Saturday, March 26, 2011

Sunshine for your Saturday :)

These days it's a little harder to get pictures of Addie. If her eyes are open, she's on the move.  All. The. Time. She plays hard and sleeps harder.  That sleep part is fantastic, by the way... :)

Anyway, here are a few that we've gotten lately.
 Bathing Beauty :)

 This one is blurry, but I love the expression on her face! She was in the process of trying to crawl over me. Apparently, that is hilarious. :)

Here's the grin we see every day... crooked bottom teeth and all. :)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Rewind to Valentine's Day

Totally forgot to post Addie's pictures from this year's Valentine's Day.

Click here to see last year's pictures... we've come a long way!

 Sweet girl!  This is one of my favorite outfits!

 Always laughing about something...

 I don't take many pictures with Addie... that I will post anyway... but I absolutely love this one!  She was patting my back, too... just like we pat hers. :)

Eric and I enjoyed our Valentine's night at home.  My parents were here so we all cooked dinner together.  Here is the ice cream cake I got for Eric.  I love yow. :)  Way to go, Marble Slab.  At least it tasted good.

Eric and I had a birthday/Valentine's date a couple of weeks later... we went to the Darius Rucker/Brad Paisley concert.  So fun!  My heart was completely overflowing this year with Eric AND Addie in my life.  Thank you, Jesus!

Lexi's Coming Home Party

Lexi has been home for two weeks now, but I had to make myself blog about her party today before I forgot... it was planned by her big sister, Abbie.  Let me just tell you... it was precious. :)

 First, there were the decorations.  Abbie taped the streamers all over the house... each one was in its "just right" place. :)

Abbie stopped to decorate her party hat to look like a princess hat!  Creative? Yes. :)  This little girl has got such an awesome imagination!

 Then it was time to help Nonna bake cupcakes!

 When they were finished, it was finally time to decorate them!

Guess who was in charge of the sprinkles? :)

 Then Abbie decorated the sign for the mantle!  Nana helped her spell "Welcome Home Lexi!"  Then, Abbie added a few other letters for "decoration." :)  When she was finished, she said, "What did I spell?" Hmm...

She did add this to the bottom... Abbie Loves Lexi.  Precious. :)

We put the sign in the yard and waited for Lexi to come home!

The table was set!

Finally, the guest of honor arrived!  The party could begin!

Can't have a party without party games, right? :)

Best line of the party... when playing Candy Land, Trae was ahead so Abbie went over to him and whispered in his ear, "Daddy, how about if you win, I can win with you?!"  ha He said no, so when Nonna pulled ahead, she asked Nonna the same thing. :)

I'm pretty sure everyone won that game. :)
Great party, Abbie!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Praying for Lucy :)

Click on the button on the top right of my page... my heart has been heavy for this little girl and her family in Memphis.
(you can also click this picture)
If you read this today, pray specifically for her surgery today.  Lucy is having a shunt placed in the back of her head.  It's not usually a major thing, but she has meningitis, and that complicates things.  Her family knows that God is in control, but they are weary.  Lucy was a normal little girl just a few weeks ago.  Now they are making plans for starting cancer treatment at St. Jude... fighting for their baby's life.

Leave them a comment, too... Lucy's family reads them all and they are so uplifted by them every single day.  It's the least we can do to help this family at such a trying time.

Hug your loved ones a little more today. :)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

What a difference a year makes! :)

 St. Patrick's Day, 2010

St. Patrick's Day, 2011

Praise the Lord for such a healthy, growing baby girl! :)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

14 months :)

 Here she is! Our little 14-month-old beauty! :)
This has been a busy month for Addie and our family.  Lots to update!
Here are her stats:
Weight: approx. 17 lbs.
Height: approx. 28 1/2 inches
Clothes size: starting to wear 9 month clothes!  Yahoo! Some of her 6 month stuff still fits just fine, too.
Diaper size: she can still wear size 2 but wears size 3 Cruisers since she's so Movey-Moverson.  

 In big news this month, three new friends have appeared in Addie's gums!  Gotta love teething, right?! ha She has been a trooper, though.  She's had some congestion/runny nose because of those guys, and she's woken up a couple of times at night screaming with her fingers in her mouth (poor baby!)... but other than that, it hasn't been too bad.  She drools and puts everything in her mouth, and as long as that can happen, she's cool.  The vibrating teething ring may be her new favorite thing.  I think the other front tooth is close to coming, and her gums are swollen around those two bottom teeth.  Another plus to all of this is that Addie loves to use them when she's eating.  I'm so glad she figured that out so it made all of the trouble and pain totally worth it.  She can bite those fruit loops and cheese puffs in half like it's nobody's business!

Go team! Addie also became a Big Cousin this month...

 ...to this little cutie, Lexi!  Trae and Amber welcomed her into the world on March 4.  She is adorable!  I can't wait to get to know my new niece.  I think she, Abbie, and Addie are going to be good friends. :)

Bathtime = fun time! This big girl loves moving all around in the big bathtub!  She loves dumping the water out of those teapots, putting the tops on and taking them off, and having those little squirty guys squirt water all over her!  She is so fun in the tub!

