My New Ride!

A few weeks ago we switched Addy from her infant carseat to a convertable one. It's nice and not nice all at the same time...if she falls asleep, we can't just carry her in anymore - and I worry more about her being cold because I can't bundle her up with blankets before we head outside. But, all in all she seems to like it!!!

Playing with the carseat before daddy put it in mommy's car

Here we go! My first time riding in my new seat! I love her look here, I feel like she's smiling all cheesy as to say "Seriously mom, you're taking a picture of this!!????" (and yeah...she's right...sorta silly to take a picture of this. But this is the first of many rediculous pictures I'll take to document her growing up! -- isn't that what mom's are for??)

Too Cute for Words - 2009 babies!!

First of all - there are just WAAAAY too many cute babies that were born in 2009, I mean SERIOUSLY!! Just within my family and Aaron's, we had the following 2009 additions on top of miss Addalyn:

Hunter Heydmann

Asher Mulvihill

Sadie Spindler

Kian Gauthier

Camby Gauthier

And among friends, of course, miss Ella Scheel, who I've mentioned on the blog - (Addy's BFF)!! Plus, so many others that I know of through different friends or from high school.

So, to say that Addalyn is the cutest, well, there's just TOO MANY (although she is pretty dang cute - don't ya think???!!!)

With that being said, I did decide to enter her in the local 2009 cutest babies contest, more because she never got a birth announcement so I wanted her to have her little moment in the paper!

To vote, click on the link: www.postbulletin.com/baby

Addy is number 179 :)

Ella Scheel is number 197, check out her cute pic on her blog (The Scheel Family). Good luck girls!

Eight is Great!

Not much new here for our little eight month old. She is still not interested in crawling. She has lots of tummy time, which she doesn't really like for the first few seconds, but you can usually distract her with a toy and then she'll be on her tummy for a bit. She has rocked back & forth on her hands and knees, and sometimes moves one leg forward when she's trying to reach for a toy, but is just not interested in putting much more of an effort forth. I'm thinking one day she's just going to start crawling, and be all over the place within an hour or something!

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We started introducing more foods to her - I mentioned in my 7 month post I was waiting for her to crawl. But, she was showing other signs that she was ready (she'd be mad when others were eating and she wasn't; doing REALLY well with her foods; and just seemed bored with her menu). So far she's eaten bananas, cooked carrots, cheese, puffs (cereal), yogurt for babies, and a sugar cookie :) Oh, and she LOVES biter biscuits (see picture below!)

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Addalyn is very vocal - she loves to 'talk' and says the sounds da, ga, ma, ba. I think there is more, but that is what I can recall her saying off the top of my head. She is also vocal when she disapproves - or if she sees her food/bottle but you are not getting it to her fast enough - MY GOODNESS! But, she doesn't disapprove of much (other than the lack of quickness w/ food!).

She is so fun - and it is amazing to see her learn new things every day. Which reminds me - she pretty much has the 'hi/bye' waving down, and she just started clapping. We are working on "So Big" (when you lift your arms over your head)...I think she might be confused though - sometimes daddy is saying "Touchdown" with the same movements...I don't think she knows what to do!!

Yeah, the poor bear got tackled this time!!

Nice try mom, I'm not going to do the crawling thing quite yet!!

Seriously - Biter Biscuits are DELICIOUS! They make me S-M-I-L-E!

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My shirt says it all... :)

Mama's Helper!!????

The other day Addalyn wanted to help me with the laundry! Such a little helper, starting so young :) I took a picture thinking it'd be cute for her 8 month update on here...

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But then.............

The next morning as I was getting her bath ready - I had left her in her room to play.

I went to check on her, and this is what I found:

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The little stinker was pulling all of our hard work out of her laundry basket.....

one....

by...

one...

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Uh-Oh! I'm busted!

Dear Vikings

We still love you!

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Well, it was a pretty disappointing loss the other day against the Saints...we watched the game @ my sister and bro-in-laws house with the rest of my family. At one point, Chad made a comment about what all of our blood pressures were in the room. UGH! ALL THOSE FUMBLES!

The most disappointing part of the loss, was that even Aaron was ON MY SIDE! On the way to Shannon and Chad's, I asked him if he was going to cheer for the Vikings, and he said no, because he does not like Favre. I said, I'm not asking you to cheer for him, I'm asking you to cheer for the team. Long story short, he basically said he wanted Favre to get hurt (dramatic maybe??!!). But, when Favre did get a little injured, he looked at me and said "It didn't feel as good as I imagined it feeling" - and by the end he was cheering right along with us!!!! He said he really actually gained some respect back in regards to Favre - so the night wasn't a TOTAL loss!!

Plus, I was studying for my PHR exam during the day, but Aaron did try and be a very supportive husband/daddy. He had Addalyn eat with only her yellow/purple spoon and he had her play with her yellow & purple blocks. I gotta say, I was impressed!

I still get mad when I think of how we lost the game for ourselves...but it was a good game to watch, and you can't complain about the season!

Super Bowl Sunday - here we come!!!!

Christmas

I didn't realize it's been basically a few weeks since I last posted. I have been SUPER busy! I've been studying on evenings and weekends for my PHR exam (Professional Human Resources) - I had my exam on Tuesday and the tentative results say I passed! I will get the official results within 2-3 weeks, but I am very excited with the news! I did not feel very confident about the exam...so I was shocked...seriously. But, none the less, I am now "Marissa J. Anderson, PHR" - looks pretty good! For the record - I am sooo happy to be done studying and don't know how people are mommy's, work, AND go to school! I made it work because I knew it was temporary, I would not have the motivation for much longer. Props to all those mommy's (and daddy's) that have done or do that :)

I feel less stressed now to have that behind me, and I am now able to get to some blogging! Aaron's mom always has Christmas in January - which is great so we can make it to all Christmas's and not miss out on anything! This year was extra special, because it was the first year that all 7 of her kids (children and step children) had made it since Aaron and I have been together - and this was my 6th Christmas with his fam.

