A letter to Chase at 4 months

UPDATE: You rolled over front to back 3 times on 6/1. You might not be doing it again for a while given that I stood over you like a maniac cheering and scared the living day lights out of you!

You had your 4 month appointment on 6/2 and weighed 16 pounds 2 ounces (70th%) and were 25 1/2" (75th%). Your head circumference was 16 1/4" (25th%). You were a good boy for Dr. B. and he was very happy with your progress. You really didn't like your vaccinations (you were actually inconsolable for a while following the shots). I was sooooo sad to see you go from the happiest boy in the world to such a sad little guy. Don't worry, I asked that mean lady (the nurse) not to do that to you anymore! He gave us the green light to start you on cereal and I think I'll be starting soon to help satisfy that big appetite!

Chase,
My sweet, sweet, boy. I cannot believe you are 4 months old. Time has flown and you are already one-third of your way through your first year. It simply can't be possible! It feels like just yesterday that I held you in my arms for the first time. Yet, you've made such a seamless entrance into our family that it also seems as if you've been around forever. It's like God took a mold of the empty space in our family picture and made you. You fit perfectly!

You are such a happy baby. You smile and giggle constantly! You especially love it when I make duck noises and anytime you see me smile, you grin yourself. When I talk to you, you move your mouth and "talk" back to me. I look at you and can't help but smile ear to ear. I really have never met a sweeter baby and I promise I'm not just saying that because I'm your mommy.

Oh my goodness, you LOVE your sister. (I call her your "Sissy" and she always says, "I'm not Sissy, I'm Addison!") Your eyes have started to follow her wherever she goes. I can already tell that you are going to be her little sidekick. Fortunately, I don't think she'll mind too much. She seriously loves you more than anything. I pray every day that you will always be close and be there for one another just like you are today at such young ages.

You are still a great sleeper, though you have been a little inconsistent lately. This started happening when we moved you from your car seat into your crib on 5/24. I hated to take you away from your secure little cocoon, but it was time. You sleep about 16-17 hours a day. You have been sleeping anywhere from 9-11 hours straight on most nights and go back down for another few hours after eating. After a couple of bumpy days of naps, you are back to sleeping 1.5-2 hours in the morning and 2-3 in the afternoon. You then stay awake until bedtime, which is usually between 6:30-7. You are still swaddled, but every single time you wake up, you have broken out of your swaddle and are usually sucking on your fist.

You are a hungry boy! You take about 8 ounces (still mostly breastmilk) at each feed, sometimes even a little more. We haven't had your appointment yet to see how much you weigh, but I'm certain you are going to be around 16 pounds. You are mostly in 6 and 6-9 month clothes and we have started putting you in 9 months clothes, which fit great, too.

You were such a gem during your 4 month photo shoot. I will forever treasure these pictures. They are a true testament to your budding personality! Pardon the fact that I couldn't just pick a few. You are just TOO handsome to be able to do that!

You put your legs in this position yourself (meaning you wouldn't straighten them out for me to sit you on your bottom!) Silly boy!!

Loving on teddy.

You look long in this picture!

Naked baby!! Loving how you are holding your hands in prayer position. You always do that...your sister was the same way!

Chase, I really can't wait to watch you grow up into the charming boy and wonderful man that I know you will be, but PLEASE ,PLEASE, PLEASE stop growing. I'm begging you! It's going by too quickly!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthdays

Addison thinks every day is someones birthday. It's no surprise really. In the last month alone, we've celebrated Gammy, Grandma F., Me, Daddy, Uncle Damon, Cousin Aaron, and Cousin Noah.

She always asks me "Who's birthday is it today, Mommy?" Today we sang Happy Birthday to Cinderella. I guess it was her birthday. Oh, and Daddy's again, too. :)

Earlier this week, we surprised 2 of our neighbors, Hannah and Siobhan, with cupcakes for their birthdays, which were both on the 27th. Addison blew out her 4th candle of the month.


Some of the neighbors. They take good care of my little girl, so it's the least we could do!

More Sprinkler Fun

Convincing Grandpa to run through the sprinkler with her was an easy task. It's hard to ignore those big, blue, begging eyes!

Her new love

Addie has a new love.

Well, 2.

