Our 'Lil Brody Bear

I am 2 months old today!! I have grown 2 inches and have put on a little weight. I love to smile and coo and ca with you if you let me. Mama says I am the best baby ever and the cutest..ok I might've added that last part, what, I can't help I am so adorable:) ... I have the BEST sister in the whole world, she loves me to pieces, literally, her favorite thing to do is to pounce on me to give me kisses and tries to wake me up by screaming at the top of her lungs..."WAAKE UPPP!!" She knows how to keep mom and dad on their toes that's for sure!

 

here is a game I like to play often, its called "Caption This Ma":

"...you don't want to see what happend to the other guy"

"What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

with lots of love...

a month ago today we welcomed our newest addition to the family...Brody Richard

weighing in at 9lbs 6oz

&

21 1/2 inches long

(pictures @annitorriniphotography)

baby boy VerStrate

Here is our little bundle of joy growing ever so fast in my tummy.

I am now 26 weeks. I am guessing I have a future NFL Kicker growing in my tummy or he is getting way tooo much chocolate:) The doctors can't even get him to keep still long enough to take his heart beat. I feel him move all through out the day and into the night. He is going to have to learn quickly that when 10 o'clock in the evening comes it is sleepy time for mommy NOT play time!! I still have my cravings, most of my pregnancy I have craved popcorn, beer( I don't even like beer and don't freak out if you are reading this...I have not had any beer to drink, just a weird craving), and pickles. Lately it has been funnel cakes, and strawberries with Nutella chocolate!! Addison is very excited for her little brother to arrive, she loves going to the doctors with me to hear his heartbeat, she talks with him, tries to hold mommies belly saying "I hold brouder", and will give zurberts to mommy's tummy and tickle my tummy saying she is getting baby brouder:) The cutest is when she hugs my belly and gives it kisses and telling her baby brother "love you brouder"

Going through the Scary moments...

Over the last week I have witnessed what no mom likes to go through, watching their little girl(or boy) go through a scary moment.  :-(
When Addison was playing on a small trike at her grandparents in MI,  she turned the handle bars and she started to go down a hill, she started going faster, a small cry turned into a blood curdling scream and then crashed! I couldn't get to her fast enough, but when I did I held her so tight and cuddled her for hours.  Her scream is what haunts you as a mom. You wish your child would never have to go through a scary moment but they are bound to happen. Scary for them and for you.

18 months and Growing

Ok, I know everyone who has a kid says this, but I will say it anyway...Wow I can't believe our baby girl is growing up so fast!! I know it has only been 18months but a lot happens in that time!!
Her vocabulary is accumulating new words almost daily!! (This would be a pretty long blog post if I wrote all the words down) but here are a few new words she says...luv you, up pease, help pease, close, plate, fork, hungry,coat, & night night, just to name a few. She also has the anatomy of the head down as well; head, hair, eyes, mouth, ears and nose!!
Some of her favorite things to do is color, play with her friends, go for walks, playing at the park, playing outside(morning, noon and night...I often get walked to the door bright and early in the morning by my little girl as she is saying "side, side...go!"), hanging out with daddy, helping mommy around the house, playing dress up, bouncing in her chair, and talking on the phone(even if no one is on the other end)!!
Addison's biggest milestone this last week is going peepee and poopoo on the BIG girl potty!! The first time she walked daddy to the bathroom and pointed at the toilet saying "poo" so he put down her Elmo seat and put her up there and a few minutes later she went potty!! (This is probably TMI but we are just so excited for her and very surprised!!) There were a few other times she let us know she had to go, it is still a learning curve and I'm sure we have a long, long, long way to go before she gets to big girl panties!!

"Keeys"

Our conversation's lately first thing in the morning and ALL through out the day goes like this...

Addison: Side(outside)

mom: no not yet(when she is asking to go out at 6 in the morning)

Addison: keeys pease---Side(outside)

mom: no you don't need those

Addison: starts to cry and pout like I just crushed her excitment to go outside with the keys!!

I didn't think this was suppose to happen until she turned 16!! She is only 1! We found out today that she can walk up to the car and try to open the car door and then once inside(as you will see below) crawl into the driver seat and place the keys in the ignition!! Oh boy!! We are in TROUBLE!!

Operation Tear Duct(s)

Last December we found ourselves taking our baby girl to the University of MN Amplatz for her first surgery!! She was born with blocked tear ducts and they were stubborn little ducts,  we massaged, and massaged, and massaged them, well let's just say her tear ducts decided they would stay blocked!!
We went on to see Dr. Anderson in November and she recommended we proceed with the probing of her tear ducts to open them up. They say 95% of babies who have this procedure is successful...Our daughter and her ducts decided they wanted to be in the other 5%, where it does not work!! This last week we found out her first procedure did not work and that her tear ducts were too small, which still caused her eyes to be goopy and teary.  The doctor then suggested we have another procedure to put in stints(or some call it tubes, the tubes are the size of fishing line) in her tear ducts to help the opening stay open(they should stay in for 4-6months) So this last Friday we went for round two of operation tear ducts... our day started arriving at the hospital at 9:30am and ended at 2pm with the tubes in!  Addison was a Rock Star!!! She is such a trooper and deffinately knows how to ham it up with the doctors and nurses:)  Her recovery went so well that you wouldn't even know she had them done!! Here are a few pictures of our journey at the hospital:

When we first arrived they had a whole area of toys for her to play with, she even got to color, her favorite was tooling the trains and cars around the track.

