Addie Update- Almost 3

My girl is almost 3! What?!

Here are a few things I want to remember about this time in her life. 

A couple of weeks ago she potty trained. We did it in 1 day. Really. The trick? 

-don't do it too early

I was dreading the potty, because honestly, it is so much easier to change a diaper. It didn't bother me. It isn't an inconvenience (besides buying the diapers). But a two year old who needs to go to the bathroom while you are in the back of Target and the bathrooms are at the front of the store?? Ugh. Just go in your diaper, please. Especially since I'm juggling two kids now. 

Well, I knew she couldn't be in a diaper forever. So one Saturday morning, we had a conversation. 

" Addie, no more diapers. Here are your panties."

Cue crying and tantrum for the next 3 hours. She begged for her diaper. BEGGED. But we said, nope. No more diaper. She had 1 accident that day. The very first time she had to "go," she started peeing in her panties and Eric ran her to her training potty that we put outside (haha) and she got a tiny drop in the potty. 

SO WE CELEBRATED!! 

And there is the story of her training success. In the past few weeks, she has had an accident maybe 4 or 5 times. It is rare. And she can go by herself. That is amazing. 

She has yet to #2 in the potty yet, and after I have discussed this with a few moms, I realized this is common. She gets a diaper twice a day. Nap time and bedtime. Because I am not waking up in the middle of the night to change sheets. She waits until nap time to go #2. If she really has to go, she will ask to go take a nap, because she knows she gets a diaper. Haha! Smart girl. 

This past year her language has really taken off. It's so fun to carry on conversations with her and be able to communicate. Here are a few Addie"isms" I want to remember:

Basnana-her BFF, Savannah

Tank tou- thank you

Moo me- excuse me

Yoyurt- yogurt

Dapes-grapes

Peetsys-feet

Banket-blanket

Hungey- hungry

A few of her favorite things:

Mickey Mouse

Her baby

Our chickens

Playing mommy

Singing

Coloring

Bubbles

Watering the garden

Going to the Y

A few of her common phrases:

I need my _____ (daddy, mommy, Stockton or whoever)

Watch me mommy

Ooo moo me (when she burps/toots)

I heared it (when she goes potty)

Pat pat pat (when she wipes hahaha)

I want to see my baby chicks

I want to wat nene darden (water the garden)

I need help

I want to doe (go) outside

Addie help

I huuungey - I'm hungry

One Year Update

This update is a few weeks late. With the move across the world, yes WORLD, I have been a little preoccupied.

Addie Grace had 4 birthday parties. I believe (maybe, ehh not sure actually), that I already posted about these. One party was at the beach with Eric's family, another at the beach with mine, my friend Marty threw her one the week we left, and then we had a little party with some team members over here.

Even though she turned 1 the Sunday after we arrived, she was still celebrated a lot!

We have not yet had her 1 year check up, but there is a clinic here with Western trained doctors that we will see for her appointment. So, no stats right now but as soon as we go, I'll update!

Eating: Whatever we eat! YAY!! So glad to be done with bottles, baby food, etc. I still don't feed her candy, chips/junk food, and red meat. She LOVES fruit.  LOVES. I am her hero if I give her a handful of grapes. After we arrived, we allowed her a night time bottle to stick with some normalcy, but this week we took it away, and she has adjusted wonderfully. Loves drinking her whole milk in a sippy cup. When she is finished with her food, she throws it off her high chair and on to the floor...this drives me nuts. She does the same with her sippy cup.

Talking: She is a talker. mama, dada, papa, dog and other noises that I don't know. We say, "what sound does a doggie make?" She says, "ruff ruff." We have a nanny that speaks Russian to her, so maybe a few Russian words soon??

Personality: She loves to smile and laugh. When she is tired she whines, but don't we all? She is really silly and loves to play with stuffed animals and her baby. She has learned to kiss, so she loves kissing on the lips. She'll put her forehead to mine and smile (melt my heart). Loves to clap her hands. Gets so excited when daddy walks into the room. She has so many expressions . She loves to smile with her nose scrunched. Loves peek-a-boo, thinks it's hilarious. She has started hitting, and hitting in the face I might add. She gets in trouble for this!

Mobility: Crawls and climbs everywhere. She is cruising but not walking by herself. She gets braves and stands up by herself, then she'll give herself a round of applause.

