Getting ready for Christmas

 This is just a quick post to catch me up before Christmas gets here.  We have had so much fun this month!  We took the girls riding last night to look at Christmas lights.  We didn't even have to leave the neighborhood!  Everyone is so festive here and Addison certainly approved!  She loved everything but her favorite has always been the blow-up figures.  We have the 12 ft. Santa in our front yard along with a snow globe.  She loves to go outside and touch and talk about them. (I need to take a pic of the girls in front of him!)  These are huge conversation starters!  Anyway, she was a little mad that we couldn't touch every single one that we passed.  I have been pulling out all of Addison's Christmas clothes from when she was a baby.  I am determined that Melody will get to wear every single outfit- even if I have to change her 5 times a day! For instance, Melody wore her smocked snowman dress just to go to the pharmacy and vet today.  Good gracious she was cute!   They are still like new and absolutely precious.  Seems like yesterday that I was putting these on Addison.  I really don't like how fast time is going:(

 I picked up a few of these "make your own" ornaments at hobby lobby.  Addison LOVES them!  Anytime I couldn't entertain her, I would just sit her at the table and let her go to town.  When she gets done with the front she wants to color the back.  You can bet I put them on our tree too.  I love them!  I know we will cherish them every year.

 Melody had a great 3 month checkup.  She was 11.8 pounds.  The doctor said she is above the 25% for weight and right at the 25% for height.  Last time they told us she was at the 50% for height but then told us they measured wrong and was really the 25%.  (I need to go back and correct that).  She has been doing wonderful and is really starting to "talk" our heads off!  She has got the biggest smile and has the most sheer squeal you have ever heard.  That is how she responds to us when we talk or smile at her.  My nickname for her has become "Honey Bear."  Not sure why or how it came about but it just came naturally.  She just seems like a little honey bear to me:)   In the mornings the girls typically wake up at the same time.  If this happens, I feed Melody and then get Addison out of her crib and change her for the day.  Then, she comes with me to "help" me change Melody for the day.  Then, Melody will either get in her swing or bouncy seat while I fix Addison's breakfast.  Usually Melody will fall asleep like that for around 30-45 minutes.  That's scenario 1.  Scenario 2 is more "ideal".  Addison wakes up and I pump real quick while Melody is still sleeping./OR Melody wakes up 30 minutes before Addison and I get to feed her and she goes back to sleep before Addison wakes up.  I go get Addison ready for the day and make her breakfast ----while trying to keep her quiet so she won't wake her up!  The "keeping her quiet" part is especially hard cause she wants to see Melody sooo bad in the morning and just yells and yells for her!  Anyway, during this scenario Melody will wake up right when we are finishing breakfast.  I prefer #2 cause Melody doesn't sleep well in her bed during the day.  This is mainly because Addison is so VOCAL.  So, as much as it hurts me to do this, I put her in the swing to let her nap.  I would have never done that with Addison cause that's what the books taught us BUT this situation is different and little Melody needs her sleep!  Hopefully we can transition to her crib during the day. 

 Guess what happens after the New Year??  We will be changing Addison's crib into a toddler bed.  Yikes.  It is definitely time.  If we wait too much longer she is going to hurt herself by falling out!  I sure hope the transition is easy.  THEN, when we conquer that we will start potty training.  Oh I dread this.  I know she will be easy cause she tells us everytime she is going and what she is doing.  BUT diapers are just sooo easy!  See, if I'm nursing Melody and Addison has to go "NOW", it will be hard to put Melody on hold while I go help Addison.  Therefore, I prefer diapers.  She will always grab her diaper and say, "Tee Tee....NASTY."  She says this to strangers too.  Talk about Mom guilt! 

 This is Addison's Christmas dress from last year.  She only wore it once and it was so big so I wanted to try it again this year.  WOW, it was short!  Like Shirley Temple short.  I wish I had a full length to really show it off.  It was so funny!  She loves dresses and she could have cared less. 

 This was my 1st Christmas dress that my Nona smocked for me.  I have hundreds and hundreds of smocked dresses that she made me growing up.  Still in tip top shape!  It was a little bit big on Melody but would have been too small next year so we had to have a style show now!

 See that Elmo bandaid?  That thing had to stay on her arm in order for me to get that smile.  Picking my battles.

 Funny story- See that little silk thing in Addison's hand?  That would be my wedding night lingerie.  She found this in my drawer around 6 months ago and has since become OBSESSED with it.  Sleeps with it at all times and drags it all over the house.  Wow, if I had only known way back then, when I was picking that sucker out, that my 2 year old would use it as a lovey!

