Getting Brave...

Addie has been terrified of dogs for a while now, but she's starting to get a little better with them...if she's being held she can actually be within 10 feet of one without screaming...

My parents have a golden retriever puppy, Reilly. Addie likes her best when she's kennelled in the laundry room! Here she is thinking about getting close...


Stay, puppy...I might PET you...


Just a quick touch on the nose and I'm outta here...!

Not Me Monday!

Well, let's see. I most definately did not sleep all day on Saturday. Nope. Sick or not, what mom does that?

I did not stay up until midnight Saturday night cleaning my house like a maniac because I felt so guilty for sleeping all day.

I did not put off making a needed doctor's appointment just because I've gained a couple of pounds. Why would I do that? Everybody loves the scale at the doctor's office, right?

I did not stop at Kohl's and buy Addie a new pair of pj's because she had soaked through her diaper and we were 45 minutes away from home without a change of clothes. My diaper bag is extremely well packed and organized...

And lastly, I did not get Addie out of her bed at 3am and put her in bed with daddy and I just because I'd had a terrifying nightmare and couldn't sleep. No, she's the almost 2 year old in the house...not me...

Happy 4 weeks, Auntie Mo-Mo!

It's hard to believe, but Maureen and Josh's wedding was 4 weeks ago already! Mo was stunning, of course!, and thier day was beautiful! We had a busy but fun week getting things ready and it seemed like the whole day went without a hitch. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures the day of the wedding, due to the busy busy day, but more so to the fact that Addie cried pretty much the whole time we were at the church! She had been such a little trooper all week, but I think she had had her fill of excitement by the time the wedding day came! That evening once everything calmed back down she was fine...she's definately not a lover of large crowds...but the important thing is that Maureen and Josh had a beautiful day and they are MARRIED! Congrats, you guys!

Baby Mia, kitty cats and one confused toddler...

Baby Mia is getting so big! We got to spend some time with Grant, Amy and the kids a few weeks ago and Addie LOVES Mia!


Hugs...



..and kisses!



So how do kitty cats pertain to this post? Well, when we got home after our visit Addie was playing with a puzzle that Ryan's grandparents sent her - the pieces are all different farm animals and when you fit a piece into the right spot you hear the animal's sound. So I kept trying to get Addie to say "meow" for the kitty cat, but every time I said "meow" she said "Hi, Baby!". We did this about ten times before I finally figured it out...to her almost two year old mind "meow" sounded like "Mia" and she had just spent the weekend saying "Hi, Baby!" to baby Mia! We never did master "meow" that night, but Mommy and Daddy sure had a good laugh!

More of Miss Addie

Prolonging bedtime...

...at Gramma and Papa's house is easy! Just convince them both to read books!!




Am I smart or what?

Not Me Monday!

I had a list of things that I did not do this week, but then this happened...




...and it just trumped all the other things I did not do. The smoke is finally clearing from my kitchen and I've sprayed lots of Febreeze so my students don't choke when they come in for thier lessons tonight...


Btw, Addie most certainly DID NOT decide to climb out of her crib rather then take a nap and fall head first to the floor...not my little cherub. Nope.

We're back...

...we have a camera and I have lots to post! I'll work on getting caught up this week - in between all the other things I'm trying to dig myself out from under!!





This big girl is the second love of my life (next to her Daddy, of course!) and I think she knows it! I know her eyes aren't open in this picture, but I thought it was sweet. Like my baby. Sweet. Wonderful. Loving. Kind. Fun. Happy. Her Daddy's girl and such a gift to our world.




Here's one with her eyes open, just for the fun of it!

We have lots of adventures to share, so stay tuned!

Put-in-Bay

Wow, it's already been over a month since we went to Put-in-bay on Lake Erie and sadly I'm just getting around to posting about it. We used a disposable camera for the trip since we were without our digital. I forgot how much better a digital picture is! We had a great visit with my Grandma (who somehow managed to avoid the camera ALL weekend) and enjoyed the island. I am addicted to the Great Lakes and it was so refreshing to be on the water! I literally sometimes CRAVE the water...must be a childhood thing...

Not Me Monday...er...Wednesday

I love MckMama's blog and have decided to link to her Not Me! Monday feature. I'm a little late this week, but better late then never, right?

I did NOT have a Sonic blue coconut cream slush for lunch today. Nope. That would be unhealthy and a very poor example to my child. But she's not even two, so IF I were to do that, which of course, I didn't, she wouldn't remember anyway.

I did NOT proceed to watch a movie in the middle of the afternoon while Addie took her nap. Nope. How lazy would that be?

