Pumpkin Patch

Fall is easily my favorite time of year.

I love the colors, the crunchy leaves, and pumpkin patches, etc...

So we have been super busy with Fall activities!

First off this is one of my favorite pictures of Addie that Keith took the other day.

Such a little hipster kid, I love her!

We went to our first pumpkin patch at the beginning of the month. It was a small one but Addie had a blast. 

Waving to the chickens, that she was oddly terrified of

She loved riding on Daddy's shoulders so the chickens couldn't get her.

But she would ride a chicken like a Cowgirl. She kept saying "Yehaw, I a Cowgirl!"

She loved riding this tractor and totally looks like a little farm girl in this outfit.

We had a blast at or first pumpkin patch and she has been talking about going to another one all the time.

Oh how I love Fall!

Good Enough

Today was just one of those days that I don't want to forget a minute of. 

After a very busy day yesterday we were both really looking forward to some Mommy and Addie time. 

Here are some things I don't want to forget about today: 

-Her sweet voice in the morning, always so happy and chipper, (she is such a morning person) saying "Hi Mommy, Hi Daddy, I awake!"

-Doing puzzles and singing songs when I should have been getting ready for the day

-Giving in and doing "one more puzzle a me Mommy" after we have already done 5 

-Her sitting in the bathroom with me while I shower and singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on repeat as loud as she could. 

-Her insisting on picking out her own outfit all the way from her shoes to her hair bows...such a diva

-Finally getting out the door after picking out a book a doll AND a softy to take with us

-Going to the library and watching how excited she gets during Story time

-Meeting Daddy for lunch, which is a very rare occasion- "Daddy you get in car with us, Peassse!"

-a super easy nap time and a accidental nap for Mommy

- Her deciding she wants to be a Dinosaur at dinner time

-A family walk to get ice cream listening to her describe all the cars driving by

-Jumping on the "mommy bed" and snuggling baby sister before finally talking her into a bath

-listening to her and Daddy talk and play in the bath tub 

-Snuggling one more time and reading extra books at bedtime...then hearing "Do you love me Mama?" "I love you too"

-Listening to Daddy sing her goodnight songs and finally giving in when she says, "I need a Mommy sing"

-Hearing her sing "I am a child of God" to herself before her room gets quiet and she is finally asleep

Thats what I want to remember about today....

This is what I want to remember about our life in 10 years...I want to remember her voice, her giggles and how I felt completely needed, loved and GOOD ENOUGH just being Addie's Mom.

Life could not be better, more sweeter, more precious than right now. 

And yet, as I sit here feeling my other sweet baby girl wiggle inside me,  I somehow think that I may be wrong about that.

Do you want to Build a Snowman?

We through a Surprise Frozen Birthday Party for my mom this weekend!

It is SUPER hard to keep secrets from my mom so we had to be really sneaky, and I am proud to say she was totally surprised!

Proof in the Video...

And before you say a Frozen party isn't quite age appropriate, let me just say that Frozen is for all ages and it is exactly what my mom wanted for her Birthday!

We had cute Frozen decorations...

Special Frozen treats

And a super cute cake made by my sister, Dana

As seen in the video we through cotton balls at my mom when she walked in, like in was showing...Addie then proceeded to make snow angles on the ground (where this kid gets these ideas, I have no idea!)

We even had a cute photo booth with Frozen props for everyone, even little Amelia participated in. 

And we played a whole bunch of fun games...

Guess your Disney character (my dad clearly LOVED this game)

Pin the nose on Olaf...Addie may have cheated a bit..but she loved it!

And building a snowman in under a minute..Addie has been talking about this one since we played it!

Cutest little snowman ever!

And Holy Cow I am hugely prego

Seriously...(12 weeks left!)

We were so happy to get to do this for my mom. After all the Birthday parties she did for each of us growing up, if was so fun to be able to treat her to a party that she secretly wanted!

Love you Mom and Happy Happy Birthday!

ABC is easy as 123

This girl has been crack up lately. She has really started saying the most HILARIOUS things. Like the other day we were at the park and she started climbing a very scary latter. I said, "Wow Addie that's really scary for Mommy," and she says loudly, "don't worry Mom, I BRAVE!"

She cracks me up!

She loves looking at herself in the mirror too, especially when I am doing her "Princess hair" as we call it. Keith caught her making faces at herself the other day...it is so funny and totally sums up her personality. 

She is convinced that the baby is in her belly and not Mommy's. At Gymnastics this past week she had to show teacher her baby belly and tell her to "feel" her baby move. She has become so loving with baby sister too and loves snuggling my belly and singing songs to sister. I can't wait to see these two girls together so soon! (13 weeks from D-day, YIKES!)

