Weekly Update - Contractions!!

Addie's Weekly Photo:

Nana is staying with us now, in preparation for little Cooper's making his way into the world.  Addie has been on cloud-9 with her Nana around!  All week, we were looking at possible condo's for Nana and Addison went to each of the showings with us.  It was nice to have a toddler run into each place because it helped us see how "child proof" the condos were/weren't going to be!  On Thursday, we found the perfect place and Nana is set to move in the first week of March.  It will be difficult to see Nana go but we are excited that she will only be a few miles away!! :)

Addie's Weekly Milestones:

Vocab:  Most of Addie's "milestones" this week seem to be related to her ever growing vocabulary and adorable sayings.  Here are a few of them:
Watching shows/tv - If we're watching one of her shows, she will now quote lines from the show before they even happen!  Daddy says it's like watching a movie with someone who keeps saying lines of the movie before they happen.... only CUTER!!
"Don't touch"- We have a pretty child-proof house but of course there will always be things in the house or even outside of the home that we have to remind Addie she can't play with.  Addison has picked up on us saying "don't touch" and will say it even before we can!  The cutest part is that she will point one finger out and shake her hand as she is saying it.  This week, I was changing Addie's very NASTY diaper and before I could stop her, she put her hands right in the poop that had crept up a bit below her belly button.  I FREAKED and said DON'T TOUCH! Ever since that diaper change, she points down by her diaper when I am changing her and says "don't touch".
"Fight"-  Da-da will ask Addie "you wanna fight" and put his fists up, then Addie puts up her fists and repeats "fight?".  It seems like a routine that they do this every morning before daddy leaves for work and it gets cuter every time!  Usually, daddy will initiate it but sometimes Addie is the first to bring it up. Cute!
"PooPoo"  -This may be a bit TMI, but still something I felt the need to share.  If someone farts around Addie she will now ask "poo-poo?".  Being pregnant, I find it unavoidable to have the occasional..... you know.... anyway, when I do, Addie is the first one to point it out by saying "ma-ma poo-poo?".  Every time she does it, I laugh hysterically!



Baby #2 Update:

Weekly Checkup: At this week's checkup, doc checked my blood count (checking the liver) from the Cholestasis, checked for dilation, and did an ultrasound.  Doc found that I was dilated one cm!  Everything else looked okay too with the exception with slightly elevated counts on the blood/liver test.  Doc said that the levels still aren't high enough to cause too much concern but he would check them again next week.  After my checkup, I was sent over to the hospital for the stress test on Cooper.  I was put in a hospital room in OB and hooked up to two fetal monitoring belts on my belly.  The test lasted about 30 min.  During the test, I was asked to click a button every time Cooper moved.  It was actually pretty therapeutic, laying there listening to his heartbeat and movements on the monitor.  I began having slightly heavier contractions while I was laying in the hospital bed (probably from the position they had me laying in).

D-Day Closing in:  This week has been pretty eventful for us and has really reminded us that delivery is just around the corner.  My symptoms have changed drastically just in the last few days alone.  Contractions (with slight back pain & pressure), and ligament pain are the most common for me right now.

More Pictures from the week:

Nana helping Addie put her frog mask on

A frog and ladybug, an unlikely pair! LOL 

She loves this mask! 

Mommy ordered some slippers for Addie this week

and it's the only thing she wanted to wear!!!

Luckily it was 70 degrees outside. 

Taking advantage of AWESOME weather

Addie can't get enough of her swing 

Pulling her wagon 

Waiting for the sheets to get done.... 

The sheets took a lonnnngggg time!! ha ha 

Weekly Update - Happy Valentines Day!

Addie's Weekly Photo Week of February 17, 2012:

This week, Nana (Kristin's mom) moved out of her Chicago apartment and is in the process of relocating to the lake.  While she looks for a place locally to live (near us and Uncle Dillon), she is going to stay with us to help out around the house and help us prepare for bringing Cooper home.  The decision to leave Chicago came on very quickly and somewhat unexpected for my mom.  Even so, we're thrilled that my she is finally going to make the BIG move and relocate so close to us.

Addie's Weekly Milestones:

Valentines Day - Tuesday was Valentines day.  We really don't normally go all out for this specific holiday, but having kids changes things quite a bit.  I decided to have Addie do a little paint project that I would later turn into a Valentines book for her to give to daddy.  The project turned out really cute and of course Addison had a blast working on it (see pics below).  In addition to the book, Addie and mommy gave Shane a box of chocolates and baked/decorated some brownies.  Addison received a candy/balloon bouquet (hand-made by Shane), minnie pj's, and a mickey movie.  I received a dozen roses, and my favorite carmel chocolates.

