Thanksgiving 2008

We spent the day in Lawrence with my mom's side of the family. The Merritt Family Thanksgiving has always drawn a big crowd. This year we had 31 people at our feast with Addison being the newest member of the family. We enjoyed a wonderful meal thanks to my Aunt Renee and Aunt Jeanie, and Uncle Lee and Uncle Marcus. They slaved away in the kitchen cooking the turkey, ham, potatoes, and stuffing. Everyone else brought wonderful side dishes to complete the meal. It was a great Thanksgiving. I snapped this picture before we headed out for the day.

Look at those eyes! So cute! Addison slept through most of Thanksgiving. She was awake to eat and stayed awake for a short time. Mark and I were able to sit down and eat and enjoy a great meal!

Addison's Nana and Great Grandma. This was the first time Addison met her Great Grandma.

Luke and Lauren. They just adore each other so much. They are second cousins. Lora is my cousin and is Luke's mom. Luke and Lauren met last year at Thanksgiving for the first time and they just love each other. Lauren tried to keep up with the big kids at Thanksgiving, running and playing. Luke took great care of Lauren and watched out for her. He spent a lot of time running and playing with her.

The family quilt. It was made by several of the girls in the family, including myself. This past year my sister had the quilt, which was cool since Claire was born when Jen had it. Jen passed the quilt onto Lora and she will keep it for the year. When you have the family quilt you take pictures with it and keep a journal about the quilt for the year. It is a great family tradition. I am so excited that I have two daughters that will one day have the family quilt for a year as well.

Of course I am thankful for the obvious this year, Addison. We feel so blessed to have a healthy thriving daughter to complete our family. I am thankful for my wonderful husband and the amazing father that he is with Lauren and Addison. I am thankful for Lauren and the many smiles she brings to my face each day with the funny things that come out of her mouth. I often wonder where she picks up some of the things she says. She is too funny!

Addison's take home outfit is finally starting to fit!

At 7 weeks old now the outfit we bought for Addison to wear home from the hospital is starting to fit her! It is so cute and I could not wait to put her in it and get her all dressed up! Addison is doing great. Still a night owl, not really wanting to go to bed for the night until 10 or 11. She is sleeping well, but still waking up about every 3-4 hours. Sometimes 2 hours which is really hard for me to wake up again in the middle of the night when I just got back to sleep. I had my 6 week follow up with my Dr. yesterday and all is well. I hope to just see her once a year now since Mark and I are probably done having babies.

Addison is really starting to stick her tongue out these days and I was able to catch it on camera. I still can't get any really big smiles for the camera, but I am sure I will soon.

Lauren brought Addison some toys to "hold on to with her hands." It was so sweet. Lauren went into Addison's room and brought her these toys to play with. She is such a great big sister and just adores Addison. The other day when Addison was in the bouncy seat Lauren was in her face talking to her and Addison watched her very closely for several minutes. Addison is really starting to notice the world around her and what is happening. She is growing so fast!

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving with my mom's family in Lawrence on Thursday. Can't wait to eat turkey and stuffing and all the pies. Should be a fun day. Of course we are thankful for the obvious, a beautiful healthy baby girl and a wonderful big sister.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Trying so hard to smile for the camera..

Addison is 6 weeks old and is smiling at Mark and I several times a day. Last night I tried to get a picture of her smiling but she just stared at the big black thing in her face (the camera.) There is a little smirk of a smile here so I thought I would share it. You can also see her eyes light up and show more awareness of the world around her. Well I can see that at least! It is so great after all the sleepless nights to finally see your baby smiling at you. You know that you are in for another marathon of a night, but when you wake up to a smile it makes it all worth it!

