Visitors and Happy Things

We've had a few visitors this past month and we're loving it! Eliza and the girls drove through on their journey out west and Addi was in heaven. We haven't had many playdates and I think Addison really misses friends coming over. It was only for a few hours, but they played hard with all the toys and had fun doing it. Auntie Kate flew in for a short visit and we went to the airport to pick her up. Addison really really wanted her to paint her nails for her. She picked out her own polish and packed it in the car. We were grateful to see family even if it was only for a few hours at a time.

Addison and Dave planted a very small garden. Addison waters it a few times a week when we can remember and we try to pull weeds as well. The other day while water the fence I mean the garden Addison brought over some peas. We finally have something to pick! She's enjoyed picking all the peas and maybe one of these days she'll actually eat one! It was raining one weekend so we headed to an indoor train exhibit. It was pretty cool and it had some additional activities that Addison enjoyed. There was a Thomas the Train ride that you could go on that broke down half way through. It was really embarrassing having to be pushed while sitting on a mini sized train. Addison and Avery just waved away at the the people staring at us. It was a good family day!

Back to Father's Day

Rewind back to Father's Day! My dad told me he lives a life of unfulfilled expectations...so this year there was a lot of pressure!! I'm loving living by my parents to celebrate holidays together. My mom hosted this year which was fabulous. I brought dessert which was strawberry rhubarb cobber with ice cream. It's Dave's favorite and it turning into mine as well! My mom and I prepared a really nice meal and let the dads relax and take naps. Addison picked out a superman flying toy for Dave that she secretly wanted herself. She told him about it the day we came home from the store. We're still working on the element of surprise around here. I gave Dave some roasting sticks for a fire pit that we picked up from my parents. My siblings and I put together a scavenger hunt with funny clues for my dad. At each clue was a gift card to Home Depot for him to get something for the Idaho cabin. It was a great day celebrating the wonderful men in our lives. Dave is a million times more patient than I am with the girls and I use his example everyday. He lets me sleep in on Saturdays without complaining or he knows how much happier I am with an extra hour of sleep! He listens to my worries and struggles with an open mind and heart. The girls adore spending time with him. We've started a little tradition that Addison goes out on a daddy or mommy date alone once a week. This usually includes some form of ice cream. It melts my heart how excited all day she is until Dave gets home. I'm sure Avery will enjoy these experiences as well when she gets older. One way or another everyone says that Addison and Avery look like Dave so I'm grateful to have to reminder:) Katie coined a new phrase for my dad which is, "Juan in a Million." He truly is and always will be. He's a great dad, but an even better Papa. He helps out with the girls and is always thoughtful to me. The girls and I are pretty lucky to be surround by such amazing men.

Take Me Out To The Humidity...

Dave, Addison and Avery are now experienced major league baseball goers! There was an afternoon Red's game and we headed down to see it. It was in the 90's with probably at least 90% humidity! Poor Addison was wearing a heavy shirt and her face was beat red the whole time. The girl's and I enjoyed clapping, cheering and doing the wave. We'll have to work on Dave's sportsmanship for next time:) The Red's won so they did fireworks at the end which Addison was a little concerned about. We lucked out and found a stand that sold dollar hot dogs which saved us about 50 dollars in crap food. I love going to see the Red's I have a lot of really good memories going with my family. We sat almost at the top, but it was shaded and we could see all the boats on the river. Avery was pretty cute waving and clapping at people too! Here's to 4 more years of Red's games for the Michael family! 

A Big Old Sneeze

We went and got Addison's yearly pictures taken and she actually smiled! It was amazing the difference from last years to this. Her hair has grown a ton and she looks like a big girl instead of a toddler. I'll enjoy looking at these for the next year:) On a side note the same week we took these cute pictures this child decided to shove a piece of popcorn up her nose. We were driving home from target after swim lessons and I got Addison some popcorn like we always do. She told me to look back at her and as I did she shoved a big piece up her nose and sniffed it really hard up. I tried to stay calm and pulled over. At this point Addison was screaming because I think it scared her. I tried to get her to blow it out, but she kept sniffing up and up making it worse. I ran home and we all changed out of bathing suits and I grabbed lunch for everyone. I knew that we would be in the ER for a long time since we had to go to the base. As we pulled in and I get Avery all fed and situated Addison has a huge sneeze and the now even bigger kernel comes flying out. I grab it with a wipe to take a picture to prove what she put me through that day! Oh this wild child of mine!!! I was extremely grateful that it came out on its own rather than going into the ER. That wouldn't of gone very well so this was much more pleasant even if it involved a lot of snot!

