Randomness...

A few random Christmas pictures! Simply Irresitible!

The kiddos new bathroom! Picture it about 100 times brighter!

We had a HUGE milestone.... Tyler slept through the night last night!!!! YIPEE! Prior to this he was still eating 2-4 times a night. So we worked on it for 4 nights, checking on him at intervals and giving him his taggie on his cheek as a signal that it was sleepy time. He did fairly well each night and cried a little less and fell back asleep a little faster. The 4th night he woke a few more times again but then the fifth night, last night, he slept ALL NIGHT!!!! I am sure we will still be working on it for a bit but its a good sign that he can last all night without food! So wish us well that this continues and is a new trend... (a side note, we havent slept through the night since June 29th the night we found out that we matched)!

2 year appointment

Addy had her two year appointment today!

She is:

• 26 pounds/59% (I don't think Ty is too far behind her!)
• 32.8 inches/21% (she is a little peanut)
• 19.1 inches (head circumference)/81%
• Doing great and ahead in all areas! (not that that was surprising since she is talking SO much whole sentances and conversations and has always been very physical)

So she doesn't have to go back until she is 3!!!

She did get two shots today and did GREAT! We talked about it first and she said she was going to hold still for her little pokeys and she did. She didn't cry or anything... until the nurse left the room, then she cried for a little bit. We were also going without a nap due to the time of her appointment but she still did great!

And so tomorrow I will put her two year sticker/marker on her growth chart in her room! Such an exciting milestone!

Christmas x3 and Santa!

Bring on the Christmas spirit! The holidays with a toddler are amazing and wonderful... Here is a short recap of the Christmas festivities...
Last weeks trip to the mall to see Santa (again) and make sure he had our request (Elmo & Abbycadabby socks). The Christmas outfit that would never be... Poor little Ty, I got this super cute vest, size 12-18 months mind you, and well, as you can see it was a little snug... and so were the pants. So we squeezed him into it for a picture but otherwise he didn't get to wear this for any Christmas celebrations. Hopefully he stretches out a bit and the vest will fit again.

Cutie Petutie in her super cute pink peacoat!

Christmas with Jareds Dad side...

How many presents does it take to be taller than Addy!

A holiday tradition... nappy time!
Of course a family photo has to get taken!

Christmas with my family....

Another family photo! (I'm hoping one of these times, we will all be looking at the camera AND smiling!)

Addys new Hot Rod!

Note the insignia on the back, perfect for Miss Addybell!

Addy eating banana cream pie (that she helped Meena make) at her new picnic table.

Gotta have Christmas bounce time!

Taken little bro on a ride!

Oh the magic of Santa! Addy LOVED that Santa brought her all of her Elmo gear! When she woke up this morning, she was playing in her crib. I walked in and said Merry Christmas. She asked where Meena and Papa were and I told her they were sleeping downstairs. Then she asked, "Santa comin?". I told her we should wake everyone up and see if Santa came... and so we did. I could kick myself for not videotaping her opening her stocking because she loved everybit of it and completely made my Christmas for me. I cannot wait for the years to come and watching both kids open their stockings.

Ty got a little ride on Mickey Mouse airplane from Meena and Papa. Addy got one last year and since she really liked Tylers, we thought we should bring them both together so she could see she had one too. They were super cute sitting on them together.

Addy was watching the Wiggles and they have a fairly dance where they all put on their fairy wings. Well, Addy decided she needed me to dig hers out so she could wear hers too. And needless to say, they were on for most of Christmas eve and Christmas morning!

Ty's new Bug!

His new Cars PJ's from Santa... How fitting... What a dashing young babe! He sure is a cutie!

More bug fun....with Addybug!

Christmas at Jareds moms.....

Antler Addy!
Antler TyTy!

The aftermath.... Really, all of this for two tiny kiddos! And this didn't include the already opened and in use toys! I'll be going through it all this weekend, making sure everything fits, and picking some toys to put in the closet to open slowly as the winter wears on and we are looking for new ideas to entertain them! They love them all and we could not be more grateful for all the presents!
Addy did try to sing herself Happy Birthday a few times to day so we attempted to change it to Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!

