Remembering Our Engagement, 12-22-08

Two years ago today, Matthew asked me to marry him at the place we met-The University of Southern Mississippi. It was the best decision I ever made and I am so blessed to be married to the most caring, compassionate, loving and patient man I ever met (although I am a bit biased). I love to celebrate every milestone; helps us always focus on the blessings God so richly pours over us!

Matthew, I am so honored to be your wife! Thank you for asking me to marry you on that cold night on Lake Byron on December 22, 2008. Life is so much richer with you in it and I hardly remember life without you. I love you more than words can ever express; you truly are the love of my life!

He asked me on that bridge in the background.

Right after he asked!

Where we met at Southern Miss; this building was recently torn down :(

Little Tummy Yummies

Just a reminder to all my fellow Mommies/Mommies to be/Mommies coming soon, I co-author another blog about Baby Food/Feeding, it is called "Little Tummy Yummies". I am very excited about the new series of articles we just started regarding breastfeeding! Many of my friends and acquaintances have asked me questions about breastfeeding my now nearly 9 month journey in breastfeeding Addison and so----thus the these articles began. So far there are two articles:

• Breastfeeding 101: Getting Started
• Breastfeeding: Why Pump?

I hope this blog and the upcoming series of articles will be helpful and informative for all you mommies out there currently breastfeeding or considering breastfeeding. As I said in my articles, no matter what method of feeding you decide to go with (formula or breastfeeding or a combo) do what is best for you and your family; that is all that matters!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

We got our first REAL snow today, several inches. Last weekend we got a bit of snow accumulation, but I didn't count it since it melted by the end of the day.

Addison was very confused by this whole snow business. When the snow first came down, we were out running errands and she was just looking at it like "what's up with this rain, Mommy?". She does NOT mind the cold AT ALL, so we stood there a second but no reaction. After her VERY late morning nap I bundled her up to go see the snow. Her gloves would NOT stay on; better luck next time Mommy! Since Matthew was at work, I did not venture into the snow too much. Just wanted her to sit and see. We get plenty of snow here so she will have plenty of opportunities to PLAY in it with both Mommy and Daddy---we will save the fun for when Daddy is home!

SO sweet (even when she is fighting a cold!!)

I love this crinkle nosed smile! I cannot get enough of it; I hope she NEVER outgrows this!

Checking out the snow! YES, that is a garbage bag; I didnt want her lil hinny getting cold and wet!

Even Piper got out in the snow!! She HATES snow!

I think she likes the garbage bag better than the snow :)

I love you my precious snow angel!

Sign Language: FINISHED

HAPPY 100TH POST TOO!!!!

She can sign FINISHED/ALL DONE with CONSISTENCY now; we were so excited!! You can even say finished in conversation and she will sign it. We had been saying finished forever before I finally turned on the camera, hence the delay in her executing it.

She will sign "more" and "eat" SOMETIMES. We are also currently teaching her "dog", "jump", "change your diaper" and "milk"; these she has not signed back YET. We cannot wait for her to sign more, it is SO much fun being able to watch her communicate/express herself like this!!! YAY!!!!! Can you tell I am PUMPED?!?!?!




PS---She had a tiny scab on her head from scratching it with her sharp finger nails, then during her nap just before this video, she must have scratched the scab off because it was bleeding :(

Shutterfly Cards

Since we wanted to include pictures of Addison in this year's Christmas card, we decided to use Shutterfly. I used Shutterfly for return address labels and was very very pleased with both the quality and how quickly we received them!



Knowing how quickly they process orders and ship them, I knew Shutterfly was the only choice since I will be cutting it close to get cards out before it is too late!

Here is what I love about Shutterfly

• Ease of Use: The site is easy to design your own card, stationary, address labels, etc. The intuitive site makes it easy for consumers to create a VERY custom and unique card.
• Efficient: Processing and shipping is FAST.
• Quality: The picture I used for our return label above was far from a high quality picture, but it still turned out great. The font was crisp too!
• Convenient: I did not know this until yesterday, but you can upload photos and have them printed to a target near you, ready for pick up in about an hour. They make it easy!!
  
• SALES: They always have great sales and give aways going on. As a family with just one income (since I am a stay at home mom), I am always looking for a great deal. In fact, by writing this post, I can qualify for 50 FREE CARDS!!! Want in? Check out the Shutterfly Site.

