Exploring Europe!

Although the travel was a bit difficult for me, as I was unknowingly suffering from an awful lung infection, things have been going well since we arrived. Since I was lucky enough to get some antibiotics, I am nearly 100% recovered and feel much, much better. Addy has been doing pretty good, though she is suffering through the arrival of some new teeth. She's been getting plenty of rest and has been working grandpa over for anything in sight that appeals to her. Of course she gets plenty of attention from both of her grandparents.

I have basically declared myself entirely on vacation and have been buried in my treasured Twilight series novels that I saved for the trip. It sure made being sick a lot less depressing, having a great book to read to keep occupied. I did not however, expect to finish my first book so soon. I am now half way through the second book and I did not think to bring any more. I am struggling to find a bookstore here that carries English books so I can retrieve the rest of the collection. I will need them for our excursion next week.

We leave Monday on our trip, beginning in Paris. We drive to a near-by city to catch a train back to Prague, where we catch a flight to Paris. After two nights in Paris, we fly to Venice, which I am particularly excited about. Not that I am not excited to see Paris. It will be real tough to leave Addy for 6 straight days, the only down-side to our private getaway.

Yesterday we drove into the city (Rob's parents reside in a very small "village" outside of town) and did some sight seeing and a little shopping (for Addy..of course!!) We visited some very OLD churches and saw plenty of very old buildings and architecture. I guess I hadn't thought about the timelessness of Czech Republic & Europe in general. We climbed an ancient spiral staircase in St. Michael's Church to a lookout of the city of Olomouc & I realized that I have grown afraid of heights! We took plenty of pictures there. It's amazing to see things of such age.

This is a picture of Rob's parents house, from the backside standing near the edge of their property in the back yard.


This is a picture from a top a hill at the back of their house, looking down over part of the town.


No description necessary....she SO damn cute!



St. Michael's Church.


The view from the top of St. Michael's Church.




Today we visited a popular nearby Cave (Mladečské jeskyně)...Try to say THAT! Addy spent some quality time with Grandpa while the rest of us took the tour through the cold, wet cave. We got some cute pictures while she waited for us, when we returned from a short boat ride exiting the cave.

A picture from inside the cave..it was difficult to capture in the darkness


Addy waiting for our return.


I will be posting all of the pictures on the gallery sometime after we return home, for now, enjoy the sneak peek at our trip right here!

We have plenty of things planned for the upcoming weekend and then we are off to Paris. Check back later for more on our European Vacation! :)

Too long..

It's been way too long. Time has gotten away from me. My little girl has grown up so much. I'm happy, sad, and everything in between.

We had such a wonderful day together today. It was like some special mother daughter day- but yet- it was just another day.

We met my mother in Casa Grande this morning for a long over due visit. We started out with a little shopping. Addy had a blast walking around the Vicoria's Secret PiNK store, where they had a life sized PiNK dog that Addy would have loved to bring home. Then we ate lunch at Olive Garden (yummm!). Since nap time was long over due as well, she became a bit unruly, although I am much willing to forgive that ONE single unruly moment of the day. On our drive across the parking lot to Old Navy Addy fell asleep and we carried her snuggly limp body around the store while we shopped (mostly for her) until she woke up, happily.

On our way home I enjoyed Addy's new-found ability to "tbptbptbp" in various ways. She was delightfully entertaining, in her NOW forward facing car seat, for the entire ride home- well..not quite home.. on our way home, we..I.. received a text from "Dad" that he was not having a good day at work. So, we took a detour to Daddy's work, to surprise him (since he is working late tonight- in order to catch up on things before we take our trip to Europe). We surprised him and then let him get back to work, heading to a friend of mine's home. We played there for a couple hours, which entailed of Addy walking up and down the sidewalk outside, playing in the grass, fetching a new bouncy ball, and meeting the neighbor's two dogs.

Then we headed to yet another store, where I let Addy walk freely, exploring all there is to explore 2 feet off the ground and grabbed some taco bell for dinner on our way HOME (finally! It was now already 7pm- Addy's bed time).

We got home. Ate. (Addy enjoyed her rolled quesadilla). Then we bathed and crawled into bed and watched some baby TV. I was hoping I could get her to sleep in bed with me, while Rob was working late, but the mystery of it all has yet to pass. Addy is in explore mode on our bed, as if there is SO much to see at bed level in our room. By 8:15 I gave up and took her to her crib, where she quickly fell asleep.