Our adoption playgroup did do something fun this year. We did Sub For Santa through the agency that we brought Tyler home through. Our group sponsored 2 birthmoms and their kids and got them presents for Christmas. It was amazing to see our whole group pull together and buy for these two birthmoms who are making adoption plans for their babies. Hopefully we made their Christmas a little easier and that they know that there are a lot of people out there who care about them even though we don't know them. After all, isn't this what Christmas is about, showing people you care, spreading love, and helping people who need it?

We had an amazing Christmas and hope you all did too! Still one more Christmas celebration tomorrow and then things should be winding down... Well, except for Kwanzaa and New Years!

My amazing toddler!

I have one amazing toddler, one officially two year old toddler. On one hand I cannot believe that she turned two today, and on the other hand she seems so much older than two! She is the sweetest, loving, helpful, bright, talkative, active, busy, cuddly, little girl in the world. She can be challenging but her wonderfulness makes it all worth it. She makes me laugh and her smile warms my heart. She is my amazing toddler and I love her with all my heart.

So as she turns two, I remember how tiny she was and how far she has come! She is one active talkative little person far from the little baby we brought home at just 8 weeks old. Although we weren't in her life when she was born and didn't meet her for a couple months, her birthday is still a special day. Its also kind of a sad day as well. It was one of the only days she spent with her birthmom. Her birthday is a time for us to think of her birthmom and hope that she is at peace with her adoption plan and hope that this day isn't too hard for her. We are so insanely grateful to have been chosen by her birthmom to be her parents.

Addy is into everything right now. She loves dancing and singing and knows tons of songs, she loves playing with her baby brother, her baby dollys, her ponies, and dressing up. She still loves Elmo, Dora, and the Wiggles. She loves to do art projects, especially watercolor painting! And she loves having her picture taken!

Tonight we had a crafty night! Jared had a basketball game so two friends and their toddlers came over for some craftiness! I made a handprint/footprint thing to put up in their bathroom. It turned out supercute (the picture doesn't do it justice). The kiddos played and even pretended to go sleepy in Addys crib. See video for details!

And so it was a very happy birthday for Miss Addison Javonna Sharelle. She even got to open her present from Tyler (a flashlight and a bubble blower for the bathtub). She's got her two year doctors appointment (and shots) next week so stay tuned for her stats!

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Family of 4!!!

We got our court date to finalize Ji'Robert Tylers adoption! January 21st! Just over a month away. Good way to start out the new year!

So we will be going to court and then having some type of funness afterwards!

Fun Times!

Well today started out interesting...

We haven't started potty training yet but Addy is interested in the potty. So for the past few months if she asks to go to the potty we let her go and try. Maybe once every other week she actually goes on the potty and the rest are false alarms. So this morning she decided she wanted to try so I got her undressed and sent her into the bathroom to use her blue potty. I could see her sitting there and then she was out of sight. So I went in to find her standing on the big toilet on top of the seat. The next thing I know, she squats down and poops on the potty! Really, literally ON the potty, on the closed lid. Lovely... and then she steps in it, perfect! So I did tell her good job (for the pooping not the stepping in it) even though she didn't do it in the right spot, she was pretty close! And you have to admit, it was pretty funny!

After that escapade, Addy wanted to cuddle with TyTy in his bed and read him a princess Tiana book!

Then we were off to go sledding at our little friend Patricks house. What a beautiful warm winter day! It was 25 degrees out! So we sledded and then had hot chocolate and brownies! YUM!

Then it was home for lunch and naptime

(naptime for all 4 of us!). After naptime we went to finish up our Christmas shopping, get a haircut, eat dinner, and of course see Santa... again. Addy has been talking about her visit with Santa (which was a couple of weeks ago) and has been so excited about him. So I decided to take her back to see him again since she has been asking and is probably one of the few toddlers that actually enjoys seeing and talking to him! After Santa was tubby time and hair night! Here is her new do for the week. Cornrows back to one point with hanging Senglanese twists (two rows) in back. Then I will put a bow to hold the cornrows in a little ponytail. We also used the big white flower barretts this time. As always she is super cute!