The two best Christmas gifts ever!

Happy 3 Months Melody!

Sweet Melody Rose....I can't believe you are already 3 months old!  You have been such a sweet little baby and a true blessing to us!  I just LOVE snuggling with you!  You are my cuddle bug and really love to be held.  You light up so much when I talk to you and give you a big smile.  I can always get a smile out of you when I say "Hiiiii."  I have to REALLY exaggerate it.   You have got one of the sweetest smiles around!  You gave me your first giggle on December 7th. (just 2 days shy of 3 months).  You have only done it a few times but gosh it is so wonderful.  So that means that I have been acting really silly just to hear the next laugh from you!  You have been sleeping around 8 hours at night.  You don't do it every night though.  You will have 3 good nights in a row and then 1 where you will wake up once to eat for about 10 minutes.  You rolled over (belly to back) on December 1st. (a week shy of 3 months).  I am trying my hardest to document this stuff for you because I did the same for Addison and have it all in her baby book.  I think you decided to roll over because you finally got fed up with doing tummy time.  Bless your heart!  You start off liking it and then you get sooo mad!  Addison is still completely in love with you.  She always wants to touch you, lay by you and love on you.  I believe you love her back!  We are so excited for your first Christmas.  Santa will certainly be coming to visit:) 

 Here we are making those sweet little hand print ornaments.  I had a wonderful vision where they would turn out perfect.  Oh well!  I think it is near impossible to get a 3 month olds hand completely flat!  Sooo, Melody's did not turn out the way I wanted.  We will definitely try again next year!  Addison's turned out great.  She had a meltdown right as we were doing it and it was almost a bust.  Matt stayed strong and it turned out precious!  I love ornaments like this.  I can't wait for our tree to be filled with sweet little handmade crafts!

 Yesterday we decided to make Christmas cookies.  We had a blast listening to Christmas music, rolling out the dough, and decorating to our hearts desire!  It is so easy to get caught up in everyday chores--- and if you don't watch out, you will miss out on so many fun memories.  Sooo, I ignored all the silly stuff that can wait for a rainy day and enjoyed some delicious time with my family!  I'm thinking we should do this more often.  I just let Addison go for it.  Who cares if it's messy?  I loved it.  I just took the lids off and that hand went straight in the jar!  She flung those decorations everywhere!  She then would swipe her finger across every cookie we iced.  Lets just say she LOVES icing!  When we pulled it out she called it Mayonaise and butter.  Hilarious!  Have I told y'all about her obsession with butter?  HA!  That deserves a whole post of its own! 

 Melody slept through most of this.  She got involved towards the end here.  She was excited- can you tell?  I know she will be next year!

Tantrums and Texas!

I'm a little bit behind on blogging so this will be a long post!  While we were in Baton Rouge a few weeks ago, Melody got to visit with her great-grandparents.  It was a sweet visit and she definitely laid on the charm!  They had a blast loving on her. 

 

 Here is Addison trying out her tricycle again.  Totsie and Papa got it for her awhile back and she just never really took to it.  So, we pulled it out again and we think we made some progress.  See, anytime Addison really likes something she gets REALLY frustrated with it.  So we have to be pretty careful with the things we give her.  That sounds kinda sad huh?  "Oh, Addison would LOVE this toy!  That means we can't let her have it."  Horrible.  She will grow out of it soon though. 

 Melody has been doing great.  She just tags along as you can tell by the pics.  She just goes with the flow and is laid back all the time!  Oh, and she started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks!  Fabulous!  It is really a hit or miss thing though.  Sometimes it will be for several nights in a row and then she will have a few where she will wake up around 4 or 5.  That's pretty wonderful to me!  She is smiling and cooing all the time.  I really think she is starting to notice Addison- her eyes perk up when she sees her and I have caught her smiling at her a couple of times.  I know Addison will be thrilled when she starts to crawl and interact with her.  She is already the best big sis a girl could ask for!

