11 Months.- (23lbs )

I looked at Addison today, and realized....she's not a little baby (infant) anymore, she's growing into a little toddler girl with a BIG personality. For those of you that have gotten to see her more recently, you can attest to this. She loves to be the center of attention, and is such the little entertainer. I believe we are going to have are hands full as the years go by. :)

These monthly shots have been so classic. However, I think Adam and I both agree we are only doing one more for her 12 month- it's gotten a little ridiculous.

Check out all those teeth! (4)



Addison, cross your legs like a lady!!

Check out those rolls....they're still there!!

She was rocking the rocking chair, back and forth like crazy. She thought is was so much fun and hysterical! :) You can actually see some of her blond hair in this pic. She looks bald from the front, but she really does have a good amount of very light blond hair!!

Baby escaped...



To go catch Kali- Obviously VERY excited and proud of herself - yelling at Daddy!


My First swing ride April 9th -loved it!

Physically:

Cruising around all the furniture and her toys effortlessly, with little use of her arms for support- just a finger tip here and there is sufficient.

Walking with her baby stroller and push toys all around the house-running into walls, and furniture and then backing up and going in another direction.

Walking holding onto our hands-fingers mostly, and the other day was pinching the skin on my arm to hold onto.

Walking holding onto Kali -yes Kali, our black lab has become her walking device. haha. :) (We are so lucky to have such an awesome dog)

She just needs to gain a little more confidence, and she will be off and running. (uh-oh)

Standing without holding on to anything- for easily 1-3 minutes at a time- but doesn't stay in one place for that long.

Standing reaching out for different things- and learning what her limits are (as we say in PT-"limits of stability")

and of course crawling....fast...everywhere!! She likes to take little tours and adventures around the house discovering all sorts of things: the toilet paper...Kali's water bowl...the stairs...her highchair (and then standing up, and pushing it along the floor to walk with)...her toybox...and she knows when she gets to something that we don't like her to be doing...she's has the biggest smile, laughs and almost sticks her tongue out saying-haha!

Playing:

Loves to roll the ball back and forth to us....or Kali (it's the cutest thing to watch them play fetch together, even if Addison only throws it 2ft.)

Loves jumping on our laps

Loves clapping her hands - to show us she's happy, proud of herself, or in response to "When you're happy and you know it" (clap your hands)

Loves waving...to EVERYONE (this girls doesn't know what the concept of a stranger is.)

Loves opening and closing things on her toys or in the house (toy oven, toy mailbox, toy/real doors, toy boxes, etc)

Loves to play with the tv remotes, changing the channels, and turns the TV button on/off/on/off/on/off......

Loves to "read" books, turning the pages and pointing at different things

Loves to play music on her music tables

Loves to "dance" to music we turn on, or "sing" to her. (she was rockin' out to Michael Jackson one morning on Pandora)
Loves playing with Elmo, her dolly's and stuffed animals.-gives them hugs and kisses. :)

Giving Da-da a kiss while taking a break from walking with her stroller.


What is Addison Eating this month?

(I can hear her saying to me, in her head, "Momma, I do")

She loves to feed herself - ANYTHING.

New foods this month: pancakes, elbow noodles, cut up fruit, cut up cheese, potatoes, potato pancakes, more chunkier foods- she's doing a great job with feeding herself and chewing it all well.

Still eating 3 solid meals a day-8am, 12pm, 6pm; nursing morning/evening with 2 more bottles (6oz) during the day. Weaning is going well, and plan to wean her off completely this month as she can have cow's milk at 1yr. Crazy to think that it's been almost a year, and I am so happy to have had the opportunity and experience with Addison to breast-feed. I'm definitely proud of both of us for making it this long (when my original goal was 6 months). But, it really is totally worth it, and gets easier each day-especially after the first month, 3 months and 6 months. Considering it took her 1hr to nurse initially, and now it's 5-7 minutes. Not to mention how much $ it has saved us from buying formula-bought it for the first time last month, $22 a package (which lasts us 10-12 days for her to have 2 bottles a day). So, we've easily saved hundreds, if not thousands of dollars this year. :) And bonus I just got to eat more yummy food.



Teeth: Top Left tooth: April 6th

Communication:
She's consistently saying Ba-ba, Ma-ma, Da-da, De-de and "puh-puh" (both for Kali-dog). But, she's also trying to repeat whatever we say. She likes to scream if she wants something, so we are working on better communication- using sign language- for "more" when she's eating. Which she actually just started doing more. We're working on "help" too, because she gets frustrated when she's playing with a toy and needs help with it. It's really cool to see her understanding things that we say, and she's trying to communicate with us. It's going to be fun to see what her next words will be... I know this is going to be the biggest challenge in the next year is communication, but we are going to do our best.

