My little princess...or not!

Lately, Addison has been wanting to wear one of my old dresses that my mom made as a princess dress. I think she likes how it twirls. Anyway, today she was wearing it and dancing to her music when this happened!

So my little princess had gas. It struck my funny bone!

P.S. I should clarify that this dress was the one I wore at Derald & Cindy's wedding! Crystal & I had matching material and we handed out programs! Isn't that so funny?!

Addison

Since I have started working again, my mornings have become much more focused on intentionally playing with Addison.

Today, she reminded me so much of my sister, Katy.

1. Katy and Addison are both the youngest in the family.

2. Katy always played well by herself. Addison does as well.

3. Katy used to assign a role to the knife, fork, and spoon at restaurants...like the knife is the prince, fork is the princess, and so on...

4. Addison just got a bowl of little cookies, and was assigning names to each of them. The half cookie was named Cooper, the bigger ones named Grandma, Punkin, Amber, Matt, Mommy, Daddy, and so on...

5. Katy was always the center of attention, making us laugh. As is Addison. In fact, she just blurted a word out of the blue, pertaining to boys... YIKES!

Anyway, have I mentioned that we love this little girl like crazy and we are so glad she is ours? Because we do. I don't know what our life would be like without her. So glad we decided (and God allowed us) to have a third child.

Sneak Peek #2

Today you are invited to Addison's Room.

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With our oldest daughter, Jadyn, I never pushed the girlie side. She rarely wore pink, instead lots of purples and teals.

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Addison is a whole new story.

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Even her baby room was covered in pink. Of course her walls then were chocolate color, but lots of pink nonetheless.

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At our new home, I wanted the lightest pink possible for paint. And wouldn't you know it, I found a color called "Possibly Pink."

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I knew I wanted white furniture for her, so everything just went from there.

I found an old blanket at an antique store that I lay across the foot of her bed. I love it! It's a pretty pink with a white pattern on it. Her sheets are Shabby Chic from Target, as well as her curtains, which I brought from our old house. I have had to repurpose one of her curtains, and that is not finished yet. It has to be changed from a vertical curtain to a horizontal. In time...

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Then last week at Target, the pillow that goes with Addison's bedding was on sale, so that also sits on her bed.

This glider rocker, was a gift from my grandma at our wedding. I have rocked all of my kids to sleep in it, and when I was pregnant with Addison I had it recovered in this nice green fabric. Not sure where it will go now, because Addison is kind of done with rocking.

This sheer panel usually would just hang, but I wanted Addison to be able to see out of the window when she wanted. Her other window is too high for her to see out of, so this is it for her. I had a lot of pink ribbon, so we used that to tie it back.


Her bathroom continues the pink/brown theme. But I added a cute monkey picture that matched. She is a little monkey, so why not?

I love her room. It's as girlie as I get.

Teeny Tiny Tea Party

What is it about little girls and tea parties?

I bought this for Addison at Target (my favorite place) the other day hoping it would be something new and special to play with at our nephew Nathan's baseball game. It was way too windy to get this tea set out on Friday night, so we waited until we returned home to "have tea."

I love to watch the way her chubby little fingers hold her cup and how she knows how to pour her "tea".

Addison was born by C-section because she was breech in the womb. Basically, she had her legs bent with her feet by her ears! Needless to say, she has been a very flexible little girl!

Her speech has really taken off this Spring. She has some issues saying her "k" and "c" sounds. They come out sounding like "t". We always get a chuckle at some of the things she says!

If you have noticed that I have missed a few Sharing Saturdays, you are right! I have been so busy and I am using my parents computer, so I don't have all of my pictures. That means I have to start taking good pictures to share with all of you!

New News

Still no pictures because I still cannot find my camera cord since we moved...

grrr....

