Reflection

Have you seen the beautiful girl in the mirror?

She laughs, waves, smiles, whacks, drools, grins, and yells just like me!

I love her.

Easter Basket

Oliver and Addison discovered her Easter basket on Sunday morning while mom made breakfast.  Yes, I'll agree, there is something totally wrong with that scenario.  He was just so excited for her and who am I to ruin their fun.  Since I couldn't see her reaction I made him take pictures. 

 

She loved it - like she does just about everything.

 However, her very favorite Easter morning find were the seed packets that mom got in her basket. 

What can we say - she loves things that rattle!

Heirloom Rocking Horse

Oliver's grandparents are selling their home.  His grandpa built the home almost 60 years ago!  Oliver's mom grew up in that home and it is the gathering place of the Lyon Family.  It is a sad occasion because of all the fond memories of their home.  Oliver's grandma has set up a family DI/goodwill in the basement so that people can pick a memento or two if they desire.  We went down during the Easter celebration and were able to get some great things including this awesome two-headed rocking horse for Addison.  I can't wait until cousin Aiden comes over so we can see if two kids really fit on it! 

 

 

Addison rides it all by herself and loves it!  What a wonderful treasure for our family to have and a great keepsake to remember Grandma and Grandpa Lyon.  They aren't moving far and are beginning another fun and exciting adventure...we're just sad to see this one closing.

He's the Best

Egg Hunt

Addison attended her very first Easter egg hunt with her cousins.  Her generous Aunt Kathy planned all the fun and Addison was so glad to be included.  Here are the kids getting their instructions before the mad dash began (please don't mind the nose picker - it's a phase). 

 

Addison had been playing with our eggs at home all week and loved that they rattle when she shook them.  She got so excited when her dad placed her in front of an egg!

Look this one rattle too!

In fact, all she cared about was her one egg that rattled.  She wasn't really interested in picking up any additional eggs.

 But dad was and so she humored him...but not for long. 

The purple egg was the favorite.

See dad - it's the best egg of the whole bunch!

Did You Know Teeth Actually DO SOMETHING

Addison had a brilliant realization this past week - her teeth are meant for something!  She learned that she could bight chunks off her food and put it in her mouth.  I USED TO give her slices of fruit and vegetables to gnaw on while I cooked and prepared meals - however, this is what happened when I gave her a pear wedge...

 

 

She bit her pear into chunks and kept shoving every piece possible into her mouth!  Oliver and I laughed and laughed at her new found skill and then I reached to take a piece out of her mouth.  Well I took one out, and then another, and then another and there were FIVE pieces shoved in her cheeks.  While it kept her occupied for about 15 minutes - it does present a slight choking hazard - and so I now chunk her food and only put a few piece on her tray at a time.  She thinks that everything on her tray should be in her mouth before she can start chewing.  She does love to eat!

Lawn Mowing Season Again

It's that time of year again when the lawn mowing begins.  I hate this part of the year - well I actually only hate that the lawn mowing eats into an hour of our Saturday.  You might be thinking, why don't you just mow a different day, well Oliver likes to do it and he likes it done a certain way.  While I am quite capable at pushing a lawn mower, Oliver would prefer that I not and so it gets done every Saturday.

We tried to see if Addison still enjoyed mowing with her dad (remember the first time).  It didn't go quite as well as last time but I'm excited to see if she likes it better when we get our hiking backpack because she is getting just a little big for the Baby Bjorn. 

Yay for Spring and planting and gardening and outside fun - boo for repetitive lawn mowing.  Can't it just do itself? 

Easter Packages and Love

Addison received a ton of love throughout the Easter season.  She received packages in the mail from Nana and Aunt Kelly.  She received a basket from her grandparents and a shopping bag of new clothes from my neighbor who just HAD to go into the Oshkosh-b'gosh outlet in St. George.  I took pictures of her opening her packages that came in the mail a few days before Easter because I couldn't wait to see what was in them - she probably could have - but it's much more fun to have something to open every day then all at once!

She was so excited!

Actually she was just happy to have the package and she didn't even care that there was something inside the pretty paper.  Unlike Christmas she had no interest in helping tear off that paper or find the treasure inside.  She just wanted to hold the packages, shake them and laugh!

 

But I DID care what was in the packages and so they were eventually all opened.  She received books, clothes, toys and even a chocolate bunny (with instructions to share with mom and dad).  It was a wonderful Easter!