The first is our next door neighbor, Kiernan. Addison has been very fond of the now 6 year old ever since he took her for a ride on his Deere. She is constantly asking "Where is Kiernan?" or "Can I go play with Kiernan?" I think this little crush might be reciprocal because lately, when Kiernan sees Addison approaching, he runs inside or hops on his bike and rides away. Or perhaps he just doesn't want to be bothered by a 2 year old. We'll probably never know. :)

When they are together, they like to play tag. Addison runs after him squealing, "I'm gonna get you Kiernan!" The other day, they were preparing to play in the sprinkler and Kiernan's older sister had him in the garage lathering him up with sunscreen when he asked, "Where is Addison?" Addison and I were on the driveway and Addison immediately replied, "I'm right here, Kiernan. It's okay. I'm right here. I'm right here Kiernan." I mean, tell me that is not the cutest thing ever!

Addison's second love is the sprinkler. She asks to play in it every day now. On this particular day, she was playing in the neighbors. I just love these pictures. There is nothing better than seeing your children happy and having fun.

She thought she would try to go shirtless, too, until I explained to her that girls keep their shirts on.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

Yesterday was Grandma's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA! We were lucky enough to have her at our house on her special day. We baked her cupcakes and my star decorator went to work!

Every good baker always tests the food before she serves it!

The sprinkles are by far her favorite part of decorating.

That evening, we had a delicious grilled dinner on the deck and enjoyed those cupcakes we worked so hard at perfecting. :)

As usual, Addison got her very own cupcake with candle to blow out. She is going to grow up thinking that she gets this for everyones birthday!

Swingset and Playdate

Addie (and Chase) got a HUGE gift this year from Mommy, Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa F.

Our wonderful next door neighbors have always allowed us to use their set whenever we wanted, but we thought it was time to get Addison her own since we found ourselves occupying their set daily. Not to mention that Addison now has quite a few friends, cousins, and a little brother who we would like to use the swing set as well.

It's a beautiful swing set and Addison has already had many, many hours of fun on it. We've placed it in the yard so that I have full view of all the components of the set from our kitchen. Addison can do everything by herself, including getting on the swings. She is a champ at the rock wall (thanks to our neighbors having practically an identical set) and recently learned to climb to the very top of the rope ladder.

We had one of Addison's friends, Abby, over today for a few hours to play. The girls are only 2 weeks apart and get along really well.

At this point, they were discussing what animals lived in the water.

If you didn't know better, you'd have a hard time telling who is who from the back.

We walk down (and up) the slide.


And we use it for it's intended purpose, too!

So cute!

They're both such good girls. They'll be in the same preschool class this fall, too!

I don't know of any 2 year old soccer programs, but I'd love to find one. The girl has some mad dribbling skills!

Sand table fun. We took the water out this year. It was just too messy for my toddler who has a hard time keeping the sand on the sand side! Instead, I let Addison pour a little in at a time to make the sand packable.

Family FunFest

Festival season has begun! Festivals are one of our favorite warm-weather past times, especially now that we have kids. We used to go to the type of festivals where the streets were full of beer and loud bands left our ears ringing for hours. Now we go to festivals where there are face painters and bounce houses and the kids outnumber the adults.

It seems whenever we have a free weekend, which is pretty rare anymore, Dustin asks the inevitable. Are there any festivals that we could go to? If I hadn't heard of any going on, we do a quick search and venture out to see what we can get ourselves into. Last year, we were so busy that we only made a couple and Addison mostly observed from the stroller. This year is much different. I mentioned the word "festival" and the next 6 hours were full of talking about what we would see. Much to her disappointment, there wouldn't be a helicopter at this one like there was at the "Eggstravaganza" Easter weekend, but there would be PONIES!!! She's been talking about riding a horse for a couple of months now. She was so excited...fortunately she still took a good nap so she had plenty of energy when we arrived.

This was a small festival in the town of Powell, about 15 minutes from us. It was completely free, thanks to City Barbeque and Graeter's Ice Cream. It was pretty small, held on the front patios and lawns of the two restaurants and though the lines were pretty long, we managed to hit up all the attractions.

Our first stop was the bounce house where Addison took two turns going in and had a blast!

Next was the horse/pony ride. Here we are standing in line.

We might have a future equestrian on our hands. She loved it!

Pointing out the pony's "ponies". :)

Turtles. She was able to pet one of them.

She had no fear of the snake.

This is when she is telling me that it felt yucky!

No festival is complete without a man on stilts!

We took a break from the scorching 85 degree heat to have a DELICIOUS barbeque dinner.

After dinner, Addison sat to have a caricature artist draw a picture of her.

She sat more still than the older kids.

See Chase in the stroller?

Our last stop was for ice cream! Addison very, very much enjoyed her chocolate ice cream cone with sprinkles and m&m eyes!

Chase enjoyed a refreshing dairy treat himself. The poor guy's little head was so sweaty!

What a fun way to kick off the season!