grab a box of tissues first.

Workin' Hard

Over Memorial Day weekend my dad and uncle came to NY to help us rebuild our front porch. The porch had some structural problems from the get go, and they really seemed to get worse this past winter with the 215 inches of snow recorded in Watertown. We knew that it wouldn't pass the inspection in the condition that it was in when we put our house on the market.

Luckily my dad is a carpentry genius, and we couldn't be more appreciative of the help (and wonderful company) he and Uncle Sean gave us over the holiday weekend. I'm sure my dad is relieved that this is the LAST project he will help us on in this house. I have to say that I am actually looking forward to being renters for awhile.

Addison just had to be in the thick of the action. No matter how hard I tried to keep her engaged inside, she just really wanted to be out with the boys and the tools. She really tried to help by taking the screws out of the box and pushing them into the decking, and saying "eh eh eh." Fortunately Daddy let her help out a bit.

I will post pictures of the finished product soon. We are waiting for the wood to dry out a bit more before painting and staining. Hopefully I can find some before pictures too, but Nathan had the porch torn apart before I could take one. Just imagine the ugliest green outdoor carpeting you have ever seen.

Spin Doctors

A visit to the doctor usually involves a lot of waiting. Here's how we spend our wait time:

We are happy to announce that Addie has shown absolutely no signs on motion sickness. Nice!

Slow Down

Today in an effort to get our guest bedroom cleaned and organized I packed up Addie's jumperoo. And her swing. And her bouncy seat.

I took apart the Jumperoo and stuffed it in the guest bedroom (aka the junk room) months ago, but when I actually packed it up in a box and put it in the attic I felt as if I was officially saying farewell to Addie's babyhood. I have to admit that I teared up a bit. She was such a sweet baby, and I am sad that those days are over.

Don't get me wrong, I love, LOVE, LOVE the stage Addie is currently going through. She is so much fun, and I love watching her grow and learn. Despite the fact that she is walking and talking (and running!), I still consider her a baby. Well, actually I think of her as half baby, half toddler.

The problem is when you have a newborn EVERYONE tells you how fast babies grow up, but when it's your own baby it is so shocking. I just can't believe that we used to swadle her, carry her everywhere (boy those days are oooover), feed her every 2 hours, etc. Another problem we have is that Addie is 15 months going on 3 years. She really thinks that she's a big kid. When we go to the park she prefers to play with the preschoolers. Naturally I have to assume that this is due to her advanced intellect, but it does make her appear older than she is.

I feel like tomorrow I am going to wake up and she will be in school. I must admit that I am extremely thankful that I get to spend every day with Addie. I know that even though these baby days go by very quickly, I have been there for everything. No regrets!

The following trip down memory lane is more for me, but I hope others enjoy it as well!

Diamonds, and Emeralds, and Pearls, Oh My

So Addie has really been into jewelry lately. One day she found my jewelry box, and the rest is history. Nathan and I humored her a bit by letting her wear a necklace for like 1 minute (strangulation hazard). She was in hog heaven. We then moved the jewelry box out of her reach, which she continued to find and get into.

I don't know where her fascination in jewelry came from. I like jewelry, but haven't been wearing it for awhile. Before Nate was home I was lucky to get a shower, or have time to put makeup on. Needless to say, accessorizing was rarely a top priority. I think that Addison got her need to accessorize from her Nana, although I can't be positive.

A couple of days ago we were all eating breakfast and of course Addie was finished before Nathan and I had even started eating. She went into the kitchen to play in her drawer, which is filled with plastic bowls, cookie cutters, and other various kitchen items. When she came back into the dining room she was wearing sippy cup lids AS BRACELETS. She was so proud of her new jewelry!

Nathan is convinced that he will be buying Addie diamonds before she's 3. My oh my!

Our New Drumset

Summer Reading

Everyone deserves to indulge in a few good reads during the sweltering summer months. This week it seems as if all the media buzz is focusing on what President Obama is reading during his vacation on Martha's Vineyard. Hey, at least we're over Michelle's shorts already.

Anyways I thought I would share our favorite summer reads this year.

Nathan:

Nathan read Born to Run on the way home from Afghanistan and hasn't stopped talking about it. In fact, we had to place an order for the book (among others) at Amazon because it was just that good.

Lauren:

Almost Moon is extremely dark, yet very compelling. I almost quit reading the book at the end of the first chapter because it was so disturbing, but anyone who has read Lovely Bones will understand how Alice Sebold can draw you in.

