Sky!

The weather has been absolutely beautiful (minus a day here or there) and we have taken full advantage of being outside as often as possible.

Today on the way home, Addie shouted something from the backseat.

She was pointing out the window and up to the sky.

I think I can probably count on one hand the number of times that my little Monkey has spontaneously pointed out anything in the sky.

It took me a minute to realize what she was saying and then it clicked - "Sky!".

Today was the first day I have ever heard her sweet little voice say that word.

She was so tickled when she realized that I finally understood what she was saying.

She was very proud of herself and so was I!

Speaking of sky...last weekend was perfect Zoo weather and we enjoyed every single minute of it.

Right before we got out of the car, I gave Addie our Zoo membership card to hold onto (primarily to make her feel like a big girl so that I could distract her long enough to buckle her in her stroller) and she held onto it all right...

For almost the entire time we were at the Zoo.

.

Statistically Speaking

We are right on target.

According to a group of people who get paid to analyze data - home accidents represent the biggest percentage of accidents.

Addie got three new boo-boo's today in and around our home.

Boo-boo's in order of appearance:

1.  She slammed her fingers in the back door.  There were lots of tears involved!

2.  She fell while trying to walk on the brick pathway out back, all thanks to her lack of spacial awareness.  That resulted in two boo-boo knees and more tears.

3.  The bottle of body wash slipped out of Chris' hand and right onto Addie's head, resulting in a little boo-boo above her right eye.  No tears.

I put her to bed earlier than usual.

I felt it was only in her best interest - in an effort to avoid any further accidents.

On top of that, she just wasn't herself today.

She seemed extra clingy, extra clumsy, with not much of an appetite.

She can't be getting sick...

Picture of the Day

This picture was in Addie's cubby when I picked her up one day last week.

It made me smile.

Lab Results

I got the results back from Addie's labs yesterday.
Everything came back perfectly fine!
Apparently, we just can't get it right - the first time.

Since I haven't managed to clone Addie or myself and we can't be in more than one place at the same time, I had to reschedule Addie's other repeat lab - again.

I'm convinced everything will be fine, but we might as well make sure.

When Addie woke up this morning, the very first thing she did was to point at her arm.
She wanted me to push up her sleeve so that she could look at her boo-boo.
Four days out and she is still talking about going to the "doctor" for her boo-boo shot.

She's a mess.

Not One of My Finer Decisions in Life

Chris and I made the beautiful decision to stop at a local store on the way home from the Zoo last Sunday.

It's a store that you really would have no desire to take your child into.

I just wanted to look - quickly - so we stopped and started looking around.

Not but a minute after we walked in, Addie spotted a lady nearby.

Addie noticed that she had her keys in her hand and apparently something on the key ring caught her eye, because Addie kept saying, "Momma!", "Monkey?".

It took me a minute to realize what she was looking at and when I finally honed in, I told Addie that it was not a Monkey, it was a Doggy.

Addie insisted on getting closer and walked right up to this poor, unsuspecting lady and proceeded to stare at her keys.

The lady was nice and showed Addie the little Dog and I apologized and redirected Addie's attention.

That lasted all of about 30 seconds until Addie spotted her again.

This went on two more times before I decided we were, "All Done!"!

On our way out of the store, Addie stopped again to invade the personal space of this lady in an effort to get a look at the Doggy.

I was apologizing profusely.

The lady told Addie that the Doggy was a Pez dispenser (because she collects them) and...proceeded to take the Doggy off her key ring and give it to Addie!

All the while against my efforts to tell the lady that it was not really necessary.

I don't know if it was a Random Act of Kindness (thanks Oprah) or an effort to get my nutty child away from her.

Whichever it was, it allowed me to leave the store in peace.

So now, my child is walking around with a Doggy Pez dispenser that she basically stole from a complete stranger.

Not one of my finer moments in life.

Outpatient Labs

So, after procrastinating for a week, I finally took Addie today for the first of three repeat labs.

It has been an incredibly insane kind of day and by the time I signed Addie in for her labs and Chris and I sat down in the waiting room chairs, I started to get a little nervous.