Daddy's Birthday - We celebrated Shane's 34th birthday on Thursday.  When he came in for breakfast, mommy said "happy birthday daddy", and Addison quickly chimed in and repeated the same words.  It was the first time we had ever heard Addie say "happy birthday" and it brought much warmth to daddy's heart before heading to work.  In the evening, we baked a cake and his favorite dinner (rotel chicken).  Addison loved singing and became really excited when we lit candles on the cake for daddy to blow out.  We had a great night.

Lil Helper - Lately, Addison gets really excited about helping out.  When mommy is doing laundry, Addison will run over to help put the clothes in or take them out and put them in the basket, all the while, reminding us that "I help!".  Another way that Addie likes to lend a hand is by throwing things away.  Whether it's her diaper or misc. trash, she is quick to run over and pitch in on disposal.  It's both very cute and VERY helpful! :)

Painting - For a crafty Valentines gift, mommy had Addison use finger paints on several large sheets of paper that were taped to the floor.  Although Addie can be a little finicky about being "messy", she did really well with the paints and the gift turned out really cute.

New Bed -  We bought a toddler bed this week and set it up in Addie's room.  We aren't in a huge hurry to get Addison out of her crib because Cooper will be in our room initially, so we are leaving the crib up and just placing the toddler bed in a different part of her room.  Our main goal is to slowly introduce her to trying the "big girl" bed, and let her start using it when she's ready.  Addison was quick to get on the bed when she first saw it and laid down saying "night-night", playfully.

Vocab -  Her new phrases and words continue to crack us up daily.  Here are just a few new ones.
"What are you doing" sounds like "wha-doin"- She says this quite often and it usually goes "hey ma-ma....wha-doin?".  It cracks us up when she asks us and we are quick to answer her question to keep conversation.  I don't think she understands a word of our replies, but it's still a cute way to interact.
"Awesome" sounds pretty much like it should - She picked this up from one of her shows and says it mainly when watching the show but will sometimes repeat it if one of us say it.
"mama too?.....Dada too?  Minnie too?" - We weren't 100% sure what she was saying the first few times, but realized that it was her way of including others in whatever she's doing.  For example, if we're reading books for bed and she's sitting with daddy, she will decide to include mommy by getting up with the book and walking over to mommy saying "ma-ma too?".
I Love You "waaahhh-wuuuuuhhhh-wooooo"- We've tried so many times to get her to say this, but it's about the ONLY thing we weren't able to get her to repeat, until tonight.  There are so many things that warm your heart as a parent, but hearing your child say I love you is about the best thing to a parent's ears!!!

Baby #2 Update:

Weekly Checkup: At my checkup this week, I had mentioned to the doctor about a pretty severe itching  all over.  The itching would be worse at night and on my hands and feet.  My doctor did blood work and found that I have Cholestasis.  Apparently it's somewhat related to the gallbladder issues that I reported earlier in the pregnancy.  Symptoms include itching among other things and complications can include stillbirth.  The doctor has prescribed Urdisol to help regulate the bile and mentioned that I can take benadryl to help with the itching.  Doc doesn't seem to be overly concerned at this point and said an extra precaution will be that we take weekly blood tests to monitor my liver levels and weekly ultrasound and baby stress-tests.  Will keep everyone posted though.

More Pictures from the week:

 Wearing a light-up heart necklace that

Nana sent to Addie with some valentines candy.

Chillin in the car with Mickey 

We haven't had much snow this year but

Addie was finally able to enjoy about a foot

of snow that fell this week.... and quickly melted the next day!! 

Cousins Blake and Avryl came over to enjoy the fun! 

Addie's Valentines outfit 

Celebrating Daddy's birthday.  Addie kept saying

"more birthday... more birthday" to get us to

continue singing the birthday song again and again!! LOL 

Reading books with Nana and cousin Avryl 

Addie's new toddler bed 

She took my socks off and asked me 

to put them on her.... 

You can't tell from the picture, but

she was really excited about these socks!! LOL 

We were returning Nana's moving truck 

and  Addie got to ride along. 

Addie working on Daddy's Valentines gift 

Doesn't look to messy now, but wait! 

She's just getting started! 

She had a blast painting!! 

And perhaps just as much fun cleaning up!!

Trying new hair-styles this week.  

I couldn't believe that Addie let me 

put her hair up like this! 

Weekly Update - 21 Months

Addie's Weekly Photo, Week of February 10, 2012:

Addie's Weekly Milestones:

Fashionista:  Monday morning, Addie had her new Mickey t-shirt on and decided she wanted to pick out the rest of her outfit.  After grabbing some old pj pants, she walked into her closet and picked out some vinyl red boots to complete the ensemble.  I can't tell you how hard I was laughing as we got her dressed....(I included pics below).  Since Monday, Addison's newest obsession is her red boots.  They're a vinyl-like material and zip up on the side.  I think she has worn them every day this week!  I'm sure you'll be seeing these things in several pictures over the next few weeks because she doesn't seem to be getting tired of them anytime soon! LOL

Buckle:  She's tried before, but hadn't succeeded until this week.  Addison has finally figured out how to buckle her high chair straps!  She was quite excited the first time she snapped them into place, and was quick to get mommy to un-buckle them so she could try again.  Very cute!

