Big stuff

So I totally forgot to mention the momentous occasion.......drumroll, please......paci is gone forever (for Addie at least)!!! She had two that she affectionately named "blue" and "yellow." (smart girl because those were indeed their colors) Well, yellow got a little hole in it, so he sort of got tossed to the side for a while and blue became her best friend. Then, blue took a turn for the worst so she threw it away and said bye-bye to blue because it's broken. That was about two weeks ago. So she went back to yellow, simply dealing with the small hole. We knew it was only a matter of time before she tossed yellow aside again because of the lack of sucking power. At this point it was just something to chew on and hold in her mouth. Well, yellow gradually got worse and worse due to said chewing on and finally, Wednesday night, Addie walked over to the trash can and said bye bye to yellow. It was broken. Done deal. And by the way, I had refused to buy a new paci for a two-year-old, so we prepped for this time. Thanks to Barney, Addie found a yellow blanket in our big pile o' baby blankets and decided that this could be her friend (Baby Bop has a yellow blankie and there's a song about it on one of our videos). So, during the transition from two pacis to one to none, Addie became friends with yellow blankie. She now sleeps with it and ever since Wednesday night, has slept quite soundly without paci. (knock on wood) Naps are a different story, but I'd rather have a good night's sleep than worry about naps.

We also purchased blackout curtains for Addie's room since it faces the west and thus has sun shining in it until past bedtime. They came in pink--pretty bright--but look great, work great, and didn't cost us too much money. We got a cute curtain rod so now her room is starting to become her cute girl room.

Ethan during all this time is just watching the world go by. He's so precious and quite content to sit and play for a while. However, yesterday and today he has decided that he can roll around and get what he wants. He tries to get up on all fours and go after what he wants, so I anticipate crawling coming in the next month (Addie was 8.5 months when she finally crawled, so he's got a couple of weeks to tie her...don't worry, I know every child is different!).

What we learned recently...

...a huge tub of A&D lasts about 7 months.

...true friends really will do anything for you. (a huge thanks to Joy for rinsing out Ethan's clothes last night when he decided to have the hershey squirts at their house and needed to pretty much be hosed down. good thing they have a little boy as well, so Ethan was able to wear one of Dawson's onesies that was a few sizes too big, but worked nonetheless since I packed a great diaper bag with the exception of the one thing we needed most: a change of clothes.)

...Addison is pretty much at the age where a nice trip to the mall isn't so nice anymore.

...there are nice strangers out there who give you random coupons at The Children's Place, thereby saving you money while buying the kids' swimsuits.

...you really do need to watch what you do because you never know who's watching :) (case in point: Addie was crying the other day because she was tired and didn't know what she wanted and as I tried to calm her down and prepare her for naptime--not so easy--she suddenly stopped crying and started staring at the living room window where her little boyfriend from two doors down was standing and starting to talk to her. The windows were open and he decided to make himself at home and come on over. Weird, but funny. He's 4.)

I think I pretty much finished up what I wanted to say yesterday or whatever day I last blogged. :) Happy June!!!!! :)

Oh, and just because she's about the cutest little neice anyone could ever ask for, here's a pic of Ava. :) I love her and can't wait to see her again (hopefully in a few weeks if all goes well).