First Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. There is definitely nothing that we are wanting for! I can't even begin to tell you all the things that we got. Most of all, we enjoyed spending time together and with family! Sadly, I only have a few pictures.

The carseat was an early Christmas present

Headrest holder for our ipad

Addie's "princess" cozy coupe

Loving it!

Her riding buddy for the bike trailer (haven't gotten a picture of that yet)

Opening a present on Christmas eve

Not sure what to play with...

Hard to follow but you can tell she loves it!

Oh what fun...

I have to share this. Sean (my brother) and some of his friends were playing around the other day and Sean made this shot on his 10th try!

Addie was captivated by the mariachi band at Papitos tonight!

I have enjoyed my first week off. To prevent going insane, I have been constantly doing things...cleaning, wrapping, shopping, organizing, playing with Addie. We are really looking forward to Santa coming to visit for her 1st Christmas!

Tis the season

Christmas break officially begins tomorrow...woo hoo! Addie has become so active that it's hard to snap pictures of her. I have a couple that I will share though. My mission is to get a good picture of her with Carla (aka her favorite person).

Addie literally has 6 teeth that are either breaking through or just broke through. It just hurts my heart! She has woken up crying at least once every couple of nights. I CANNOT believe my little girl is almost one!

What can I say about this picture other than I just love her?

Right before she burst into tears with the "Ole Miss" Santa.

Thanks to KJ, we were able to take a Christmas card picture. Even though Addie was making a silly face, it worked.

Here is a picture with her early Christmas present! (A big girl car seat!)

Addie's first christmas tree!

Thanksgiving week

Addie and I have had a great week full of lunch dates and road trips. The Edwards are extremely thankful for Carla and our families and super excited about the Christmas season...time to pick out a tree! Here is a peek at our week:

One of her favorite things to do is rummage through her toy basket

Pitching a fit because she wouldn't fit on the shelf...hmmm

Feeding Charlie Cheerios

Playing the piano at Toddy and Poppy's

Today I can finally dress her in Christmas outfits (this one is courtesy of Nonny)!!

We're active!

I can't seem to find time to blog...so here are some videos.

Playing in the crib

Playing on "Daddy's palette"

Crawling ALL over!

Finally!!

At 8 1/2 months, Addie is finally crawling!! She started earlier this week and is moving slow but it's progress!! Here is a video...I wish I could mute the sound! Sorry!

Kentucky Game

We had a great time at the Kentucky game last weekend. Here are some pics:

Family Photo

Uncle Al and Addie

Sleeping in the student section

KJ let Addie play with her pom pom

Lately

Since I have gone back to work, our life has been a roller coaster. We had to get a new nanny, Addie has gotten two bottom teeth with the top four coming through now, and Andrew has taken on a new role at work. Also, this is really minor but Addie has a hernia in her belly button. It really is no big deal and will go away on it's own but she still doesn't sit up on her own. I think it's because she strained those muscles so much with her "crunches." It's the weirdest thing...she has been doing her legs and head up like she really wants to sit up for months but she just can't quite get there. Haha! She can sort of stay up if you sit her down but she is still just flipping over constantly like a fish.

This is mainly for Haley...aka twenty questions...I mixed formula with my milk for the first time tonight. She took it just fine! I am going to mix for a week or two and then no more pumping! I am finally going to have a normal body again, sort of.

I guess our life will never be "normal" because well...what is normal? We just have to make the most of it. Here are some video clips and pictures of Addie.

It's the little things...

Melancholy

Aunt Laura and Olivia came to visit this weekend and dang if I didn't forget to get a picture with them!! Besides her oddly timed naps, she did great! Here are some pictures of her being silly while they were here.

Summer has come to a screeching halt! Day one of workshops (aka day one of being away from Addie) went well. I wish I could say the same about last night. I literally cried for hours! Yes, plural! I started thinking about how I will only be with Addie for 3 1/2 hours a day and on weekends and it just choked me up. My emotions are in overdrive. I am THRILLED that school is starting because I am always "on." There is never a dull moment. But at the same time, she will probably crawl, walk, and talk while I am working. The first two years are huge developmental years. Here I go again...moving on!

I think Addie and Melinda are going to get along marvelously! Addie crashed when I got home so I think they had a pretty fun day. Here is a pic of Addie and "Sam" snuggling.

On a more exciting/scary note, her tooth finally broke through her gums!! I guess that explains the clinginess. For the most part, she has been a trooper. It's only a matter of time before she has a mouth full of teeth! AND not only is tomorrow Sean's 15th birthday...it's Addie's half birthday. AHH I can't believe it's gone by this fast!

Listen to kelly.r.edwardss Playlist

Rolling over!

So, yesterday Addie finally decided to roll over. I have been waiting for this for a month! Now if we could just get that tooth to come all the way through. It has been torturing her for over a month!

I am going to apologize in advance for my goofy voice! Thank goodness for the mute button.

I caught Addie right as she turned...

Exhausted after rolling over so many times, haha!

Seattle in a nutshell

The only way I know to share our Seattle experience is to post these videos. They are basically all videos of Addie. Here goes:

Waking up in Seattle

First morning in Starbucks

Enjoying the water

Bainbridge Ferry

The Pike Brewery

Trying to get Addie to go to sleep...sort of?

Before we went out on the boat

Out on Lake Union with Kim and Jordan's friends

Queen Anne Sunset

Sweet Potatoes/random videos

I tried feeding sweet potatoes to Addie last week and this was her response:

Here is a video of Addie trying to stay awake. She has a tendency to talk a lot and make random noises so that she won't miss anything.

This was before we left for Dyersburg. Toddy had to get her Addie fill!

