Catey & Arch's Wedding!

I had the pleasure of heading down to St. Croix (US Virgin Islands) for my dear friend Catey's wedding. It was a small and intimate affair, and we all had a wonderful time. Sitting by the pool just a couple hours before the wedding...it doesn't get better than that! :)

I arrived Thursday afternoon. I was able to site-see most of Friday and we had wedding stuff on Saturday. Then I had to leave early Sunday. The resort was beautiful and the food was amazing! Everything was on "island time" so it took a while to get food...we quickly learned that if we wanted to eat we needed to show up an hour+ early at the restaurant. On Friday a few of us rented a Jeep and headed out. Our first stop were some sugar cane ruins. After that we headed up a dirt road that we were told to venture on since we had 4-wheel drive. We were very lucky we had 4-wheel drive because driving up a mountain a few inches from a cliff is a bit scary! After we drove around a bit, we ended up at the top of the mountain looking down onto our resort! It was a breathtaking view. From various points we were able to see the coast no matter which way we looked. We drove through parts of the rainforest and under rainforest canopy. After an hour or two of driving and site-seeing and getting a little lost, we stopped at the Country Snack. They are famous for their local-fruit smoothies. There is only one kind and it is amazing! Made from a long list of fruit that they had just picked. There were mango and avocado trees in the yard. We had lunch and hung out taking in everything around us. We even were able to sample some "special" spiced rum home-brew called Man-up! They sell bottles with handwritten labels. Reminds me of fruit soaked moonshine except much stronger. Within seconds I was warm from head to toe. The 1/8inch sample shot I had was enough to last me, well forever. After that we headed to Mt. Pellier Hut Domino club to see famous beer drinking pigs (non-alcoholic beer). There were two pigs. We each paid $3 to see the pigs and give them an Odouls. It was crazy! The pig takes the entire beer and crushes it in his mouth so he can get all the beer out. Then he spits the can out. In the few minutes we were there they each had 3-4 beers and were loving it! That is probably why they switched to non-alcoholic beer. There was a monument up for the original beer drinking pig. There were a couple of pigs in training as well. We didn't have time to hang out at the bar itself. It is a local hangout where people play cards and dominoes and enjoy drinks and company. After that we had to head into town to pick up flowers for the wedding and then back to the resort to get ready for the rehearsal dinner (or non-rehearsal dinner since there wasn't a rehearsal). The next morning we enjoyed breakfast on our screen porch and then hung out by the pool for an hour or so before we had to help Catey get ready for the wedding. The ceremony was at 2pm overlooking the beach. After that we went to the reception. It was a great time!

The view from walking down the beach in front of the resort

The view from walking down the beach in front of the resort

Sugar mill ruins

View from inside the ruins

View from the top of the mountain - you can see our resort at the bottom - red roofs

Rainforest canopy

Non-rehearsal dinner

View from the pool

Our beautiful bride just a couple hours before the wedding

The newlyweds!

Buster the pig's monument

One of the pigs...notice the empty cans in the corner

The pig bar

Mango tree

one of the best smoothies ever!

The country snack

A random wall along the ride...

A close-up of the vines growing on it...they were cactus-like

another ear infection and more fun Addi updates!

So we have another ear infection - the right ear only this time. I am so happy we made the decision to get the second set of tubes.

Some good news...Addi was 25.5 lbs at the doctor today! Of course it was end of day with clothes but she finally hit the 25lb mark!

