Goals

When Addison was 12 weeks old I was able to start going back to weight watchers. I am a lifetime member and lost almost 60 pounds the first time I did weight watchers. It is a program that works for me and since I fell off the wagon when I got married and then had a baby to compound my issues I was ready to try again. In order to get ready to start again I ate an entire box of Kraft Mac & Cheese the night before I went back for good luck :)

I started back on November 1st and wanted to be realistic about starting a weight loss program during the holiday season (Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas, New Year, party, party, party...you know...). The first month went well and then December came. There were work Christmas parties, family parties, neighbor goodies, work junk, etc. We planned a 12 day road trip to the Pacific NW for the holiday break and I was a little nervous. I decided that my December goal would be to weigh less on January 1st then I did on December 1st and not really obsess about all the weekly weigh-ins.

I went last night to face the January scale and proudly stood 5 pounds lighter then I was on December 1st! AWESOME! I don't think I've ever maintained my weight through December, let alone managed to be so stinkin' successful. GO ME!

So this little December goal taught me a very important lesson...that I should make achievable manageable goals for my life. Do you make New Year's resolutions every year in January and not have a clue what they are by the time February 1st comes or is that just me? I seem to make so many resolutions that I don't do any of them nor remember what they even are.

So the new year has come and I have really been thinking about what I would like to accomplish this year: write in my journal, do more family history, sort through all my pictures, make a scrapbook, make my own baby food, use cloth diapers, can more produce, keep my house clean, have FHE, make dinner more often, eat out less, loose weight, run another half marathon, exercise consistently, be a better employee, read my scriptures, be better at my calling, attend the temple more regularly, do my visiting teaching the way it was intended, be more patient, pack Addison's diaper bag and my lunch the night before, kneel to say my prayers, finish my personal progress (that has like 60 goals in one), plant a garden, figure out how to make our basement a happy place, save money, not stress about our finances, pick up after myself, not swear, be happy with my appearance in every stage of the journey, furnish our front room, pay off Oliver's last student loan, increase our life insurance, help Oliver to find a new job and finish his CPA, etc...see my point - all the things that I have to work on is OVERWHELMING!

So each new year I make a list like the one above. I write it all down, look at it, become hugely overwhelmed, fold it in half, stick it in my church bag, then look at it the following new year. Helpful and inspiring huh? Not really.

So as I was blog stalking this morning I saw this wonderful woman's post about her resolutions. There are only 4! I am sure that she has other goals, dreams and aspirations, but she is picking four things to work on and measure and track. I was inspired and so I'm going to try to do the same. My December goal taught me that it's possible and I have plenty of New Year's left in my life to pick other things.

So what am I going to pick...I don't know yet...but after I make a list, consult my better half, and decide I'll let you all know.

PS I know most of you were hoping for more pics and fun holiday stories. It's coming...just probably not until this coming weekend.

Christmas Ornament

My parents bought me an ornament every year growing up and it's a tradition I wanted to carry on with Addison. My mom chose to buy an angel every year but Oliver wants to buy Addison something for her to remember her year by instead of a specific type each year. So we started the tradition for Addison this season (with just a little drama and negotiating to accompany it).
She was more interested in watching the camera than in watching the momentous event of hanging her first ornament. :)
Here is her first ornament.
For reminiscing sake...here is the first ornament I received.


Merry Christmas, we hope you all enjoy your family traditions and make new ones each year.

Christmas Party with Santa

We went to our church's Christmas Party on the 11th. Addison met Santa for the first time. There were so many other little kids and Addison was really seeing Santa for Oliver's and my benefit and so the wait was really long.
By the time she finally got to see Santa it was past her bedtime and she didn't really care.
She was too tired to give us a good smile so this is the closest we got.
It's a good thing that Addison went before her friend Sam because he thought it was really traumatic.
Next year, Addison will be just a little older than Sam is this year. We are looking forward to having some great pictures to share!

Cereal

On December 11th my parents decided that it was time for me to try cereal. I LOVED IT! I've been playing with that spoon thing for the past few weeks and chewing on it but I didn't know that something so yummy usually comes with it.
Look at me dad - I'm doing it!
I ate the whole bowl full. And then I felt sick. My tummy hurt so badly and I cried and screamed and wouldn't sleep. It was like that for two days.
My mom gave me multi-grain cereal that a friend had given her and I didn't like it...it was just too hard to digest. My mom went to the store earlier this week and bought plain rice cereal and I am still eating the whole bowl full and it's not hurting my tummy. I love dinner time with mom - it's so fun!
My dad gets home about the time I finish eating and he plays with me. I have been riding around on his shoulders lately and it is so fun. I don't know what I'm going to hold onto when he gets his hair cut...

4 Months

The day I turned 4 months I had to go to the doctor and get shots. My mom thought we should take my monthly picture the next day and it would be close enough but my dad really wanted it done on the actual day. So after getting home late from the doctor, holding me 'cause I was fussy from my shots and then getting ready for bed I was done. I didn't want to have my picture taken. But, my dad wouldn't be swayed. I tried to tell him how I felt...
But then he stuck that fun plastic thing in my mouth. I forgot how fussy I was and was reminded how much I love that clear plastic air-filled yummy thing. So I decided it would be easier to comply and just get it over with.
And then I realized that I actually love the camera. My mom's been using it almost everyday since I was born and I have become accustomed to the bright light that shines and the incessant requests for me to smile or do something else for her. I kind of like it...I think.
So I caved. The doctor told me that I'm getting skinny. My parents kind of wondered who he was talking about...but I am slimming down...I moved from the 90th percentile into the 75th. I weigh 14 pounds 11 ounces and am 25 inches long. In case you've forgotten, I'm still as cute as ever!

