Breaking The Rules

The week is only halfway done, and it's been a fun one already.  Addy and I went with Livvy and Sarah to a music class at the Children's Museum, and then spent time playing. It's amazing that we have barely even started to explore the museum - we love it, and we have only been to a few rooms!

Today we took a road trip and went to the Southwick Zoo! It's about an hour southwest of us, and we had lots of fun. It didn't hold a candle to the Philly Zoo, but had more things to see than our more local Stone Zoo. And the weather was perfect, 75 degrees with some clouds and a light breeze.

The kids stood and watched the monkeys swinging around until their legs turned to spaghetti.

We hit the petting zoo, and Addy hung out on a rock with one very chill goat.

 These girls have become fast friends (just like their mommas!)

As we were strolling, we saw a tortoise "enclosure" - really just a patch of grass with some boulders around it. I decided that it looked more like they were just trying to keep the turtles in other than people out (the highest boulders were knee high), and suggested that we should put the babies on the turtles for some really cute shots. Jack went first, and we were not disappointed! 

 Of course, right then a zoo keeper pulled up (we saw him coming and pretended we were just hanging out). We asked about taking pictures with the turtles, and we were told we weren't allowed in the enclosure (whoops!), but that he would bring over a tortoise for the babies to touch.

 Not quite as cool as riding on their backs, but we also avoided getting kicked out of the zoo. 

An awesome day, with perfectly behaved children and some not so well behaved mommies. But that's what making memories is all about!

Call it what you want, I love Addy's feet!

My mom pointed out that I hadn't explained the amber necklace! Besides being a great fashion statement, it helps with teething. The necklace is made of Baltic Amber, which is a resin. When worn, the body heat warms the amber and causes it to release oils (succinic acid) which are absorbed into the skin. It is touted as one of the best homeopathic remedies for teething, and babies wear them from about 6 months to 3 years of age. So it's a little tough to tell, but I'm not convinced that it's helping. Addy has a terrible, nasty cold, so I think her one year molars could be the issue. Who knows if it would be worse without the necklace, but we still had to give her some Tylenol to help her through it. But, it doesn't seem to be hurting, so she's still wearing it.

We have a big weekend coming up celebrating a Sweet Sixteen, so I'll get to flex some new photography muscles. Enjoy the rest of the week!

Happy Easter! ~UPDATED~

Chloe is home! We have missed our "big" girl so much. She almost seemed to not mind all the pictures I was taking of her - in the beginning at least. It has been a weekend full of sister-lovin'.

Saturday's weather was AWFUL. Cold and rainy the whole day. We trudged out and were part of the Great Cloth Diaper Change, which was a stark reminder that I am not THAT crunchy - there were some very "earthy" mommas there. More power to them, it's just not my style. We still had fun, and got a nice swag bag. After that, we came home and tried to shake the damp and cold out of our bones, and dyed some eggs.

And then it was Easter! The weather did a total flip - warm and sunny. The only reminder of yesterday's monsoon was the damp grass. Addy is so close to walking, and did hunt some eggs upright holding Pete's and Chloe's hands, but much preferred the "Superman" method of hunting - being held hovering over the egg, so she could pick it up and deposit it in the basket while avoiding the wet grass.

Someone found a chocolate bunny...

Happy Easter everyone!

It has been a long week here - lonely without Chloe, and some of the most dismal weather Mother Nature could provide - cold (40's!) and rainy. It finally started to warm up at the end of this week, and we spent some time with friends and some time outside. We're gearing up for a busy weekend. I'm participating in the Great Cloth Diaper Change - an international effort to raise awareness about cloth diapering, and set a world record for number of cloth diapers changed simultaneously. Then Sunday is Easter, so lots of candy on tap. It's Addy's 1st Easter (she was born the day after Easter last year) which is exciting. Addy is so close to walking; she can stand on her own, and is taking steps while holding our hands, but doesn't quite have the balance or chutzpah to take any steps on her own.

It's all a matter of perspective - from one angle it's storm clouds, from another it's blinding sunshine.

Creeping up the stairs at Livvy's house.

The weather is forecasted to warm up sharply next week - into the 70's, so we are hoping to be outside every day.  With our busy weekend, I'll be posting more pictures soon!

Quiet

It's been a quiet few days for us. Chloe is on Spring Break, so she is down in NJ doing all the horseback riding her legs can handle. The show season was officially kicked off this weekend, so from now until late July, she'll be competing in horse shows more weekends than not. Pete, Addy, and I did some party-hopping on Saturday, then had a nice quiet Sunday. We are loving the fact that Addy is starting to communicate - she now picks out a book and brings it over to us, or grabs her bubbles for us to blow.

Look at that face, baby! We think the next laser treatment (May 2nd) will be the last one. We know the lip is still a bit dark, but that's a tough spot to get to respond, and so we'll work on it again when she's older, and can do it without anesthesia. 

with 6-year-old birthday girl/princess Lyra

I think Pete was going for husband of the year yesterday. He not only got up with the baby (at 6am, uggggggh), but did all of the morning stuff - poopy diaper changes, breakfast, coffee, etc - and then finally presented me with breakfast in bed at 8am. I'm counting it as my Mother's Day treatment. We spent the day just hanging out, did some grilling, then went to Cold Stone for a little treat. (I was good though - boring frozen yogurt. Stole a few incredible bites of Pete's Strawberry Blond - mmmmmmmm.) Now that Addy has gotten past the one-year mark, and she's consuming everything in sight, I'm getting more lenient about what treats she can try. So she had a few tastes of our ice cream, too. It was similar to how she reacted to her birthday cake - no crazy excited antics, just a hopeful "Muh?" when she was ready for another taste.

This is the face of teething. Ouch. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the amber necklace we ordered. 

I was reminded after my last post that I sometimes forget that not everyone speaks Medical-ese, and that not everyone has been following Addy's journey from the beginning, so it can be a bit confusing. I've added a page of Medical Terms. You can find it on the upper right side of blog, under Pages. I tried to describe each of the things that I talk about, and what it may mean for our girl. I'll update it as we find out more information this summer.