One day at a time...

I wrote a long and boring post last night complaining about life. No one wants to hear me complain on and on, so here is a picture to sum up that post. I'm having a hard time balancing my life right now. I keep hoping it will get better, but each week just brings more and more to do. 14 months isn't so long, right? I can do this, I can do this, I can do this....I think.
Here are some pictures of our cute daughter lately. She thinks that any time not walking is time wasted, and has become quite the pro.
She looks so BIG! She's 12 months going on 5, I swear.
Addie is one smart cookie, and surprises us every day with new things that she just picks up. Like where her ears are. Yep, never taught her that one, just have a book that talks about ears.
She has spunk. I am amazed at the amount of energy such a small little body can produce.
We're just living life one day at a time. I couldn't be more blessed than to have such a good little girl to put up with my inability to figure out life.

Party Time!!

We had a party tonight for Addie's birthday. We are so lucky to have so many family and friends willing to support our little girl! I had all of these great plans for her party, but it was simple and thankfully a lot less stressful than it could have been.

Simple, but cute. Don't be jealous of our awesome vertical blinds.

The lighting is weird, it really was a pink cake, not coral.
And there are supposed to be 4 layers of colors, but it looks like only 3.
Oh well, it turned out better than expected for not having a clue what I was doing!

Showing everyone she can walk.

Giving her new toy a hug.

Not sure what she was supposed to be doing with it.

Figuring it out.

She took care of business. It went about everywhere BUT her mouth, but she had fun. No birthday would be complete without needing to totally disassemble the high chair to clean it, right?

The party was a blast. Thanks everyone who came, we love you all!

One Year

How is it that a day just like every other day makes my baby not my baby anymore? I can not believe that a year has passed since my beautiful daughter was placed in my arms. Addie is blossoming into the sweetest little girl. The best comment anyone tells me about her is when they ask me if she is always this good. As we were going through these pictures, we realized she is almost always smiling. She truly brings us so much joy. We love being Addie's mom and dad! Addie has been so fun these past few weeks {really, ignore the last post. I contribute it more to my stress than anything}. In the last week she has started taking steps, but today she has started walking. I'm pretty sure she was just showing off at her party. The other day I said "uh-oh" when something dropped, and since then she has been saying "uh-oh" whenever something falls down and she puts her hands up like "what?". It is amazing how much she picks up. We were watching Shrek the other day and there is a part where they all scream and Addie started yelling too, so cute. She dances whenever she hears music. She can sign "milk". She loves looking under things, like the stove and our couches. What else can I say but we think she's amazing?

Checking out under the stove.

Loves her sunglasses, even inside.

So excited it was her birthday that she woke up at 6am. Watching TV in our bed.

She thinks she's so funny.

One year stats:
29 inches (48th %)
21.2 pounds (52%)
44cm head (20%)

Fail

Today I am feeling like a horrible failure when it comes to being a mom. Addie is in the middle of transitioning, but my problem is that I have no idea what she is transitioning to. I can't get her to sleep, eat, or drink. Those are her basic needs and I can't even give her them! Lately it can take up to 2 hours just to get her to take a nap. She doesn't even cry, she just plays in her crib the whole time. I've tried what seems like everything, from putting her down at different times, trying to feed her right before so she's not hungry, trying to have "quiet" time before I put her down so she gets sleepy, trying to stick to a routine so she knows what to expect. Nothing works! I've wondered if it's time to switch to just 1 nap a day (heaven help me!) but when she does finally fall asleep, she still sleeps for more than an hour, so I know (or at least I think I know) she still needs a second nap. She still sleeps good at night, thank goodness. Oh wait, let me rephrase that: she still sleeps good at night if she's eaten well that day, otherwise she wakes up hungry or soaking wet and we feed or change her in the middle of the night. I think I have this number stuck in my head that she has to drink per day and she just flat right refuses to drink it. She won't take water/juice from a sippy cup. So then I feel like I need to make sure she's drinking enough from her bottle. She's over "baby food" but I'm in the stage where I don't know what else to feed her. Sometimes what we're eating just doesn't work for a baby. And the waking up in the middle of the night soaking? We've tried the "12 hour" diapers, but she still leaks. If she's leaking, she's well hydrated, right? But then why do I worry about her drinking enough? I know I'm over thinking this and we'll eventually find a routine again, but right now I feel like I am the worst mom ever because I have no clue what I'm supposed to be doing right now. Does anyone else ever panic and think that you've completely failed your child and they should be doing all these things but you haven't taught them/tried them yet? I think I panic like this once or twice a week, at least. I'm just having one of those days, can you tell? I just need someone to tell me what to do. I'm pretty good at following directions. Luckily I see her pediatrician this week for her 12 month (aka ONE YEAR!!) appointment and I'll be asking plenty of questions about her schedule. I wish Friday would come sooner!