Mr. Handyman Dave

Moving into a new place always entails a lot of projects. Dave has been a really good sport and has helped me compete almost everything I've asked:) Dave bought a kit to make a picnic table. Addison sat by him and watched and helped him build it. I love it! We've eaten outside a lot on in and it's perfect for when we have friends over. The next project was painting black stripes on our wall in the kitchen. Dave tried to put his foot down on this one, but he actually likes how it turned out. I guess I should note that we first tried to use vinyl to do the stripes, but they shrank at the top and bottom. We tried using staples to hold them in, but it looked ghetto. When the girls and I went away to Utah/Idaho Dave surprised us and actually painted them. He is very good at straight lines and being exact. It looks great! The playroom has been a labor of love as well. Dave put up vinyl cloud decals that I had bought on a wall. He patiently stood with the laser pointer and hung them straight and even. We then went to IKEA and bought three book shelves to make into toy holders and a bench seat. Dave was able to figure out the mechanics of it since I only had a picture to work from. It makes the room look complete and all the toys organized. I am very lucky that Dave makes my ideas come to life!

Little Baker

This is from Addison's birthday, but it was too cute to let pass. She wanted to make her own cupcakes for her party. I had already bought a groupon for some cupcakes, but she insisted. She picked funfetti with purple frosting. She cracked her own eggs (including a few shells), put in the oil and used the mixer all by herself. I was really proud of her and she could hardly wait for each batch to get finished in the oven! Putting on the frosting was the best part for her. She did a whole lot of licking and not a lot of putting on the cupcakes! We let Addison and her friends eat those cupcakes:) I think that we'll start this as a tradition!

Friends Till the End

Addison is pretty lucky to have some thoughtful friends in her life. A few weeks after her birthday she got a cute little package from her BFF Will in Buffalo. It has been hard for Addison to say goodbye to her friends and understand that don't see them anymore. We facetimed Will to say thank you and they enjoyed showing each other their new toys. Kalei and Addison have been pen paling each other. Addison sent her 3 year old picture and a page that she painted. She just got in the mail a really fun photo book with a bunch of old pictures. She hasn't put it down since she opened it and we both love looking at it. I hope she realizes how much she is loved by these special little friends! On a side note we're meeting up with the Quinn's in two weeks for Dave's birthday in Pittsburgh! We're all really excited and Addison will be on cloud nine to see them!!

Avery Mae 10 Months and Counting...

We're on the downhill countdown till Avery Mae is one!! Everyday she seems more and more like less of a baby. It makes me happy and sad at the same time. This chicky loves to nurse. I am a little worried when the time comes (soon!) to wean.  One Sunday Dave got Avery dressed really fast and then brought her to me. Poor Avery, her dress was on backwards! Avery has started to scrunch her nose and sniff in and out really fast. It makes us laugh and she loves to do it. She loves to clap and she can wave bye bye now! It makes her so happy when we get excited after she performs. Avery's dream come true would be for someone to rock to her sleep the whole night. We're still struggling with the sleeping routine and going on vacation for 3 weeks didn't help. We'll get it down one of these days, right?!? Avery loves to each whatever we're having for dinner. She is really good at feeding herself bite size pieces and pretty much hates baby food! She's a crawling speed demon and has started to pull herself up on everything. She mostly loves to pull herself up on my leg and fuss till I pick her up:) Happy ten months Avery Mae!