Addison:

Addie just can't get enough of the Brown Bear series. I'm not sure if it's the simple repetitive lyrics, or the beautiful illustrations, or the fact that the books are about animals (which are her life blood) that draw her in, but she could read these books all day! The only one missing from our collection is Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See, which I am sure we will be adding very soon.

Welcome Home Honey! There's a Bat in the Washing Machine

Addie and I excitedly welcomed Nathan home from deployment last Sunday at 2:30 in the morning. It was an odd time to welcome him home, but great nonetheless.

The day of Nathan's arrival I spent the day cleaning. Of course cleaning with a young toddler is often fruitless. During the cleaning process I put a load of Addie's diapers in the wash. As I was transferring the diapers to the dryer I noticed a black mass in the washing machine. Perplexed by what the mass could be, I moved closer only to notice fur. My first inclination was that I had a dead mouse in the washing machine. This pretty much freaked me out as we have never had a mouse in the house (that I know of).

I gave myself a pep talk and figured that I could remove the mouse from the washing machine. As I was strategizing my next move I noticed that the dead animal appeared to have wings. That's right folks, there was a dead bat in my washing machine! A. DEAD. BAT.

A dead bat might not be any more problematic than a dead mouse for some people, but I must admit that I have a pretty severe bat phobia. I have no clue what this phobia stems from, as I have never had a negative encounter with bat. I am taking the easy way out and blaming the media for demonizing the blood sucking creatures.

After a brief panic attack, and a few calls to my mom to express my concern that we could possibly have a bat infestation in our house I decided that the removal of the bat would have to wait until Nate came home. There was no way I could get that bat out and stay sane. On one of the many calls to my mom I expressed my concerns of a bat attacking Addie (seriously). Of course she HAD to tell me that it would NEVER happen, but after I was off the phone with her I found this story. FREAKY.

So, when Nathan got home at 2:30 a.m. I didn't even mention the bat, but after a few hours of sleep I figured he was up for some bat removal. When I mentioned that there was a dead bat in our washing machine Nate just laughed and went about his business. After he spent a couple of hours playing with Addie I was really getting antsy for him to get that bat out. Not to mention the bathroom was starting to stink. I finally resorted to begging.

When he opened to washing machine he said "Oh my gosh, there's a dead bat in our washing machine!" Are. You. Kidding. Me? I had only been telling him for 3 hours. He swiftly removed the bat carcass, and I bleached the washing machine.

Oh the joys of having a husband home!

As Promised

Phase I:

I said sometime ago that I would be filling in the rather large gaps from my blogging absence. And I really have been working on it, just not fast enough. With Nathan home (more on that soon) I have a lot more free time on my hands. I should be able to blog more often. In the meantime, enjoy these posts:

Addie's haircut

Old McDonald's Farm

4th of July

Also, I know that the comment section was once turned off on the blog, but it is now on. Feel free to comment if you see a particular post that you enjoy. By leaving comments I will (a) know what things people prefer to see/read on the blog and (b) know that people are actually reading the blog (which will be an incentive for me to continue blogging).

Beating the Heat

With lots of cool treats!

It has been hot here lately. Okay, well maybe not all that hot compared to what most of you are experiencing in Virginia. We've had a very cool summer this year. In fact I have not (up until this point) been hot enough to install one of our window air conditioners. We've been doing just fine with fans. By the way, no one (and I really mean no one) has built-in air conditioners in their homes here.

Another way we beat the heat is to go to the mall or grocery store. The park is also great because it is on a rather large hill, and is usually 5 degrees cooler than our backyard. The biggest problem is that I HATE cooking in the heat. I am struggling with making Addie nutritious homemade food without turning on the oven or range. Tomorrow I will use the crock pot (as suggested by my lovely neighbors). Nathan is the grill master, so that is out of the picture.

Tell me...

What is cuter than a baby with a butterfly on her bottom?

A baby with a smile on her face!

Addie's First Concert

Every summer there is a local concert series in Watertown. At the beginning of the week I got a notice that the USO had 50 free tickets to the Laurie Berkner Band concert on Saturday. Since we have a no TV policy in our house (for babies/toddlers) I had no former knowledge of the Laurie Berkner Band. Apparently they are big time in the toddler entertainment world.

So I did what any red-blooded American would do, and claimed our FREE tickets to the show. Oh and did I mention that the tickets were FREE? When I went to the USO to pick up our FREE tickets a couple of hours before the show they gave Addie a swag bag filled with 2 Disney movies, stickers, candy, popcorn, cookies, an Elmo toy, etc. In other words, the USO is super generous!

