Addison's Birthday

We're making our way back to the land of the living! All 3 of us have been fighting a nasty stomach bug this week, which seems to have hit Matt the hardest. But none of us have enjoyed it at all! I've tried a couple of times to get some pictures up (honestly, I have!!) but "blogger" and my computer don't always play nicely together and then I get frustrated.

We loved seeing all of you that came for Addison's birthday party - can anyone believe she's already a year old!?! We're so grateful to have such wonderful family that will travel to see us so often. We even got to enjoy another quick visit from Krista this week. Hopefully she avoided the pestilence floating around our home! Thanks for braving it with us Aunt Krista!!

Here are some of the many cute pics from Addy's birthday party!

After presents, we got her all ready to dig into her cake, but she wanted nothing to do with it.

After Addy didn't eat her cake, we served our guests "Mystery Cupcakes," all filled with either pink or blue icing. Once you bite into it, you get to discover the gender of our next little Dalmut!

The icing was very blue, which means, yes, we are expecting a baby boy!!! We are so excited to get to have a son! Addison smiles when we tell her she's having a brother; we hope she's still happy about it in about 5 months!

The birthday girl was pretty worn out after all the festivities. She's such a sweet snuggler when she's tired. I'm going to miss that some day. Hopefully my growing belly won't prohibit snuggling too soon!

Playing in Peoria

Addison and I (Laura) are having a wonderful time in Peoria with my family. We have visited aunts, grandparents, friends, and neighbors. Addison loves her daily stroller rides and has discovered she really really loves swinging! Much to my delight she also had a great time splashing in the swimming pool at the "Y." We're going to have to keep her in practice so she can blow out the competition in her lessons next year! I've also discovered 2 new teeth in her little mouth this week, bringing the grand total to 4 (2 lower, and now 2 upper to match)! Thankfully, Addy is a fairly patient traveler. So hopefully our car ride home on Saturday will be as uneventful as the drive up here was!

First Hair Cut

Well, we finally did it. Addison got her hair trimmed this past Tuesday. These are some "before" pictures from home, in attempt to document how long her bangs had gotten. This is even with 2 barrettes holding the really long hair at bay.

We have a wonderful stylist who was very patient with Addy. But Addison was on her best behavior anyway. The only challenge was that Miss Busybody wanted to look at the scissors and hold them. She had some puffs to munch on, and, all in all, she did great.

I only got one "after" shot, she was tired and fell asleep on the car ride home. Perfect! Now she doesn't even need her barrettes. But we still think they're cute! Bekah did a great job!

The Cutest Bike-rider Ever!

Addison and Matt have been enjoying some evening bike rides this week. She has her own helmet and everything! It came with matching elbow pads and knee pads, but those are way too big and not necessary at this point. The helmet is a little big, but it works! Addy seems to love it! Matt was plenty worn out last night once he began to feel what her 18 pounds would add to his work-load!

Darby's Stage

I'm convinced that Darby thinks we built this deck for her. It's the perfect platform for her to perch on to "guard" the yard and even gives her a little more of an advantage when she decides to bound off to chase some random animal or object. She's going to have some adjusting to do once the railings get put up. Other than those, and for all practical purposes, Matt has bested his "albatross."

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend, despite the noisy fireworks in our neighborhood until the wee hours of the morning. We had enjoyed a great show the weekend before at our church. Addison didn't like them much at first, but eventually decided they were ok if Matt kept her ears covered.

I've been keeping busy with home health PT every Monday, and Addy gets to go play at Nana and Papa's house. I'm so thankful for family that so willingly and loving watches her. They allow me to keep up with my career that I enjoy so much. And Addison gets to explore all of their nooks and crannies for a change of pace!

Her hair really is getting long, and I think I'm ready to give in and let our hairdresser TRIM her bangs a little. Sometime in the next couple of weeks, anyway. That way she'll be able to see her family a bit better when we get to Peoria!

Growing up

She's quick... she pulls up to any and everything... she's eating cheese, puffs, and other baby appropriate finger foods... and I'm afraid she needs her bangs cut. My baby isn't a baby anymore. But she's still the most adorable little person I"ve ever seen! You can just barely see her first two teeth (bottom) in one of these pictures!

In other news... Matt has been feverishly working on building a deck in our backyard. He's well over half way there, and it looks awesome! As his father put it, "You're definately not afraid of some hard work, are you?" I know he's ready for it to be done, but we're going to love it when it's all finished!

One day at a time

I really do feel bad about not updating this in such a long time. I know some of you check it every day... I'm sorry. I've just turned my computer on for the first time in at least 3 weeks... most of the 195 unread messages are just getting deleted.

For those of you who don't know, my negligence here is due to my recent state of shock/panic/acceptance of some surprising news we discovered several weeks ago. Matt and I are expecting a baby in January! Yes, we really are... and yes, it was a surprise. Addy will be about 16 months old then... what fun we will have! We're slowly trying to think through the logistics of another child in our home and keeping a watchful eye out for double strollers and things like that.

All that said, I haven't taken many pictures lately. I have a couple of Addison standing, cruising along our couch. But that's it. I'll take some today. And, I'll add a couple more vacation pictures to appease those of you in withdrawl.

I almost forgot... we had pictures taken about a month ago by a professional (also a good friend). She did a great job on a windy day with a tired baby girl! You can look at all of them on her website: rachelblackwellphotography.com/dalmut

Thanks for being patient with me. Love you!