Sleeping: She's a champ. Sleeps from 7am-7pm. She has dropped her morning nap since we have been here. We would let her take an hour morning nap, but then wouldn't take an afternoon nap so we figured it was time! She takes an afternoon nap from 1-3:30/4. If she wakes up earlier, we leave her in her crib and she usually falls back asleep.

Schedule: I liberally follow this...definitely can change based on what we have going on for the day
7:00- Wakes up
7:30- Breakfast
10:30- Snack
12:00/12:30- Lunch
1:00-4:00- Nap/Quiet time
4:30- Snack
6:00- Dinner
6:45-Bath
7:00- Bed

11 Month Update

11 months. That's 1 month away from being a year old. The amount a baby develops within the first year is insane. Think about if we continued to develop that fast our entire life. We would all be 20 feet tall, speak 10 languages, and would have already developed cures for the rarest of diseases. I look back at pictures at my 4 lb baby and have such a hard time believing that was really her. I can't even remember what it was like holding such a small human. Back then I tossed her around like a sac of potatoes, used to her small body. In my head she wasn't a porcelain doll. She was resilient. Couldn't be broken. Of course I was very gentle, don't get me wrong. But she was mine. When friends came to visit her right after her birth, so many were afraid to move their left pinky because they thought it would break her bones. One of our friends told us, "I have never been so scared to hold a baby." Some even refused to hold her because of her small size. But now she is 11 months and 20lbs. She is always been around the 35% for weight, which I am so proud since she wasn't on the charts when she was born.

It's true what they say. You really do think your kid is the cutest. The smartest. The most wonderful creature on earth. I could Instagram pictures of her all day long. Of course everyone else wants to see her because she is the cutest baby on the face of the earth, thinks every mom out there. So I try to remove myself from planet baby and back to planet earth and remember that not every person wants their feed bombarded with my little daughter. Don't get me wrong though. If you choose to follow me, you will see many pictures of that darling child :). 

We have been beach bums for the past week and Addie has conquered fear of sand, fear of seashells, and beginning to conquer fear of ocean...only to have that progress stripped away as we move to a landlocked country. Yikes. No ocean within 2 hours. No ocean within several countries. 

At 11 months, Addie is speaking full babbles. We have conversations with each other on a daily basis. Sometimes I wish I knew what she was thinking because I'm sure she is wondering why she has to repeat herself a million times...and I still misunderstand her and change her diaper when she is actually telling me she's hungry. I'm sorry my child, I'm trying to learn your language but I'm an adult and our brains don't work as quickly as yours. 

She says dada, mama, baba, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, va, and probably others that I'm forgetting

She also seems to be getting over bottles. I speak full babble now, mom. Bottles are for babies. She use to drink 4 full bottles a day, and now doesn't want but half of the bottle. She is loving finger foods! I fill her tray with food and she stuffs it down that tiny throat. At 10 months I started putting whole milk in a sippy cup for her to "practice" during meal times. I didn't want to go from only bottles straight to sippy cup and whole milk when she turned 1. This is her "new schedule" that we are going to try based on her interest in big girl food and not bottles.

7:00- bottle

8:30- breakfast/ whole milk

9:00- nap?...she sometimes wants it sometimes not

10:00- snack/ milk 

11:30-12- lunch/ milk

1:00 - nap/ bottle 

3:30- snack/milk

5:30- dinner/milk

7:00- bath/ bottle/bed

I'm going to move to 3 bottles and give her whole milk throughout the day. When she turns 1, hopefully then she'll be ready for no bottles and just whole milk!

So far she is loving to eat:

Turkey sandwich (whole wheat bread and turkey slices)

Spaghetti

Pasta salad

Feta cheese (plain!!)

Cheese in general

Cucumbers

Hummus

Lasagna

Broccoli and chicken casserole

Fruit...LOVES fruit (bananas, peaches, strawberries, grapes)

For snacks, many times I give her the organic squeeze packs

Many times I'll usually give her what we have for dinner unless its red meat, seafood, or fried food

Happy almost 1 year my little big girl!

               

                                

Photo dump at 9 months

9 months (so I won't forget...)

Active girl

Not a huge fan of the ocean or the sand 

Climbing stairs now

Loves bath time

Starting to understand the word NO...

9 month update

Addie turned 9 months a week ago, but it has been a crazy past few days so I haven't had a chance to write an update until now. She is such a happy baby so much fun to be around! 9 months was a big one for her. She has accomplished quite a lot, hopefully I'll remember it all.

She is pulling up now. We have lowered her crib to the very bottom. She crawls around everywhere, then finds something that is low enough for her to pull up on. She can even climb our stairs.

