Confession

Okay, so my mom was able to do it , my grandma could do it, tons of you do it, but I can't!!! I just can't keep up with the house work! My confession...we got a housekeeper and I love her!!! No, we didn't win the lottery (especially since we don't play) or inherit any money. I just insisted that I couldn't be superwoman and do it all (which is hard for me to admit)! I can handle the dishes and daily clean-up, but the deep down cleaning...nope! Our housekeeper comes every other week for 2 hours. She cleans the bathrooms, sweeps and mops the floors, and can usually fit in one other little thing (like dusting, wiping the baseboards, wiping down the cabinets, etc.). I look forward to every other Thursday when she comes! I can't wait to get home and smell a fresh, clean house.

Now to justify...I work full-time, stay very busy with a demanding church calling, keep up with an almost 2 year old who loves to help me clean (which takes 10 times longer), requires at least 6 hours of sleep to function the next day, cheers on a stressed out, extremely busy PA student husband 24/7, who also has a very demanding church calling! I also mow the grass and the neighbor's (that's another story) to keep the above PA student from having to do that. My Saturdays were being spent grocery shopping, cutting the grass, cleaning, and usually running at least 3 errands, I didn't have any down time. I also felt like when we went out of town to visit our families that I would have to make up the cleaning during the week nights and that took away Addison and I time, which wasn't an option!!!

I can clean during holiday breaks and summers (advantages to being a teacher), but I must admit that the thought of having to do it again makes me grumpy! I might change my mind!

*Also, a huge thanks to my sweet husband who let me get a housekeeper! For a guy, he helps with the house work a lot (especially the dishes). For that, I thank my mother-in-law for teaching him so well!

So, I'm not superwoman, but I'm learning that that's okay (and I don't have to clean the toilet)!

Pumpkins

Can you believe that this mostly bottle drinking, almost crawling, drooling, sweet potato lovin', cute seventh month old turned into...

an almost 20 month old, walking, talking (several words), nursery rhyme singing, hot dog and mac n' cheese lovin', adorable little girl! I am amazed at how fast she has grown! I miss the baby phase where I could hold her for hours and hours, but I wouldn't trade it for all the fun we have now! I have loved every stage of her life and it just seems that it keeps getting better and better!

Our Family with the Pumpkins

Fall 2010

My Cutie!

Just wanted to share some pictures!

Addison getting ready for school one morning. Isn't she adorable?

This is a good friend of mine...Gracie. I taught Gracie 3 years ago. She taught me more than I could have ever taught her. We go celebrate our birthdays every summer. We let Addison go along this time. Gracie wants Addison to be older to play with her :) We went back to Gracie's house to play and Addison fell right back into Gracie's lap. She was tired...I hope they'll always be friends. We sure love our Gracie!

First Day of "School"

This is my cheesy monkey with her bear on her first day of "school". We call it school because it's at the daycare where I work. It took about a week for her to get settled in and now she loves it! She runs down the hallway to see her teachers and friends. She turns to me and says, "bye,bye mama". I chase her down for some kisses and off she goes.

Btw...I'm only a month late on this post!

Addison's Language

Here are a few of my favorite words and/or actions from my 17 month old:

mama - mom (me...we've tried mommy, but she doesn't use it)
dada - dad (Neil)
boonboon - balloon
Mammie - Grammie (my mom)
ooes - shoes
pointing to her mouth and going aaaahhhh - mouth
pointing at her eye and says eye -eye
uh-oh - (we hear this all the time...if you or someone drops something, a bump in the road, someone or her burps or passes gas, when she throws something, when the phone rings, when someone else says it)
gogogogo - ready to go
blows kisses - means bye bye or hi (either one depending on what we're doing)
Bumps her head and says ow - ouch (she also does it when someone else says ow or ouch)
Sits on your foot when your legs are crossed - wants you to bounce and do horsey
gen - again (usually follows horsey or Ring Around the Rosies)
points to her toes - toes or wants to play This Little Piggy Went to the Market game
puts both hands in her hair and rubs - wants to wash her hair

Addison loves songs that we sing or books that we do actions to. Her favorite right now is Wheels on the Bus. She puts her hands to her eyes for the wahwahwah, her finger to her mouth for shshsh, her hands trying to turn circles for the wheels, and jumps up and down for the people. She likes The Itsy Bitsy Spider. She puts both hands in the air and waves them around. Her new song is If You're Happy and You Know It, but we only have learned the clap your hands. She also loves the song 5 Little Monkeys. She'll bump her head with her hand and then point her finger out and shake it for "no more monkies jumping on the bed". My friend from work watched her one day and taught her how to dance around and sing aloud to the ABCs. I even caught her on camera last week doing it. Her Aunt Leah came and taught her Ring Around the Rosies, which she laughs too hard with the anticipation of falling down that she can barely walk in a circle! She learned Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee at daycare. She'll cup her
hands together and then wipes her hands off on her pants for wiping off my baby bumblebee.

