Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Can you believe she turns one today?

I woke up to the sounds of giggling from the kid's bedroom. Jack was doing fake sneezes and Adeline was giggling. Happy sounds. Then both Ryan and I heard "Love you" from Jack to Addy. Heart melting. Then when I went in to their room to get them, Jack was in the crib with Addy hugging her. When I asked, "What are you doing?", his response was "Loving."

We are loving Addy Lou too!

Pretty in Pink

My friend Annabel told me that Addy would look cute with a pony tail.
I think she is right.

And because I have so many cute pictures of Addy with her pony tail I am including many. But to spice things up, I will label each picture with a different nickname .

(We are big on nicknames. It is a wonder that our children ever learn their real names)


Sweet Adeline

(the staff at the pediatrician's office sang to her on her first visit)

Addy Lou

Sweetie Lou

Baby Girl

Addy Pooh

Love

Pooh Princess
(only on certain occasions:)

Sweetie Pooh

She really is a love.

Grandpa and More Grandpa

Jack and Adeline's Grandpa and More Grandpa came for an extended visit over Christmas.

We miss them.

I think that my reason for not posting about their visit is because then I really have to face the fact that they went home with no return plane tickets for their next visit.

Grandpa helped finish many projects around the house. Our Ghetto Back Door is now without the large hole, we have shelves in our basement for food storage (that is a whole entire post in and of itself), we finally changed our ceiling fan with the one we had stored in our basement since we moved here, he sanded and rehung all the doors so that they close. We can now close and lock the bathroom door and my closet now has a door knob and can now be shut to hide the mess of clothes. Grandpa let Jack help with the projects.

Grandpa was so amazed as Jack's abundant energy and Adeline's sweet smile.


"More Grandpa*" came with lots of craft ideas, parenting tips and advice, reassurance that we are good parents, organization and cleaning skills and lots of fun time to spend together. Did I mention that I did not do a single load of laundry for the entire 3 weeks she was staying at my house? I was really spoiled.


I had adults to talk to while Ryan was away working long hours and Ryan had no honey-do list when he got home because my Dad got it all done.

We're still waiting to hear when they plan to visit again. Is next week too soon?

Thanks for all the fun and love!



*The whole time my parents were visiting, Jack prayed for Grandpa and More Grandpa each night. We just figured he was just really thankful for Grandpa, until we were singing a name song together after family night. We were pointing and singing names and Jack pointed to my mom and said, "More Grandpa". Suddenly it all made sense. My mom was "More Grandpa" to Jack. We think it is a good thing.

Jack adventures

You only have to be around Jack for a short time to feel his enthusiasm for life.
For Jack, life is to be enjoyed.

Current phrases heard in our home:

Jack recently said to his Dad, "I want to dance with you in the garage."
We don't know why he wants to dance in the garage. Maybe because we keep the shovels there and they are a favorite tool.

While putting Jack to bed at night he says, "I want to snuggle you."
And after you snuggle, he says, "More snuggles?"
It is hard to turn down this request but I've learned that if I snuggle him and then tell him I need to go do the dishes or laundry, he will say, "Bye-bye, Mommy." I agree with him that sleeping is more exciting then any of those activities.

Jack loves to make things and frequently says, "Let's do art! More art, please?!?"
Art consists of putting really cool train, airplane, motorcycle and other transportation stickers on paper and then dictating a list of letters for his mom to write.


I let Jack watch Wheel of Fortune while I get Addy ready for bed. A benefit for Jack to having just one parent home at bed time. He loves to read out the letters on the toss up puzzles and I have to say that he is quite good at recognizing letters. However, his addiction to letters carries over to other parts of his life. He loves to call out letters he recognizes while reading stories in church as if he is speaking to Pat Sajak. (If you don't know what I am talking about just watch one episode of The Wheel and see how contestants shout out the letters)

We've been trying to help Jack be reverent during church and so we bring a few quiet activities for him to do during the long talks. We try to bring church related books as well as a few cars to occupy him. Jack was getting antsy so Ryan tried to hold him on his lap and read a book about Jesus. Well, Jack had had it and put up his hand and said, "No, Jesus." Everyone within earshot had a good chuckle.

And last but not least, did you notice Jack's shiner in the picture. Well, if you didn't look below and see his swollen eye just a few hours after impact. Jack went to his version of Heaven (and to be honest it was heaven for me too) to play with friends. Picture large slides and inflatable bouncey houses. He loved it and climbed and slid and ran. You may think he got that injury from getting kicked in the bounce house or falling off a slide. Nope, he and a cute little girl were running head on towards each other and her forehead met Jack's eye. I have not heard him scream like that before. However, he could only be held for a few minutes and then he said, "More play?" It is just a matter of time before we make a trip to the emergency room with this kid.

Can't imagine how dull our lives would be without Jack.