She has SIX teeth. Two bottom, two top, and the two beside the middle top. This means she is enjoying lots of table food. She is starting that phase where she puts everything in her mouth.

She can feed herself table food. This is a huge help to me. I can sit her in her high chair and clean, wash dishes, or whatever needs to be done, while she is content with her food.

She reaches. I LOVE that she finally does this. It is so cute and melts my heart when she reaches for me.

 

She finally has something she is semi-attached to...her baby doll. Eric and I gave her this doll for Christmas and she loves it! She hasn't been attached to anything...not a paci or her thumb. Every time she sees this baby she reaches her arms out, smiles, and hugs it. It is so cute!

Her current stats: I don't have the paper in front of me so I'll update this tomorrow

Weight: 17.1 (20%)

Length: 

Head:

Current schedule (times vary, but this is something we go off of)

6-7:00- wake up, bottle

8:00- breakfast

8:30-nap

10::30-11:00- bottle

12:30- lunch

1:00- nap

3:00-3:30-bottle

5:30- dinner

6:30- bath/ brush teeth

7:00- bottle, bed

 

 

Big girl food

Addie's new favorite past time...gnawing on carrots and apple slices. She is not liking baby food these days, she wants "big girl" food. So far she likes: hummus and pita, black beans, peas, chicken, noodles, cottage cheese (in small doses), grapes, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, mashed potato, sweet potato...basically anything that is not purée. If its in solid form or off my plate, she'll eat it.

Almost there

She's almost there. Any day now. She wants to do it. She gets up on all fours and just rocks. Back and forth, but can't seem to commit further than that. She hangs out, rocking for a few minutes, then falls back down to her tummy. I also noticed today that she can go from laying down to sitting up, by herself. Looks like we need to lower the crib before she falls out! EEK!

Also, so many people comment about how perfectly round AG's head is. And it is. Strangely, it is very round. I have my theories about why I think it stayed so round. Comments come from friends, random people, and doctors. Such a random and hilarious thing to comment on! Take a look at that round head...

7 month update

Seven months later...

~SCREAMING. Addie has learned how to scream to get my attention. Let me just say it's quite irritating but hilarious at the same time.

~TEETH. She has a tooth! Her bottom right one came in first, and now the bottom left is working on making its appearance. She really hasn't been too fussy!

~SOLIDS. I didn't start solids until 5 1/2 months, so I still only do 1 solid feeding at day in the evening, but now I'm going to start the second feeding, probably in the morning.

~EATING. She really loves vegetables. She doesn't love fruits as much, we really surprised me. I have SUCH a sweet tooth, that I just knew she would want fruits more then veggies, but not the case here!

~PLAY. She LOVES to play on the floor. She rolls around everywhere. She still loves being on her tummy surrounded by toys. She never stays in the same spot.

~SLEEP. She is a great sleeper. She takes two naps a day, the morning nap being 1 to 1.5 hours. The afternoon nap is typically 2.5 hours. She sleeps around 11 hours at night! PTL! She typically goes from 7:30-6:30. We just moved up her bedtime to 7:30, it has been 8:00 but now that she is older, she can sleep longer at night.

~PERSONALITY. Addie is such a happy girl. When she isn't sleepy, she is so smiley and friendly. She talks a lot when she feels comfortable in her setting. She is very chill and loves to observe new places. She goes with the flow and lets anyone hold her.  She still loves to be held but is also becoming a little independent. She can be so silly and we often become silly together. We will make funny noises and die laughing together. She is so fun! Her favorite place right now is to roll around on the floor with toys. Not in the bouncy seat. The floor. I think this is hilarious. She still likes to take pictures and look at herself in the mirror. Haha...may have to regulate this vanity when she actually is aware of what she is doing. She really likes books, so I'm hoping this will definitely continue throughout her life.

~SCHEDULE. with the implementation of the second solid feeding
7:00- wake up, eat  
8:00- solid feeding #1
9:00- nap time
10:30- wake up, eat
1:00- eat/ nap
3:30-4- wake up, play
4:30- eat
5:30- solid feeding #2
6:45- bath
7:15- small eating session, top her off before bedtime :)
7:30- bed!

Playing on the floor, her favorite! And her silliness :)

Just would rather be on the floor...

Addie's first Easter. Eric was out of the country, we missed him!

Our silly time of laughing together!

Learning to hold her own bottle! We practice, she doesn't last too long :)

Sitting all by herself. Still a bit wobbly and falls over after a little while.