But here are a few things happening in our lives right now:

• Jadyn has begun her softball practices with games beginning on May 2, my b-day. She loves it so much and has moved up to the Minor League where the girls actually pitch!
• Jadyn also had her piano recital on Sunday. She played a song from Les Miserables, and it was absolutely gorgeous! She has a real gift on the piano.
• Ethan has started playing in the Rookie Baseball League. He is a good little player, and can't wait for games to start.
• Ethan and Jadyn rode the bus for the first time this year, yesterday. With us living at Mom and Dad's, they can ride both ways, but for now they are only riding it home. They did just fine, but the bus actually dropped them off much earlier than I expected, so they had a little bit of walking to do! :)
• Addison split open her lip yesterday. She leaned onto a toy and it was heavy enough that the top came back hitting her right in the face. It didn't look like it had hit her very hard, but it must have hit her just right. OUCH!!!
• Then today, we were at Dave & Cindy's getting ready for garage sale, when Addison began trying to love on their cat. The cat wanted nothing to do with her, so took a good swipe at her, scratching her cheek.
• She looks quite a sight, fat lip and kitty cat scratches on her face!
• Addison has learned to talk so much and we have to laugh at some of the things that she says!
• The house is still not done, not sure when it will be. But this week they are going to install the kitchen countertops. And if it ever stops raining, they will continue to move dirt and pour concrete!

That's our life in a nutshell right now! We can't wait to move, but are so blessed to have so many loving family members in our lives, allowing us to invade their territories!

Why I love living at Grandma's

These are the great things about living at Grandma's house...

Kitties for Addison to play with, follow around, and torture!

Abbi to play with

A clothes line to hang my sheets on. Ahhh... the fresh smell of Spring!

And more kitties!

Tube Surgery pics & our house...

Well, it has been long enough, I am finally loading new pics on our computer! I have been totally unmotivated. Anyway, on January 6th we loaded Addison up in the car at 6:00 AM to make our way to the Surgery Center. We were finally getting tubes! She was obviously pretty tired, but did very well considering how early we yanked her out of bed. Here are a few shots of her before the surgery.

We took her Doctor kit along to help her feel comfortable and be like the real docs that come in. Yeah, that didn't work so well. She is not a good patient! Apparently neither is Roger! :)

And here she is giving me shots! OUCH!

And on to the house. They started drywalling last week! YEAH! They have been moving along so quickly, I cannot believe it! This is our ceiling...

Our garage...

And the kiddos in Addison's bedroom. They have been able to warm the place up enough with heaters, so that they can begin the mudding process. I am hoping next week sometime they will paint! SO EXCITING!

My kiddos

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers on Addison's surgery! She did remarkably well. In fact, by noon you would not have known that she even had surgery at 7:30 that morning! She was already bouncing on her new pre-school sized trampoline showing off! Gotta love her!

And by the way, I noticed I haven't written about my oldest two for quite a while. Jadyn is becoming a beautiful young lady. She is getting taller and slimmer and is easy to hold a conversation with. She is so grown up! Piano is still going well for her and she is still loving her hip-hop dance class once a week!

Ethan is simply Ethan. He is so tenderhearted and sweet. Of course that means he gets his feelings hurt easily, but he is getting better. He has become a bit of a slowpoke in the mornings though. We keep threatening to wake him up at 6:00 so he can be ready to leave ON TIME! I think he would still be late! :) He reminds me a lot of my brother whose famous last words were always, "Just wait!" Ethan was so excited when he saw the Little League signup sheet come home from school! He can't wait to play ball again! He is also becoming quite a good reader, a fact that he is very proud of.

And mom and dad? We are getting so excited for our new house to be finished!

The latest

Lots has been happening on the homefront. Yesterday I got Lasik surgery done. So today I can see, no glasses, no contacts. YEAH! I want to do a separate post on the surgery later.

On Monday, I took Addison to an ear/nose/throat specialist because I had had enough ear infections from her. I knew it was just a matter of time until the docs would refer us, so I took the initiative and made the appointment myself.

She was just finished with her last round of antibiotic, remember the infection that caused a ruptured ear drum? Yeah, the ear drum was thankfully healed but the infection was not gone. So we are on more antibiotic from the ear doc, and have surgery scheduled on January 6th. Thank the good LORD!

I so wish we could have done this last March, but "we were trying to be conservative." Well, the conservativeness did not work, and here we are! Right where I knew we would be. I seriously think mothers should be given a medical degree, at least for their own children. We know them so well, inside and out.

I also hope that these tubes help with the behavior and attitude of my sweet little princess. (note the sarcasm) It is definitely something to be desired at times.

Quote of the day (on Monday):

We were all piled into a family bathroom at the doc's office.

Jadyn was finishing up her business and says...

"Don't look at my weiner!" (sidenote...they use weiner very generally around the house)

Ethan says, " She doesn't have a wiener, she has a bladder!"

Looks like I have my work cut out for me~

OUCH!

