Christmas in Alabama

The final stop this busy Christmas was in Alabama at Grandma and Papa's lake house. We loaded up the car and drove, this time for 11 hours! It wouldn't have been so bad if Lexi wasn't sitting behind me and breathing on me, stinky! We were greeted by a house full... Grandma, Papa, Great Grandmother, Elizabeth, Tommy, Caleb, and their exchange student Christian. OH, and I can't forget that Lexi was also greeted by Bailey, Elizabeth and Tommy's dog, and Kelly, Grandma and Papa's 5 month old puppy. We had a perfect long weekend filled again with lots of eating and opening presents. The weather was unseasonably warm so we were even able to take a few trips out in the boat! The dogs got to roam free and while Kelly was having a ball, the poor old dogs, Lexi and Bailey, could barely walk up and down steps by the time the trip was through! Grandma and Addison made the best Christmas cookies I've ever tasted. Addison has gotten to be pretty good at making cookies... I'm thinking that next year, she'll be telling me what to do! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.


Hurry, Papa! Put my Dora jammies on!!


Twas the Night Before Christmas...


I'm such a happy baby!


Not too cold for me!


Cookie Time!


A special thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers for cousin Mattox. He was diagnosed with ITP and we all let out a sigh of relief that it wasn't leukemia. He will still need to be monitored closely by doctors and the family will have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he isn't too rambunctious... that's an almost impossible task with an 18 month old boy! I will keep you posted on his progress. Thank you again!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Christmas in Orlando

After a fun filled weekend in Winter Haven, we hopped in the car and headed back home to another Christmas celebration, this time with Nana Jo! Addison was so excited to see MORE presents under the tree to open up with cousin Haylee. We all loosened up the belt one more notch and ate some more! I fortunately have an excuse for all my weight gain although, the doctor may not see it that way!

The girls got the matching Barbie Diamond Castle dolls that sing. That sounded like such a great idea until we heard that Katherine McPhee song "Connected" for the hundredth time!

Another favorite toy was the classic doctor set. Addison checked everyone's heart and gave us and all her babies shots so that we would have a healthy holiday this year.

Addison did start to get a little tired and needed a helping hand to get into some of her presents and Nana Jo was happy to step in but... she got her second wind!

One of Addison's new favorite baby dolls from Nana Jo. She even made the trip up to Alabama.... which leads me into the third and final Christmas celebration.

Christmas in Winter Haven

Addison is such a lucky girl to have SO many family members to shower her with gifts that she needed three Christmas's this year!

First we set off to Grandma and Papa's in Winter Haven to celebrate with Haylee, Aunt Kimmie, Uncle Richie, and Uncle Woody. To get in the Christmas spirit, Addison decided to put her feet in the pool! Only in Florida, right? Papa must really love Addison to stick his feet in there with her! Haylee couldn't help but join in the fun too.

Addison got a new baby that she loves to serve tea to on her new tea set from Grandma and Papa. After lots of opening presents and eating, it was time for a little R&R. Grandma was happy to step in with a good book... and a little help from Lexi!

First Trip to Disney World

This past Thursday, we took Addison to Disney World for the first time! She loved it! Thanks to our GREAT friend HJ, we were able to go for the 'friends & family of Mickey' discount! She loved the shows were she could watch the princesses and Mickey sing and dance. I think that 'It's a Small World' was her favorite ride. She was mesmerized the whole time! She also loved 'Storytime with Belle'. Belle came out and told the Beauty and the Beast story for a small audience. It was perfect for her!


Addison and Daisy


Addison riding It's a Small World

I'm a big girl now!

My back finally ached enough from heaving all 30+ pounds of Addison over the side of her crib everyday that she is now sleeping in her toddler bed! YEAH! Bryan and I were very nervous about marking such a major milestone because of all the horror stories you hear about the big move. Much to our surprise, Addison has handled it wonderfully... so far. She asks permission to get out of bed after nap and in the morning and hops in when we ask her to. She loves her "big girl bed" because she can get in and out all by herself. I know enough to know that after a while, she is going to figure out that she can get out without me telling her it's okay to! But, until that day...







