Happy Birthday Addison

We celebrated Addison's birthday a week early today, since my Mom was in town. She was so excited to decorate with her princess decorations and open presents. When Uncle Mike arrived and rang the doorbell, she just about went crazy...she knew we were starting when he got here.

We grilled hamburgers and then opened her presents. She got crowns, puzzles and games. Her favorite thing was a Dora the Explorer vanity table. She loves it, although the rest of us think the Dora head, whose hair you can fix, is a little creepy. She also got an Art Easel, so she can play school with her babies. She did a great job sharing with baby sister, who also loved all the new toys!

Finally we had a princess cake from ColdStone. I have no idea what gave her the impression that she can just dive right in to her birthday cakes, no utensils necessary, but she did. We have a similar picture from last year, eating a cupcake off of the floor, with no fork!!!

Sleep-Over

Mimi came this weekend, for a sleepover as Addison calls it. The girls were so happy to see her, and so were Tommy and I! We got to spend lots of time together over the weekend, while my mom played with the girls. It never seems to go well when we all try to take pictures together. You can see from the second shot, that the girls are trying to bail out!!!

Reagan's New BFF...

Reagan was all about her Uncle Mike today. She hung out with him on the couch and he got a rare opportunity to snuggle! She crawled over to his lap a few different times today. I think he is getting used to hanging out with "the nieces" and all that entails.

Gotta Wear Shades

We went to Gymboree on Friday and the girls both got new sunglasses for the cruise. Aren't they sassy? Addison was so cute shopping, her Daddy is in trouble! She recognized all the accessories from their new "Fishy" clothing.

I had ordered some of the cloths and a few days ago they came in the mail. She had a blast trying them all on. Once she saw all the goodies to go with it, she just had to have them. We ended up leaving that day with a purse, flip-flops, the sunglasses and even fish panties to go with her clothes!

Again with the Climbing Thing!

More proof....the child can climb out of anything. Strapped in our not, it doesn't matter. Mom and I took the girls to Kohl's Saturday morning and mom witnessed things for herself. Twice, we strapped Reagan into their shopping cart, only to look away for a second and find her standing in it!

Mike watched her maneuver her way around the house and patio today and suggested that we should put her in a helmet, at least for the next few months.

Baby Einstein

Reagan got a rare chance to watch Baby Einstein a few days ago and loved it. If the TV is on, it is usually Dora or Clifford....Addison's choice. But, the other day, Reagan ate before the rest of us, so Tommy propped her up on her bean bag to watch the movie. She was so cute and in to it! It was a rare moment of stillness for her.

Spring Flowers

April Snow brings spring flowers, is that how the saying goes? We were inspired by several days of warm, spring weather and decided to plant some flowers in the backyard. Let's hope it doesn't snow on them!

The girls had a blast loading all the flowers from the car to the wagon and then pulling them around to the back. Addison helped me plant the flowers and Reagan was content to dig in a pot full of soil forever!

I am enjoying them so much at this stage. Reagan's mobility has opened up so much opportunity for us to play together. They are loving each other more and more everyday. There interactions are so sweet. We were at the park a few days ago, and Reagan was driving the steering wheel, on the side of the play equipment. An older kid came over, and took over the wheel. Addison was at Reagan's side in an instant, telling the kid, "My baby sister was playing with that!". I was so proud that she was so protective and willing to stand up for Reagan.

For my friends who are still balancing little babies with toddler siblings, hang in there! The best is yet to come!

Did I Mention That She Climbs?

No help required, she made it up there on her own!

Sometimes Even Big Girls Need A Nap

Addison has given up naps for the most part. Thankfully, she does play quietly in her room for an hour or two during "rest time". Monday, she was playing with her babies, and fell asleep in the floor with them. She actually woke up, by the time I got back to her room with the camera, but she was so sweet sleeping in the floor with them.

What a Difference A Day Makes

Here is a glimpse into our weekend. The first pictures are from Thursday and Friday. I believe that we ended up with 9 inches of the "spring snow". Friday night, Tommy grabbed the girls swimming pool floaty and took them out to slide on the hill behind our house. I will admit I laughed at him, and never thought it would work, but it did and they had a blast!!!

Fast forward to Sunday. It was 70 degrees with blazing sunshine!!! It was the most beautiful day. We came home from church and played on the patio with the girls all day! The weather stayed that way for three days and the girls and I have hardly been inside. We are even looking a little sun-tanned.

Sad to report, however, that it all came to an end this morning. Looks like we are in for 2 days of cold and 4-8 inches of snow. Just until Friday, then we are forecasted back in the 70's. Whoever said, "If you don't like the weather in Texas, just wait a minute, it will change.", must have never lived in Colorado!

