Day 2- Animal Kingdom- Sunday

I have to give a big shout out to my cousin Kathy because she gave me the idea to go to Tusker's House at Animal Kingdom. Like myself, I scheduled this breakfast before we booked our airplane tickets. I had this one done back in October...yes OCTOBER! I am nuts when it comes to travel plans... just ask Jeremy to verify. I am very particular and there are certain things on my list that I want done and if they get messed up then all hell breaks loose. I am one of those!

SO after making everyone get up at 6:00 in the morning, I thought our reservations were at 8:05, but they were at 9:00...whoops.... and this is why....Since this is a little tricky and I didn't know what the weather was going to be like, I actually booked 2 breakfasts with the characters at Animal Kingdom. I actually got the times mixed up for the days... whoops! Since Tuskers House is actually inside ANimal Kingdom, you have to get a ticket to the park and then plan on some time to walk back to the restaurant. It was so nice because we got into the park early...noone is around. You make your way back to the restaurant and take some pictures along the way. It was so nice not to have to worry about the crowds this early in the morning. Oh- I must also saw, that if you have the chance take a handicapped parking pass with you! This was AWESOME! unfortunately we got to take advantage of this since Jeremy's dad is currently going through chemo.... at least that was one of the positives to the nasty cancer disease!

SO we arrive at Tusker's House!!! we get our photo taken with Donald Duck and Addie is just so happy! She wasn't scared at all and gave him a hug and had the biggest smile on her face! I had to hold her, but no screams, no nothing! We were then escorted inside to the restaurant and we were towards the back for our seating time. This is a buffet style restaurant so I had time to get our food before the characters come to the table. I will say, the money for the character breakfasts are worth it because they come to you and you are guaranteed to MEET them and get your photo with them! It's a price worth paying for, especially the smile on Addie's face! So as we were eating, it was time for the Mickey parade in the restaurant and Addie and I were able to participate. It was so much fun marching around the restaurant to the music. I held Addie the whole time since the pace was kinda fast and wanted her to feel comfortable!

AFTER the parade, we were greeted by Daisy, Goofy and Mickey! Addie loves Daisy!! I was the proud mama and took all the photos with her and the characters! I loved it!! Addie was having a blast. Addie's favorite at the breakfast was the jungle juice! She could have just drank this all day long....until she came across one of daddy's smoothies (later stories about that).
SO after the characters, since we were there to celebrate Addie's birthday, they brought out a birthday cupcake and we sang to her and then she received a signed card from all the characters! Made my day as a parent that we got to do this for her!! Her smiles on her face were worth everything!

ANOTHER good thing about Tusker's is that you are super close to the safari ride. So it's about a 3 minute walk from the restaurant to the ride... we only had about a 15 minute wait, which didn't seem like it at all. This would be Addie's first ride at Animal Kingdom!! She loved sitting on Grandma's lap during the ride and looking at all the animals. I had forgotten that this ride does last about 20 minutes. Addie called the safari truck a choo choo! I loved it!

NEXT on the list was the Forrest exploration trail. We saw lots of fish and a gorilla (which threw up it's food and then ate it, disgusting). When seeing the fish, she had to go back to the fish tank and say bye bye to the fish and she even kissed the fish tank. too adorable. We quickly learned that we had to say bye bye to each exhibit in order for her to be ok with moving to the next one. We had to blow kisses alot and wave too! No meltdown this way. We learned with the gorilla because we didn't say by to the gorilla and she freaked out, but once we did, she was fine!

SO after breakfast, the safari ride, Addie was tired and as we made our way to the train station to go to Rafaki's area and waiting in line, Grandma was holding Addie and she passed out on Grandma. Too cute! grandma loved it of course. So we boarded the train which Addie loves trains so she missed this train ride there. When we got there, we sat down and still let Addie sleep for a bit. After a little bit, she woke up and she was off! We went inside Rafaki's place and got to meet Jimney Cricket (which she was fine with) and then Rafarki... not so much of a fan of him. She didn't want to go near him at all. She loved hearing all the animal noises and looking at all the pictures of the animals. We finally made our way outside to the petting zoo. She is so not afraid of anything. She went right up to the goats and started petting them. Only my kid!

IT was now time for lunch and for us to grab the train back to the main land. We went to a pizzeria there. It was good. Since we didn't stay at a resort, we didn't do the meal plan and actually meals were too out rigorously priced. They were on average about $8 a meal and then a few bucks for a drink. After lunch, we made our way to Camp Mickey and met Chip and Dale! She loved them and had the biggest of smiles on her face. Chip and Dale are some of daddy's favorites so he got to hold her for these photos! She also met Thumper and another bunny and the Bear from Brother Bear. She went right up to Thumper all by herself!!! So proud of my girl!

up on the list was it's a bugs life. We didn't know if she would be scared or not. We made it fun for her and laughed alot at the bugs popping out. She didn't even get scared at all. She was fine! Again, so proud of my girl!!!

