Addie Kate's First Pickle!

Last weekend my mom was in town for a little shopping, and to keep Addie Kate for Tommy and me for a nice, much-needed, night out! We had gone to lunch at Strossner's, a local bakery/restaurant, and Addie Kate was the entertainment there, for everyone! She was absolutely precious, which I wish I could say she always is in a restaurant, but that's definitely not the case!

One of the bakers there brought her some buttercream icing, that she gave her straight out of the parchment that they use to decorate cakes with! Addie though, didn't really care that much for it. This totally blows me away, since I have a HUGE sweet tooth!

My mom also decided to let Addie Kate try some of her dill pickle. Well, let's just say, Mom didn't get to eat any of it! Addie Kate LOVED it. She shook through the first two bites, but then just ate up the rest of it! When we came home and told Tommy about it, he told her she'd have to brush her teeth before she kissed him (same thing he tells me!) - he hates pickles!

(Um, no, I did not put that bow in the back of her hair, it just worked its way back there!)

Addie Kate's "Necklaces"

Addie Kate has taken a recent liking to anything that goes over her head. She constantly makes me laugh with the choices she makes about what goes over her head - my underwear for example! Typically though, she sticks to a beaded necklace that my mom made her out of some old beads she was about to trash, and one of my jump drives that is on a chain. She'll wear them around the house the entire day!

Even while eating breakfast!

Happy Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday) From our Family!

We love a party here! Tommy and I would love to go to Mardi Gras one day, but until then, we'll just keep celebrating locally! Typically on this day, we go to our church to have pancakes, sausage, and yummy breakfast food. We bring a representation of what we are planning to "give up" for Lent to donate to a local charity. (If Tommy and I were going, we'd be broke bringing all the things we are giving up this year!) Well, still having not found a home church here yet, we did a little Shrove Tuesday pancake supper of our own. It was yummy too!

I picked up a King Cake that was fabulous. I wish I had pictures of Addie Kate eating the first pieces. We were both just picking out of it (not such a great idea for teaching table manners), and she just kept coming back for more. She's such a little bird! However, here are pictures of her not eating her King Cake after dinner. She must have just been full, because it was great! (And, bless her little heart, I think she's finally cutting more bottom teeth. She was quite fussy tonight and I noticed that she felt a little warm. Sure enough, Tommy took her temp and it was about 100.)

Here are pics from Monday night. I picked up this sweet little cookie at Strossner's (a great bakery up here) this weekend for Addie Kate. Never too young to start teaching history and culture! This was taken after our delicious dinner of fried chicken, green beans, mac and cheese, biscuits, and french fries. Yes, Tommy and I are giving up fried food for Lent. We are also giving up sweets, so we followed this dinner with half a pint of Ben and Jerry's Half-Baked. (And, I had packed in as much sugar as possible earlier that day!) I view this difficult task for me as just one of the ways I can thank God for all that He has given us!

Addie Kate's Birthmark

Here's a picture of our sweet girl's birthmark. I blogged about it, so now I need to show it off! You can barely see it - it's a series of a few blue marks all in the elbow region. We think it's precious!

Valentine's Day Recap

Our Valentine's Day was a lovely, relaxing day at home. We woke up and let Addie Kate open her presents. She got a great big bag of books and loved, loved, loved it! She gave daddy his card, but his gift hadn't come in the mail yet. She also gave me a card. So sweet of her to think of her parents at this young age! (And, I do believe she wins the granddaughter of the year award - she sent Valentine's that were exactly her size to them! They were a heart that was the size of her chest and tummy, with two arms that were her size coming out in a great big hug!) When the mail came, she loved opening the tons of Valentine's from her MiMi and Gorga, Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue, Aunt Carol and Uncle Everett, Lawson, Sanders, Mema, and Marsha and John! She was a busy little girl! And, she asked me to send all of them a big, sweet thank you!

