6 Months Old

Miss Addison had her half birthday last week! It's amazing to me how fast this first 6 months has flown by. We are having so much fun with our little girl! She is growing and changing so much on a daily basis and I feel like I can't keep up sometimes. She is such a happy, funloving girl. She is now sitting up on her own and she loves this independence. She always has to be able to see everything going on around her, so her vantage point helps with that!

We are still enjoying our food journey too. She has done so well with it. I think I have been cautious just because I am unsure how she will do, but she is thriving. We have tried toast points with avocado or hummus on them, broccoli, slices of beef and chicken(she just sucks on these), cucumber, sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini, orange bell peppers, pasta, oatmeal and maybe a few other things. It is so much fun to see her explore the different tastes and textures of food. She is still in the exploration phase right now, but I am sure pretty soon she will be eating everything in sight. She hasn't spit a single thing out or rejected anything. I think since she has control over what goes in to her mouth she is willing to try it all.

Addison has pretty much grown out of her 9 month clothes already because she is so tall. When she is wearing a sleeper she straightens her legs and pops the snaps open! I am really curious how tall she is gonna be in the next few years! Here are her 6 month stats

Weight - 20.5 lbs. - 98%

Height - 28.5 in. - 99%

Head circ. - 17in. - 69%

Food

When we started thinking about food for Addy I started looking into different ways of thinking and feeding. Sounds weird I know, you just feed them right? Well, I have talked to numerous people who had the fight with pureed foods with their little ones, my mom included. She said that with us kids it was difficult to try and get us to eat and ending up being a battle at most every meal. Subsequently, I have pretty picky brothers even now. I think the only reason I am really diverse in food is because of working in restaurants. I really want Addison to grow up with a different mindset about food, and I want it to be fun for her. When I was talking to a lactation consultant back when Addy was about 2 months old she mentioned something called Baby Led Weaning http://www.babyledweaning.com/. I started looking into it more and really liked the thought of it. I bought the book, just so I would have a little more information about it. I LOVE it! We are having so much fun with food! Addison's first meals were roasted butternut squash, pasta and chicken in whole form and not pureed. She loved it! I can't wait to see how this journey goes.

Addy's First Christmas

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It started off a little rough though. Just a little over a week before Christmas Addy cut her first two teeth. She handled it pretty well overall. I think it was a little rougher on us than her. I hate to see her hurting and in pain. She definitely needed more cuddle time and that was perfectly fine with me. So because she was a little more clingy than usual it was a little difficult trying to get everything prepared for Christmas. I think I finished doing everything that needed to be done on Christmas Eve. Hey, at least it got done right?!

Because our family was all available on Christmas Eve, that's when we decided to do our big family get together. We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church early in the afternoon and then headed over to my parents to start dinner preparations. We decided to do a really nice dinner this year, china and everything! This kind of thing is definitely up Jesse's and my alley so we helped out a lot. We had a delicious NY roast with a mushroom sauce on top. This was accompanied by asparagus, brussel sprouts, and twice baked potatoes. Yum Yum!! And then festivities began!

Addy and Daddy

My First Christmas!

Our first family Christmas

Grandma & Grandpa with Calvin and Addy

Cousins Calvin (22 months) and Addy (5 months)

I would definitely say Christmas is more fun when you have kids! It is so much fun to see the joy in their faces. And of course they are so entertaining!! We had Addison and her cousin Calvin at our Christmas celebration this year and it was so much fun. Addison was old enough to have some fun with the opening of her presents, but Calvin was a big help too. I think Calvin helped everyone open their gifts and then he went around with his new drill and "fixed" our things for us. Addy got some wonderful gifts from her great grandma, grandparents, aunts and uncles. She got some adorable little clothes, toys, and books.

Addy opening her present from Uncle Eric

Calvin was such a great help in opening our presents

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a great toy!

Opening presents Christmas night. It took us all day to open her presents. Stimulation overload!

5 Months

Little Miss Addison is growing up way too fast! To me she doesn't even look like my little baby anymore. She is changing so quickly, and I love every new phase. She cut her first two teeth about a week before Christmas and I think she is still working on some more. Overall she is a very happy baby, always having smiles for everyone! She has the best little giggles too! They are actually quite addicting! She is starting to be more aware of everything, including the puppies. They are sooo good with her! They will just lay there and let her grab at their ears and jowls. It is pretty cute to watch! She is almost sitting upon her own, she just needs a little support. She enjoys her exersaucer and also her bumbo now, because she loves to be able to see everything around her. So, that's just a little snippet of our lives right now!

4 Months

So I am a little over a week late in posting this, but I wanted to get up Addy's four month pics along with her stats.

Weight: 18lbs. 20z. 99-100%

Height: 26.5 inches 99%

Head Circ: 16.3 inches 58%

As you can very well see, we have a very healthy little girl and she is growing like a weed. I was quite surprised as was the pediatrician that she had grown so much.

I absolutely Love this of her!

She is always such a happy girl!

This is an Addy "signature" smile

Addy's First Thanksgiving

We had a very busy Thanksgiving this year! We had two celebrations this year. We first went to my Aunts house and had most of my extended family there. We have always had a very traditional Thanksgiving and two of my Aunts and my mom have always made all of the food. Well, Jesse and I wanted to contribute this year so we made a sausage and cornbread stuffing to go with dinner. It was very tasty and I am pretty sure it went over very well! Addy was very good all day, even though she was off her schedule a little bit. After our first celebration, we headed over to my sister-in-laws parents house for dessert. We have made this a tradition over the last few years because we get along with her family so well. I also wanted to contribute to their celebration so we made dessert. I tried a new recipe: Spiced pumpkin cheesecake with toasted pecans and a bourbon salted caramel drizzle. Wow! That's all I can say. It was absolutely delicious and everyone loved it!

Our first Thanksgiving as a family

Addy was a perfect baby all day Friday for our peanut brittle marathon.

On Thanksgiving night Julie and Brian and I decided to do some Black Friday shopping and Jesse stayed home with Addy. We got out to the stores right before midnight and I finally got home just before 4am. We got some amazing deals, but I was one very tired mama! The next day was our annual peanut brittle making day. We made 23 batches in just about 8 hours. It felt like a marathon, but we did well.

We will be passing on the making of peanut brittle to Addy some day, so she is learning early!
It looks like she wants some already!

Addison had her first cold this last week. Jesse brought it home from work first. He felt soo bad that he passed it on to her. He had to watch her while I was at work, so it was kind of inevitable. Such a hard thing as a parent when your kids are sick, even when it is just a cold. You just wanna make everything all better for them. All Addy wanted to do was cuddle with mom all week. I didn't mind that at all! If it makes her feel better, I am all for it. Even though she didn't feel well, she was still all smiles :) After cuddling her and taking care of her all week I eventually caught the cold too. Even though I was the last one to catch it, I got over it the quickest! So, our family is up and running again. Just in time for all of the HOLIDAYS!!

Addison and Calvin meeting for the first time!

Dad with both of his grandchildren together for the first time!

He was definitely enjoying it!