 I have posted these next few pics of Addison to show you what's been going on with her in the past few months.  Have I mentioned that she's 2???  Good gracious.  This little lady can go from hot to cold in .5 seconds with absolutely no warning whatsoever.  I'm thinking it's just part of being a girl!  So, we have been dealing with some temper tantrums and we really have been avoiding this whole discipline thing.  I mean she knows what "No" means and listens to us but that's about as far as we have taken it.  We've tried the corner and she actually likes it.  She will go sit in it when she's not even in trouble.  We need a plan and need to stick to it.  We're just not sure where to start.  I believe I have around 10 books on discipline but have absolutely no time to read them.  I rarely have time to take a shower!  So, showering definitely wins over reading!  Oh, and this outfit.........she LOVES her tutu!  When she sees it hanging in her closet she insists on putting it on.  So that day I got it on her and then she saw her boots.......so we put on the boots.   We were on our way to the backyard so I figured why not??  Who knows, maybe she's got an eye for fashion!?

 This is her FAVORITE baby doll right now.  She carries it with her everywhere.  Funny thing- she only prefers bald-headed babies.  She will suck her thumb against their heads and smell them at the same time!  She does this to Melody every chance she gets!  Hilarious!  The one thing that frustrates her is that she can't take her clothes off.  They are permanently on the baby and that pretty much ticks her off. 

 Addison has also been doing some funny things that I really want to document on here so that I will never forget!  So here goes!  Right now she LOVES yogurt raisins, mandarin oranges and cherry tomatoes.  My gosh have we come a long way from a year ago!  This time last year she wouldn't touch a thing!  It was so bad that we had to start giving her Miralax on a regular basis.  Thank goodness we are over that!  She is OBSESSED with ants and bugs.  Anytime she sees ant beds she will bend down, point, and go EEWWW!  GROSS!  YUCK!  Same for the bugs.  She loves to run and get us a paper towel to pick up dead bugs or flies.  She squeals sooo loud when she sees one too.  For the past few months she has been fixated on BO BO'S.  She will talk your head off about all of her bo bo's.  She loves to point them out and wants a bandaid (specifically Dora) on anything that remotely resembles a bo bo.  She wants you to kiss it and acknowledge that she has one even if she doesn't.  I have caught her several times in the kitchen on the hard, tile floor walking on her knees trying to create a bo bo.  She would stop and check her progress.  If it wasn't red enough she would keep doing it until she was happy with the outcome.  THEN she would run and point it out to me and drag me by the hand to the bathroom cabinet that contains Dora bandaids.  She would say, "bandaid, bandaid, bandaid." 
One of her favorite movies is Beauty and the Beast.  She loves the music and sings it all the time.  She especially loves the dancing towards the end and she will stop what she is doing and start twirling and twirling.  She makes sure that you have noticed her too!  She does this at night while taking her bedtime milk with Matt.  He says it's one of his favorite moments of the day!  He says when he sees her doing this he can almost see her dancing at her wedding and he gets sooo choked up about it:)  Such a good Dad!  He loves his little girls! 
She has also been talking on the phone a lot.  She use to just listen to what everyone was saying, but know she will take the phone from me and start jabbering away.  When she plays with her toy phones she will always pick them up and say, "Heyyyo?  Ok, Bye bye."  And she says it really fast.  I guess she's listened to a few of my conversations? Ha!  Short and sweet:)

 We spent Thanksgiving in Ruston and I really should have taken more pictures!  But juggling a toddler and a newborn doesn't give me much free time.  I do have this one of Matt and Melody snuggling on the couch.  Melody was so good during the whole day.  She slept a good bit and was so sweet when she was awake.  She is one easy going baby!

 The day after Thanksgiving we brought Melody to Dallas with us and left Addison with Honey and Pop.  Matt and I were missing Dallas sooo much and just needed a good ole break.  It was wonderful!  We stayed 2 nights in Southlake Town Square.  This is our old stomping ground.  We use to live about 10 minutes from there and it's where we spent all of our time!  Not much has changed.  We always get a little sentimental driving around that area.  Addison was born in Grapevine and every time we pass the hospital (you can't miss it) a flood of emotions come over me.  I always try to find the room I delivered in and picture us on that day.  Such a wonderful, emotional and scary day.  That is also where our specialist was located.  Dr. Graham-that is one special man for having to deal with me!  No really, he was a wonderful doctor.  He kept me sane throughout my pregnancy!  Melody enjoyed the scenery and just let us be.  We brought the pack n' play and she slept great.  I think she got more sleep on this trip than in her whole life cause big sister wasn't around keeping her awake!  I look forward to taking the girls when they are older!  The pic below pretty much describes Melody right now!  She was excited to go shopping!

 These last pics were of our last night in Southlake.  Can you tell we were relaxed?!