Weekend update

Addison had her first official swimming lesson on Saturday morning. She was a champ, of course. Actually, the lesson was kind of boring, and nothing we haven't done with her before. If anything though, it's a good opportunity for some social interaction with the other kids. She and another 10 month old boy (twice her size he was!) were the youngest of the bunch, but they were so cute! No pictures are allowed until the last lesson - boo! On Saturday night we took DJ's parents out to dinner as a "thank you" for being the very regular babysitters - every Friday, and some overnights on the weekends as well. Addison was very well behaved and loved looking around at everything going on. We caught a funny video clip of her lounging back in her high chair, bopping her head up and down. Funny! Sunday we had brunch with Ryan and Heidi and their two girls, Olivia and Kendra. The girls were very generous in digging up some "baby" toys and sending them home with Addison, including a little purple sled that will be perfect for next winter - but we're not counting down the days until then or anything....hello Spring!

Before swim lessons on Saturday morning

At Cafe Lurcat

Playing with the big girls

Army Crawl

We're betting that Addison is about one week away from a true crawl. She's been doing the army crawl, especially if you put something she wants (like the cell phone) JUST out of her reach. We caught this attempt after we'd been setting her up all night, so she was a bit crabby. :) That's my girl!

Daddy's girl!

Weekend morning ritual - music and coffee in the living room while Addison hangs on the floor with her toys

Celebrating my bday

Easter weekend

Easter weekend was a fun, but quick one! We wanted to take advantage of the nice weather, so Saturday afternoon we headed over to the Como Zoo in St. Paul for a look at the animals, a walk around the park and a picnic. Unfortunately a bunch of the animals (giraffes, elephants, dolphins) weren't out for the season yet, but Addison did get to look at all the monkeys, lions, pengunis and sea lions. The sea lions were definitely her favorite - she laughed and laughed as they showed off for the crowd of people watching them.

On Easter morning Addison fought Callie off while she dug through her Easter basket pulling out rubber duckies and stuffed bunnies. We buzzed out to Heather and Guy's for Easter brunch and had a great time hangning out with everyone. Back home now, with DJ glued to the Master's tournament and me procrastinating getting some work done. I just need one more day!

Malia
Carly hugging AddisonCarly and Malia acting like bunnies
Heather and Cassie

9 months old!

April 2nd marked Addison's 9th month of life. Can you beleive it? It's insane how fast time is flying by! On April 3rd we went to our 9 month check-up and Addison received a gold star of health and development! For some reason she is typically extremely happy at the pediatrician's office - it probably has something to do with the huge fishtank she's mesmerized by in the waiting area. She weighed in at 18 lbs, 8 oz. and she's 27 3/4 inches long - right in the 50-75% range for her age. The pediatrician made a guesstimate that Addison would start walking at around 12 months based on the strength in her legs and the amount she's pulling up on things at this point. We'll see...I say it will be a bit later.

Solid foods are still going really well. She's eating a bit of egg yolk now (no whites for babies until they're over a year) and her new fave is blueberries. Brenda (Addison's care provider) asked me today if Addison ever fed Callie. I said no, but was shocked when she told me that she's learned to feed their little dog Annabelle! Brenda says she'll feed herself a Cheerio, then hold one out to the dog. I've got to see this one! Mike, Brenda's husband, confirmed this and stated "She's really coordinated!" Too funny. Brenda is also working a lot with Addison on drinking from a sippy cup - she mastered it today by holding onto the full cup on her own, tilting it up, drinking, putting it down and then repeating. She got a big round of applause from Brenda on that one.

The other adorable new development is waving bye-bye. She doesn't do it 100% of the time, but when she feels like it she takes her little hand (the right one) and opens and closes her chubby fingers to say goodbye. The first time I saw her do it as I was leaving for work brought me to tears! I'm going to try and capture that on a video clip soon.

Check out Addison and her growing abilities in the standing department!

We love the BOB baby jogging stroller - can't wait for warmer weather!

Pics from the park

This time of year in MN is very frustrating - Spring makes a teasing appearance one day, then Winter is thrown back into your face the next. Last weekend was in the high 60's, but it's been in the 30's/40's (at a high) for the past week, including this weekend. Oh well. Despite the return of the chill, we made a trip or two to the park this weekend to get the little monkey some fresh air. Mostly Addison just loves watching other kids - big or small. She's also growing in her independence. At this point she'll hardly let us feed her. When we do manage to accomplish a feeding, we have to give her a spoon to hang on to while we sneak bites in here and there with another one. She can basically feed herself with the spoon though, it just has to be thick enough food that she gets it into her mouth instead of everywhere else. Finger foods are the predominant items on the high chair tray now - chicken, banans, blueberries, grapes, cooked veggies, tofu, avocado, pasta, cheese, Cheerios...there's nothing she doesn't like, especially if it means she has the chance to feed herself. We've nicknamed her "MJ" for mini-Jabba (as in, the Hutt). Mean, I know, but it's DJ's thing. He says she looks like a little Jabba the Hutt as she reahes, grabs and shovels food into her mouth, followed by a grunt. HA! So mean, and she doesn't really grunt, DJ just likes to throw that in there. She's learning to stand on her own while holding on to furniture/toys too, but still hasn't started to crawl. Her little personality is becomong more defined as well - one word...FEISTY!! She knows what she wants, when she wants it, and do NOT help her with anything. She's even trying to dress herself now! She pulls her shirts on and off over her head. Ahhhh...just think of the terrible 2's!

Fun at the park

Practicing standing

Weekend fun

This weekend Addison had lots of fun. She's been eating more finger foods and learning to self-feed quite well. She fed herself bananas, cottage cheese, cereal and chicken this weekend - she's VERY proud, as you'll see.

She's also ALMOST crawling, so stay tuned over the next few weeks for a clip of that - hopefully. She pivots around all over the place, and can get her but up in the air. It's just a matter of putting the pieces together now.

We had some of Addison's friends (all boys!) over on Saturday for a little play date. Addison is technically the oldest (by a few days), but definitely the tiniest! We seem to think she's so hefty, but in comparison to these big boys, she's really just a little peanut. We made a baby/stroller caravan to the park down the street from our house and Addison went on the baby swing all by herself. Sorry, I didn't get pictures of that, but definitely will. She is just SO happy to be outside, it's fun to see.

On Sunday we met Beth for coffee and I swear, I've never seen Addison sit in someone's lap so content for so long. She was cracking us up with her funny laugh, smiles and general clowning around.

Kellen and Addison...practicing for Easter

Sawyer - crawling around like a champ!

Hanging out with Beth

Spring is (finally!) in the air

Woo-hoo! The sun was out and the air was slightly warm today. Addison was so excited to be outside in the wind and sunshine after brunch with Natalie and Jeff. We're all looking forward to warmer days ahead....