Expiring...

Someone is pretty excited to be a BIG SISTER come September! This picture would be more accurate if it was me with my face in the toilet bowl. This has been a rough 13 weeks and counting. I am finally having a few days were I don't lay on the couch and run for dear life to the bathroom. Thanks to loving family (Jenny came for a week followed by my mom for 3) I have been able to endure. We had our first ultrasound this past Tuesday and Addison kept telling the lady, "Good Job!" when she would look at the screen. The new addition looks good and it always seems more real once we get a glimpse of what is going on inside there! 

We found out just after we got back from Christmas break. I had a feeling I was pregnant because I had been feeling really tired. Addison and I ran out and bought a Big Sister shirt and put it on for when Dave would get home from school. It took him a little while to notice it, but he was really happy once he caught on:) We went out to Duff's Wings to celebrate the big news. Addison has now put the Big Sister shirt on her doll that she totes around. Aunt Jenny got to go to the first doctor appointment to hear the heart beat and for me to get something for all the nausea and throwing up. 

This pregnancy has already been so different than before I don't really know what to expect day to day! I have been very blessed to have good supportive friends who took Addison for play dates, checked in on me and picked up the slack for me in my calling. Dave has had to put on the hat of Mr. Mom and Graduate Student Dad. I say it has been good for him! I can't seem to help make dinner without loosing it before it's prepared so meals have been on Dave. Jenny made a whole bunch of freezer meals for us which have been a life saver! My mom faithfully had dinner ready by 5:05 so I didn't get sick the whole night. I am learning the secret to surviving is going to be early...really early like 8:30. I have missed a lot of activities that I really like to go to, but am learning to take it slow and allow myself to regain energy. 

We can't wait for this Spring and Summer to fly by and become a family of four!

Grammie & Papa Came

Grammie Fajen has come and gone! She was able to stay for almost three weeks. It was really nice to have an extra set of hands and Addison LOVED having her here. We went to lunch a few times, but mostly played at home. It wasn't good weather until the day she left! Papa came the weekend before Grammie left. He of course also brought a giant number 11 on ice for me as well... it has become his entrance fee:) We went out to a good Mexican restaurant and the boys went to a man movie the first night. Papa brought Addi up some hand sanded wood blocks that she played with and enjoyed all weekend. Juana offered to watch Addi for us so we could all go see the new OZ movie. We got carryout pizza and news from a new place and enjoyed an evening home. 

Dave had midterms and is now on Spring Break! We had plans to go visit the Collette in Chicago, but our plans fell through. We plan on enjoying the slightly warmer weather and spending time as a family. We went to the aquarium today and Addison loved it! She ran around climbing up to the windows and saying, "Oh wow! Look at that!" Yesterday, she had her first roll in the mud with the Quinn kids in the back yard. She liked licking the little bits of snow (gross!) and stomping in her new shoes (double gross!). Dave had a run in with the neighbor's window with a soccer ball:) I told him he better set up a lemonade stand to pay for it this week! We are crossing our fingers that Spring in right around the corner!

Past Few Weeks

I can't seem to keep up right now so I am not going to even attempt to go back and document everything! We have had a pretty quiet month and have been blessed to have a few visitors as well. Aunt Jenny came for a week at the beginning of February and Grammie moved in towards the end. She is still here and we are loving having her around. Addison is on cloud nine and hasn't even noticed that her binky has gone "missing" until nap/bedtime:) 

Addison's major news is that she is finally getting another bottom tooth! This poor child has has rabbit teeth forever! Hopefully it comes in soon followed by the rest. Our good friends the Wheeler's moved this month which we are pretty sad about. We are happy for them to move onto bigger and better things though! Addison lives for birthday parties! Her friend Kalei had a party this past weekend and she practiced the birthday song over and over! She has also been toy testing a gold fish potty for the past few weeks and we are making some progress. We have had a few celebrations that ended in her reward of gummy bears which she pronounces, "gumbi bears!" She has enjoyed helping Grammie in the kitchen and has even learned to put away the silver ware! I am pretty impressed. Her crazy curls can now be tamed into piggy tails. It makes her look so old and it makes me want to cry! She is growing up. It has been snowing a ton so we haven't really gone anywhere, but have enjoyed staying in and playing with toys!

