Addison & Isla: November 2010

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving & 1/2 Birthday to Isla Weekend!

Our LONG holiday weekend began with me working from home on Wednesday and simultaneously cleaning the house, baking a cheesecake and running around getting everything ready for Thanksgiving the next day. We had such a nice time on Thursday and were really happy with the way everything turned out. DJ's first attempt at a full turkey was a huge success, and my gingersnap cherry cheesecake was a little bit of heaven, if I do say so myself. The Barats helped a ton by bringing the lion's share of the side dishes - delicious stuffing, sweet potatoes with sauteed pears and cranberries, an apple/manchego cheese salad and a homemade pumpkin pie. My friend KateE. (yes, that's Kate E., and she pronounces it like Katie) from work joined us, along with Guy, Heather and Carly and Cassie. The meal was delicious and the company was lovely, truly a perfect Thanksgiving. DJ set to work making a turkey soup out of the leftover turkey and vegetables the next day, so now we have soup for a month, and it is fabulous!

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning UP from Thanksgiving, decorating the house for Christmas, doing a little Christmas shopping, going to the gym to work off the feast, playing outside in the snow and just hanging around the house relaxing. Every weekend should be 4 days! We picked up the classic Frosty the Snowman cartoon movie for Addison and she is really in the spirit now. She talks about frosty and Santa, and when it came time to decorate the house and tree, she was all over it - "I can help, I can help." And help she did - she got the hang of placing ornaments on the branches eventually, and really enjoys the tree. We can't wait to see her excitement on Christmas day.

Thanksgiving day was Isla's 6 month birthday! She celebrated by rolling all over the floor now that she's figured out how to do that, and by jumping in the Excersaucer that we busted out. She loves it! She's a real sturdy little thing and can already sit up very well unassisted without tipping over for a god stretch of time. She's got sturdy (albeit short) legs as well and stands firm when lifted up to put weight on her feet.

Another big event happened tonight...Addison went poop on her potty for the first time!!! It was hysterical. DJ was in the bath with Isla and Addison was up next, so I was in the bathroom getting her undressed. She announced she had to go potty, so I to took off her diaper and we started cheering her on to sit down. She sat down, thought for a bit, then got up and said "I'm done!". Nothing. So I went back out to the kitchen to finish cleaning up from dinner and I head DJ yell "She's gonna go!". I ran into the bathroom and Addison had pooped a little the floor and looked so embarrassed. I scooped up the poop and threw it in the regular toilet (all the while not believing that I was actually doing it) and we started cheering her on again, telling her it was OK and that she was just like Elmo in the Potty Time video. That got her. So she sat down on the potty and went some more, right into the little hole. YAY!! We were going crazy telling her how great she did. She was clapping for herself and talking about Elmo, then she flushed the big toilet and continued to look a little worried and a lot embarrassed. I wiped her bottom, then she ran away into Isla's room and shut the door. I followed her in and she screamed at me to get out as she hid behind the curtains. Poor thing was so embarrassed! You could see it all over her face and it made me sad to see that she was feeling awkward. I talked her out from behind the curtains into the bathtub and DJ eventually turned her embarrassment into pride...for now at least. We'll cross our fingers for next time. We're so proud of her and are going to give her a prize every time she goes on the potty. We're not going to force it though, just going to take this potty training thing slowly. Big weekend in the Barat house!

This was last weekend visiting "A Day in the Life of an Elf" display on the 8th floor of Macy's downtown

Isla in her Excersaucer

Addison got a kick out of spinning her around and around

Happy Thanksgiving!

Leftovers the day after

Sledding down the hill in our yard

Even Isla got in on the action - although not on a hill

Getting the house ready for the holidays! Addison was napping while we did part of the tree. It's amazing how difficult it is to make any headway in these types of projects with two awake children!

Watching Frosty on the "baby TV"

Gotta love a little "Where is Thumpkin?"

This is the newest thing at dinner. Addison sees the reflection from the silverware on the ceiling and thinks it's a fairy. So cute! We play it up every time.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

First Snow!