I can't help but love this little girl! She makes me laugh everyday with her little personality. She is a people watcher (she gets it from my mom and I) and will imitate what other people do. She doesn't jump right into new situations...she'd rather watch and figure things out before she tries something new. However, she's not afraid to interact with strangers. She is constantly bringing strangers (to her...just new friends she hasn't met yet) to visit with us with her blowing kisses and uh-ohs. Ofcourse, she has her daddy's bright blue eyes and beautiful blonde curls which certainly make her hard to pass by without saying hi and her doing everything in her power to get your attention. The exterminator man came over today and did what he does and when he was leaving out the door he said, "Bye Mrs. Wilkerson" and before he could finish Addison said bye bye and so he had to come back inside to say bye bye to the little Mrs. Wilkerson. My child...never ceases to amaze me!!!

Day 1 Being A Stay At Home Mom

As you know, I teach second grade...so I look forward to summer all "school" year! I am especially excited about getting to spend this summer being a stay at home MOM with my Addison. We spent last summer together, but I have to admit...I don't remember much. Between nursing, taking naps and trying to constantly soothe my baby with colic (it went by fast). Oh, Neil was off a lot last summer too!

I absolutely love being a teacher, but I really love being a MOM! When I first left Addison I never thought I could be happy being a full time teacher and mom, but over time (and really not having another option)...I coped and realized that I wanted to make the best of our situation. All year I hated leaving her, but was comforted in knowing she was well taken care of! I also have to admit that I pride myself in knowing that I can help support our family and do something that I love. Its also nice to know that I put all that schooling and money for schooling to good use! I not only worked full time, but maintain a decently clean house, and juggled being a mom. I can't think of any other job that gets 8 weeks of summer vacation, every holiday off (including 2 weeks around Christmas), and every weekend off! Plus, I get to spend my day with adorable children!

I have exactly 2 months before I go back to work and I plan to make the best of everyday off with my little girl! So, this morning Addison woke up at an early 5AM. I guess she was excited about our first day off together too! We ate some breakfast and went back to bed in Neil and I's bed until 7AM. I dragged out of bed to chase Addison as she ran out the room to play with her toys. I had the house cleaned up and 2 loads of laundry going before 9AM (super mom!). I decided I wanted to get a little healthier this summer and walk in the mornings. I thought it would be great to take the stroller let Addison walk some and stroll some! It didn't happen like I thought. She wanted to look at every thing on the road, pick up and put in her mouth every rock and refused to sit in the stroller. Our walk ended with her screaming because I straped her in the stroller because I had fished too many rocks out of her mouth and we weren't making any progress around the small circle! We came home and I let Neil (he was off this morning) have some quality time with her. She fell asleep for almost an hour with him while he studied.

Later, we ate lunch and she went to our good friend Jamie's house so I could go to a doctor's appointment. We then went to Walmart, but she fell asleep on the way and I held her sleeping self for about 10 minutes until my arm lost all feeling and I had to put her in the buggy. Then the wailing began, but quickly diminished when I opened a can of Pringles...thank goodness! We stopped by Taco Bell, even though I just spent $80 at Walmart on groceries and came home. She fell asleep on the way home. I woke her up getting her out and the melt down continued until Neil (he was home now) played a Kung Fu Panda you tube video for her that she loves. Then dinner, bath, read some books, played and now bed!

I loved watching her play with her toys and I realized just how smart she is. She is learning so much everyday. I really love seeing her do things that I haven't even taught her, but that she has picked up on her own, like...putting on chapstick, lotion, and makeup (just with my brush), getting her keys to open the bathroom door, and getting her purse when it was time to leave. She even has to put her toothbrush under the running water after I put toothpaste on it!

