Walking, Talking, and Tearing the House Down

Hello All.

It has been a long time. Probably way too long, but as you know, life happens. I have gotten away from writing, but now I AM BACK!

A lot has happened since we last explored the happenings of "The Beast" back in January, so this post is a little longer. We are in a new home, which we quickly found out was nowhere near as baby proof as the one we left. Stained concrete floors, stone fireplace, multiple cabinets to explore. You see where this is going? Needless to say we have encountered many bruised foreheads along with finding what should be in the bathroom drawer in the refrigerator. We left off after having talked about the holidays and ear piercing. Addy still holds a grudge for the ear piercing just so you know. Who knew ear piercing would cause issues long after the horrific screams that day that the lady put them in? Nothing too serious, but let's just say we have spent lots of time crawling on the carpet looking for earrings or the backs of earrings that were pulled out by towels or grubby little hands. All I can say is good thing we only went with the 1 carat diamond earrings. Just kidding. 

Let's do a quick photo show-n-tell of some things that you missed...

Got our first Watermelon

Saw our first Firework Show

Laid out by the Pool

Sat out by the Pool

Mastered our Climbing Skills 

Whacked-A-Mole

Went down the Big Slide

Mastered eating while Sleeping

Had our First Swim 

Learned to Wash Dishes

Scaled a Mountain

Watched the Rangers...

...until I found the Ice Cream

Rode a Wild Tortoise

Found Nemo

Kissed a Monkey

We had Addy's 1st birthday! It was a great day spent at the Ft. Worth Zoo. She lasted a couple hours in the heat, ate her cake, then passed out in the stroller. Overall a good day. We did have neon-colored poops for a few days. It is crazy that it has already been a year, and I find myself wondering how time has flown by so fast.

Birthday Cupcake

1st Birthday Gifts

Addy is walking everywhere now. She hasn't graduated to the run, but she does attempt a good little waddle with head leaned forward, so her momentum gets going, especially if we aim her downhill. The only problem is she hasn't mastered the stop. So most of the time now, she will turn toward what appears to allow for a "soft landing" and just lunge, head first, into this intended backstop. However, she hasn't really become an expert in the difference between soft and hard objects. So, more forehead bruises.

We have progressed in the realms of communication as well. We started with sign language. Rub the tummy for please, put the hands together for more, and shake the hands for all done. It was a good little system we had going. Then she found her voice. And by voice I mean her scream. Why should we have to do all these hand gestures when I can just scream really loud to get my point across? We have since moved more into actual use of words. It is wild to see how what seems like overnight she has discovered how to communicate. Now we say "Peas", "Dank Do", and my ultimate favorite..."Poo Poo". Now I don't even have to check her diaper because she will run around the corner, stand in front of me, grab her diaper and yell "Poo Poo". I always give the standard one minute window to allow for smell confirmation, but 80% of the time she is telling the truth. 

So at an early age, it is clearly obvious what the future might hold in terms of career for my beautiful daughter. Boxer, Dancer, or Extreme Mountain Climber. We entered the slapping phase, throwing toys, you know all that good stuff. So in something that may not have been my finest moment I tell Addy, "If you are going to punch, you are going to do it right." So I proceeded to show her how to make a fist and punch for the nose. All in good fun right? Think again. One day Addy and I were playing, and she started slapping me in the face. She had been getting in trouble for this throughout the day, so when she slapped me I looked at her and again asked, "What did I tell you about hitting?". She looked at me briefly, then she clinched her little fist and punched me in the nose. You may think "Wow, that's not good". I say lesson learned my friends. On a different note, let's explore the mountain climber career. School started back up for me, and of course Kelly had put my hole punch and stapler in the spot where it belongs, and needless to say, I couldn't find it. So, once I remembered where it was, I ventured to get it...in the attic. So Addy is laying in the floor watching Toy Story drinking her juice, so I make a dash to go into the attic to retrieve my supplies. I closed the door to the garage behind me and made my way into the attic. It couldn't have been 2 minutes when I began to hear some tiny little grunts coming from behind me. I thought to myself, "No Way". And then I turned around to see two tiny little eyes and a gleaming bald head staring at me from the top of the attic steps. I turned slowly to see her smiling like she had accomplished climbing Mount Everest, knowing if she saw me worried, she may get worried and let go. There was only one option; leap from the attic and catch her on the way down because I just knew she was going to let go. But no. I land in the garage floor prepared to catch a falling baby, as she looks down at me with a look like "Why are you laying in the floor". I brought her down, disaster averted. Lastly, let's just say that at a young age Addy can shake it. She loves music and dancing, and from the song that she prefers to dance to, we have found out that she is "Sexy and She Knows It". 

Into the Attic We Go

Gangsta Rap Dance Outfit

It's a wild ride, and I know that we are still being pulled up the hill. We are ready, waiting to take the plunge, and excited to do so. She is a clear picture of joy and shows me everyday there is so much to live for. Stay tuned, because it will only get better.

See Ya Later!!

Until next time...

Blessings,

-SH

New Things for the New Year

Hello all, and welcome back to the blog. It has been a while and a lot has happened, so I will try to makeup for lost time, and also not allow such a lag from now on. Brace yourselves, this is a doozy.

I guess we should start at Christmas. We covered Thanksgiving and all of it's goodness, so we shall press on. Christmas this year was great. Great time with family and friends, and I became an expert packer. Between Addy, Bella, Me and Kelly, and all of our luggage, gifts we were taking to Christmas, and then gifts we were bringing back (I'll let you figure out who most belonged to), we almost had to leave Addy!