So check out www.shutterfly.com as you explore your Christmas card options!

Some of my favorites:

Little Drummer Girl

Please excuse my cackle on this video.

Addison Joy is 8 Months

Happy 8 months to our Addison Joy!

I cannot believe Addison is 8 months, I just do not believe it; where has time gone!?

Whew, what a month November was! November started off with our first sleepless night, EVER (honestly---she has never stayed up crying all night ever) and the fussiness continued the first few weeks of the month. I felt like I had done something wrong and was at my whits ends!! Finally all of a sudden, the day before we traveled to MS for Thanksgiving (November 19) everything seemed to go back to normal. I was thrilled, but still puzzled. Well, on Thanksgiving day I noticed she was cutting two or three top teeth and a few bottom teeth!!!!! Puzzle solved!

The Stats and Milestones

Weight: Still unsure. My best guess is still about 20 pounds or so.
Height: Who knows!!
Diaper Size: 3 during the day, 4 at night
Clothing: Mostly 12 months some 9 months. It is difficult to buy clothes right now; nothing seems to fit right. There is a HUGE jump in the size of clothes from 9 months to 12 months.
Personality: Ham. That is all there is to it! Addison just waits for someone to make eye contact with her so she can flash those flirty eyes and give them a cheeseball smile. She also poses for the camera now; when you pull out a camera and say "Cheese", she puts up the goofiest smile, as you can see from the pictures on here. She is still very much a pleaser and wants to obey. When she does disobey, you can tell she is embarrassed. However, this girl knows how to throw a tantrum, especially when strapped into her car seat!!!!! Overall, she is a sweet, funny and well behaved precious little girl.
Talking: The only words she has added is this month is "pa" and "mo". She is talking almost every moment she is awake (and sometimes in her sleep too).
Breastfeeding: Wow, 8 months of breastfeeding. I never thought I would make it this far. We are committed for another month (assuming my body allows it). My supply is really decreasing but so is the amount she is wanting. Soon we will move to all stored milk; I have tons stored. I think I am almost ready for breastfeeding to be finished---THINK :) Especially with all these teeth coming in---they rub!
Teeth: As I mentioned above she has TONS of teeth cutting. The bottom two teeth have been in for a while, but now she is getting a few on the top AND bottom. Her teeth cut but then take forever to come all the way in. I am ready for them to be in because it causes sleep and nursing disruptions.
Clapping: SHE CAN CLAP AND ITS SO CUTE!!!! I laugh EVERY TIME she does it!!! See video below!
Crawling & Walking: Amazingly, Addison is able to army crawl and pull all that weight!! Not truly crawling, but she sure can army crawl fast! See video below. She is walking SO well when you hold her hands, hardly wobbling. She can also pull up on somethings, but we do not have many things that would be a good height for her to pull up on....darn :)
Food: Addison has tried so many foods now; I cannot even keep up! Once her teeth finish coming in, I may begin to experiment with more finger type foods.
Independent Play: Before we went on vacation she was up to close to 20 min of independent play in her play pen per day. Now that we are home and recovered from our traveling, we will have to ease back into independent play. Also, now that she is mobile we will start attempting to institute independent play on a blanket. It will be difficult to teach her about staying on the blanket, but we will get there!
Car Seat: We took Addison to Babies R Us to test out new "big girl" car seats. She seemed to be most comfortable in the Safety 1st Complete Air. We have not had a chance to use it much, so I will write a review on it soon.

VIDEOS

Every time I say "clap, clap your hands" she does this.


Army crawler

PICTURES

Standing...not for long before she tips over.....

See...tip over!


Laughing at Daddy. Check out her big ole belly!

Oh how I love this smile!

She was crawling around and found a stick...see the dirt on her face? Oops :)

Apparently that stick was hilarious.

Copy Cat

Can you tell she is copying Matthew blowing?



Ok...I am making a fool of myself by sharing this, but it was too funny not to share. She is trying to laugh like me...and I was honestly laughing NOT faking it. She was laughing her head off before the video, but its even funnier to see her trying to cackle like me.

High Chair Manners

Addison has been making huge strides in her high chair manners! She is so neat and tidy and well behaved during meal times. If you are not familiar with high chair manners, hop on over to the Little Tummy Yummies blog and check out a great high chair manner summary! Why teach high chair manners? Because this is our first opportunity to begin teaching self control. Self control at the table will translate to self control other places.

