Ho! Ho! Ho!

Addison's 2nd Christmas was filled with tons of family, dogs, snow, cookies, never-ending presents and lots of hugs and smooches.

Christmas Eve was spent at Nana's, and Addison received her first table and chairs set. She absolutely loves it, she says "Chair! Chair!" and then points to a chair and demands that people sit in the chairs to join her at the table. Thanks, Nana! What a wonderful gift!

Christmas Day was spent at Baba and Papa's...our home for the holidays, if you will! Santa brought Addison a Radio Flyer Wagon, which she immediately jumped in and demanded rides all morning! Addison spent the majority of the day chasing around with her cousins, and harassing the dogs! We had Mike and Tara's dog, Cooper...plus Joe's dog, Bella, plus Aunt Barbie & Uncle Gene's dog, Bailey, and then Baba and Papa's dog, Sammi. Yikes! It was a circus!

Perhaps one of the most exciting gifts came on Tuesday when we found out that Addison is going to have a baby BROTHER! I had an ultrasound, and the tech was almost 100% sure that we're having a boy! It's fairly early to be determining the gender, however with the technology now, they can make a pretty accurate guess. So this means that recycling Addison's "pink" is out of the question, and we'll be buying BLUE! Chris is ecstatic to buy camouflage. ;)

Snow Days 2008

Addison absolutely loves the snow, what kids doesn't? This was her first, real experience in the snow, as last year she was too tiny to understand what the white stuff was all about.

Last weekend when the first round hit, we bundled her up in her new snow suit, and headed to the park. Like always at the park, she demanded a ride on the swing, which was a cold activity on a snowy, windy day! She loved grabbing the snow and throwing it into the air...so silly!

The next round of snow produced quite a bit more, which made for lots of fun! I ventured out with Addison on my own, while Chris slept, and I wish I would have waited for Daddy. After our frolicking was over (Mommy was COLD!) I attempted to bring our little snow angel in from the park, and she had other ideas. She proceeded to SCREAM and FLAIL in the middle of the street, not wanting to go home. I tried EVERYTHING to get this child home, including bribery with cookies, but nothing worked. I had to carry her while she arched her back and screamed bloody murder. We finally made it home, and she continued to scream like her legs were cut off. It took her about 20 minutes to calm down. I don't want to take her out anymore if she's going to do this each time we need to come inside. It's hard to reason with a 20 month old!

This is the swing ride, prior to our middle-of-the-street-melt-down.

Big Sister Addison!

Yes, it's true, Addison is going to be a big sister! We're so excited to welcome a new little cutie into the family! I'm almost 12 weeks along, due on July 5th! Addison isn't too sure what to make of everything. I wasn't feeling too well for a few weeks, so Addison would constantly kiss my tummy to make me feel better. I think she thinks my tummy just hurts, that's why she's kissing it, not realizing that her brother or sister is growing in there! She will soon realize that her world is going to change!

Baby Julia

Juliana (Julia) Kristine Herd was born today, at 9:01 am, weighing in at 8 lbs 6 oz! Julia has been a long awaited little gift...there are 5 1/2 years between Ashley and baby Julia!

We're so excited....Addison has a new playmate! We're so thrilled for the Herd Family! Julia is just gorgeous!

Santa

I knew this would happen...the shyness, clingy factor has come into play lately. So with that being said, our visit with Santa on Monday didn't go over too well! We went with Andrea & Tessa, and Tessa wasn't too sure of the whole thing either. However, Addison was the one with hysterical tears. I didn't get to snap a photo while she was screaming on his lap, but I did get one of the aftermath. See for yourself. Poor thing. We are giggling about it now, and we will continue to look at the photo for years to come, and GIGGLE! I'll try to scan the actual photo (shh, don't tell!) and post it later.