Grandma Suzy & Gramps

Grandma Suzy & Grandpa's trip to Iowa overlapped ours. It was so much fun having them there. Sean went with my Dad a few times to get in on a couple of poker tournaments. My Mom & I were actually able to go on a quick shopping trip just the two of us. It was such a great time!



These next three pictures make me laugh everytime.

Addison running away - she loves to be chased!

My mom's face in this picture is priceless

Golfin'

My cousins, Dustin and Brett were so great to take Sean & Kyle golfing


Even though he had done quite a bit of golfing in Anchorage right before we left, Sean couldn't wait to get out on the course.

This was Kyle's first golf experience and from what the guys said, he did awesome. He was able to make good contact with the ball which is phenomenal for a first-timer!

Dustin swinging:

Brett's swing:

Looks like trouble to me!

Uncle Kyle

Uncle Kyle traveled with us to and from Iowa. It was so much fun to have him with us. Now he might not have thought it was so much fun on the turbulent flight to Anchorage (when he probably thought I was trying to break his arm in fear)! Other than that 40 minute flight I think he had fun with us too. Addison is incredibly attached to her Uncle Kyle and it was nice that she got some extra Uncle Time in!

First Great Grandchild

While in Iowa we spent the majority of our time with my grandparents, Tudie & Grandpa (Papa Roy). My grandparents have been married for almost 60 years and are just the sweetest couple ever.



It is always so wonderful to be with them, but now its even nicer because I get to watch them play and interact with their first great grandchild. Can't you tell that they just adore her??

Heat & Humidity

Sean, Addison & I spent the past two weeks in Iowa on what could be my most favorite trip back! It was so wonderful to get out of town and away from our miserable weather to see the sun and our family!



I have so many pictures to post from our trip, and it may take me a few days and many postings; but I'll get them up - I promise! Meanwhile here's some info and pics from our trip.

The weather was too hot to spend much time outdoors. The temperature was in the 90s with the humidity about the same. So it was pretty muggy. One day the truck's thermostat said 111 degrees - yikes! Anyhow, it was so humid that when I took my camera outside the lens just fogged up. Before the humidity completely shut my camera down I was able to get this picture to show how humid it actually was.



Now I've got to brag. Sorry but I have to do it. Addison traveled like a true champ. Our travel days were about 16 hours a piece, on three separate planes with the longest plane ride lasting almost 6 hours (plus a hour on the runway before take off). Let me tell you: after that kind of day I'd sure like to fuss and cry - but not this girl. She handled the whole trip (including sitting in my lap all but three minutes of the flight) so well. On the way home she only slept for one hour and the rest of the time she was content to read books, play with her Abby Cadabbie doll, peel stickers (she did put one on her sleeping Uncle's face), eat and wave to everyone in the back of the plane.

While the other passengers offloaded, we got SO MANY compliments on how good Addison was. One guy, who sat in the row behind us, said that our 'baby traveled great.' Sean said to him, "Thank you. We were worried." The guy came back with, 'So was I!" At least he was honest!!!

Okay, so it wasn't totally perfect. Our only hiccup while flying was the last 20 minutes of our flight to Minneapolis. It was the red-eye flight and she did cry then. I think it was a combination of her ears popping on descent along with sheer confusion as to why she wasn't nestled in her crib. Anyhow - I think only one crying episode during 32 total hours of travel with a 14 month old is a HUGE success and definitely worth bragging about!!

While in Iowa Addison visited a real toy store and she had so much fun! From the moment we walked in she fell in love with the place. I held her the majority of the time while we walked around. She kicked her little legs and clapped her hands as we walked past the fun toys. When I put her down she went crazy running from one toy to the next. When I'd tell her to come on she'd kinda jump up and down and move her head in all different directions. She wanted to listen to me but there was too much to see before she moved on. Okay, I'm sure that the way I described it made no sense to anyone but me - but trust me it was funny!

