Lake Lure

Last Saturday, we decided to take a drive to Lake Lure-a small town in the mountains with a lake (and a beach). We got there as soon as it opened since we knew we couldn't stay all day....Addie can't make it through a whole day without a nap! It took Addie a little while to get used to eveything, but once she did, she had a great time.

Here she is showing off her sand toys:

Playing with Mommy:

This was one of Addie's favorite things there-a little water works area. She loves to get wet!

She was a little wary of the lake, but bringing a ball out there helped a lot:

We left right after lunch, thinking we could keep Addie up on the drive home, so she could take a nap in her bed. We were obviously wrong-she was out within 15 minutes even while reading a book:

Talking

Ever since Addie turned one, she started trying to talk some. Recently, though, it seems like she has really picked up the pace. As with most kids (I assume), Bob and I understand way more than others do, but that is okay. She is saying around 20-25 words now and consistently asks for things by saying "pees" (please). Somehow, she does not quite understand why she doesn't always get what she wants when she asks so politely. We have been working hard on "thank you", but that was much mroe challenging than "please" since she tunes us out once she has whatever it is she wanted. We finally figured out, though, that if we keep her from eating/using whatever she was given until she says "thank you", she says it. Her most recent words have been two syllables (cracker, cupcake, diaper) and they're pretty fun to hear her say. I think our favorite thing she does right now is anytime she hears someone say the word "hot", she starts to blow. I guess there were a lot of times I told her that her food was hot and then blew on it. It's crazy the things kids pick up on! One thing we are still working on is getting her to say some form of "Mommy." She has some kind of block with that it seems. I will get her to sounds out "mmm" and then "aaaa", but then when I get her to put it together, it is always "Dada." Weird.

Here are some videos of Addie talking/making animal noises recently (we are trying to think of more animal noises that she could make, but are drawing a blank...any suggestions?):

36 Weeks

We made it to 36 weeks! Addie was born at 35 weeks and 3 days, so we are in unchartered territory now! I had my last (unless a problem arises) growth ultrasound this morning to check and see how baby boy is doing. There is still plenty of fluid (13.6 when it needs to be at least 10) and he is measuring as if he is 35 weeks 5 days (only 2 days behind what I actually am, which is awesome). The past few weeks when the doctor has measured my belly, it hasn't been as big as it "should" have been, but they said that can be very inaccurate, which it obviously was since the baby is plenty big! We were told he weighs aproximately 5 lbs. 9 oz. today and should gain about a half a pound each week from here on out, so we should be holding a baby that is over 7 pounds in just over 3 weeks! As I mentioned before, we are scheduled for a c-setion on August 12, and if today is any indicator, there is no reason we should have to deliver before then (which is fine with us!). So, we will plan to meet-and introduce to everyone-our baby boy 3 weeks from this Thursday. A new blog is in the works as we don't want our little guy to think our daughter is the favorite, so be on the lookout for a new blog address coming soon. In the meantime, here is the best picture we got today. It is his body on the left and a profile of his face on the right-he has outgrown the possibility of taking pictures of his whole body and face at one time:

15 months

Addie has been 15 months old for a couple weeks now, but she just had her doctor's visit yesterday. Good news...she is healthy! She weighed in at 20 lbs. 2 oz, which puts her in the 10% and she is 30 1/4 in. tall, which is the 25%. So, she is still on the small side, but that is no surprise seeing as she is still wearing size 12 month clothes. We are so thankful for our healthy, happy little girl and hope her little brother will be healthy as well!

I didn't want to do a post without any pictures (those are no fun), so here is Addie helping to water the plants....or the grass, or her feet, or whatever happened to receive the water she dumped out of her little can as soon as she got it.

Our Little Calf

We headed out for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a on Friday, but had a trial run at the house on Thursday so I could try to get some pictures. Addie isn't very cooperative with posing for a camera, but I did the best I could. Here she is before the hat went on:

Full costume:

I tried to get her to get on all fours and moo like a cow, but that was pretty unsuccessful:

And here we are the day of. Unfortunately, Addie didn't enjoy it very much. She has had a rough last few days as we think (cross your fingers) she is teething. Don't worry, I will post on here if she ever actually breaks a tooth through those tough gums of hers!