WE tried to walk around Asia, but it was 3:00 and it was getting HOT. About 98 outside and it had been along day at this point so we decided to head back to the car. We got to see what we wanted to see and didn't force staying any longer.

ted alittle bit and then did dinner. After dinner, we went to the pool. Addie got to wear her first bikini!!! She had the kiddie pool all to herself and then a little girl who was scared of the water came over with her mom and Addie was so good not to splash the little girl. She played in the little pool and then she kept wanting to go in the big pool. Daddy and Grandma got in the big pool and swam around with Addie for awhile. She had a blast. Who would have thought swimming at 8:30-9:00 at night in Florida would be warm!!!

9:00 was bedtime and we were all wiped out! Jeremy included! OH- side note- we heard "Papa" about 1000 times. Addie had to keep track of her Papa! she also learned to call Daddy "Jeremy"! that went over well!

April 9th- Leaving for Disney- Saturday

The day finally arrived!!! We are leaving for Florida today!!! Addie's first airplane ride. Our flight left South Bend around 1:00 and we arrived in Florida around 3:00. Because of some storms, the plane had a different flight route so we still got there about the same time. Addie was a trooper on the plane. As we waited about 45 minutes after boarding for others to get on teh plane and then get the plane set, Addie didn't like just being in our row and being crawaled. I gave her 4 sets of fruit snacks and made her drink her juice while the plane was taking off. I was so worried about her ears. She was fine! About 10 minutes in the air and she watched finding nemo and fell asleep. She was out on me the whole way. We had an empty seat next to us which was nice because I could strethc out a bit with holding Addie.


After we landed at Sanford International Airport, we got our luggage (4 huge bags, 4 carry ons, car seat and stroller, plus 2 purses! We made our way to the car rental. I am very happy that I rented with Enterprise because we were the second person in line and the lines for Budget and Hertz were forever out the door! We would have been waiting hours in those lines. Score for me booking that and watching priced very early on. I wanted a 7 to 8 passenger vehcile because of the luggage of 5 of us in the car. I wanted some room! So they let us pick either a Yukon or a Nissan Armada. Jeremy wanted to try out the Armada since this would be an option for our next vehicle. HE LOVED IT!! So for being in florida for 6 days, we were able to rent the car for less than $400! I thought that was awesome considering I looked the week we were leaving and they were going for $1,500.






After we got the car and loaded up, car seat in, we all piled in and the Aramda was HUGE! tons of leg room and very comfy too! I think we have decided this is going to be our next car when the time comes up.




So it is now about an hour drive to the villa from the airport. Addie has been such a trooper and is doing really good. Hardly any melt downs... just about 2 minutes worth on the plane because of us having to keep her in the seat for the count.



We get to the villa and mom and dad check in which takes a little time and Jeremy, Addie and I drive around the complex. Jeremy's parents have had a timeshare/villa at Westgate Vacation Villas. They have the biggest one avialable which is a 2 bedroom with a loft. If you are looking for a reasonable place to stay with stuff to do on the property and being a close distance to the parks, this is easy. You will have to have your own vehicle though. A little bit abotu the Villa.... THe master bedroom has a king size bed, a jacuzzi tub, seperate shower. It's probably easily 350 square feet. It's a huge master bedroom. The guest room has 2 beds. They seem to be full size. Addie and I were fine in 1 bed together, but Jeremy and I would have a challenge being in the same bed considering I sleep diagnogally! So he got his own bed and I got mine with Addie! I think the idea is that this bedroom woudl sleep 4 people. It has a connecting bathroom with a HUGE oval bathtub. It's like a mini swimming pool. Addie loved it. The loft has 2 "sofa beds" up there. So 2 more people can sleep up there. I envision the kiddos in the future years making this their place to sleep. Then there is a pull out couch in the living room that sleeps 2. So all in all it will sleep 10 people, but not privcey for 4 out of the 10 people. When all of us go down (Jeremy's parents, my parents, Adam and fam, and us) we will get 2 seperate villas. It will be so much easier. The villa is about 1100 square feet. It's huge! It comes with a kitchen with dishes and everything and has it's own washer and dryer, which came in handy to do your own laundry before we came home.









So now that we arrived to the villa, we actually had to stay in a different villa on Saturday night because our timeshare is from Sunday to Sunday and we arrived on Saturday and someone was in ours. no biggie. we just stayed in another villa right around the corner.









So after we unloaded the car, it was time to eat. We went to Golden Corral for dinner. We were hungry and wanted something quick, but not fast food.









After dinner, we went to Downtown Disney to purchase our park tickets for our trip. We decided to do the 4 day passes because I wanted to take her to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom for sure so that was 2 days. I also wanted to take her to Hollywood Studios because they have a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show and it's her favorite and I wanted to take her to see that, so that was 3 days. For $7 more, we got our 4th day... why not! So for $988 we got 4 adult passes to the park for 4 days. After getting the tickets, I made sure to take a picture with my phone since you only get 1 ticket for each person. just in case we lost them, I had our ticket number and scan code. After getting our tickets, we headed home, went to bed and were going to hit Animal Kingdom in the morning! We had a date with Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy at 8:05!