Sleeping:
Adam and I learned a big lesson in parenting this month. STOP rocking the baby to sleep. It was a habit that we had gotten into early on, and as she got older it just got harder to put her down, because she could immediately stand up and scream knowing we were gone. She started to have more separation anxiety when we would put her down (if she wasn't completely asleep). So, it took about 10 days- and now she is able to go down sleepy, but not completely asleep, and is able to fall asleep on her own. Success!! Thanks to my girlfriends for helping me with this. You guys are the best. :) And yay for Addison!

Adventures:

First nice warm day 80 + degrees: We played outside and took her on her first swing ride. She had so much fun, and is definitely going to love being outside a lot this summer.

Springfield Family Weekend with my best girl friends from college:

The Murphy's (Jamie, Ryan, Tucker -2yrs, Cameron- 5 months), THe Buenings (Jamie, Michael, and twins: Gavin-3 & Landyn-3), The Strobachs (Ashley, Jeff, Jack-4, Louis-2, baby girl #3 due in Aug).

Addison did really well with the 3hr car ride; sleeping half the time, and then playing. We switched her into her convertible car seat this month-which fits her much better than the infant seat. New recommendations are for it to be rear-facing until she's 2, but I don't know how long that will last. We had a great time at the Murphy's playing together and catching up. We went swimming at the hotel too for Addisons first time in a pool. It was a little cold, but she loved it anyway. She was exausted by the end of the day, and slept well in the pack n play in the hotel room. We all had a great time, and it is the first of many get together's with our families.


All the Kiddos outside on the play-set

Boys, Boys, and a girl...


The twins...I think it's Landyn on the left and Gavin on the right. Then Jack in the blue, and Tucker in the other Cardinals shirt.


Love these Women! Holding baby Cameron- such a sweetie!

Uncle B came to visit:

Post coming on Addison's first Easter:

10 Months

10 month Stats: almost 21 lbs (estimate) 28 1/4 in long (estimate)










Gazing out the window- longing for nicer days to come so I can go outside to play.



We've officially hit the double digit months; and her 1 year Birthday is just around the corner. I honestly can't believe it. Where has the time gone? Wasn't it just Christmas? It's been a fun and busy month with Addison getting out and about - going to the Aquarium with our friends the Beu's and their little girl, Kayla, who is exactly 2 months older than her. (Happy Birthday Kayla!) - going to Grandma Jones', going to Great Grandma Carlson's, and Kayla's Birthday party.

Aquarium pics:

Watching the Beluga whales

Playing with Kayla at her Birthday Party:

Adam and I also went to the Bull's game on March 12th with some awesome 1st row seats for the game against the Utah Jazz, with half time reunion of the 90-91 Bulls (Jordan, Pippen, etc).

What is Addison Eating this month? more finger foods and thicker consistencies: scrambled eggs, cut up fruit (pears, peaches, bananas, blueberries), cheerios (her absolute favorite thing now-a must for every meal), stage 3 baby foods (thicker consistencies), cheese (slices of american cheese, small cubes), mashed potatoes. Eating at least 6 oz of food per meal- and still wants more of course. Going to start introducing more table food as we are able to this month. Any suggestions?

And I like to make a mess when I eat! Isn't it more fun when you get to eat your hand at the same time, rub it all over your face and head too?!


Turned around after I got something out of the fridge...and this is what I see:

Drinking? taking a sippy cup of water for most meals- is able to drink herself (for the most part), tried some watered down apple juice, formula and breast-milk. Weaning more from breast-feeding as we make our way to her 1st birthday- currently 3 of 4 feedings a day, making the way to only mornings and evenings soon. ( and stopping pumping at work - woohoo) Taking 6 oz of milk/formula 4 x day.

Physically: CRAWLING is her main mode of transportation this month-and she is getting FAST. Then upon reaching her destination she MUST stand up-be it against a wall, the sliding glass door, the couch, ottoman, tv stand, bookshelf, or our legs. Now she's carrying something with her- usually one of her finger puppet "guys" elmo, bert or ernie.

Standing: supported holding on with 1-2 hands, turning around, reaching, picking up toys, etc.

(she started turning on and off the TV yesterday and thought it was just hysterical and amazing all at the same time)

Standing unsupported (no hands) for 5-10 sec before realizing that she isn't holding, and then just sits down or grabs on for support.