 

She did great with the nurses in pre-op (this is from round one)

practicing with daddy how to breathe through the mask

playing doctor while waiting she was know as Dr. VerStrate this visit(round 2)

daddy and Addison ready to go back for surgery(daddy went back both times)

In recovery, both times she was given popcycles, juice, and her favorite...cookies!! This time she got to watch Elmo on the dvd player they had in her room and she even went home with an Elmo balloon!!

Daddy's Little Girl

Recently the term "daddy's girl" has come very prevalent around our house! It is so fun to see her get excited to see daddy when he comes through the door after a days work, and say "dada, up pease" then give him a BIG hug!! She follows his every step and wants to be right by his side trying to do what he does:) Infact today I asked who she wanted to hang out with daddy or mommy, her answer...DADAA with a big smile!!

going up the ladder to inspect daddy's work

trying to walk in his shoes

her favorite place to be and "trying" to help daddy with his report!

just chillin' with dada

having a little treat and anaylizing daddy's report to make sure it is correct

A Prayer for My Daughter

I pray that you seek God daily and know in your heart that you were created by Him, that you are His Master Piece. You were fearfully and wonderfully made, blameless before God.  Give her the strength to not fall prey in letting the world define who she is. Help her to see her true beauty and self-worth. My precious baby girl, you ARE God’s creation – beautiful, strong and created with a unique plan and purpose.

You are:

• Created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27)

• Fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)

• Precious and honored in His sight.(Isaiah 43:4)

• Redeemed and forgiven. (Ephesians1:7)

• A new creature in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

• Holy and blameless before God. (Ephesians 1:4, 1 Corinthians 1:30)

• Chosen by God. (1 Peter 2:9)

• God’s masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10)

• Created with purpose to do great works for God’s Kingdom. (Ephesians 2:10)

(this prayer was inspired by a Proverbs 31 daily reading)

Valentine Fun

Happy Valentine's Day!!
My morning started out with waking up to beautiful flowers and a cup of coffee waiting for me...my husband is AMAZING!!

After breakfast and a little play time, Addison and I got all dolled up for our Valentine Parties with our friends

the first party was at her friend Adry's house. They had so much fun!! We made crafts, played with lots of fun toys, exchanged Valentine's and of course there was SNACK TIME!!

the second party was at our friend Cassidy's house. There were more fun toys to play with and Valentines to exchange, oh ya and don't forget the good food... Pizza and Cupcakes!!!

After a morning filled with parties we headed over to Gramma and Grandpa's house to give them their Valentine and play for a few hours!!

(this is gramma and Addison at the zoo)

We ended the day with a yummy dinner,

Broiled Halibut with Lemon & Herbs and Dijon Roasted Potatoes

and for dessert....

Strawberry Chocolate Ganache Cake...mmmmm and a glass of wine!!

Finger Painting made EASY!!!

Hi my name is LaDonna, and I am a Pinaholic!!

Yes I jumped on the Pinterest band wagon and it is so ever addicting. It is quite fun actually, not to mention all the way cool ideas you find on there. One of the most "popular" pins lately has been this no mess finger paint. It looked fun so I pinned it on my Craft Board. (I figured if you are going to pin things you should at least try them!!) So I set off to find an "easier" recipe for finger paints. There are numorous ones out there and with a 1 year old who has more energy than I can keep up with the easier the recipe the better!! It literally took me 5 minutes to measure, mix and color. I also wanted to find one that if we decided to do a finger paint session with the mess that I should find one that if my daughter decided the paint would be better in her mouth I wouldn't have to worry that she would digest something she shouldn't (I did taste test the paint and it tastes like bland pancake batter;-) ) and a fun time of messy finger painting would turn into a not so fun for mom finget paint session:)

 Easy Finger Paint

(this is where I found my recipe)

I googled "finger paint recipes" and almost every mom out there has come up with their own version  and blogged about it, so it wasn't hard to find one that I liked and copied it. 

All you need is 2 cups flour, 2 cups cold water, and food coloring! Once I stirred the flour and water together I separted it out in my little mixing bowls and added the food coloring. So Simple!!

Then I found some gallon Zip Lock bags place a piece of paper in it with a few globs of the colors

AND.....

           

Walaaa! No Mess Finger Painting!! Maybe after nap time I will let her get messy with the paints.