Addie turns 2!

Today was the big day!!! Addie's birthday and her present was being installed today. Grammie and Gramps bought her a Rainbow swingset!!! It is so awesome and so perfect for her. She loves to climb and thoguth this was a great activity for her to enjoy! Once it was installed, we picked her up from school and brought her home. Of course we coudln't wait, and let her in teh back yard and she knew exactly what to do. She had the biggest smiles and I was so happy Ihad the camera to capture the moment!



So we had 2 parties for Addie. The first was in-prompt-to one at our house on her actual birthday. We were joined by Aunt Elizabeth, Harrison, Lucy, Uncle Adam, and the grandparents. We ordered pizza and had a little party at the house. Addie loved it of course and she shared her swingset with everyone!!!

Party #2 was on Saturday at our house. We had the grandparents, great-grandparents, adam, elizabeth, Harrison, Lucy, her god-mother Andrea, my bff Meg and Great-great aunt Joan and Uncle Joe along with Mitch, Lorissa and Matty. All the kids had a blast playing outside. Addie had a great time for her party, especially the Mickey Mouse cake that I made the night before that took about 3 hours. It was all worth it though!!!

20- 21 months

January 4th- Addie's first day in the 2 year old room at school. She was moved up early as she was getting "bored" in the nursery. I was very excited to hear the news back in December that this change would be happening, but was very nervous for my little girl. How would she do? Is she going to pick up bad habits? Is she going to start talking more at school? Will she continue to share? Well, she has been doing great, however, she uses the word No alot now. She picked this up around the last week in January and tells her dogs No, No, No when she has food and they want some. I told her we have to share and she says "share" and then we give a piece of food to either Riley, Russeau or Bob....mostly Bob!













January 23rd- Today in church, I had a coughing attack and needed to get some water so I took Addie with me to avoid "mommy, mommy, mommy" (which Mom is her favorite word for EVERYTHING) after my drink, we waited in the vestibule because it was during the sermon and as we were waiting there, Addie grabs her pants and says "potty". so to the bathroom we went. She went. then it was back in the vestibule.... a few minutes later, "potty". So I take her for the second time and she goes. this time it is Eurcharist time so I didn't want to enter and we stayed out again. I heard "potty" for the thrid time so I took her again and she went again.... a litte dribble at this point, but she still went. So now by the time we are done, Eurcharis is over and Jeremy walks out and she wants to go again, but I don't let her and we just go home. She did great at going potty. The funny part was after her washing her hands and then using the hand dryer. She didn't know what to do at first and I had to show her a few times and then she was like ok I can do this... but still not 100% in love with it.













January 21st- Her first overnight! We went to Four Winds casino with Jeremy's parents and my parents watched Addie for the night. I got a bed rail for my parents house to put up so my mom could sleep with Addie. Apparently my parents should have videotaped the innocident because as my dad was trying to connect the straps underneath the mattress, my mom had to grab the straps as my dad held the mattress and Addie was supervising "under the mattress". Then as my dad was connecting some items, my mom was holding Addie and she was near the light switch. Addie says "light" and then the lights went out.... my dad was like what happened to the lights... my mom was rolling. I guess a classical moment!













January 28th- We went out to dinner with Jeremy's parents tonight at Starlite pizza. It was very yummy and Addie had to go potty 3 times while we were there! She is into checking out the potties wherever we are at. She says potty and then starts pulling down her pants.











Feb 1st- we had a big snowstorm and Addie's first BLIZZARD!!! we didn't necessarily get lots of snow, but hte winds were horrible. I even had a friend stuck for 9 hours on Lake Shore Drive in chicago because of hte waves from the lake hitting LSD and people were just stuck with white out conditions. Well after the storm blew by, we took Addie out sledding with our neighbors, William and Tommy and she had a blast. This was the first time we took her, but her teacher Ms. Brittany took her sledding at school. I guess Addie didn't want to go on the sled, but she had too and once she was on, she LOVED it and giggled all the way down the hill!!! I love her school stories!











Jan-Feb- We've been working alot on painting, glueing, and coloring. Her teachers told me that for being the youngest in teh 2 year old room she does very well. They show her a finished product and then give the kids the supplies and they have to put it together... ie- snowman face, they put the eyes, nose, mouth on the snowmen! I will try to take some pics of her artwork from school to and not just from home. I love the fact that we are sent home artwork!!! I love her school for that!!! Oh- she says all of her teachers names. Ms. Erica, Ms. Brittany, Ms. Cindy, Ms. Michelle, & Ms. Melissa. It's the cutest thing ever!!!























February 6th- We had a Superbowl party and Addie really loves to play with all of Lucy's stuff. I came up with all games for everyone and we had tons of fun playing them (at least I did) and I think everyone was a winner! Harrison and Addie had fun playing with home-made playdoo that Auntie Elizabeth made.

