Well-Visits

On Monday, I decided to take both girls in at the same time for their well-visit appointments. Reagan needed her one-year check and shots and Addison needed her three-year check. I have taken the girls for double appointments quite often, and it works great, at least in Texas. The well-visits here though, they are thorough!!! The doctor spent AN HOUR on each girl, so if you are doing the math, we were at the doctors office for two hours!

The girls did really great, and we didn't have any problems, but two hours is just a long time for us to be in a 10X10 room. Every time the nurse or doctor opened the door, Reagan, down to just a diaper, would book it out of the room, down the hall, and to the toys in the lobby.

As we began the appointment, we are still out in the hall, weighing and measuring the girls and the nurse is going down her checklist. She asked me if Addison knew any letters. I didn't have to answer, because Addison over-heard the question and proceeded to loudly sing the entire alphabet song right there in the hallway. She wasn't going to stop until she finished! She had the nurse, office staff and everyone in sight cracking up!

In Colorado, they give you this age-appropriate developmental sheet to fill out. It consists of pages full of yes/no questions and tells you to stop once you have circled two NO's. Well, not to sound like an over-proud mother, but it took us a LONG time to get to the NO's. For instance Reagan's sheet asked things like, "Can she pull to standing?". I couldn't help but laugh as I circled yes, while watching her climb the stool to get up on the doctor's bed. Addison's sheet went pretty well the same, "Knows colors", yes "Puts two words together", yes (two paragraphs would be more like it), "Names friends", yes. The only thing on the entire sheet she couldn't do was balance on one foot for more than 5 seconds. I came home and told Tommy about it. He said jokingly, that clearly I was an unfit mother, how could it be that I hadn't taught her to stand on one foot, and certainly we should start working on that!

Poor Reagan got 4 shots and blood drawn from the foot, but she took it well. On the way home, I decided to drive through Chick Fil' A for a Coke and a brownie. I felt after 2 hours at the doctor, I deserved at least that! Well, Addison didn't want to wait in the drive-through and after a few minutes she said, "Mom, we have Coke at home you know!!!".

Her Daddy put those silly thoughts in her head, I know he did! How can I explain to an almost 3-year-old how much better it is from a fountain, with ice and a straw?

Just Some Things.....

~ It is snowing like crazy!!! Apparently, they call this "Spring Snow". Looks like the same messy, wet, cold snow we had during the winter if you ask me. It actually is really pretty. It is up to several inches now and doesn't appear to be letting up anytime soon. Poor Tommy has already shoveled the driveway twice today. He worked from home today and he took us to lunch so we could get out of the house. This afternoon, I am braving the snowy streets to take Addison to swimming lessons! Yes, that's right, swimming lessons in the snow!!!





~ Speaking of swimming lessons, Addison started Tuesday. It is really cute. There are about 5 other girls in the class. No Boys! Also, all the girls are big sisters. They are so sweet, all the big sisters in the water, all the little sisters toddling around the side with the moms. I predict before the lessons end, someone's little sister will fall in!





~The girls in the lesson sit on the steps and wait for the teacher to come and get them to practice whatever skill he is teaching. Well, Tuesday he wanted them to blow bubbles in the water. He came to Addison and she said, "No thank you". She was so polite and sweet about it, but she didn't want any part of his bubble blowing. He looked a little surprised and thoughtful. I am not sure he knew how to take her polite refusal. He went past her and then came back later. She did it, but she didn't like it!!!





~Well, now this should have been first! Praise the Lord.....Reagan slept all night last night!!!!!! From 8:00p.m to 6:30am!!!! Praise the Lord.....it is the first time in her sweet little one year old life. I am praying, praying, praying that it wasn't just a fluke. I opened my eyes at 6:00 and felt like a new woman. I know this parenting thing is supposed to be about unconditional love, but I tell you what, I loved that child just a little bit more this morning!





~Now for the sad news, poor Reagan. Sunday morning when we picked her up from the nursery, the volunteer was saying what a hungry girl she was, and telling us that she tried to take snacks from all the other kids. I nursed her in the car, but she was still acting really fussy and strange. Finally, it occurred to me, no one fed her breakfast! Tommy and Addison had gotten up early. I got up later with Reagan. I took her downstairs and ran to Einstein Brother's Bagel, for my breakfast. Tommy and Addison had already eaten, so poor Reagan was just completely forgotten. Poor girl, she does have quite a few words for her age, but not enough to communicate, "Somebody please feed me"!





~Finally, last night, we heard that Texas was getting some pretty bad storms and that a tornado was headed directly towards my dad and step-mom's house. I told Addison about the weather and said that when she did her prayers at bedtime, that she should pray for them. Now, keep in mind, she LOVES the horses, and she knows that they don't like storms. My heart just about burst, when she looked at me and said, "Can I just pray right now?" Wow, that is huge, this was the first time she has initiated prayer and also the first time that she has done it herself, rather then telling us what to pray for. Right then and there, she stopped dropped everything and prayed! She makes me proud!!! Turns out they are fine, although the did spend some time in the closet! Addison kept them entertained with a few phone calls to check up on them.



