end of August already!

It's amazing that our baby girl will turn 1 in just a week!!! Addison is definitely on the move these days...... She spends most of her time walking now....it's amazing how quickly she has gotten the hang of it! Yesterday we had our first venture out of the building with Addison walking the whole way! We walked to the elevator, out the front doors of the building and down the street to the market and back.....it took a little while, but she was on her own two feet the entire time! She sure is Miss Independent....no hand holding for this little one! :-)

Last weekend (the 20-21), mommy's friend Ashley was in town visiting for a night! We had a great dinner out and Addison loved showing off all of her new tricks (including high fives, waves, walking, etc). Ashley was so sweet to bring Addie an adorable pink hat with ears for the Fall, and a book about Chicago. We loved spending time with her!

This weekend (the 27,-28) we were up at our friends Ana, Chris and Benjamin's lake house, about 3 hours north of here. It was a fun weekend......enjoying the lake, watching movies outside, eating yummy fish and barbeque, playing outside with babies and dogs, going on walks and relaxing! Addison seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.....even a chilly dip in the water! :-) Wally loved it....and swam literally the entire time (of course now we are burdened with what we think are ear infections for him...ugh!)

We are starting to introduce some whole milk from a sippy cup at Addison's mid-day feeding! This will help prepare her for starting "school" a couple days a week starting in mid-September! And will save mommy from having to pump at work and carry breast milk back/forth from school. I am still sticking to nursing for the other feedings for now.

Other exciting highlights of the last couple weeks: enjoying lots of play dates with our neighborhood friends...especially to the park where Addison now likes the slide (with mommy's help), the baby swing and playing in the sand; going to the library and playing outside with Molly; attending Kindermusik in the park with other little ones and their parents; shopping for new cars with mommy and daddy (Addie got her own little car from one of the salesmen); receiving an early birthday present from Uncle Nick and Aunt Jen (an adorable UNC outfit......including seer sucker material and heels on the panties!):-).

We have been starting to plan for Addison's birthday party in just a couple weeks!!! We are having a luau with a few of mommy and daddy's friends and some neighborhood friends of Addison's. So exciting! We shopped for some decorations and paper supplies with luau theme last week, and have already found Addison's birthday outfit! The party is set for September 10th, and we have about 25 people attending so far! :-)

On Addie's actual birthday, daddy and I are planning something special for her.....in addition to a special shout-out to Addison on Kare11 News to celebrate her birthday, and a First Birthday cake from Lunds!

Looking forward to a relaxing Labor Day weekend....wow, flashbacks to last year for sure! maybe even a trip the state fair for old time sake?!!? Although this year...no delivery on labor day....just special time with my sweet baby girl! :-)

Bi-Pedal Woman!! :-)

It's official........Addison started walking on Saturday, August 13th! Wouldn't you know that after months of standing without holding on, and a couple weeks of taking one step.......she would wait until the one weekend mommy is out of town to take off! :-) I was so upset to miss this milestone....but so happy for Noah that he got to witness it! And so thankful that we have some of it on video! Our little woman is bi-pedal! :-) I guess it is time to invest in actual shoes....ordered a couple pairs yesterday online.

It has been a busy, but wonderful, start to August! Noah's parents were in town July 31-August 1oth. Addison loved showing off all of her new tricks! Nana Trish brought Addison some super girlie outfits, which are just precious (see pics below)! Nana and mommy spent a lot of time on our big 1st birthday party invitation project.....creating hula girl paper dolls! Wow, it is hysterical how much time we ended up spending on these! :-) but luckily they turned out great! Papa Lyle was in town for a few days and was so helpful at installing all of our baby cabinet locks, toilet lid locks and new hooks for our bathroom for baby towels, etc. Sounds like a lot of work the whole time the way that I just wrote that....but we also had fun cruising around outside art festivals, eating lunch/dinner outside, listening to live music in the park, shopping, wandering around town. :-) Good times!

Mommy left for Chicago the morning of August 13th......first two nights away from Addison.....and first half marathon post-pregnancy. I definitely missed her a ton, but had a wonderful time running and spending time with girlfriends! I got to have lunch with Addison's "boyfriend" Will (our good friend's Liz and Dave's baby).......he's adorable, and doing so many of the same things as Addie! What a cute age!

I got back in town on Monday evening and the last two days have been spent relaxing at home and enjoying the beautiful weather around town with Addie and Wally. Yesterday, we did play group at the coffee shop (where we worked on learning to SHARE, as Addison took away toy after toy from her 16 month old girlfriend, Sophia :)) and then happy hour with daddy. This morning we took a long walk on Lake Nokomis, followed by a picnic and play date in the park with our friend's Kristin and Riloh, and Kristin's sister and neice. A beautiful day, and lots of fun! :-)

Enjoy the pics above.....not sure why some of my photos went sideways!!! Ugh!!! I tried and tried to get them to rotate, but unsuccessful!!! Sorry!