February 14th- Today was Addie's first big classroom party. It was my first time to send something in for her class. I made Valentine's for all the kiddos which included playdoo, rice Krispie treats, stickers, etc. Addie was so excited for her Valentine's day box full of goodies. She got some candy and speical Valentine's made by her friends. the look on her face when she opened them was the best! she had to put them back in the box and then reopen them again.











Grandma and Grandpa came over and gave Addie their Valentine's Day goodie bag. She had so much fun opening it and picking out everything she got. She got yougart, books, stickers (which she had to put on Grandma and Grandpa)!






Grammie came over later in the week to give her a "Forida" wardrobe, plus lots of undies. It was interesting because Addie has been doing good at home with potty training and for school, I've been sending her in a diaper, well one of her teachers noticed the pics of the undies on Facebook and asked if she was training and I said yes. We've had Addie on the little potty since she was 12 months, but nothing forced. We couldn't really focus on potty training too early because her nursery didn't have a bathroom in it at school. Now that she is in the 2 year old room she has access to a potty. She just is very quiet at school so her communication needs to be improved on. At home she tells me potty or just runs to the bathroom. So now, the last week in February, we sent her in undies at school. Her first day was with her new teacher so she had a few accidents. The rest of the days that she was there, I picked her up with undies on!!! Go Addie Go!!! She is doing really good and usually has an accident in the morning.











So Addie loves to play smelly walking feet and she does this with Jeremy. She also likes to grab ahold of his leg and be scooted around on the floor. She loves this game. She also loves tag... we hear "chase me"!!! It's so cute!!!











She really loves her dogs. They will run from her at times, but for the most part she can pull on their ears to do checks and then put clothes, blankets, car rides with them. Russeau, being the little guy, usually gets tortured the most. She picks him up and carries him a few feet and then drops him. luckily its close to the floor. Usually in the morning, her first words after taking a bath and such are to the dogs to go outside... we hear her screaming at them "OUTSIDE...GO DOWNSTAIRS.... OUTSIDE.... if they are choosing to sleep in a little, she usually gets their collar and says go. She also loves to get the dog food and feed them. SHe is a very good helper.











She continues to help me with the laundry and dishwasher. SHe loves to help and is really good about it!






February 19th- Addie was suppose to spend the night with Jeremy's parents for the first time tonight but her whole class was sick and she was pretty much out of school this whole week. They had a respiratory/pneamonia going around. We had to cancel on Jeremy's parents because we didn't want to get anyone sick.











February 27th- We went to the Shedd Acquarium with Grandma & Gramps. Gramp's company had the free passes again. Addie defienlty enjoyed it better this time then last time. She ran from exhibit to exhibit. We also got to experience the penguins too. I think these were her favorite as she stayed there for about 15-20 minutes just watching them.











March 5th- Addie had her second overnight at Grammie and Gramps' house. We went to the George Strait, LeAnn Womack and REBA concert with Jeremy's parents. Addie was really good and my parents took her to church... she made it all the way through until it was time to put her coat on at the end of church and apparently she screamed and didn't want her coat on. thank goodness people were signing becuase I guess she let it be known that she wasn't going to wear her coat!

18 months- TIme for a change!

We did Zoo Boo with Adam, Elizabeth, Harrison (aka Dumbo), Lucy (aka a pumpkin), Grandma and Grandpa. Addie had a decent time trick or treating at the zoo. We took a train ride at the zoo and Addie was so good. She sat with me and Grandpa. It was definelty a benefit to be a zoo member, but it was sure crowded when finally got in. Next time we will "skip" those first few booths and go around. It just took forever to get everyone down to "one lane". We skipped alot of the booths as we weren't really into the candy, it was just about going and something for Addie to be apart of and experience. We did do the butterfly exhibit that had a musical intrument petting zoo. Addie really could have cared less about it. She is going to take after both parents and probably not care too much about playing an instrument. If she wants to, then we will support her, but its not our cup of tea. We were there for about 2 hours and when it was time to leave, we got ditched by everyone. Jeremy turned around from a booth and we both said to each other "where did everyone go". Our party that we came with was nowhere in sight. By the time we had caught up to everyone, we were at the end of the park, almost to our cars. I was very disappointed and felt Addie was treated very poorly and felt she wasn't important at all and other people were.







October 30th- I signed up Addie for swimming and dance lessons. This week Anne and I went shopping at the Ballot Store and got her the dance outfit (thanks to Grammie for buying it)! It's so cute!! It's peach/pink with rhinestones on it. So we did swimming class first and she did fine for the first 15-20 minutes of class and then it was time to play with the toys and then put them back and then it was all over... she didn't want to put her toy back or paricipate in class. My little Diva today.... then dance class was 30 minutes later. We are all dressed and ready to go and she was doing ring around the rosey with other kids before class started (knowing that she is the youngest and shortest) when class started, she still wanted to do ring around the rosey and fussed so we left class and I have decided that 2 classes back to back is a bit much and dropped her dance class. We will try it another session.















