My Favorite Things - Month 7

Here are some of my favorite things from this past month:

• I absolutely love your hair...even with the craziness that I try to tame every morning (see below) I'm still obsessed with it!  I see many pony tails, braids, and cute hair bows in our future!

"How's my hair look this morning Mom?"

•  Our evening playtime is probably my favorite part of the entire day.  Your dad and I miss you so much while we are at work, so we make sure we spend quality time together every single night.  We get on the floor and get out some toys and you are in heaven!  You smile from ear to ear and laugh the entire time!

"Look at me!  I'm such a big girl sitting up all by myself!"

•  There's nothing better than when your dad and I check our email in the middle of the day while we are at work and we get one of these adorable pictures of our Addie girl.  Miss Michelle sends us a picture or two of you every week and we love seeing you in action at "school." 

"What IS this thing?  I'm not in my stroller anymore, but this bye, bye buggy isn't bad!"

"How do you like my chalk art?"

•  I love picking you up from daycare.  The second I walk in the door you get a huge smile on your face and start to wave your arms.  I drive like a race-car driver every afternoon just to see your smiling face!

The welcoming girl in the Lil' Pigs room.  She loves to sit on the mat by the door and smile at everyone that comes in the door.  Such a sweetheart!

• Cooper is your best bud and you love to sit and watch him.  You love it when he gives you kisses and even attempt to "pet" him aka grab, poke, prod, and kick him.  But, I know it's you just showing him you love him and Coop better just get used to it!

"Coop, your head makes an awesome foot rest!"

• You have become quite the Daddy's girl recently and I just love watching the 2 of you interact.  Daddy always seems to get the biggest smiles out of you and you just light up when you see him.  He would do just about anything to make you smile...he has perfected his baby voice, learned some new toddler sing-a-long songs, and become pretty good at putting hair bows in your hair before you go to school; just to name a few things. You guys just sit together and laugh back and forth, it's so cute.  You've become daddy's little assistant this month by helping him run his errands for work. It's never too early to learn the Josten's way I guess!

"Yep that's right, I'm Daddy's favorite Princess!  I already have him wrapped around my finger and I know it!"

• I love how your dad and I can't take you anywhere without someone stopping us to say hi to you and tell us how adorable you are.  I mean you are pretty much the cutest little girl ever, so I don't blame them!  Grocery shopping takes a little longer these days because that's where you seem to make the most friends.  There's always a grandma or two and usually other little girls who like to stop us to chat for a few minutes and you usually show off with some smiles, giggles, and babbling.  I love it!

I love grocery shopping with this cutie!

Addie - Month 7

Weight/Length/Head:No updates this month (your next doctor's appointment isn't until 9 months), but if I were to guess I would say you're pretty close to 20 lbs by now.

Clothes:

You are still in 6-9 months, but I have a feeling we will be transitioning (at least your pajamas) very soon.  I can't even believe how fast and how much you are growing these days!  I feel like it was just yesterday you were wearing those teeny-tiny newborn clothes and I've blinked and all of a sudden I am shopping for 12 month clothes.  Where has the time gone?!?

Diapers:

Size 3

Health:    
I'm happy to report that there's nothing to report in regards to your health.  No news = good news if you ask me.  Due to the fact that you just started daycare, I'm not sure we will be so lucky next month...fingers crossed though...

 
Diet:
We've got a pretty good routine down when it comes to eating.  You LOVE food and you LOVE milk, so feeding time always equals happy time in our house!  On a typical day, I nurse you and then you eat fruit/cereal for breakfast.  Then, you eat lunch and 2-3 bottles while you are at daycare (I'm hoping to get this down to 2 bottles very, very soon - it's tough keeping up with you!) and then you eat a vegetable for dinner and nurse again before bed.

Sleep:
I absolutely love watching you sleep on the monitor because you move around like crazy!  I lay you on your back every night and you immediately turn to your side.  The next time I check you you've done a complete 180 turn and are on your stomach with your butt in the air...then it's back to your back...then stomach...then side...then stomach, literally every time I check the monitor you are sleeping in a different position and facing a different way.  You have been a great sleeper this month though, so whatever works for you, works for me!  Every night you go to bed between 7-8 and sleep until 6 or 7ish.  Sometimes I even have to wake you up during the week!  You are still trying to figure out napping at daycare and typically only take 2 short cat naps.  Most days you come home so exhausted that you nap as soon as you get home too.  I usually have to wake you up after an hour so that you can eat dinner and be ready for bed on time.  The weekends is when you have been catching up on your sleep, you are an awesome napper when you are at home!  I'm hoping in the next couple of weeks you become a great napper at daycare too, but we will have to wait and see!

