A Day in the Life

Tomorrow Addie’s uncle Jake leaves for his mission. Addie tried to be a stowaway but they didn’t let her go.

Go get 'em Uncle Jake

I have been complaining for a while now (sorry Zac) about Adelyn’s napping. She evidently only needs one hour of sleep during the day now.  I have done a terrible job of switching her from 2 naps down to 1, and instead of getting around 3 hours of sleep per day, she now takes one, 1 hour nap. I have tried going back to 2 naps, which she will do once in a blue moon, but it still involves lots of coaxing and sometimes crying, and so much frustration on my part. So I’ve decided that what I need to do is just get over it. If she only wants one little catnap per day, I’m just gonna have to adjust. I’ve just got to make good use of that time.

I know there are lots of you out there who have napping issues, probably worse than mine, so I’ll just stop the pity party and deal with it. She is still a good sleeper at night, so I really shouldn’t be whining about this, should I?

On another note, Zac said to me today, “I think we’ve found the solution to keeping Addie quiet while we are at restaurants.”

“What’s that?” I asked, and turned around to look at her. She HAD been playing rather quietly all by herself, and this is what I saw:

How to keep her quiet

She had covered her mouth with a sticker! I thought it was so funny! But I don’t think that it would look so good in public if we were taping our kid’s mouth shut….

I really do love this girl. And all the frustrating things are totally outweighed by the funny, cute, and loving things she does.

How did this summer get so packed full of traveling and fun stuff? I’m not complaining, but I really thought our Europe trip would be IT for this summer. Then a couple more trips popped up (mostly thanks to my family), and here we are, almost in August! It has been a fun summer so far, but now we are home for good (I think). So its time to break out the creativity to keep us busy for the next few sweltering weeks.

Last week we went to Newport Beach because Zac was working there, and my family came out as well. For those of you who don’t know, I spent most of my childhood in Oak Park, CA (we moved to Dallas when I was 13), so I was excited get back to California for a few days.  Of course the weather was cool and breezy (I broke out my long pants for the first time since March), and the traffic was crazy, but we had a good time.

We spent most of our time at the beach, where Adelyn had a little adjusting to do.

Day 1: She would NOT touch the sand, much less the water, and cried whenever she got even a fleck of sand in her shoes. She spent most of the time being held.

Scared of the water

Day 2: I talked her into walking in the sand barefoot, and Zac taught her how to build a sand castle, which she loved. But the ocean was still a source of terror for her.

Playing in the sand

Day 3: She is running in the ocean! Yay! She loves to run, and she loves water, so finally when she realized she could run IN the water and it wouldn’t sweep her away, she was LOVING it.

Loving the ocean

I loved digging my toes into the sand and soaking up the sun. And spending some time with Cami and Scott, who live in Utah. We also went to Downtown Disney, Panda Inn (LOVE LOVE LOVE this place), Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach (to roast smore’s and see my cousins and their cute kids), Fashion Island (mall), and the Block in Orange (another mall). Sounds like a lot, but it really was a nice, relaxing trip. Someday we should try out the beaches a little closer to home.

Lego Store at Downtown Disney

Smile!

A little ice cream at the end of a busy day

Listening for the ocean in a shell

Love my family

Addie loves to watch airplanes fly! She lights up and points every time she sees or hears one go by. Luckily for her, we live near a major international airport, so we took a trip to Founder’s Plaza, which is a park within the airport boundaries where you can sit and watch planes take off and land. They have benches and telescopes, and a radio that broadcasts the air traffic control. She was ecstatic about the first 3 or 4 planes that took off right above our heads, but decided that running would be more fun than just standing and watching. So I chased her around the park for the next 30 minutes or so (I still don’t trust her to stay out of the street).

This girl can run. I need to sign her up for toddler track or something. Something to get her energy out. She can run faster than me. You should see me in church, after she wriggles out of my grasp and bolts down the hallway, and I’m tripping over my heels and trying not to run down small children in my path as I try to catch up to her.  It’s a sight, I’m sure.

Two funny stories from today. I know you won’t think them as cute as me, but I don’t want to forget the cute things she says. We visited the Fritz Park Petting Farm in Irving, which Addie loved. All morning I told her we were going to see some animals, and she was really excited. She spent the whole time running around, watching the animals, getting too close and then getting scared when they came near her, and petting and hugging some goats. Our playgroup was there, so she got to see some friends too. It was great! And it was nice that it was a bit cooler and overcast today. After we got back in the car, and she had cooled off and had a drink of water, she takes a deep breath and pipes up from the backseat, “That was fun.” Sometimes I feel like she is 20 years old, instead of 20 months. But it was cute, and I am glad I earned her approval for taking her to see animals, which she loves, and letting her run, which she also loves.

Loving that peacock

Petting the goat

Story Two: She was playing with my hair today. She faces me, and runs her fingers through the front of my hair and my bangs. Our conversation:

Adelyn: “Mommy, you look pretty.”

Me: “Thank you Addie”

Adelyn: “Mommy is pretty”

Me: “Addie looks pretty too”

Adelyn pauses and looks away and fixes her bangs and says: “I look nice”

Well, she did get a little sweaty today, so maybe she didn’t feel so pretty.