October 31st- Grammie came over since Gramps had to work and watched her do her first trick or treat in the neighborhood. Grammie started to go around with us and then daddy joined us and Grammie handed out candy at our house for little bit. We only did our little section of the subdivision. Addie had a blast going around with Tommy, Logan, and William (her big brothers). We later joined Jeremy's family at Aunt Julie's house. It was later by the time we went over there since we finished up handing out candy in our neighborhood. I feel that since we will be getting candy from our neighbors, that we should hand out. it's the right thing to do.
















November 4th- We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have pizza with them and Adam, Elizabeth, Harrison and Lucy. Addie enjoyed doing a dance party with Harrison too.

November 5th- We went to the Shedd Acquarium today with Gramps. Addie had a blast going from exhibit to exhibit and pointing to the fish, turtle, frogs, etc that she saw. She was so good and lasted about 2 hours. We went to the live performance, but then left in the middle of it as Addie didn't want to sit still and she was tired and hungry. It was then time to leave and she passed out as soon as we were in the car and she slept for about 1.5 hours!

November 24th- We celebrated Gramp's birthday by going out to dinner and having Albano's pizza in Laporte. Addie sat on Gramp's lap and helped him open up his presents. She really enjoys it. When we sang happy birthday, she thought we were singing for her and she had the biggest smile on her face. She also can say Happy Birthday!!! Addie went home with daddy and I stayed and enjoyed an "adult" birthday celebration with my parents by going to casino with them. We had a blast and got home around midnight.... late night out.

November 25th- Thanksgiving. We started out at my parents house and had dinner there. We then went ot Jeremy's parents house later that night. Addie got to put a decoration on the already decorated downstairs Christmas tree. It is good that she got to participate, eventhough it was already done. Maybe next year they can wait for her to show up since others are waited on.

December 6th- We celebrated St. Nick's day at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Addie received a recorded book by them of the Night before Christmas. A great gift for her to have the rest of her life!

December 20th- this afternoon, Jeremy and I took Addie downtown SB to visit Santa. She sat on Santa's lap with no issues or anything. She wasn't scared at all. However, I was the one holding her and letting her know that it was ok.

December 23rd- We celebrated the smaller Miller Christmas today at Jeremy's parents house. The kiddos were spoiled with lots of love. the pictures explain it all! We are very lucky that we are able to afford gifts and to celebrate the way we do. One day we might not be able to, but I am so happy that we can. Santa also made an appearnece and Harrison freaked out which made Addie freak out when Grandma went to put them on Santa's lap. I knew I should have taken Addie myself to do it and she would have been fine since she was just a few days ago. Bummer that she is probably now afraid.

December 24th- We celebrated Christmas with Jeremy's mom side of the family today. Santa came and Addie freaked out. crap...not the vision I had planned for her. I don't want her to be scared and now she is... bummer. Addie wasn't having anything to do with the nice sit-down meal. There was so much going on for her and she just wanted to be away from all the comotion. Jeremy ended up being on daddy duty while I helped in the kitchen with some of the aunts. I know alot of work goes into preparing all the food and clean-up that you need to help out. Alot of people are raised with not having this etiquette... my mom would have been so disappointed for not helping out. I can't wait to teach Addie all of this too. She already helps me with the dishes and the laundry!! I love my little girl and she is growing up and becoming a good helper!!!

December 25th- Finally a day with MY family! It seems that my family always gets forgotten or pushed aside for the holidays when they do so much for us. I think its time for a change in tradition and to make it equal. I don't think it matters the size of the family, but now that Addie is in the picture, I think it's time for her to go with some new traiditions. I want her to be raised how I was raised and I struggle with sharing with other ideas. My thought is that we would have Christmas Eve at our house with both sets of families over and then open up all the gifts (except for Santa's). I would like for her to leave milk and cookies out and then on Christmas morning come downstairs and have her Santa present. What I envisioned this year didn't happen like that...needless to say, I had preping, cooking, setting the table, opening up presents, getting ready for my family to come over to our house and it just didn't go down how I wanted it to for Addie. We did her Santa gift first and then the rest of the presents.... time to revise the plan! Jeremy promised me in 2-3 years when we have our next house built that we will be doing the big Christmas. I like the fact that we will be spending next year at my parents house for Christmas Eve. That is what my mom wants and she is going to get that. I don't care if anyone else has issues with that. My mom is my mom and she does EVERYTHING for us and if that is what she wants, then she is going to get it. I've had to share the past 9 years and its time for a change for people to feel the way I feel and to realize that being taken away from tradition and family does hurt. I think 1 year of out 10 years isn't a bad request at all..... now I just need to stick to my guns and do it for ADDIE!

December 27th- Jeremy and I had a date today while Addie went to my parents. She had so much fun going all around my parents house and she was spoiled that Grammie held her for 2 hours while she slept in her arms. My mom said its the best feeling ever and she would do it all the time! We had a great dinner when Jeremy and I got back from shopping, lunch and a movie!

