Addison - 7 Months

 Where had the time gone?  How is it possible that my baby girl is 7 months old already??  Regardless of how crazy it seems it is true!!  Sweet Addison is over half way to her 1st birthday!!  She is such a precious baby!!  She has the sweetest smile and the most beautiful eyes!!  Her little giggles melt my heart and her snuggles are the best!!!  Here is a little of what she is up to these days...

*She is wearing size 6-9 month clothes.
*She is going back and forth between size 2 and 3 diapers. Mostly because I am trying to get rid of all the size 2 we have left!
*She is in a size 2 shoe.
*She nurses 4 times a day and gets a 4 oz. bottle at nap time and a 2 oz. bottle after I nurse her before bed at night.  I am starting the weening process and am planning to be finished nursing by March when we go to Phoenix on a little vacation!
*She weighs 17 lbs 1 oz. Unfortunately we know this because we had to go to urgent care yesterday after church. Sweet girl has a yucky cough and is super congested and turns out she has her first ear infection.  So she is on her first round of Amoxicillion.
*She has just started taking a bath in the big bath tub with Maddox and both of them LOVE it!! So fun!!
*She goes to bed between 6:30-7:00 pm and wakes up between 6:00-7:00 am.  I would like for her to sleep a little later but I'll definitely take her sleeping through the night!!  It doesn't seem to matter what time I put her down she still wakes up at the same time so I try to get her down earlier so she gets enough sleep!
*She has not been a consistent napper but the last 2 days she has napped in her bed for 2-3 hours.  I hope this is a new trend!!
*She sleeps on her tummy now.
*She rolls both directions and will scoot around but doesn't seem close to crawling yet.
*She doesn't have any teeth yet but it looks like the bottom 2 may be coming in soon!!
*She is not at all interested in the paci but every once and a while I'll see her sucking her thumb.
*She says dada but doesn't connect it will Collin yet.
*She loves music and the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame almost always calms her down in the car!

I think that's about it for now.  We absolutely adore our sweet baby girl.  She is such a joy to be around and is almost always happy!  I am so thankful that God chose me to be her mommy!  I am so excited to watch her grow and see what this new year will hold for us!!  Here are the pictures from her 7 month photo shoot!!  She is such a little doll!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from these cute little elves!!  Hope you all had a fabulous day celebrating the birth of our Savior!!

"But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for ALL the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."  -Luke 2:10-11

Busy Bees

We are busy little bees here at the Packer house which explains my lack of blogging lately! I'm trying to get the house cleaned up, get ready for Christmas, squeeze in several consultations for estimates on finishing our basement (yay), hosting 2 showers right after the holidays, and going to several Christmas parties all the while taking care of the kiddos!! Whew...I could use a vacation!! But there's no time for that. :) I'll be back with more detailed posts about our Christmas, the basement, and Addison turning 7 months old soon!!

Until then, I hope you all have a very merry and blessed Christmas and a happy new year!!

Potty Training Update

Potty training is going quite well!!  Maddox is rarely having accidents during the days now.   He is getting better at telling me that he needs to go but I still have to remind him to go the majority of the time! He is still wearing pull ups for nap and at night time.  I am just to ready to tackle that battle yet!  We go out all the time and he has yet to have an accident while we were out.  He will go to school with unders on for the first time on Thursday, so hopefully he does well there!!  The whole potty training thing didn't end up being as stressful as I had anticipated!!

It is definitely nice only having to change diapers on one kiddo!!

Addison is 6 Months Old!!

I cannot believe my baby girl is already 6 months old!  She is half way to her 1st birthday!!  It is just crazy how fast the time has flown by!!  She is such a sweet baby and we just love her so much!!  Here is a little bit of what she is up to these days...

