Category Archives: Addison

The Eyes Have It ~ Theme Thursday

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Both times I was pregnant, I spent nine months willing my girls to come out with J’s warm, chocolate-y colored eyes.

When Em came out, I realized that even with all of my willing (and eating a lot of chocolate) she was going to definitely have green eyes, like me. I was consoled by the fact that she got J.’s big, almond-shaped eyes, and not my squinty ones, though.

And when Addie came out, her eyes were even bigger, complete with even longer eyelashes – which I didn’t think was possible. Her eyes are more brown, some days they are close to that chocolate color, but most days they seem to be more golden, kinda green-brown, still definitely lighter than J’s.

In the end, (and all that really matters) I am happy to get to sing “Brown-Eyed Girl” to one of my girls. (Although I do adapt the lyrics to include Em’s pretty green eyes, too.)

Though as similar as they are, I am always astounded when I look at photos of them. The stories their eyes tell are very different, indeed.

Right after she asked what a model is.

Emma has serious eyes. Her eyes are wise beyond their wee little five years. They are always analyzing. Always thinking. Always plotting out her next move or scanning her environment, curiously anxious to ask her next question.

Even playing she is so serious

Addie on the other hand…

Double-fisted

She does not have what I would call “serious” eyes. Where Em’s eyes seem so “wise,” Addie’s are completely child-like. She wears her heart in her eyes. One minute they dance with mischief and happiness, the next they are brimming with tears. They are so very expressive – you are never left wondering what she might be feeling or thinking.

My brown-eyed girl

It is why I love raising these two little girls.

They each come from the same set of genes, growing up in the same environment. You can tell they are sisters – you can see it in their eyes, yet they couldn’t be more different. They are two completely different and individual little beings.

Stop over to Stacy’s today to look through some other sets of eyes.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s a phonebooth!

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Isn’t it astounding to think there are some things our kids will never have the pleasure of knowing or using – like cassette tapes, VCRs, window cranks, live television, pay phones.

We did have the pleasure of playing with a pay phone over the weekend, however. Two, in fact. These old British phonebooths are tucked in a little courtyard near where we had lunch. The girls found them fascinating.

Dueling phonebooths
Dueling Phonebooths

How cool is this?
 Hey, Mom! Look how cool this is!

You rang?
 You rang?

There is a phone in here…with a cord!
 There is a phone - with a cord - in here!

Hello?
 Intently listening...ha!

Uh…huh. Yep.
 Hello?

Sometimes it is the little things. And this is why I always have my camera with me.

Crafty Tuesday

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Such good intentions yet again this week. And a daughter who is practically begging me to scrapbook with her.

Yet I have not even a little card to show.

I have this great series of photos of Addie that I did play around with and did a digital storyboard. I know there is something creative to be done with this…I’m just not sure what yet. Some sort of photo collage for her room perhaps?

As always click for the big version (and I think the color is better in Flickr – of course!). Oh my stars – how sweet are these photos, though? I’m sure something fun and creative will come to me if I keep playing with the photos.

Or maybe, just maybe…my crafty friends have some inspiration for me this week? Anyone?

Summer Fun ~ Theme Thursday

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Well, helllloooo! Looky here – summer is nearly over already! Can that really be true? Is next week really August already? Yikes…double YIKES!

Stacy’s challenge for Theme Thursday is to post some Summer Fun. Our summer has been one long batch of fun and we are in fact (probably as you read this) at the beach again today. But I did catch some fun photos of Addie this week as she was playing in the pool/sprinkler, and watering my plants – our everyday Summer Fun around here.

A little water for you...

...A bucket on the head for me!

Well where do you wear your bucket?

I’m a big girl now.

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Last week I was reading the Sunday paper…um, ok. So really my version of reading the paper = I just scan the front page, maybe the Image or Home section, and then move onto the real reason for the Sunday newspaper, the ads.

Anyway, I was looking through the Target ad (really the only ad that matters) and suddenly it struck me and I blurted out, “Hey! Do you realize we never have to buy diapers or pull-ups ever again!”

J. looked up from his paper (he was more than likely reading the “real news” or at least the Sports or Travel section) a little surprised at my outburst. “Um. Yeah. I hope not, at least.”

Clearly not as excited about my revelation as I was. But Addie has been full-on in big girl panties at night for well over a month with not one accident. I’m beyond proud of her! She decided that one night that she was a “big girl, not a baby, Mama!” and we have not looked back since. I’ve said it before (and I’ll say it again because it bears repeating) the “magic” in potty training is just being patient until the kid is ready. Because anything up to that point is just wasted energy.

I actually had planned on putting a pull-up on Addie while we were on our cruise because I figured she’d be tired, in a strange bed, and hadn’t been doing the underwear at night thing for very long before we left, and I didn’t want her to have an accident. But…I forgot to pack them. So, by default we slept in underwear the whole week and didn’t have a single problem.