December 29th- Today Jeremy, Addie and I went to visit grandpa during his chemo treatment. She was all smiles and made some of the patients, nurses and Grandpa all smile. It's amazing what a child can make you feel when you aren't in the best of conditions. Later that evening, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's and Uncle Adam made everyone dinner while Addie and I supplied homemade cupcakes for Grandma's birthday! It was a great birthday celebration for everyone. We even were able to capture a picture of all the grandkids with Jeremy's parents!!

16 months- 18 months

Well Addie finally has her pre-molars now. And she finally cut another tooth on the bottom to make it 6 on the top and 5 on the bottom now! I will be glad when this teething thing is done though and can go back to a full nights rest.

On August 20th- we celebrated Grandpa's birthday. We took Addie over to Grandpa and Grandma's house like we have been doing all summer. We took Addie's Jeep Over there and her and Harrison had fun riding it in the driveway. They even switched so they could ride each other's jeeps!

August 22nd- we took Addie to the Heston Steam Museum for her to enjoy her first train ride. It has been since I was a little kid there and loved taking Addie there. Jeremy wasn't too happy to do the 2.5 mile walk behind the large train since Addie lost a shoe, but we found it!!

August 28th- Addie and I spent the night at my parents house. Her first time spending the night and she had a blast. She was spoiled as usual and had a whole big bed to herself (with mommy of course) we even had 2 dogs with us, Riley and Russeau.

August 29th- We celebrated JEremy's birthday today at the house with his parents, my parents, Adam, Elizabeth and Harrision.

September 2nd- we took Addie to the Curious Kids Museum. She loved it. She got to explore so much stuff. We will definitely be taking her back her. It was great for her age and also will be better when she is older too. We were in the toddler farm and it took her no time to figure out how to climb up the silo and go down the slide. She loved it!

September 4th- Addie spent the day with Grandma while Jeremy and I went to the ND vs Purdue game. She had lots of fun playing at Grandma's house and I loved getting the updates!

September 5th- We took Addie to Deer Forest. She got to feed a goat, horse, deer, and birds. She got to see a fox, and pet a llama for the first time. I think her favorite part was the goat trying to eat her shoe... she giggled and giggled. She had more giggles when the deer were eating from her hands. It tickled her!

September 7th- Today was a special day in the family as Lucy arrived!!! Addie has a new cousin!!! She also got to spend time with Harrison as he spent the night. They had so much fun playing, sharing food, taking a bath together and just running all over the house.

September 10th- we took Addie to the trumpets under the dome. She rocked her head back and forth and enjoyed the trumpets. She loves music and she loves to dance. we even went to the stadium to see the painting of the helmets and also got to walk through the tunnel.

September 11th- We celebrated Grammie's birthday by having a tailgate. It was rainy so we didn't have Addie out there and she was at Grandma and Grandpa's house.









September 15th- Grammie came over and we had cake with her after work to celebrate her birthday. We need to go out to dinner and celebrate though!









September 18th- We had Josh and Stacey's wedding today and it was a beautiful outside wedding that made us change our location of our family pictures to the Center for History gardens for next weekend. Addie enjoyed dancing and running around at thereception.



September 19th- 24th- Jeremy was out of town so it was just me and Addie. My mom stopped over everyday checking in on us and since I had to be out of town on the 21st in Oak Brook for work, my mom picked her up from daycare. Grammie was so excited to get her from school and bring her home and have a night of just the two of them. TUrns out that I actually made it back into town for us 3 to go to dinner. Addie, Grammie and I went to China Garden for dinner and it was YUMMY!

September 26th- I wanted to get family pictures done and waited for the arrival of Lucy for this happen (how nice and considerate of me to wait for others to get this done). It turned out to be a great fall day and we finally got the family picture that I have been wanting. My friend Amy did a great job with the photos and can't wait to share them!




October 2nd- Today we had an away tailgate party and Beth, Lauren, Larry, Pam, Mike and Claire all came down and we watched the IRISH win against BC. Addie enjoyed her first meeting with her future roommate at Saint Mary's, Claire. I can't believe my little girl will have childhood friendship that will carry throughout life! I can only dream that this friendship will grow and grow through0ut the years and one day they will be roomies at Saint Mary's! Not that we are pressuring Addie to go to Saint Mary's or anything, but it would be awesome!

October 4th- My parents spent a good part of the day with me and Addie. they came back from their vacation to Mackinaw island and had stuff for Addie. My parents couldn't wait to get back and see her! SHe was just beaming when she saw Grammie and Gramps.



October 6th- Grandma came over after work today and had dinner with Addie and me. Jeremy got home from work so he joined us. It was so nice of Grandma to come over and visit at it had been almost 2 weeks since we had seen her.


