Happy 17 month birthday!

For those of you haven't heard about my new interest of the week (I tend to be a hobby hopper), I have been reading the blog of Matt and Maddy from California. They were on Oprah and Matt was being recognized for being an nontraditional parent. His wife, Liz, died right after a c-section to deliver Maddy. Their story really has touched me and I can't help but think what would Jeremy be doing right now if I wasn't here. It has also been a day by day walk through of his journey without his spouse, giving me a better understanding of what my mom has gone through the last year.

Blah, Blah, Blah. Anyways, Matt is obviously gifted with cameras and computers and has wonderful pictures and blogs. He works/ed for yahoo (our blog will never be as cool as his). So for Addie's 17 month birthday blog I wanted to give you all a glimpse at our day and how thankful I am to be here with her.

This is how the morning started:
Addie, who is always the last rise, wakes up at 5:30 a.m. She wakes Jeremy by tapping him on the head saying "DaDa", I get awoken by her pointing to the television saying "Sprout Please" which really doesn't sound like those words but I know what she is saying. It is 5:30 am but of course she wins because this is the cutest thing ever and melts our hearts; how could any parent refuse this kind of cuteness! I love to hear those precious words and sounds coming out of sweet little mouth. Knowing we had to get ready, I obliged and took her to the living room placed her in her chair, wrapped her in a blanket and fed her Reese's cereal (purchased by Grammy, not me) and gave her milk. This is where she stayed while we got ready for school.

Baby Adalynn 1 DaDa and Mommy 0

She was happy this morning. Got dressed, brushed her teeth, got lotioned all without crying. Every morning as we get on our jacket and get ready to leave she starts making the kiss noise and goes to DaDa for a big hug squeeze (I mean a tight hold on to your neck like a baby monkey hug) and then a kiss. It is so precious and I know that it makes DaDa feel very special. DaDa is not much of a morning person but it only takes a few minutes of Addie time to have him and feeling great! On the way to Anna's house, she fell asleep because any sweet angel that arises at 5:30 is ready to sleep by 7:30.

Our Afternoon:
She had a good day at Anna's from what I could tell. I picked her up at promptly 3:35 (it takes me 5 minutes to get to Anna's and I don't waste anytime going to get her). On the way home she always starts looking for DaDa and moos aka cows. We went to the backyard for some playing. She loves to be outside and for the most part loves the dogs.

This is the first picture of Addie trying to climb on Bella's back by pulling her ears. Bella just took it and was very sweet with
Addie. Bella has lots of love for Addie and loves to lick her. We try to only play with Bella on bath nights because she has so much love to give. Addie is still a little scared of Bella because she is so happy and excited sometimes her huge butt knocks Addie down.




This is our cool new DaDa picture. Mommy was trying to be creative with the camera. DaDa didn't like it, Mommy thought it was kinda cool. When Mommy and DaDa have heated discussions about things Addie started talking very loudly to make sure that we are hearing her point of view as well! It is very funny making us laugh and stop talking about whatever it is at the moment we can't agree on, like how to get home from WalMart!


Addie enjoys sitting on the patio chairs and was so proud of herself for the way she is sitting (straddling the back bar). This is a smile that just makes everything in me turn to mush. When she has figured out something new, that smile comes and she is obviously so proud of herself! We are so excited and happy for each and everything that she learns, even sticking out her tongue at strangers.






Doom Doom Doom, All Happiness comes to an End

Dinner began with tears but ended with her shoveling ketchup into her mouth off a fork, which she has never done before? She pushed herself back from the table and said "no", DaDa said, "yes" anyways, you can see where this is going. We provided her a well balanced meal of fish sticks, french fries, parmesan spinach, baked beans and ketchup. She hasn't really eaten any veggies since baby food. She will eat pinto beans. Anyways, they told me she was anemic after her blood work.






She threw her cup of milk in the floor and then pointed and cried about it. DaDa says, "Addie, do you want your milk?"
Addie says, "No"

Dada says, "okay" and sits it back on the floor.
This continues for several cycles with her crying.
She WILL NOT say "yes"
We modeled it with Mommy's milk with no success



This finally ends with DaDa saying, "I want her to quit crying, give her the milk"
It did not stop the crying, I get her out of the chair. DaDa says, "now she is never going to eat"
Well she was never going to eat to begin with.
I hold baby in lap baby eats french fries, 1 fish stick and ketchup with a fork

Baby Adalynn 2 DaDa and Mommy 0

After Dinner Playing:

This is Addie's attempt at putting on her shoe. This frustrates her so much we are working on pants/shorts and shoes. She really understands the concept that it goes there but not the concept of how to actually put it on!





This is her playing all alone on the floor. She has been playing more by herself and she loves her little people and animals now. She likes to sit them on the table, put them in the barn and in the bus. She seems to be developing her fine motor skills.










We tied her blanket around her neck and she walked around like the Queen that she is for a little while! We also wrapped her up in the blanket like a burrito and tickled her. When she wanted out, I pulled the blanket and she rolled out. This was a fabulous new game for her!







This is Addie under her blanket with Mommy when she found me hiding under there. This resulted in those deep baby giggles! I hope that when I get to Heaven it is filled with baby laughs and giggles because it is my favorite sound.






Somewhere in there was a bath, we ended our evening with a final march around the living room while Mommy sang "The Ants Go Marching" Addie loves to "march" and say "boom, boom, boom" Then there were kisses and Addie climbed in my lap and started singing Rock a Baby. I held her and looked at those big brown eyes that look just like her DaDa's and sang. Then Jeremy and I gave her final kisses and laid her down. No fussiness, she looked up at us and said, "bye-bye bolllululu" we can't quite understand the last part.

As we walked out of the room, Jeremy said, "that breaks my heart" She is so sweet.

She may have won all the battles of the day but we love her so much and are so grateful to have her! She is the most amazing person I have ever met and even though we are so tired at 8 when she goes to bed............. We can't wait to do it all again tomorrow!