*She weighs 16 lbs 0.6 oz. which is the 50th percentile.
*She is 26 1/2 in long which is the 70th percentile.
*She got 4 shots today at her doctor's appointment and took them like a champ.
*She is wearing size 6-9 months clothes.
*She wears size 2 diapers.
*She nurses 3-4 times a day and gets 2 bottles of formula, one before nap and the other before bed at night.  We have found that the formula helps her sleep better.
*She eats solids twice a day.  Usually one fruit and one veggie.  She definitely prefers the fruits more!!
*She goes to bed around 7 pm and wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30am.  I am hoping this gets better soon because that is way to early for me!!
*She has started sleeping on her tummy. When we lay her down on her back she immediately rolls over to her tummy.
*She sits really well on her own now.
*She still loves taking a bath.
*She loves the Praise Baby DVD's like her brother did.
*She doesn't have any teeth yet.
*She is super ticklish now.
*She is becoming much more interested in toys.
*She doesn't care for the paci at all, which is the total opposite of Maddox.

That's all I can think of right now.  She has gotten a little more fussy as she has gotten older but overall she is a really good baby!!  I am so thankful that God chose us to raise her.  Here are some pics of sweet baby girl!!

My fav!!  What a sweetie pie!!

Advent

When I was growing up we went to a church that celebrated Advent!!  I loved the beautiful displays and the anticipation that it brought to the Christmas holiday!!  I feel like with how commercialized Christmas has become, Advent helps to turn the attention back to where it belongs, on Jesus!

 There are all kinds of advent calendars that you can purchase with little candies or toys in them but I saw this super cute idea on a friends blog last year and knew it was the way I wanted to do our version of the advent calendar!  I have bought and wrapped 25 Christmas books, most about the nativity story but a few just generic ones.  Each night up through Christmas day the kids (mostly Maddox right now) get to pick a book that we will read before bed.  I think it will be a super fun tradition for our family and I can't wait to start tomorrow night!!!

Day 24: My Life

I can't believe I didn't miss a single post and then forgot to do the last one. Oh well, I was spending time with family and friends yesterday and I hope you all were too!!

Anyways, on the last day of this little blog series I am thankful for this beautiful life God has blessed me with!! I have done nothing to deserves all the things he has done for me but regardless he continues to bless me daily! These past 23 days I have listed things I'm thankful for...some big and some small. All of them make my life the wonderful adventure it is! I am so thankful for all the people around me to live this crazy thing we call life with!!

Thank you Lord for your countless blessings and unconditional love! You are my reason for living! Help me to be a thankful person everyday and not just during the Thanksgiving season! Amen.

Day 23: Pedicures

Getting a good pedicure is one of my favorite things!! It is so relaxing!! I love having my toes look pretty, even in the winter!! I typically stick with pink shades but every once and a while I will branch out and get something different! I like going with friends but I also like going by myself!!

Day 22: Music

I like all kinds of music!! Country is my favorite!! I love how a particular song can take a bad day and cheer you up a little! I love how a song at church can touch you deep in your soul! I love that Maddox likes to sing now! I am so thankful for music and love how it touches so many people!!

Tree Skirt = Happy

Today, a few friends came over to help me sew a custom Texas Longhorn tree skirt to match our Longhorn Christmas tree!! It turned out so very very cute!! I absolutely love it!! The girls were such a huge help and I probably would not have gotten it finished if it wasn't for Kira who is basically a pro compared to me!! So thanks girl's for your help!! I had a blast being creative with y'all!!

Day 21: Caffine

Today, I am thankful for caffeine!!  I also have a bit of an addiction to caffeine, much like chapstick, but a little more serious and slightly more annoying!!  If I don't have some sort of caffeine in the mornings then I will, with out fail, get a terrible headache that will last the rest of the day and is only remedied by having caffeine!!  I really want to break this addiction but now is not the time, while have 2 small kiddos that need most if not all of my undivided attention every day!!  So until the time that I can handle a horrible headache for several days I am very thankful for caffeine, whether it be in the form of Dr. Pepper, coffee, iced tea, or some other form of caffeinated beverage!!

