Here's Melody in her first/ maybe second ponytail. There won't be many of these cause you can't stand for anything to be in your hair! I had to act fast and take this pic!
Taking a little afternoon stroll and Melody is totally captivated by a dog. You LOVE all animals- especially dogs!! This month you have really started to make your animal noises. I love this! Your tiger is THE BEST. It sounds more like a bob cat and it always makes everyone laugh! You really do it when you see a pic of Mike the Tiger! Certainly makes us proud! Your pig noise is also funny. Daddy didn't teach the typical, "Oink, Oink." No, he taught you the actual noise where it sounds like you are scratching the back of your throat! You are SO GOOD at this which is hilarious! You can do it WAY better than me! You love to pinch your nose and snort like a pig and then you pinch ours and make us snort. You really get a kick out of this.
Matt and I took a much needed break one weekend and went to the LSU game together. Hallelujah! It was so nice to get away and Totsie and Papa came to stay with the girls. I think they have a new found respect for me as a Stay at Home Mom!!! HA!
Y'all have had endless hours of entertainment with this holiday box of tissue! I can't tell you how many times I got to cook dinner without someone screaming:) It just amazed me that something so simple could keep y'all sooo happy and entertained. Melody really enjoyed shredding every single piece. Years ago I might would have cared about the mess- NOT ANYMORE! I just laugh and get enjoyment out of seeing you girls so darn happy!
Every now and then we will take y'all to Krispy Kreme on Saturday mornings. We use to just go through the drive thru and then head home to eat. Now, we like to make a outing out of it. We take y'all inside and watch the donuts floating through the grease and getting iced. It is huge entertainment! Here you are with Daddy in total amazement. I have to add that you insisted on wearing your dress up outfit on top of your normal clothes that morning! I LOVE IT!
Now this is funny and is quiet a reflection on me! One day you insisted on getting your laptop and bringing it to bed with you. You told me where you wanted your pillows and everything. I thought for sure this wouldn't last- BUT you told me to turn your lamp on and shut the door. I kept checking on you every now and then and you were so content just working away on your laptop! Wow!
We went to Ruston for Thanksgiving and I believe you stole the show. You LOVE to have an audience and all eyes were definitely on you! You basically had your own concert that day and everyone sat around you while you played the piano and sang Happy Birthday to EVERYONE. We videotaped that sucker!
Melody, you LOVE this Santa hat. Addison has one just like it and you INSIST that I put it one you all the time. You will walk up to me with it in your hands and just whine until I put it on. You walk away with the biggest smile!
Decorating the tree wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I had visions of Addison wanting to hold every ornament and not wanting them on the tree. BUT you did SO good and was such a great helper to Daddy. You studied each and every one and knew exactly where they were placed. When you went to bed I pulled out your ornament for this year (a pink glittery guitar) and placed it high up. Wouldn't you know that is the first one that caught your eye the next morning! I ended up having to take it off the tree cause you were having lots of tantrums over it and wanting to hold it( it is very breakable)! I told you Santa had to take it off when you weren't looking cause you weren't calming down. I couldn't stand to watch you break it cause it's a pretty sentimental ornament. Papa got you a pink guitar when I was about 16 weeks pregnant with you. You love to play that guitar now! Anyway, Melody's ornament for the year is a glittery music note. I thought it was very appropriate for her since she LOVES music and loves to sing and dance to any kind of beat!
I was also worried if Melody would be pulling the tree or trying to take ornaments off. We haven't had any problems with that and I am sooo grateful! I dreaded putting a big, bulky gate around that tree!
Here y'all are one morning before you went to school. I just LOVE mornings like this when everyone is happy and in a great mood! Things just tend to flow better that way:)
When Addison was playing dress up one day, Melody went into the pile of clothes and pulled out one of Addison's tutu's. You walked up to me holding it out and whining. I thought, "Does she really want to put this on"? As soon as I did you were the happiest baby on the block! Now, it is a tad bit big on you and you do have your very own, but you wanted to wear sisters of course!
One day I felt extra ambitious so I decided to take both of you to the park on my own. Wow that was hard. Addison can walk just fine but I have to be there just in case when you climb things or step on things. You still need some support. That is hard when holding Melody! I had her in the Baby Bjorn and got many comments on how impressive it was to still carry her in that since she's so big! HA! I thought, "Oh believe me, this is sooo much easier than chasing after 2 little ones"! I did take you out so that you could swing- you LOVE to swing!
I have taught you the amazing forward roll and you just can't seem to get enough! I am pretty amazed by how well you can do it without me. It's kinda like a side roll, but your setup is pretty impressive!
