Christmas and New Years

Hello! The last two weeks have been the best! Addison had a wonderful first Christmas and New Year, and we've been so busy, I haven't had time to blog about it. But right now I should be busy doing laundry and cleaning, so what better time to sit down and blog?! :)

My last post was just before we left to go to my parents' house for a few days before Christmas. Right after I finished my post, we bundled Addison up for the trip (it was COLD that day!). Here is our little snow bunny...

Addison and I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at Mops and Pops' house and Kevin came in on Wednesday for Christmas Eve dinner. We had a big family dinner on Wednesday with all of the Lee clan (Mops' family). Mops got a new camera for Christmas, so she took all of the pictures of Christmas. If she would ever get around to sending them to me maybe I could post a few (get on it Mops!). After dinner on Wednesday, we took Addison to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. Then, it was time to get home (well, back to Mom and Dad's) and get in bed so Santa could come. Obviously, she had no concept of it being Christmas, but we had fun with it none-the-less.

Christmas morning we got up and opened presents. You know you are officially a grown-up when you are beside yourself as you unwrap a new (kick-butt) vacuum cleaner!! Mom was helping me clean up when she was out visiting not too long ago, and apparently realized how bad off my vacuum cleaner was... AWESOME!

So, after we opened presents and had a wonderful Christmas brunch, we were off to see the Stewart side of the family. We spent Thursday (Christmas day) night, Friday, and Saturday morning there. Aunt Shannon and Uncle Jamie were in town from Charleston, so the whole clan was there. We had a great Christmas dinner and opened presents. Addison got just a little bit spoiled this Christmas with all of the presents she got! Jerry and Sharon got Kevin and me a new Dell laptop since our old laptop could give out at any minute... we were completely surprised!

We had a relatively calm week between Christmas and New Year... I went back to the gym and reactivated my membership (I had cancelled it when I got so sick during my pregnancy), and have been getting up there *almost* every day. It's amazing how working out completely changes my mood and daily outlook. I feel like I get so much more done, and am generally much happier when I've gotten a good workout in.

New Year's Eve we just hung out at home with the little one. Growing up, we had a tradition of having steak and shrimp for dinner on New Year's Eve... I guess a kind of "last meal" of the year. So, I reprised the tradition for our new family. We had a big dinner of steak and shrimp, with sweet potatoes, garlic bread, and salad... and then chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne at midnight for dessert... what was I just saying about the gym?! We let Addison take a good long nap in the evening, so she could stay up a little later with us. She made it to see her first peach drop at midnight, we gave her Happy New Year kisses, and then tucked her in at 12:05 with fireworks shining out her window. Here is a self-taken picture of our little family at midnight...

Addison had her 2 month check up yesterday... the child is off the charts for size, weight, and head size! They said that she is doing great and seems very healthy. She also got her first big set of shots. After the first one went in, she just looked up at me like "what was THAT?!" and then started to cry about 5 seconds later! They got the last two shots in and she screamed for about 20 seconds and then she was fine... my little trooper.

Anyway... The Stewart family is off to a great 2009... I hope you are doing the same!!

Headin' Out...

Well, we are about ready to head out for almost a week of Christmas bliss with our families. Addison and I are going on to my parents' today and Kevin is going to stay here and work on his dissertation in the peace and quiet for a couple of days. He will join us on Christmas Eve for the Lee family dinner. Then we'll get up Christmas morning at Mops and Pops' (my parents) house, open presents, have brunch, and hit the road again. We'll be at Kevin's parents' house for dinner Christmas night, and then stay until Saturday. I am so excited about spending Addison's first Christmas with all of our family!! I was getting us all packed up last night... do you know how much "stuff" if required to take an infant out of town for a week?! Geesh. But, we are all ready to go now. So... If I don't get a chance to post later on in the week... I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!!

Oh, I almost forgot! Here are a couple of pics from this past week... Addison - 6 weeks old ...

Watching football with Daddy...

Getting ready to run some errands with Mommy...

Addison's Pictures Are Up!!

In my last post I told you that Addison had her first photo shoot (and how unhappy she was about it). Well, they turned out even better than I had hoped. Janet and E.J. really did a great job despite Addison's cranky mood. The pictures are up on their website. There are 244 of them, so get comfy before you take a look! :)

www.blueworldstudios.com/KristaAndKevin/Addison

I don't know how I'll ever decide which ones I want to get in frames!!!

The pediatrician lied...and I believed her

Yesterday Addison had her first official photo shoot. Janet and E.J. of Blue World Studios did a fantastic job on our wedding photos, and they are just really cool people, so we were excited to have them come over and take some photos of 6-week-old Addison. The house is decorated for Christmas so we got some cute pictures of her in her Christmas dress in front of the tree, and then we did the obligatory nakie bottom pictures, and then just some ones of her in an every day outfit hanging out in her room. I can't wait to see the pictures and I'll be sure to post the link once they are finished with them. But, I digress... the whole point of this story is not the actual picture taking, but Addison's disposition during the picture taking...

Our usually very happy, very smiley baby was NOT enjoying all the paparazzi. She fussed and fussed and fussed some more. I know she wasn't happy about having tights on... or later the cute little Santa hat... but we couldn't get her to smile for anything... all this after I told Janet and E.J. "she just got up from her nap and finished eating, so we should have a HAPPY baby for pictures!" ... she made me a liar.