The only other time that I've been around his siblings & step-siblings at the same time was our wedding - and of course I was a little busy that day so I didn't really realize it was happening!

During the day we went to the Mall of America with Jean (Aaron's mom), his sister's Tammy & Tina and their kids/hubbies...then we had family pictures taken at Aaron's step-sis's house, then dinner & presents at Jean & Paul's. It was a great day :)

I didn't get as many 'candid' pictures as I would have liked with everyone around, I must have been a bit distracted. But, here are a few, and also the family photos!

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That's my boy! Anthony is not only a MN Vikings fan, but a MN Wild fan too! I'm happy he's my nephew (and my Godson, yep, I'll claim this cutie!). He got a new Wild hat for Christmas, and it has his name embroidered on the side!

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Me & Tina

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Go Vikings! As you know, I'm a Viking's fan (a blog about THAT GAME later!) - well, Aaron's step-sis is a Packer's fan and her hubby is a Viking's fan, so they have a 'divided house' like Aaron & I. Aaron's mom Jean crochets and knits...and she surprised us with these hats (sad I know, but I'm not sure if this hat was knitted or crocheted!). The blanket is something that Jean made for Andrea and Jamie. My mom actually made Addy the same blanket, and that is where Jean got the idea - Packers on one side, Vikings on the other!!!
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Go Packers!

Grandma Jean made Alesha a Hemitites Hat!

Addy was very content listening to Uncle Joel sing to her :) She was fighting sleep here...but content!

Family Photo

Cousins! Front Row: Holly, Addalyn, Anthony, Serafina, Mira; Back Row: Jeffrey, Brandon, Alesha -- there are 2 more cousins on the way. Serafina & Mira are getting a baby brother in May (A's step-sister Andrea is pregnant) & also Aaron's step-bro Scott is expecting a boy in May as well!)

Kisses! Mira & Addy

I love this pic of Aaron w/ his sisters

The Bertucci/Anderson Fam! Front Row: Mom/Jean, Tina, Andrea, Dad/Paul; Back Row: Neil, Tammy, Aaron, Renee, Scott

The whole fam!

I have pictures also of the individual families, but my computer is taking a bit to upload tonight!

7 months (going on 8!)

Well, this post is a bit late...since Addalyn turned 7 months on the 3rd. But - it's been a busy 2010 so far! Addalyn is at a very fun stage, where she is starting to interact with us a lot more and "communicate" with us. She DEFINITELY lets us know if she is not happy (she can get quite a high pitched scream going on!) but also is full of smiles 95% of the time & telling us lots of stories!

She is not crawling yet. We do tummy time and she pushes both her legs & her arms up, just not at the same time. I don't think it is too far off, but it won't be happening tomorrow! She is a great eater - no new food seems to phase her. We haven't tried anything more than baby food yet. I've read a few places that when she is crawling, that is a good indicator of being ready to try other foods (like cheerios, cheese, "big kid food") - so, we'll just wait and see!

We got Addalyn's ears pierced a few weeks ago. I knew I wanted to do it sometime when she was younger. And we had talked to a few people that said the younger the better, if you really want to do it that young, because that way they don't know to pull on their ears and such, so they won't touch them a lot while they are healing. She did really good! She cried REALLY hard for about 2 minutes (but seemed like an hour in mom & dad's minds at the time)...and then she just cuddled up on my shoulder and fell asleep. Which, of course I was LOVING the cuddle time that I got to have, so it wasn't so bad!!

She's been a little stinker about morning naps ever since we've been back from Michigan. She's pretty much decided that all she needs is a 40 minute morning nap. Only ONCE since we've been back has she slept for about 2 1/2 hours in the morning...otherwise an hour is the most. She is doing good afternoon naps, so I can't complain too much. Although, she's definitely ready for bed by 7:30 without that nap...and sometimes we have to give her a little cat nap in the evening to even have her make it to that. I'd LOVE to have her sleep for longer during the day, but what can you do??!!!

She will hold her own bottle when she wants to, and we've been working on sippy cups too. She knows what to do with both...but she can't get the concept to lean her head back to get the fluid out. She usually holds the cup/bottle and then leans her head down to her hands & starts sucking, instead of lifting her hands up to her mouth.

She is getting so big! The other day when I was peaking on her before I went to bed, and it just hit me how much more of the crib she fills up than she did 6/7 months ago. It's funny because I was thinking that - and Aaron said the same thing to me this week. I remember thinking I couldn't imagine her getting any bigger when she was a newborn. Now, I can't imagine her being so small (and when I look at pictures, I get sad and sometimes teary-eyed because they really do grow up soooo fast!...and this is only 7 months, what am I going to do when it is 7 years, then 17 years????!!!!)

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Of course, the bear photo!

My pretty earrings :)

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Mama is sooo funny when she plays 'peak-a-boo' with me in my high chair! Daddy captured some good smiles!


After bath cuddles with daddy (dad didn't let mom take a picture of him since he had just woken up!)

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Seriously - something about kids in baths with their wet hair and such...too cute! As you can see, we are big on lots of bubbles in the bath!

Just watching some Baby Einstein and holding the remote...I must be my daddy's daughter :)

Soooo sleepy when we are trying to put PJs on at about 7:15 one night...had to roll over and cuddle up on the blanket instead of letting mom finish changing me...

I may not take good naps anymore, but I love falling asleep in the evenings at about 6 or so for a little cat nap! (Oh yeah, and that little bear/blankie I have is a MUST to sleep with...can't go anywhere without it!)

Every once in a while I like to hold my own bottle :)