Farewell, Friend

I am done pumping! The freezer is full. Farewell dear friend, we've spent a lot of time together in the past 14 weeks. I've been cutting back for a week already, but I packed it all up last night for good. It's sort of sad in one sense, but so nice in another. I'm really enjoying my freedom already. My goal was to fill the freezer before I went back to work, but then as we planned our trip up north, I decided it would be nice to be done before that trip. Mission accomplished!

Now for an Addy update! She is just a gem. So much fun all the time! She's sleeping really well at night, so today we're starting a new schedule...only 4 feedings/24 hrs! Her last feeding will be at 8 pm. It's also sort of sad and nice at the same time. Her last feeding of the night was always the sweetest. She would go right back to sleep after she ate, so it was fun to cuddle for an extra few minutes. She's just growing up! I seem to be saying that every day lately! Such a sweetheart.

And, she's still holding out on us...we haven't seen her roll over yet! I think she knows that I have the camera ready and she's just not into performing quite yet.

New Tricks!

Guess who's rolling over? Little stinker hasn't let us see it yet, but when I went to get her up from her morning nap she was on her back! She was just lying in there talking to herself having a good time. Of course, I've tried to get it on video ever since, but no luck! She's holding out on us.

Summer Baby

This morning we enjoyed a walk at the park and lunch with our friends. Josiah is 5 weeks older than Addy, it was so fun to get the babies together! At one point we were walking the trail and both babies were crying, they were both hot and didn't want to be in their strollers anymore. All we could do is laugh because we were definitely the loudest ones at the park!



Then we went swimming for the first time after her afternoon nap! Our neighbors invited us down to swim with them. It was so fun. She actually enjoyed it! She did really well just floating with us holding her.

Before swimming with her cute little beach dress and hat on! Doesn't she look super excited to swim?

Morning Girl

I absolutely LOVE waking up to this face in the morning! Actually, this week, I love waking Addy up to see this face! She's been sleeping really well from 11:00-8:00, so I think we'll start backing up her bedtime little by little. Such a good girl! She certainly doesn't get her happy morning mood from either of her parents...grandparents, perhaps? Steven and I are both night owls and take our time waking up in the morning. Addy, on the other hand, is happy as soon as she wakes up and that is probably the happiest part of her day!



We brought out Addy's Bumbo seat and she's not quite so sure about it yet. She doesn't complain when we put her in it, but we really have to try hard to get a smile out of her. Yes, we saw the warning, please ignore that we have her on an elevated surface!

Happy Father's Day!

Addy wants to wish her Daddy and her Grandpas a very Happy Father's Day! Hope everyone had a great day. Steven works today, so we celebrated yesterday. This week should be a pretty quiet week, then next week we leave for our big trip to MN!







No question who Addy looks like! I think she looks more and more like her Dad every day...well, she always has, but even as she gets older, her looks haven't changed at all! Her eyes are turning more brown each day, too. They seemed somewhat hazel for a bit, but they're pretty brown now. I love it!

I love taking pictures of Addy in her pajamas. This is one of two sleep gowns that still fit her!



Addy might look like her Daddy, and have feet just like her Daddy, but the color on her toes match Mommy's!



We had her 3 month pictures taken yesterday. We got some cute ones! She wasn't super happy for very long, so it wasn't hard to pick our favorites!

Today was the first time I've left Addy for an entire day. I went into work today and I'm going tomorrow, too, for some training. We just went through a major upgrade and I really wanted to get in on some of the training while the training staff was here this week. It was totally my choice, I didn't have to go in, but I also thought it would be good practice for a month from now when I actually go back full time. Today and tomorrow are Steven's normal days off, so it was good for him, too, to see what a full day by himself with Addy would be like. We all did pretty well. I enjoyed clearing some of the cobwebs from my brain, but I sure did miss my sweetheart! Steven and Addy had a good day, too. Before we know it, it will be a normal routine. This next month is going to go so fast!

12 Weeks

Addy is 12 weeks old today! It's hard to remember sometimes what life was like without this little sweetheart...then when she screams an entire 30 minute ride in the car, my memory comes right back! That's what we get for letting her sleep on her tummy! She does sleep in the car, but it takes a lot for her to get there and she doesn't sleep well. But, back to her being a sweetheart...she is just wonderful, we truly love being her parents, we are so blessed!

Sleeping is going well! I heard her a little bit at 4:00 this morning, but that's it. She's doing well taking her last feeding around 11:00 then not waking up completely until 7:30-8:00. I'll be done pumping by the end of this month, so I'm looking forward to sleeping through the night right along with her! I just get up once during the night to pump now, so it's still not bad.

This week I told Addy that we'll start working on rolling over. She did pretty well today. I helped her get to her side, and then she was able to finish and get onto her tummy by herself. Rolling to her back isn't quite as easy for her. She thought it was fun though!

