Missing Child

If anyone has seen the Addison that lived here about a month ago I would greatly appreciate having her back! This new Addison is not quite the angel I had and her 'tude is really starting to get on my nerves.
I've seen a gradual change in Addison and knew that the terrible twos were just around the corner but I'm pretty sure they are here and plan to stay for awhile. Nowadays Addison acts like she doesn't need Alex or I, except of course when she wants to be carried down the stairs (even though she has been doing it herself for months) and when she wants something, which is about 90% of the time. She has decided that her words are a thing of the past and "eh eh eh!" paired with pointing and tears is the way to get everything her heart desires....WRONG. I know what she is capable of and what words she is able to say so when she whines to get these things I really have very little sympathy.
Yesterday morning, Alex slept in and Addison and I were playing downstairs and eating breakfast. When Alex woke up he asked me "What on earth was Addison screaming and crying for this morning?!?" And I had to explain to him that it was simply the fact that she wanted me to wear a headband on my head and I was sick of the game and told her all done...yes that is what sent her into a 15 minute crying fit. This morning's tantrum was the result of my telling her we weren't going to be putting lotion on right now and then putting the bottle out of her reach. She had an absolute fit!
Please someone tell me that this ends and that I will get my sweet daughter back. I am trying to be understanding but sometimes that can only go so far. Like today when she came up and hit me square in the face with a waterbottle, then laughed her head off even as I gave her a firm "NO!" and put her on the stair for a "time out"...she came back 10 seconds later and did the same thing, laughing harder than ever.
I love her, I really do, but sometimes kids make it very hard :)

On a more positive note, my sister Maggie came to visit last week and us girls had such a blast! Maggie got Addison out of bed, dressed and fed almost every morning so I could slowly drag myself out of bed. We went to the petting zoo, pool (which Addison LOVES), mall and my grandmas house and had just the best time doing it! Below are our latest pictures detailing the ups and downs of our crazy life...

Crazy mohawk hair....this is what happens when you leave a pony in for too long!

Addison proudly standing on the kitchen stool that daddy built just for her...she loves helping with the dishes now!

We were cleaning out the van and I wasn't paying the closest attention to her...then I look over to find this...I have never laughed so hard!!!!!

Me asking her what she's doing in the drivers seat! "Just chiiiiilin mama!"

Checking out the goats with daddy at the petting zoo

Saying hi to the ponies with auntie Maggie close by her side

The 3 girls!

Daddy and Addison being too cool

Oh yes, Addison has also decided that she is a big girl and only wants to swing on the big girl swing. Sweet.

Pool time! Addison wore her muscle suit for the occasion! It was the hardest thing to get on and off but it worked great for helping her float!

Me freezing my butt off and Addison taking her sweet time getting into the water!

Practicing our swimming!

Snack time!

Ooooo, you didn't tell me we had Fritos Mom!

Playing on the playground by the pool. She loved this thing because it bounced up and down. Scared me half to death!

St. Patty's day party! And yes, she WAS exhausted :)

Playing on great grandmas back porch!

Happy Mommy, Happy Addison

Chatting on her cell phone

At the Pinal County Fair...it was pretty white trash...The only place where we got to pet a stingray AND see motorcycles ride around in the ball of death!

Helping daddy push the stroller!

Hard worker!

Checking out the scary turkey that had like a five pound tumor of a gibblet..yuk!

Waiting patiently for the "stunt" show...I use that word very lightly ;)

First steps into the water with daddy

So independent! She loved being able to go in and out of the zero depth pool all by herself.

So happy

Dancing in the pool

Just another early morning for Addison...Jean hat, wearing mommy's undies like a necklace and talking on her cell!

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Weekend with Grandma Laura!

