Aunt Liv's Birthday

Aunt Liv had a birthday last Tuesday so tonight we took her out for a treat at our favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse! We had a great time visiting with Liv and Scott. We are so glad they live in Lubbock so we have that family support around. Liv is in law school, a year behind Bradley, and Scott is a paramedic here in Lubbock. So trying to match their schedule with ours is usually pretty tricky, but we managed to all get out together tonight and it was a blast! Addy provided the entertainment with her goofy mischeif and oh-so famous fake laugh!

Addy took care of the check for us!

Happy Birthday Aunt Liv!!!

Just Because Its Almost Friday!!

Nothing much going on here at the Anderle house....ok that is a total lie!! There has been so much going on lately I am exhausted! We have a contract on our house and are hopefully moving soon. Soon as in next week. Inspection was today and as long as everything was good we will have an apartment to move into on April 1st. WOW!! So as busy as this week was, next week will probably top it! We have been cleaning and packing amongst the usual craziness. I am busy trying to pursue job oppurtunites, or lack thereof.., trying to predict our future and make the decisions that will so heavily affect it, 2 garage sales in two weeks, trying to get several pieces of furniture redone that will be repurposed in the apartment, and fighting the urge to redo my bedroom!  Whew! I am tired again. And as I sit here and whine to all of you, Bradley is at the Law school studying like a mad man for a big test tomorrow, finish a major paper and complete a movie review. All of which he intended to do today but unfortunately did not get to due to a mini-crisis we had going on here at home. We thought we had a gas leak...but thankfully after a full day for Bradley of being under the house and getting the Atmos man here we are safe with no leaks. Thank Goodness!!!

So where is Addy is all this business...right in the middle. She is still growing so fast and we have so much fun playing with her. She is loving the mobile life! She is definitely a quick one and into it all! I caught myself the other night saying "No, No" for the first time, I stopped and laughed because it just felt weird. I can't believe we are at the point of boundaries. It just seems weird she doesn't stay put anymore. It just adds chaos to the craziness. We have a blast playing with Addy as much as possible. I wish we had more time like that.I can only imagine when she is walking. We already go room to room with her behind her little pusher toy. She loves the ability to roam. It is also hilarious how distracted she gets and will just try to turn loose and take off.

It was pretty enough one day this week that Addy and I got to hang out outside for a while. She loved the new noises and fun things to look at. She even played in the grass. She wouldn't crawl on it, but it dead and pokey and I wouldn't either. She did keep raking it with her hands making dirt fly everywhere...then she would taste it. Everytime resulted in the same awful face! Here are some pictures of my cool-dude. Don't be fooled. I didn't put these on her merely for the picture. The sunglasses had purpose. She does not like the sun in her eyes. She must have been thankful for the cool shades because she left them on the whole thirty minutes we were outside!

8 month...addition!

I had to post an update on Addy because 9 months is just too long to wait for her to tell you!! My big girl has changed in leaps and bounds over spring break. I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with her and I am very sad that my week in coming to an end and its back to the regular routines we go.


But enough of my moping and back to Addy! These are a few of the crazy new things she learned this week!

• Crawling like a champ! She is getting so fast and into everything. She still prefers to be on her feet, but will evenually crawl  to get where she so wishes she could walk to!
• Bye-Bye- If you starts saying bye-bye and waving Addy joins you! She was pretty funny at Bradley's aunt and uncles the other day. We were getting ready to go, and saying goodbyes. The whole time everyone was talking Addy was waving away!
• Clapping- Sitting at a restaurant with my family last week she was playing with Bradley and just started clapping! She is very random about it, but more and more she joins in when we clap.
• Da-Da- She is now saying dada. I don't think it is associated with Bradley yet, but she only says it when he is in the room too, so who knows. Still no mama...she is going to see how long she can torture me I think. Those mmm sounds keep coming, so I know she will slip soon and say it!
• Drinking from a sippy cup-She has done this for a while, but over the break she mastered it. She watched Wyatt enough (and stole enough drinks from his cup) that we had to go buy her the hard top regular big kid cups. The kind we have used with the soft silicone nipple-type tops are no longer cutting it. She loves her new cups and will down whatever is in them.
• Standing- I wouldn't say this is mastered, but she works so hard. She is constantly pulling up and letting go. She needs to get a little stronger to really get it going, but she keeps throwing herself wanting to take a step. Nothing successful yet, but she is walking behind her walker toy and loves to go from toy to couch to Bradley and I to anything that she can grab.
• Squating- She has learned how to squat to pick something up off the floor while she is standing. 
• Fake Laugh- This one is pretty much new from today. She now fake laughs to get our attention or if we are laughing, and sometimes just to entertain everyone! 