Glad Tidings

We're singing again this holiday season and it has been SO FUN! We practice Monday nights at my house and then we have had a few "gigs" these past few weeks spreading holiday cheer.
Love these girls! It is such a wonderful way to start the week.

Never Got Around To It

My parents had our pictures taken professional every 6 months until we went to kindergarten. I love that I have so many great pictures from when I was little. Now cameras have gotten so great and since we don't use film I can take hundreds of pics to make sure I get one that I like of Addison. I don't know if we'll take Addison every 6 months to have her picture taken, however, it was still really important to me to get Addison's picture taken when she was new. And I do think that we'll go at least once a year if it is affordable. But there's the rub - I was appalled how pricey it is to have pictures taken and be able to have a digital copy to keep...But after a lot of research I found the perfect solution for our family.

I would recommend fotofly to EVERYONE! You pay $79 for your session and the number of people at your session is unlimited (they don't punish you for having a big family). They take your family shots and they take pics of everyone individually for the same price. Your cost means that you get a disk of your edited pictures and the rights to do whatever you want with them (blog, facebook, email, costco prints, shutterfly, whatever!). They have a trendy room in their studio and a spot for a more classic look they are punctual and really made sure that we were satisfied. If you want them to print pics for you it's only $4 a sheet (1 8x10, 2 5x7, 3 4x6 etc). Having printed all our pics at Costco to own a full set - it was definitely worth having some printed nicely by them for framing because the quality was better. If you want to check it out ask me for more info (plus I get $10 for referring you...just sayin').

Anyway, I am side-tracked. I wanted nice pictures of Miss Addison so that we could do birth announcements. So when she was 8 days old we packed her up for her very first outing and went to have her picture taken. Call us crazy - but they were wonderful! I did manage to mail some of the announcements and I got some thank you cards written...but since my initial gusto I have lost my steam.

I never posted her newborn pics or her announcement on the blog because I kept meaning to send them out and didn't want to spoil the surprise. But, since they are a little out-dated and I just had Christmas cards done I thought I would post the pics now for you to enjoy...some of you will still be getting your birth announcements (they just might be included with your Christmas card).

Birthday Photo Shoot

My Aunt Rochelle bought Addison this adorable outfit when she was born. We upsized her clothes this past weekend and so this outfit made it into her closet. She wore it to church on Sunday and it was a huge hit.

My birthday - Addison's photo shoot - I love it! She loved the texture of her skirt and loved to chew on it...

Birthday Snow

We woke up Sunday morning to this:

Some might say say it was such a nice birthday gift or that it ruined my birthday or whatever. I don't love the snow if I have to go anywhere...but since it was Sunday and we didn't have any plans then it was beautiful. It was really wet and heavy snow and we have some downed tree limbs to deal with but no damage at our home which is a blessing.

Four years ago for my birthday Oliver bought me a gorgeous bracelet. Well, it got lost somewhere during our move from our townhouse to our current house. I have really missed it and so I was really excited that he replaced my lost mountain bracelet for my special day.

Aunt Missy bought Addison this snow suit while I was pregnant. She got it on a great sale and I have been waiting for a reason for Addison to wear it. After admiring the snow we decided to get to work shovelling so that we could get out of driveway and get to church.

It's the only thing that Addison can stand up in - it is so comfy and cushioney it doesn't allow her to fall over :)

She sat outside in a camp chair to supervise the shovelling. She also doesn't normally sit up by herself so this is a very specially powered snowsuit :)

White-winter-wonderland.

I had a great birthday. My only request was to stay home all day - it is so nice to spend time at home sometimes. Addison slept in until 7:30 and then other than church - I got my wish. I made my own dinner and dessert but I didn't mind because I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything! I was in bed by 8:30 and it was wonderful!

Fall Leaves and a Little Lovin'

On Saturday morning we watched our friends kids and we put them to work :) We needed to get the leaves racked and the Christmas lights up because it was supposed to snow. Here's Jackson getting ready to help rake.

Addison and Londyn watched from the leaf pile. Londyn was really helpful for the first hour raking and carrying bags and entertaining Addison. She did a fair amount of jumping into the piles and carrying small piles from one pile to another all over the yard. Eventually she and I went inside to make muffins because Oliver was a little tired of re-raking everything four and five times and he just wanted to get it done.

I tired to get a picture of all three kids. Jackson sat for less than half a second...needless to say it's not that easy to do...

Londyn loved jumping into the huge pile!

Jackson was smitten by Addison. He started this far away from her and would turn to look at me to make sure he was a good safe distance and not getting into trouble.

It didn't last long...he wanted to love on her...

Addison would just laugh and giggle and then Jackson would laugh...they were so funny playing together.

And Jackson loved her hair bow.

They were such a joy to have over to play. We can't wait for them to come back again! Addison is really looking forward to going to play at their house next!

Rubba-dub-dub in the Kitchen Sink

Addison's bum exploded up her back, over her shoulders and into her hair...needless to say she needed a bath STAT! But I was in the middle of dinner with stuff in various stages on the stove-top and Oliver wasn't home from work. So I stripped her down and put her in the kitchen sink to play.
Oliver walked in from work and was wondering why she was in the sink...sometimes you just have to make do with what options are available at the moment.

She loves the water - doesn't matter if it's the shower or bathtub or kitchen sink - she's a water baby and we love her!