11 months

No official stats to report this month -- you will have to wait until after Addison's ONE YEAR check up tomorrow for those -- but regardless our little lady is growing and changing by the day. Month 11 marked some big changes as our baby quickly makes the transition to a toddler (woah!)...

- Addison got two more teeth bringing the grand total to FOUR (newest additions are the upper left,
   followed closely by the upper right)

- She also mastered standing while holding onto things -- furniture, walls, doors and, of course, in her crib

- With the new found ability to stand in her crib AND the addition of teeth, Addison decided that chewing on    her crib was a brilliant idea. I personally find it disturbing to walk into her room and find paint chips around    her mouth, but I guess it could be worse... thinking this is just a phase and we will be onto something new      soon enough (at least that's what I am hoping...)

Addison mastered clapping (just say "yay" and away she goes), waving (again, just one word - "bye" - will turn her into a waving machine) and now is pointing - at EVERYTHING! I am not sure if she wants us to get something for her or tell her what everything is, but we have been doing a little bit of both. She seems to like hearing what things are and hopefully this exercise will make her a genius ;) Speaking of genius, Addison is now also making the signs for "milk" and "more." Thank goodness for her teachers at school! We LOVED seeing her sign for the first time, especially since we didn't know how much they were working on signs and it seemed to appear out of the blue. She still hasn't learned "all done" so her way of telling us she is done eating is a little less polite - she simply flails her arms around and pushes her food on the floor. Classy, right?

Addison still loves dogs, especially small ones. She points, waves and gets VERY excited when she sees her pup after school and repeats this exercise pretty much every time she sees a dog, which in our neighborhood is a LOT! Maybe we will have a veterinarian on our hands?

I say it a ton, but this year really has flown by. Now that it has taken me a month to get this post up, tomorrow marks Addison's first birthday. I can't believe that one year ago Bob and I were prepping to head to the hospital to meet our little girl. My how things have changed! Addison brings so much joy to our lives and we cannot wait to continue to watch her grow. 12 month and birthday party pictures are up next :)

A girl on the move! These monthly photo shoots used to be sooooo much easier!

Trying out mommy's rocking chair...

Four houses, two states, one dog, one baby and SIX YEARS later!

Six years. I cannot believe that these pictures from this amazing day were taken SIX years ago. Sometimes it feels like yesterday, and others, it feels like Bob and I have been married forever (in the best way possible :)) All of our anniversaries have been great (remember last year's festivities!?!?!), but this year was especially wonderful because we had a very special someone to help us celebrate.

Bob has been working on our yard overhaul every free minute he has, so the boss (believe it or not, he is the one cracking the whip, not me!) gave him the day off to enjoy with his girls. Originally we had planned to take a weekend trip to Whistler, but I wasn't able to get Friday off work and taking a full weekend off from the yard project really wasn't in the cards so we decided to take a day trip instead. We thought about all sorts of places to explore and landed on Whidbey Island - Bob had never been and if I have, I don't remember. We loved exploring all the little towns around the Bay Area and were excited to do the same when we got to Seattle, but we just haven't had the time so we decided to make time.

We loaded up the car on Sunday morning (our actual anniversary) - dog, baby, snacks, camera, etc. - and made our way to the ferry terminal in Mukilteo. The ferry ride is short (just 20 minutes) and we timed it perfectly (we practically drove right on!) Once on the island, we made our way to a cute little town named Langley. We wandered around and found a fun spot to have lunch. Penn Cove (where the mussels come from) is on Whidbey so we decided mussels were a must. Addison was a little angel all through lunch - she contently munched on cheerios and French fries (balanced diet ;)) and waved at everyone in sight. It was perfect!

After lunch we drove to a beach on the island that has an amazing off-leash area. Kenai was in HEAVEN to say the least - he chased his ball, splashed in the Puget Sound, played with other pups and chased Bob up and down a huge sand bank (not sure who was having more fun at that point!) The weather was perfect for a little photo shoot so we snapped a bunch of pictures of Addison, hoping that one would make the cut for her birthday invitations -- you will have to stay tuned for those pictures (I don't want to ruin the surprise!)

After the beach, we took the scenic route home, which took us north to Deception Pass. We got to the bridge just as the sun was setting and it was BEAUTIFUL! Definitely worth the longer car ride home.
Talk about a perfect day...

Thank you Bob for choosing me to spend the rest of your life with - I cannot wait for the many adventures that await us!!! I am one lucky lady :)

I love our little family...
I can't wait to explore more with these two
(plus Kenai who was too busy playing to join us in a picture). 

  

Mmmmm sand...

Look what I found!

I think Kenai is in that plume of dust behind Bob...

I mean... ADORABLE!

Deception Pass

Addison: 8, 9 AND 10 months!

 

 

I had the best intentions of getting this post up BEFORE Addison hit the 10 month mark, but the day came and went without an 8 or 9 month post, but at least I took the monthly pictures!

The last three months have been BIG for our little girl. She has gone from scooting (serious army crawl that started the week after Mother's Day) to full blown crawling to SPEED crawling and now standing while holding on to just about anything (our legs, the door jam, the floor, the coffee table, etc.) Walking likely won't be too far off -- Bob and I find ourselves asking, where did our baby go???

At eight months...

Our little ham...

 

 

We were in Montana meeting baby Jude (born May 8) for Addison's 8 month birthday. We forgot her pink "A" (perhaps that's why she was crying???) and she got pretty sick towards the end of our trip, but we still managed to get a few OK pics.

 

Addison learned to wave just before going to Montana. She definitely knows that her little flirtatious wave gets attention so she busts it out whenever she sees new people. She also waves good morning to all of her teachers and friends at school (although there are still crocodile tears when I drop her off in the mornings...)

