Addy's First Year Video

Here is the short video I made of Addison's first year. Enjoy!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY, ADDY!!

Just a short post of a couple pics from Addy's 1st Birthday Party. I'd like to post more, so maybe I'll get around to that between packing our house (Did you know we're moving to TULSA in 2 weeks????), trying to keep it in "show-ready" condition since we're still trying to sell it, and keeping up with a toddling toddler. Addy is walking all around! In the meantime, here are a few pics of her 1st birthday!

She enjoyed her cake very much. She was all dainty like and stuck
one finger in the icing and licked it over and over.
Then, she finally took a decent chunk out of the middle. Yummy!

Addy and Bella enjoyed playing with her new "rocking butterfly"

Having fun with bubbles and wands outside while Daddy grilled our lunch!

10 months and the Zoo!

Addy turned 10 months last week. You know, I started out so well, documenting everything, taking tons of pictures. Now I keep missing landmarks. Just imagine how I'll be with my future children. So, these pics are of Addy at 10 months and 3 days! :o) I thought that was close enough. We've been enjoying nice warm weather here in San Antonio. However, I just opened my next size tub of hand-me-downs from cousin Beth Ellen and discovered that we've got to wear as much as possible on our cooler days so we don't miss out on any of these cute outfits! Thanks, Bethie, for the cute leopard print outfit!

This is Addy showing off her pointing skills as she points at Samson the Goat.
He would have liked to nibble on her little finger if I would've let him!

We took another trip to the zoo yesterday. It was 6 moms, 6 strollers, and 8 baby/toddler girls. We were quite the bunch. It was a beautiful day and the kiddoes (and the moms) all had lots of fun. Addy still loved the monkeys and the fish and birds. They all moved a lot which makes them so much more fun for little eyes. They also were in exhibits where Addy could see them from the stroller. Many of the exhibits have ledges or bushes around and Addy couldn't see without getting out (which Mommy discovered was okay except for the getting-back-in-the-stroller part) You'll see lots of pics of Addison and Bella. Bella is just 6 weeks older, and the girls are really close in skill level. (or however you say that). They love playing together and sharing snacks. It's pretty cute to see them starting to interact.

Update on the house . . . . It's on the market! The sign went in the yard today. So, hopefully we'll have some bites in the next couple of weeks. My ideal situation is that we'd get an exceptable offer in 2-3 weeks and wouldn't have to move out for 2-3 months. :o) Keeping the house in show-ready condition is going to be a tough job with a 10-month old running around here! We'll keep you posted!

Check out all our pics at www.falatfam.shutterfly.com!

I know, I know, I know!

So it's been 2 months since my last post. I'm a loser blogger. But in my defense, I have thought about blogging tons of times! So many things have happened in the past 2 months . . . . here's a quick run down . . . . beware . . . . it's a long one. Don't feel obligated to read it all! :o)

CHRISTMAS and NEW YEARS!!

• We traveled first to California. It was an adventure getting there. We had a few delays, but not too bad. But, when we arrived, we discovered that our luggage (including our stroller and car seat) did not. Bummer. We managed for about 24 hours thanks to help from Grandma Falat! We had such a nice time with the Falat Family! We had a chance to see Uncle Ethan play basketball. We had an open house at the Falat's to see lots of family friends. We all took an overnighter into Oakland/San Francisco. We played with Mollie (Addy loved her, but the dog wasn't quite so sure about Addy). We shopped. We took an adorable picture with Santa. We went to church for the Christmas Eve service. AND, we opened lots of Christmas gifts! Addison had a blast with our California family!

• On Christmas Day we flew out from CA to OK. It was another trying flight. After several delays and a couple of hours on a runway, we finally arrived at 2am. Poor little Addy was quite a trooper. We sure were happy to see Grandma and Grandpa White! We got to spend time with all the cousins (8 of them!) and the aunts and uncles. Addy opened more presents! (Well, we did, too!) We took family pics all together. We went to church and kept up the tradition of eating pizza at Mazzio's, which is a favorite of all the cousins! Addy is starting to like pizza, too! What a nice time with our Oklahoma (and Texas) family!

• "Aunt" Jen came down after Christmas just in time to stay with Addy for New Years Eve! She was so sweet to volunteer to come down so Evan and I could actually go out for our anniversary which happens to be Dec. 31st. We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and it was a wonderful evening! I felt like a queen and enjoyed the meal very much! We had a wonderful time celebrating our 4 years of marriage! Then we had a few days of fun with Aunt Jen, enjoying some shopping, some eating out, and of course a Spurs game! Thanks again, Jen, for watching Addy for us!