This is all this week! I don't know if this is an age of explosion in development or she was being sweet enough to do all these firsts while mommy and daddy were around to see them! The latter I am sure!  Many of these things she picked up from playing with cousin Wyatt!

Posing for the picture mid-crawl

This is her favorite toy right now...she Loves styrafoam cups

Squating to reach her cup

This is the tail end we are constantly chasing!

Very mad she can't have Wyatt's cup

I have GOT to quit leaving my computer on the floor!

Chillin' in the Jumperoo! She was resting her head on her arms while jumping but she busted me before I snapped that picture!

Cuteness...It's a Family Trait!

I had to post a few of these pictures from our spring break time at the Anderle's. This is one of the newest members of the Anderle clan, Wesley. He is now a little over 6 weeks! Yes only six weeks! He is a very big boy and already weighs just about a pound shy of Addy! He already wants to be standing a looking around all the time! We had so much fun getting to hang out with him and his big brother Wyatt.

Speaking of Wyatt...

This big boy is a blast of energy like you have never experienced. I have honestly never met a child that can go 90 miles an hour for an entire day! He is a bundle of fun. He got to stay at Nana and Papa's with us for the few nights we were there. It was too much fun. The amazing thing is how much Addy loved to play with him. While he spent most of the time running crazy, jumping over her, and racing her walker around the house...she did her very best to keep up with him. It was so fun to see her so excited to try new things. He had her eating her snacks out of a bowl like him, drinking from a sippy cup everytime he did. If we didn't get her one she would go steal his. He also had her trying SO hard to walk. She would pull up and let go, standing as long as she could. She would sometimes lunge her body forward in an effort to walk, but her feet were always unsuccessful in following! I can tell these two will be good buds as soon as Addy can get going to chase him!

Eight Months

Hello guys! It's me again. I LOVE it when mom lets me at this computer. I work magic on it. The other day I got to it before mom caught me. She later realized that her 'H' key no longer worked. I told her knew how to fix it, but she wouldn't listen. She happen to leave it on the floor again (you'd think she would learn by now!!) and when I got done with it, that 'H' key was as good as new. Computer genius in the making right here! I am doing so much new stuff. I am amazing! Mom and dad are constantly cracking up. I know it too, I love to laugh when everyone else is. Here are some of those great things I am doing. Mom says to bullet point them...she is a little OCD on lists.

• I have TWO teeth! My two front bottom teeth. They aren't up all the way yet, but getting there. I sure glad that teething is over and they broke the gums. That hurts! It just made me cranky all day. Now that I have teeth, it just messes up the whole pacifier idea. I don't like trying to suck on it with teeth, so I put my pacifier in crooked so it is beside my teeth, not on top of them. It usually makes it where I can't breathe out of one side of my nose, but I don't mind. I don't need that pacifier much anyway. Mom says I only get it for one more month and she is taking it. We will see. I still use it a lot at bedtime, but only at first. I don't hardly ever actually sleep with it.
• Speaking of sleep, I have decided I like to sleep all night. I feel so much better in the morning. I love to wake Mom and Dad up by standing up in bed and screaming at the top of my lungs. Haha! I crack myself up. They come in looking all sleepy, but I am wide awake and ready to play. It is really hard for me to go to sleep these days though. I just get to excited to stand up, and then I get to scared to turn loose! I just holler real loud and someone comes to get me back down.
• I am standing like crazy. Mom and Dad expected me to be scared to take chances and not let go, but I ain't no chicken!! I love to turn loose just to see what happens. When I fall I just smile and try my best to get right back up. If I hold on to something like the couch or my dad's legs I can walk sideways. I will turn loose of something and quickly grab something else. I am so good! I love to practice walking when mom and dad hold on to me. I am always turning loose to see if I can stand on my own. I can for a few seconds, but I am still a little top heavy.
• I am thinking about just skipping this crawling idea. Its kind of lame. I would rather practice walking. I can crawl..don't get me wrong. Its just seems to slow for the kind of moving I want to do. I am so good at going from crawling back to sitting, so most of the time I just take a few steps and sit. Plus, I have this foot that keeps getting curled up under my hiney and causes me to get all tangled up, so I sit. I am getting faster so I may give crawling a chance, but mostly I am crawling to something that I can pull up on.
• I have decided that I have the sweetest voice ever, and I love to listen to it!! I just jabber all day. I love carrying on conversations with mom and dad. I also just love to see how loud I can screech! It is so high pitched that I have even scared myself a few times...but then I realize its just me and laugh. I can say Daaaaaa and Maaaaaa, so I don't know what the big deal is about DaDa and Mama, but I am going to keep everyone guessing for a while. If I am somewhere loud or too noisy, instead of listening I compete!! I see just how loud I can be over everyone else. I always win, of course.
• I love to be outside. It was pretty enough a few days this week that mom took me outside to play. I enjoyed looking around. I saw these crazy black flying things that did lots of chirping! They were pretty neat flying around in the sky. That bright sun just insists on shining in my eyes. It really ticks me off, so mom bought me some sunglasses. I'm not too sure about them yet, but they do help solve the problem...And I look COOOOL!!!
• I think I must be growing lately. For all you people that are as obsessed with eating as my mom is, here goes...I LOVE TO EAT AGAIN!!!! I am up to eating about 20-24 ounces of formula a day. That is still not even the minimum amount that an 8 month old should have, but it works for me. I have a cute round tummy and a few leg rolls to prove I am getting plenty. I love to feed myself and I go through those Gerber puffs like candy. I eat yogurt everyday for breakfast. That stuff is my favorite and it gets me going! I will keep you posted on my eating, but right now I am thinking it is ok.

