Memorial Day Weekend Part II

Here are a few more pictures of Addie Kate from this past weekend...

Addie playing in Uncle Paul's room:

Addie playing in grandma's bouncey seat. Mom was about to send it back to Heather (who we are borrowing it from), but I told her not to - good thing, she loved it this weekend more than ever! She also just about flipped out of it - nice!

Aiden and Aunt Laurie spent some time over at my parents' house before we went shopping. I LOVE the second picture!

Addie and her Aunt Sue:

Addie DONE after taking pictures on Monday morning. This was the only clean place in the house to put her down (we were packing to go home and that is always so chaotic), and as you can see it really wasn't that clean! We about burned the floor up going back and forth to check on her!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend! On Saturday we traveled to Lexington for a cookout at Heather and Steven's. We had a nice time in the pool, relaxing with friends. It was Addie Kate's first time in the pool and she loved it! Here are some pictures from that day, there may be more to come...

Addie Kate, Lawson, and Claire

Addie Kate (you can see her smiling behind her passy!) and Lawson

Mommy and her girl! (Yes, we match, and yes, that is a bow on her hat - you know it!)

Addie was DONE about 6:00, so Uncle Stu took her, and this is what happened... so sweet!

Then, on Sunday, Elliott (or Uncle E), Tommy, and Granddaddy Chuck went to Charlotte for the Nascar race. So, what do the girls do (and a reluctant pair of boys?) - SHOP!!! Laurie, Heather, my mom, and I took Addie Kate, Lawson, and Aiden to the mall. The moms got in a tiny bit of shopping, but the real treat for the kiddos was a trip to Build-A-Bear! Here are some pictures:

Addie Kate, mommy, and her grandmother (who still remainds nameless!) making her first Build-A-Bear monkey. (Her grandmother bought the monkey, after being told that she was the only grandmother that hadn't made her a Build-A-Bear yet!) Notice what Addie was playing with - the stinking tag! Never fear though, she got that monkey's foot in her mouth quickly!

Lawson and Aiden with their new friends! (Aiden was mad because he wanted a monkey like Lawson and Addie, but he already had one at home! He kept saying, "Monkey, monkey, monkey?")

The mommies and the babies!

Our wonderful friend, Mr. Larry James, also took Addie's 7 month pictures while we were in Lexington. They were at my parent's house, on the lake, so hopefully they'll turn out great! I'll post them as soon as we get them back.

I hope everyone else had a great Memorial Day weekend, and hopefully took some time from the celebrating to remember what freedoms we all enjoy daily, because of the sacrifices our veterans made for our country!

Seven things about being seven months

Our sweet Addie Kate turned 7 months old this week. However much we hate to see her growing so fast, she really is so much fun these days! Here are seven of her new favorites and accomplishments...
1 - She has learned to rock herself while sitting up and bounce on anything!

2 - She absolutely LOVES books! (Could it be because she has been read to, at least two times a day, since she was conceived?) It is music to mommy's ears!

3 - She talks, all the time! She has pretty much a new sound a week. Her latest is a gurgling type sound from the back of her throat.

4 - We have only had one ear infection (And one round of fluid behind the ear... see previous post of "Our Sick Girl.") and are officially prevacid-free! (And we have really, really cut down on the spitting up!)
5 - Still NO teeth!
6 - She will eat anything - we love a not-picky eater!
7 - She is no longer swaddled at night! As sweet as it was, we knew it was not safe at all for her to be swaddled any longer, and she's sleeping just fine without it! She sleeps mostly on her side, and in the mornings as soon as she sees us, she gives us a 1000-watt smile!

Here are some pictures of Addie Kate at seven months and one day old! We love you so, so much, our sweet baby girl!

The teething blanket is still a favorite - but now she actually uses the plastic teething part!

Weekend Recap

It was a nice, slow weekend for us up here! We mostly just played and hung around the house. Tommy went to help Christie move from apartment to apartment, and Addie Kate and Mommy went shopping (duh, what else do two girls do when left alone?). Then, later Saturday night we went to the Greek Festival! Addie enjoyed everything except waiting in line! Who can blame her? She also sat in her "big girl" stroller. Oh, my heart's breaking...