Cow Appreciation Day

Just a heads up that tomorrow, Friday July 9th, is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. What that means is, if you dress up like a cow, you get a free combo. If you don't want to go all out, you can "partially" dress like a cow (just a shirt, purse, hat, etc.) and get a free sandwich. We have done this the past 3 years and enjoyed quite a few free combos in that time. We plan to take advantage tomorrow for sure! Here is a picture of the fun from last year:

Baby boy update

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday-I am now 34 weeks along. They did a quick ultrasound to check the fluid and it was good, then I was on the monitor for 20 minutes and they said that our little boy is one of the most cooperative babies they deal with regularly, so hopefully that will continue after he is born! All that means is that he is active while on the monitor, which is good, and means I don't have to be on the monitor any longer than 20 minutes, which is great! Going to the doctor twice a week (25 minutes away) is very time-consuming as it is, so anything to speed up the process is much appreciated. The past 2 times I have gone, they had been really quick, which is much different than the times before that. So, I am hoping that is the new normal! We are about a week and a half away from the time we had Addie last time around (35 weeks, 4 days), so we are really hoping that is not the case again, but are also trying to get everything ready at home so we are not so behind starting out this time...whenever this little guy decides to come!

Happy 4th of July!

Meeting more family

Although Addie is now 15 months old, she still hasn't met all of her close extended family (extended family being aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents), but she is closer than she has ever been. This past weekend, we decided to take a quick trip up to Richmond, VA to visit Addie's great-grandpa, P.D. Snead, whom she had never met. While we were there, Uncle Josh drove down from D.C. to meet Addie for the first time as well. Unfortunately, Aunt Amy was not able to come down with Uncle Josh (hope you're feeling better, Amy!), so she is the last remaining family still needing to meet Addie. Like I said, it was a quick trip, but we are glad we went.

This is Daddy, Uncle Josh, and Addie putting flags at Addie's great-grandma's grave:
Out to dinner and some ice cream:

Addie has recently been a bit fearful of any men other than her Daddy. But, Uncle Josh was an exception. Apparently, he was just too much fun for Addie to be afraid of him. She really enjoyed playing with Uncle Josh!

Addie was a trooper on this trip. We drove about 900 miles in 2 and a half days, which was a lot for us, let alone for Addie. There was no way to prepare her for how much time she was going to spend in her car seat, but she did really well. She did not sleep much in her carseat-apparently those days have passed...unless she is so exhausted she can't help but close her eyes, which is what happened on the drive back home on Sunday.

Random pictures

We recently saw a kids picnic table at Target on clearance and decided to get it for Addie. For those interested, there are tons at our Target (and I'm sure at others also) and they are 50% off, making them $25. They are extremely easy to put together and seem like they would be really easy to paint if you wanted it to be a different color than white. Anyways, Addie loves it!

Here she is, eating at her big girl table...she just needs a friend (or brother) to sit and eat at it with her!

Our neighbors are out of town, so we got to go feed their birds for them. Addie was a little nervous, but interested as to what they were doing:

As we are drawing closer to the arrival of our little boy, we have been trying to prepare in whatever ways we can. We knew we were going to be moving Addie into a different room so that the new baby could sleep in the crib, but we didn't know how to do the move since Addie is still pretty small/young for a toddler bed. We thought about just putting her in a pack-n-play in her new room until she was ready for the toddler bed. But, once we got the toddler bed up, and curtains in the window, I decided to try her out in it at naptime one day. I had expected her to get right out, or jump off of it, since that is what she did right after I put the bed together. Instead, Addie surprised me by actually taking a nap when I put her in the bed! Since that went so well, we put her to bed in the toddler bed that night and Addie slept in it without a problem! She has had some issues with falling out, which we have been working on (she falls out, cries, we put her back in, and she is asleep right away-so, not a big deal). We have tried putting the pack-n-play up against the bed so she can't fall out, but she falls out anyways-wedged between the pack-n-play, the floor, and the bed. Or, she climbs over the back of the bed, landing with a bang...and some bruises. So, our latest idea has been to leave the opening of the toddler bed as it is, so she has a way out, but we put bumpers around the rest of the bed, so she doesn't bang her head (or any other body parts) on the sides, front, or back anymore. She definitely moves a lot in her sleep! All that to say, Addie is totally in a toddler bed now-for naps and bedtime. We had initially thought the bed looked so tiny, but now that Addie is in it, it looks really big, and she is the one that looks tiny! We are so thankful for such an adaptable, happy little girl. We hope she continues to be that way when her little brother arrives!

Naked baby alert

Just in case you do not want to see Addie without any clothes on, here is your warning-do not watch this video! Otherwise, enjoy! Addie is obviously not afraid of water, especially getting her face in it! Too bad we don't have a pool to go to.