The Final Countdown

The final countdown is here, only three more days left until the closing of our new home. Jill, Addison, and I are so ready to be in our new house and out of temporary living. At the same time, we are taking advantage of the few days we have left of no lawn to be mowed, hedges to be trimmed, deck to be restained, house to be cleaned, projects to be completed and just trying to have a relaxing weekend. We are so grateful for everything we have now, have had in the past, and for the new house we are moving into. First step will be steam cleaning the carpets and cleaning the house before moving in. We are also set to repaint the T.V. room and upstairs guest bedroom before the movers bring all our stuff to the house on Thursday. We also bought a new table and chairs for the formal dining room, as well as a grill for the outside deck. I can't tell you how many conversations Jill and I have had about our excitement to finally have a grill (the fire code didn't allow it at our old condo).

To enjoy our last free Saturday, we went and looked at patio furniture, drove to get cider donuts at Zeb's (Jill comment - yum!) in South Hero and went for a beautiful walk along the waterfront in Burlington. We stopped along our walk at North Beach on Lake Champlain and we were lucky enough to introduce Addison to her first big lake experience. She was impressed as the two photos included show and we loved every minute of our day together.

Addison's Very First Blog

(Scott) Addison and I sat down together for Addison to express herself for the very fist time in her own blog post. Knowing that Addison could not talk yet other than the word "Dada" and/or some combination thereof, I thought I would allow her to express herself through the medium of the keyboard. Here is Addisons first blog post:

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Hello, Springtime!

Please excuse the lackluster background (our decent, yet totally no frills temp housing) but check out my spring cutie.

I could just eat her up. Oh wait...., I pretty much do every day. Scott wasn't really backing the hat but I stood my ground and the compliments rolled in at daycare.

How could they not?!


I was kind enough to realize that her ears looked a lot better tucked in (after taking about 30 super cute pics with them out).


Happy Spring to you and yours!

(And for those that are keeping track, she does sit up all by herself now. It's been about one week of this and she wants to show it off all the time!)

Seven Months

Dear Addison,

What a month! You have been such a trooper through all of the many, many changes we have thrown at you over the past thirty days. It reminds Daddy and I every day of exactly how great a little lady you truly are. There is no way for me to cover everything that you have experienced and/or are doing since your six month 'letter' but here are a few highlights.

You began eating solid foods. Lots of people in your life (other than mommy) are probably saying, 'Finally!'. You had me fooled at first with your spoon knowledge. You seemed to have some trouble when we first started feeding you rice cereal as you were only mildly interested. However, when we gave you your first taste of banana about a week later, I suddenly realized that the spoon was not the issue. The issue had been what was on the spoon. You are a big fan of bananas, avocados and oatmeal cereal. You especially love a little bananacado mix that we make up for you. Yum. You are also just starting to appreciate sweet potatoes and we have big plans to start opening up your world to fun things like carrots, prunes and such. We tried to give you some applesauce while we were in Arizona and you appeared to hate it (too sour!). Daddy and I might have had a good laugh or two at your face while trying it.

Addison enjoying her bananacado mix.

You took your first plane trip all the way across the country to Arizona. You were so good on both the flight and the trip in general. We could not have been more proud. You welcomed over 30 new introductions and never once cried at any stranger who held you...in fact you smiled more often then not. That's our girl! Mommy loved dressing you up in some of the fun summer clothes that we still have a couple of months until we can wear in Vermont. It was so sweet to see you in your little dresses and sun hats. You had admirers everywhere we went, including a particularly overzealous lady in the Nordstroms shoe department.

You cut your first tooth (bottom right) in early April and your second a few days later (bottom left). They are both still just beginning to pop out and I am sure they will be super cute once they are fully in. You have begun sitting up on your own for longer periods of time. We think this is because you know you can have a bath in the 'real' tub once you can sit up better. You began a new daycare and have been loving it so far. Your teachers give you lots of cuddles and love and you seem to really enjoy all of the stimulation in your room.