Cruising/Furniture walking: all around the family room couches, tables, bookshelves, etc.

Walking: assisted with our hands holding hers, or with help using her baby stroller or walker/scooter. That's all new this month---and we'll see what this month brings.

Stair climbing: This is her favorite work out during the day- one morning I let her climb up 4 x before her morning nap- and she slept great! :) She's even able to go up one after the other.

Playing: She's doing well being able to play by herself now without requiring us to entertain her- she can easily entertain herself and whoever is watching. She loves to throw her toys - and also throw them one on top of the other alternating hands. She just learned how to roll a ball back and forth to us, and is able to respond to us to get a ball and start rolling it. She's starting to identify what her toys are now. So cool! :) She loves reading books, and will even turn the pages to herself on the floor and feel and look closely at all the pictures.

Communication: She said "Ma-MA"!!! on 3/25/11 in the morning after she woke up and wanted Mommy! Yeah! Couldn't have made me smile bigger. She's saying "Da-Da" too now. Also, new is "De-De" for Kali dog. "Ba-Ba"- which may mean herself or bottle. Who knows how consistent these all are at this point, but at least she's babbling.

Trying to work on some sign language, especially during meals, so that we don't have a lot of screaming when she wants something. She is responding pretty well with "more" and "eat" or "drink" at this poing.

Giving Kisses: so cute now- gives kisses when we say "give mama kiss" - and even gives kisses to her friends in books like elmo of course. At church the other day, she kept giving elmo a kiss :)

Teeth: Right Front Top tooth came in on 3/19/11- she handled this one much better then the first too, and we kinda knew more what to do as well. The Left one is going to be coming in any day now, as it is also pretty swollen.



Graduated to the big girl bath tub now- so I can swim around and play with all my toys: (yes, that's a bruise on her cheek- from a dare devil stunt she was trying.)



Reading with Grandpa Seghi on Thursday Morning St. Patricks Day


Playing with Daddy is my favorite: (discovery of tupperware and wooden spoons = drums)



Probably one of my favorite pics to date




Baby Doll
Here's a typical play by play of Addison in action playing with her favorite "buddies" Bert, Ernie and Elmo.

DADDY FIRST POST:
That's right folks. Daddy is joining in the blog party.

Let me start with by saying this:
Amy has done an amazing job with "The Seghi Family" blog and keeping everyone up-to-date. It takes hours of work to get these posts up and I know she enjoys it, so tell your friends to read this!

I am blessed to be married to such an amazing woman who devotes all of her waking moments to our beautiful little girl. It's pretty cool to watch her and Addison interact. They definitely have a bond unlike anything I've seen. I hope Addy grows up to be just like her mommy.

Okay, now that the mushy stuff is out of the way...

Being a daddy is straight-up fun. There have obviously been some interesting and difficult moments i.e. sleep deprivation, random fussiness, projectile poop, etc., but more often than not, not a day passes without me laughing hysterically at this magical little girl. Addison knows that Daddy will play with her, even when she's sitting in her high-chair, munching on her cheerios. One of her favorite things to do, especially when my back is turned (usually cooking) is yell. I'll spin around quickly and say "HEY!" and this puts her over the edge. It's one of those laughs that is utterly contagious. Chucklehouse.

She has quite the personality and really likes to observe (just like me and Ames). She's already a "people-watcher" and really furrows her brow and moves her eyebrows for effect.

Here's a photo of her in her room, where she decided, "hey, why NOT pull everything off the shelf?" Yes, she appears naked but has a diaper on. That's what happens when you pile everything up around you.



We've taken a couple of walks as a family but we're all looking forward to some warmer weather. In a couple of weeks we will be heading down to central Illinois to meet up with some of Amy's friends from college so all the kids and big kids can get together and play. It should be a lot of fun...

Other than that, the next few months are going to be crazy busy. Amy is just about finished with her doctorate of physical therapy (DPT) which she somehow has been able to not only complete but excel at despite having little time for herself. I'm a lucky fella. Again, it's just another reason why I love her. Commencement is in mid-May (May 19) and during the week, so we'll likely be headed down to St. Louis for a couple of days.

And, that falls in between Mother's Day, some other weekend festivities, and finally Addison's first birthday on Sunday, May 29. Invites will be sent out soon but plan on the early afternoon.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite Addison photos in the past few weeks. Notice her "ready" look and blue eyes...Amy much? Just because she has a similar hair style to me doesn't mean she doesn't look like momma. Plus she's totally getting into her surfing pose...smooches - Adam.