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.

Wild and Crazy

April and May are jam-packed, wild and crazy months for us. Our calendar has events scribbled all over it, and I've tried to transcribe it onto my computer calendar so it looks more organized. Now it looks organized, and overwhelming. The upside is that we will be spending so much time with family and friends, it's totally worth the craziness.

And, in keeping with the craziness theme, Addy's medical "stuff" is ramping up again. I started blogging on CaringBridge when Addy was 4 days old, but moved to Blogger when it was clear that her medical issues were (thankfully) taking a backseat to regular life, and had more pictures to share than CaringBridge would allow. I don't have the time to double-blog, so I'll be doing the medical-focused updates here too.

We really enjoyed being in a holding pattern with just laser treatments and well-baby checkups as we were getting settled in, but I think the end of the honeymoon is right around the corner. We went to ENT (Ears, Nose, and Throat) for her ear pit, who scheduled a hearing test and strongly recommended that we be seen by genetics. The ENT doctor said that they recommend genetics for any child with an abnormally placed ear pit, and she mentioned some other findings she noted that indicated we should take a "bigger picture" look at her. We did see genetics in DC, but they didn't feel there was anything concerning enough to test for. Our pediatrician had mentioned going to see genetics at our well-baby appointment last week, although I didn't push her on why she brought it up. She is a wonderful doctor, so I will probably give her a call to see if there were any specific findings that she noted so I can mention them to the genetics team also. So, we are working on getting an appointment to see the genetics team in Boston, and maybe they will have some ideas. Addy's next laser treatment is in early May (just a few weeks away!). We have an appointment set up to go back to the Vascular Anomalies Center in June, and then will do the angiogram sometime after that. We also are working on getting appointments with orthopedics about her feet, and neurology - just to be thorough, since she is at risk for seizures with an intracranial vascular anomaly. PHEW! I had to make myself a list of all the specialists/tests/procedures that we have scheduled or need to schedule, to keep myself organized. Sometimes I feel like each time we see a doctor, they recommend seeing two more! Luckily, we can spend the summer getting things done, since Chloe spends most of the summer in NJ, we won't have to worry about dragging her along.

Alright, enough of that. I know everyone really comes here to see the pictures-- so HERE!

This is Addy's and Cinnamon's favorite spot. They would be happy to sit there all day, watching cars, or even better, big sisters jumping rope.

Celebrations

Yesterday was a great day. The weather was absolutely perfect - sunny and warm. We gathered in the backyard with family and friends who traveled from near and far, and celebrated Addy's first year. I have in my mind all the cute, artsy photos I didn't take, because I was kicking back and soaking it all in. So, there aren't as many pictures as I thought I would take, and they aren't all amazing shots, but I loved all the time I spent chatting with everyone instead of snapping pictures of everyone chatting.

 Thanks Jube, for grabbing the camera and taking a family shot!

More cakes, more bragging.

If there was any question if Addy partied hard, I think the fact that she slept an extra hour this morning and then took a morning nap that lasted more than 3 hours speaks for itself.

************************** (this means I have no cute segue to move on to the next topic)
Last week, as I was preparing dinner, I grabbed something out of the fridge and turned back around, not noticing that Addy had managed to sneak her hand out and stop the fridge from closing all the way. She found the blueberries (her FAVORITE), and grabbed the container and dropped it on the floor, where it popped open. She must have realized that her time with the blueberries was limited, because she was shoveling them in as fast as she could. I snapped a few pictures before cutting her off...

Chloe had a half day on Thursday, so we gathered some friends and went to the Science Museum. We spent a half an hour in the Butterfly Garden. It was hot and humid (we were a bit overdressed for that experience!), but practically empty (of people). The kids got a kick out of the butterflies - like bubbles, but they don't pop!

We also spent some time in the Discovery Center, where the babies could play on the floor.

Today was another gorgeous day, and we spent time on the sun porch and at Horn Pond. It has been a joyful week, and an amazing weekend. Thanks to everyone who was able to come to the party - and we definitely missed the friends and family who couldn't make it. We look forward to catching up with each and every one of you soon!