JAN/FEB

• Addy and I have started "Baby Bootcamp" an exercise program where mom's bring their child in the stroller and workout under an instructor. We walk/run then stop and work different muscle groups (usually with resistance bands) then walk/run then stop, etc. I have been going on average about 3 times a week. It is lots of fun and a great workout. Addy and I love seeing other moms and babies, and it is a great excuse to get out and get going in the mornings.

• Addy has her first tooth! Finally! At about 9 months, Evan discovered a pokey thing in Addy's mouth. I've been waiting for this for forever, it seems. It made her a little fussy, but nothing to crazy. I can't wait for more to come to make her little toothy smile!

• Addy has become quite the little social butterfly (even a "flirt!). She loves to wave. Now, it has taken her a while to actually wave "bye-bye", which she does now and even sometimes even says "buh-buh". But she has loved waving "hello" or "hey, look at me" or "aren't I so cute" to anyone and everyone for the past couple of months. It is so funny to watch. We'll be out at the store and she'll just be waving away and I'll turn around and some cute old man will be waving back. This is quite a cute new development!

• In mid-January we traveled to Dallas to meet "Aunt" Jen's new beau. We went to the Ft. Worth Stockshow and had a great time. Addy even got a chance to wear her little cowgirl boots! We had a great visit with Jen, Alex, and of course with Randy's family and the cousins.
  

• Evan took Addy and I to see "Dancing with the Stars: The Live Tour!" It was lots of fun. Addison wore her new pink tutu she got from Aunt Lisa at Christmas. (The above picture) We had lots of fun watching all the dancers. Maybe Addy will be a dancer one day??
  

• In early February we took a trip to freezing Chicago. (Thankfully it wasn't too freezing) We were so excited to see several friends while there. We stayed with Aunt Emily and Uncle JT (Evan's sister) and had such a nice time. We also got to see the Pardues (Evan's best buddy that he grew up with in the Phillippines) with little Ava and Lucy. And, we got to spend an afternoon/evening with the Zielkes who moved there last summer and were in our small group here in San Antonio. Addy had lots of fun with Trevor and Elliott. We got to spend a beautiful day in downtown Chicago with Emily and JT and have their favorite Chicago Pizza Pot-pie. It was a great trip.

• In mid-February, we lost my Grandma. My mom's mom, Louise Crawford passed away on February 13. She had been in poor health for several years, and finally decided it was time to go home to be with the Lord. We are so happy for her that she is no longer in pain, but are sad that she is gone. She was a wonderful woman, a shining light for the Lord. We were able to go to Missouri to be at her funeral. It was a nice time to be with family and celebrate the person she was.

• Just this past weekend, we went to Dallas AGAIN. It seems like the travel has been never-ending. I got to hang with Jen and her mom and sis a lot. We had lots of fun. Evan was wonderful to watch Addy so we 4 girls could go to the Chris Tomlin concert. We sat in the 6th row, and it was tons of fun! Thanks Jen, for the great night!

So, we're finally home. As far as we know, there are no travel plans until June. We do have at least 3 visitors coming, but Addy will get to sleep in her own crib for a while. That will be such a sweet blessing! Hopefully we can get her back on some kind of schedule. (Of course, you know we'll probably end up travelling sometime since we love to be on the go!)

Our biggest thing occupying us now is that we're putting our house on the market in the next couple of weeks. We're not exactly sure what the Lord has for us next, but we'd love to get closer to family. Whatever that means, we'd like to get out of our house, and this is the time to do it. We're praying that living across the street from the Air Force Base will benefit us. There will be many new young families being transferred here in the next couple of months, and we hope one of them wants to live in our house!! You can put that on your prayer list for us. That the house would sell quickly and that we would know exactly where we are supposed to go next.

I promise to keep more updated. (I know, I better be careful what I say).

You can see lots of pictures of all of these happenings HERE.

Thanks for reading!

Pics and Parties for Christmas!

We wanted to have a good "Christmas-y" family picture for our Christmas cards this year, so we enlisted the help of our friends Josh and Jessica. They came over and played photographer and baby-attention-getter for our pics. It was quite a feat to get this little one to look at the camera and kinda smile. You see, she is a quite a wiggly-worm now that she is mobile! We managed to get a few decent ones. You can see more of them HERE.