Addison keeps her hands either placed in front of her on the tray or close to it. Sometimes she moves her hands around but rarely bangs the tray or grabs the bowl/spoon from Mommy or Daddy. This was not always the case and occasionally we have to remind her "where do our hands go?". From the beginning we tried to teach her not to spit out food or blow it everywhere, so this has never been an issue which means---CLEAN UP IS EASY. Screaming (not out of anger but just for fun) has been a huge challenge for us since she is a motor mouth, but we are making slow progress. When she spills something or blows her food it IS cute, but I try everything I can to contain my laughter; I must remember the big picture!

Things to work on.....KICKING FEET. When she is very excited she kicks her feet wildy. We also need to work on arching her back; this is a hard one to correct!

Here is a picture of Addison with a prune beard; this is about as messy as she ever gets. Most of this mess is my fault too!!! Sometimes we do not even use a bib!

Blurry...it was on my cell phone :)

Bow Holder

Allow me to introduce you to Addison's new bow holder......

It actually isn't as lime green as it looks (I took these pictures with my cell phone). This green matches the green I used to paint the letters spelling her name on the wall.




Thank you to Tonya for giving me some guidance on how to make this!

Pumpkin Pie

I made homemade pumpkin pie for the first time several weeks ago. And when I say homemade, I mean---Pumpkin filling at all. It was fairly simple except for one step: getting all the water out of the pumpkin. That step was only challenging because I did not have the proper equipment (cheese cloth). I used the pumpkin pie recipe (and pie filling) and whipped cream recipe from JoyofBaking.com.

Matthew gave it a 4.25 out of 5 stars; not too shabby!

Pumpkin Filling:
3 large eggs
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree*
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-9 inch frozen crust

Whipped Cream:
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (15 grams) granulated white sugar

1) Make pumpkin puree

• Use the smaller pumpkin varieties like Sugar Pie, Baby Bear or Cheese Pumpkin (approximately 5-7 lbs., 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 kg.). I used a Sugar Pie pumpkin
• Cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise, remove all the seeds and stringy fibers
• Place cut-side down on a greased baking sheet.
• Bake at 350 degrees F approximately 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours (depending on size) or until easily pierced with a knife.
• Scoop out the pulp and puree in a food processor until smooth.
  
• Extract all the liquid, so strain the pumpkin through a cheesecloth lined strainer and then cool the puree before using. ***I did not have a cheesecloth so I used a coffee filter for every 1/2 cup of puree I extracted liquid from**** This took about 15-20 minutes to do.
  

2) Make the pie filling

• In a large bowl lightly whisk the eggs. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
  
• Pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell (I used a frozen crust) and place on a large baking pan to catch any spills.
• Bake the pie for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the filling is set and the crust has browned (the center will still look wet; A knife inserted about 1 inch from side of pan will come out almost clean.)
• Place the baked pie on a wire rack to cool. Serve at room temperature with maple whipped cream. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator

3) Make Whipped Cream

• Place mixing bowl and wire whisk in freezer before making whipped cream (I used a kitchen aid mixer and it was SUPER easy)
  
• In mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and beat until the mixture until stiff peaks form.

4) Serve pie at room temperature and make whipped cream just before serving


Easy, easy!!!! Try making your own pumpkin filling!!! It was fun!

Pumpkin I used

After removing seeds and fibers.This takes a while too. Pumpkin fibers are much more difficult than squash fibers, ARG!

After cooking pumpkin, pretty color huh?

Done!

Time to eat!

Baby Dedication

On October 30, 2010 Addison Joy Grant was dedicated at Calvary Road Baptist Church. If you are unfamiliar with a baby dedication, it is not a baptism. During the time of dedication, Matthew and I committed to raise Addison in a Christ centered home and the church committed encourage her in her faith as well. We pray she gives her heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ at a young age!!!!

Pastor Dave praying over the two families dedicating their babies.

Pastor Dave praying over the two families dedicating their babies.

6 month-ish Photos by Arianne Teeple

Arianne Teeple took Addison's 6 month-ish photos and Grant family photos on October 24 in D.C. She did an amazing job not only capturing the city we live in but also our personalities. We enjoyed every moment of the photo shoot, especially as she and I reminisced of our high school years (we went to the same high school, small world).