On a more serious note, we are all asking for a little prayer for cousin Mattox. My sister had been noticing the he was bruising pretty badly for bumps that shouldn't have and then he had a few nosebleeds for what seemed to be no reason. After quite a few blood test the doctors are fairly certain he has Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). In a nutshell, it is a rare blood disorder where his immune system attacks the platelets making it difficult for his blood to clot. While very serious, it is something that he should be able to overcome with time. There are still a few other possible reasons for what's happening but we are all praying the final diagnosis isn't something he can't handle.

The Best Part of Christmas

Cooking Making! Yeah! This is the first year that Addison has really tried to make and decorate cookies. She is a natural! All the other girls were so jealous of her perfectly rolled dough. Addison and I worked very hard to cut out and decorate sugar cookies only to have them gobbled up by none other than Lexi when the family went out to dinner that night. Ugh.


Chocolate covered Oreo's... yummy!

I think I might have to get a new title!

I recently realized that as baby Irish #2 updates pop up every now and again, I'll probably have to give this blog a new name in a few short months! Today was our 20 week check up and we had "the" ultrasound. I call it "the" ultrasound because it was the one where most families find out if it's a boy or a girl. BUT we are in the minority of people who are waiting to find out so the only thing I have to report is that the baby looked like a healthy baby should and for that I'm very grateful. The baby weighs 13 ozs and is in the 60th percentile... this is new to me, I didn't realize they had growth percentiles for babies before they were born! The baby was quite the little wiggle worm... moving ALL over the place and even playing patty cake! I gained a few extra pounds that I would love to attribute to my growing baby but, I'm pretty sure I ate too much over Thanksgiving... Anyway, here is a picture of the little bambino!

Speaking of Thanksgiving... I went to upload my pictures and realized that I have a picture of the table and that's it. I think I got a little sidetracked cooking the turkey! Woops! I will be better at Christmas time, I promise!

Weekend trip to Vero

This weekend we loaded up the car and headed down to Vero to visit the Wilson's. Jason was Bryan's mentor when he first started at PSS so he pretty much lived with them for about 6 weeks. I think that is where Bryan got bit by the fishing bug so guess what the boys did on Saturday... you got it! They went fishing! And crabbing just to mix it up a little. Of course, all I could imagine was the show 'Deadliest Catch' but logic tells me it wasn't near as dangerous in the in Intercoastal! The Wilsons have 3 boys and Addison just loved each one! She must have asked them their names 100's of times.... I'm not exaggerating!! It was the running joke of the weekend, "what is your name? what is your name?" Here are some pictures...

Feeding the ducks in the backyard

Cameron's turn!

Addison has a new buddy to push her on the swing!

Addison caught a fish! YEAH!

While we were down south, my favorite photographer Sara Kauss came and took family pictures for us. Hopefully we will have another fun Christmas card to send out! Wish me luck!

My New 'Twins'!

It's not what you all might be thinking, we didn't find two babies in my tummy but it's something just as wonderful! The 'Estate' washer and dryer (haven't heard of that brand? There is a good reason for that!) that Bryan and I purchased for $550 for the pair finally bit the dust. While I was a bit stressed at first toting clothes around the neighborhood in search of a dryer that could finish the job mine had started, all my stress has been relieved having done my first round of laundry in my brand new HE front loading Electrolux washer and dryer! I'm on the Kelly Ripa bandwagon! I guess this is one of those "you know you are getting old if...

you take a picture of your washer and dryer!'"

And for the reason you all actually read this blog... here are some pictures a few weekends back of Addison and Lil Noel having some yummy cupcakes at a UCF game tailgate. As you can tell, they had a great time!

We have some baby Irish milestones as well too... just the other night, Bryan felt baby kick. He just happened to have his hand on my tummy when my little soccer player had one of the biggest kicks to date! Guess bambino was just saying "Hi!" to his/her daddy!

At the Zoo cont'd...

During Storytime... I swear she wasn't trying to hurt him!



Brenden and Addison... how cute are they?

