9 Months!

It's hard to believe that a year ago I was feeling my sweet little girl kick and play in my belly and enjoying the amazing feelings and experiences that pregnancy brings. Now, my little girl is here and playing and climbing on EVERYTHING. She has grown so much from that little pea in my belly to my chunky monkey little princess. Addelynn turned 9 months on Monday and I just can't grasp the idea that in a few short months she will be a year old!

She is such an amazing little girl. I love walking into her room each morning to see her either playing sweetly in her crib or standing with outstreched arms waiting for me to scoop her up and start the day.

She is still a sensitive girl, always wanting to be by "ma ma" and be held. She doesn't like to feel for one second that she is alone (like if we walk into the kitchen to grab something and are out of her sight for just a split second) and absolutely loves to sit on your lap and play, play, play. I still rock her to sleep at night because she doesn't like being left alone to fall asleep on her own. I don't mind too much because she will sleep 12-13 hours once she's in her crib.

Motherhood is definately the most challenging, but also incredibly rewarding thing that I have ever done in my life. I love that I am able to stay home with her and watch her learn and grow every day. Yes, there are times I am completely stir crazy and yes I do miss having money in my checking account, but at the end of the day when I am kissing my sweet baby goodnight I am so thankful that I chose this path. I am also thankful for a husband that does everything he can to make sure that he's providing for our family.

I guess I have come to realize that you don't need material things or the persona that you have a lot of material things to be truly happy. Josh and I used to eat our atleast 2 to 3 times a week when we were both working and could go out and splurge on big and nice things, but it's funny how having children brought us back down to reality. I don't have the luxury of going out and spending money just to spend it, but I do have the luxury of seeing that Addelynn is happy, healthy, and loved. I have the reassurance that she is safe and being taught and exposed to the things that I would want for her and not a daycare facility. Kind of got off on a tangent, I guess my point is that so many of us are going through really hard times financially, but it is so reassuring to look at our sweet babies and know we are doing the right things for our families.

Addelynn's stats at her checkup on Monday were:
Weight- 19lbs 13oz (70th percentile)
Height- 28.5 inches (5oth percentile)
Head- 18 inches (90th percentile)

Addelynn at 9 months:
- crawling and climbing on anything and everything
- scaling walls, couches, cabinets, and anything else that helps her walk the room
- says "da da", "ma ma", "ne ne", "na na", and lots of random phonemes
- loves music and will wiggle her legs and arms when she hears it
- has 2 teeth still but we think she is going to get the top pretty soon...teething alot lately
- loves to play peek a boo
- squirmy, wormy when we try to change her = not fun, lol
-has just mastered her "pincher" fingers and can now feed herself food
- still very needy and loves to be held, loved, and played with
- still LOVES food and will eat pretty much anything and everything that we feed her
-happy and healthy :)

Josh and I really are so grateful that Heavenly Father send us such a wonderful little girl to our family. I have to admit now that she is getting bigger and so mobile, I am getting baby hungry again! I sure do miss being pregnant and then having the little, tiny baby to hug and cuddle. We shall see what this next year brings us :)

What the two months!

I can't believe I haven't posted in over 2 months! That is a little pathetic on my part. I mostly am too lazy to get my camera out and upload all the pics...and what's a post without pics?!? Anyhow, I need to try to be better for my own sake.

Addelynn will be nine months old in just a few weeks. I can't believe how quickly time is flying by. I look at old pictures of her and sometimes it's hard for me to remember her being that small! I hope this is normal and not a sign of early alzheimers.

Addelynn is very mobile. I will have to post pics of her owies (sp?) a little later that chronicles her crawling and climbing on EVERYTHING! She is also saying a few words...for some reason she calls me "ne ne" or at least that's what she says when she wants me. She does say "da da" and that seems to be her favorite word. It's adorable to hear her sweet little voice. She used to say "mmmm" all the time so I was sure she would say "ma ma" soon, but nada yet.

Addelynn has been sleeping through the night for a few months now....and all without crying it out. I am a huge fan of the no cry method and it has worked well for us. We just now started cutting out her 3rd nap, which allows her to go to bed a bit earlier each night, which is nice for Josh and I. She does anywhere from 11-13 hours a night, most of the time 12 hours is a typical night.

She still loves food and will crawl over to Josh and I whenever we are eating. She actually gets mad and throws a fit if we don't let her try what we are eating. This gets tricky as most 8 month olds can't eat even a portion of what we eat, so needless to say I have learned to eat really fast and be super sly about it. She will crawl over to me if she even sees me chewing, no food even present! It's pretty funny. I think she just REALLY loves food!

I am venturing out and doing my own in home preschool. The licensing through the state is pretty tedious. I now realize why most people don't even bother. They make it so complicated, no joke like 12 forms to fill out, a huge list of requirements for the home inspection, etc. I also have to go to an orientation in West Phoenix. It will be great in the long run, but geesh is it a pain right now! Kind of stressing me out for those of you that know me, lol.

Josh will continue to be on swings for this next year. Shift change starts next month. This works perfect for the preschool because he can watch Addey for the two and a half hours I am teaching. I just really miss having him home for dinner and bedtimes, but what can you do? Hopefully when Addelynn is a little older, Josh will have enough seniority to move to days. Although, days are dreadfully boring from what I hear, so I don't know if I could put him through that torture. He does get 3 days off a week and our lunches are kind of our dinners, so it sort of evens out.

Fathers Day is coming up. Any cute ideas from my crafty and thrifty friends out there? This is Josh's first official Father's Day so I want to make it special, but we are on a budget which makes it hard. I am open to ideas :)

Hopefully I will get my classroom up in the next week and then I can post some pictures. Ahhh, what was I thinking trying to open a preschool with a 8 month old! I barely have time to keep up with dishes and laundry let alone get my house ready for an inspection and set up a whole classroom!


Addelynn is such a happy baby. I don't think I could ever get tired of seeing her beautiful smiles!

She ADORES her Daddy! I have caught some pretty precious moments between the two of them. I sure do hope these tender moments continue throughout her life :)

She loves to sit and play, although her most favorite thing right now is climbing....climbing on the couch, up on our entertainment center, on plain old walls, and even up on us when we are standing! She is everywhere and on anything that is the slightest bit taller than her.

We took a trip up to our good friends' cabin a few weeks ago and I had to make sure my most precious cargo was packed!