Tuesday, November 30, 2010

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?!


Wednesday, November 10, 2010

In Loving Memory.....

Our good friends Alicia and Brad
Please pray for our good friend Alicia, her family and Brad's family as they have experienced a tragic loss.  Our hearts are broken and Brad will forever be missed.  Brad was a wonderful friend, husband, son, brother and neighbor.  He was so much fun and never failed to bring a smile to our faces and provide endless hours of laughter.  He and Alicia were our best friends in Texas and lived right around the corner from us.  They were one of our few friends that were able to be there when Addison was born.  We could always rely on these two.  We will always remember Brad and he will forever be loved in our hearts.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Happy 2 Months Melody!

 Happy 2 months Melody!  Wow time has flown by.  You have gotten sooo big and have such a sweet and pleasant personality.  You seem to always be content and just go with the flow no matter what is going on!  Thank goodness for that cause things can get pretty rowdy around here!  Sunny and Bentley have adjusted well- they loved you from the very beginning.  We think Addison prepared them well:)  Addison of course loves you.  She always talks about you and hugs and kisses on you.  You are smiling so much lately- especially in the morning!  You also coo all the time- especially when we put you on your play mat.  The longest you have slept at night is 6 hours.  We were thrilled with that!  You will be sleeping through the night before we know it.  You are a great eater and really enjoy nursing.  Because of this, I have enjoyed nursing!  We gave you your first bottle at 6 weeks.  We don't really give you that many though- you've probably had around 5.  You just nurse so well that it is easier for us to not do the bottle.  I do pump every now and then for days when I need to run errands.  You had your doctor visit today and you were 9 lbs.14oz.  Still in the 25% for weight and you were 22 inches which put you in the 50% for height.  The doctor said you were a very easygoing baby.  This we know and are very thankful!  We love you so much and are soooo proud to be your parents Melody Rose!

  

 

  

 

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Halloween and such!

A few weeks ago Melody got to hang out with her Great Grandmothers.  She loved all the attention and even handed out some sweet smiles!
Hanging with my Nona


Hanging with my Granny
 Matt and I have always had the tradition of carving pumpkins every year BUT we weren't wanting to pull out the knives and have a carving party with the girls being so young.  SO, I decided to pull out the paints and let Addison GO TO TOWN!  AHHH!  She had a BLAST!  It was probably messier than carving would have been but it was totally worth it.  She started with the purple then the pink.  Then she had me open every single one and went on to mixing every single color.  Every time she went for a dip, she would shout out the color.  Fun and educational!  Win Win!  I also got some glitter paint- more for my enjoyment since I'm obsessed with glitter.  It turned out so pretty!
Being very specific


Do I have a Picasso on my hands?
 Addison was a ladybug for Halloween.  We geared her up for the occasion by trying on the costume throughout the week.  She would only wear it for 5 minutes at a time before taking it off.  When the big night arrived she was happy to put it on and pranced around the house for awhile.  She even tolerated the head piece.  That didn't last long before I had to replace it with a bow.  While preparing to go trick-or-treating she had a major meltdown.  I'm pretty sure she could tell something was going on cause we were trying to feed, change and dress everyone.  I fed Melody right before and then put her in the baby bjorn.  She loves that thing and slept the whole time. 
 Melody was a pumpkin- the very same outfit Addison wore 2 years ago.  Hopefully Melody won't mind wearing her sisters costumes every year.  We will continue to do this until she becomes opinionated about the whole thing! 

Precious Pumpkin!

Loving his girls

Is Addison THRILLED or what??
 Nona gave Melody her very own little pumpkin.  So cute!  She didn't want to leave her out:)

Ready to go Trick-or-Treating!
 Oh, this ghost has been constant entertainment for Addison over the past month.  It was propped in our neighbors yard and she would literally stare at it for hours and talk about it.  Then we would have to go outside and walk in their perfect yard and touch it.  This went on ALL month.  These poor people.  It got weird after awhile.  We will definitely have to get something for our yard during the holidays.  She became obsessed with ghosts!

Loves to touch the ghost
 She was not loving the whole Halloween thing.  I think it was a bit overwhelming for her.  Our neighborhood goes CRAZY during this time and it was unreal.  When we would walk up to a house Matt would hold her hand and then she would put on her brakes and pull him back as hard as she could.  He ended up carrying her to get the candy.  She did like that part after a few houses.  So, we fueled her up with some sugar and she became fixated on that. 

More ghosts!  Do you see Melody chillin'  in the carrier? 

 Oh the LOVE Addison has for Melody.  It just lights me up everyday to see her hug, kiss and talk about her.  She does this constantly!  She just adores her sister.  I just get sooo excited thinking about all the fun they are going to have growing up together.  She is already so protective and caring of her.  She would stay like this all day if we let her!  She loves to hug on her.
 Addison is starting to enjoy hanging out in our bed.  She has to be under the covers and have the pillow in the perfect spot.  She doesn't like too many pillows behind her- she will remove them one by one until she gets it just right. 
She always says "Cover Up, Cover Up"!
 Melody has been loving her tummy time lately.  She is smiling so much and has the sweetest coos!  She loves her black and white books.  Addison tries to take them away and look at them herself.  She will also lay next to Melody and try to read her one of her books.  It is so darn cute- hopefully I can catch it on camera next time it happens!  Addison is still calling Melody by her full name.  It sounds like "Medy Rooose."  So precious.  I'm not sure why she insists on using the whole name but she does.  It's one of my favorite things she says:)
Melody slept for 6 hours straight the other night!  So wonderful!  Addison slept through the night at 11 weeks and it looks like Melody is on the same path.  She has her 2 month appointment this week- this is going by so very fast.  So much faster than the first time around.  I have been trying to soak up every little detail because I realize by looking at Addison how fast time flies.  Where is my pause button?????