Just Life Happening Here

As I type my 10 month old is sitting up screaming her pretty little lungs out after being rocked for the 5th time. Addison has gotten up to go to the bathroom and dipped her backside in the toilet for fun and is now crying for her daddy. I am exhausted. That's all there is to it. I can't paint a nice picture of our day and so instead I am going to cry tonight. Most days with the littles lately seem just really hard. I can't get potty training to stick or even sort of spark with Miss Addison June. Some days I actually wonder if she just likes to pee on my floor for fun. Then just when I give up she runs upstairs and poops in the toilet on her own. I didn't have to run like a mad woman to get that turd to land in the toilet instead of in her princess pull up. Darn those fancy looking pull ups...they are so much cooler looking than panties. The disappearing flower on the front when she pees is just so inciting for a 3 year old. I am overwhelmed with this title of motherhood. I see Dave leave everyday in his fancy uniform and think of how accomplished he must feel. He helps keep people alive and pain free...I on the other hand feel as if I just cause pain!! Today I held my composure as I gripped Addison's hand and power walked out the grocery store with her screaming. It was like top of your lungs every one looking at you sympathetically screaming. I have never been so embarrassed in my life...including the time I pooped my pants in a store. Just when I thought I was going to close the car doors and walk away forever a nice man returned my shopping cart for me. Bless that man he saved my children from me going ape crap on them when I got in the car. I never spill feelings like this on our family blog because I want my family to look back and have happy memories. This is real life though and I want my family who reads this to know that most days in life are going to be hard. I miss my friends and life in Buffalo. I've never experienced this kind of ache after a move. I developed friendships and built trust with women that I don't feel like can happen twice. I miss being known. Trying to build who I am in a new place has made me feel like I've lost a lot of my good qualities. I feel closed off and lost. Dave and I each received callings and I am in a rut with mine. Dave got called to the YM presidency and an assistant scout master. He'll so great. He can compartmentalize his responsibilities and never stress or act overwhelmed with duties. I got called to teach RS once a month and be the RS activity meeting chair. I've never had a RS calling so I thought it would be a nice change. I thought for sure I was going to be put back in primary because that's what I know and what I'm good at. Our ward is full of a lot of older women and I just don't feel like I have much to offer. I will most likely stand up and cry through half my lesson just to kill time:) I miss being able to talk on the phone guilt free during the day. I haven't written on this blog in almost a month simply because life is too much for me. I'm in the process of meeting with a behavioral therapist for Addison. What does that even mean?! I'm not suppose to have a child who I have to go and do things like that for. I went to school for four years learning how to deal with this age and I can't even pull myself together enough to figure her out. When my children stop crying I will tip toe in their rooms and give them one last kiss as they sleep. It's that moment that my fiery feelings of my jumbled up life melt. I should be happy these days. I just came back from an almost 3 week vacation out west in which I got to see my whole family and some of Dave's. All I could think about while I was gone was that this is what it'll feel like when Dave gets deployed. It made me really sad and I had a really hard time shaking the feeling of loneliness at night. Eating Cafe Rio twice helped a little bit though:) I normally sit and recap vacations down to all the highlights and fun things we did. I'm not going to do that this time. Instead I am going to say that I'm grateful I had the opportunity to go to Bear Lake after 4 years with my whole family. That place has so many memories that my heart feels full every time I am there. I loved my Grandma June and she is there. I saw her red recliner and my heart twinged and I couldn't help but think of her bending over pulling weeds at Bear Lake. Addison and Avery were loved on by both sides of the family. We got to stay in Ashton for a few days and it's going to be a great place to visit. Addison runs wild when we're at Grandma Michael's house. I don't know what it is, but she goes into crazy mode. She loved playing with all the barbies and old dolls there. I remember loving getting out old toys at my Grandma June's house in the Summer. These are memories I'll never forget. Life was hard for me today and I'm sure tomorrow will present its challenges as well. I need to remember that I have a supportive spouse who lets me get a pedicure and eat skyline on those hard days. I love my family and I always will, but if everyone could behave that would be great too:) Here's to hoping that the parenting book I'm going to buy tomorrow is in stock...