Here are two random pictures from a couple days ago. Addy wanted her picture taken with Tyler and this is her lovely fairly new picture smile... great!

A not so fairytale ending

These were the pre-princess and the frog pictures... Addy was very excited to see the princess Tianna movie. She talked about it a lot and we talked about how we need to be quiet and sit nicely and how we would have popcorn and our little toddler friends would be there. And though I knew that we probably wouldn't last the whole movie, I had this vision in my head of her sitting nicely, dancing, eating popcorn, and enjoying the whole thing to the end. She did very well for quite sometime and then she looked at me and said, "I want to go home" and well that was the end.. or the begining of the tantrum. I asked if she wanted to watch the movie and sit nicely or go home and she wanted to go home. So we attempted to leave (note I was carrying a diaperbag, and two coats and trying to get a hold of her hand), she went up the movie steps instead of down, then across a different isle which led us over a different group of people, then down the stairs on the other side while screaming, Watch the movie, so we paused, I asked if she could sit nicely and quietly, she said no, I asked if she wanted to watch the movie and again she wanted to go home. So we left toward the theater door as the screaming go louder and louder. We finally made it into the hallway where she continued her meltdown. We made it to the lobby where people were staring like it was the first time anyone had ever brought a screaming child out of a movie... I am pretty sure I am not the first... and out to the car where she refused to stand up so I sat her in the slush while I dug through my bag to find our keys. Into the car while still screaming and asking where Kina and Sophia where. We talked on the way home about sitting nicely and quietly. She was very sad that she didn't get to watch the movie and honestly it broke my heart. I wanted to cry. I felt bad that she didn't get to stay with her friends, that she didn't get to see the rest of the movie, finish her popcorn, or play with her friends afterwards. It made me immensly sad and I'm not sure why. We went home and I ran some errands. By the time I got home, she was fine and said sorry. And so we will be having a Princess and the Frog DVD party when it comes out. The rest of the movie will be seen in a more relaxed, feel free to stand and dance, scream and run around environment. Another day we will attempt a movie again, maybe one of the free Saturday morning movies, and we will sit on the edge near the exit just in case.

Here is a completely unrelated video from earlier today... This is the best big sister ever!!! (Might even be a better big sister than me!) SO CUTE.

Cookies!

A while ago a neighbor came to our door and was selling food for a fundraiser. They had colored cookie dough which seemed like it would be a good project for a cold winter day... well today was that day!
Addy had a blast using her new little cookie cutters and putting the candies on the cookies. Amazingly the cookies turned out pretty good. We have tons of them and still had one color we didnt use yet so those will be saved for another day!

Addy was smiling but wouldn't open her eyes for a picture, when I asked why she said she didnt want to take a picture, but then when they were done she was asking to take lots of pictures of her accomplishment!

After cookie Christmas spirit...

Boy dolly

Here is imperfect baby dolly boy! One would think that making a second would be easier... nope! I thought I had figured things out to make it easier but still cut out three arms before liking one enough to use it and his head is shaped a little oddly, kind of has ears which were not planned. I attempted shorts but they failed so a big square outfit seemed more boy than a triangle girl dress. His hair is short, his eyes are open, they actually were pretty good eyes until I leaned over him to unplug the sewing machine and then realized his eyes were now on my sleeve instead of his face (note the big wet spot near his eye where I tried to wipe it off). He's cute but far from perfect. But then again aren't we all. Our imperfections make us who we are, they shape us and form us and lead us through our lives and it is each of these imperfections that makes us unique. These imperfections which make us, well us.

SNOW!

We three sickies stayed home in the snow. Poor Ty is the only healthy one left although Jared is bouncing back and feeling better already! Addy was amazed at the snow on the deck this morning. By noon the drift was taller than she is!