Last Thursday we hosted our SmallGroup Christmas party. We had 16 adults, 2 toddlers, and 3 babies all crammed into our little home. It was a great time! We had lots of yummy food, a fun gift exchange and hours of chatting and just having a good time. I enjoyed the fact that I got to show of Addy and let her play with the other girls, but got to put her to bed in her own crib and then enjoy the rest of the night talking with the grown-ups and not having to worry about her. :o)

Here she is with Bella (9 mo), Lauren (2 yrs) and Shelby (5 wks):


We managed to use the timer and get an entire group picture . . . It turned out pretty well for such a big group! And we only took 2!


I have to tell you also about my little last minute project for the Christmas party. I decided Addy needed a holiday outfit, and I didn't want her to wear her "Christmas Dress" because it would be "too much" for our casual little party. So, I remembered seeing this cute little outfit at a little boutique in Tulsa and loving it:



So I decided to make my own Christmas version! I had a white onesie - ironed on the letters for "Jingle Belle" - sewed red tulle between green/white swiss dot ribbon - found a child-sized Santa hat at Walmart - there ya go! It definitely wasn't "too much" . . . . Do ya think? (Okay, so I know sometimes I go overboard with my girly girl and her froufiness and bows . . . but isn't it too cute! :o)



Check out all our other pics at www.falatfam.shutterfly.com

Storytime

We are all about getting out for playdates and just hanging out with friends. We try to get together with friends at least once or twice a week and we're always looking for things to do. At Addy's age, she pretty much doesn't care too much about what we do, but she does like getting out. She is always so entertained just by watching people and being outside and seeing what all is going on around her. So, I was checking out all the events going on in our newspaper and came across "storytime at Barnes and Noble - Free!". I know Addy isn't probably the target age for this service, but hey, it's something to do and it's free! So, Addy and I met our friends Sarah and her 9 month old Bella and Jessica and her 1 month old Shelby at Barnes and Noble. The girls didn't really listen to the story, but they loved watching all the "big kids" (2-3-4 year olds) and just interacting. Then we went for lunch and the Mommies really enjoyed that part! Here are a few pics:

A Fresh Start

Here we are all fresh and anew sharing the daily (or weekly, or biweekly, depending on how busy I am) comings and goings of our happy family of three. Our former website is on hold right now since the hard drive on our computer crashed and all our data (including my website) was taken with it. We are in the process of trying to retrieve that data, but we'll see. . . . . you can see any previous pictures, video, and blogs at web.me.com/falatfam. Our initial time for that website is up in February anyway, and we have to pay to continue it, so I thought we'd check out blogspot for a while. A lot of my friends use it, so I thought I'd try it out for now since I can't use my other and I might just decide to stick with it.

So, here are a few highlights of the past couple of weeks:

• We've been to the zoo, to see Sesame Street Live, to ride the train around the zoo and park, to the Japanese Tea Gardens, on a couple of playdates, to a couple of Spurs games, to the mall, to take pictures with the Spurs Coyote, on a trip to the hill country for a picnic . . . . Addy and I have had quite the social life lately! (And Evan on occasion - poor guy actually has to work!)
• Addy celebrated her 7 month birthday!
  
• Addy is officially crawling and pulling up on everything! I've got to get this house child-proofed! Life is rapidly changing! She's not real fast yet, but if she really wants something, she can make it across the room. And, now every time we go into her room because she is crying, we find her standing up holding on to the bars and giving us quite the pouty look. She is just so adorable! Even when she's throwing a fit! :o)

• We enjoyed a potluck-style Thanksgiving with our small group at the home of the Whitakers. We had a really nice time hanging out with these friends!

I'm sure there have been many more things, but here is a start. Maybe I can keep up on this new format . . . we'll see. I'll leave you with a few pics:


In Bandera on picnic day . . . .
. . . . . At the Japanese Tea Gardens

With the Coyote, the Spurs Mascot . . . . Addy thought he was just a big teddy bear!

Addy enjoyed her Thanksgiving Dinner - she tested the mashed potatoes and broccoli casserolle, but mostly ate her oat cereal, pureed apricots, and sweet potato puffs.

Addy loved Lauren's swing . . . this was pretty much her first time in a swing like this and as you can tell, we might need to find a way to get her one like this!


Addy got to help put her first star on the Christmas tree! We bought our live Fraser Fir today at Lowes and have the lights on so far . . .