This day.. not far from the norm.. was such a GREAT day! I enjoyed every minute of it, and it is a true reminder of how I am so lucky to be able to spend every day with my growing baby girl. I LOVE all of her new abilities. Just watching her WALK is an amazing thing for me (even an entire month into it). SHE is amazing! Every night when she goes to sleep..(I may be relieved initially, but..) I MISS her! WE miss her.

It's almost time that we plan on adding to the family. I KNOW I want another child. I also know, I am not alone in how I feel about it. It's almost impossible not to feel like your betraying your first born. Like you would be taking away some of the love you have for them. I know that's not how it will be, but I just cherish her so much, it's almost inconceivable to imagine how it will be with a second. The "irony" of it, is that above all things, I want it to benefit HER! We know what it's like to be (like) an only child. We grew up with much older siblings who we could not (& still do not) relate to. We have always wanted our children to be close in age and only hope that they will be "close" as well. I know all will work out and likely be even better than we could hope for. Afterall, we DID get the BEST kid on the planet! ;)

That's the most wonderful thing about being a parent. The proud-ness of it all. I never knew how much it would change my perspective of the world. I ALWAYS knew I wanted to be a mother. I WOULD be a mother....and a damn good one! I just never knew HOW much it would improve my life. I knew it would improve it, without a doubt. It's just that the extent to which it improved it, could not have been imagined.

Today was a fabulous day..... Thank you Addy...I love you!!

Priceless..

Who's Who??

Can you tell who is who?

Baby #1:


Baby #2:


One of the above pictures is baby Addy.. the other is...you guessed it! ME!

Besides the fact that one of us is a bit DRAMATIC with our smile...

It's INSANE how much this kiddo resembles my baby pictures! She keeps looking more and more like them every day. After taking this pic of her in the tub tonight I got a flashback of one of my baby photos. So I got it out and scanned it!

Wow! It's incredible. My little mini-me....

Wow-eeee!

I have been horrible about updating the blog! We have had so much going on! Obviously Rob and I got married nearly a month ago.. and I cannot believe an entire month (or almost) has gone by already!

Addy had a huge stepping stone yesterday - or two! I couldn't believe my eyes!

First off - Addy has been working on sitting up for a couple weeks but she would topple over after a minute or two each time. Until yesterday! I sat her up in front of me and started chattin' with a friend and.... she stayed! She now sits! ALL by herself.

As if that wasn't enough for one day.. later in the afternoon she propped herself up on all fours and took her FIRST (crawling) steps! My goodness, kiddo! SLOOOWWW DOOWWWNN! I'm in trouble.. & so are grandma and grandpa because they are babysitting Saturday night! I have a feeling I'm going to need a few EXTRA drinks by then! Geesh!!!

Addy's favorite things these days are.. eating, watching and playing with her puppies, eating, sitting, eating, crawling, and........oh yeah, mommy and daddy of course! She loves her food! She really enjoys the Gerber toast sticks too! It's her new favorite treat and it gives me a minute to relax while I just sit and watch her make a mess with it.



She took her first bath in the big tub tonight.. that was exciting! I'll be making a separate post for that!

I think that's all for now. It's so hard to keep up! I'm already starting to think about her birthday party! How sad is that?? And Christmas is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER!! Hehehe.. I'm so excited!!

I'll try to post another update before Addy goes off to college! ;)

1 MORE DAY!

Wow.. Time has gone fast. I am getting married in 1 DAY! Or.. one and a half.. anyway, who's counting? I've been keeping so busy! I've been doing some part time work from home, managing the boutique which is doing better than I had expected, and of course just trying to keep up with little Addy.

Let's see.. Addy now scoots, WATCH OUT! She rolls, of course. She eats like a champ! She loves her food! She had her first finger food/cookie and LOVED it! She got a new monstrosity for our living room - a Baby Einstein Jumper! She's having fun with that.



Ever since she became mobile or somewhat anyway), the dogs decided she is fair game. Sadie plays with her as if she is a puppy. It's actually quite cute and Sadie is very gentle with her. Simon insists upon bring her his toys and waits for her to throw them.. He's going to be waiting a while. (He's getting a little senile in his old age!)

That's all for now.. I will have lots of pictures when we return from VEGAS!!! Wooohoo!! =)

The Big Question!

Well... He didn't exactly ASK me.. but it's official! We are actually getting married!! I am ENGAGED! Wow.. I wasn't sure I would ever be saying that! =) We got our rings today and the big day is going to be 08-08-08, in Vegas baby!! We are running away to get married - no big wedding for us, but a big PARTY (aka reception) is to follow. Yay! I am so excited!