For the last several days, I have been keeping a close eye on Addison and her ears.  She has had several infections since last New Year's, just not enough to undergo tube surgery.  So this morning, I had had enough.  The problem with Addison is that she has an extreme lack of symptoms.  She doesn't run a fever, she generally sleeps ok, she eats ok, she doesn't usually tug at her ears.    The only thing I can tell is when her already lackluster attitude gets much worse.  And you know we all have bad days, so that isn't always 100% either!  What's left?  Well I took her this morning because she refused to sleep for a nap yesterday and she didn't sleep well last night.  And guess what!  Not only does she have a double infection, again.  Her right ear drum was perforated.  Which is a nicer term than ruptured!  

I feel so awful for her!  I wish I would have just trusted my gut and taken her in earlier.  I absolutely knew it was an infection, but she wasn't showing any tell tale signs, until the sleeping thing. 

Now she is on an oral antibiotic and an ear antibiotic drop.  And if you know my daughter, you know she is a wiggle worm.  But lucky us, we get to try and hold her still for several minutes after we put the drops in.  I am sorry but she is 17 months, that is next to impossible!

The Nurse Practitioner said maybe we could discuss tubes at her ear recheck in two weeks.  So as soon as I left the office, I called the Ear/Nose/Throat doctor anyway and we will see him in two weeks!  

I feel so much better knowing tubes may be on the way.  Jadyn had to have tubes put in twice, so I know what a difference the tubes make.  She was like a new child after the surgery.  

So if you think about it, say a little prayer for our little one.  She must have an incredibly high pain tolerance!  And yes, she is sitting on top of the toilet.  She loves to climb! :)

Me and the kiddos

This turned out to be such a great photo of the kiddos and myself, that I just had to share it! Even Addison is smiling (or appears to be)! Too bad Roger wasn't there with us...

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am off to Indianapolis early Saturday for a girls only weekend with a few friends from high school... I absolutely cannot wait!

Way too cute!

This is Addison's first experience eating baked spaghetti with utensils. Eventually, she gave up.

Here is our house!!! This is looking at the walkout basement and the main level that they are now framing.
My bathroom...Did I say my, I meant ours. :)

And this was just too cute to not upload. Enjoy!

Random thoughts

I have no idea what to blog about tonight, so I decided to just blog my random thoughts that I have had throughout my day today.

• What should I do today...Get the remaining items at Mom & Dad's or go to Mishawaka and get some much needed items?
• Mishawaka...Babies r us and Target!
• I really want to get a newborn gift for Cooper.
• I am so glad that I am done having kids. Memories of pushing are way too fresh in my mind!
• I hope Amber is doing OK.
• Ooh! Sales!
• This is way too much. But Fall and Winter are really long months. She needs plenty to get through the winter.
• I am so glad that she loves shoes. Just like her mama!
• I really like my car. I wish it got a little better gas mileage though, especially with all the driving I am doing.
• I love Target.
• Addison is doing so good for being on the road so much.
• I wonder if we should finish off the bathroom in the basement that is meant for pool guests. Now that we have to put a pool in on the opposite side than we were expecting, that seems like a long way away.
• I really have to get going on my Bible study.
• Addison's giggle just warms my heart.
• I bet Ethan is going to have a fit when he finds out he'll have to stay at the Boys & Girls Club after school.
• I sure am glad that Jadyn is at the same school as Ethan.
• I wonder if I should call Roger about the bathroom idea.
• Is that framing done right for the guest bedroom and bathroom?
• It doesn't look right. I should tell Roger to come look at it.
• Thank goodness Addison now has some clothes for cooler weather.
• Cooper is so cute! He seems so little, but two of my kids were even smaller. I really forget.
• I wish my kids would know how to behave in this hospital.
• I am so glad that Jadyn & Ethan are self -sufficient when they need to get into and out of the car.
• I should call Alli or Jocelyn. We have an extra half-hour before church tonight, but I bet they are going to dinner.
• Thank goodness I remembered to bring that receipt to Sheila!
• MMMmmm, pizza!
• DIET COKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
• I love that Ethan is more timid than Jadyn, but I wish he could get past this phase.
• I really don't like leaving Addison in childcare when she cries. I hope she will stop soon.
• Jadyn is going to love her girls group at church! My social butterfly!
• Please don't fall asleep on the way home.
• I love kissing my kids and wishing them good night.
• What should I blog about?

1, 2, 3!!!

