Big Sister in Training

I have been a little worried about how Addison is going to adjust to having a little brother. It brought me a little comfort and warmed my heart to get these pics this morning. She has been loving playing with her "baby". The only problem is when she gets tired of her, she throws her out of the stroller or hands her to the dog. Might have to work out the kinks....

Giving kisses

"Rock, rock"

"feeding"

Taking her for a walk

Forget the baby, bring on the diva....

Childrens' Museum

Today we got out of the house to give our painters some room (they are almost finished...only one more day!!) Whoohoo!

We met Georgia and Macie at the Woodlands Childrens' Museum. Where have I been? This place is great! She was loving going from one place to another. There were all these cute little areas to play in. Addison was most interested in the trains, blocks, and dinosaur/truck area. I may have a little tomboy on my hands!

She loves food...real food/fake food...doesn't matter

And stealing food...

This poor guy was not too happy that this little girl was all up in his trains

"shopping"

Then back to the trains...

Adorable Macie who is about to welcome a little sister, Lexi!

Dirt is so much fun.....

I would have taken a picture of her trying to "eat" the dirt, but the other moms were already giving me weird looks as it was....

Loved the hat

This cracked me up..

I turned around and she is right in between these three older kids just watching whatever they were doing and loving being a part of it.

The Uh Oh Song...

Andy and I decided to sign up for this "Love & Logic" parenting class at church. It's actually got some great information to offer. Yesterday we learned about the "uh oh" song....which made me laugh because it's really not a song at all...just a method for a time out sort of consequence. You're just supposed to use this goofy sing song voice so you don't say what you really want to say to them.

Basically, they're saying not to give any warnings or count to three, etc. when your child is misbehaving, but scoop them up while saying, "Uh oh....time for a little _____ time". This can be bedroom time, pack n' play time....any place where they are contained and away from you. If they throw a fit, you're supposed to let them do it, have time to calm down, then go get them, give them a hug, etc...

Well Addison has been pushing my limits lately, so I pictured in my head all of the great ways I was going to start using this. The class was saying you can basically start doing it at 7 months old, so the way I saw it....I was already behind. =) My child thinks the word "no" is hilarious and an invitation to continue doing whatever she was doing to cause me to say it.

So I'm trying to figure out where this "uh oh" time is going to take place... I don't like the pack and play because I don't want that to be seen as punishment seeing how we still need it to serve it's purpose of a travel bed for her. She's too young to just put in her room....so I'm thinking of just using the high chair and turning it away from me so she doesn't get the attention.

This works great in theory until she just starts acting up so many places that are just way too far away from the high chair and I"m too exhausted to do anything about it.

Like today, we spent an hour in HEB doing grocery shopping and she is letting me have it while standing in the check out line...trying to throw food out of the cart, etc. I know I've heard people say, just leave the cart and take them to the car....but those people have got to be crazy because there is no way I'm going to go through that hour and a half of grocery shopping all over again!

Then she's eating lunch in the highchair and proceeds to start throwing her cup, spoon, food overboard. I just ignored her and took it as a cue that lunch (which hadn't even started) was already over.

I was cleaning up in the kitchen from said lunch, and I look up...she is halfway up the stairs (having moved the baby gate herself) just smiling at me because she knows she is not supposed to be up there. So this time I had had it and just scooped her up saying, "oh, you must want to go take a nap" and put her in her crib. She was none too happy.

So rather than go on and continue to add to my "bad parent portfolio", I will just stop here and ask if anyone has anything else that's worked as a consequence for a 16 month old. I need to figure something out before December comes and little man is here....having a little bit of a momma freak out today.

I will leave you....if you are still reading.... with a picture showing her sweeter side....she's getting so big!! She loves to climb into any kind of chair...table, etc....just usually can't figure out how to get down.

Can You Hear Me Now?

We might want to up our cell phone plan now...this child has definitely gone over her minutes. Addison is in this phase right now where everything is a phone...everything.  Remotes, hands, little people toys, shampoo, carrots, oranges....you name it, she has it to her ear in serious conversation.  It cracks us up.

See what I mean, the little people duck is a phone....

Check out the video of her own little conversation

Exploring new territory...and monkey pancakes!

Well I have been a slacker lately in the picture and blog department.  We are still settling into the new house...pictures to come....and chasing after an ever-increasingly active toddler...I'm exhausted!

Addison is having fun "exploring" her new home.  Anytime someone new comes over, she starts jabbering away in her own language and walking from room to room like she's taking them on a grand tour.  She loves her new play spaces.

The previous owners were very handy and created this little kids' hideaway under the stairs complete with wood floors and tinkerbell walls.  It's her favorite.  She loves walking right in the door that's perfect for her size and turning on and off the light.

She has also discovered her stroller and loves pushing it all around the house.  The baby only stays in it for about 5 seconds before it's thrown across the room and replaced by her sippy cup...priorities.  We may have some work to do before our little guy arrives in December.

Why is Addison so happy?

I made a new "creation" today.  Monkey Pancakes!  I was craving pancakes for dinner tonight and decided to play around with some extra ingredients from the pantry.  

I added some mashed banana and chocolate chips to some regular buttermilk pancake mix and viola....Monkey Pancakes!  

A huge hit...

Astros!

We met our sunday school class at Minute Maid Park tonight and decided to bring Addison along for her first Astros game.  Let's just say you can't enjoy your nachos supreme and chili dog as easily as you used to without said 15 month old...let alone, watch the game.  But she enjoyed the game....the clapping...and of course, the food.

Please excuse the poor pics....also hard to get good pics when juggling chili dog, diaper bag, camera, and 15 month old.  =)

Starting to squirm as soon as we sit down.

Dad trying to shove a hot dog at her to appease her...worked for about 2 minutes.  Ice cream worked better.
Loved it when the crowd went crazy
Lots of clapping....go Stros!

Juice at the "juice box"
Bad dad...but just about any distraction will do
Time to leave??   We made it 6 innings! Pretty impressive Addison.

M.I.A.

Two weeks without a blog...I think that's a record for me.

We finally got internet hooked up at our new house, and I am beginning to feel a small bit of normalcy.  

I've been terrible about taking pictures lately, but I have a few randoms I'll post in the meantime. I can't wait to share pictures of our new place but we have had contractors in and out every day for the last 2 weeks and we probably have about 2-3 weeks to go, but at least we are in and sleeping here...even if we are drowning in boxes and mess.  It's worth it and we love it!

Here come the random pics...

Addison has a love for anything that "big" people have.  Forget her toddler apple bites, dried fruit pieces, she wants the real deal.

Until Harley takes it away...
She also loves walking around with this backpack on
Wherever she goes...
And her favorite new thing AND OURS is giving kisses....too cute
When we moved into the new house last week, the only place I could set up her pack and play was in the guest bathroom to be away from the workers.  I thought she was being so quiet and good taking a nice little nap only to go in and find that she is a big fan of toilet paper.