dear socks

dear socks,
thank you for letting squeeze you while i sleep...it can't be very comfortable, but you never complain.
thank you for always making me smile...no matter my mood.
you are my bestie.
night-night buddy,
love addie

love this lady...

does it get any better than this...

flat-footed-parade-queen

so our sweet little addie has turned 18 months old. i feel like this is a big milestone for some reason although i can't figure out why..

is it such a big deal to have another round of vaccines?
or to learn how to SCREAM in public to shame mama into giving you the box of raisins NOW
or is it special cause you now are big enough to eat grapes without having them cut up?
is it such a big thing cause you have your own t.v. shows where you recognize characters and theme songs?
is it a big deal cause you sleep on a cot at school..and have not gotten up once...
does being 18 months old mean you get to pick out the shoes you want to wear and get frustrated with the ones mama MAKES you wear...
is it awesome cause now you tell mama when you have pooed by tapping your bottom and saying in the most hysterically cute voice - "mama , addie poo"
is it special cause you hate your stroller now and INSIST on WALKING where you want, when you want in any size crowd...
is being this old so cool cause you can put your words into sentences like when you told mama she was pretty the other day...ummm yes, that is it...this is why 18 months is the BEST.

oh, and what we found out from the ortho visit is that you have sweet little fat flat feet. and your daddy says you pulled out your parade queen wave in the hospital and made all the staff melt. you soak this stuff up-full on wave as we stroll you past just about anyone (i.e. mall, grocery, sidewalks).
only thing you are missing is a sash and tiara. dear lord. maybe for your 19-month birthday...

where has the time gone?

apologizing isn't going to blog-back the last few crazy months. i will tell you all the same thing i tell miss addie when she throws a fit - put your big-girl pants on and deal with it! i have been wearing my big girl pants since Easter Sunday, when our whole lives changed.

In one week (which happened to be my spring break) we decided to buy a new house and get ours ready for sale. can i go back to when i said ONE WEEK. yes. we packed up, fixed up, moved out, all in one week. here is a shout out to those who supported, helped, and did any lifting at all..."SHOUT OUT".

and now, we hear crickets, see stars, and ride bikes. its a dream come true to be living in a house where your growing toddler can run figure eights all day long and that's just inside! the potential of this house makes me smile and the stair-less-ness of it all puts my mind at ease.

so, easter + buy + move + sell + duck, NC + secret remodel + paint + ride + run 8's + dream = happy lynch's

there are a few things i would like to subtract, poor miss addie had a very scary seizure towards the middle of the summer which has since sent me swirling down the anxiety tunnel - and i really am not sure when i will find my way out...bear with me everyone.

one of my favorites from Duck, NC...addie hated the ocean until i called
it "bubbles" like her bath, and the pool. now all water is "bubbles"
a diva and her mighty-mini
one of the last pictures taken in the old house.
how did she get to be such a big girl?
thank you pod. your held our house well.

i will attempt better communication...but i have to say, its been pretty nice to have so much going on that there is so little time to reflect. plus, it would probably have up'd my anxiety level knowing how much was actually changing..

what? below 90th percentile?

so the 15 month well-visit was interesting...
your head - 19 3/8 in ....>97th percentile
your weight - 26 lbs. 7 oz. .....92nd percentile
your height - 31 inches .....65th PERCENTILE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i don't know what to say, except, WHAT?

so much has changed...

so today you are fifteen months old.
you are still the most awesome person i have ever met.
and yes, we still do not have a camera since mommy's broke.
and yes, it kills me that i am missing thousands of pictures of you on a daily basis.
but none of that seems to matter...as long as you are happy and by my side.

not only did you turn one since i last wrote, but you have MOVED! mama and daddy were so lucky to have just about every dream come true in a span of two months. we used to sit in our old house with you and talk about how all we wanted for you was more space to play...and we would get sad thinking about how far away it felt that we would be able to give that to you. and mama wished for a very important thing, a circle of open doorways, that you could run around and around like she had when she was young. and now we have TWO! so, every time you make your figure eight, mama gets so happy she's been known to tear up a bit.

you love it here, you have a big carpet that you roll around with daddy on, you wait by the windows for caroline the dog to appear so you can shout "HI PUP" and then pretend to bark like her, you like to watch grandpa in the yard and when you hear his motorcycle you say "pop pop", you love to be in the kitchen with mama when she is making ANYTHING-which must be new and exciting because you weren't allowed in the old house, you like to sit on your picnic table in the t.v. room and have snacks after school, and you love to sit in your recliner and pretend to drink coffee with daddy in the morning, you love to go for walks around the cul-de-sac, and when we turn the corner to come home from school you say "HI" to the new house which melts me every time cause a little bit of me is saying "hi" too...

there are so many plans ahead. one of which is to get a camera. i can't wait to share it all with you, crazy face. you and your paintbrush pigtails and silly laugh.