Storytime at the zoo

Today Brenden and Addison took a little trip to the zoo for storytime! Addison loved it but Brenden was ready to go look at the monkeys about half way through! They still had lots of fun checking out the animals. Mommy was bad and forgot her camera but Brenden's mommy pulled through with this video clip of the kids posing for their pictures. :)

I'll post some pictures soon. enjoy!

From the Mouth of Babes....

While I fortunately have no picture that goes along with this story, I just had to share this with everyone...
Bryan had been cooking all night long making some boiled peanuts to have at the UCF Homecoming tailgate this weekend. We all know what boiled peanuts look like, right? Well, Bryan took a peanut out of the pot to taste test it. Addison watched him closely, looked at me and said, "Daddy's eating my poopie." Gotta love kids! Ha!

Happy Halloween

Halloween night we went Trick or Treating with Haylee, Aunt Kimmy, and Nana Jo in downtown Sanford. All the cute little stores on "Main Street" hand out candy. They set up a little kid area with games and bounce houses. There was a little rain but after that cleared up it was a great night! Addison was in the costume contest but didn't win... the judges were paid off. ;) Here are some pictures of her and Haylee.


Uncle Bobo, Addison and Haylee


Daddy and Addison


Addison & Haylee

The girls

Trick or Treat!

My Little Angel

Kiddie Party Time!

The temperature has FINALLY dropped a few degrees! Just in time for a fun Kiddie Halloween Party at Addison's friend Brenden's house. Addison wore her angel costume and kept it on, wings and all, until it was time for lunch and I took it off! Okay, so there was a halo that made it all of two minutes. I know a picture exist of her in it and I will find it! Addison had a blast playing with Brenden, Noel, Devynn, and Madison on the swingset and decorating pumpkins. I ate way too many pumpkin rolls... mmm... cream cheese icing!
As a side note, Addison is on day 5 with NO diapers... except at nap and night time. She is doing great! I was pretty nervous about the day care at the gym because it's usually pretty crazy with everyone coming and going. But she has been three times and so far, so good. It's still early to be declaring victory but I'm feeling pretty good about my goal of having her out of diapers by the time Baby Irish makes his/her debut. Yeah, Addison!!


Addison on the swing


Pumpkin decorating


Addison loved the balls!

Darn Ol' Dog

This is a picture of Lexi after eating 2 boxes of raisins and 9 granola bars one day. Addie and I came home from the gym to find wrapper all over the living room floor and my bedroom floor. She got in the pantry and just helped herself. Can you believe, she never got sick!?

At the Pumpkin Patch

To continue our preparation for Halloween, Nana Jo, Aunt Kimmy, Uncle Chi-Chi, Haylee, and the three of us went to a pumpkin patch. My goal for the day was to take one good picture of Addison so that I could make a Halloween card to send out to family. While we did get some good looking pumpkins, the picture taking didn't go so well. Eighty shots later, I have a couple so-so shots and a whole lot of this...


Addison throwing her pumpkin, again... don't know why this was so fasinating for her?


When you ask Addison to smile or say "cheese!"... this is what you get.


Seriously, what am I going to do with this hair?


Speechless.


The poor defenseless scarecrow Addison kidnapped, threw down & tackled while Haylee tried to pull this eyes out. This is when we decided to go home.

Boo Bash at the Zoo!

We spent this weekend getting ready for Halloween! On Saturday we all went with Addison's friend Brenden and his mommy and daddy to 'Boo Bash' at the Sanford Zoo. Thankfully, Brenden is pretty stable on his feet now and hugs have replaced the shoves! While most kids were dressed in costume, I decided that a morning in the Florida sun at the zoo with a white velour angel costume wasn't such a good idea. We even convince lil' Noel and big Noel to join us a little later in the day. Lil' Noel was looking like quite the swashbuckler in his pirate costume and I don't think Addison even realized who he was until we told her!


Having a snack before we watch the elephant show.


Brenden and Addison... how cute!


The Family


The boys and the kids... Hey, this picture had potential to be good!


Welcome to the wonderful world of candy!