MIA

I have been MIA in the blogging world for almost a month! I have slacked off and hopefully it won't happen again:) Dave is still busy studying, studying and more studying. I feel like I barley see him. We live for Sundays when he doesn't study. We have gotten hit with a lot of snow that Addison still thinks is "ice cream".  We have been doing a lot of indoor activities to keep us warm and not bundled in a million layers! I took Addison outside with me to shovel one day and ended up having to shove my socks on her hands because she kept ripping off her gloves. I shoved while she ate the other half of the snow on the driveway!

Addison has started to enjoy "helping" more in the kitchen. She gets her hot pads out and tries to open the oven (hopefully that was a first and a last!). She likes to sit up on the counter and stir or hold a spoon while I cook...and lick whatever sweet treat gets left in a bowl. Baby dolls have become very important in this house lately as well. Addison takes her job very seriously and makes sure they get their bum bums wiped, binky in, pushed around the house a few laps and covered in their blankets. She is such a little girly girl! We have added, STOP IT! to the vocabulary recently. Addison has been using it a little too much as she puts her hand up in your face as she says it. I sometimes wonder where she picks these things up?! Someone Addison has figured out how to call Grammie on the phone by herself! I about died when I heard my mom saying hello? Addison requests to call Grammie on the phone at least once a day. She is getting pretty good at talking on the phone and responding to questions. The other day when Addison got up from her nap I asked her what she was dreaming about for so long. She looked at me and said, "Jesus, Family!" It melted my heart! She loves to look at her nursery picture that she colored all week and talks about Jesus and the family when she looks at it. We are still working on her folding her arms for prayer around here! Addison has been enjoying going to a few play dates with her friends. She is a little confused and says that she went to nursery every time I pick her up because they are in her class. Also, every time we leave the house she says, "Church!" I guess we need to get out more so she doesn't think we live at the church:)

I am still running around trying to keep Addison entertained and learning manners. Primary keeps me pretty busy, but things are starting to settle into more of a routine for me. I got assigned a new sister to visit in the ward that is a recent convert. We are going to start the new member lessons soon and all the practice I had with Preach My Gospel while teaching Sunday School might actually come in handy! I am grateful for this gospel and the knowledge that I have. I hope to be able to share my testimony and love for the gospel with this new sister!

Sick Chicky

Poor Addison has had a never ending cough. We have spent a lot of time in and out of the doctors office to see what is going on. They think she might have asthma (she will can thank me someday for this!). We did a series of breathing treatments which she was not a fan of in the least. Twice a day she had to do them so we watched a lot of cartoons to distract her.They put her on a steroid which didn't seem to do much either. For now we are just doing a lot of hand washing and steering clear of sick people! Here's to hoping she doesn't have the dreaded asthma!

2013 Begins...

Addison has developed some really funny quirks since we left for vacation. I knew the day would come, but she has started to call her dad, DAVID! When we walk in the door she will run saying, "Hi David!" I feel completely weird calling him Dad now. Hopefully this is a short lived phase. She also picked up the word, geez. I don't know where this one came from, but she repeats it after everything! In her stocking she got a pair of princess socks. She is obsessed with them! When we go to put on a pair of socks she slightly freaks out if they aren't her pink princess ones. I think we might need to get more than one pair! I think Addison has heard me call her heavy when I am carrying her around too much. When she tries to pick something up or pull herself up the stairs she will say, "Heavy!" It is really funny especially when she says it to Dave when she is trying to pull his hand somewhere. The weirdest new development of all has been Addison's sense of needing to "hide" things. We have noticed that when she gets nervous or really wants something she will tuck it under her chin! In the morning when I go to get her out of bed she will try and hide her binkys under her chin. When she is eating a snack and sees that it is almost gone she puts a few away under there for later:) The other day she found a pack of gum that she knew she wasn't suppose to have. I caught her and she quickly showed a few under her spot. It makes us all laugh really hard, but I hope she doesn't continue for much longer! Addison is really into the helping phase. She wants to get up on her stool to help with whatever I am doing on the counter. She is great at stirring and eating the left over scraps. Playing with her baby dolls is still a favorite, but she is now really interacting with them that is the funniest thing to watch. She will say things to her doll that I have told her throughout the day. The best was when Dave and I caught her telling her doll it was time for prayer. She folded her babies arms and started to mumble some words. Dave may or may not have gotten something in his eye:)  I saved the best for last. Addison has started to voice her opinion around her and strongly. She has added, "No! Want to", "Stop" and "Let Go!" to her loud commands of frustration. The little lady knows what she wants and when she wants it...wonder where that came from! We love this 19 month old ball of fire that we have on our hands!