October 7th-22nd- Jeremy and I have decided that we are going to take Addie to Disney next year. We figured why wait when tmr isn't a guarantee. Plus I am way too excited to take her and really wanted to go. I figured I am not prego right now and we are safe to make those plans and go to Disney!!! So far I have done research and have booked the rental car and 2 character breakfasts!! I am such the planner and need to be the organizer. I want this is be a great trip for Addie and she is my number 1 concern and just want this to be special for her. I am sure that we will be going every year for awhile, unless I am prego or just had a baby...otherwise Addie will be there every April with grandma and grandpa at their timeshare. Eventually, I envision that we will get one down there too as our family grows and grows so we can have our privacy too.



So I have to say that Addie has learned to get into my make up and put it on herself. She loves to help with the laundry and also helps unload the dishwasher. She throws trash away, even the littlest thing that she can find. She loves to climb the couch and is all over the place.



Oh- we had her 18 month check-up at the doctor and she weighed 25 pounds and 5 oz. She was 31.25 inches long *which she was kicking at this point so the measurement was probably alittle off, but oh well. I think she is a little taller when we measure her on the wall. She loves to be measured and will go up to her board in her room and just stand their for you to measure her! It's so cute.



We have her saying "juice please" and trying to formulate 2 word sentences. We are still working on her vocabulary. She says about 20 words good and working on others that we know what she is saying or meaning, but someone who isn't around her might not know. I guess those are the bonuses of being the parent! She is very good with understanding what you are saying and she will do it. It amazes me that it is something I do and she does it and I didn't realize that she could and she proves me wrong!





October 23rd - We went to Grammie and Gramps house and Grandma and Grandpa joined us too for a haunted train ride at Hesston Steam Museum. Addie enjoys the trains and did very good on the big train. We only had time for the one train, but next year, we will hit up all 3 if the weather is nice again.



October 24th- today we did Zoo Boo with Grandma, Grandpa, Adam, Elizabeth, Lucy and Harrison. Addie was a giraffe! She was so cute and did very good with walking around the zoo and also being carried since it was very busy and packed with people. She had her first real trick or treat and carried her pumpkin for goodies! I couldn't believe the weather... it was in the 70's!

14 months & 15 months

Memorial Day weekend, we went to the zoo with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lisa, Adam, Elizabeth and Harrison. Addie made it pretty much all the way to the end and then she crashed out. She was ready for naptime!

SMC Reunion June 4-6^th… Addie crashed the party for a few minutes and got to see her SMC aunties!!! Also before I left for reunion, Addie decided to put her brain to a test. I had a wipes box sitting in the middle of the hallway with our bedroom door shut. She was so smart to move the box, stand on it, and try to open the door… I couldn’t believe it! I snapped some pictures before she realized I was there watching her!!!

June 21^st- Father’s day. We started the day out by celebrating at our house with my dad. Then we went over to Jeremy’s parent’s house to celebrate with his dad and swim in the pool. (I think that was the last time we were in the pool all summer….it was a busy one)

June 30^th- play dates with Harrison and Auntie Elizabeth. They came over for a few and the kiddos enjoyed playing and coloring with chalk. They were the highlight of the neighborhood as most of the neighborhood kids came over and played with them for a bit. After our play date, we had another one with Annika and Xavier. Addie did really good around Xavier. She was right by my side as I was feeding him. She played really good with Annika and even learned how to play the piano!

July 11^th- she had some fun with daddy in the laundry basket… she thought it was hilarious! She also stacked my Pepsi cans! Look how high she got them!!! I was so proud of her!!!

We also took Addie to feed the ducks and she loved it. She had more fun chasing the squirrels and getting her hair caught in the tree than anything. She did manage to chase one duck back to the water.

She also inherited a rocking chair that was my moms, then mine and now it is hers. She loves it!!! She loves to rock and rock!

July 18^th- celebrating Uncle Adam’s birthday. Daddy also figured out that she loves pickles. We can hand her a whole pickle spear and she will down it. She is a lot like daddy as I won’t even touch the things.

July 24^th- Christmas in July. Grammie, me and Addie went shopping and got her an ATV. She got on it with no problem at all…then she pressed the button. Ut oh…. She kinda didn’t like the noise. She also didn’t know how to steer (and still doesn’t). Now, a month later in August, she loves to ride it and loves to drive into the wall, chairs, the dog beds.

Grammie also purchased her a shopping cart, which she likes to drive around and play store in the house. She has learned to go through the kitchen cabinets and put stuff in her cart.

Grammie also purchased her a desk. She loves to color and has made several masterpieces!

We also took some time to visit her Memaw and Papaw… they are our neighbors next door. They are the “grandparents” of the neighborhood! Addie has so much fun with them and also the other kiddo’s too. She enjoyed playing in the pool with Megan, Marek, Coen, and Maddox.

July 30^th=We took Addie to Bendix woods to a playground there. She had so much fun…but I really think daddy had the most fun of all!

August 4^th- We took Addie back to the playground, but we were joined by Grammie and Gramps! Mama forgot the camera so we don’t have any pictures….

August 7^th- Melinda visited with her dogs, Cole and Spencer and we also went to Thistleberry farms. Addie was a little gymnast on the jumping pillow. She loved it!! She also felt sand for the very first time. She enjoyed petting the horse and chasing the chickens on top of doing duck races with mommy and daddy! Mommy also took her on the cow train. She loved the train ride!! To finish the activies she enjoyed an awesome piece of corn on the cob!