Thank goodness for Mom & Dad's hot tub. It has been "almost" as good as having a pool around this summer. They keep the temperature down to a cool 85 degrees or so.

Our little daredevil, Addison, saw Roger in the hot tub the other night with Jadyn and Ethan, and wanted to join in on the fun! She is so brave and loves when you count for her to jump!

She has grown up so much this summer...She says a few words like Dada, Mama, JJ, Eeee! (for Ethan), kiki (kitty), and Jason (she learned that over the weekend).

Addison will definitely miss the big kids when they head off for school tomorrow! I am looking forward to being able to focus on her for a while, like I was able to do with the other two.

A knot on the forehead, a bruise, and tears

We went to town today expecting to get school shoes and gym shoes for Ethan, go to lunch, Hobby Lobby, then home again. That is a lot to do with three kids in tow, and in good moods.

We started off at MC Sports to look for shoes. The big, muscular high school kid who has probably taken too many steroids, lumbers over and in his gruff voice asked what size we need. After what seemed like hours, he finally stumbles out with only one of the shoes we wanted because, "the other ones we don't have." Imagine all of this in a high school, too much steroid usage, muscular kid voice...

I am trying to help Ethan get his sweaty feet into these Nikes while Jadyn is trying to wrangle the wild little horsie that we will call, Addison.

Honestly, we tried for about two minutes to get these shoes on. Ethan's feet got hot, we didn't have socks, nor did steroid boy offer any, and I am flustered because the big dude is looking over my shoulder wondering aloud if, "are his feet too wide?"

You know, his questions don't sound so annoying now, but in the midst of it all, I could have smacked him.

Finally, the big brute walked away realizing he wasn't helping, and my attention turned back to my girls struggling off to the side, and Ethan's sweaty feet. After some serious tugging and pulling, the blessed Nikes fit perfectly. Here is where the tears show up...BY ALL THREE KIDS!

Ethan is wearing his shoes, but is flat out refusing to walk in them even 5 feet to see if they fit OK, and crying. Jadyn is still holding the wild horsie when Addison pulls her head back and slams it forward and hits Jadyn on the corner of her left eye, on the bone, with her forehead! Now I have all three kids crying.

Rather than fight it, I left with no shoes, but I now had Addison with the knot on the head, Jadyn with a bruise and swelling above her left eye, and Ethan simply crying because he didn't want to walk in his new shoes.

Ever been there?

My 100th Post!

Last Friday, Mom and I took Jadyn, Ethan, and Addison to the Ft. Wayne Zoo. We met Katy and Tristan, and Aimee and Emma there. We had a lot of fun, but it was really busy! I think everyone started school this week, so they wanted one last hurrah at the zoo before school. Here are a few pics...

Going on the log ride...we saw a few kangaroos

The three kiddos waiting in line
Grandma and Addison passing time playing a drum

Begging for another ride
Me and the kids

So, on to my 100th post...

Something I would like to do is make a list of the 100 things I want to do in life. I have started a list a few times, but I can never seem to get past 30 or so things to do. I think I make it too hard on myself, trying to find outrageous things to do when I could just be finding simpler, more realistic things to add to my list. Here are a few from my list:

• take golf lessons
• visit various vacation spots
• lead a bible study (which I can check off because I completed it)
• shake hands with a celebrity (see what I mean, totally unrealistic)

You get the idea...

What would you put at the top of your 100 things to do in your life list?

Every kids dream

Mud and dirt piles!

We got lots of it! They finished digging out the basement today and they put pea gravel down so the kids were having a ball running through it tonight.

That and the huge piles of dirt which I told them not to climb, but Daddy let them when I wasn't around! Roger once broke his ankle when he was younger jumping off of a dirt pile, so I think I have good reasons.

The excavators also dug a huge trench just in case we get a lot of rain any time soon it will have a place to go.

I also got to start making decisions today about door handles, garage doors, shingles, outlets, etc...It was actually fun! Next week we are going to go pick out tubs, showers, sinks, and all the faucets and stuff.

The next several days are super busy so it will be a few days till I can blog again!

New house, Step 1

Here it is!

The view from our front door

The kiddos watching the digging

They are digging out our Master bedroom and Library

Roger and Vern (our builder) talking to the guy from the excavating company.

Standing at the front door looking towards where the garage will be. The three pines will be at the end of the garage. We will have a drive come in between the 3 pines and the rest of the trees to get to the garage.

Addison loved playing in the dirt last night!