"Mine!"

Adilyn is having issues understanding the concept of "mine." Anything and everything that she wants is hers and she not only wants it, but she wants it now! I heard stories about crazy kids throwing tantrums, but I just knew that somehow Adilyn would completely skip this wonderful phase. (Honestly, the way that Adilyn was as a baby, I didn't really believe that, but a girl can hope, right?) Anyway, we have hit the tantrum stage in full force. We are trying to remain calm and allow her to share her feelings with us in the most constructive way she can - which has been screaming, throwing herself on the ground, and yelling "mine" over and over. It's awesome. Really, it's the best when it happens in public. Early this morning, she was rustling around in her bed. All of a sudden I hear, "Mine!" She must have been dreaming about me taking something away from her. Poor girl, she never gets anything her way - even in her dreams!

20 Things About Adilyn

Here are 20 random things about Adilyn -

1. She loves to swing. She could swing for hours and hours.

2. She went from calling all dogs she ever saw "Willow", to understanding that other dogs are called, "dogs", to now calling both our dogs "Wowee" (Zoe and Willow combined).

3. My favorite animal sound that she says is "ribbit". She says it all soft and cute.

4. She likes to read a truck magazine while she sits on the potty - wonder who she learned that from.

5. When we leave daycare, she has to stop and wave bye-bye to the babies in the baby room.

6. She looks in my pants to check for "poo-poo".

7. She is a drinking fool - sometimes she can't decide if she wants juice or milk, so she gets one cup of each and takes turns sipping from one then the other.

8. She loves to make "tents" with blankets.

9. If she wants you to sit down by her, she'll pat the floor like I do to the dogs.

10. Her favorite words are "no" and "mine". Both are said in a screechy little voice, it's awesome.

11. Temper tantrums are one of her favorite things these days.

12. When she sees a picture of a baby crying in a book, she'll make little whimpering sounds.

13. When Cory or I leave the room, she yells "Mommy" or "Daddy" in a very demanding way, as if to say, "Um, excuse me, where do you think you are going without me?"

14. She tries to eat with a spoon, but she can't get as much food with each bite, so she just gives up and dives in with her hands.

15. If she is wondering where something is, she brings her hands up like she's saying "I don't know."

16. When she really wants to do something she'll say "ya" after it, like that makes it really serious. Her favorite, "Swing, ya!" or "Outside, ya!".

17. One time when I was desperate to keep her entertained in the car, I put Cheerios in between her toes. Now, she likes to put Cheerios in between her toes and eat them from her foot. I hope she doesn't do that at school.

18. She loves dipping food in things - ranch, ketchup, honey mustard, etc. Some of her combinations turn out to be very interesting. Pears and ranch. Grapes and ketchup. Cheddar chips and honey mustard.

19. I was trying to teach her to say "octopus", but she said "apple juice" instead, so now she thinks that's how you say "octopus".

20. She counts to three, but at three she tickles herself or someone around her because that's what I used to do when I was going to tickle her.

Oh my...where do I start???

Okay, so I am thanking Dana for getting me motivated to keep up with my blog more! I have been meaning to, so what better time than now?

I guess we'll just start where I left off. First of all, my sweet little volleyball team won the districtchampionship. Only two of my teams have won district, and both times I was pregnant. I guess my fetus is my good luck charm! :) Once volleyball was over it was really nice to have some extra time off. I actually got to exercise a little bit (on days I was motivated to anyway), and I wasn't so stressed out about work stuff. Cory was in Minnesota pretty much every week - Monday -Thursday all the way through October, November, and December. That made things pretty difficult for me, but Addy and I got our routine down, and we made it through with only a few meltdowns. (I think she had me beat on the number of meltdowns, but not by much!) I went to my first doctor's appointment, and had an 8 week ultrasound. I didn't have one of those last time, and it was really great to see that sweet little heart beating so early. It looked like a little worm or cocoon-thing, but it was a relief to see that beating heart. It's amazing to think that that little "worm" grows into a baby in 9 short months. Well, I'm sure I won't be thinking of them as "short" by April or May. Still, it is quite amazing how they grow.