I did NOT go to bed last night without picking up the disaster of toys in the family room. I then did NOT wake up and say a prayer of thanks for my wonderful husband who picked them up before he came to bed. Nope. I'm always on top of things.

I did NOT drive to our old apartment last night after I grocery shopped and realize when I pulled in the driveway that I was at the wrong place. No Way. I stopped being a space cadet years ago...

What did you NOT do this week?

Things...

So, I still can't find our digital camera and I am beginning to think it has been lost in some great abyss. I have no idea where it could be at this point and so I am hoping to be able to get a new one soon. If you see any great deals let me know!!

Addie and I spent the morning at Hobby Lobby (awesome!!). We went with the intent of buying ribbon for the wedding favors for Maureen's wedding. I could have spent all day in that store and completely decorated my house if I'd had the money or the time! I'm happy to say, though, that we looked around for about 45 minutes and then bought the ribbon we needed and headed home. No extra money spent, and let me tell you that is a feat!

Mo's wedding is next weekend (the 25th) and we are excited about getting to Michigan next Wednesday. I am so very thankful for the way that God has brought Mo and Josh together and am excited to see what He has in store for them!

I dropped a disposable camera off to be developed this afternoon, so once I pick them up I'll get some new ones posted. It was definately weird using a disposable again!!

It's Not...

...in the car
...in the refrigerator
...under the beds
...under the furniture
...mixed up with Addie's toys
...in an end table drawer (Addie puts EVERYTHING she can fit into our end table drawers!)
...in the desk
...in the linen closet (Addie's favorite place to hide these days, btw)
...in a dresser drawer
...in a diaper bag, a shopping bag or a trash bag
...in the flower beds
...seemingly, it's nowhere to be found...
What is it? Its our CAMERA! :(
Pray that we find it soon - we're missing TONS of Kodak moments!

My Girl

My heart is heavy right now for a family whose little boy is fighting for his life against an aggressive cancer and I am reminded that life and death are held in God's hands - not our own. Each day we have is a gift and we need to cherish the moments we are given with our loved ones. Pray with me for the Burgess family that God would comfort them, that He would heal their little boy and that He would be glorified in their hearts and life. And take a moment to be thankful for your loved ones.

I thank God for Addie because:

She has taught me a little bit more of my Heavenly Father's love for me.
She has helped me to see parts of myself that I would have never known if I had not been a mother.
She has forced Ryan and I to grow stronger as one in the Lord.
She smiles and the bleakest day is a good day.
She blows kisses to people that most of us refuse to acknowledge.
She trusts me and depends on me without reservation or fear.
She takes delight in the simplest of things.
She looks like an angel while she sleeps.
She is my baby, my gift from God.

More pictures of Miss Addisyn

danisnell.com »
Ok, here's a link that will work for Addie's pictures - sorry to those who couldn't access them! You'll have to scroll part way down to find Addie. Enjoy!

Addie's Pictures

Check out the link below to see a preview of Addie's newest pictures. There will be more coming!
www.danisnell.com/blog

Daddy's cheerleader

My sister got this outfit for Addie when she was born and I thought we'd support Daddy's team for their first regular season game. I even splurged on pizza and ice cream...too bad they lost!

Trauma, trauma, trauma (or should we say drama!)