More fun Addi updates and of course for Scott and I to remember all her fun little things. We get so excited that we want to write down and record every little thing so we don't forget. So we apologize if it gets boring for everyone else :) She came home singing ABCs up to J today. After J she just says random letters and a couple of times she said the words at the end of the song.  The supervisor at her daycare pulled me aside to tell me that she can name all of her shapes...even pentagon and octagon! She was walking by the room when she heard her so she peeked her head in to see. She can point them out and she can name them. She said Addi gets really excited doing them, which is so cute! Of course she still comes home with her shoes full of sand from playing outside. She loves it outside. She sits with her buddies on a tire wheel in the sand and they scoop and pour sand. Of course there is other equipment, but 9 times out of 10 she is on that when we pick her up. Inside they do all types of art, reading, music, and play. Everything is play. She is getting over her shyness and each day when we drop her off she runs in her room usually over to the table to eat breakfast. In the afternoon she runs over to say hi, then goes back, grabs her cup, jacket, and daily progress paper, then runs back to us to leave. She is starting to say bye in front of everyone instead of waiting until we leave to say bye. She finally took a school photo - we've tried twice before and she refused. We joke that she is 2/2 for Santa but 0/2 for school. This time she took it but they said she was on the verge of being upset. We didn't think it would happen, but are happy they finally got one. We can't wait to see the proofs!

She made me a Mother's Day hand-print with a poem on it. I almost cried when I picked her up today and got it. I can't believe how blessed I am to be a mother. She is the greatest gift God has given me and she makes me so grateful for my own Mother, who is such an amazing person - thoughtful, patient, loving, and kind. She knows everything, and I have so much to learn from her. Although I really appreciated my Mother before I had Addison, I have a new level of appreciation for all the love she gave me and all the sacrifices she made for me. I am the person I am today because of my parents. Thanks, Mom. I love you! 

Bless you - tubes and more

Yesterday, I overheard Scott sneeze and immediately following Addi said, Bless you, Daddy.   

Hew favorite new thing to say is a question: What's that? Many times a day she asks us what things are. Pointing to my earrings, What's that?; pointing to the plow on tv, What's that?; you get the picture.

She has also discovered necks (yes, necks). She loves to rub and tickle my neck and say neck over and over. I try to get her to stop because it tickles but that seems to make her more interested. We don't really know where she learned the word, neck, but think its funny nonetheless.

Addison is getting a second set of tubes on May 25th. She is also having her adenoids taken out at the same time since they can harbor bacteria and cause congestion, snoring, and other problems. Her first set of tubes stayed in for 9 months. Once they fell out she got a double ear infection. She got another double infection a few months later and has fluid sitting on her ears now. Her ENT left the decision up to us, but considering that she is always congested, snores lightly and breathes heavily when she sleeps, and doesn't sleep well when she has fluid on her ears, we decided not to wait. Since her first set of tubes fell out early, her eustachian tubes just haven't completely developed. The recovery time is a couple of days so a little longer than just the tubes alone. Prayers please.

Just hanging with her friends, eating cucumbers, and watching Sesame Street

A budding artist

This past Saturday we went to Alligator point for a few hours in the morning. I've been doing a lot of work on the weekends, but I try to spend a few quality hours with Scott and Addison so beach time is a great way to do this!

collecting shells on the beach

look at those curls!

Eating one of the peaches we picked up on the way home. So juicy and sweet!

New things in Addi's life

Addi is asking questions and saying so much more now! We can't understand all of it but eventually we figure it out. She loves to ask for playdough and coloring is still one of her favorite things to do. Sometimes she likes to sit down with one of her favorite books, flip through the pages, and read the book. She has certain parts memorized and knows small lines from the books and says those pieces over and over as she flips the pages. For Goodnight Gorilla, she flips through each page, points to each animal saying "good night" for each one. For I love you, Stinky Face she flips the pages and says, "I love you" on each page. When we read her Moo, Baa, La La La, we've started reading only the first couple of words on each page and she finishes each page. When we get to the end when it says, "now what do you say?" she always says "cow"

She also loves to count to three and run into our arms for a hug when she gets to three. She likes to count to three and do other things as well, like tackle Scott. We realized the other day that she knows up to ten (not always in order). She is learning her shapes at school and her teacher said she knows several of them. We didn't know that until today! However, the other day she picked up the oval block we were playing with and said "oval" randomly so I guess we had a hint and didn't think about it.