Opening presents Valentine's Day morning:

Opening Valentines that afternoon:

15 Month Stats

Today, Addie Kate is 16 months old! I feel like I'm about a month behind in posting (I'm not - only a week or so!), so it's appropriate that I'm just now posting about her 15 month doctor's appointment. It was about two weeks ago and she was perfect! We are so very fortunate and count our blessings daily for her health! Addie Kate weighed 23 lbs., which was in the 68th percentile, she was 30.5 in. long (53rd percentile), and her sweet little angel head was 18.5 in. around (80th percentile)! I do wish her length would catch up with her head, but I'm certainly not complaining. She's just perfect in our eyes!

Tommy took her to her appointment (I'm just trying to save my time off with our crazy economy and lawmakers.), so I kept emailing him to make sure she showed the doctor all of her tricks! She did all of her animals sounds [moo, baa, who-who (owl), ru-ru-ru (puppy), meow, gobble-gobble, neigh]; showed the doctor her nose, ears, and eyes; and counted to three. Since her doctor's appointment, Addie Kate has started to put together simple sentences. It is precious! She will jib-jab all the way until "what are you doing?" which runs together into one word and is adorable! If you sneeze, she is the very first to say "bless you!" She also says, "I love you," in a voice so sweet that it will absolutely melt your heart. She says so many words now that I'm at the point of not being able to count or list them (which I do hate, but I know eventually I can't rewrite the dictionary, so I guess this is as good a time as any to stop).

She walked and almost ran for the doctor, and Tommy had her check her legs, feet, and hips really well to make sure she didn't inherit any of mine and Tommy's messed up limbs! She looked at her birthmark. (Addie Kate has a strawberry hemangioma on her elbow that isn't the red kind that sticks out, it's instead a very light blue that is flush with the rest of her skin. Most people don't notice it at all.) It doesn't bother Tommy, her, or me, but they do say it will go away like all hemangiomas; however, the doctor said Addie Kate's may take longer because it's deep and not out, and because it's on her elbow. Again, fine with us!

I had Tommy ask the doctor about potty training Addie Kate this summer. I don't want to push the issue and I know what kind of issues can happen with potty training a child too early, but I'll be home with her all summer, and developmentally she's been right on target, if not ahead, with everything. She's recently started to tell us that she's "poopy," (which I think is utterly disgusting if a child can tell you he or she has a dirty diaper - it is time to potty train!), knows what the potty is and isn't scared of it when I sit her on it (like the 2 times she's pooped in the bath - 1 time she freaked when I put her on it, the 2nd she was cool with it! I'm not an idiot - I'm not trying to potty train her now!), I know of tons of people that have their kids potty trained before they are two, and I know/hear that girls are easier. Plus, she has ridiculously sensitive skin and just about always has a red bottom - I'm just anxious to get her out of diapers for that main reason. The doctor said she's too young (again, not sure that she realized I was talking about this summer), but did just say to watch her cues. Duh, I'm not an idiot. We'll see.

She saw no harm in the passy still, but I'm ditching it the first week of summer no matter what. Granted, by the time Tommy gets home in the afternoon I may be standing there with my purse ready to leave the house, but I know it has to go!

She assured us that her tantrums are normal (not that normal makes them any more bearable). She also affirmed our punishments in the fact of just ignore a tantrum, punish for disobeying. Check, we're doing that right.

I think that's about it. We just cannot thank God enough for the health of this sweet baby!

I think I've got a model on my hands...

for http://www.palmettobabys.com/ at least!


Here's my sweet girl showing off another of Jenny's creations! She bought herself a new heart applique pattern and was sweet enough to think of my girl along with her boys! We are so very fortunate to have Jenny and her family in our lives. We just wish we were closer!

Valentine's Day Rewind

Addie Kate - Valentine's Day 2008

Addie Kate - Valentine's Day 2009

What a difference a year makes!

One Little Pink Cupcake

How can one little pink cupcake mean so much? As Valentine's Day approached, so many different things filled my head. My students at school were preparing to "Jump Rope for Heart" on Saturday. Typically for me, this is just another day that created a little more paperwork and school work for me. This year was different though.