I think it was a combination of the headache that just wouldn't go away, the craziness of the day and the fact that I knew Addie was nervous.

I started telling her yesterday that she was going to the doctor to get a boo-boo shot.

I didn't know how else to make sure that she understood...

I reminded her this morning when I dropped her off at school and we talked about it on the way out to the car when I picked her up.

When the nurse called her name, she started walking towards the door with her baby clutched tight to her chest and when she saw the other patients, she started to panic.

I took her into the room and did my best to reassure her.

Thank God in heaven that we had an amazing nurse, because she was sweet enough to talk to Addie.

When the nurse started to put her gloves on, Addie started to cry, never letting go of her baby.

Addie cried and started saying, "Mommy?", "Daddy?" and then she started crying even harder and ask for...Julien.

It was pretty pitiful.

The nurse - was amazing - and only had to stick Addie once and she was so incredibly sweet to her.

She let Addie pick out her boo-boo band-aid and another sweet nurse brought in a basket of stickers for Addie to choose from.

...and then, Addie thanked them...

and I can't say enough about the nurse, she told Addie that she did such a great job, she walked us back to the door, all the while giving encouragement to Addie.

It was such a nice relief to have a nurse be so sincerely compassionate.

Now we'll see if I can manage to keep our next appointment on Monday.

A Cryin' Shame

My best friend had to take her geriatric kitty to the groomers.

Poor kitty had some matted fur on her chest and was in need of a good trimming and brushing.

When my friend called to check on kitty, she was told by the well-informed tech that answered the phone that Girlfriend the Kitty was ready to go home.

The tech stated that Girlfriend did well, there was no need to sedate her and they didn't have to shave her.

All good news.

My best friends husband picked up Girlfriend, took her home and when he released her from her cage, this is what his wondering eyes beheld.

Apparently, the definition of "trim" and "shave" somehow got construed.

I now never have to wonder again what was hidden under all that fur...and Girlfriend appears to be thoroughly enjoying her new found nudity...

(You can pause the music over to the right)

Rio Movie Night

Trenton's Birthday Party was centered around Rio on the big screen.

After opening presents, the movie began.

Addie loved watching everyone

and she kept a very close eye on the cake.

She must have asked me 100 times on the way to the party, if there would be "Cake?".

I told her that if for some odd reason, Trenton didn't have a cake, we would stop at Publix on the way home and get her a piece of cake.

Thank goodness, Dewana and Ronnie saved us a trip to Publix!

One of the party favors was a parrot kite!

How cool is that!?

Now, we just have to wait for a windy day to try it out.

The little ones all had animal hats...

and there was even a Monkey for my little Monkey.

Ronnie made cotton candy.

Addie sat next to me and alternated between her popcorn, cotton candy and cake and ice cream.

I was certain she would never sleep again!

After the movie, it was time to say our goodbye's.

Sweet lovin's

and several "Thank you's" later, we were on our way back home.

Happy 5th Birthday Sweet Trenton!

Post-Op Follow-Up

We saw Dr. Davis today for Addie's two week follow-up.

Her right ear looks great.

Her left ear has made improvement but is still not healed - according to Dr. Davis, "it's not as angry looking as it was...".

We go back in six weeks unless we need him before that.

Addie "talked" the entire time we were there!

From the time we walked through the door until we left, she had something to say about everything.

I'm pretty sure everybody within a five mile radius heard her because she has yet to find her inside voice.

We had a lot of time to waste while waiting for our turn to see the doctor.

At one point Addie had my phone and when I took it back from her, there was an error message that stated:

 "This message failed to be sent.  Your IT administrator has blocked this content."

....there is no telling what degree of embarrassment that firewall managed to save me from.

While we were waiting...

She sat in the big girl chair all by herself and admired her pretty bracelet from Jamaica that Dewana gave to her.  

Some words, like "hi" and of course, "Momma", she can say perfectly!

She wanted my phone back and was trying to get down, which meant she was about to trip over the foot rest...so much for a good video showing off her sweet little voice!
(you can pause the music over to the right)