perfect timing

addison's helmet couldn't have come off at a more perfect time.

let me explain...

since she turned 1, we've been feeding her finger foods instead of baby food in jars. she had been eating some finger food snacks, like her yogurt melts and puffs. but no meals.

and let me just tell you, finger foods are messy. like really messy. kind of gross messy. if she still had her helmet, it would be nasty. she would have food all in it. and since i have to change addison's clothes more, it's easier not having to take the helmet off, change her, then put it back on.

but she has to eat grown-up food now. she's not a baby any more.

i've been having a hard time finding a wide variety of foods to feed her, though. with the jars, i would just grab them and not really think about it. i wouldn't give her the same thing twice in one day, but the next day i would give her the same things all over again.

now, i feel bad if she eats the same meals a few times a week.

i've tried mixing things up, but i still run out of options.

here are some of the things i've been feeding her:
chicken nuggets (not from fast food restaurants. the frozen ones)
slices of turkey
grilled cheese
bread
green beans
green peas
carrots
cheese
bananas
yogurt
potatoes
applesauce
prunes
oranges
cheerios

i think that's it. it seems like a lot, but she gets at least 3 of those in one meal.

does anyone have any suggestions of what else i could feed her? she only has 2 teeth. she's got 2 or 3 more coming in, but she can't really chew that much. so i'm hesitant to give her certain things.

oh, and yesterday i made a big mistake in feeding her. not serious mistake, but a messy, gross mistake.

i made mac and cheese thursday night, and put the left overs in the fridge. i decided it would be good to let addison eat some yesterday for lunch.

well, i just put it on her tray and mushed it up a bit, and let her pick it up and feed herself.

big mistake.

she had it in her hair, all over her clothes, all over her body. it was gross. and it took forever to clean up. never again.

i've learned my lesson. there are some things she can feed herself, and some things i need to feed her.

after christmas, i'm going to have a big surprise...get excited!!

our christmas tree(s)

last christmas was the first christmas when i didn't live at home with my parents. of course i still wanted a christmas tree. i love christmas, and love decorating for it.

when i lived with my mom, she had 3 christmas trees (now 4) and i would always help her decorate them. she had the main one in the living room, a really tall one in the foyer, and a snowman tree in the playroom upstairs.

my dad wasn't really into the christmas tree thing. imagine that. :) so i got him a small 4 ft tree and some ornaments and put it up at his house when i was still staying over there every other weekend. but now that i'm not, it doesn't get put up. so i think i'm going to steal it and use it for myself. i mean, it's not getting any use there! i will give him some credit though. last year, he had a cardboard christmas tree.

my mom and i always put our christmas trees up on black friday. well, last year, black friday was only a week after i had addison. chris and i didn't have a tree, and we didn't have ornaments either. so my mom let me pick some out and she ordered some from kohls (she LOVES kohls). then on black friday, i ventured out with my week old baby and my mom and i went to a christmas decoration store. it really wasn't crowded, and i was able to get a lot of really cute ornaments.

our apartment didn't really have much room for a tree, so the one my mom bought us is tall and skinny. but it's still really cute. and i really like it. it goes well in our house now, too.

we don't have a tree skirt yet, or a star to put on top. but i still really like it. i love having the christmas lights on. my mom suggested we put the tree in the dining room, and chris told her i wouldn't want to do that because i would want to see the tree all the time. and he was right. the dining room is empty, and the tree would have been better in there, but i like seeing it all the time. so, of course, it's in the living room :)

here are some of my favorite ornaments on our main tree. yes, i know. there are a lot of favorites....

i like the angel with the flute, because i used to play the flute. i thought it was really cute.

it says "baby's first christmas". it's really big, and super cute.

i love this little tree ornament. i think it looks really cool. i love polka dots!

chris loves penguins, for some unknown reason. so we got this for addison, and he liked it too :)

i didn't want addison to feel left out, so she has a tree too. my mom brought over the tree that used to be in my bedroom at her house. it's pretty big. i don't really turn it on in addison's room, but i still like it being in there.

my mom got a box of ornaments really cheap last year, so we used those on addison's tree.

so, there are our christmas trees. i think we'll have yet another one next year. my granny wants to downsize hers, and hers is brand new. she said i could have it, so we may put that one in the dining room.

i can't wait to show off our christmas decorations in a few weeks! i need to go buy more. you can never have enough christmas decorations!