Day 20: Chapstick

So this is kinda a silly one but I seriously have a slight addiction to Chapstick! I have had this addiction for quite some time now. It's not just any Chapstick either...it has to be the kind that brings on the tingling effect! Like the peppermint kind or the medicate kinds! I love Chapstick and if I don't have it with meat all times I tend to panic a little and can't stand the burning that comes with having chapped lips! I have especially come to appreciate Chapstick living in Colorado with the air being so dry!! I have several tubes at all times...all over the house, in the diaper bag, in my car, just about everywhere I spend any considerable amount of time! So today I am thankful for Chapstick! :)

Addison

Today Miss Addison gave us a little scare.  She was totally fine this morning then took about an hour and a half nap at about 8:45 then ate like normal when she got up.  She was fine for about an hour after that and then all of the sudden at about 11:00 am something weird happened.  She started getting fussy and then went really pale in the face and got super lethargic.  I was holding her and she was laying her head on my shoulder and would hardly lift it up.  She kept nodding off and just wasn't acting normal at all.  It totally freaked me out.  I decided I should call her pediatrician because this was just totally out of the ordinary for her and it came on so quickly.  I spoke with a nurse and she said they wouldn't be able to see her until 1:00 pm which was 2 hours away but that I could take her to the hospital because they have an after hours children's clinic.  I asked what the nurse recommended and she said I should probably go ahead and take her in just to be safe.  So I immediately called Collin and  got us all dressed and headed for Littleton Hospital.  When I put her in the car she immediately fell asleep so the entire way there I was so worried about if she was ok.  When we got there I got her out and she seemed to perk up a little bit which was such a relief!!  It always seems to work like that when you get to the dr. they seem totally better but I will definitely take that over something being seriously wrong.  Anyways, we had to wait about 15 minutes for the children's clinic to open but then we were seen by a nurse and then a pediatrician.  She checked out totally fine which I am so thankful for.  The dr. said it could be that she is coming down with a virus or just got to feeling bad for some reason but she seemed perfect healthy when she checked her out.  I have no idea what was wrong with her but it was a little scary how she was acting.  I am just really thankful that she is ok!!  She has been totally fine the rest of the day.  We did get to find out that she now weighs 16 lbs 4 oz.  She is getting so big!!

On a happier note...She loves looking at herself in the mirror above her changing table and tonight before bed I took this little video of her.  She is just too cute and I just love her to pieces!!

Day 19: Naps

Boy am I thankful for nap time these days!! Having 2 kiddos is definitely hard at times but being able to count on nap time every day definitely helps me out!! Maddox is a pretty good napper these days so I can usually get at least an hour and a half nap out of him and most days it's longer than that!! Sis hasn't gotten consistent in her napping schedule yet so I can't always count on her napping at the same time as him but it at least helps to just have to take care of one kid instead of 2 for a little bit each day! Hopefully, when she gets a little older they will get on the same schedule and I can get a real break every day :) until then I will take what I can get and am thankful for the little break nap time brings!! Plus I quite enjoy a nice nap myself every once and a while!! :)

Potty Training Chronicles: Day 2

We officially started potty training Maddox yesterday so I thought I would document it. I really had no idea what approach to take but have ended up going with the book "Diaper Free Before Three.". It is really intended as a program that starts potty training pretty early but also gives suggestions for starting later as well. Basically, when starting later it says to just decide to start and completely get rid of diapers and go straight to underwear.
So, yesterday after nap I decided to just go for it. With it being Thanksgiving he doesn't have school next week, I don't have Ladies Bible Class and Collin will be off a few more days than normal. So I figured as good a time as any right?!? So as I said after nap yesterday I went ahead and put him in big boy unders!! He thought it was so cool and he did awesome!! He had them on from about 4 pm to 8:30 pm and didn't have a single accident!! That time even included a trip over to one of our friends houses for dinner and to hang out!! I put him in a pull up to sleep...because I'm not quite ready to tackle the night time yet!!
This morning we went straight to the potty when he got up and he has had underwear on all day. He has had 3 accidents but all of them were just pee!! We ventured out for lunch and he did great! He went potty at the restaurant and did awesome staying dry!! I'm not quite sure how long this whole thing will take but hopefully by the time we go to Texas in late December we will be doing pretty well!! I will of course keep you updated on our progress! :)
Pray that things go smoothly for Maddox and that he catches on quickly and for lots and lots of patience for me!! :)