Arianne, Thank for capturing our family so perfectly, all the smiles, the laughs, the squished up noses and yes...even the mouths wide open cause thats who we are :)

I hope everyone enjoys this small sample of photos as much as we did:

This one looks so posed, but it wasnt---none of them were!

This is one of our favorite faces she makes!

Steps of the Capitol

THE most wonderful husband and father, not to brag :)

Washington Monument benches

Washington Monument

Capitol

The Mall

All tuckered out at the end

Capitol

We have this much fun all the time, really!

The Grant Gang at the original Smithsonian

The Grant Gang at the original Smithsonian; Addison admiring her Daddy

Addison Joy is 7 Months

Happy 7 months old to our "blessing", Addison Joy!

Many of you may not have even noticed I am a bit late on this post, however the first few days of month 7 has proved a little challenging. We suspect teething or more elimination issues (yet again). Addison is still the sweetest baby even when something is wrong, so we count ourselves blessed and we are incredibly grateful. Her worst days are probably some babies best days!

Here are some highlights:

Weight: I have no idea, but based on her weight at the 6 month check up I guess she is rapidly approaching 20 pounds if she is not already there.
Height: No clue!
Clothing Size: Some 6-9 months but mostly 12 months, WHAT!?!? Although she has a big baby belly, she is still has a very narrow build overall yet long so that makes finding clothes that fit interesting. Luckily, I have a good friend that let me borrow ALL her 6-12 month clothes so we are set with clothes for a while---I love me some hand me downs!!!!
Talking: She is developing so much in this area everyday. She can say "dada", "mahmah" "ba" "boo" "ga" "goo" "spppp" "ah-goo" "ah" "wah"...and maybe a few others I just don't remember. She talks CONSTANTLY!
Breastfeeding: We are still breast feeding 4-5 times daily. Everyday I have to recommit myself to it, but I know it is worth it.
Food (finger foods): She can pick up banana and Gerber Puffs (see video) and put them in her mouth. I was totally not expecting her to catch on that quickly!
Crawling: She can scoot around a bit and crawl backwards, but prefers to roll or spin to her destination vs. crawling. I still maintain she will never truly crawl. I read that larger babies have trouble crawling and walking because there is so much weight to pull around vs a smaller baby of the same age.
Foods: Addison has enjoyed the following foods so far---peas, carrots, oatmeal, rice (rarely give that to her since it ALWAYS stops her up), green beans, butternut quash, pumpkin, acorn squash, apples, pears, bananas, Gerber puffs, prunes--and I think that is it. She likes peas and pears the best!
Independent Play: On most days Addison has blanket time or play pen time for at least 15 minutes a day. This is a time when she plays completely on her own and Mommy is not within site. Some days she does better than others, but most of the time she plays quietly with her 2-3 toys. When she hears the timer go off, she grins and looks around the room just waiting for me to come get her. The timer is her indication that independent play is over. On days that she doesnt feel well, we usually do not even try independent play, I feel like it is an important element, but not crucial enough to let her cry through it when she is feeling down.
Random: She got a flu shot this month---and did not even FLINCH when they gave it to her; she can pull her bib and socks off without a thought; she likes to peek around corners for people; she enjoys looking at people out of the corner of her eye; she chews on EVERTHING still; she can pull to stand when it is only a short distance.

That is all I can think of for now because I am so tired today!

Coming up next...

Thanksgiving: We are headed to Mississippi for Thanksgiving and I cant wait!! I am hoping Addison will be able to meet most of my extended family! Every Thanksgiving the Gambrell family gathers together and I look forward to it EVERY year, I have the best aunts, uncles and cousins imaginable and I love them all so much! We get to experience flying again, so say some prayers!!!! I will be there for 3 weeks while Matthew will spend the first week in MS and the other two at training for work. I am so grateful my parents are kind enough to let me stay with them while Matthew is in training. ALSO, Addison and I are planning a trip to Louisiana while we are in MS so we can meet up with my pen pal and her PRECIOUS daughter!! I could not be more excited!

Car seat: Since our big girl is very close to outgrowing her infant car seat, we are on the hunt for her next car seat. I would like one that will work for her until she is out of car seats but is still affordable; all recommendations welcome!

Video and a few pictures....