Keeping Up

Addie's hair is long enough for the "Pebbles" ponytail on top of her head now. And little pigtails. Both are so, so cute, but the "after" is just as priceless. As witnessed below.


My child likes to feed me. It's one of the ways that she shows affection. She will very proudly and insistently offer you whatever half gummed thing she is clutching in her grubby little fists. And I use the word "offer" loosely here...it's really more like having her graham cracker, or goldfish, or piece of apple thrust forcibly past your clenched lips as you say "mmmm!" and pretend to be really excited about her sharing. Yesterday morning it was blueberries. She and I ate an entire little plastic bin of blueberries together. It was about 7:30 in the morning and I drank my chai and read my morning devotion in between blueberries while Ads alternately fed us and intently watched "Baby Noah". It was really great. Maybe it doesn't sound that special, but I really enjoy those early morning times together. We're very similar, Addie and I, and we both like to be lazy and cuddly and jammied up together. Yes, I realize I just compared myself to a one year old. But it works for us.

And from this, you probably gather that my life isn't insanely on the go all the time, and thus why don't I blog more? The answer to that is "I'm not sure". I want to blog. I'm just not sure how to have more hours in the day. I already get up insanely early (my alarm goes off at 5:45...yes, it's reee-diculous, I know that). But I can't just sit down and start uploading pics and videos and writing at that hour. That's my morning tea and shower and lazy-browsing-of-the-Internet time. Although I swear that Ads left a tracking device behind in my womb. Because no matter WHEN I get up, she wakes up also. It's sort of frightening. Nonetheless, I have a strict "No Addie out of bed until 7 AM" policy. She's safe and happy in her crib, and I need a few minutes in the morning. It makes me a better mother if I can just get some time at the beginning of the day.

And then of course, Addie is up. And she's on the go. And she doesn't stop. We're eating, playing, doing errands, getting dressed, getting the house cleaned, and meeting friends. Until her nap, and then I allow myself some time to read and/or watch television. And then it's whatever we didn't get done in the morning until Tim gets home. And that's family time. And then she's off to bed, and that's couple time. And then I collapse into bed exhausted.

So, that's our day, and it's great. But I haven't made a lot of "blogging time". And I'm not really sure how to get more time without giving up something that feels vital. So oh well, maybe I'm just going to suck at blogging. That might be the conclusion here!

Anyway, since I actually am blogging now, let me move on with things. You might have gathered from all of that above that Addie isn't really a "baby" anymore. She'll always be our baby, but she's definitely a busy and active toddler now. Not only does she walk, but she runs and dances and climbs and throws full fledged dramatic fits where she flings herself to the floor and rolls around. Not only does she talk, she "sings", chatters, and screams and fake cries and basically makes us laugh on a regular basis.

Adelaide is awesome. I say this a lot, I know, and I'm hardly impartial. But really, she is so smart and so clever. She is constantly amazing me with what she takes in and I love our conversations. Just a few days ago we had a conversation where we decided that the squirrels in the trees probably liked to "washy washy" in her little swimming pool, but it was "brrr chillwee!". I was so amused and so proud of her. I love learning how her mind works.

I included a video of Addie here, showing off her talking skills. She's watching a Baby Einstein video and as soon as she sees the animal, she names it. I tried to explain what she was saying after she said it, since her words can be hard to understand unless you are familiar with her. That's the case with all little kids, as far as I know. They jabber off this whole set of sounds and then look at you expectantly, and you look helplessly at their parents for translation. Anyway, this is a post nap video, which explains the crazy hair.


And here a few snaps from our family walk today. It's FINALLY getting to be nice here. And not a moment too soon. I abuse the weatherman on NPR terribly every day and he is finally starting to get merely a few grudging sighs as opposed to a torrent of abuse.

Sweet little kiss

Moms and Ads
Walking the "boys"