Look What I Found!

Well...Addie has officially found her FEET! Mainly her left one...she's been grabbing things with her feet for weeks now and reaching for her legs; but yesterday she actually grabbed her foot, and she hasn't let go since! It must have something to do with how inquisitive she's become as well as how focused she is on grabbing things with both hands now. I'm sure her feet will be in her mouth (like everything else) before we know it!

Diapers and Dogs

So what is it, you ask? Yes, this is one of many diapers our dog Abbey has destroyed. We knew even before we had Addie that this would be a problem. You see, Abbey loves to tear up paper. We've lost important papers, receipts, and whole rolls of toilet paper and paper towels. With Mollie, we knew we'd have to look out for Addie's stuffed animals/toys. We've managed to keep all of those in one piece...Mollie just goes for the burp clothes and dirty clothes. She literally eats them. :/ And both of them love pacifiers...we lost another one just today!

Well, it started out with Abbey figuring out how to get the diapers out of the diaper thingy hanging from Addie's changing table. We got rid of that, and she discovered that when we packed for a trip, she could find a plethera of diapers in the top of the suitcase. We started zipping that up when we packed. And then there's the diaper bag that periodically gets dropped on the floor when I've got too much in my hands. We're even guilty of not "turning over" the diaper champ after changing a middle of the night diaper, and she always seems to catch us in the act! Most of the diapers she's destroyed have been new/unused diapers. In a way, that makes me furious because it's like she's tearing up money. In another way, it's good. These are much harder (and yuckier) to clean up! Apparently there are these little bits of something that provides absorbency that make it impossible to get everything off the floor without a vacuum cleaner!

Unfortunately, this one was not new. After a very messy dinner, I laid Addie in her bed, undressed her, took her diaper off, and quickly scooped her up to make it to the bathroom for her bath without any accidents. I left the diaper laying in her bed. Apparently, our "counter surfing" dog can also surf cribs and grab anything she wants. After the bath, I came back in to this...

Hmmm...I guess that's one more place we won't be leaving diapers! Not to fear though, Addie is safe in her crib. Abbey loves Addie, so all she does is prop her paws on the side of the crib and watch her sweetly. Not so fortunate for the diapers.

"Old" Samford Pi Kapp Friends

Tuesday night, we drove to Birmingham to visit Adam, Karen, and Charlie; Jason, Sarah, and Gracie; and Chad, Mandy, and Cady (who were in town from North Carolina)! All the guys were Pi Kappa Phi's at Samford, oh, let's just say a "few" years ago. Chad and Paul actually roomed together their freshman year.

Gracie is about 2 and a half, Addie is almost 5 months, and Charlie and Cady are 11 weeks. It was really interesting to see what 2 months of fast track baby growth does: at least 5 lbs, a diaper size (almost two), a few more smiles, more vocalizing, and a lot more standing up and jumping around! But they all still managed to take a cat nap here and there! It was really fun to see everyone and their precious little ones!

One of the most ironic things about the night, is that 1.) we all got in touch with each other over facebook and 2.) we sat around talking about how Adam was the only one of us without a facebook page and really needs one. Whoever thought that we would be 1.) using facebook and 2.) talking about it over dinner! Ah...maybe we aren't all so "old" after all.

the mommies: Mandy with Cady, Karen with Charlie, Sarah with Gracie, and me with Addie
Check out Gracie holding Addie's hand...such a sweet helper!

they put the little ones together (they are only a day apart in age), but Addie had to get in on the fun! she was somewhat "supportive" of her new friends...

...and at other times, a little less tolerant!
Gracie was so patient with all the babies! I love how Cady is studying Gracie's hand while Charlie is just chilling and then there's Addie straining and stretching to free herself!

might i lick your head, Charlie?

why of course you may kiss my arm!
(watch out Will and Ryan, you've got some competition now! ;)

Laughing!

Well, you've heard Addie laugh before...but this is more of a laugh than anything we've ever heard! I was throwing the ball to my mom's dog, Sydney (yes, in the house), and Addie starts cracking up every time Syd would bring me the ball.

Sydney

All Sydney was doing was running back and forth panting (you can hear her) and sitting (when I'd make her), but Addie apparently thought that 4 legged black and white thing was hilarious!

Addie and Syd
(click to view)

What's That?

Well, since starting cereal (which, by the way, has become more of a success every day, especially after we switched to mixing with water instead of formula (thank you Allison!!!)), Addie has discovered her tongue. Now, don't get me wrong. She actually discovered her tongue 2 months ago...but now she's discovered that in addition to moving it and making raspberry noises with it, she can stick it all the way out of her mouth and touch her chin (or the top of the outfit she's wearing). It totally changes the way she talks (try it!), and we're now waking up to "tha tha tha" instead of "bah bah bah" every morning! It's quite cute!

So...in an attempt to get a video of her doing it before it becomes old news, I also got a video of her ...well, i'll let you see! We'll make sure to pull this one out when she's older!

Take 1

Take 2

Rice Cereal...

Ok...so we did it. I didn't want to...why? I don't know. I guess it's going to be one of the many times when we realize our baby is growing up. It's only just beginning...

With a diagnosis of reflux, Addie's pediatrician suggested that we start her on rice cereal once a day to help things "stick" better and come back up less! We tried it for the first time Wednesday night. It wasn't bad...just very messy! We tried again tonight...and it was much more of a success! I think more went down than out this time! She actually seemed to enjoy it! (see the video below) Paul took some great pictures and here are a few...

(you can click on the collage above to see the pictures bigger)

"oooooh, let's see if I can spit it at you!"

"Just see how much you can catch as I spit it out!!!"
(our 4 month old definitely looks like she has a comb-over!)

we did get a few great smiles! :)

Video
(click to view)
It's actually a little freaky to me with "the hand" and spoon coming out of nowhere! The dogs were just dying to get their noses (or mouths) into the bowl/spoon. I'm having to concentrate extra hard to 1) hold the camera, 2) get the spoon in her mouth while she's jumping around, and 3) keep the dogs out of it! Maybe I can still multi-task? She's obviously excited about something...but I'm doubting it's the cereal! :)
(i am officially asking for a digital video camera for Christmas...sorry this is so shaky!)