A busy weekend

This past weekend Mark's family was in town for Addison's baptism. She looked so pretty in her dress and she did so well in church. She slept the whole time! My sister Jennifer and Mark's brother Pat are Addison's Godparents. We enjoyed having Mark's brother and mom in town for the baptism and Lauren had fun playing with Uncle Pat and Grandma. The Godparents, Mark's brother Pat and my sister Jennifer. Lauren loves Aunt Jen. She is really a great Aunt to Lauren and I know she will be a wonderful Aunt and Godmother to Addison. Thanks Jen!

Lauren was too busy running around the church and playing with her cousin Claire to join our family picture.

Friday at daycare was the Thanksgiving Feast. All the kids made this turkey hat to wear during their feast. Lauren had a turkey sandwich, corn casserole, a muffin, a "really big cookie, but no pumpkin pie. I don't like pumpkin pie." She has continued to wear her hat around the house, which we think is pretty cute!

We can't wait for Thanksgiving next week. I am looking forward to a great meal and lots of time with family. Our Thanksgiving celebrations with my mom's family are always a ton of fun. Can't wait to see everybody!

Addison in her jeans

Today I put Addison in these little jeans that I found for her from Children's Place and they are too cute. I have several shirts to put her in in the next few months that she will wear with theses jeans so I wanted to try them on. It is so fun dressing up little girls!

As the "photographer" of the family I rarely have any pictures with me in them, so I try very hard to have Mark snap a few here and there. Since I have only fixed my hair and put on make-up maybe twice in the last 5 weeks there are limited opportunities for a photo of me and the girls. Below is a great one of Addison and I. Mark took Monday off and we took Lauren to daycare and Mark, Addison and I went shopping all day for Christmas presents. So I had a reason to fix my hair and put on make-up. We got all of our shopping done, enjoyed lunch at the Olive Garden, and Addison slept the whole time. Except when I woke her up to feed her while at Baby's R Us, then she was right back to sleep through lunch and Toys R Us.

What I have learned in the first month

Addison is one month old today and I can't believe where the time has gone. I have learned:

• That it is possible to love another child as much as you love the first one.
• That sometimes it is easier to take care of a fussy newborn rather than a limit pushing, not listening, whining, trying to adjust to having a baby sister Toddler!
• When Lauren is in a good mood (which is most of the time) she is a great big sister and she loves Addison so much.
• It is much easier the second time around. You know that the sleepless nights will come to an end, you know how to breastfeed, you know not to freak out over everything!
• Mark and I have no free time together. Well, I would rather sleep than watch Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, hang out with Mark, etc...
• Having 2 is well worth it and I would not change a thing!
  

I can't wait for Addison to start smiling at us. She is such a great baby. She sleeps most of the day. She is usually up in the evening and is fussy 3-4 evenings during the week. Lately she has been staying up until 11, so that has been tough. But she sleep for 3-4 hours a time at night and wakes up to feed and then goes right back to sleep. I really can't complain. Mark and I just adore our girls and can't wait to watch them start playing together (and with that comes fighting together!)

Which is Lauren and which is Addison?

If you wondered if the girls look alike I think this will answer your question. While I can tell them apart completely, I think they have similar features and I think both look like their daddy! Addison
Lauren
This was one of my favorite outfits that Lauren had. I was so glad to be able to put Addison in it and get more use out of it. While we will have to buy more clothes for her in the 3-6 month period and over the summer there are several of Lauren's that can be worn again. But of course, a girl always needs new clothes, so I have bought Addison several new things since she has been born!

Lauren the cook, and Addison gets a bottle

This past weekend we introduced the bottle to Addison and she did awesome. She did not cry or fuss, just took right to it. I am so proud of her and Mark is so excited to be able to feed her as well. We plan on giving her the bottle each weekend once a day and hopefully a few times during the week.

Hanging out halloween night with her daddy.

This past week Lauren has helped me cook dinner a few times, and we also made cookies. As you can see she did a lot of eating while cooking, and made lots of messes, but it was a lot of fun.