We are sad to say that Grandma Laura left last night but we had a fabulous time with her!! Saturday night around 8 Alex and Addison made the trek to the airport at to pick her up, I unfortunately had to work but I got home just in time to do some last minute picking up before I heard the Jeep pull up. Grandma had given Addison a stuffed ducky on the way home so she already passed the Grandma test before even getting to our house! Addison was in great spirits and took right to Grandma. Needless to say everyone was wiped out and Addison even slept in until 9AM on Sunday morning!
We woke up to rain on Sunday morning which was a huge bummer. We decided to head to Superstition Springs Mall which has a great indoor play area for kids. Addison marched right to the slide and proceeded to go down it about a zillion times, pushing big kids out of her way and everything :) After burning off some energy there we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory. We were letting Addison walk on her own a few steps ahead of us and she was doing really well until she spotted the Merry-Go-Round. All the sudden she took off pointing, yelling and signing please please!, running into people and completely focused on the prize. I ran after her and dang is she fast! Once she got up to it she was ready to scale the fence and let herself in. It was hilarious because we have come to this mall plenty of times and she has never shown interest in it. Daddy took her on (those things just make me nauseous) while grandma and I snapped pictures. She was so THRILLED the entire time, although halfway through she did want to switch ponies, I dont think hers was going up and down fast enough. When we finally dragged her away and into the Cheesecake Factory she was tired and loopy, she spent the entire meal standing next to me in the booth, banging utensils on the table, throwing sugar packets and washing her hands in our water...needless to say it wasn't the most enjoyable meal but it was quite entertaining, my favorite part was how mortified Alex was!

Loved this ladybug in the play area!

Soooooooooooooo excited!

Hi mom!

So cute...wearing the firefighter dress that grandma made her!

Looking over pictures with grandma from the days festivities

All worn out, snuggling with daddy, baba and baby
Monday brought more rain and coooooooold. We decided to take Addison to a place called "Toy Town." It is an indoor play village for kids and pretty much my dream as a child! The place is filled with little wood houses that contain toys and dress up pertaining to what each house is i.e. hospital, firehouse, Dominos, tea party etc. It was so stinkin cute! Addison spent the majority of her time in and out of the little Cozy Coupe car, I guess I'll have to put that on my list of things to get her. I had been thinking about getting Addison a table and chairs for her meals as she doesnt like her high chair and we were right by IKEA so we headed over there after Toy Town. We had a yummy lunch in the IKEA cafeteria and ended up finding all sorts of goodies which we probably didn't need but it's IKEA and stuff is so cheap! We ended up walking out with a table and 2 chairs for Add, a step stool so Addison can reach the sink, plastic utensils, plates and bowls for you guessed it...Addison!

Mowing the grass in her pink heels

Riding in her police cruiser...hopefully she is always the one driving ;)

Showing grandma the ropes

Another toy that she just looooooooves but somehow we dont already have grrrr

Setting up her tea party


She insisted on wearing this hideous hat!

I joined her for a tea party...you can see us fighting over that horrible hat as I didn't want her wearing it in the picture haha


Dressing up in her firefighter boots
Tuesday was Grandmas last day here and it started off nice weather wise. Addison helped her pick weeds in the front yard and they were just tooooo cute. Addison was also grooving to grandmas music on her wireless headphones, well when she wasn't trying to wear them as sunglasses haha. We made a trip to Kohls as Laura is a savvy shopper and had a 30% off coupon! We found all sorts of fun stuff and at Kohls most things are on sale all the time anyways so we walked out with over $100 worth of stuff for $45. Addison got some badass light up shoes, an Elmo potty book, Elmo and Zoe juice cups and a camping chair with Toy Story characters! I'm thinking these will be Easter surprises :) As the sun was still out we made our way to San Tan Village to play in the outdoor play area and just as we pulled up it started getting really cold and windy. Within 10 minutes it was raining so we grabbed some cover and lunch at Paradise Bakery. We made it back in the car just in time for the clouds to open up and dump a ridiculous amount of rain! Around 4 it was time to say goodbye to Grandma, Addison really wanted to go to the airport and was crying trying to get into the car. She gave Grandma a smooch goodbye and we waved them off.

Looooooooove

Helping pull weeds, thanks girls!

Listening to grandmas tunes

Doing the rain dance with grandma!

Soulful dancer!

Freezing our buns off walking to lunch!
I think Addison was pretty darn bored today after the excitement of this weekend! She has more to look forward to though as my sister, her auntie Maggie, comes into town on Sunday!