Likes

You love to play with your toys, but also love playing with other things.  The red solo cup continues to be at the top of the list, along with cell phones, pots and pans, my water cup, the remote control, and Cooper.  Your favorite toy at daycare is a water play mat.  You love it so much that I just ordered one for us to keep at home too. You still love music and singing.  Daddy even downloaded the Dora Dora channel for when he drives you to daycare in the morning and you love it!  This month you've also enjoyed sitting up in the grocery cart and joining us at the table in a high chair when we go out to eat. 

Dislikes:
You're not a big fan of napping at daycare, too much going on and too much to see!  You become a ninja when I try to clean out your nose.

Milestones:

• You have officially mastered sitting up all by yourself!
• You survived your first 2 weeks at daycare
• Babbling , "talking", coo-ing, ba-ba-ba, and lots of other noises come out of your mouth all day long, it's so cute!
• No crawling yet, but you can roll/scoot to get what you want. 
• Tried Puffs for the first time! You will grab them out of my hand, but still have a tough time putting them in your mouth by yourself.  We are working on that.
• Separation anxiety - you get upset when your dad or I leave the room, but you also get very excited to see us when we come back.  I LOVE picking you up from daycare, dropping you off is not my favorite thing to do.  You don't cry, but I do!
• I've been saying you've been teething for weeks now because you droll like crazy, but still no teeth!

Personality:
This month has been a BLAST!  Your dad and I set up a little play area for you in what will (eventually) be your actual play room.  I bought some alphabet tiles and threw all of your toys in a bin.  We spend a TON of time in there and it's awesome.  You love playtime and grin from ear to ear, babble, and wave your arms the entire time and it is absolutely adorable.  You are seriously the happiest baby that I've ever seen!  

Visitors: You finally got to meet your Uncle Jay and met Mike and Cheri for the first time this month.  Mom-mom also came to stay with us for a little while.

Back to School

Addie started "school" the last week of August.  We all woke up Monday morning bright and early.  It was my first day of teacher work week, which meant it was Addie's first day of daycare.  We got dressed, we ate breakfast, then we headed outside for a few pictures before it was time to go.  Yes, we are all smiling in the pictures, but I promise you I was crying on the inside.  Eric practically had to drag me to the car kicking and screaming.  Thankfully, Addie took her first day much better than I did.  She was a little bit fussy and is still trying to figure out her new routine, but overall I would say it was a pretty successful week.

One of my favorite things about her daycare is that they email Eric and I pictures.  Addie made chalk art on her first week!

Addie is doing a great job sitting up at daycare!  She loves to see her friends and play with toys.  Addie's favorite toy is the water mat.

Goodbye Summer

Today is Labor Day, the official last day of summer.  It's always tough to go back to work after a fun-filled summer vacation, but it's 10 times harder this year.  The end of summer vacation means that I will have to return to my classroom and Addie will start spending her days in her new classroom aka daycare.

As I sit here and reflect on this summer, I just do not want it to end...at all!  Yes, I know that going back to work is necessary at this time to help provide for my family.  Yes, I know that Addie is young and won't even remember that her mommy was at work.  Yes, I know that she is going to love spending time with other kids her age at daycare.  Yes, I know all of those things...but it still sucks!

Our first summer as a family of 3 (okay, 4 - Cooper counts too!) was absolutely amazing.  Even though sleeping in was pretty much non-existent and our trips to the beach were few and far between, I wouldn't trade it for the world!  I looked forward to and cherished the little things this summer....that's kind of what being a parent does to you.  I am completely obsessed with my little girl and I cannot get enough of her.  Being on summer vacation meant that I could spend every minute of every day cherishing the little things...and that is exactly what I did!  I loved waking up in the morning, even if it was 7am, and seeing Addie grin from ear to ear when I walked in her room.  I looked forward to our daily walks around the neighborhood, sometimes they were the only time we left the house at I was completely okay with that.  Even on gorgeous summer days, I loved sitting in Addie's nursery, reading to her, and rocking her to sleep in the middle of the day.  Changing diapers, wiping up spit-up, and rocking her in the middle of the night even became some of my favorite pastimes.  Being a mom changes you and I have realized this summer that we just need to slow down, look around, and appreciate the little things! 

Goodbye Summer of 2014 (my favorite summer so far)  hello Fall...bring on the cooler weather, football season, and pumpkin flavored everything.

Love this girl (and her new hair-do) to pieces

Our big girl sitting up all by herself and playing with her toys.

Mommy and Addie selfie

Daddy and Addie on our end of summer "family day."  We went to the lake for a walk and to play on the playground and ended our day at the pool.  It was a blast!