The night we got back into town, we had been at the airport/traveling for well over 12 hours that day and she had fallen asleep. J. carried her upstairs and put her on her bed and I wrestled her out of her clothing, trying not to wake her up, to put jammies on her. (She had been playing in the airport and plane all day and um…ewww. ) I figured she had had a lot to drink, but hadn’t hit the bathroom, on top of that she was extremely tired all of which could potentially be a recipe for disaster.

So I tried to put a pull-up on her but as soon as I got one leg in, she sat straight up, wide awake and exclaimed, “NO, Mama! No diapers! I need my big girl wears!”

I tried to explain to her that I thought she might have an accident because she hadn’t gone to the potty. She slid off the bed and marched into the bathroom saying the whole way, “NO I won’t. I need my big girl underwear!”

Finally Mama got it through her thick head, we are not going back from where we came. We are done with any thing that has to do with diapers.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we are completely problem-free. We had a little funny incident while on our picnic yesterday:

A: “Mama! My underwears gottasome problem!”
E: “Oh, I think she has a ‘bushie,’ Mama.”
M: “A what??”
E: “A ‘bushie!’ When your underwear goes up your bottom kinda?”
M: “A wedgie?”
E: (Peals of laughter) “Yeah! What did I call it?” (More laughing…)

Yeah. I think a “bushie” is something entirely different.

Always with the tongue...

Kids Say The Darndest Things ~ Friday Edition

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My friend Christina has started a little Friday fun by jotting down the funny things her cutie little girl has said over the week, and since I’m all about themes, and topical days (it gets me out of a jam when I don’t have time to find real stuff to write about!) I thought I’d join in today.

I’ve been saving a couple funny things Em and Ad have been saying and I really want to get them down somewhere so I don’t forget them.

So here goes – my funny Valentines…

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Addie’s funny words and phrases:

ahind = behind, as in “Mama! Look ahind you! There is a puppy!”
yook = look, as in “Yook at me, Mama!” Must also grab my chin and turn my head towards her when saying this.
musbash = mustache, as in “Do I have a musbash, Mama?” Said every time she takes a drink of something, not always a milk mustache, either.

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Emma’s funny phrases:

knick-knack name = nickname, as in “What is your knick-knack name, Daddy?”

And, the other day she asked me – “Mama? Is Addie pushing your buttons right now?!”

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And a couple of funny stories from Addie and my “day out” together the other day:

Addie: “Mama? Can we go to the puppy/kitty store (what she calls PetSmart)?”
Me: “Sure. I have one more errand to run, and then we will stop, ok?”
Addie: (sighs) “Ah, Mommy. Do you know how happy that makes Addie?”

(I tell them all the time when they do something *nice* – “Do you know how happy that makes Mommy?” but it sounds very funny coming back at me!)

And one more…

We were going into a bathroom at a store and an older gentleman was coming out and held the door open for A. and I. Then, later when we were leaving the store, he happened to be leaving as well and again, he held the door for A. and I.

Me: “Thank you so much! We are just going to follow you around all day so we can have the doors held for us.”
Man: (chuckles) “No problem. I’m just doing my duty.”

So A. and I continue down the street and all of a sudden she starts giggling…

Ad: “Mama…he said It’s my DOODY!”
Me: (kinda clueless at the moment) “Yes, it means like a chore or a job.”

And then I see her face and she is snickering at the word, because she thinks the man was referring to poop.

Where on God’s-Green-Earth does that girl come up with this stuff? Never in my life have I ever used the word, “doody!

My girls seem to have missed the memo that says that only boys laugh at bathroom humor.

More Potty Talk

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So, I sadly have to report that we were a little wet this morning. Enough that we had to strip the whole bed down and do a load of bedding before breakfast. She was not wet when I went in to her at 2am, why I didn’t make her go potty, I don’t know. Total bummer. But I just didn’t make a big deal out of it – and she didn’t either.

Me: “Oops…we had an accident last night?”
Ad: “Yeah, I went pee-pee, I had an accident.”
Me: “Well, maybe we won’t have extra water before bed and we’ll try again tonight?”
Ad: “Ok, Mama. I love you!”

Yeah…although she definitely flings “I love you, Mama” around a lot – it is the sweetest thing to hear, and I’d change her sheets every morning if it meant that I got to hear it.

She was not happy when I made Bear and Smokey (her stuffed cat – not the real one!) take a bath with her sheets. And I just told her that when she has accidents everybody needs to get a bath. I could tell the little wheels in her head were going as she pondered that fact. So maybe she’ll have more success tonight.

Thanks for all of the encouragement and comments, it really is so nice to get a little validation and a nod that you are doing the right thing once in awhile!

At any rate, we’ll try, try again tonight.