As I've told you a million times already, Daddy and I love you to the moon and back plus infinity. A zillion kisses to you, little one.

xoxo

Mommy & Daddy

PS - Can you please start sleeping through the night now that you have mastered all these new tricks? Pretty please?

To The Spa With Me

Yes, life on vacation at Nana's house was rough on the little one. I mean, really, what kind of parents are we to put her through such suffering?

In case you were wondering, this is the face of someone who is no longer going to be satisfied with their plastic 'infant to toddler' tub.

Bring on the granite and marble jetted spa tub, stat!

Surprise!

It's a little hard to see because these photos post so small but if you look closely you'll see a little white bump on Miss Addison's bottom gum line (left side). While on the runway in Burlington to leave for our first cross country trip I looked into her little mouth and suddenly knew exactly what her pediatrician meant when he said I would just 'know' when she had a tooth coming in. After months of chewing on virtually everything (and covering it all in a liberal dose of drool), the little nut decided to bust out her first real tooth on Friday, 4/3. Just in time for the big trip. Yeehaw!

And just to make sure that tooth was not outdone, her second tooth (bottom right side) started popping out about halfway through the trip.
I have to say though, she has been in generally good spirits through it all, especially if she gets a little hit of baby orajel. Mmmm.

PS - you should actually be able to click on the photos to make them bigger in case you really care enough to see her little stumps/teeth up close and personal.

Family

The Murray/Morley ClanOne of my favorite parts of our visit to Arizona has been getting all of the Murray boys and their families together under one roof for the weekend. Scott's brother Shawn and his wife Jennifer were kind enough to allow the whole crew to come and crash at their gorgeous house in Tucson. There was lots of laughter, love and smidge of chaos which is just how I like it.

Many thanks to Shawn, Jennifer, Trinity, Liam and Grant. You have a warm and welcoming house and you are expert hosts!

I Wanna Be Like The Big Kids

Addison just hated playing with her cousins in Tucson.....I mean really, who can stand such adoration for hours on end?
And who needs their own Dora chair and talking Elmo doll. Not Addison, no siree.

Spoiled little girl! She wishes she could play with Trinity, Liam and Grant every day.

Nana Love

Well, not surprisingly, it was love at first sight for these two. After a very early morning start (4am!), two long planes rides, a car trip and a partridge in a pear tree, Addison finally laid eyes on her Nana. She immediately broke out into a big smile and a look that said, 'Finally! I'm here!' and the love affair has been on ever since.

Over our first weekend here, we had the pleasure of heading to Tucson to stay with Scott's brother and his family. Here is Nana in all her glory with the whole crew of grandkids. Aren't they a bunch of cuties (Nana included)?

Up, Up And Away

Yippee! As most of you already know, we made it to Arizona safe and sound. Addison was on her (mostly) best behavior on our trip out and we had no major issues. She was even sweet enough to spend some chunks of time like this:

Awww.

Now let's hope the trip home goes as smoothly!

Chicken Dance

We are currently staying with my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Doug who have so kindly welcomed us into their home for the week between our condo closing and our move into temporary housing. It has been a wonderful time. Scott and I have been spoiled by delicious dinners, soft towels and on hand babysitters. Addison has been spoiled by receiving oodles of love, kisses and attention. I'd say we're all pretty happy!

My uncle loves to collect toys, especially if they are loud and can sing, dance, move and/or some combination of all of the above. Every holiday he has a collection of toys that he brings out in the hopes that one of the kids will be entertained by them. Unfortunately most of the kids are too old for that so imagine his delight when he encountered a captive audience in Addison.

I was upstairs getting dressed on Saturday and I could hear this loud pitched singing that sounded suspicioulsy like the Chicken Dance song playing over and over again. Hmmm. I came downstairs to this (sorry my pics are coming out small for some reason):

Uncle Doug making sure Addison gets the full effect.


I'm not really sure what this face means but I'd put money on something like 'what the....?'