The concert was wonderful! I was a little nervous because Addie missed her nap due to the ticket pick-up time, and there just wasn't enough time to squeeze one in before the show. Addie had the time of her life. She danced and ran around with the other kids. She is such a social butterfly. A little 5 year old named Paige immediately befriended Addie, and was pretty helpful at corralling Addie when she started to walk too far. Addie outlasted many of the much older kids in terms of energy, as many kids were carried out asleep in their parent's arms halfway through the show.

Addie's "friend" Paige is the one in the pink capri pants.

Our Little Bookworm

Addie loves books! I can't even begin to explain how excited this makes me (and her Dad)! 

We've been reading to Addie since she was in the womb. I remember receiving weekly e-mails on fetal development all through out my pregnancy, and when I got word that she could hear we started reading to her. We actually began buying her books before we even thought about conceiving her. Needless to say, books are valued in this family.

I have to admit that I often feel as though I short change Addie with story time. At the end of the day I am exhausted, and the last thing I want to do is read stories. I almost always opt for Goodnight Moon not only because it is short and cute, but also because it takes little effort on my part. I worried that my night time indifference would hamper Addie's love of books. Luckily this is not the case, and I usually make up ground in the daytime with a few stories. 

Addie rarely sits through a whole story, but her attention span at story time is getting longer. When she wants off my lap I just continue reading while she plays. She just loves to look at the pictures, especially if the pictures involve animals. She will go to the book shelf pick out a book, sit on the floor, and flip through the pages. Often times the book is upside down, but she still studies the picture with gusto! 

Recently she has decided that she wants to look at "grown-up" books too. She points at the one she wants and whines until I get it off the shelf. As you can tell, I usually oblige. 

Hmm...I don't quiet think she's ready for A Million Little Pieces.

Water Play

As I was cooking dinner a couple of nights ago I heard splashing nearby. I turned around to find...

It is evident that Addie is in dire need of some water play. Unfortunately, we haven't had very many hot days here in Upstate New York. I guess Jake's water dish will have to suffice for now. 

* Note: I do realize it is dangerous to have standing water (in any amount) around a baby or toddler. We do have the kitchen gated off so Addie can't get to the water. I have tried putting his water on the counter when Addie is around, but then I forget to put it back down. Obviously a thirsty dog in the summer isn't ideal. So for now the solution is that Addie is only in the kitchen when I am cooking. 

Big News!

Loosen your belts a couple of notches and start brushing up on your Italian because we're moving to ... Naples, Italy! 

As if that weren't cool enough, Nathan has been assigned to a NATO unit pending his graduation from WOCS. Essentially this means that he will have a non-deployable status during our 3 year (or more) stay in Italy. He reports to duty on June 19, 2010, so we have about a year to go (and a move to Georgia to make). 

All in all, we are super-excited to have the opportunity to live in such a historical location. We are looking forward to the food (and wine of course!), the weather, the art, being 2 hours from Rome (and close to a lot of other great cities) amongst other things. We're not too enthused about the organized crime and the garbage situation, but hey "C'est la vie!" I know I will really need to learn so Italian!

Another Haircut

Last time we were in Virginia my mom kept joking that she was going to cut Addie's bangs while I wasn't looking. After her first haircut I swore I wasn't going to cut her hair for a REALLY long time. The more my mom's words resonated with me the more I started to think it was a good idea to straighten it up a bit.

I knew that I had to have someone else do it this time because there is no way Addie would sit still for me. Luckily we have a cute little kids salon just blocks from our house. The moment we walked in the door Addie wanted to play with this house. She loved going through the door.

When it came time for the actual haircut I put her in the barber's chair, which just happened to be a Barbie Jeep, and she new something was up. She literally jumped out of the jeep and into my arms when the hairdresser came at her with the scissors. Luckily I was able to hold her while the hairdresser worked her magic. This was the best shot I got afterwards, which is not so great, but it gives you a good idea about how things went.
I had mixed emotions after her haircut. On one hand she looked very well groomed, on the other hand I miss her long unruly locks. I will say that it seems as if her hair gets more red every day!

Old McDonald's Farm

Addie's love of animals seems to grow everyday. The excitement is overwhelming when she is in the presence of any animal. I thought it was high time she'd enjoy Old McDonald's Farm. I have heard about this farm since we moved to New York 6 years ago, but never really had any need or desire to visit. They do have a pretty wide variety of animals.

Addie's favorite animals were the buunies. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that they were right at eye level, and we were allowed to pet them. It was really hard to pull her away from the bunnies to go see the other animals

Addie wasn't really sure what to do in the bounce house. I don't think it will be long before she has that one figured out.

This little mule (umm...I think it's a mule) was literally just days old. It was so cute!

These baby pigs just loved their Mama's milk. I love to see other mammals nursing their young!