Our favorite activity in the evening is to play outside. She will literally wait at the back door for dinner to be cleaned up so that Daddy can "outside a me" as she says it.

 

Tonight she insisted on playing "basteball" with her new hoop we got from a friend. 

(also panties on this tiny bum are the cutest thing ever!)

Then she had to run in the sprinkler. I love hearing her giggles! 

(look at her hair turning red!)

And her biggest accomplishment this past little while is singing the whole ABC song by herself. She constantly surprises us with how many things she can remember! She can identify all her letters, shapes, colors and a few numbers, and shes not even 2 1/2! 

She really keeps us on her toes and I we love watching her grow and learn. She has really excelled with potty training lately too. In fact, I had one of those "you know your a mom moments.." the other day when I was awoken from a deep sleep with her face inches away saying, "Mom I need a poop now!" 

Oh Life with a toddler!

I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Potty Training

This weekend we decided to attempt Potty Training. She has been ready for a little while, and I really wanted her Potty Training in plenty of time before the baby came. So we started Thursday morning bright and early. 

The plan was to let her be naked and set a timer for every 20-30 min and take her potty. If she went she would get a treat and a sticker. After 5 treats, 5 times of using the potty, then she got a prize from the basket. 

She did fairly well on Thursday. By the end of the day she was going whenever she needed without a timer and rarely was having accidents on the floor. 

Friday was a whole other story. We were both in tears at many points throughout the day. Mostly because, despite my dismay,  Potty Training comes with a sleep regression. A really bad one, we probably didn't get more than 3-4 hours of  interrupted sleep Thursday and Friday night, so she was very grumpy and stubborn and I was exhausted. 

But Saturday was much much better and today she wore the same pair of underwear the whole day= no accidents!

We are so proud of her!

 (Yes we have to carry the potty with us everywhere we go, just in case she needs to go in the car...as above)

She seems so big now and it makes the time for baby to come seem so much closer. 

Today she loaded all of her babies into her stroller and insisted on taking them on a walk outside. 

She kept singing, or trying to sing the lullaby song that I sing to her, "Baby Mine". She only could remember the first phrase but its just precious.

Also notice how her babies are bundled up tight with 5 blankets. These California summers can be cold so you've got to cover those babies with lots of blankets. Also note her outfit that she picked out, Tinkerbell PJ's and her "daddy hat" as she calls it. This girl has got a personality on her for sure.

She swam in her pool tonight while Daddy BBQ. She had such a blast.

Here is a video of her singing to her babies while we were on a walk this morning. It was just precious that she found such comfort in the lullaby I sing to her that she wanted to sing it to her babies too. 

We love our big kid Addie Ruth and are so proud of her for her big accomplishment this weekend.

Babymoon Trip

This weekend Keith and I went on a much anticipated Babymoon/Getaway trip to San Francisco. I'm probably one of those paranoid parents but I have a really hard time leaving Addie for more than a couple of hours at a time so 2 nights seemed very nerve wreaking. But we really wanted  to get away before sister comes so we left Addie with Grandma and Papa Dickson  and I think I was the only one that shed a few tears when we drove off. I know pathetic, but they're only little once.

We started Friday off with Pier 39 Fisherman's Warf, Ghiradelli square then finally China town.

Along the pier we found this little pinball and coin machine museum. We used a few quarters to play some of the games. This was the creepiest one with this dancing sailor....ya I may have nightmares of this one.

We had yummy clam chowder at Fisherman's Warf, then for some reason I craved fried shrimp the rest of the trip...weird pregnancy cravings.

We finished Friday night off with a movie (Guardians of the Galaxy), which was an awesome movie by the way!

Saturday we tried to take it a little easier because my poor prego feet were so sore from so much walking. After a slow start trying to let my feet rest, we went to famous Mission Street for some authentic Mexican food. We ate the BEST, seriously the BEST tacos I have ever had...and we may have eaten them for lunch on Sunday too because the baby really liked them ;)

 We did a little shopping down Union street then went to "Into the Woods" play. We had awesome seats and it was a blast!

And of course we had to stop by the Oakland Temple, where both our parents were married, on the same day, same time...coincidence???

It is so beautiful at night!

Saturday night we also were woken up for a bit of a earthquake-a 6.1. Keith has felt them as a kid but this was my first one. It was very scary waking up to the furniture shaking and the building swaying side to side.

Sunday morning we had tacos down Mission street, again, then spent a short time at the beach before heading home. This mama missed her baby girl!

We were so grateful we could sneak away for a few days and that my mom was willing enough to watch Addie. It was so much fun and so nice to have some time together without the girl and before baby #2 comes!