Adventures at Mass

So I have to share my adventures of going to Mass today. The last time K and I attended Mass on Christmas, Addison decided she was going to "talk" at the top of her lungs and squirm and make daddy stand in the back for most of the time. Needless to share it was not a good experience. Well I braved it this morning by myself. This week has been extra tough and I knew it was something I needed to do to lift my spirits and help get me back on track spiritually. Here is how the adventure played out.

Addison slept till 9am, which is unusual, but great. So we got up and attempted to get ready. Addy had to be fed changed and dressed, and me the same thing. As I am trying to get myself dressed, Addy is crawling all over the place and getting into everything. Next I attempt to get her changed and she continually tries to flip over on the changing table making it near to impossible. As I change her poopie diaper and am just about ready to put the clean diaper on, she decides that she is going to pee all over everything. She hasn't done this since she was a very little baby. I clean it up and her up and attempt to continue to get her dressed. Finally I decide that maybe it would be easier to get her dressed if she is one the bed, so I venture to my room and complete the task. I rush out the door and we arrive right after mass has started. Everyone is standing and it is a full house. I cruise back and forth in the back to look for a place I can sit on the end in case I need to get up. Finally, with one of Addison's shoes in my hand and the other still on her foot (a miracle in its self) I find a place. Surprisingly Addison is able to sit on my lap and play with her shoes (ie: chew on them) for a while. She starts to get bored and one by one I continue to pull out different objects and toys for her to hold and play with. She does incredibly well for most of mass, only throwing a few things to the ground. We had an episode of spit up where it landed down my leg on my shoe and on the floor. I scramble through the diaper bag to find a wipe and clean it up. (The older man next to me was probably very amused).

Towards the end Addy starts to get restless and tired and I pull out her pacifier, which keeps her occupied for a few minutes. Addison then decides while we are standing and saying the "Our Father" prayer that she is going to pull her pacifier out of her mouth and drop in on the pew in front of us. It bounces from the seat and lands on the floor and rolls under the pew. I am then climbing down on my hands and knees retrieving it. As Mass continues, Addy decides she is going to start grabbing my hair and try to suck on my shoulder as she bounces her legs up and down. Finally, we make it through, and wow I didn't even have to get up once.

All in all Addison did pretty well. I am sure those around me had some good entertainment as I continually tried to keep Addison occupied. My hope is that next week she does as well. I would much rather have her learn to sit and be part of the main church than sit in the "crying room". I was able to get the spiritual lift I needed and am hoping to continue it through the week. Happy Sunday to everyone and hope the week goes smooth and successful!

Here's a little Princess

Family Day at the Park

This past Monday, K and I took a much needed family day and took Addison to the park for the 1st time. She swung on the swings, slide down the slide and rocked on the horsey. Her favorite part was going down the slide. It was great seeing her so curious about her new surroundings. She also enjoyed watching all the other children run around. I know that someday soon she will be there too and K and I will be chasing after her. It was a beautiful day with perfect weather and we are lucky enough to have 2 parks within walking distance of our house. We went to Wardlow park, which is interesting because that is where my mom would take me when I was younger to play. Amazing how things cycle around. Here are some highlights of our fun times.

Addison's Horsey

Here is one of Addy's favorite toys, her horsey. She could be pushed around on her horsey all day long. Her favorite is when her daddy pushes her with little pushes so she gets a gallop motion and plays the music on the horse. We have to put this toy up because she tries to climb on it on her own and it is not stable for her yet. She is a cowgirl in the making!

Updates for the New Year

Addison is growing up too fast in our eyes. Everyday she is doing something new and discovering new things, some good and some not so good. We are in the process of some major baby proofing. Addy is full speed ahead when it comes to crawling. All over the house she will go to try and explore and see what she can get herself into. Her latest discovery was the new blue-ray player that is just at her level when standing up against her new stage toy. Today she was able to flip the front panel down, hit the power button and then push the play button. She was in luck because her first and only video of Elmo was inside. She has also discovered the wine rack and has multiple times tried to knock the bottles down. Seems that it is going to have to be moved. She is also pulling herself up on everything as well. She walks her way around the couch and just about anything she can hang onto. Her new favorite position is standing.

We have started out the new year with kind of a rough start. I had a really bad cold, worst then any I had in years and could hardly even function. K was sweet enough and was able to come home from work to take care of me and Addy. Unfortunately, Addison caught my cold and has been severely congested for the last few days with a major runny nose. The first night she was really congested she slept in her swing so she would be propped upright. Sleep has not been the best thing happening around here when it comes to Addison. We are working through it, but I am starting to feel the effects. Addison is getting better and still full of energy and curiosity. She has quite the personality. As soon as I can figure out how to transfer video from our video camera to the computer I will try to post a video.

