proof that the twos aren't all terrible

Cake and ice cream, catching on to blowing out candles, Dad for a whole afternoon, indoor bouncy house place for only $3 (!), friend time, rice AND pineapple as part of dinner, and gifts that are extremely adored.

What's not to love about a 2nd birthday?!

she's two!

Or she's "two parties" as she keeps telling everyone (what this means, we do not know).

We love our funny, sassy, bossy little Addy!

the super-strength toilet

Good news: Our complex installed new water-efficient toilets in our apartment the other day. They are neither light pink nor my same age. Dreamy.

Bad news: These new toilets flush so loud you swear they could suck you down to the underworld. It's like a jet plane taking off, which is soothing when you're standing right next to it.

It's like perfection met the sound barrier. Awesome.

nessy

I made the Loch Ness Monster.

She made it better.

Conquer the beast, Naked Baby Doll, conquer the beast.

i guess we're real parents now

At 1:30 a.m. we found ourselves cleaning puke off the kid, the crib, the floor, etc. We've dealt with atomic spit up, but this was a first.

We're calling it a rite of passage.

30 weeks down

Yep, still growing.

19 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

28 weeks

30 weeks

Holy shnikeys. She'll be here in no time! Awesome yet terrifying.

worst sound ever?

Hearing your daughter fall down the stairs.

Doug was downstairs and I was upstairs when she fell last night. We wonder if she tripped on the pants she was wearing. I have no idea how high up she was, but I swear I heard her falling for a good 5 minutes so she must have climbed pretty far. And I also think my screams of "DOUG!!!" and much more colorful language echoed through the house for even longer.

Ugh.

Fortunately she seems completely fine (which guardian angel do I thank?!), but we were all a friggin' mess afterwards.

Guess that's the last time I'll ever let her climb stairs. Or walk. Or leave my side. Or function without me.

sometimes you hit a deer

Doug is now a deer-slayer. Or at least his Civic is.

Last week he was driving home from a rotation in Middle-of-Nowhere, Virginia. It was dark and he had three other guys from his class in the car. There was no one else around on the small highway, so once he saw the deer he had time to at least slow down a bit. Fortunately, the car did okay and is still drivable. The deer? He wasn't so lucky. Apparently they had a moment of silence for him while quoting (as you can imagine) "Tommy Boy."

I'm no deer enthusiast, but I'm still so SO grateful that Doug and the guys are okay and the damage to the car is minor. Plus, I'm thankful our insurance is going to be SUPER helpful.

And last but not least, I'm grateful that the rain graciously washed away the last of the deer hair on the hood. Ugh.

"i dress myself"

la navidad

We got to be with Doug's parents for Christmas this year. Addy was the only grandkid there, and she ate up all the attention. Ate. It. Up. 

She was in a great mood on Christmas Eve. She loved pointing out Baby Jesus and was a spectacular angel. She even kinda understood the idea of Santa and had a blast opening everybody's presents.

Christmas Eve + jammies

 Christmas morning

Off to church and matchy match (I wore the wrong colors, so I didn't make the cut for the picture)

 Apron from Grandma Shawn (it's already been used a LOT)

 Baby and old-school nightgown from Grandma Joyce (we all had the same type of nightgown when we were little)

Doug's most beloved gift... a box set of baseball cards

Staying classy with some Martinelli's

Walking around the Mt. St. Helens visitor center down the road from their house (see the volcano in the background? I think Addy's giving it a shifty look, just in case it blows)

Watching football with Grandpa

We got to watch movies, go to the movies, talk about movies, and play games. We baked, we relaxed, and we had a great time.

Traveling home. Yeah, I just liked these pictures of her. Shut up.

We also got to overlap with Ben and Whitney for a day, but I failed to get a single picture of them. Laaame. But it was so fun to hang out with them and their kids!

such an angel

This impromptu Christmas Eve performance nearly overwhelmed us with cuteness.

Is it normal to want to just scream like a crazy person when you realize how much you love your kid? Also, don't I kinda look like a pageant mom?

weirdest way to bring in the new year

We flew home from Washington late last night. We knew we had no food in our house, so at 11:50 pm we made an executive decision to run to the grocery store before we went home. Since Addy was on West Coast time and had taken a rocking nap on the plane (HALLELUJAH), she was feeling great.

So that's how we found ourselves at Kroger with our 1-year-old at midnight. We were the only customers in the store at 12:00, so we just shouted happy new year to each other, smooched, and then finished our self-checkout. And when they made an announcement over the PA wishing everyone a happy 2012, we knew it was just for us. Thanks, Kroger.

So bring it on, 2012! We have a feeling you're going to be a great one.