Lately

Thank goodness for cellphone cameras because I haven't seemed to use our real camera these past few weeks. Addie loves watching out the front window for dad to come home.
One of my favorite things she does is get on her belly to look under doors, the fridge, and now toys.


Life is good. School is crazy, but I've been able to stay on top of my assignments and reading so far. We closed on our refinance on Monday and ended up paying only $150 to close. We went to the appointment with a cashiers check for 10x that, and somehow ended up not owing it. Um, okay! We should have done this forever ago!

Now on to the next adventure: Addie's 1st birthday party!!

Resolutions

My late New Year's Resolutions:

Be a good mom
Survive school (B's are just fine with me!)
Not gain 100 lbs (or any for that matter) from stress eating
Cook dinner at least twice a week (after these past few weeks, that sounds impossible)
Figure out my new role at work (for my CSU friends, Charge 14)
Organize my life

If you don't know, I started my Bachelor's program for Nursing this week. As of right now, I'm caught up, but I feel like I'm doing homework ALL THE TIME. And it's only been 4 days since I started. It's online, so luckily I don't have to find a babysitter, but I like someone telling me what to do and not trying to figure it out on my own. Do you know how hard it is to turn your brain back to school mode? I'll tell you, its ridiculously hard.
And my laptop charger stopped working, and my iPhone screen shattered. One good thing is our refinance went through and we're closing on Monday. I'll take a 3% lower rate any day! I have a feeling my blogging will be few and far between for the next little bit so I'll try to upload random pictures of my almost 1 year old daughter for your enjoyment.

11 months

{Check out the next 2 posts too- I went a little crazy during nap time!}

Addison turned 11 months a few days ago. To state the obvious, in less than a month she'll be one!! I can not believe how fast time goes when you have kids. This past month has been way fun. She has loved seeing Christmas lights and decorations. Luckily she never got around to the pulling down ornaments stage and I've already packed away the tree, so I'll just plan for that next year. Addison has taken a few steps here and there and is standing on her own quite a bit. One day she'll wake up and just start walking instead of crawling and life will get crazy! She has mastered the stairs and can get up them so fast.

Addie is still a good eater and lately wants everything Ryan and I have. Even at family dinner if anyone is sitting down with dessert she crawls right over, stands up, and opens her mouth for a bite. She loves graham crackers, cheerios, avocados, beans, and pretty much anything else that goes in.

She still is an amazing sleeper. 12-13 hours STRAIGHT at night and 2 naps during the day. Everyone who meets Addie asks us if she is always such a good baby. She really is. She rarely cries, is good with strangers, and is seriously always happy and smiling.

She loves stuffed animals and grabs them to her face and gives them a big hug. I love it! Addie said "dad" a few days ago and I'm pretty sure that is her first word. So much for being her favorite! She still says "mamama" a lot though and I'll just tell myself she's talking about me.

And of course, Addie celebrated her first Christmas this month. She met Santa and was intrigued by him, loved opening presents and playing with the paper, and loved seeing flashing Christmas lights.

I love this little girl so much and can't wait to have her turn 1. She truly brings us so much happiness. It's hard remembering what I did before I was a mom, and I wouldn't trade my life right now for anything!