This past month has really been hard with you being sick. Poor thing. You keep catching these silly colds that Addison brings home from school and yours ALWAYS turns into an ear infection. We go to the doctor at least once a week and you basically stay on antibiotics. Those of course try to cause diarrhea and we have learned that Activia yogurt really stops that. Well, this past time you got a MAJOR diaper rash that your doctor could not identify so we had to go to the dermatologist the same morning. ( We were in a doctors office for 4 hours straight that day!) We initially went for a recheck on your ears and they were clear but then I showed her your rash and then we had to head over to the dermo. You were amazing though. I let you empty my purse and wallet over and over and over! Anyway, turns out you had a yeast infection from the antibiotic so we had to do some prescription cream. I swear it is a vicious cycle! Cold, ear infection, antibiotic, diarrhea, yeast infection. And repeat. THEN a few days later you were pushing a grocery cart in the house and fell into one of our columns (which is padded at the bottom) and your mouth started bleeding like crazy. Mom saw it happen and I couldn't figure out where the bleed was coming from. One front tooth was a little loose but that was it. Then I saw some skin hanging over those teeth and realized it was the little skin that connects the lip to the gum. I figured I would let you nap and hoped it would stop bleeding. Well, you woke up and blood was everywhere in the bed and still all in your mouth. AND we're off to our first dentist appointment!!! They took us immediately because of the situation. They did xrays (Totsie held you) and you did amazing! Addison was with us and was very concerned about you. She recognizes the dentist and I had to assure her we were not there for her! I also had to talk her through it because when Melody was screaming through the exam, Addison could have easily lost it too! I just let you know everything they were doing and that Melody was not being hurt. The dentist said that you just cut the skin and that they weren't going to have to cut it themselves. That was a relief. She said it should clot on its own but takes awhile. The xrays looked fine and we think one of your front teeth slightly shifted. We get to to back in 3 weeks for a recheck and hopefully the tooth won't be turning black anytime soon. This is so weird to me cause Addison's first dentist visit was when she fell and broke her front two teeth. We did the xrays and everything. AND if you have seen how baby proofed and padded our house has become since Addison's injury, it really amazes me that they could still find a way to get hurt! All in all you went to the pediatrician, dermatologist (twice) and dentist in one week! That was a hard week.
You are still so cuddly even though you are walking everywhere! You LOVE to cuddle right before naps and bedtime. After you finish your milk, you will flip over on me to your belly and lay your head down and we just rock and I sing the lullaby song to you. You just smile and are so content. I will stop on purpose just to see you whine and ask me to do it again. As soon as I start up you start laughing. You still smell delicious. I told your Daddy you smell like a nice bowl of cream of wheat with lots of butter and sugar. Seriously you do!
Here is Addison doing her typical, "Da Da Daaaa" move. Melody has picked it up and does it all the time too! She watches every little move you make!
Addison is saying the funniest things right now. Here are a few:
On the way to therapy this morning riding in Matt's car- "Daddy, if your good maybe Santa will bring you a TV for your car!" She is always fascinated that he doesn't have a TV in his car but Mommy does!
When I'm driving- "Mommy, slow down! Be careful when Addison's in the car. Your not listening, Mommy!" Now, in my defense I am never going fast. I just think I have a little safety girl on my hands!
One Saturday morning she comes into our room- "Mommy, I'm talking to you! Wake up! Where is my Dora nightgown!"
One day Matt and I went together to pick you up from therapy. We watched you for a few minutes before you realized we were standing there. As soon as you saw us you said "Mommy AND Daddy! This is the BEST DAY EVER!" You apparently LOVED us picking you up together!
You have always been knowledgeable about your medicines and know the names and reasons you take them- the other day you came to me and said "Mommy, I have a bad, bad cold. I need a decongestant.
You like to act like a baby some times and will go get a bottle and pretend you are crying and ask me to feed it to you. So I scooped you up and started rocking you and giving you the pretend bottle. I then started telling you stories about when you were a baby. You quickly interrupted me and said "Mommy, don't tell me a story, just feed me." Seriously, when did you get so big???
This pic really caught me off guard. First it looks a whole lot like a little Laura and second it really shocks me by how old you look. I just don't understand how fast time goes. I always tell your Daddy, "I can't believe that is my little NICU baby!"
I have officially stopped nursing you. I stopped the day you turned 15 months. I figured I needed to pick a big day like that or else I would never stop! It worked out perfect and you have been just fine ever since. You were just a picture perfect nurser and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I remember about 1 week before you were born telling your Daddy I don't think I will be able to do it for long because we already had a toddler in the house and I was sooo busy. Well, things worked out and there were many times when you were on the boob and Addison was sitting in my lap watching the whole thing. I really think nursing helped me get through this hard year. I didn't say it got me through it, I just said it helped. Through all the million tears I shed over Addison, and the fear and anxiety that I had, it just helped to have to sit down and hold you and nurse you many times a day. It helped to know that I have to take care of myself in order for my other baby to thrive. That forced me to eat the next meal even though I couldn't imagine putting anything in my body.
So, I got the cute little monogrammed Christmas pj's. I think it's silly to only pull them out on Christmas morning for the first time. Sooo we like to wear ours starting early December and throughout the whole year! I like to get my money's worth:) I was trying to get the cute PJ picture in front of the tree and it is just down right humorous. When will it get easier? All it does it put everyone in a cranky mood! The first one is Melody running from Addison. That is usually the case these days. She will see something Addison is playing with and steal it real fast then take off. It's pretty funny to watch and is definitely good therapy for Addison! She will be running in no time! Sometimes if Addison sees that Melody is about to take something that Addison really likes, she will hand her something way less interesting and say, "Here you go sweetie pie. You play with this." It's usually like a foam letter or cardboard picture or something awesome like that:) Something really funny is that you will sometimes call her "Peter peter." It will go like this, "Sweetie pie, Peter Peter." And you will get really close to her and snuggle up in her face when you say this. Hilarious!
This was the best I got. Not too bad.
And then it quickly turned into this! I had to show this. THIS is REAL!
And Matt's expression is PRICELESS! HAPPY HOLIDAY'S! ( Family Joke):)
I think these always turn out the best. They just don't have a clue that I'm taking these! That's the trick I guess.