Last Saturday morning we woke up to a real, true snowstorm, the very first of the season. It wasn't just a flurry here and a flurry there, it was DUMPING wet, heavy snow! Addison wanted to get outside right away, and lo and behold we ended up with a snowman in the front yard at 7:45am...I'm not kidding. DJ was such a trooper to be out there so early for so long. They had a blast though. The snow is still around and so is the snowman, but unfortunately only his bottom and middle layers are still intact. Along with the snowstorm came a power outage that lasted almost 2 full days - NOT fun. We had to leave the house and ended up hanging out at DJ's parents all day on Sunday. The kids spent the night there on Saturday as previously planned (our date night) so that worked out, and just as we were about to sleep there Sunday as well, the power came back on. Thankfully we had somewhere to go.

Isla rolled ALL the way over (back to front) on her own for the first time on November 9th. She's very into reaching and grabbing for anything in her line of sight, and rolling over is usually coupled with attempting to reach a toy, a diaper or Callie. She also tried rice cereal for the first time last weekend and loved it! The first thing she did was grab the spoon and shove it in her mouth. She caught on really quickly and has been having a little cereal every night during dinner. She still stares longingly at our food though. In a couple of weeks we'll give her some carrots or sweet potatoes and she'll be hooked for life.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we're hosting. Then Christmas and the year is done! I can't believe how fast time is flying by. We're hoping to get some good family shots from Judith this weekend for holiday cards, so watch your mailbox...I WILL get those out this year!

Addison in her snow gear - this was about 7am

The view out the window - also at 7am

Tromping through the snow

Snowman coming to life

Isla and her cereal

Addison was practicing her "faces" at dinner the other night; this is her "surprised" face

"sad" face

"happy" face

Addison loves to lie in our bed while we get ready for work in the morning and insists that Isla is with her

That is, after she has her snack and milk and watches a Dora episode downstairs on her "baby TV" aka the portable DVD player

or after a game of dinosaurs

Addison's night-time routine includes a binky, her blankie and Bearenstein

Bears "The Messy Room"

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween was a BUST!

The best laid plans.....

We were so excited for Halloween this year, the year Addison knew what was going on for the first time. She had her monkey costume set to go, banana and all, she had been practicing her monkey sounds and her "Trick or Treat!" all week long. We got in the spirit at a Halloween themed birthday party on Saturday, so Sunday the 31st was the icing on the cake - we were ready to roll. Then the strangest thing happened.

While Addison was outside "working" in the yard with DJ, she had a sudden meltdown. Non-stop tears poured down her cheeks, the wailing and crying grew louder and louder and we couldn't, for the life of us, figure out what was wrong with her. DJ brought her inside and handed her over to me. I couldn't calm her, couldn't even understand her. I was finally able to make out that she wanted to lie on the couch with her blanket and pillow. I set her up on the couch and just sat there rubbing her back, not knowing what else to do. She was yawning and moaning and getting warmer, but didn't want anything to do with food, water or toddler tylenol.

We finally had her lay down for a nap, so I ran out to do a couple of quick errands while DJ came in to watch Isla and listen for Addison. Apparently she woke up less than an hour later, crying again. DJ texted me and said she was still going bonkers and that he told her she couldn't go trick-or-treating if she didn't stop crying. The next text I got said "Get home now - she's throwing up everywhere." Sooooooo, that was it. Poor thing was feeling like crap and didn't know how to articulate it. I came home to find the carpet soaked with Oxy-clean from the oatmeal and berry-stained barf, Isla squirming on her play-mat, and Addison lying on a towel on the floor in nothing but her diaper. She looked at me and said "Hi Mama" like nothing was wrong. Clearly she felt MUCH better, like you do when you have a stomach bug and finally heave. She had one more bout that evening, but slept through the night and woke up fine this morning. Our daycare provider and neighbor came over with a huge bag of games, books, puzzles and toys that she had put together for Addison's Halloween treat, so that put a big smile on her face. Addison's exact words were "OH (pause) my gosh mama. Oh my gosh". So funny!

We felt terrible, especially DJ, for telling her that she had to stop crying! I was so bummed that she had to miss her first real Halloween and even made her put on her monkey costume so I could get a picture. Horrible, I know. Luckily she doesn't know the difference and will have just as much fun next year. She asked to put her monkey costume on tonight, so I'm sure the thing will get a ton of wear. We're just glad she feels better and that no one else has come down with anything.....YET!

Isn't this the most pathetic looking monkey you've ever seen? Looks like a homeless monkey!