Dyersburg Trip

This weekend we went to Dyersburg for Brandon and Mari-Kate's wedding. Andrew was a groomsman and hadn't seen a lot of his high school friends since our engagement party so he had a good time. It was also pretty nice to get to sleep late while Nonny and Big "played"!! I think everyone enjoyed hanging out with Addie and I enjoyed the break.

Don't kill me for taking this picture! I caught Nonny reading to Addie after she got out of the shower. I thought it was cute!

John David finally got to meet Addie!

This was at the wedding. We are struggling for family pictures...

Nana got to spend some time with Addie (and even feed her!) She was really excited!

Grandmother and Pop saw Addie for the first time. It was really sweet!

Addie loved Pop!

This was on the way home. Addie slept for a solid 4 1/2 hours.

FOUR months!

Yesterday Andrew, Addie, Charlie and I all loaded up and went to Mom and Dad's to swim. Andrew rode his bike over there and met us! We had a great time. Here are some pictures from the day.

Addie went to see her Dr. for her FOUR month checkup today. Of course I didn't know that she would be getting shots. Bless her heart! I happened to have some Tylenol in her diaper bag so I gave it to her when we got there. She had one vaccine orally and the other two were shots. She only cried when she got the last one. The nurse was really impressed! What can I say, she is tough like her mommy!

She is in the 97th percentile for weight and height which means that she is healthy and growing (not overweight though!! whew!). We get to start baby food! Normally, this wouldn't be so exciting because it leads to stinky diapers, messy kitchens and more work BUT I am making her baby food and I'm pumped!! I did a trial run yesterday with sweet potatoes. It was a breeze and it tasted wonderful. If every mom knew it was this easy, they would make baby food too. Not only is it easy; it's cheap and doesn't have any preservatives. Why not?! I also will start using my "Deceptively Delicious" cookbook that uses pureed food. Neat, ok...moving on...

This is what I use:

My delicious pureed sweet potatoes.

Here is a picture of Addie with her sweet bandaids.

I have a video of Addie, post-doctor visit in her exersaucer but it won't upload. I just added the batteries so she likes it a lot more now! She is acting fine so far but I'm sure it's the Tylenol...

**Here is the video that wouldn't upload...

Becoming fish-like

I forgot to post these the other day but Addie and I went swimming with KJ the other day. Here are some pics.

Wide world of coupons

I once snickered at this but coupons are AMAZING! (Yes, I realize that I am somewhat losing my mind...besides the mini-van promise, I am learning to never say never.) My money saving skills are pretty impressive. Hooray for saving? My budget only allows for so much spending so I am trying to make every penny last. With all that said, Becca has been my coupon lady inspiration. I saved $7.00 at Kroger today. That's the equivalent of 2 lattes.

Here are some great websites:

Kroger.com (You can load coupons onto your kroger card)

couponcravings.com

thekrazycouponlady.com

coupons.com

http://en.giftstogrow.pampers.com/index.html (For each pampers item that you buy, you type in the code and earn points. At no loss, you can build rewards points and cash them in for things)

enjoytheriderewards.com (Same thing but for Huggies)

Cheesy but Classic!

I had to upload this video...it's what we do just about every day!! Andrew is cheesing it to "Jane Says" and Addie was really wanting to sing.

Girls Trip!

Addie and I had a great time in Nashville for our first solo trip! It did take a couple of days for her to get adjusted though. Here is a video of her doing her favorite thing!!

Side note: Lately she has gotten really clingy. Examples...I couldn't pass her to anyone else and I had to pretty much be in the room with her at all times. Thank goodness for the Baby Bjorn. (If anyone could see me around the house cleaning out the refrigerator, vacuuming and mopping with her attached to me they would laugh!!) This video is just a taste of her unhappiness. Poor Carter!

Here are some pics from Arrington Vineyards. Haley and Carter stocked us with good snacks and we enjoyed tasting different wines. Addie was along for the ride...completely entertained by the music.

This was during our 1 hour and 45 minute wait for breakfast at the Loveless Cafe. Delicious biscuits and a good old home cooked breakfast made it worth it.

The end of school is near

The last 2 or 3 weeks of my life has been a blur. Working and taking care of an almost 3 month old has caught up with me. I have done a bad job of multitasking and communicating with my friends. Sorry! Oh yea, I got my hair chopped this week too! On to the updates...

We had field day Friday at school, which signals the end of the year. It was a great day full of excitement. It was the most organized field day I have ever been a part of! Each teacher had their schedule of events with each child listed and there was a "waiting area" for the participants in the next event. I have to admit, it was a fun day. We had the cutest shirts. Third grade had blue shirts and all of the teachers had an orange-red color. Here is a pic.

As for today, Andrew and Addie basically went shopping with me all morning. For mother's day Andrew asked me what I wanted...I guess I'm not really into mother's day like everyone else is. (I am acknowledged as a mother everyday so I don't get the idea. Maybe one day I will?) Our plant on our front porch has been dead for a few weeks so I decided that we need a new plant. That's what I "asked for" for mother's day. Haha. Long story short, we went and got one today. It felt so good outside that I was bound and determined that we

were going to go swimming. Mom and I went to Toys R Us and bought some swim diapers, a float with a sun shade, the whole deal. Well, we get home and Andrew and I are getting all ready for the pool. I have the diaper bag packed, swimsuit and diaper on Addie, she was in her stroller, literally we were about to walk out the door. She spit up not once, not twice, but THREE times in her carseat! I was SO mad! After Andrew took off the cover and washed it, I wasn't going to waste the day so we went swimming in the jacuzzi!! Haha. She loved it and just kicked her legs the whole time. Here are some pictures.