 



At nine months...

 

 

We had and official weigh in at nine months (6/28/13):

• Height: 27.25 inches (35th percentile)
• Weight: 18 pounds, 8 ounces (55th percentile) - Bob guessed this DEAD ON and Addison got so excited that she peed on the scale (photo evidence below!)
• Head circumference: 45.8 cm (91st percentile)

Addison learned another party trick in time for her nine month photo shoot... CLAPPING! She claps when we say "yay" and it is so dang cute! She is so proud of herself and grins from ear to ear as soon as she starts to clap.

Nine months also brought one very big change... TEETH! Well, just one to start (the bottom left), but even that first tooth changed her smile so much. Tooth number two (the bottom right) was not far behind.

AND...Addison is happy as a clam when we leave her at daycare now. Such a nice change. The first morning that I set her down and she crawled over to her friends and toys was such a huge relief! I left with a big 'ole smile on my face. Now we can go into her classroom, set her down, put her bottles away, give her a kiss and walk out the door (and even wave through the glass) - all without tears. Its the small victories I tell ya ;)

At 10 months...

 

 

...we learned to stand (sort of). While she is still a bit shaky, Addison definitely understands the concept of standing. She pulls herself up on just about everything and can stand for long periods of time while holding on. The weekend Addison turned 10 months, we got a standing activity table from a local mama (she tested out Grady's and LOVED it!) That day she went from very awkward standing (hunched over the table) to a comfortable, one-handed grip on the table.

 

At Addison's nine month appointment we also talked to her pediatrician about introducing "real" food - legit solids (not liquid baby food that people call "solid.") We started with yogurt (I realize this is not "solid," but we hadn't done it yet), toast with cream cheese, as well as hard cheese and have been slowly working into new food groups. She loves string cheese (which is mozzarella), but is not a fan of fresh mozzarella - discerning taste buds already!

 

Mama has been added to Addison's vocabulary - as has a very strange noise that we call the gremlin. I have videos of said noise and will post those soon. So now, we have a plethora of nicknames that I should probably capture - silly names mean we love her, right? Addison AKA... Cheeky (for obvious reasons), little miss, punky/punky Brewster, the gremlin, snaggle or snaggle tooth (from her one tooth, that quickly turned into two VERY crooked teeth), fluffy and spike (because of the hair...), peanut, creepy, AGK, and the lil miss (from day one). More to come I am sure!

 

Bob also learned (very quickly I might add) that Addison can in fact climb stairs! With all of her recent movement (speed crawling, stair navigating, etc.) we have to be very diligent about door closing and gate shutting. Addison can get herself into trouble in about 10 seconds flat. We are trying to teach her that certain areas are no-no's (the oven is HOT for example), but the 10 month old mind does not care so much (or remember after about a minute).

 

Addison and Kenai are becoming even more of a dynamic duo. As soon as Addison's food went from mush and purees to cheese and turkey bits, Kenai quickly learned the best place to camp out. I am all for dogs that clean up after baby messes, but Kenai basically tries to eat Addison's thighs while she is in her high chair! Addison is also not much help... She very deliberately flings her arms over her tray with bits of food in her hands for her pup. She knows that she isn't supposed to do it so as soon as we say something, she pulls her hands in close and makes it look like she is really a perfect little angel. Now we have a baby and a dog that are ganging up on us... We are in for it for sure!!!

 

We have tons of pictures from May, June and July activities (including weekly shots). Those are coming next!



Officially a member!

I honestly cannot believe it has been over two months since my last post. I knew May was going to be busy, but I wasn't expecting an equally busy June and July! Once I get backlogged on posts I tend to psych myself out a bit, but get ready - we are back on the blogging train... :) First up - Addison's baptism!

Rhiana and I have been talking about a joint baptism for the newest Kehrli ladies since Christmas so after comparing calendars and waiting out Lent, we finally decided on April 28th at St. Mary's Cathedral in Portland. 

 



We were joined by family on both sides, as well as Addison's godparents Becky and Mike who flew up from San Francisco  (THANK YOU!) Bob and I played double duty and were honored to be Patrice's godparents, along with his sister, Catherine.

Addison had a very special baptismal gown and bonnet - both of which were given to us during her baby shower weekend by Bob's grandma. She explained that the gown was from Bob's grandfather's side of the family and was likely about 100 years old. Addison also wore a beautiful pin (again from Bob's grandma), little booties from my godmother Vilma and a shiny new silver bracelet from pops and mimi. She looked so dang cute!

Despite missing a nap to celebrate her baptism, Addison was a little angel (as was her cousin Patrice) and the day was just perfect!

Great grandma with her grandsons and great granddaughters

Babies, parents and godparents

Silly Mikey...

Patrice's turn...

...and now Addison's

The babies checking each other out ;)

"The Godfather" lighting Addison's baptismal candle

The whole Kennedy Court crew - can't believe how big these kids are getting!

Addison with her godparents. parents and Father Pat

The newly baptized babies with their moms and dads

Lots of Kehrli love on baptism day (Aunt Catherine, Ema, Paige,
Owen, Elliot, Patrice, Auntie Rhiana, Uncle Bill and Papa)

We followed the baptism itself with a party at Bob's parents' house - Ema and Papa to the grandkiddos. We had a delicious lunch, followed by cake and lots of pictures! Thanks John and Margaret for opening up your home to all of us and to Rhiana for taking on the brunt of the party planning! It was a perfect way to celebrate our little ones!

Such a pro :)

"Where'd you get that cute bow?

"

Pops, Mimi, Aunt Maddie, Auntie Chasie (ROOMIE!) and Mama K all helped us celebrate

Sleepy party girl...

And the obligatory 30 week shots :)

I must be REALLY funny ;)