I was checking blogs and remembered the sweetest story of the sweetest little girl, our blogging friend Annabelle, the most precious little girl, that was never without a bow in her hair! (They live in Chapin, and my cousin Meredith remembered them and their journey at MUSC.) You see, sweet was born with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD). Annabelle's mom just celebrated Annabelle's first birthday not too long ago, but she celebrated it without Annabelle, as Annabelle was celebrating her first birthday with Jesus, with probably a bigger first birthday party than any of us mommies could ever plan! Annabelle's Mom wanted all of us to celebrate her birthday too, by making pink cupcakes with our families and praising God for the many, innumerable blessings he has given us. This lady has more strength and faith than I can even imagine ever having. Immediately, the steps started falling into place for me...

My students would jump in memory of Annabelle! We would raise awareness of CHD's throughout our families and school, and collect items for Annabelle's Baskets! Addie Kate, her daddy and I would make pink, heart-shaped cupcakes to celebrate Annabelle's first birthday, and share them with her friends on Valentine's Day.

Through Annabelle's blog, I ran across another blog of another heart baby, Mary Clare. Sweet Mary Clare is living proud with her beautiful open-heart surgery scar. Her mom showed me that February is National Heart Month, and February 14th is CHD Awareness Day. She also stated some very interesting statistics, including the fact that nearly twice as many children die from CHD's in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. (Source: Children’s Heart Foundation). This news just broke my heart. I am quite saddened to think that there are people out there that do not know anything of CHD's. I made it my goal this year to educate my students and my parents, if no one else.

Making the cupcakes for Annabelle and Addie Kate was wonderful. I loved every minute of making the icing pink and making the batter pink. I even hand-picked pink, white, red, and brown sprinkles from a container of all colors, just so they'd be perfect for the hearts. Having a girl is a truly special thing! Sweet Tommy just stands there and shakes his head, but he always obliges! He actually started the baking while I finished up dinner, and got Addie Kate into her cooking attire! (Aunt Laurie and Uncle E gave Addie Kate a super cute apron for Christmas!) Addie Kate loved helping her daddy stir the batter, and especially loved it when he let her taste it!

I loved my first mommy task of making something for Addie Kate's "class!" No, she doesn't go to preschool yet, and not even a daycare, but she and her friends needed to celebrate regardless! This, I loved doing!

So, what all does this pink cupcake represent?

1- The memory of sweet Annabelle. Through this baby, God has certainly touched so very many of us and reminds me daily of my many blessings.

2- The ministry of Annabelle's Baskets that Annabelle's parents have started. Tommy, Addie Kate, and I have donated many items to this, and my students have collected items for this. I encourage all of you to do so, and I can get you any information you need for this.

3- Awareness of Congenital Heart Defects and all heart disease. Heart disease runs rampant through my family, all ages.

4- My little girl growing up and showing interest in doing things with Mommy and Daddy.

5- Addie Kate being physically ready and age appropriate to enjoy doing something such as baking!

6- Addie Kate actually enjoying a cupcake - for the most part, she has cared less for cakes and/or cupcakes!

7- Love, love, loving have a girly-girl!

Happy 2nd Birthday Carter and Harrison!

While in Charleston, Addie Kate was able to celebrate her friends' Carter and Harrison's 2nd birthday! She was so excited that the weather was so nice and there were girls there to play with. Girls that were her age! Bless her sweet heart, she is surrounded by boys!

This little girl was just a few days younger than Addie Kate - how funny!

Thanks for swinging me, Uncle E!

In order to get back to Greenville at a decent hour, we had to leave before Carter and Harrison opened their presents, but we had a great time socializing, playing, and just spending time with some of our favorite people! Happy Birthday sweet boys! We love you!

Carter not wanting his picture taken -he cracked me up giving me this look!
And Harrison could not STAND for us to sing Happy Birthday to them! Jenny warned us of this, but we had no idea!

Addie Kate celebrated the season and wore her Valentine's outfit instead of her traditional birthday ensemble. Mommy didn't plan well though, because she could have worn some of her Clemson outfits (icluding a brand new dress) because of all the TIGERS at the party! Oh well! Then, it was so warm out that we took her pants off to give her some air! Packing and traveling in strange weather is tough! Now, you know we have an obscene amount of clothes in this girl's closet, and this is how she ends up looking? Ugh!