 See that?  Yeah.  This girl can pull up without fear these days... even on her humidifier! :)  Addie has finally mastered the art of pulling up on anything she can find.  She is very proud of herself!  Eric and I were thrilled when we watched her do this for the first time... we got to thinking about how all of her milestones are going to be a little later than most babies, but I really think it makes them that much sweeter. :)  A few days after this happened, I read an entry on the blog Enjoying the Small Things (click the name to go there).  Kelle's sweet Nella has DS, and she blogged about the same thing.  Now I know our circumstances are very different... I imagine Nella's milestones are even sweeter for her and her hubby... but in a way, she gets what we were feeling that night.  If you haven't read Kelle's blog, please go.  You'll be so glad you did!

"Hiiii!"
This is Addie's favorite word.  She says it all. the. time.  When the phone rings in the house, she'll pick up whatever she can find, put it up to her ear, and say in her sweet country voice, "Hiiii!" :)  Going through Target now takes a little longer because Addie says it to every person we pass.  I really think that she thinks everyone is there to see her.  It's adorable! :)  I pray that she's always got such a sweet disposition.

 Food?  Did someone say food? This girl LOVES to eat!  It is never a struggle to get Addie to eat.  If it is, then we know something is not right with her.  Here you can see her eating her favorite vegetable, carrots.  She can eat the heck out of those.  Some of her other faves: grilled cheese sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, cheese puffs, vanilla wafers, fruit loops, tortillas, any kind of cheese, and pretty much any kind of meat.  She still eats a few baby foods a day to make sure she gets enough fruits and veggies during the day... regular fruit has a texture that she still doesn't like, so we're sticking with the baby food ones for now.  Addie is on all whole milk, and she loves that, too!  Can I get an amen?!  That stuff is so much cheaper than high-calorie formula... and much easier to get than Mama's milk! ha

 Addie also loves using her fork like a big girl! :)  She can't quite stick the food herself, but she really wants to feed herself so I'll put the food on the end and set it down.  She is always ready to grab it and chow down!

...and she's always very proud!  After each time, she looks to us to say, "Yay!" so she can clap. :) Love her sweet self.

The hair.  It has finally arrived in full force!  (sorry this pic is a little grainy... it's from my phone) We waited a looong time for Addie to grow some hair on that big ole head of hers, and this month it really started growing!  Now, you should know that I do put bows in there (duh), but we still use the headbands most of the time because they just stay in a little bit better.  I love this crazy haired picture of her... it usually looks like this after bath time! :)

 Addie now spends a lot of her playtime like this. :)  She pulls up on her table and just goes to town!  I think she looks like such a big girl in the picture.. sniff. :(

...it's either the play table or the ottoman.  She LOVES remotes.  Since we have seventeen (not really... but it feels like we have that many), she just pulls up and finds a few. :)  Cheap, easy entertainment.

My girl is ready for spring!  Addie was itching to get outside today, so I was able to snap some great pictures of her.  We came in to take a break, and she turned around and scooted to the door!  She LOVES it outside, and I am so ready to enjoy some beautiful afternoons with her!  We didn't really do much last spring, so we're going to enjoy every minute this year!

Addie,
You just get more and more adorable as the months pass... we have loved watching you learn so much this month!  We love your strong personality and desire to be a part of everything that we are doing.  We are so thankful for a healthy baby girl to make our lives so much sweeter. :)
Our favorite tricks of yours this month: "Aww..." with your head tilted sideways, "So big!" with your hands in the air, "rolling them up" with your hands during the Patty Cake song, clapping your hands during "If You're Happy and You Know It," kicking back with your bottle in your left hand and your feet crossed, and laughing hysterically when you see your picture on the computer or on Daddy's phone. :)
You, my dear, are hilarious.
We're so glad you're ours.
We love you,
Mama and Daddy

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Addie's Books

We had another opportunity to bring gifts to NICU babies and their parents today... we collected money from our family and friends back before Christmas to bring books to families who are going through the same thing we did.  It was such a success that we had enough for a Christmas delivery and another delivery today!  We were thrilled to get to travel back to the place that saved our baby... in hopes that maybe we could make people smile today at a time when they need smiles the most. :)

Mama and her angel :)

Daddy and his girl :)

Sharing a laugh with Nurse Carly :)

This small part of our day was such a humbling reminder to me that God is totally in control of every single aspect of our lives.  He knows the plans for each one of those babies who are sleeping in the NICU right now.  I have so much going on these days, and it was great to be brought back to Him in such a special way.  I'm praying for all of those families and their precious babies tonight... and looking forward to the next time that God will use our story to help them.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Baby Avery :)

I had the pleasure of taking some pictures of our new niece, Avery (actually, she's Eric's second cousin, but the kids all call us Aunts and Uncles... so we're going with niece. :)... she's a little miracle, folks.  

..aaaand she's precious.  How adorable are those chins?? :)

Sleepy baby. :)

"For this child I have prayed..."
No words are more true. :)

I love her scrunchy, newborn-ness in this picture!  She was a wittle hungry and squirmy, but she still took some sweet photos!

I have some other ideas we're going to try soon!  Avery is such a fun (and beautiful) little subject for me to photograph! :)  Love her.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Lexi is here!

I have SO much blogging to do about things happening in the Jackson family, but I have to put this quick one today...

My sweet new niece has arrived!  Let me introduce you...

 Meet Lexi Rae Wieniewitz!  Isn't she adorable?!

 She was born on March 4 at 1:38 PM. She weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces 
and was 19.5 inches long!

 Here's my brother with his precious family of four!
Abbie is one proud big sister! :)

...and I am one proud Aunt Johnnie! :)


...and here is proud Uncle Eric!

More pictures to come from her coming home party!