CHEESE!! (waiting for mom to make paint)

Mo...Cookcaa...MOooo

While my parents visit to New York to see my sister, on a an outing one day they ran into Addison's FAVORITE Sesame Street Characters:)  Elmo and Cookie Monster. (pretty sure if we had a name that Elmo tune contest, I would win. I could sing you his songs forwards and backwards...oh ya I could sing them in my sleep!!) I showed her the picture they took standing next to them and she was sooo excited to see Mo(elmo) and Cookcaa(cooking monster) 

Bella

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create your own personalized photo books at Shutterfly.com.

Betty Crocker in the Making!

Hiee! Momma thinks I am napping... little does she know I snuck into the computer room and found my way to write this post!! Hehee:)
I love helping my mom out in the kitchen...especially getting into the bread drawer(I see she already told you about that in another post) oh and pulling all the pot holders out, and when I can,  rearrange her spice rack(dad put a lock on that draw too so when mom opens it...BAMM! I right there to help her pick out a spice or two!!) 

Now that I am a "big" girl she lets me help her when she bakes yummy food:) The other day she let me help make Rice Krispy Treats!! Who knew they were so easy to make!! Here are a few pictures of me making Rice Krispy Treats with her!! I am such a big helper...

First we measured out the Rice Krispies

                              Then you dump the marshmallows in...

momma says every good cook tastes what they are making...so I had to test out a marshmallow or two!

no worries, momma didn't turn the stove on, she was lettin' me practice stirring!!

CHEEEEESE!

The best part....Lickin' the spoon(can't let any of those krispy treats go to waste)

The Bread Drawer

"The path to becoming a better parent-like most every road to personal growth and mastery begins with self-examination." -Dr. John Gottman

A valuable lesson was learned today at my MOPS meeting this morning with me and my bread drawer! I know this sounds crazy but stick with me here...This drawer between 4pm and 5pm is my daughter and I's nemisis. It is during these hours that I am either trying to get dinner ready, tidy up the kitchen so I can start on dinner, or she is getting hungry, and or we are waiting for dad to get home. Little ms. Addison knows that she is not suppose to get into this drawer and will at times shake her head saying "no,no, no, no" while opening the bread drawer up(as I am doing any of the above in the kitchen). Why can't she get into the bread drawer??? you ask, well she likes the take the bread out, squezze it and hug it and bite into it...DRIVES ME BONKERS!!!! I don't know why, but right around the same time everyday, we seem to arrive upon this stressful moment almost daily in our house. My frustration levels rise and I feel like pulling my hair out at times. I try to discpline and teach her NO, then feel like the worst parent in the world for yelling at my child, for what...playing in the bread drawer! 
What did I learn...To let go of the situation, what is the real issue with the bread drawer? Is it because she is in harms way, no, is it because she is trying to rebell against me, no, it's because mom doesn't have control over the situation and I let myself get so frustrated that I allow it to be pointed towards her.. I need to remember that I don't have to be in control of this bread drawer...its bread for crying out loud!! so we have smushed bread, all I am doing is creating a negative environment for me and her and is not healthy for our relationship. Yes, my child needs to learn discipline and boundaries, but I need to learn to not be so controlling over something so little...OK...I admit...I tend to be a control freak as some would say.  I also learned to remember that after correcting my child I need to follow with a connection! That discipline or teaching boundaries with your kids should not just be about correcting, correcting, correcting, we need to make whatever the situation is a teaching moment and a moment to build on your relationship, that after you have lost it or "trying" to correct your little one by simpling hugging them and telling them, "mommy loves you, but at times I will say no and you might not understand right now, but just know that I still love you and always will!! "

Blanket(s) are FUN!!

Here is a fun little video of Addison playing with one of her many blankets:) our little girl sure does keep us laughing:)

Watch "Fun with a blanket!" on YouTube
(Click on the above link to see video...I'm still learning all this video upload stuff:) )

Over the Lakes, & Thru the Woods...

To Grandma and Grandpa Ver Strate's we go(with a pit stop in Janesville, WI to play with great granma Brown)!!!

Addison enjoyed her new found freedom in having her seat turned around. She loved playing peek a boo with daddy and mommy, watching movies, reading her books and playing with her toys.

We made a pit stop to visit GG for a bit in WI. Addison quickly made herself at home in GG's house, pulling cans out of the cubbards to stack them, dragging cases of pop across the floor, reading books to GG, playing with GG's fun toys,taunting Great Aunt Linda in pulling ornaments off the tree, and her favorite...climbing on all the furniture:)

After GG's we ventured on over to MI to spend Christmas with the ENTIRE Ver Strate clan. It snowed enough to cover the grown and take the kids out for a few 4 wheelin' sleigh rides. The kids loved to pile up on Rich and ride along:)

Addison got lots of play time with grandma VerStrate and her cousin Isabelle.

We all went out for dinner at Tres Amigos to celebrate my birthday!! With this big of a family there is sure a good time to be had:)

                       

We had such a great year, and so much to be thankful for. We look forward to seeing

you all in the new year and pray that your New Year be filled with the love of Jesus!!