helmet-less addison

isn't she so cute?

no, she's not giving you the bird. she hasn't learned that yet.

but it is pretty funny, isn't it? :)

she's showing off her teeth. all 3 of them! which are all on the bottom.
her 3rd tooth cut just the other day. and i think her top 2 are coming in too....

she was laying on the floor watching tv. (wheel of fortune, i believe).

she was getting a little fussy before bath time, so we went for a wagon ride.

she loves riding in her wagon...

and tybee was following us all around the house.

look at those baby blues :)

i'm so glad addison's helmet is finally off! it's still weird for me to see her without it all the time, but it's a good change. she doesn't mind having hair bows in her hair, but she doesn't like headbands. hopefully that'll change...

update: addison's sleeping!!

i'm guessing what happened sunday night isn't going to occur again. or at least isn't going to be a habit.

monday night, we tried to keep her up a little later than usual to make sure she was really tired. but she was already really tired by bedtime, so we put her down at the usual time. and she went right to sleep. yay!!

yesterday, she did great napping. she was kind of fussy while she was awake, but i think it might be because she is teething. i know she's getting at least one more tooth, because i can see it. it'll be her 3rd bottom tooth.

last night, i put her down at her normal time. i read her a book in her room before i put her in her crib. she really liked it. and then she went to sleep.

i'm so glad she's sleeping like normal again. hopefully this will last, and her not sleeping incident won't occur again (or at least not for a long time).

although addison has been sleeping these past 2 nights, i can't seem to get enough sleep. i've been so tired these past 2 mornings. i just want to sleeeeep. but once i'm finished with this semester, i won't have to get up early :)

only 2 more weeks and i will be DONE! only 5 more days of actual class, and then 2 days of exams. yipppeee!!

oh, and i'll definitely be posting some pictures of helmet-free addison soon!!

my thanksgiving

this thanksgiving, we stayed in town and went to my mom's house. keith (chris's brother), leighann (keith's girlfriend), and lane (keith and leighann's son) stayed at our house the night before and headed to chris's mom's house thanksgiving morning. we didn't go since chris's dad was in town, and we thought it would just be easier to stay in town.

i was able to take a few pictures of addison and lane playing on thanksgiving morning. they were pretty funny.

i was surprised lane stayed sitting for a while. he is walking, and doesn't really like sitting down. he'd rather be running around. but he and addison sat and stared at each other for a while.

then addison decided to get all in his face. not sure what she was doing. maybe going after his paci?

i took addison to my mom's before her morning nap, so she could sleep there. chris and his dad were going to hang out at the house for a little bit before they headed over. chris's dad make a ham for thanksgiving, so they had to wait for it to be done.

i put addison down for her nap a little after we got to my mom's. and she wasn't having it. she just screamed. she usually goes down really well, but thanksgiving was the first day of her not wanting to sleep days. i wrote about the most recent of those days yesterday. so, since she wasn't napping, she just hung out with me and my mom while we were cooking some stuff for thanksgiving dinner (which was at 1:30 in the afternoon).

my granny was bringing the turkey, stuffing, and a few other things. so we didn't have to make that much. chris had requested we make mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. so we i did. i figured i would make it so i would know how to in the future. you know, because i'm a great girlfriend and would make it if chris wanted it.

we had to put it in the fridge until we baked it. i don't have a picture of the finished product, but this was it in the fridge.

this is the finished mashed potatoes. they were pretty yummy. especially after i put a lot of butter on them (i love butter).

addison enjoyed some thanksgiving food too. she had some turkey, mashed potatoes, some roll, sweet potatoes, and probably more.

she did finally take a little nap that afternoon. but it was only for an hour.

during that hour, we were able to play a game of scrabble. whenever my cousins markie and liz come to town, we always play games. and scrabble is our game of choice. even though i'm not very good at it. liz didn't come this time, but my aunt lisa played with us.

needless to say, i lost. but i would have come in 2nd if my uncle mark hadn't come and helped lisa. he gave her some words that got her a lot of points.

chris and his dad decided to opt out of scrabble, and watched a movie instead.

after addison got up, my cousin markie played with her. she was pretty funny with him.

thanksgiving was a lot of fun. kind of stressful because addison wouldn't sleep, but i was still really glad i got to see some of my family. and we got a ton of leftovers that were quite yummy :)

hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and ate a lot of yummy food!