Hair Cut:  I've procrastinated getting Addison another hair trim for whatever reason.  Part of it is that she doesn't handle things well and the other part is that it seems like most beauticians around here have NO training on making the process quick and simple!  Her bangs are really my only concern right now because I want to keep them out of her eyes.  Yesterday, I grabbed a bag of M&M's, scissors, a comb, and put on her favorite show and got the job done in seconds!  Not only did she cooperate 100%, but we didn't have to pay anyone and I didn't have to watch her go into a full blown panic attack!! LOL  Maybe her hair doesn't look as cute as a professional would have made it, but at least she can see :)

Sleeping:  I think I spoke too soon when I last posted about Addison's sleeping habits.  She had started to take two naps per day in addition to sleeping through the night.  Shortly after that post, she went back to her old ways of only taking one two-hour nap per day.
Another unusual bedtime habit of hers started Tuesday night, Addison threw a FIT when we put her into her crib saying "NO, NO, NO".  We figured she just wasn't ready to go to bed and let her stay up a bit longer.  Then on Wednesday after lunch, Addie said she wanted her paci (which usually means naptime).  Upon placing her in her crib, she freaked out again!  Instead of taking her back out of her crib like the night before, I told her gently "no-no Addie, night-night".  Upon walking out of the room, Addie threw a pretty big tantrum.  It broke my heart to leave her like that, but I knew that it wouldn't be smart to let her see me give in.  I could hear Addie on the monitor going back and forth between tantrums and playing, but after about 45 LONG minutes, she went to sleep.  I'm hoping this new phase doesn't last long because I feel awful walking out of the room when she's upset like that :...(

Music to our ears:  I don't know if she has a future in the musical industry or not, but she LOVES music.  If her show Fresh Beat Band is on, Addie will grab her drumsticks and imitate when the drummer bangs the sticks together saying "a-one....two.....three.....four".  Addie sounds more like "a-one...two....one....two".  When she's not practicing her drums, she loves to sing.  Her favorite song right now is Twinkle Twinkle little Star.  Addison will ask you to sing and then she will do her best to keep up with you.  When you get to the end of a line, she will hold the tune until she runs out of breath like "twinkle twinkle little STARRRRRRRRR.....how I wonder what you ARRRRRRRRRR".  Shane and I get the biggest kick out of it!

Vocab:
"How Bout..." : She says this most when ransacking the pantry.  I will open the door to our pantry up and she will walk in and say "how bout....".  If it's snack time, she usually wants goldfish and if it's lunch or dinner and she doesn't like what is on the table, she will ask for a can of veggies, lasagna, or mini ravioli's (chef boyardee).
"Oh, I fell"  :  Addie will fall (sometimes intentionally) and then afterwards, she will say "Oh, I fell".  I think it's funniest when she falls on purpose and says it, but it's pretty cute either way!

Baby #2 Update:

Doctor Checkup: We had an ultrasound at this week's checkup.  We were supposed to get 3d pics of Cooper's face but he wasn't very cooperative, so doc said we'll try again at one of the next appointments.

Home Stretch:  We're down to the last month of pregnancy!!  Can't believe we only have 4 weeks left before we can finally meet our little Cooper!  I've noticed movement slowing down a bit (most likely due to the lack of space in there), but he still moves a few times per hour.

Dizzy:  Of course it's pretty common with pregnancy but it's the first time I've ever experienced it during either one of mine.  On Tuesday morning, I began to feel really REALLY dizzy.  The crazy part was that it didn't matter if I was standing, sitting or laying, the spells were equally intense and annoying!  This continued until sometime in the afternoon.  The best thing I knew to do was to take it easy and keep myself from holding/walking with Addie, to be safe.

More Pictures from the week:

Grabbing some breakfast with daddy and

mommy.  She didn't seem to mind that daddy

put this hat on her.  She left in on for quite a while!

An outfit she picked out to wear... Very stylish!  

 Eventually, Addie got rid of the outfit so 

she could admire the boots more.

Big cheese at the table! 

Our little sweetheart! 

Watching Fresh Beat Band, she's got

her drumsticks ready to go! 

Playing peek-a-boo and not wanting to participate 

in a mini photo shoot with mommy! LOL 

The only way I could get her to sit

for more than a few seconds was if I let

her wear her red boots! 

A bit of a smile? :)

"How bout...." 

 Saying cheese and avoiding direct eye contact with the camera! 

Still avoiding mommy... LOL 

There we go!  But no smile! LOL