My Grandma took some senior pictures today...so I tagged along. Mom snapped some fun pictures of me in the few seconds I was still!

I am a Pickle Eating Girl!!

Chompers!

This is the first picture I have been able to get of Addy's two little teeth. They are barely up...but coming in more everyday! I think they are just too cute!

Wordless Wednesdays

This Little Piggy...

Only her little pigs spend most of their

time hiding under pant legs!

Squeaky Clean

Legal Jargon

There just are no words for this. It is a good thing Bradley has Addy to help him through Law School!

Standing

Addy is growing WAY to fast. Today, she pulled up on Bradley and then let go and STOOD UP!! It only lasted a few seconds until she fell, but then she went at it again, and again! Go, Wonder Woman, Go!! We got out a toy that she got for Christmas that she can walk behind. She loved it as you can tell. She has trouble with the holding on concept. She kept turning loose and trying to stand on her own!!! Growing way to fast!!

Say What?

Ok...so I had to put up a post to simply correct my mistake. I realized as I was scrolling through my own blog that my story on the 'cabinet' is all spelled 'cabinent.' The sad thing is I didn't catch it, and I did proofread that post. The sadder thing is...that is how I say it. Cab-in-ent. Makes sense to me.

How Do You Know...

That your child is too big for the bouncy seat?

Haha! Time to put this into storage!

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Ok...its not yellow polka dots or a bikini, but its cute and it's random. This was a hand me down from a friend. Its the wrong size for her for the summer, but I couldn't resist trying it on her a while back. She sported it well, I must say. Those little thunder thighs look pretty cute sticking out of the suit. She comes by them honestly. You know how those Anderle boys are known for their running, jumping thighs. And I didn't get state runner up in powerlifting in high school with bird legs.

Speaking of Anderle boys...My brother and sister in law, Adam and Jenny welcomed Cooper John Anderle to the world on Tuesday, March 2. He was 7 pounds 10 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. I haven't got to see him yet (they live in Missouri) but I can't WAIT to meet the newest clan member of the Anderle family. Addy has 6 boy cousins to pick on now. 4 older and 2 younger. I am pretty sure she will take them all, without messing up her tiara!

Addy's first day was AWESOME in the mobile room. She loved being able to roam and go. They have a soft foam gymnastic type structure in the middle of the room that she loved. They said she would pull up and climb down, over and over all day! She loved music time and banged away on her xylophone. As I suspected she was a little over tired this evening, but I am glad the transition was so smooth!

Ok, so you got two pictures and a lot longer post than I intended. Whew! I always have been a little to 'wordy.'

I Like to Move It, Move IT!!