She still loves to sing and now can sing all of Row your boat instead of skipping the middle and going directly to merrily, merrily. 

Her and Dylan are closer than ever. She is constantly telling Dylan to come on (waving her arm and saying "Come on Dylan") and of course she still feeds Dylan her Cheerios. She finds sticks for Dylan and gives them to her (well sometimes she gives them to her). When Addi gets to be too much, Dylan just walks away.

She is always asking for Elmo, Zoe, Big Bird, and Cookie. We have a lot of Sesame Street books and have a couple of dvds with clips from the show. She loves it! She knows several of the characters (Ernie, Bert, Abby, Elmo, Big Bird, Zoe, Cookie, Count, Oscar, and Grover). Sometimes she knows Snuffy, Prairie Dawn, and Telly.

We are amazed everyday by the new things she does. We can't believe that our little baby is so grown up!

Easter Weekend 2011

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. We went to St. Teresa Saturday morning and had a picnic lunch. Then we spent the afternoon together. That evening we steamed oysters and ate the rest of the spinach that mom and dad brought from the garden along with roasted potatoes. Yum!

Easter morning we went to church. Addi was wearing the dress that Lisa made her (I know - she made it!!!). Thank you, Lisa! I can't believe it is the first dress she has made. It is beautiful! That afternoon we dyed eggs and had an Easter dinner of BBQ chicken on the grill with Derrick's yellow sauce, baked sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach, sweet peas, and deviled eggs. And yes the Easter bunny went a little overboard this year for Addi!

The dress Lisa made!

So the Easter Bunny brought me this?!?!?! Awesome!

Oooo...what's in here?

Coloring an egg to dye

Dyeing eggs with Mommy and Daddy! Addison didn't really get into it like we thought she would.

Chasing the bubbles so she can pop them!

BUBBLES! Thanks Easter Bunny for the bubble gun!

It's been a long day so I think I will curl up and take a nap.

Visit from Sitti and Grandpa (Pa-Pa)

My parents were in town for almost a week. They came in down the 15th and were able to stay until Thursday morning! Mom had spring break and dad took the week off. Addi loved spending time with her Sitti and Pa-pa. After they left she looked for them and asked where they were. They had so much fun! They brought her a new bunny for Easter so she now has two dancing bunnies and a dancing frog all of which she likes to make sing and dance at the same time. They were surprised that she was asking questions and talking as much as she is. We had breakfast at our favorite place in town (Another Broken Egg), we went to the Tallahassee Museum to see the animals, and we just had fun hanging out. Scott and I had to work but it was still fun! We were all upset when they had to go.

Dylan and Addi playing with sticks - their new game!

Swings at the Tallahassee Museum

Slinky time - Slinky time!

double ear infections

Addi has double ear infections. We went to the doctor yesterday afternoon. She seems to be feeling a little better today and slept later this morning. Amazing what one dose of antibiotics and motrin can do. Scott and I are taking turns taking care of her and working - I am so happy this didn't happen last week when he was gone! Lots of extra cuddles for our sweet baby girl. This morning Addi and I finger painted (using the color wonder set from Vanessa and Sylvie from Christmas - loving it!), cut out shapes in playdough, colored various pictures, played a couple of computer games (colors/shapes/counting stuff), picked out coloring pages to print from the computer, read books, watched tv, and just hung out. I didn't realize how many colors she can correctly identify. Then her and her Dad hung out. We are both exhausted since we still have to get our work done, but thankfully we have each other. She still doesn't have much of an appetite (hasn't since late last week). Didn't have any symptoms until Sunday afternoon (fever) but in hindsight we realize that not eating and not napping are related to the ear infections.

We already had a follow-up scheduled with her ENT later this month so maybe we will get answers about the tubes - not sure if two doubles in 3.5 months means another set of tubes. One is still sitting in the canal but not doing anything. The other has been gone since December.