1st Birthday

Addison had her first birthday party on Saturday. Twenty friends and relatives made it in from all over Texas. Addison woke up from her nap to find all these people in her house! She was in a great mood and loved to smile, clap, and hold her hands above her head when someone asked her how big she was. Kelly and her mom were on presents duty, while I manned the video and digital camera. Addison loved the cards that came with every present and didn't want to let them go, even to pick up another card. She received a lot of clothes and toys that I know she will enjoy, especially the toys that make a lot of noise!





Kelly's grandparents on her mother's side gave Addison a child's laptop that has word and math games on it. While she is still a litttle young to reap the full benefits of it, she still enjoys slapping the keyboard and open/closing the lid.

Walker Movies and a Mohawk Attempt

My parent's have a walker that they bought Addison a while back that she zooms all over their house with. We decided to pick one up as well so she can race around our house. After some initial hesitation, she started zooming all over as you can see in the pictures and movies below.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=741506268706725320

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7650883233617992186

Below is my attempt at giving Addison a Mohawk in the tub. Kelly hates it when I do this, so I did not get a chance to make it as fancy as it could have been. It also didn't help that Addison was a bit fussy during this bath.

Swinging on the Patio

One of the nice features of the Kingwood area and the new house we live in is how easy it is to connect with the outdoors. We have been going for a walk on the "Greenbelts" here. These are basically similar to sidewalks except that they go all over Kingwood and are behind the houses instead of in front of them. These trails make it very easy to access the local parks and pools. While scouting out the parks and community pool closest to us we took Addison on the swing with us. She liked it a lot and immediately began to smile. I remembered that we had our own swing at the house that we did not have a chance to hook up previously. When we came home, I attached the swing to the back patio and took the following pictures and movie.



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7418484002545580871&hl=en

Crawling Movies and New Play Area

Addison loves the new play area in the front of the house. She zooms around on the floor and will even chase Kelly and I. Everything is padded so she can tumble all she wants and not get hurt.
In the above picture she is trying to escape her play area.Here she is scooting across the carpet.
Above is a picture of the fan in the room that she likes to look at sometimes. This is her Dora the Explorer chair that Kelly's mom gave her. She like to sit in it like this and slap the back of it.
Here she is posing for the camera.



Below are two links to videos of Addison crawling:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6538365536225375269&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5808441101312655085&hl=en

We Moved!

We moved into a 2000+ square foot rent house in Elm Grove at the beginning of the month and have been unpacking ever since. Addison now has a play room in the front of the house that she can crawl around in and throw her toys everywhere. She is crawling a lot now, and does not like to stay in one spot for long. We padded the area she plays in with pillows from Kelly's brown couches in case she tumbles. I will try to get some pictures up this weekend, even if there are a few boxes in the background.

Crawling and Waving

Addison has been starting to crawl. More often than not, she will just go forward with one leg, then decide to sit down. However, sometime soon she is going to take off across the floor. She has also started to wave when you say "hi" or "hello" to her. Below is a video of her waving to us after dinner.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5681229580854902570&hl=en

Christmas in Kingwood

On Christmas Day, we left Galveston and came back my parent's house in Kingwood for more unwrapping.
From left to right, my sister, Mom, and Dad all watched Kelly unwrap Addison's new outfits seen below.


I received some Aggie snack tray tables from my folks. Now they can't complain if I eat in front of the TV.
Addison took a short nap before opening some more presents.
Addison also received a set of stackable rings that were immediately taste tested and thrown.
My folks got Addison a rocking chair with a book holder and clock on it.
Addison also has a new Aggie-style umbrella stroller to ride around town in.

Christmas in Galveston Part 5

We awoke on the Christmas Eve morning to discover a more recent habit of our daughters seen below.She has figured out how to sit up on her own in her crib. We have lowered her crib's mattress on both the pack-n-play and the regular crib so she can't get(or fall) out.
Above is a picture of the public beach access point that we drove up to. It was still a bit cold and windy out, however, we wanted Addison to get her first look at the beach.
The wind kept puffing out Addison's hood, which made pictures a little difficult.

The water was a little foamy that day. I'm not sure what causes this, but it looked kind of odd.

Christmas in Galveston Part 4

After going to the aquarium at Moody Gardens, we went to the Festival of Lights outside.




It was rather cold out at this point. Addison was bundled up in the stroller, but her mother and I were a little chilly.

Addison would have been in the picture above with Kelly, however it was cold and we didn't want to get her out of the stroller.

This is actually me in front of the nutcracker statue in the parking lot while we were on the way out. Kelly insisted on taking a picture of me in front of something before we left. I thought it was rather amusing since you could barely tell who it was in the picture.

Christmas in Galveston Part 3

On Sunday the 23rd we had our family Christmas in Galveston. Addison got a giraffe toy that you could put colored balls in that also lit up. She kept trying to use the toy to try stand up!
We also swung by the aquarium at moody Gardens that day. Below is a picture of the tank filled with starfish that you could touch. Addison just liked to look at them.

They were feeding the sea lions when we were there. Directly above and to the left of Addison's head you can see one of them jumping up to touch the orange ball.
Next to the sea lion tank they had a vertical tank that had some small sharks and other fish in it.
Here is Addison looking at some of the corals.

The tank above is the same one that had the small shark in it before. This is a view of it from one level below.
This rock fish really grabbed Addison's attention.
The penguins were a big hit with everyone, including our daughter.
There was a platform right near where Addison was that the penguins would jump up onto and off of. She would bang the glass when they swam by in excitement. Above is a shot of one zooming right in front of us.
They had this height chart showing the different types of penguins in the world. Addison was taller than two types of penguins.
They also had a large circular tank that you could walk underneath. This one had quite a few large sharks.
They also had a shark cage that you could climb in for fun.