Old Friends and New Fun

About a week ago we got together with some of our friends from the Newman Center at St. Cloud State. We have made an annual tradition out of this get together, and had two new additions this year - Addie and Olivia! It was so much fun to watch them play together. The girls are only 5 weeks apart and crawled all over, pulled themselves up, and shared each other's toys all night. After the little ones went to bed the rest of us caught up with each other and reminisced about old times. The biggest news of the evening is that we will soon have a third little one joining the group in March!

Addie is nearing the 11-month mark and is becoming more and more like a toddler and less and less like a baby. Our newest dilemma with our growing daughter has been centered on bath time. She is definitely outgrowing her infant tub, but still seems a bit small for the full size option. We experimented this past week and came to a few conclusions: we need a new hot water heater, something to cushion her other than a big bath towel and more toys… it looked pretty pathetic having just three little toys floating in such a giant tub!

Addie’s newest hobby is looking at books and she’ll pull them off of any shelf she comes in contact with. Her favorites are probably Goodnight Gorilla, Snowmen at Night, Where is Baby’s Bellybutton, and Tails. She had also made big gains in her signs recently. Just tonight she signed to us that she was thirsty (different from milk) and she is signing to us when she wants to be changed. I have also been trying hard to listen for words, but nothing official to report. Yet…

A Snowy Sunday and Status

There have been a few updates and changes in "Life With Addie" lately. Probably the biggest one is that I have finally discontinued pumping while at work. We have cut Addie's nursings down to morning and evening. I thought that I would feel more affected by this change, but am actually feeling quite ambivalent about it. I am guessing it may hit me more on Monday when we are home together all day and I will need to be preparing formula bottles! I am not sure how long I will continue with the morning and evening nursings, but she definately does not seem ready to give up the morning one any time soon. I am not sure when I will be ready either, my original goal was to nurse for 6 months and now look at where we are!

In other news, after months of waiting, Addie has another tooth coming in! Her first tooth came in October, and the second one two weeks later. We have kept waiting and waiting since then for the next ones to sprout, but it has taken 3 months! Thankfully for all of us, the teething has had little affect on her demeanor and sleep.



Addie continues to keep us busy and is becoming more and more active - pulling herself up on everything, and pulling down every object she can reach. To our relief we have finally installed some baby gates. Let's just say, Addie does not get the peaceful feeling from them that we do.



We were able to have a night out alone this week at the Wild Game. As I was watching the game, I was thinking about how much life has changed over the years. I used to eat, sleep, and breathe hockey. Now I am lucky if I make it into an arena twice a winter. This doesn't even include putting on skates! That seems to come even fewer and far between. Hopefully Addie will take a liking to hockey and that will motivate me to get back into it as well. A good first step is that she is enjoying going out on the ice more and more!

A Fun Sunday!

Today I got together for a play-date with two friends from high school (Robin and Jessica) and their daughters (Madolyn and Eva). Addie loves playing with other kids, especially those a little bigger than her, so she had a really fun time. It was a really good way for the three of us to catch up and reconnect in a whole new way.

Then it was off to the zoo for lunch and a walk with Brian! As always, Addie loved looking at all the animals. The only difference this time, is whenever we took her out of the Bjorn or stroller she wanted to just roam around on her own! Yikes! She is way too small for that already! She has definately become much more exploratory and independent lately. She has been very clear with her preferences when it comes to food, toys, and activities. Many times when we try to help her with things she will swat our hands away in an "all done" motion. And when she is proud of herself or wants more of an activity she is quick to let us know through signs and clapping.


(As you can see, the zoo was a hit!)

How I Spent My Winter Break...

Many of you know that we spent about a year working on what started out as a “bathroom” project. The last two weeks, I worked on another “bathroom” project, that was much less intense, but has made me very happy. I spent my break painting and re-decorating our first floor bath. We also got a new bedroom set from IKEA from our parents for Christmas. The past two weeks have provided a good balance between productivity and relaxation, and I have to admit, I'm already looking forward to Spring Break and Summer (this is not good!).

How I Spent My Winter Break, By Addie Corbett

I got to spend a lot of time with my mama and dada during the past two weeks. The first week was spent having Christmas and I got to see all of my family. During the beginning of the week I went sledding and played with my new toys.


On New Years Eve I got to play with lots of my friends when we stayed up late at Jake and Debbie's house. The next day my mama and dada brought me to the park to go skating and sledding. It was so much fun! Then we had dinner at Kate and Rick's house and we got to see lots of our friends and I got to play with Lovey.













At the end of the week I went to the Children's Museum with my friends Ava and Henry. It was the coolest place ever! We got to crawl around all over the place, play with balls, and I even got to see Henry in a music video! Mama says we can go back during Spring Break and I can hardly wait!