I'm exhausted!!! Rule Number 1 that I learned today: NAPS ARE A MUST FOR ADDISON, MAYBE EVEN FOR ME! At another time today, I even thought that maybe I need to adopt "temporarily" another child so that Addison can be entertained more! I can easily handle 20 7-8 year olds, but my 1 year...that's another story! All in all...I can get use to this stay at home mom stuff with a little more practice! Tomorrow's agenda...get the oil changed in the car, having some friends over to play in our kiddie pool, NAP TIME, and playing all day together!!! I can't wait!

Dancer ???

Last weekend, we went to a (little) friend of our's dance recital. I was VERY nervous about taking Addison. Neil and I even talked about getting a babysitter, but we forgot until last minute and so off we went! I could already see it...chasing Addison down the aisles or spending the whole time in the lobby. I underestimated my little girl by far. She sat on my lap for an hour and fifteen minutes staring, giggling, laughing, and clapping at all the girls dancing! I was so impressed! We went in the lobby to let her run around for ten minutes. Then we went back for the last hour and she slept through the rest of the show. I told Neil...I think we might have a future dancer...we'll see!

By the way....Great Job Rileigh! We loved watching you dance your little heart out!

Photo Shoot

We had our last Olan Mills special (1 year photos...only 2 months late) 3 weeks ago. Addison was not feeling well at all. Infact, we took her to the doctor the next day and she had a double ear infection (poor baby...and I was trying to make her smile). This is what we got. I think pretty good for a sick baby!!!

I'm Still Alive

I haven't posted in awhile and wanted to update everyone on life's adventures and maybe you'll understand the break in my post. First, we signed all the papers and we bought a house!!! We moved in on April 1st! We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! Addison and I just run around and chase each other with all our spare room! We didn't have the internet hooked up for 3 WEEKS! I had major withdrawls from my online "social" life. We celebrated our new house by passing the stomach bug around (starting with Addison, myself, and then Neil)! I hate sick babies the most. Next, Neil's dad turned 75 and his mom threw a huge surprise party! We had so much fun. My students took their end of the year test and they all did AMAZING...I can't help that I have such smart students! My sister had a baby girl...Kali Marie Farnsworth, May 7. We share middle names (it also helps that her other aunt and grandma have the same middle name too). She is absolutely adorable. We spent the weekend together and I've been home two days and miss her like crazy. It was also nice to get to spend some time with my Ryan and Kyla (Kali's brother and sister). Now, Neil and I have 12 nieces and nephews, plus 1 on the way, due in July!

Addison has grown so much. She says Ma all the time. It means mom. She says it in many ways. There's the angry way, the tired way, the scared way, the needy way, the whiny way, the look right now way, and the I'm being cute way! I love it every time she says it. We turned her carseat around so now she is facing forward...she loves it, we love it! She can ride on her car now. She eats pretty well and loves bananas! She will throw a fit to eat a banana if she sees it. She is becoming opinionated about foods she likes and dislikes. She loves riding with her daddy on his new riding lawn mower. She's very cautious about new situations and people. Once she gets comfortable...she's ready to play and you can't stop her. She loves daycare. She walks into daycare every morning on her own and hugs the 3 ladies in there. They eat her up everyday! She turns to me and waves and says bye-bye! You might think this is hard...but I love it. I know she is well taken care of and loved on. She loves the other kids in her class and hugs on them. I fix her hair in pigtails and everyone always comments on how cute she is. I think she is the cutest baby ever (I'm bias though)! She loves to show off at church. I think she knows that we want her to be quiet and so she gets away with things she normally wouldn't (I try to avoid tantrums during church). She likes to go from person to person to see who will give her the most attention or who offers the most fun! Also, she has a fan club everywhere she goes (especially church). As soon as everyone says Amen...she has several little kids and the young women there to say hi and get hugs. She's spoiled...what can I say. We are trying to get her to enjoy the grass, but I think she's a little girlie. She doesn't like to get dirty or to touch things that might get her dirty. She LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and dances away when it comes on. She also likes Elmo...they watch it at daycare. She knows where her nose and eyes are, we are working on her ears and mouth. Her favorite toy is a monkey that sings "Don't you wish your boyfriend was hot like me, don't you wish your boyfriend was sexy like me, Go bananas". I know what you're thinking...why would we let her have a toy like that, well a student gave me it for Valentine's day (that's another sotry all on it's own) and she danced all around. It has stopped several meltdowns and has been my lifesaver, so we'll keep the monkey. We'll explain hot and sexy to her later when she starts using those terms! Everyone keeps telling me that she's not looking like a baby anymore and I get quite sad, she'll always be my baby. She has brought more joy and happiness into my life than I could have ever imagine. I never knew how much I could love until she came into my life! I love Neil (don't worry), but a Mom's love is completely different. Everyday I look forward to all the new things she'll say or do.