She's also found her hands recently and she really likes them! She likes to look at them and suck on them! Sometimes she picks just one finger, sometimes she tries to get her whole fist in her mouth. She hasn't been consistent yet, so I'm not sure if she'll continue to like her pacifier or switch to her fingers.

Fun Days Off

Addy and I just love it when Steven's days off come around! We miss him so much the days that he works. We certainly make the most of his free time! This week we went and bought 4 new maple trees for our yard. My parents wanted to buy Steven a tree of his choice for Father's Day, thanks Mom and Dad! Our neighbor told us about a nursery really close to us that had a good selection of maple trees on sale so we took advantage of the great deals they had.

We've really enjoyed our neighbors this spring. It's been nice to get to know them all better. Our neighbor, Wendy, will be watching Addy for us when I go back to work. We just really hit it off with their family, we have so much in common. An added bonus is that they have lots of toys! Wendy let us borrow her truck to go get the trees...Steven really hated to drive that Titan! Then she used one of their 4 wheelers to pull the trees out of the truck. Then when her husband got off work, he came down with the bobcat to dig the 2 holes in our front yard! Steven dug the 2 holes in the back yard by hand, so he was super appreciative for the help in the front!

Another neighbor, Jeff, came to help, too. And Connor, Wendy's son, was there to hang out and give Addy a stroller ride up and down the driveway!





Front yard



Back yard



Addy has been reaching for her toys more and more the last couple weeks. Especially if they light up! She's really content to sit in front of anything that lights up and makes noise...including the tv! We'll have to be careful not to create a bad habit, but for now, we just laugh at how it catches her attention.





Sleep update: it's going pretty well. Two nights ago I sort of messed it up because she woke up at 4:00 while I was up pumping and since it wasn't the normal 5:30-6:00 I thought maybe she was hungry. Well, she took her bottle, but I don't think she needed it. It took quite some effort to wake her up at 8:00! Last night/this morning she did really well. She was in bed by 11:00 and started to fuss at 6:00, but very sporadically only until 6:30. Then I had to wake her up to eat at 8:00. So, it's definitely getting better, little by little. I think it will only be another night or two and she'll just sleep through without fussing.

11 Weeks and Growing Up!

Our little girl is growing so fast! She's done with the small bottles, out of newborn diapers, and too long for all but 2 of her sleep gowns! I guess it's about time, but still... It seems like she's changing all the time, this week I think she's trying to develop a giggle. It sounds a bit forced and not real natural yet, but I don't think it will be long. She's also surprising herself with how loud she can be. Sometimes she'll let out a screech and look around like, "who did that?" It's really cute.

This week we've also been trying to break her habit of waking up at 5:30 for her pacifier. She no longer takes a middle of the night feeding, but her internal clock is stuck at 5:30. I know she can do it, we just need to help her along. She takes her last feeding between 10:30-11:30 and when I was getting up to give her her pacifier, she'd sleep until I woke her up at 8:00.

We've had 3 lovely mornings now of crying... 52 minutes, 49 minutes, and this morning was about 30 minutes, I think. She doesn't cry the whole time straight, it's on and off, and this morning I didn't stay awake the whole time, when she stopped crying, I know I fell back asleep, so I'm not exactly sure when she stopped! We're really hoping this is like breaking other habits of taking a bottle away and such and that it usually takes 3 nights. I'll let you all know how long this takes!

New pajamas, looking like a big girl!



She also LOVES her baths now! She no longer needs to sit in the hammock that comes with this tub, another sign of her growing up. Her legs are always moving, which means she's figured out she can splash! She loves it.



Such a fun and sweet girl!

Bittersweet Trip

Sorry, again, it's been so long since I've posted. We had an unexpected trip home to MN last week. Unfortunately, we went home for a funeral. One of our dear friends suddenly lost her father on Memorial Day. He was cutting a branch out of a tree in their back yard and fell off the ladder. It is so bittersweet because we rejoice that he is truly living in Paradise, but sad because there are so many here on earth missing him terribly.

We wish we had gone home for a different reason, but it was so nice to see so many people we hadn't seen since we moved 2 years ago. We saw many of our friends and teachers from high school. Addy also was able to meet her other cousins, uncle, and great grandma! It was really fun to see everyone again!

Cousin Gabi holding Addy for the first time.



Great Grandma E. with Addy.



Cousins Jack and Brynn "helping" Addy take a nap!



Addy also had her toes painted for the first time, courtesy of Grandma L.! It really is super cute, and I think Addy likes it, too! It's probably the best time to paint them since she isn't sucking on her toes yet!



We also got a picture of us on the airplane...something I wish I would've been able to do during Addy's first trip, but it just didn't work out. She was just an angel again, sleeping the whole time!



On the way home she kept her normal routine of staying awake after eating, and she was so happy! I hope she continues to be a happy little traveler!



After some fun awake time, she snuggled in for a nice nap the rest of the trip home! It was nice that the flight was so empty, we had plenty of room to spread out!