We did our family Christmas a couple weeks before Christmas, partly because I thought it would be cool to have a Christmas every week for three weeks, but mainly because I am inpatient and wanted to give (and receive) my gifts. We had an awesome Christmas. Addy got some toys and books, Kelly got some Scrubs and a Nook Tablet, and I got some clothes and a recliner. Aside from all that, just to have a beautiful wife and a happy healthy baby girl was more than I could ask for. We are truly blessed.

Merry Christmas Daddy!! 

We started off by trekking up to Red River, NM the week before Christmas to spend the holiday with Kelly's family. Addy had never really been on a road trip in the car other than a couple hours, so we figured we'd break her in right and just jump to a solid 11 hour trip, no big deal. She surprised all of us and lasted the whole trip up there without being the cause for our stop. We'll blame that on Kelly and her tiny bladder. She always has something to say about having to drink a lot of water for milk production...blah blah blah...Either hold it or Pamper up with Addy is what I'm thinking. Anyways, we made it there for a nice time of skiing and relaxation, and we really enjoyed ourselves. Then came the ride home. We had planned on leaving out Thursday afternoon, but after checking the weather, we found out a storm was heading our way and we needed to head out as early as possible. So we packed up and crammed everything into the car and started off on what would be a 16 hour trip home with a 7 month old baby girl. A little info to set the stage...Addy had been kind of constipated, only pooping every other day or so. But what better time to loosen up that stool than when trapped in the car for 16 hours in the wrath of El Nino. So, we would stop and change her, and to save time Kelly would feed her while we were stopped. We would load back up and get going, and no sooner than we were 30 minutes down the road the grunting and pushing started, and we had some more turds. It was great. Due to the blizzard, we traveled 95 miles in the first 5 hours, went 3 hours out of the way to stay on the main, clear highway, and 6 poop filled diapers later, we rolled in the driveway. It was a great trip even with the bad weather.

We had to keep our head warm!!

Santa Clause showed up at the cabin in Red River.

Me and Daddy...looking good as always.

We got home about 1:30 a.m. Friday morning, we slept a little, and then we both had to work Friday. We made it through, washed our laundry, re-packed everything, and loaded up to head to my family's house to spend Christmas. Round 2...Ding Ding.

This about sums it up after our epic journey

This time we only had to travel 2 hours, and Addy slept the whole way, as did her mother, and I don't really remember getting from Hillsboro to Alvarado....I digress. We made it home to spend several days and relax a little bit more and enjoy our family and friends. After Christmas morning, I was in awe. Not at the great time we were having, not at all the gifts we received, but at the fact that I was not going to be able to afford a 2500 sq. foot home to house all of Addy's toys she had received over the last two weeks. You only need one kidney right? Anyways, lets just say we took one car there, and left with two fully loaded cars. It was a great time, and I can't wait until next year when Addy can really interact.

We had to feed the chickens and collect the eggs for Christmas breakfast.

Everyone is happy on Christmas morning!

After Christmas, we decided it was time. You think you're ready, but you have no idea. But, we needed to get it done, and so we did..WE PIERCED HER EARS. I should have known it was going to be bad when the lady told me to pin her arms down and squeeze to where she couldn't move her head. Talk about scarring your child for life. And who knew that the piercing gun was a blunt screwdriver type thing that they torturously squeezed through your ear. I always thought it was like a spring loaded gun that shot in and out no problem. WRONG. So the lady pops her earrings in and Addy goes into a new cry that we had never heard...and so I dubbed it "The Piercing Cry". She wailed and screamed and cried big 'ole tears and would have nothing to do with her mean father who let them do this to her. It's funny because even if you have no idea about the trade/event that is taking place, if it involves your kid you instantly become an expert. I was certain that this lady that has probably pierced ears every day for the last 10 years was an idiot and didn't know how to do her job right and why doesn't she let me punch a hole in her with that thing...you know what I mean. So, it was done and over, and let's just say I am glad. However, her beauty has climbed to a new level with her little daisy earrings in.

Check out the bling!

So Christmas was great, and the New Year was upon us, and boy did Addy have some things in store. First off, she was baby-talking up a storm. Kelly and I like to sit and watch her and try to guess what she is saying. It burns the time. She then decided that she was tired of having to wait on us to sit her up, so she would do it herself. After hearing some banging coming from what sounded like Addy's room, we went into her room where she was crying after a nap and she was sitting up against the back of her crib banging her head against the wall. We were so shocked to see her sitting up on her own, as it was very rare for her to do it. We laughed and cheered her on and went about our day. No lie, the very next day the same scenario. Addy was asleep for a nap, when we hear a faint pounding noise coming from her room. We walk in and there she is standing up in her crib looking like King Kong trying to rip her mobile off the crib. It was great. Now she is pulling up on everything, even Bella, she talks constantly, and is growing up way too fast. As of today, she crawls/scoots all over the house. I sure am going to miss the days when she couldn't move in more than a 3 foot radius, but I know that great fun (???) is in store.

Time to bolt everything to the walls!!!

My hair slowly grows in as PawPaw's slowly falls out

She amazes us everyday of our lives, as well as reminds us of the beauty and joy that we can find in each and every day. She's one special little girl, and I can't wait to see what happens next. Thanks again for reading.

Until next time...

Blessings,
-SH