my one year old

so, this blog is to apologize to miss addie. february was very hectic, full of goodbyes, showers, parties, appts., broken cameras and of course, changes.
in all of that you turned one. one whole year that you have been in our lives. one whole year of happy...its kinda weird - but looking back i almost have to have someone remind of when it was frustrating or difficult, cause all i can remember is you smiling.

things you do now that you are a big girl...which the doctor defines by = 25.8 lbs, still a large head, still tall...still haven't dropped below 90th percentile in anything.
1. point at your nose when prompted with "where is your nose"
2. drink only from sippy cups - after extensive research to find a good one (yeah nuby)
3. go to sleep earlier and earlier - as you play so hard that it tuckers you out.
4. sit through sesame street in your baby recliner with sippy in one hand and goldfish in the other
5. read books. i know i know..but you do go page by page and babble with emphasis and arms raised. and you don't eat the pages anymore which is a relief.
6. sit face forward in your carseat and laugh and kick to funny noises and music.
7. sign "more", "bye", "milk"
8. shake your head "no" when mommy asks if you want more
9. stand up in the bath - which causes mommy to freak out.
10. you eat almost every veggie (cauliflower, snow peas, green beans, carrots, peppers, sweet potato)
11. you LOVE grapes, strawberries, bananas, apples, blueberries...but not oranges. definitely not oranges.
12. you like to fall asleep watching Einstein - which at first mommy thought was not a great idea, but really, the music seems to be what lulls you into dream land.
13. you cry a little when we put you down for a nap...but give you a few minutes and you are out like a light and you sleep like a rock.
14. you have awesome bed head. awesome.
15. you LOVE blocks. your friend greta got you a little people block set and you love knocking over the castle after mommy builds it. you laugh very hard every time.
16. you like scrambled eggs - but only with cheese...anything with cheese is your favorite.
17. you whine when things don't go your way. we have to believe this is a product of your one-year molars coming in...as it is quite annoying and we try to see past it.
18. and my most favorite that you showed us this morning 'YOU WALK!' or at the very least you took a few steps. and of course mommy and daddy starting crying - cause all wanted was for you to do it first for us..and not at daycare. what a wonderful gift. thank you.

you are the best ads. picking you up from school is still the best part of my day. and now when i do you start flapping your arms and waving and laughing and you stay laughing all the way out to the car. like you know how much fun we are going to have when we get home. and we do one castle at a time. love you laides. you are my favorite.

now everyday is a someday come true...

23 hours after 5 am Sunday morning...i met my daughter for the first time.

her name...miss adelaide jane

her weight...9 lbs. 2.4 oz.

her length...22 inches

her arrival...4:04 am

but that cannot explain miss addie jane. if you want, you can read below...otherwise, just admire the beauty that is my little girl. i can't believe i get to have her call me mommy.

at 5am sunday morning i woke up in bed thinking something didn't feel right, i thought i was just uncomfortable so i went to sleep on the couch, only the same feeling happened twice more. i woke up greg - who immediately jumped up, got dressed, got his iphone and turned his lap making app on and...well, waited.

i took a long shower and drank like a gallon of water...but the weird feelings kept returning. so, i called my mom, and my midwife. we were timing them and thought they were 20 min. apart, so my midwife said - go out, walk around a mall, a grocery store - anything. so -even though greg was embarrassed at the thought of me stopping mid-walk to groan loudly through a contraction, he took me to meijer and to sam's.

i had a contraction in the dvd section of meijer. it was bad.

then we got some food, and i laid on the couch for awhile. it was about 4:00 before i said, IT IS TIME TO GO.

i had two more contractions before we made it to good sam's triage/admission desk. and when they checked me - the nurse laughed, saying i had dilated to 4 and was almost completely effaced...and of course the awesome - "did you know you were 1-3 minutes apart?"

so, moral of the story. i don't have a clue when contractions begin and end, because for a few hours mine were right on top of each other so much so that i thought 4 or 5 of them were one big one.

i was admitted obviously, and checked a few hours later only to find out that i was 6 cm. by 6 or 7 pm - it was time for my epidural. a moment that i both feared and anticipated for months. and i was right to fear it. i can't explain what happened...it was mostly of blur of misery and absolute panic. the "bee sting" theory is bull$#!!...and the warm relief that follows is bull$#!! too. the dude had to stick my three different times, all i could yell was "LEFT SIDE" "LEFT SIDE" because literally - my left side was on fire and my right side felt NOTHING. i knew it wasn't right.

so, moral of the story. it takes longer than the 3 minutes promised and its not a bee sting. epidurals suck...and mine took the cake.

a few hours later - i had made it to 8 cm. and shortly after that i was a full 10 cm. but was at -2 station. meaning she was all up in my ribcage and not where she should be. so they pushed pitocin into my IV to move things along. By 2:30 am I was absolutely exhausted and REALLY NEEDING TO PUSH. only the nurse wouldn't let me...until greg took her gently outside and must have said something - and then, she let me.