Anyhow we were on a mission to get Addison her first real baby doll. Can you believe that the store dedicated to nothing but toys did not have baby dolls?! They had porcelain dolls and a large empty shelf across the aisle from them. We assume they must have been making room for the pub. (Seriously, they're putting a PUB in there. The sign outside the castle shaped toy store says "Grill & Pub coming soon!" I so wish I had brought my camera with me to get a picture of that.) But back to the toys, we did eventually find Addison a doll - at Target. Say what you will about Superstores but this one came through for us when the 'mom & pop' couldn't.

Addison getting her baby doll from Tudie:


Obviously, Addison likes her:



Both Addison and Grandpa took excellent care of the new baby:



All in all it was a great trip! Our days were relaxed without a lot of action. However the days were filled with wonderful company and adoring Great Grandparents. How does it get any better than that?!

Why Two Naps Are Necessary

We spent the entire day getting Sean ready to go on a week-long work trip in Anchorage and missed getting Addison down for her second nap of the day. Sean & I tried to find the up-side of our oversight (we felt like we were better parents if we could put a positive spin on this - silly us). We decided that this would be a good test to see if Addison could go without her second nap, just in case our days got busy, on our up-coming vacation.

No later than 1 hour after we got Sean on the plane to Anchorage I learned that skipping the second nap is in no way an option!!

WARNING: If you are thinking about having a baby at any point in the future - do not watch this video!!

Sorry, but the video is sideways - I don't know how to fix it!!



For those who had a strong enough stomach to actually watch the entire 42 seconds of this video - congrats, you are tough! I can't watch it all!!!

Anyhow, what set Addison off was the power cord for my laptop. We were upstairs and she decided that she wanted to play with the cord. Sure it wasn't plugged in or anything, but cords among many other things in this house are not toys! I told her no, took her away from the temptation and she started on her very first temper tantrum. I tried everything I could think of to distract her but nothing worked. I finally realized that I needed to let her 'cry it out.' It was a tough few minutes for us both; but as soon as those few minutes passed she was back to smiles and sunshine - Thank Goodness!!!

Happy 15th of July!

The night of July 3rd Addison came down with her first real fever - a whopping 103 degrees!!! Instantly the plans to celebrate July 4th were nixed for Addison & I. Instead of attending the local community activities, Addison and I kept up her fluid & Tylenol intake and spent the day snuggling and reading books.

Outside of the fever she seemed normal . . she played and ate just fine. No runny nose or anything to indicate an ear infection. I had my fingers crossed that maybe she was just getting a new tooth and that was the cause of her high temperature; but just in case it wasn't I didn't dare take her out of the house.

A few days later on Saturday she began showing signs that she wasn't feeling well and I called the Providence nurses line and they suggested ways to help make Addison a bit more comfortable. The nurse also reccommended that if the fever wasn't gone by Monday to try and get her seen by a doctor.

Thankfully he clinic was able to get her in on Monday morning, even though her fever had broke the night before. The doctor told me that she had an upper respitory infection. He said basically that she had a swollen lymphnode and that it wasn't serious enough to require any medication; but to keep her at home for a week, if possible, because URIs have a tendency to turn in pneumonia. Within a few days of seeing the doctor all symptoms had vanished but we still stayed home for the whole week - no way was I chancing pneumonia!!!

So when Addison was 100% back to healthy we celebrated the 15th of July with Uncle Clint & Uncle Kyle. She even got to wear the 4th of July outfit Tudie (her Great Grandma) had picked out for her months ago!

Here are pictures of her outfit from Tudie:



Clint on his phone - imagine that!! :)

Uncle Kyle

Playing in the backyard

Walking the dog . . .

. . . or is the dog walking her??

Playing her favorite game with Kyle

The dogs even had a good time!





Happy 15th Everyone!

Lil' Piggies

Crayon Creation

While Addison was sick we found some quiet activities to fill our days. During this time Addison had her first crayon experience. I found the crayola twistables which are basically long crayons in a plastic tube. I thought that maybe she might try and chew on regular crayons and I really didn't want to worry about her choking on a piece of one. I just wish that these were a bit shorter so they weren't so close to her eye. But they worked great!

The process of creating two Addison originals:


A lot of concentration went into this stroke.


So proud of herself!


"Hmmmm, what should I draw next?"


Crayons can even be fun up-side-down!


Ta-Da! All finished!


Two gorgeous drawings for two very proud parents!