I'm A Reader

I left Addison in the family room the other day so that I could go to the bathroom.  When I came back she had rolled across the floor to get a book and read by herself.  She was telling herself the whole story and enjoying some time to herself.

We're a family of readers and glad to have one more in our midst.  (Please note: Addison would like you to believe that she doesn't know how to roll to get anything and we do our best to play into her deception.)

Crusing and Standing

Addison would prefer to be standing all of the time.  Sometimes I sit for about an hour and just hold her upright so that she can see what's going on around her.  She stands holding onto the pew for most of Sacrament Meeting and she cries if she isn't done standing and you put her on her bum.  Keeping her upright all of the time can be a tiring endeavor and so I taught her how to stand using our stair railing.  She loves it and I can fold laundry or just sit and talk to her without holding her upright (plus the toe/foot shaped bruises on my thighs are yellowing and should be gone in the next week because of her new-found skill). 

She has also learned how to go from one railing to the next.  She isn't very sure footed and she is learning about where her head is in relation to the railing (because she keeps trying to lean forward and smacks her head into it).  

 

I'm sure she'll be standing on her own in no time!  And, no, she still doesn't roll over to go places or crawl.  She just prefers to stand, cruise and scream until you place her where she wants to be.  She does know how to roll-over, she just has everyone in her life convinced that they should relocate her instead.  Much easier!

Play Date or Bridal Shower

Our friend Nicki Blair is getting married and so I helped with her bridal shower.  Mary hosted the shower at her house in Ogden and our kids hadn't seen each other since Addison's blessing (remember this).  They have grown so much since then and had a great time playing together. 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure Elliott and Addison will be friends for years to come - and I promise when I attend Nicki's wedding the pictures will look more like we're at a wedding event then a kids play date.  You'll have to admit the kids are pretty cute though...

Playin' the Drum

A friend of ours was getting rid of a bag of toys.  I agreed to come and pick them all up and take what I wanted and then deliver the rest to the DI.  It was a great trade-off and Addison got some wonderful new toys to play with.  She loves this drum that says each alphabet letter in succession as she bangs on it.  I like that we have new noise making toys to rotate through so I don't have to listen to the same one everyday!

Our neighbors son was trying to borrow some Micky ears to wear to Girls Pref and so I acted as middle man and tried to borrow some from another friend and help out my neighbor.  They weren't exactly the ears we had in mind - but Addison liked wearing them anyway.

Needless to say - our neighbor made some out of a baseball hat and plates :)

8 Months

I think I keep saying that the time is flying and it still is.  Addison had her 8 month birthday yesterday and she seems to have changed so much this last month.  Her looks are very much the same but she is turning into such a fun girl. 

Her favorite position is standing and she yells at you if you seat her after you have been helping her stand.  She could stand for 30 minutes at a time if we would help her. 

She is also learning to get up in a crawl position.  She doesn't go anywhere and she hasn't started rocking yet, but all these first steps will one day lead to a mobile baby.  She will be much happier once she can be mobile and get to where she is trying to go.  Currently, she is just angry that she can't move herself and get her body to sit upright after she topples over.

I don't know if you've noticed lately, but she has her mouth open in most pictures.  She totally knows what the camera is and isn't shy to perform with a squealing laugh.  She is a little diva and has her dad wrapped around her finger.  She has a new little shakin' dance that she loves to perform and she loves that people think she is SO CUTE!  She is now 19.6 pounds and 26.5" long (according to home stats).  She waves all the time and at everyone that will pay any attention to her, she had her first sick day (fever 102.6 & cold) this past month and she has firmly established a two-per-day nap schedule (which makes it easier to run errands on the weekend).  She is wearing 9 month clothes and sleeping a little more than 12 hours per night.  She still will eat everything we offer her and she is now sleeping not swaddled which took a little adjustment.  She can turn on the mobile in her crib and find her binky and put it back into her mouth.  If she drops something she knows where to look for it and she remembers where she last pushed her binky and will seek it.  She is very vocal and knows exactly what she wants and she will keep letting you know it until you figure it out and give it to her!

She continues to be a huge joy and we love her!

Car Seat - oh the woes

Addison is getting too long for her bucket seat, she is almost to the weight limit, and she hates to be reclined.  Costco sells $85.99 car seats that are both rear and forward facing.  We have to purchase two car seats because Oliver takes Addison to day care in one car and I pick her up...

I bought both car seats at the Lehi Costco (Sandy was out) on Tuesday and barely fit them into the Ford.  In fact, I had to take them out of the boxes and shove everything into the car.  We let Addison try out her new car seat on Wednesday night and she was so much happier to be sitting upright. 

