Mommy's 30th Birthday

I had a wonderful 30th birthday! Mostly, it was due to the cruise that Tommy gave me. It was a much-needed, wonderful, relaxing break, along with one last summer-y fling. It was perfect!

We also celebrated it with a little trip downtown, where Addie Kate probably had the most fun. I have learned though, that watching her have fun is just as much fun for me. My parents came into town to celebrate, and keep Addie Kate for us that night for Tommy and I to go to a fun charity event.

Downtown was steaming hot, but Addie Kate cooled off playing in the fountains outside The Lazy Goat, and the rest of us (her also) cooled off with Spill the Beans! I definitely consider that a great day!

The line at Spill the Beans was so long! This is Mimi, Gorga, and Addie Kate waiting for Big T to get our ice cream!

And here we are at the fountains! She was quite hesitant at first:

Love this look, it's SO her!

Then she decides it's fun:

Look at that dirty face!

She found this little girl and thought she was the greatest thing ever! She kept following her around and did anything she would do!

She's getting brave here!

Not happy after that little splash!

So I just stripped her down and let her keep going (Tommy was mortified!):

Love that happy girl!

Isn't this beautiful? This is another set of fountains outside the gorgeous Hampton Inn on the river:

My girl:

She loved being up here, and I think she was just as surprised as I was that I actually let her be up there!

Addie Kate and her Gorga:

Just Playing...

At 22 months old, some (not all of coures) of Addie Kate's favorites:

Her tunnel - we gave it to her for her first birthday, about halfway through the year, she decided she liked it! Now we have to sneak behind her back to put it away. It isn't the cutest living room decoration!

Reading anything and everything! On this day in particular, she liked the Kelly's Kids fall catalog,

and the mail! She still loves any and all books. Current favorites include, but are not limited to: Go, Dog, Go; all Fancy Nancy books; Pinkalicious; Purplicious; Tea with Ruby; Duck Soup; all GiGi, God's Little Princess books; Stinkyface books; and a Finding Nemo book that came free with the latest pack of diapers!

Wearing Mommy's shoes - the higher the heel, the better! She adores taking them all out of my shelves, trying them all on, and leaving them in a huge pile in my closet! She also loves taking her shoes on and off, and recently took them off outside and proceeded to stump her toe something nasty! She has also started trying to dress herself, which is quite entertaining! Especially when she puts both legs through one opening, and still walks around that way!

(Please excuse the too-little dress. She had an accident at the babysitter's and this was all there was for her to put on!)

And still playing with her babies - any and every baby (live or real - that's fun in public!) she can get her hands on, she loves. My cousin Alice and I played babies for all of our childhood, so I guess I'd be surprised if she didn't love them as much as I did.

Here she was trying to get the baby to take a nap. She always tells her, "Night, Night, Sweet Dreams!" and always has to "colur up" (cover up)! (This baby was my Madame Alexander Victoria doll!)

( I have no clue why she's naked. She just loves it!)

And wagon rides... man, does she love a wagon ride! (Of course, baby comes too!)

Saturday in the Park

This was actually a Sunday, but "Sunday in the Park" isn't a great song by Chicago!

Addie Kate and Cody enjoyed some time in the park the other day, while their daddys enjoyed some time at their own little park - the golf course! Shannon and I wanted to take the kids somewhere fun, but Addie Kate took a fabulously long nap, and the park was the only place to go! The kids had a blast, so that's all that matters. A bath, Chinese take out, and two happy babies later, it was a great night!

Andrea's Dress

Definitely not the best pictures of my girl, but I wanted to show off Addie Kate's latest hand-me-down! My Aunt Ellen saved this dress of my cousin Andrea's (she's our baby of 13 cousins) and it looked beautiful on Addie! Aunt Ellen and my mom couldn't remember who made it - it was one of them or both of them! Thanks for letting us enjoy it Andrea and Aunt Ellen!

Aiden and Addie Kate

I love so much that Addie Kate and Aiden have a great bond already! It makes my day and amazes me all at the same time. I mean, really, we live almost four hours away from each other! When we get them together, you'd think they live next door, and I love it! Tommy and I think of Aiden as our own, so I guess it's only fitting that they act like brother and sister! I hope Aiden's new sister doesn't feel left out! We won't let that happen!

Here they are smooching at Boulevard Diner in Mt. P. (Definitely one of my fave restaurants ever!) And Addie Kate and Aiden were both so good during lunch! We need Aiden with us at every restaurant!

Here they are at Build-A-Bear after Aiden's last Shriner's appointment. Addie Kate wasn't wild about it at first, but once Aiden showed her the ropes, she loved it! It made Laurie laugh that Aiden got the tiger and Addie Kate got the lamb! I think they both needed monkeys, (but of course they both already have those!) or turkeys! (Let me note here that we proceeded to take both of them, without strollers, all the way through the mall to eat at Panera, where the chaos of having the two of them ensued. Whew! They just wanted to play!)

And here they are playing at our house that same day - after a much-needed, but still a struggle, nap! (And while the parents enjoyed fondue - mmmm!)

My girl sporting LuLu's "da-kes:"

So Sweet! Could they look any more alike? Love it!

American Girl Place, Atlanta, GA

As part of our summer's over hurrah to Atlanta, Jaime and I took the girls to American Girl Place after visiting Georgia Aquarium. I have been to American Girl Place in NYC twice and just loved it, so the day I found out I was having a little girl, I started to dream of the day I'd get to take Addie Kate. Learning they had built one this close to us, I jumped at the opportunity! (Tommy refuses to go back in that place after going to the one in NYC to get Addie Kate her first doll - he says it's entirely too pink for him!)

Unfortunately, the American Girl Place in Atlanta was quite the disappointment for me. The one in NYC is just amazing, no other word to describe it. The one in Atlanta is, basically, a store. There is a restaurant, and the restaurant is cute, but that's it. Now for Addie Kate who has never been to the one in NYC, she loved it. She loved getting her hands on all the dolls. She loved playing with all the toys (the $200 double jogging stroller especially). It was very hard for me to not buy her every single thing after seeing how much fun and joy they brought her. (That doesn't mean she won't get them all one day!)

I loved following her around the store and watching her explore everything! And I loved having our girlie little lunch there too. Addie Kate just loved the fact that her doll got to sit with her in her own high chair. She loved "feeding" her doll her own little, tiny muffin! She tried to feed her doll some of her water and all sorts of things!

Poor Addie Kate was exhausted! Bless her heart, we had numerous tantrums and I know it was nothing but exhaustion. (She had just barely started to fall asleep right as we pulled into American Girl Place!) The biggest tantrum was when she had to stop pushing the double stroller around the store so that we could eat. The second was when she took off running from me and followed a waitress into the kitchen, and proceeded to get slammed in the head with the swinging door, thus knocking her backwards! I felt so bad for her, and the waiters and waitresses were terrified, but hopefully she at least learned a lesson from it! (And then on the way home, a ridiculously awful meltdown at a McDonalds in Commerce, GA. She even crawled under a booth - ugh!)

All in all, I was delighted to be able to take her to American Girl Place and the aquarium. We had a wonderful day with great friends. I can't wait to take her to the real American Girl Place(s) in Chicago and NYC. As for aquariums, if I ever find one nicer than GA Aquarium, I'd be surprised! Regardless, I can't wait to explore them all with her anyway! Seeing the looks on her faces at all these new things is worth more than anything I can think of!

My angel baby and me having our lunch:

Addie Kate feeding her Bitty Baby:

And feeding her the muffin!