Day 18: Prayer

Where would we be without prayer...Our direct line to God?? What a blessing it is to be able to share our thoughts, desires, needs, wants and thanksgivings with our Lord!! Even though sometimes it may feel like we are just talking to ourselves, part of faith is believing He hears us when we call out to Him! I am so thankful for this outlet and gift we have been given that allows us to communicate directly with God!!

Day 17: Thursday School

I am so thankful for Maddox's Thursday School at University!!  It is such a precious little program!!  He loves his teacher and being able to see his friends!  It is a nice little break for me each week and also a time that I can spend some one on one time with Miss Addison!!  I am so thankful for this ministry and this precious little school!!

Day 16: lunch Dates

When we moved here and Collin started started working we decided that one day a week would be our lunch date day!! A day that he had on the calendar and knew not to schedule any other lunches because it was our day!! I love our lunch dates!! I look forward to them each week. It started out just the 2 of us but now the kids get to go too :). I am so thankful for this time every week that Collin sets aside for us!!

My Daddy

We have figured out that we can get maddox pretty riled up if we banter back and forth with him. I got him going today and got a video of it.  It's pretty funny how worked up he gets and how he gets distracted right in the middle of it.  Enjoy :D. (And please excuse the fact that he has no shirt on...he insisted on taking it off!)

Day 15: Ladies Bible Class

Every Tuesday except during summer and Christmas time we have a ladies Bible class at our church!! I am so thankful for this time that I am able to spend with other Christian women studying God's word! We have done some amazing studies since I have started going! I also appreciate the free child care!! It gives mommy a little break!! I have been so blessed by ladies class and am so thankful for it each week!!

Day 14: Contacts/Glasses

People, I have TERRIBLE eye sight!! Like really horrible!! This fact makes me EXTREMELY thankful for contact lenses and glasses!! I got my first pair of glasses in the 4th grade and then got contacts in 6th!! I have to wear them in order to do anything!! The gift of sight is such an amazing thing and I am so thankful that I am able to have it because of contacts and glasses!! Hopefully, some day I will be able to get LASIK and not have to rely on them but until that time I have to rely on them and am thankful that I have them!!

Day 13: iPhone

I love Apple products!! They are my fav electronics! I am especially fond of my iPhone!! It is a huge help in keeping my kids entertained when we are out! It has my calendar on there so I don't forget any appointments. I love being able to check Facebook on it. And it is so nice to be able to rely on it to get in touch with people!! I am thankful that I am able to have my iPhone!!

Day 12: Sunshine

I LOVE the sunshine! It makes my heart happy!! Rainy, cloudy days make me feel gloomy and sleepy!! I love laying out by the pool or on a beach on a clear sunny day and having a nice golden tan from it! I love seeing the mountains on a clear sunny day! The sunrise and sunset are 2 of the most beautiful things!! I am so thankful for the sunshine and the light it brings to this world!!

Day 11: Grace

Boy am I ever thankful for grace!!  We would all be lost without it!! The grace of God is the greatest gift humankind has ever received!!  We gave our daughter the middle name Grace because we believe in the power of grace and feel it should be one of the first reactions we all have in the face of wrongs.  We are all in need of grace in our lives both from the people around us and especially from God.  Today and always I am thankful I serve a graceful God!!

Day 10: My Car

Today I am thankful for my car. I can always rely on it to get me where I need to go. I feel safe in it. We all fit comfortably in it even when we are packed full to go to Texas! The AC and heater work wonderfully and the seat heaters are wonderful for the Colorado winters! I am so thankful I am able to have a car in a world where it is a luxury!