Oliver went to install them while I was at YW last night and they don't fit in either car!  She still needs to be rear facing and the instructions say the car seat is required to be fully reclined while it is rear facing.  Even with the seat all the way forward the car seat does not fit in either the Ford nor the Subaru.  Not to sure what our next plan is.  Oliver got online to try to find a solution and there were tons of similar complaints and even pictures showing that it doesn't fit in a van either...So we're still driving around with an unhappy girl while we try to find a better solution.

Loves to Read

 Both Oliver and I love to read - and since we have our TV in the basement - we find ourselves reading a lot!  (I hate our basement because it's freezing).  My parents are both avid readers and I believe that kids reading anything/everything is great...if Addison wants to read the encyclopedia or comics I don't really care - I just want her to read.  We recently rearranged our house furniture (my favorite past time) and now our rocker is in our front room.  Addison and I had story time in there yesterday and she loved her new surroundings and she loved her books.

She finished her Book of Mormon reader for the first time yesterday, I'm sure we'll cycle through hundreds more times!  Also, I have to figure out how to track down more Raffi Board Books because she gets SO EXCITED to read/sing Baby Beluga! 

So Blessed

We received a $50 check in the mail!  It was a reimbursement from our medical insurance company for services rendered 1/9/2010.  I have looked back through our records and have no idea what they are refunding us for because I don't know why we would have been at the doctor's on Saturday.  (We actually keep immaculate records and can tell you where we have spent every penny we have ever spent since we were married.)

The only Saturday appointment I can remember since getting married is Oliver's stitches - which was in February 2010. 

We paid a ton of money for services in January - a trip to the hospital for re-hydration of a deathly sick pregnant woman, tons and tons of prescriptions for me to try to figure out how Addison and I could happily co-exist without puking her out, doctors visit after doctors visit to try to change and my meds so everyone could be happy, our first ultrasound...

Either way - yay for an unexpected windfall that is going straight to our student loan!  Oliver and I set a very ambitious goal to pay off our last student loan by the end of 2011 and we made a detailed plan to get it done.  From the moment that he and I began implementing our plan we have been blessed beyond words. 

I testify that Heavenly Father knows us and wants us to reach our goals - however insignificant we might think they are.  I also testify that He can better help us when we include Him in the process of making our plans and when we act in faith to carry out those plans.  I know that we are not going unnoticed.  I know that not all blessings happen in the way we envision and not all prayers for financial freedom are immediately answered - but I am loving all the steps along the way.  Thanks for $50 more!

Our Garden Gnome

Oliver makes fun of me because I take pictures of Addison doing everything (our blog is clear evidence of his point).  When Addison got out of the tub on Saturday she was playing in the front room in her hooded towel and I thought that she looked like a yard gnome.  

 

Wouldn't you agree?

Conference

This weekend was General Conference for our church.  Saturday and Sunday we are able to watch the Apostles and other leaders of our church speak.  Where we live, conference runs from 10 - 12 and from 2 - 4 both days.  It is awesome that we can watch it on TV because when I was in Oregon, if we didn't have cable, we would dress in Sunday clothes and watch it at our church building.  I do love church in pajamas! 

Last October Addison was barely 2 months old and conference wasn't that great.  I was exhausted and she wasn't on a great schedule and so I saw some of it, fed her, tried to keep her happy, and slept.  I was really looking forward to this general conference because Addison naps from 2 - 4 everyday and so I knew that we would get to watch at least 2 sessions! 

Our basement is freezing because we have some furnance issues but that is where we keep our TV.  We don't watch a lot of TV anymore because of it - which is a good thing.  We decided to bring our TV upstairs for conference where it would be warmer and we could putter and get some other things done at the same time.  

Addison was mesmerized by the TV.  She hasn't watched much, if any, TV in her life and she was enchanted. 

She has gotten to a point where when I pull out the camera she turns and looks at me and smiles.  But I could not get her attention to save my life!  I like to think that she knew what was going on and could tell that men of God were speaking to her - but then it could have just been the flashy screen :)

Saturday she watched the whole first hour of conference captivated by the televison and the we played and had lunch during the second hour and she napped all afternoon.  Sunday she did almost as well and we introduced the laundry basket as a fun toy.

She loves to stand right now and gets angry if you put her back in a sitting position when she has been standing.  She could stand for forever!  She is growing so quickly and just so fun.