Wednesday, February 28, 2007

End of February

I am so excited to begin a new month tomorrow--March is the month spring comes (and my birthday)! :)



I was just watching Addie this morning and once again (as always) captivated by how absolutely adorable everything she does is. Well, maybe not everything. The mornings are fun because she wakes up happy (praise the Lord!) and is in good spirits...until nap time comes. This morning I wasn't quite ready when she was, so I changed her and put her in our room while I finished brushing my teeth and such real quick. She just sat there and played with her toys, so content, and so dramatic. I looked at her at one point and I promise she straightened herself up and threw herself onto her back (she was on the soft bed), then looked at me and smiled. What a cheeseball.



So then comes nap time. Addie still needs a morning nap...you can see it in her eyes and hear it in her whines. But, she has been refusing this week to go to bed. The last two mornings, I don't hear anything for a while and I think, cool, she must've fallen asleep finally. Nope...

She's sitting up having a good ol' time. Funny stuff. This picture was actually after she woke up from a nap. I guess it's her new favorite thing...only a matter of time before she is standing when I go into her room!

Then there's the new faces and noises. She gets stuck on new syllables and facial expressions for days a time. Right now, Addie is really good a rolling her tongue when she talks. Must be all the Baby Einstein toys we have that are bilingual. :) I suspect some teeth are coming soon since she's been doing weird things with her mouth and tongue.


I was watching a show this morning and they had people write in about their job perks. After hearing all of the companies who give employees things like five weeks of vacation, all expense paid trips, season tickets to ball games, and even one company who has their own pond and you can fish on your lunch break and keep your catch, I thought about my job perks as a teacher (you know there are many perks to being a mom). Teacher perks are certainly not monitary, but they are amazing. Aside from summer, spring, and Christmas breaks, you have the instrinsic rewards of seeing students achieve amazing things. There are the students who come to you so excited because they passed a test or are doing well in a certain class, and they just wanted you to know because they knew you'd be proud. There are the students who ask you to come watch them play in their basketball game or run track or play soccer because they want you to see them doing something they enjoy and are good at. There are the students who start out the school year thinking they are all that a bag of chips, but you keep on them because you know they need positive attention and discipline, and then even after they are done with your class, they are still visiting you, excited to let you know what's going on in their life, because they know you care. It's such a rewarding job, I'm so glad God blessed me with the passion for teaching.

Take care and welcome March!! :)

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Being a Queen

This is going to be short...but I wanted to share an article that I just read. I linked onto it from another person's blog and found the article really interesting. It takes a few minutes to read, but I thought it was neat. It's an inspiring read for those of us sometimes frustrated or angry with our husbands, but willing to let God step in and have grace take over. Here's the link:
http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/How_To_Homeschool/articles/articles.php?aid=69

Friday, February 23, 2007

Almost March...

This is just a random picture...no big story behind it...thought you might enjoy seeing another picture of Addie in action. :) This is taken a couple of weeks ago when we went to visit Memaw and the rest of the gang (aka Brad's fam).

I was talking with my friend, Joy, last night (her blog is Wilkins' link on the right) and giving her a hard time about not posting a new blog in a while. Oops...guess I'm a little hypocritical! Turns out she had the excuse of the internet being down for the past week. My excuse? Umm...we'll blame the little one! :)

Last night, we thought we had the first of our crawling "steps." A friend came over to drop off some things, so we were all on the floor playing with Addie, who kept literally cracking herself up. She would sit there and all the sudden just giggle and slap her hands on her legs. It was the cutest thing ever. Anyhow, apparently she wanted to show off for our friend Jen, so she actually crawled forward for the first time ever. She only went a couple of "steps" (what do you call them when they are crawling?!) before flattening herself out. I tried to get her to do it this morning, but she wasn't interested. Oh well...it won't take long now!

My parents are going on vacation. I'm jealous. They will be enjoying the warm sunshine. Good for them, though! I guess I did just go enjoy warm sunshine less than two months ago! Spoiled we are!! I love vacationing! I look forward to some day taking Addie to places like Disney World and other not-so-expensive places. :)

Bring on Spring! I'm ready!!!

Friday, February 16, 2007

8 months!

Here she is...our 8 month old! Happy as could be. Although this time I could hardly get her to sit there long enough for me to take the picture. Notice her left hand is trying to grab teddy bear. :)
And this is the 5 foot snow mountain in our backyard. We got the snowstorm on Tuesday and woke up Wednesday to see what the wind had created. I captured it the best I could while standing inside and looking through the window. But 5 feet was not an exaggeration! It really is that tall!
And we'll end with this picture of our cutie-pie. She's really getting into the concept of attempting to pull herself up using anything she can (her favorites are mommy and daddy and the coffee table). She mostly stays on her knees thus far, but is trying harder to get onto her feet.

Still no crawling. Addie pushes herself everywhere backwards while on her belly, but still no forward motion.

Anyhow...supposed to be a heat wave of 30 degrees soon... :) Looking forward to spring...

Monday, February 12, 2007

Woah baby

You saw it here first:Addie makes her first attempt to pull herself onto the chair I'm sitting in. I needed to check email real quick, and she had just woken up from her nap when I was about to do that. So, I put her on the floor next to me with a few toys. Next thing I know, she grabs onto the chair, pulls herself over and up, onto the knees, and as you can see, has one foot ready to go. She couldn't quite figure out how to get the rest of the way up, but she was enjoying every minute of trying. I was in total shock. I was glad I had my new picture-capable phone next to me because I wouldn't have had time to get the camera from another room. (oh, and for those curious minds out there...yes, this is a lawn chair in the picture! It's our make-shift computer chair which we have yet to purchase! :) )
She is so incredibly cute and funny. We just love watching her grow and learn. And she loves to entertain! As she did all weekend--Saturday with Brad's family and yesterday with mine. The girl talks and laughs and smiles all the time. Thank you, Lord!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Go Colts!


This is about the best picture we could get with a camera phone and one tired baby. But we just wanted to share this picture to show that the little one was cheering for the Colts, too! :) Okay, so she napped through part of the first half, then was in bed during the third quarter...
Addie's doing well...she's growing so much so fast. She's not crawling yet, but still rocking on all fours. Yesterday, she got on her stomach and pushed herself backwards all over the living room. She only fussed when she had finally backed herself away from toys and into her exersaucer where she couldn't go backwards anymore.
We're working on the sippy cup. She gets to enjoy some juice while we teach her how to use the cup by herself. She gets really excited. She knows where her mouth goes, what she's supposed to suck out of, and she even grabs the handles. But she doesn't realize that to make something come out, she has to tip it up. When you try to show her what to do, she lets go. Then she grabs it again, shakes it and smiles as the liquid moves all over the place. Thank goodness for sippy cups and to no-spillage action!
We're trying to stay warm...hope you are doing the same (unless you're already in a warm climate, then never mind...I'm jealous!).