Thanksgiving was fun; we went over to Tommie's for Thanksgiving dinner. Adilyn behaved...there were no flying mashed potatoes or gravy explosions. I got a new camera right before Thanksgiving, so I spent a lot of my time off trying to figure that thing out.


Our crazy amount of fantastic Christmas celebrations started the weekend before Christmas in Fort Worth. Although sometimes it can be a little crazy to visit all our different families, it is still so awesome to be able to go and spend time with so many people that love us. Adilyn had a great time with Christmas this year. She opened her own presents this year; she loved ripping into the paper. I'm pretty sure she actually enjoyed destroying the wrapping more than the gifts themselves, but it was still tons of fun. Last year, she had just started crawling and was completely uninterested in Christmas. So this year, she loved to look at the lights around the neighborhood and was really into everything else Christmasy. I'm sure it will only get more fun as the years go on.

Pops gave her her first car!

She still loved Santa!
Brandon, Mom, and Addy

We got her a baby doll with all the accessories - stroller, pack 'n play, highchair, etc. She was really excited about her "baby". She was very concerned that the baby's bottle was empty. She knew it was empty because she kept trying to drink it, and coming up with nothing. "Milk", "milk", "milk" she would say over and over. I tried to fake it by fake-pouring milk in the bottle, but she didn't fall for it. Finally I solved our problem by finding those bottles where the milk disappears when you tip it up, but magically comes back when you flip it. I would like to personally find the person that invented that and give them a big, huge kiss!

She wanted to go "night-night" with the baby.



It was a lot of fun to start our own little holiday traditions. Adilyn and I decorated cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. She loves icing!



We had an uneventful, but enjoyable New Year's Eve. Addy slept through midnight, and Cory and I just hung out at the house. All the people in the neighborhood's around us always shoot out a crazy amount of fireworks, so we just watched those.

The Christmas Break was awesome! Adilyn learned the art of sleeping in. It was awesome! We slept in almost everyday until 9 or 10am. I loved it! When the new semester started, I started teaching a high school health class. It is really fun to teach, but it's a lot of work since it's all brand new material. The part that will get a little interesting is when I'm 8 months pregnant teaching the sex ed stuff. Hopefully my huge belly with be the best birth control idea I could offer! (especially since I can't talk about anything but abstinence anyway!)

Cory was back in town for the month of January, and he spent a lot of his time working on his panel truck. I remember when I was pregnant with Adilyn, his goal was to get it done and running before she was born. Well, it was running, then it wasn't, then he decided he wanted a bigger motor...anyway, long story short - his new goal is to get it running before baby #2 is born. We'll see how that goes. :) It is nice to have him back in our lives on a day to day basis. Adilyn loves him, and she finally stopped calling him "Mommy". She called us both Mommy for quite a while. I think it was just what she called the people that she loved the most!

Adilyn had her first zoo experience, and she had a great time. She loves animals, and she loves making all the animal sounds. I think it took her a while to figure out that she was actually seeing the animals in real life. She loved the elephants the most and thought they were really funny when they were throwing the sand around with their trunks.

Well, it only took 21 months, but Cory and I finally got to spend a night alone! We drove up to Fort Worth and left Adilyn with my dad and Kris, and we went to Dallas and spent the night in a hotel for Valentine's Day. It was really nice to just get away, even if it was just Dallas. I really wanted to go on an actual vacation, but as usual we didn't get our act together to make a decision in enough time. We stayed at a really nice hotel, went to an amazing dinner, and had a good time together.

Track has started now, so my schedule is crazy again. I enjoy coaching, but sometimes I wonder if it's worth the stress. Good thing about track is that it is only 6 weeks long, with Spring Break in between, so it's over before you know it.

So, that's pretty much a quick summary of what's been going on the last few months!