Christmas in October

A week ago today I found out someone was coming in Wednesday (tomorrow) to take Christmas pictures at the wee school Dakota is attending, and I could bring Addison to sit with him. Instantly my mind starting spinning trying to figure out what to make for them to wear. I ordered the fabric that afternoon, it arrived on Friday. Then panic set in as I realized my attempts to adjust my serger had only made it worse. Found a lovely woman a few towns over to work on my serger, and she even gave me a loaner to use. Sunday the sewing frenzy started! Here's the results, just finished the final touches a few minutes ago.

Dakota's shirt:


Addison's dress:


And the only picture I could get of them together. :)


The patterns are from youcanmakethis.com. Dakota's is the bowling shirt, and Addi's is a combination of two creating the peasant dress. Hopefully Dakota will cooperate a little better for the photographer tomorrow than he did for me! LOL!

Some new pictures

Wow, another month has passed already. We survived Gustav and Ike with minimal damage. Gustav knocked out power for about three days, fortunately the generator powered up the entire pool house including the small a/c unit. Trying to keep Dakota quiet and contained while Addi napped was a feat! One limb fell on the very edge of the shop, bending some tin, and we lost a tree by the creek. Not bad. Ike was a non-event. Never lost power, no major rain, hardly any weather from it. Hopefully we've seen the worst of this year's hurricane season.

Dakota has had an interesting month. Two unexpected trips to the pediatrician about three weeks apart - the first was roseola, the second was hand-foot-and mouth disease. Both were viruses so the only thing we could do was manage the pain and fever with Tylenol and Motrin. Fun.....but at least Addi didn't get them (yet).

He also started a Mom's Day Out program at one of the local churches. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I get a little quiet time from 8am until 12N. Dakota loves it, and I hope it helps him with speaking and social skills. I've been trying to take advantage and do a little sewing - check out my Etsy shop (link on the right).

Addison is getting so big! She's already about 17 pounds, such a chunk. Her chubby thighs are super cute. :) Her first two teeth are through, and number three is trying to make its appearance now. We started solid foods just a few days ago, she doesn't care for rice cereal or toast (in the pic above) all that much. Bananas are a different story though!

She's learned how to roll over to her tummy quite well. But then she gets stuck, and mad, and spits up. This is all fine and good during the day, but it's affecting her night time sleep too. Typically she'll wake, roll over, and let me know she doesn't want to be there at least two times a night. I'll be glad when she can roll all the way over!

Chomp Chomp!

No wonder Addi has been waking so often at night.....she's teething! Her bottom left tooth broke through two days ago (4mo 12days old), and the right side quickly followed today. She's a little ahead of Dakota, he didn't pop his first tooth until 5mo exactly.

Oh, she rolled over for the first time two days ago too. She's getting so big already!

Auntie Rachael is just awesome!

Addison received a wonderful package from Maine today. Rachael knitted three beautiful skirties. Addison loves them! Thank you Rach!

Finally, new pics!

Sorry for the long delay in updating the blog! It's been a very frustrating month of poor internet connections - super slow if it even worked at all. Only took two full weeks, SEVEN phone calls, and threats to yank the dish off the roof to get the WildBlue service tech out here. He replaced a part and was gone in less than half an hour. I'm a much happier camper now!

Can you believe Addison is four months old already? I can't! She's still a little chunk, weighing in at 14lb 14oz just last week. Still at about 75% for weight and 50% for height on the charts. My good sleeper has disappeared though - she's gone from sleeping all night to waking twice in the past month. Hopefully I'll be able to get her sleeping long stretches again soon. Oh yeah....can't forget this milestone (for me!). Addi FINALLY has accepted a bottle a few days ago! YAY! I was starting to think it was going to be a really long hunting season.....

Dakota is doing well too. Words are coming at random times. He'll throw something in clear as day in the middle of a bunch of jibber jabber. He's enrolled in a Mother's Day Out program starting early September with other kids his age. I'm hoping the social activities help him learn to speak more.

On to the pics!

Dakota is still being super sweet with Addison. He's always asking to give her kisses and play with her:


This was way too cute! Addi started getting fussy, so Stacy started mocking / agitating her. So she started pouting. I can just see her now doing this saying "But Daddy....."

"Okay Mom...why am I wearing a skirt?"

Here's the happy girl! Now that we have her diet issues resolved she really is a happy, easy baby. Gosh I hope I didn't jinx it by typing that....

And a rare shot of Dakota smiling and not running from the camera. It's been super hard to get good pictures of him lately. The only time he's not running straight out is when he's sleeping.

The tub keeps him a little contained for a good picture. This is the only decent one out of about ten tries!
Hope everyone is doing well!

How Quickly They Grow!

Went up to Shreveport yesterday for Addison's 2mo appointment, and a follow-up for Dakota. Addison has grown from a tiny 6lb 3oz at birth to 11lb 15oz! She's now bigger than over 75% of baby girls her age, after starting at only 10%. And to think I thought my milk supply was too low for her! :)


Look at those chubby legs!


The little seat she's sitting in is called a Bumbo. It's great! She'll sit there without crying a lot longer than in the swing or bouncer (which still isn't all that long). And of course Dakota had to try it out. To my surprise he fit in it! I should've pulled it out of the closet sooner.


Dakota still loves Addison, and keeps trying to play with her. He can't figure out why she won't eat the Cheerios or Puffs he gives her. It's cute to watch him share.

Calgon take me away!!!

Yes, I'm still alive, with a small strand of sanity left! Unfortunately I haven' t seen this near enough today:


Even worse is it's all my fault. Addison has not been feeling well the past few weeks, and we're pretty sure she has both reflux and a milk/dairy intolerance. What does all that mean? Well, her little tummy hurts, she probably has heartburn, and I can't have ANY dairy products. No milk, butter, cheese, or any shape, form or fashion of dairy. She's on reflux medicine #2 (which seems to be helping more than #1 did), and I have completely changed my diet.

Except last night I had a weak moment and ate the bread (with milk whey in it) and cheese on top. Not a smart move momma!!! Addison and I are paying for it today - she won't nap longer than 20min at a time, and has been nursing every 2 hours. When she's not napping or nursing she's crying, very loudly. From now on if I even suspect a food has dairy in it I'm staying far away.

Other than that we are doing well! :)

Here's some more recent pictures for your enjoyment. Since everyone has been asking who Addison looks like here's the beginning of a comparison (with much more to come when I get more time to put the pics together). In this picture Addison is 6 weeks old and Dakota is 7.5 weeks old.



Here's Dakota knowing I'm about to tell him not to touch the sound and light switches on the bouncer (he thinks he's so sneaky...):

Forget about buying toys, it's the simple things like a big Coke box that grabs his attention:

1 and 18 (Plus 1)

Hard to believe Addison turned a month old and Dakota turned 18mo old yesterday! Time is really flying. Here's some pics from yesterday (you can click on the picture to make it bigger):

The one time he wasn't trying to rock the bouncer! Dakota does pretty well with her, but sometimes he just doesn't understand "gentle touch". :)


The closest picture I have of Addison smiling:

Things are going pretty well. I'm not going to comment on how Addison is sleeping though - last time I did that (bragged on her actually) Stacy and I spent three nights from 8pm until 11 - 1am trying to get her to sleep. Talk about miserable!

Welcome!

Welcome to Dakota and Addison's Place! I decided it would be easier to create this blog / webpage for all of you to view new pictures and read about the kids.