So we took what pictures we could, and they were SOOOOO patient with us - just telling us to go about our day like they weren't there and maybe she would calm down and we could get some good ones. And, we did get some good ones (or at least I think we did!)... Thankfully I had prepared a bottle that morning just in case I had to feed her while they were here. Every time she would get inconsolable we would give her an ounce or so just to calm her down... Hey, doesn't food make YOU happy?! :) I would never do that on a regular basis, but considering the situation, I was willing to try anything that would work.

After they left, Addison was knocked out in her crib and Kevin and I were talking...

Me: "I can't believe she was so fussy. She is never like that... especially in the mornings when we are playing!"

Kevin: "Didn't you notice that the only times she wasn't fussy and they could get her picture were the times when we were holding her and she had her paci? She's not used to being put down and not held."

Me: "But the pediatrician said that we couldn't spoil her this young, and to cuddle her and hold her as much as we want!"

Kevin: *raised eyebrow stare*

Sooooo... even though I don't want to believe that I have spoiled my child already, I also don't want to be the mom dropping my 4-year-old off at preschool with her clinging to my leg and screaming. So, this morning I decided to start working on NOT holding her every minute of the day (I do put her in her crib for naps, but other than that, she's pretty much in my arms or I am right there beside her on her playmat). So, she got up from her nap and got fed, and then I put her in her swing to rock for a while. I put the mirror up so she could see herself, turned the music on, even put her paci in her mouth... and. stepped. away. Then the crying began. And, not just a little whining... I'm talking screaming, thrashing, WAILING crying. So I sat down on the ottoman beside the swing and talked to her trying to sooth her. She kept crying. I put her paci back in her mouth. She spit it right back out and kept crying. I gently stroked her head. She kept crying. I let this go on for about 5 minutes and then she started looking at me through the screams with the most heartbreaking "mommy, why aren't you picking me up?" eyes I have ever seen, and my defenses buckled. I reached in and picked her up. And wouldn't you know the very instant she was picked up the crying stopped. So, now here I sit, with a literally smiling baby in my lap, and all I can think is that darned pediatrician lied to us and I WILL be the mom dropping her screaming 4-year-old off at preschool... but at least I don't have to look at those heart-wrenching eyes right now!

Addison's First Trip to UGA and Seeing Santa

Yesterday, I took Addison up to Athens for the first time. We were going to meet Kevin at the mall to see Santa after he got out of school. I didn't have a whole lot going on during the day so I decided to take her up a little early and go see some of my favorite people. When we got there we went and saw Ms. Kathy first. She is pretty much responsible for getting me out of that place with a degree. We love Ms. Kathy! :) Then, since we were all bundled up and had the stroller anyway, we went for a little walk around North Campus. I told her what all the buildings were and even pointed out the library with hopes that she might actually use it one day, unlike her Mommy. After that, we walked down the hill and ended up on the bridge by the stadium, so we paused for another photo-op. Then it was on to the baseball office to see another one of Mommy's favorite people - Ms. Shirley the baseball secretary. After that, we walked down to Foley Field where Mommy spend a great deal of her time while in college. They were working on the field, so we didn't walk all the way out there. We just took a few pics from the leftfield bullpen area. THEN it was time to get ready to go meet Daddy and sit in Santa's lap. So, we got our Christmas dress on and headed to the mall. Here we are getting hyped up to sit in the big guy's lap.

And finally, Addison met Santa for the first time. I think she asked for a pony but I'm not sure.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT KAILA!! :)

OK, OK... SORRY!

So sorry it has been a while since my last post. We were able to get out of town and back to be with family for Thanksgiving, and then we've been pretty busy since then! We went and cut down Addison's first Christmas tree and have gotten the house all decorated. I love Christmas time! I wish I could leave my Christmas decorations up all year!!

Addison is doing so great. She really is just a happy baby. I joke with Kevin that maybe we should just stop right now because no other babies will be as good and happy as she is. She had her one month check up this week (I CANNOT believe she's a month old already!) and the doctor said she is doing great. She weighed 11lbs 14 oz, and was 23 1/4 inches long (which is in the 90th percentile in both). She is mostly wearing 3 month clothes already because she is too long for most of her newborn stuff. She really started smiling this week... and not just I'm-passing-gas-smiles... actually SMILING! It absolutely melts my heart every time she does it. I can get her to smile if I tickle her cheeks or playfully pull out her paci, but her Daddy can get her to smile just by talking to her and making funny faces... I think she's a Daddy's girl already.

She is starting to sleep really well. She makes it from around 10:30 to about 5:00 each night. Then some mornings she'll go back to sleep after she eats, and some mornings we start our day at 5:00. I'm working on getting her on a set nap schedule during the day, so maybe that will help her to sleep a little better at night.

I'll quit babbling now and show you some pictures since that's what everyone wants anyway!! :) Have a great week!!!

Addison with her Great-Papaw at Thanksgiving

Cutting down her first Christmas tree (she slept through the whole thing!)At the Christmas tree farm
SMILE!!!
She's up to something! :)
My sweet little China doll
BIG SMILES!!