We hope everyone has gotten off to a good start for 2010. We wish and pray for only the best.

Holiday Festivities

Well the holidays have come and gone....and wow what a whirlwind they have been. I think this is the busiest holiday season we have ever had. We were booked for days straight, from brunches to dinners to all in between. We enjoyed spending time with everyone, but wow what a ride. Here is a snapshot of some of our activities. Christmas Morning

Fun with Aunt Sara

Grandma

The McCurdy Gang pre-Christmas

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On the Boat in Naples for Christmas Eve

Christmas

Fun with cousin Michele

Fun with Cousin Ashley

(matching hats from Grandma)

More Cousin fun

Fun times in Naples

Thanks to everyone for all the memories. Addison really enjoyed her first Christmas. She has had lots of fun exploring all her new toys and will have fun exploring all the new toys mommy put away for a later date. We hope everyone had a joyous holiday season and look forward to connecting with those we have not seen yet in the future.

Laundry Fun

So Addison seems to have mastered the art of crawling pretty well. She has figured out how to now crawl on the wood floor and get to where ever it is she thinks she needs to go. Apparently learning to crawl recently is not good enough for her because she is now decided that she is going to work on pulling her self up to a standing position. She has a new little activity table from Grandpa and Mimi for Christmas that she loves and continually pulls herself up so she can play with it. Tonight as I was folding laundry and Addison was helping by unfolding she discovered the laundry basket. I put her inside and she thought it was fun to sit there, but then decided she was going to pull her self up to a standing position inside the basket. This was all fun and games until she did a face plant because she leaned over too much. I guess it is all part of the learning process.

We are getting ready for Christmas and Addison is excited for her first visit from Santa. This has been a big year for us as little Miss Addison has entered our lives. We are thankful and blessed to have this bundle of energy and curiosity in our lives. We are also very blessed for all the friends and family that surround us and are always there to support us. Thank you to all for your love, support and well wishes for 2009. We only pray for the best for everyone in 2010 to come. More fun and exciting things are coming!

Demboski Christmas Party

Last weekend, we attended to annual Demboski Christmas party. As usual, we had a really good time with many laughs and a visit from Santa. Addison had fun seeing her friend Allison, although we need to work on appriopriate interactions. Addison is very curious and does not understand that she can't grab another persons or baby's eyes, nose or mouth and try to pull it off. Little Miss Allison was very sweet to sit and put up with Addison. I am sure the day will come when Allison will get her back. Thank you to all the Demboski's for including us in your celebration. We are honored to spend time with all of you and the family.

Addison getting into trouble

The Mommies

Open mouth kisses

Addison is exploring Allison's face

My Little Imp

Starting to Climb

Addy as she continually slide down while trying to take a picture

On the Move

So the big news is that Addison is now crawling. Not just scooting anymore, but crawling. She is on her way to exploring the world. Last week K and I were in the other room for a minute getting ready to go somewhere and Addison got a hold of our wedding album that is under the shelf on our coffee table and started chewing on it. Daddy and her had a nice talk about what she can put in her mouth and what she is not supposed to. She does pretty well making her way around and sometimes her feet get ahead of her and she ends up with her bottom in the air. It is always an adventure.

Sleeping for miss Addison I have decided is a process. We are getting better, but then there are those moments. For example, the other night I battled with her for 2 hours to go to sleep. I would let her try to cry it out and then go in there and calm her down, she would fall asleep for a little bit and then wake up. Well that worked for a while until I went in her room and she had managed to pull herself up to a standing position and was hanging over the side of the crib. K lowered her crib down the next day. She is definitely a little girl who knows what she wants!

We have also started our journey of solid foods. Addison has been eating rice cereal for about 3 weeks now, but today got her first taste of sweet potatoes. She devoured an entire bowl and half at lunch time and when I gave her rive cereal for dinner she looked at me like, "you've got to be kidding mom...I know what the good stuff is like." I am making my own baby food, so she go straight sweet potatoes pureed up in the food processor. I have finally gotten to use that wedding gift.

We hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. It has been very busy around here. I have only one more week till my class for this month is complete (this has been the worst yet). I can't believe that Christmas is a week and a half away. We wish everyone a very happy holiday season!