oh yeah, did i mention i had to be redosed four times, and then when i couldn't stand the pain and had to push ( and because they would wear off way too fast) i got a "PUSHING DOSE". which by the way, is a cop-out for "we don't know what else to do except re-stick you".

now, i had been told that with an epidural all you feel is pressure. and that someone has to tell you when you are having a contraction so you know when to push. i knew without any help, and i told the nurses when i was going to push because i felt every last inch of pain + pressure and i knew the only relief was to push.

so i pushed for an hour or so, 4 at a time, screaming, being dramatic, and telling the nurse "STOP TELLING ME TO RELAX...YOU RELAX...I CANT..." and a few choice f-bombs later and wham, there she was, shiny, perfect, and mine.

4:04 am. everything changed. i am in love.

i will write more later.

i have to go squeeze her.

oops, how did you get so big?

so, here i am, apologizing again. i blinked and my daughter turned 11 months old weeks ago.

now part of me is glad that i was somewhere having fun with her and didn't have the time to fill everyone else in on her growth and changes. so i am taking the time while i have it, to tell anyone who cares that this lady is awesome.

Things addie can do :

1. SLEEP : how did i get so very lucky? she sleeps so well that shes even been known to add a pre-dinner nap to her own schedule when needed. addie goes to bed depending on that self-ordered nap at around 7:30-8:30 pm and not get up completely until 7:30. She may wake up and talk or cry a bit, but she is a fantastic self-soother and we have found that going in after her only brings on the drama.

2. EAT : She is almost down to four bottles - that fifth one at night just seems to be the bedtime clincher and i think we are holding onto it too... She has tried a lot of foods, and even had her first meal off of a kid menu! So far anything that has to do with cheese - is her ultimate favorite. Strawberries, raspberries, spaghetti, peaches, real bananas, daddy's oatmeal, pancakes, pizza, macaroni, grilled cheese, strawberry applesauce from MOTTs (which mommy and daddy sneak too), yogurt, etc...the worst part is she fake gags on anything until you notice and then she smiles at you.

3. WALK : Every time you take her hands to help her walk somewhere, you get the feeling that lift off is about to occur...she is so close to walking on her own, and now has braved for the past few weeks to only hold one hand and go! She has a hard time keeping shoes on, since her feet are so fat on the top and short in length...she takes them off and immediately she tries to eat them..no matter what...i wonder who modeled this behavior?

4. TALK : She has so many words in her vocab, and they take on a creepy reality to the situation you are in...like she was frustrated with not being able to reach some toy (i.e. remote) and after several tries said "JESUS" She also still repeatedly says "HI" and it is truly at the appropriate time-like when greg comes home from work..she waits, watches the door, he walks in "HI" she says. She also says an inappropriate word-that she may have heard from mommy while watching the batchelor - but how was i to know she pick that one? She says "THANK YOU" & "LOVE you" which you only ever hear the first part of...

5. SIGNS : She knows 'more' and 'bye bye'...i just hope she doesn't learn the sign for milk-it makes me uncomfortable.

6. CUDDLES : She has several friends at school, ruby, jenna, elle, and tommy...her teachers say that she shares well, and takes turns..the other day she took turns hugging a doll with one of her friends...and when greg dropped her off the other day-he said another little girl went right over to her and put her head in addie's lap. So apparently she is very comforting to others. awwww. She has also fallen in love with a stuffed dog that greg bought for her-we affectionately call him socks - named by addie. She squeezes him so tight i think the stuffing might come out.

but the best thing addie does lately, is hugs. they are the best, but added to her laughter its a dangerous melt-your-heart moment. i just love the hell out of her...

rub-a-dub-dub

a little ladybug in the tub...

more snowday fun

i can't put my arms down...

seriously...i have no idea where her posture and balance come from since neither one of us has that at all. i guess this means i will be in the lodge sipping hot cocoa while these two hit the slopes. she loved her first snow...stacy and i tried to get her to make snowangels - but we couldn't get her to move. she took a few more laps after this ended and then we called it quits.

can't wait until next year when she can run and play in it herself!

SNOWWWW

so this week both our school's had unexpected snowdays, and we made the most of them together...

1. seeking the remote no matter what for addie, trying to hide it constantly for mama

2. sesame street for addie, while mama kept up with the kardashians

3. yogurt snacks for addie, a bag of pecans for mama

4. naptime for addie, an old black and white film for mama

5. laundry for mama, a basket to empty and fill and empty and fill for addie

6. laughing with her cousins for addie, window shopping at the mall for mama

7. a perfect snow suit marked 60% off for addie, awesome moment for mama.

8. bananas for addie, peanut butter for mama to celebrate the Kings 75th!

i couldn't capture everything...but i have to say besides the snow adventure outside, teaching her to make monkey noises has been my favorite moment over the past two days. i swear this little girl is so much fun to be around...