~Funny, I have passed my love for the show Jon and Kate Plus 8 on to Addison. She calls it "That Kid Show" and she is forever asking me to check if it's on and begging to watch it. It comes on early here, so on Monday's Tommy takes Reagan upstairs to play and Addison and I snuggle up to watch together!



Good news!!! Our good friends Matt and Mary, where just offered a job in Denver. They are awaiting final package details, but it looks like they will be moving to Colorado. We are so excited to have them here!



~One last thing, The Office returns tonight!!! Woohoo, it has been a long dryspell. I am going to wear the girls out at the pool, so Tommy and I can turn on the DVR at 8:00pm sharp!

And Finally, The Cake

After the zoo, we headed home to have cake and let Reagan open her presents. She liked the cupcake, although she would have rather had the candle! Addison had been waiting for cake ALL DAY, so she was thrilled.

When it came time to open presents, Reagan just took her time. She tore tiny pieces of paper off of each gift. She played with all the paper and wanted to stop and play with each new toy. This drove Addison CRAZY. It was all we could do to keep her back for a few minutes with each present. She couldn't take it. She had to jump right in and rip the paper off! Poor Reagan!!! She got lots of sweet gifts. Ansley and Wesley sent her a cute little purse, Uncle Mike gave her blocks and the biggest hit was the Rose Petal Cottage, playhouse that my sister gave her (we found a bargain at Target!!!)

We had such a fun day hanging out with the girls. I can't believe she is one....the four posts I wrote for her birthday, won't even get me started on those sentiments.

The Zoo

Uncle Mike came over to help us celebrate with Reagan, and we all headed to the zoo on Saturday morning. The weather has been beautiful and we were thankful for a warm, sunny day to spend outside.

Reagan watched a few zoo animals, but was most impressed with the geese who roam the zoo. She wanted to get down and chase after them. I let her go a few times, but I have heard geese aren't all that nice, so I never let her get too close.

Addison liked the zoo, but said too many animals were sleepy! The carousel, monkeys and lions were highlights of the day!

The Birthday Slide

Reagan's grandparents went in together and got her this slide for her birthday. It is a little big for her age, but being the climber that she is, I knew she would be fine.

We had it waiting for her when she woke up Saturday morning, She watched Sissy do it a few times and then took off on her own. She climbs all the way up and slides down by herself with no problem.

You can see from the last picture, by later in the day, she had really gotten the hang of it. She was going up and down like a champ. She did it over and over again. Reagan likes it best when Addison is waiting to catch her at the bottom. They were so cute playing together.

Birthday Kick-Off

Friday night, we took the girls to Red Robin to start Reagan's birthday festivities. Addison, Reagan and I love to eat there, so we were happy to use the birthday as an excuse to go. Addison loves to play their video games and they both love the balloons. The first time we ever went, we saw the "Big, Red Chicken" character, as Addison calls it, singing happy birthday to someone and she decided then and there that Red Robin was the place to be for birthdays.

We weren't sure how Reagan would take having a large group of people singing to her, but she was fine. She just watched them, all serious, and then dove into the ice-cream. She didn't really care to eat it, big sister took care of that, but she sure liked playing in it.

I think these pictures really demonstrate who looks like who. I think Reagan looks just like Daddy and Addison is my little twin.

Letter to Pappy

Friday, Addison was sending a card to her Pappy and Miss Debra, because I had finally printed this picture, and wanted to send him a copy. I wrote the greeting and closing of the letter and

left Addison to fill in the middle. She was so sweet "writing" her letter. I grabbed the computer and started typing, trying to get her thoughts down. Here is what she wrote....

"Dear Pappy and Dear Debra,

I miss you and I hope I can come visit your barn soon. I can ride your horse and do your barn working with you. Thank you for inviting me and I hope I can come visit soon. And Squigally I will play with you and I hope you can come to Reagan's birthday. And Mommy and Reagan and Maggie and me we miss you. I will come to your barn soon as I can and I can win a prize at the horse show.

Love,

Addison

Birthday Cake and Carseats

This morning, Addison and I were making plans for Reagan's birthday cake. She mentioned making a cake, so I asked her if we should make one at home or buy one at the store. Her response,

"We should just make one here, because you always say, too hard taking kids in and out, in and out, of the car!"

Good grief, the child hears everything. And, while it is a pain taking them in and out of the car (especially if it is cold), I felt a little guilty that she has heard me say it often enough to repeat it! Too funny!