Ok, so there is nothing traumatic, or dramatic, about this picture. It's just a picture of Addie enjoying some of Gramma's delicious poppyseed bread. The drama came yesterday when we made our way to the doctor's office...
Addie was playing well in the waiting room when the door to the exam rooms opened...she froze. Rosie, the nurse came through the doorway and the whimpering began. Rosie called another child's name to go back and the screams started. Addie is no longer frozen, she is climbing her way up my body at record speed. By the time Rosie stopped laughing and closed the door behind her Addie was practically sitting on my head...great start to the visit!
After a few minutes Addie decides to play again, but she isn't moving far from me. She keeps eyeing the dreaded door. Rosie comes again and this time it's our turn. Thankfully Rosie has been working in pediatrician's offices for about 40 years now and has seen lots of "Addies"! She came and sat next to me in the waiting room and since no one else was there we did most of the preliminary paperwork stuff out there. Addie is back in my lap, but just staring Rosie down and whimpering a little bit. Maybe this won't be so bad...
Well, then come the scales, the thermometer and heaven help us, the oxygen level reading machine (I have no idea what it's really called!). After two tries with the thermometer we give up. If she didn't have a fever when we got to the office, the hysterical screaming and flailing about has probably caused one by now... we finanlly got an oxygen level reading off of one of Addie's big toes - the feet were a bit easier to hold onto then the fingers. By this time Rosie has a clear picture of what I've been wiping out of Addie's nose for the last week - it's smeared all over Addie's face and my shirt. Lovely. The joys of Motherhood. If you know me well, you know I can barely stomach snot. It's by God's grace alone that my own child's doesn't bother me like everybody else's does...
Rosie is finished now and leaves us to wait for the doctor. Adie has attached herself to me in true monkey fashion and isn't budging. We sit like this for about 10minutes until the doctor comes in. Dr. Hawley is a very kind person and she tells me at every visit that she had a daughter just like Addie - with very little hair and terrified of doctor's offices! At least she gets it. Addie is once again trying to scale my body (I wonder where she thinks she's going to go?), but luckily Dr. Hawley needs to listen to her back. Good thing. I seriously doubt we could have gotten Addie turned around if she needed to listen to her chest. This went fairly well, all things considered, but then Dr. Hawley dared to touch Addie's head while she looked in her ears. Goodness, the people in the office next door must have thought there was some form of torture going on in here. It was quickly determined that Addie's left ear was infected. So now after two weeks of "waiting it out" I feel terrible. I should have taken her in sooner. Couldn't these kids just come with a flashing mechanism installed that would flash red when a doctor's visit was needed? So once we found the ear infection we stopped looking for anything else. The antibiotics Dr. Hawley is prescribing will take care of a lot of things, just in case anything else is wrong. We covered all the main bases and believe me, Addie was having no more. At this point Dr. Hawley gets a good look at what I've been wiping out of Addie's nose - again because it's all over Addie and me - and is pretty confident there is also a sinus infection going on. Then I heard something that was music to my ears...no Addie hadn't stopped screaming just yet...my doctor told me to buy Dimeatapp and cut the dose down for her. I of course didn't mention that I was already doing this with a different medication, but still, I now had the go ahead from the doctor to do it. It somehow made me feel better about what I was going to do anyway. I'm a firm believer in treating symptoms while diseases run their course!
By now the doctor hasn't touched Addie or come near her in a few minutes and she is starting to calm down. At least she's sitting again, not scaling my body or trying to clinb the walls to get away.
We pay the receptionist and I say goodbye to everyone. Addie is glaring at everybody, but not crying anymore. We walk out the door, prescription in hand, and Addie does what only a child could do. She smiles a huge beaming smile, says "bye-bye" and blows a big snotty kiss to the girls in the office. That's my girl. Drama queen. Wonder where she gets it?

To Gramma's house we go! (or went...)

Addie fell asleep on our trip to mom and dad's house and had some serious "carseat slump" going on. All you parents know what I'm talking about! So I tried to prop her head up with her blanket...

I took the blanket off when it obviously didn't work...
We had a good time with my family and as always were sad to say goodbye! Addie has been sick with a cold for close to three weeks now and late this afternoon she spiked a fever, so tomorrow we're off to visit the doctor. That should go well - last time we were there everyone in the office and waiting room were chuckling when we came out of the exam room because they had heard every shrill scream she made. I think they were all just relieved it wasn't their child... hopefully she'll be on the mend soon!

Pull the chair out, girl!

Halfway up and stuck...now what?


Back down she goes...

Looking for trouble...

My little troublemaker is standing at the door to our master bathroom - where she knows she's not allowed to be without Mommy or Daddy!


She still believes that I won't know what she is doing if she can't see me...so she decided to shut the bedroom door on me so I wouldn't see her go into the bathroom... it didn't work in her favor, but I have to give her credit for trying!

Rocking Baby

Addie's rocking chair was a gift from Grammy and Pampy for her birthday, but she didn't pay much attention to it until about a month ago. I found her sitting in her rocking chair in the dark in her room one morning, giggling as she made it rock back and forth! Now it's a frequent stop for her during the day, usually with a good book to read or a teddy bear to love!

Teach them well...

Addie put her hat on one day and carried my purse around the house jabbering up a storm. After a little while she came out of our bedroom with a pair of my flip-flops, handed them to me and said "bye-bye". It was so cute I put her in the car and drove around town just so she could think we had gone "bye-bye"! It amazes me how quickly little ones pick up on things - now anytime Ryan or I put our shoes on Addie dances around saying "bye-bye, bye-bye"! She is my daughter...I have taught her well...now to teach her "shop, Daddy, shop"!

Cousin Mia

Here are pics of our newest neice, Mia Davett. She was born July 5th, weighed 6lbs. 11 oz. and was 21" long. Addie was a little jealous when I held Mia, but she had Daddy to comfort her!

4th of July

We spent 4th of July weekend in Indy with Ryan's family and had lots of fun! We went downtown (well...close to downtown!) to see fireworks with some friends. Addie didn't pay much attention to the fireworks, but had fun watching her cousins's antics and performing a few antics of her own! Ryan's sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl on the 5th and it was nice to be in town and meet Mia Davett. I'll post pictures of Mia in my next post!