August 8^th- we enjoyed spending some family time with Jeremy’s side of the family and we went to Notre Dame to feed the ducks with Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Adam, Harrison, Grandma and Grandpa. Afterwards we went to Coldstone Creamery and enjoyed some ice cream.

August 13^th- We went to the playground with Grandma. Grandpa stayed behind at home.

August 16^th- we celebrated my parents 35^th wedding anniversary today. It was alittle late as they were out of town and finally could get together with all of our schedules. Addie enjoyed playing with Grammie and Gramps outside with her ATV. She enjoyed running into everything and Grammie was helping her steer clear of everything!

At Thistleberry farms with Mama!! Peek-a-boo
with Auntie Melinda and her dogs, Cole and Spencer.


























playing with her neighborhood grandparents and the kiddos!!









coloring on her desk for the first time
she knows where her crayons go.

showing daddy where her frogs are






Harrison and Addie playing on Grandpa's chair together.
proud daddy and Uncle on his birthday!
me wrangling the kiddos on Adam's birthday from going up the stairs!

Play date with Tommy. He pretends that she is his sister....how cute!
She loved her pickle!

Her new rocking chair


walking on campus with daddy
with me at the Grotto.
and a squirrel to chase too.... look how close she got!
She found one to chase!
watching her daddy feed the duckies
and comfy on daddy!

3 cans... going for 4...can she do it...
having some fun doing laundry with daddy
eating Patrick's corn on the cob for the first time!!!
I'll help you Addie!
Addie and Annika playing kickball!
Addie making sure I was feeding Xavier to her standards!
learning to play the piano
See Addie this is how you play.... Annika was already an expert at the piano!
with her Auntie E!
let's color!
my little model!
Here Gramps... a present for you...it's a square to my puzzle.
3 generations!
Gramps and Addie


Daddy's mini-me!

she found the doggie door again....
Father's Day with Grammie
usual look i get when I know she is playing and is trying to show me something...
Aunt Pam, Aunt Molly, Addie, me, Aunt Laur and Aunt Beth!!! all SMCers!!!
Addie with Aunt Pam and Auntie Laur!
She was so proud of herself that she started to clap!
I GOT YA~
Catching her in the act!


Addie was all smiles for Uncle Adam!
Grandpa with his favorite boy, Harrison and me with Addie!
Grandma teaching Addie about an animal.
looking at the tigers with Grandpa.
Getting ready to go to the zoo with Aunt LIsa, and Grandma.

With Grammie at Dzie Dzie's courtyard. It is so pretty out there.
Family pic! Happy Birthday Dzie Dzie!
at the pool with Grandma.
Fun in the pool with daddy!!!

Fun in the pool with mommy!

This summer has been busy. Between going to the zoo several times, having play dates, going to Bendix Woods to play on the playground, Thisleberry farms, visiting Dzie Dzie in the nursing home, visiting Aunt Joan and Uncle JOe, spending time with the grandparents.... I haven't been writing that much, but attached are a few photos that capture a majoirty of the fun that we have had this summer!

June 4th-- this was the last time I nursed Addie. She has been only nursing for like 2-5 minutes for the past few weeks and it's been at about 5:00 in the morning and then she goes back to bed. Well since it was my 10 year college reunion, I knew that this would be prime for me to offically stop since I was going to be gone Friday, Saturday and back home on Sunday.... so 3 days and done! So she was 13 and 1/2 months for me to nurse.... I personally think it was harder on me than it was on Addie.

June 10th- Addie is offically done with the bottle and we are 100% sippy cup!!! Go Addie!!! so she was 13 months old when we stopped!

August 22- we went to the Heston Steam musum today and it was fun for Addie. Daddy got his exercise since we lost one of Addie's shoes on the first train ride. It is 2.5 miles long and for about 2.3 miles of it, she was either sitting in between us or on daddy. Well she came to me towards the end and that is when we noticed she didn't have a shoe on. After talking to the conductor (which they were super nice) they let Jeremy walk the track looking for it after they searched. We finally found it about 2.4 miles into Jeremy's walk along the tracks! Daddy to the rescue!

August 27th-

As to date, Addie can say the following words and associate what they mean with an object. So instead of saying a word and not know what the meaning is, she knows!!

Juice

Dog

Mama

Dada

Duck

She can point to the following body parts and she knows them:

Head

Nose

Ears

Belly

Knees

Toes

Mouth

Eyes

If you ask her if she has somethng in her mouth she says "AHH" like if you were at a doctor's office.

If you ask her to do touchdown, she throws both arms up in the air!

If you ask her to say her prayers, she knows to fold her hands... sometimes after the prayer, she claps!

She knows how to give hugs and kisses.

She knows how to open and lock the gate in the kitchen

She stacks cans... 4-5 times high.

She empties the cereral bags and likes to feed the dogs!