Slacker

I have been slacking BIG TIME on this blog thing, I do apologize! We are down 3/3 computers...Two are on life support and one is beyond repair. It's all Alex's fault really, his MAC had bad karma and when it went down it took the other laptops with it...ho hum such is life, its starting to feel like the early 90's around here :)
Addison is fabulous. She has been sick on and off for about 2 weeks but seems to be doing better now, just a big boogie every now and then, didn't slow her down one bit though. We are looking forward to this weekend when Alex's mom will be in town! We were expecting her last weekend but somehow screwed up the dates and only realized the morning of her supposed arrival that it wasn't until this coming weekend! Attention to details, not one of our strong suits!
We are hoping the weather will be nice, it has been rainy the past few weeks, which we LOVE, but not fun for company!!! I'm sure we will take ions of pictures this weekend of Addison and Grandma Laura and I promise to be better about blogging!

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Addison the cool cat in her new shades!

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Bounce!

Today Addison and I went with our playgroup friends to "Bounce U" which is a facility with huge bounce houses, slides etc. All the kids were a bit cautious at first but by the end they were literally bouncing off the walls :) Us moms got quite a bit of exercise too as the kids favorite thing was our bouncing them up and down...of course. Here are some pictures from today...

Trying out the motorcycle in the lobby...not impressed

Front row seat for the safety video. Really she just wanted me to look away so she could snag that stuffed puppy that was sitting there taunting her!

Down to business!

She was not thrilled when I put her in this firetruck, I had to get the picture for Alex though!

By this point she was pretty tired, I told her to smile and this is the best fake smile she could give me.

Playing nighnigh time at the bottom of one of the slides...not a great plan!



In other news, we have a valentines day party this week which should be a hoot! Saturday is my last day of nannying and I will be starting my In-Home senior care CNA job :) I'm really looking forward to the experience! Here are some more random pictures from last week, I didnt have time to blog about them but still wanted to share the cuteness :)

Pushing a wagon that she stole from some poor kid heh heh

Running with Owen

Silly girl in her "Grouchy" t-shirt from Grandma Laura!

Jumping on the bridge with her buddies

Slide time at the park!

All dressed up on superbowl Sunday to cheer on the teams!

We were walking to the mailbox and she just looked so adorable I had to take a picture!

She likes to climb on diaper packages, it was the most fun she had had all day!

Big Papi!

My dad was in town last week for business and came over on his night off to see our house and play with Miss Addison. She wasn't thrilled for about the first hour, she screamed whenever I left her in the room alone with him. She is very wary of strangers, especially men. She was not about to let her guard down but then Papi shared a bite of his dinner with her and it was all over from there. She swooped down on him like a vulture and they were best buds after that! It is so cool to see her with her grandparents, gives me a glimpse into how they played with me when I was little and it gives me happy feelings inside :)

Reading with Papi

Showing Papi the animals and what sounds they make
In other news, Addison's new favorite thing is to climb up on the sofa and "jump jump jump!" Jump coincidentally is one of her favorite words to repeat over and over and OVER again. She is really becoming a mover and a shaker and I find myself drinking significantly more coffee in the morning just to keep up with her, I guess the 14 hours of sleep she gets at night could be to blame :)

Jumping on the couch in her jammies, accessorizing with mardi gras beads

Playing "night night" with daddy...they pretend to sleep and then she jumps up and laughs

Yesterday we spent some time as a family and ended up at Barro's pizza. It is a great pizza restaurant that has a whole kids area with toys, games and tv to keep the kiddos entertained so the parents can get a chance to eat :) Looks like Alex is one of the kids....

They probably wouldn't have noticed if I left!

Today we ventured to "old town" Gilbert with some friends and explored the main street and then played at the park. Addison as usual had a blast climbing up the jungle gym, going down the slide and repeating. She kept up pretty well with the "big kids" and was very gentle and loving with the babies. ..

Riding the horsey seesaw

Hugs! LOVE IT!

I told Addison to give Tyner a hug....well she tried!

Kaelam going in for a kiss

Drawing time in the "cool kids" clubhouse