On Sunday Tommy and I went to get a pizza for lunch, and Addie Kate and I had been reading a magazine before we left. Well, she tore one page out of my magazine, so I gave in and gave her that page and the subscription card. I looked down at her as we were leaving, and thought it was so cute that she still had that subscription card in her hand, even through Tommy putting her in the car seat. Well, about halfway there, we hear a cough in the backseat. I jump over the front seat and see a chunk of the subscription card gone. I do the classic "finger sweep" and pull a huge wad of it out of her mouth. Not my proudest mommy moment!

I'm also throwing in a few pictures of some of her favorite new things to do since she's sitting up so well, enjoy!

She loves this bear! I think it's because he sits up and is just her size. She'll talk to him, eat his ear or nose, give him kisses, grab him, etc. It's adorable to watch and it always makes her happy!

She's learned the art of escaping! This is her in her gym, and she still enjoys it for a short while, but then rolls and turns and scoots until she's where she wants to be!

Ahhh, the teething biscuit. I'm sure every mom out there recognizes it. I knew enough to put a vinyl bib on her, but what about me? I was covered in goo! But she enjoyed it and it kept those rotten ole gums from hurting for a while!

Here she is playing her piano. She LOVES this toy, the red piano that's also in the picture, any books at all, and a little Sesame Street school bus (that I think my mom bought for 50 cents somewhere!) - they are by far her favorite toys. Below is a video of her playing with the piano. Right as the battery died on the camera, she started to "dance!" This is her newest thing. She just sits there and rocks back and forth (Aiden did the same thing!) and it is hilarious to watch! I'll try to get another video of it soon.

Our sick girl...

Starting last Sunday, Addie started a fever of around 101 consistently, that we could not break. We watched it for a few days (we had JUST gone to the Dr. for her 6 month visit), sure that it was her teeth, but around Thursday, we decided to take her on to the Doctor. Dr. Greene said she did have some fluid in her right ear, that was a little cloudy, but nothing bad. She said she wouldn't have typically prescribed an antibiotic at this point, but since the fever had been going for so long, and Addie was obviously uncomfortable, she went ahead and gave us Augmentin, with a warning that it may upset her tummy. So, we go home, Tommy runs back to the pharmacy to get the meds, we feed her oatmeal and Tommy gives her a bottle. I'm sitting across the room from them, finally relaxing for the evening, when all of a sudden, Addie throws up ALL OVER Tommy and herself. I'm talking adult-sized vomit. So, I take her, change her, Tommy showers, and we ponder what to do. I told him (me being the QUEEN of sensitive stomachs) the medicine was just too strong for her, that I'd deal with it in the morning with the Doctor. I took her downstairs to rock her to sleep while Tommy finished getting cleaned up, and what do you know, she pukes ALL OVER me!!! I yell for Tommy. He helps me clean her to at least where I can move, and on my way upstairs to the bath for BOTH of us (before I had just wet-wiped her down, planning to bathe her in the morning, I mean she was TIRED!) I tell him to call the Doctor. Sooo, Addie and I are in the bath, the doctor has been paged, Tommy takes Addie to dress her, I bathe myself, Tommy takes her downstairs to for a 3rd time rock her to sleep, and she pukes again! At this point, I am livid. She looks so helpless, bless her sweet heart. So, the three of us hang out in our bathroom, we do not dress Addie again, and wait for the nurse to call us back. We finally get sick of waiting and call back ourselves (it's been about 20 minutes), and get a nurse. We talk to her (she gives us the rundown of keeping her hydrated), then talk to a second who thankfully asked us how much Augmentin we gave her. Tommy tells her that we gave her a teaspoon and a half, which she questioned, so he went downstairs and read the bottle to her, and he was right - it said a teaspoon and a half. She said she'd have to call us back, and Tommy came back upstairs (to where Addie had puked AGAIN) to tell me that he thinks she thought we gave her too much medicine. I am in shock. Well, while we were waiting for the nurse to call us, Addie falls asleep and stays asleep while we dress her (which has never happened) and proceeded to sleep through the night with nothing – no swaddle, sleep sac, or blanket. Tommy and I go downstairs to crash, and the Doctor calls us back. She proceeds to tell Tommy that the nurse thought something sounded fishy with the dosage, so she’d called her. The Dr. then called the pharmacy to verify the prescription and found out the pharmacy had written the dosage incorrectly. She then called (hang on, let me brace myself) POISON CONTROL to see what would happen if a six month old had TRIPLE the dosage of Augmentin. They told her she’d vomit it all up (check), and there’d be no other side effects. After the Dr. reassured Tommy and me of this, we went on to bed, where neither of us slept for worrying about and checking on Addie all night. We have since taken action with the pharmacy and are playing the waiting game. We are happy to say that sweet Addie is back to her normal, happy self, thank God! So, how was everyone else’s Thursday night?