Happy Halloween

I had some free time now so I thought I would put these pictures on. Lauren has been wearing her princess costume for weeks now and she can't wait to go trick or treating. I think she will actually say trick or treat this year and not be shy. We have been talking about it all week.


We are not going to dress Addison up. We are just going to put her into a halloween outfit. She will go trick or treating with us, but I am sure will sleep through the whole thing! Happy Halloween everyone.

Carving Pumpkins

This weekend we decided to carve pumpkins with the girls. We did it last year and Lauren loved it, so we decided to make it a Halloween tradition. Lauren was not as into it this year because she did not want to get her hands dirty. Such a girly girl! So Mark did most (well all of the work) while I hung out with Lauren and Addison slept through the whole thing.

There was no getting dirty yet, so Lauren was helping Mark...

This is how Addison spends most of her days. She is such a great baby. When she is awake she is so peaceful and content. She only cries when she is hungry and tired.

Lauren decided playing in the garage was much more fun than carving pumpkins and getting dirty!

Addison is growing

We went to her 2 week check-up yesterday and she is up to 8 lbs 10 oz. That does not surprise me because she is nursing so well and so often. She does go for about 3-4 hours at a time in the middle of the night which allows me to get some decent sleep. During the day she goes about every 2-3 hours and in the evening it is a feeding marathon. I just sit on the couch and nurse her almost every hour. But that is okay if that means she will sleep well at night.

Lauren has gone to daycare everyday this week and is having a lot of fun with her friends. She is sad each morning when we drop her off and she cries and cries, but when I go back to pick her up she is happy and smiling and says she had fun at school playing. I am glad we have daycare to take her to because I am not quite ready to tackle both the girls all day long by myself. My sleep is more important at this point! I am not sure how people do it, having a newborn and other kids in the house. I will learn soon enough!

Pumpkin Patch

With such great weather we headed out to Faulkner's pumpkin patch Sunday afternoon. Addison slept the whole time and Lauren had a blast! She enjoyed another pony ride, a hay ride, and she loved the swings. Her favorite thing was running through the corn maze looking for her daddy! There was a petting zoo but Lauren did not like the smell of the animals so she did not play with them. Next weekend we hope to carve pumpkins, just in time for Halloween.

Sweet Addison and Lauren's new favorite snack

Addison had her first Dr's appt. yesterday and did great. She is almost back up to her birth weight. She was 8 lbs 3 oz yesterday. That surprised me because she is nursing like crazy! Last evening was pretty rough. She basically nursed from 5 to midnight. Each hour she wanted more and then would fall asleep for a little while, but when we went to lay her down she would wake up and cry and try to eat Mark's arm! So he brought her to me and said "she is still hungry" So finally at midnight she nursed one last time and went to sleep. I was hoping she would sleep until morning, but of course I was not so lucky. She was up at 4 and then again at 7:30. She is sleeping now and has been since 9. YEA! I also took a nap this morning and Mark and Lauren headed out to play! I am going to miss him when he goes back to work next week.

Lauren loves Addison and has done really well with her. She wakes up each morning wanting to see her, hold her, play with her and kiss on her. We are so proud of her. She is testing us at bedtime and that has been challenging, but through out the day she is great!

Lauren's new favorite snack is a "big apple." She likes to hold it herself and she will eat the whole thing, right down to the core. Here are a few cute shots of Lauren I have taken this week. I felt like I should share some of her as well.

Sleep, eat, sleep sleep, eat, sleep, sleep, sleep....

Addison is such a great baby. We are so blessed. All she does is eat and sleep. Last night she went 4 hours in between feeds and is still sleeping this morning. She only cries when she is hungry and trying to fall asleep.

I wondered how I could possibly love another baby as much as I love Lauren but now I know. God is amazing filling my heart with so much love for both my girls. Lauren is doing such a great job being a big sister and we are so proud of her. Yesterday she helped with the bath and she loved it.

Mark and I are doing well. He is such a great daddy and husband. I could not do all of this without him. Thank you sweetie!