Spoiled Girl

This picture is from the same night as the previous post. My dad has a theory that his vehicle is preprogrammed to stop at Captain Sundae's Ice Cream Shop after every visit to Holland State Park. It can't be helped - the van turns into the parking lot on it's own...
Anyway, Gramma and Papa bought Addie her first ice cream cone - she loved it! It didn't take her long to take it out of my hands and eat it herself- Miss Independent these days! After a while she decided she liked the cone better than the ice cream and ate it from the bottom up!
We had such a great time that night and hopefully there will be many more visits to the beach and Captain Sundae in the years to come!

Catch up

I have finally been able to get our pictures off our computer onto cd's so I'll be able to start catching up with the blog! This is a picture from when Addie and I were at my parents house in June. We went to the beach and a thunderstorm rolled in right when we got there...we waited out the storm, but it was very chilly when it stopped raining so we didn't venture into the lake. Addie wasn't too sure about the feel of the sand!

On a different note, I stole a link from my friend Ginny's page to get new backgrounds for our site. Thanks, Ginny! There are a lot of really neat backgrounds available so I might change frequently just for the fun of it!

Geting back in the game...

Hi everybody! Sorry it has been almost a month since I've updated our blog! We have had a very crazy couple of weeks. We took our youth group whitewater rafting June 21-23 then Addie and I spent a week at my mom and dad's house. We had a really good visit and enjoyed being with everyone in Michigan! Addie and I came home late on Monday June 30th, then we all headed to Indianapolis for the 4th of July. Ryan and his dad went to St. Louis for a family wedding and his mom and I took care of Olivia and Noah while his sister, Amy, was induced. She gave birth to a beautiful little girl on July 5th. Mia Davett is doing great and we are so glad for another little one to join our family!
We came home on the 7th, then took our youth group to Kings Island on the 13th. We had fun, but I'm not so hip on being responsible for teenagers in such a large crowd...
The next week we went back to Indy for a day with Amy, Olivia, Noah and Miss Mia and Addie got to meet all of Grammy's friends at work. Ryan's mom works in the Chase Tower in downtown Indy and we had not ever taken Addie to see her there, so it was nice to meet the people she works with and for them to meet Addie and Mia.
We were home for a week and planning to leave today for a week's vacation in Wisconsin, but our plans have changed...
Ryan became violently ill early Thursday morning and by late afternoon was admitted to the hospital. He has bacterial colitis which is a very nasty infection of the colon (yuck!) and spent all day yesterday hooked up to an IV getting a lot of drugs! He came home last night and is responding well to medication, so hopefully he'll be able to recover quickly. He'll see the doctor again on Monday and then we'll go from there...looks like he'll be on medication for a couple of weeks to get completely over this. I hope to never encounter this illness again - it has been absolutely terrible for him!
So that brings us to today. I can't do a whole lot of updating on our blog because our computer has been acting up a lot lately and I can't access our pictures. This picture happened to be on Ryan's work computer so I was able to upload it from there. Addie is quickly leaving "baby world" behind and entering the fun stage of toddler hood! Everyday is an adventure!! I am a little sad about how quickly the time has gone, but I'm excited to see her grow and develop!
I'm thankful that although we never know what tomorrow will bring, our Heavenly Father does and He is infinitely wise and good!
I hope you have all been enjoying the summer! I have a lot of pictures to post, so hopefully we can get our computer running smoothly again and I can get them up for you to see!

How quickly time flies...

I am at my mom and dad's house for the week and didn't have any new pics uploaded to their computer, so I pulled up some from when we were here last summer. It's hard to believe how much Addie has changed in one year! We have had a great couple of weeks and when I get home next week I'll post some new pics of the Addie girl up for you to see!

Friday Fun

Our niece, Olivia, is staying with us for a couple of days and I decided to take her and Addie to McDonalds for luch today. After Addie downed her entire Happy Meal I let the girls play outside. Addie hadn't ever been in the play area at McDonald's so this was new to her - I think she liked it! Now I'll have to hide the french fries AND the play area so she'll eat her cheeseburger!

Fun in the Sun!

We got Addie's baby pool out for her yesterday and had lots of fun playing in the water! We ended up putting the pool at the bottom of her slide and letting her slide into the water - she loved that and quickly figured out how to get out of the pool and head back to the slide. Torie was here with us all day so Addie was in heaven with her "TaTa" at her disposal all day long! I've decided to use the pool everyday possible because her normal 45 minute nap was over 2 hours long yesterday! Guess we need to wear her out more often!