Addie and the tag...

Addie's Mawmaw sent her a cute new swimsuit and cover up in the mail. Well, Addie liked the swimsuit, but she LOVED the tag. Here is a video of her playing with it. She was too cute!

Some sweet pictures and video

Here is our sweet Addie Kate enjoying her exersaucer. She pretty much likes this all the time now, which really helps Mommy and Daddy every now and then! Don't worry though, we know not to put her in it all the time - she still gets plenty of floor time, tummy time, etc. You can hear Tommy laughing on the last video - she's just so funny!

Addie is wanting to crawl so badly! And, she's really sitting up well. I'm too nervous to leave her sitting up (even though she probably would be fine), but I don't feel like we have to constantly keep our hands on her now - we just stay close by!

Enjoy the pictures of our sweet one!

Happy Birthday Grandma Schreiber and Happy Mother's Day to All!

Saturday was both happy and sad for our family. My sweet Boompa (the grandfather in the pictures from earlier posts) passed away and his funeral was on Saturday. I am an absolute firm believer in celebrating life and celebrating the fact that Boompa is in heaven and is so much better off than all the rest of us, so however much I may miss Boompa, I am truly happy for him. No more suffering and all the fun he wants...

Addie Kate stayed with Tommy's mom and Chuck (MawMaw and Granddaddy) while we were at the funeral, and I believe she had a great time! After the funeral, Tommy and I were able to celebrate Mother's Day with his mom, just a day early. They also took some precious pictures while they kept her, and I've posted them below. We then went to see Vicki and Frank (Gram and Pop) for Mother's Day. Addie had a good time playing with both Vicki and Kayla, but mostly the two toys Gram got out for her! Here are some pictures of her over there:

Lastly, we went to see my mom and dad. It was my mother's birthday, so we celebrated that and Mother's Day together. I definitely think Addie brightened the mood on an otherwise melancholy day. Here are some pictures of Addie Kate and my parents:




By the time Sunday rolled around, the ONLY thing I wanted to do for my first Mother's Day was to relax, and I did just that. Sweet Addie (with a little help from her daddy!) gave me the new Sarah Jessica Parker Covet perfume (mmmm, I just love it!) and two pieces for my Pandora bracelet. We just laid around the house, played Tommy's new Wii, and enjoyed being the three of us. It couldn't be any better!

Now, to my sweet Addie, the reason I was able to celebrate Mother's Day this year: You are truly a miracle, a gift from God, a ray of sunshine, a little burst of happiness. Never did I know I could love so much until I held you in my arms. I had no idea that my life was incomplete, yet you have made it complete by filling a hole I never knew I had. Never will I regret holding you, rocking you to sleep, letting you nap with us, or neglecting other mundane tasks to spend time with you. My life is so wonderful and I have so much to be thankful for. Thank you, my angel baby, for making me so aware of how sweet life is.

Addie and Mommy on her first Mother's Day (and yes, I was very relaxed!):

Happy Graduation Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue!

Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue have now joined the Clemson Alumni family. They graduated from Clemson on Friday, May 9th. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we were so happy to celebrate with them. Tommy and I had them a party at our house afterwards, which I think was fun... I'm not 100% sure because Addie Kate screamed 90% of the time, so Tommy and I were quite preoccupied (and to those of you who were there, again, I am SOOOOOO sorry! She really is a good, happy baby!). Congratulations Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue - we are SO proud of you!

Woo Yeah!

And, she's out... Thank Heavens because she screamed while Uncle Paul walked across the stage!

There she goes!

There's one in every bunch...

Well, I guess we are just as bad...

Here they come!

She loves her Uncle Paul!

All the Tigers! (well, not completely true - Rusty and Barbara are too!) Addie Kate really wanted that tassle, she just couldn't quite reach it!

Paul and Susan opening their mounds of gifts. These two I WANT!!!! Good Job Aunt Ellen!