Today was Addy's last day as an infant at daycare. Tomorrow she graduates to the "Mobiles" room. They stay in the infant room until they are able to move well enough to get into all sorts of trouble. That is exactly what Addy has been up to. Her are a couple funny stories:

• The Infant room has one small shelf that they keep all the toys on. Since most of their babies are pretty young and immobile they disperse a few toys to each child every morning and they are theirs for the day. Then each afternoon they clean them all and put them back on the shelf. Well the other day Addy got herself to the shelf and proceeded to pull all the toys off, tasting them as she went. Both teachers were tied up with other infants so by the time they got to her she had quite a loot. Of course, all those toys then became Addy's for the day. When I got there to pick her up her mat was littered with toys. It was pretty comical to see the masses of toys compared to the few on the other mats.


• They also have mirrors that set on the ground about a foot and half high so babies can lay on their tummies and see themselves. They are also made sturdy and safe enough to be pulled up on. They try to never completely isolate a baby so that he/she can't see their neighbors. However, Addy had to have a mirror put up between her and her neighbor because she is a toy theif. She would sneak up as if she wanted to talk, but would hijack toys and return them to her mat. Don't feel bad about her being isolated...she wasn't. She just found ways to jump the hurdles. Hence, the next story...


• Today I picked her up and got another goofy story. A very small boy in the room (I think he's about 2 months) was put under the mobiles that are free standing so they can hit at the toy and look. Addy immediately spotted it and decided that is where she should be. Ms. Mary said she got all the way to him and was headed for his eyeballs before they were able to rescue him. Apparently she makes regular visits around the room stealing toys and giving orders. She currently runs the place from what I can tell.

Addy has been visiting the mobile room for a few hours each day to get acclaimated into a much faster and louder room. She has done great and is of course loving the new freedoms. I have a feeling she will be grumpier in the evenings seeing as how much busier her day is fixing to be. This month has been an explosion of milestones for Addy. I don't know why, but it has made it SO much harder to leave her. I just want to play with her all day. Not just the few hours I get in the evening before she goes to bed. And bedtime is still at seven. She barely makes it that long anymore. She is just SO tired by the evenings. Like I said, busy, busy, busy!

I decided to start doing a random picture of the day. We will see how long I stick with it. I just get so many goofy pictures of Addy that are just that...Random. So here goes...

Talk about your luck on this one. She did actually make it in her mouth. And no, my little girl is not chowing down on cat food. Its Gerber Puffs...and I think they taste pretty good myself.

Never Say Never

I have been following this sweet, strong little girl named Layla Grace. She is currently loosing her battle with Stage 4 neuroblastoma. I have been praying very hard for a miracle for this amazing little fighter. It has broke my heart for her family. Its really funny how much life changes when you have a child of your own. Its something you just can't understand until you have one. I have always been an emotional and very empathetic person. I would listen to stories such as Layla's and wonder why and think, oh how sad. Now, I can't just leave it at that. I think about the mother and the heartbreak that she is feeling. As with Layla, I think about her mom and the pain she has had to endure while watching her baby go through such horrific things. The five days we spent in the hospital with Addy were the worst that I have experienced as a parent thus far. The IV that had me so worked up with Addy was nothing compared to the chemo and radiation that Layla experienced. And yet, she knows no other life. The saddest part to me is that this is one of the most common types of infancy cancer. And wait, it gets worse....this is something that can be detected at birth by a urine sample. Why isn't that something hospitals test all newborns for. I know it would be expensive, but isn't it worth it? Layla's short little life has been a true testimony of faith. Her family's faith and strength have truly inspired me.

So last night after reading the new blog post that Layla's dad posted, I began to feel like I just wanted to go wake Addy up and cuddle. Life is just to uncertain. Layla's parents put there healthy baby to bed at seven months and never dreamed that her little life was going to be so short. Its not like I am going overboard here acting like Addy is going to get cancer...I just felt the need to cuddle last night. So I did something that I said I would NEVER do as a parent. I went and got my little girl out of her bed last night and brought her to bed with Bradley and I. Not that its that big of a deal, Bradley and I just personally don't believe in co-sleeping. However, it was just what I needed last night. I was pretty worried about rolling on her or something crazy, so I honestly didn't sleep much at all. It was ok though, I just laid there praying for Layla and her family, as well as thanking God for all that we have, and especially my healthy sweet girl! So never say never, because sometimes it's just what the Doctor ordered. It's definitley not something we will continue...I need sleep!

Speaking of my big girl...

She is a crazy little mover! She is scooting everywhere and we love it! She is talking like crazy and has her first two little teeth! They aren't up high enough for a picture, but they are finally through the gums! Thank goodness!

Be sure to hug your loved ones a little tighter tonight and say a prayer for Layla Grace!