I'll try to post pictures soon. Especially of Addison and our new house!

Can A Mom Get A Break?

It started at the beginning of November when Addison started running fever. A few days later, Neil started running a fever. I missed 2 days of work to take care of them. In December, I came down with strep throat. I had a allergic reaction to the penicillin and missed a grand total of 4 days of work. Then Neil and I have shared a cold, congestion, and cough back and forth for the past 3 months! Addison was treated for RSV at the beginning of March (just in time for her 1st birthday). I missed another 2 days of work. Neil was sick last weekend with a fever and cold. I broke down and cried last weekend because I was tired of everyone being sick! Neil started feeling better this week (minus a persistent cough). However, yesterday the daycare came to my classroom carrying my sweet little girl who looked pitiful! Yes, she was running a fever. I wasn't feeling well myself and so the two of us went home to spend the day together and we took the day off today too because she still wasn't "fever free". I have a cough and congestion, which makes nothing taste good. Addison just wants to be held and of course tylenol is a necessity!

I have been thinking to myself...why can't we stay well??? I came up with a list:
-I work in a profession where I am surrounded by 18 germ infested (yet adorable) children
-Neil stays extremely busy with PA school
-Addison goes to daycare with 8 other germ infested (yet cutie patootie) children
-The 1 inch layer of pollen might contribute
-The weather is warm one day and freezing the next
-We are trying to pack to move into our new house
-The CRCT (state mandated test) is coming in 1 one weak for my above 18 students
-I'm going 80 mph hoping my body will keep up!

I have to mention the things I do to try to keep healthy:
-Of course I take medicine when I'm sick...I even take a multi-vitamin everyday!
-I wash my hands constantly
-I refuse to touch and/or use any student's pencil (I must use my own)
-I keep Addison home when sick (and not infect everyone else) I try to stay away from others who are sick
-I drink lots of water
-I get around 7 hours of sleep most nights
-I exercise by keeping up with Addison

I just don't get it. So, I'm very interested in finding 3 air tight bubbles to put Neil, Addison, and myself in. Back to my question, Can This Mom Get a Break?

PS. No pictures for this blog...it would be scary!

A Cookie Thief

Neil was keeping an eye on Addison while I was on the computer. Neil said, "Come look at Addison". I peeked around the corner and saw our cookie thief!!! I had to laugh because she always wants me to share with her when I get out the cookies, but I haven't given her any and would slip her some of her snacks. Today, she figured out how to pull the package back and get one out herself. I guess I need to move the cookies up.

By the way...Can you believe my baby will be one on Friday! I'm having a hard time believing it!!! Happy early birthday sweet girl!

January Update

Our new house

Can you pick out what is real in the picture?

It's true...Neil started PA school! He is commuting back and forth to Savannah (about an hour and 15 minutes one way) to school each day. He says he doesn't mind the drive. We have had to adjust our way of living to include study time for him. It has been a transition, but the rewards are paying off...he made a 90 on his first test! I'm so proud!

Addison started daycare at the school where I teach. It was a rough first two weeks for the both of us, but now she jumps for the sweet ladies at daycare. I struggled with the idea of daycare and still have my days where I want to ditch daycare and work and go to the nearest park and play, but I concentrate on all the positives...lots of social interaction, she's spoiled by the daycare ladies, she's learning lots of new things (songs, throwing tantrums, crawling up, over, and around things, that its okay when other babies cry, etc.). I just started working on getting things started for her 1st birthday. Yes, believe it or not...she'll be one March 5th. It's hard for me to figure out how time passes so fast! She's learned a few new tricks...she loves to feed herself, comb her own hair, brush her own teeth, and dance to her leap frog table. Can we see that she is screaming to be a little independent? She also has started to pick favorite toys...she loves dolls. Today she fell into the laundry basket that holds all her toys. I thought she would get upset...turns out she didn't mind. She is not walking yet, but will stand on her own for several seconds. She never ceases to amaze me at the new things she learns.

Oh...did I mention...WE'RE BUYING A HOUSE??? We are hoping to move in towards the middle of March. It has about 2 more weeks of construction and then we're closing. I am exstatic! We are doubling in size from where we are renting. Addison and I are just going to run circles in the new house and enjoy the space!