All About Addison

My sweet baby girl is 5 months now, and I feel like I should have a little post about her. Most of you have not have had the privelege to get to know or even meet her yet, so I would like to give you a little insight in to my precious baby.

Addison has been such a joy to our lives. She is such a wonderful little girl and lights up our day with everything she does. I can't say enough words about how easy she has been. Raegan was a pretty easy baby, but I was very quick to put her on a strict schedule. Addison is even easier, and she does it all herself at her own pace.

When she was an newborn, she loved sleeping in bed with me. For those of you that know how I was with Raegan, I was very anti co-sleeping. But having another child at home to tend to during the day once Addison was born, I did whatever was necessary to get a little sleep. Well, sweet girl was not fond of sleeping in her own bed right at the beginning, but she would sleep up to 5 hours straight next to me in bed. It was just survival, and so I let her. Then, we just approached each transition one at a time. Soon, I could put her in her bed early in the night, and then when she would get up to eat, she would usually stay in bed with me until morning. Next came sleeping in her bed almost all night. By 7 weeks old, I had to move her out of our room in to her own bed. I probably would have done this sooner, because I don't sleep well with little ones in my room making noises all night, but I was concerned that if she woke up in the middle of the night crying, she would wake Raegan up, since their rooms were across the hall from each other. I finally had to just rip the band-aid off, and it has never even been an issue. Then once she was sleeping in her own bed at night, we gradually worked up to naptime as well. By 10 weeks of age, Addison was sleeping all the way through the night from about 6 at night until 8 in the morning, without waking up to eat. I cannot believe how blessed I am to have such a wonderful sleeper. She also takes 2 naps during the day, about an hour and a half to two hours each. Can we say fantastic?

Addison is such an easy going baby. She is so laid back. She almost never cries. We can go days without ever hearing her cry. She loves to just sit back and observe her surroundings. She is a big momma's girl. From birth she loved to nurse, and very early on she decided she had no desire to take a bottle. That makes things a little difficult to leave her at home with daddy so that mommy can run errands, but I never realized how much I would enjoy nursing her. Raegan refused to nurse, and would only take a bottle, so I have seen the other side of it, and how freeing it is to be able to let other people feed your baby. I had hoped to make it to 6 months of breast-feeding, and then let Addison decide how long we would continue after that. It seems as though we will definetly make the 6 month mark, and I may have to cut her off after a year, haha! One of my favorite times of the day is early morning, when Raegan is still asleep and Addison has already woken up. I will put her in bed with me and side-lie nurse her. I feel so close and connected to her that way, being cuddled up next to her. (Of course, when I say early morning, I mean like 7 am). =)

Recently we have started Addison on solid food. She started on cereal almost 2 weeks ago, and then we just introduced some veggies. This time around I am making my own baby food. I am having a lot of fun doing it. I don't feel bad about giving Raegan jarred food, because I was a very busy working mom, but I definetly feel great about being able to make my own food. So far she has had sweet potatoes and carrots, and next up will be bananas, pumpkin, and squash...yum!

Addison has been such a wonderful addition to our little family. We can not believe how fortunate we have been to have this wonderful little girl as our baby. Every day she amazes us. She is so loving and freely gives us the most precious open-mouth kisses. Just like her older sister, she could care less about rolling over. She has rolled over once, but loves sitting up. Raegan sat up on her own before she ever rolled over, and Addison is about to sit up on her own as well. She sits up very well with a little support behind her. She has only rolled over once.

She offers up smiles freely, and never cries when she wakes up. She just lays in bed and plays with her feet and talks to herself until we come get her out. What a dream. Can you ask for anything better than that? She isn't as easily amused as Raegan was. You really have to impress her, but when she does laugh, it is the most wonderful sound you will ever hear. The person that amuses her the most is her big sister. Raegan can make her crack up without even trying. It is very evident how much easier it is to amuse Raegan than Addison when we try to make Addison laugh, and Raegan is the one cracking up.

I look forward to watching our little girl grow up. As cliche' as it sounds, they really do grow up too fast, and I think it is going even faster the second time around. I feel so fortunate that Justin's job allows me to be at home to be present when it all happens. Thank you so much for entering our lives sweet Addison!