Tail end of 2012

Christmas vacation is over. We are happy to be home, but miss family and all the chaos that went with it. I now have to plan meals, bathe Addison, entertain her til Dave gets home AND be productive! It was nice to lounge around and catch up from what seemed like an exhausting December. I wish I could say that we scraped by this trip with no illnesses, but such is the life of traveling in the Winter. We spent an expensive Christmas Eve in an Urgent Care with bronchitis and asthma. Needless to say, I learned my lesson and will make my mother proud and always remember to bring an inhaler when traveling. We were lucky to be able to see both sides of our families this holiday. My sister surprised everyone and drove in for New Year's Eve
 (it truly was a Christmas Miracle!) so our whole family was together one last time.

Addison did pretty good on the 5+ hours of flying to Idaho with a lot of licorice and a few too many dum dums. The cousins had a blast learning each others names and  following each other around. I still hear a few Halle? Emree? as she is playing with her toys. We went down to Brigham City to see Dave's Grandparents and it was really nice to see them. Dave "threw" out his back the morning we were trying to get ready to go see them. Poor guy couldn't get up for 3 hours! He toughed it out and we continued on from Brigham City to see the lights at Temple Square. My friend Megan drove up from Provo and met us there to say hi! It was absolutely freezing! Addison's hands were ice cubes and my ears felt like they were going to fall off. We called it a night and headed to a hotel. We were able to fit in a lot over the ten days that we were in Idaho. We went to the temple while Andrea was the trusty babysitter. Christmas was nice and Addison enjoyed her new book and caterpillar toy from her parents. Grandma and Grandpa Michael gave her some pretty new outfits and a fluffy pink poodle that she is in love with. She just happened to name it, "Harley!" Addison also got a gift card to pick out her own new toy. I think she might be getting a fancy toilet seat instead:) Dave and I exchanged a gift of a new sight for his bow and a Vera Bradley travel bag. Neither of us felt great , but it was still a really nice day. We headed out to Island Park in the evening for a few days of snow mobiling and staying up too late playing games. We took Addison sledding for the first time. She was a little confused on what to do since her Dad told her snow was "Ice Cream". All she wanted to do was sit and lick the snow! We made a traditional stop at the Ashton Abode and ended the day at Big Juds. Addison sure misses her Grandma and Grandpa Michael and can't wait to see them again in the Summer...wink wink:)

We made it back to Cincinnati late, but in one piece. Addison befriended the man sitting next to us on the plane and continues to prove that she prefers the male kind:) It was my parents big 40th wedding anniversary and we wanted to celebrate! We got all dressed up and dropped Addison off at a babysitters to head down town to Jeff Ruby's. It was a little fancy for Dave, but we both loved our meals! It was great to reflect on what my parents had accomplished and what the future will bring. We fit in skyline and Chinese for New Year's Eve. The boys went pheasant hunting and came back with a little too much to show for it. Dave has requested pheasant for dinner with a little side salad to go with it. Addison enjoyed playing with her other cousins for a few days before we headed back to the snow covered Buffalo. 17 days later we are home and still recovering from a whirlwind of traveling! We feel blessed to have been able to celebrate this holiday season with the people we love! Here's to a healthy, safe and prosperous 2013...