Lights

After tearing down all the insulation, we (mostly my dad and Stef) put up all our recessed lighting. It makes our kitchen and living room SOOO bright. :)

Our sweetheart - 18 months

What a busy, crazy and fun last couple months it has been. I'm now 15 weeks along and feeling sicker than a dog in the mornings. I don't remember things being quite this rough with Addie. Somehow you forget all the yucky feelings when you finally give birth and are blessed with your new baby. I'm praying that once the summer hits, I'm able to start feeling a little better and enjoy the slower pace of life.

Addie is now 18 months old. What a great age! We probably say that about all of her ages, but honestly, every stage gets better. She's in the process of getting four more teeth, so lots of gnawing on fingers and cuddle time. She's learned how to wash her self with a washcloth in the bathtub. Her favorite is cleaning toes, under her armpits and of course taking a quick drink by sucking the water from her washcloth in between all cleanings. Addie's new words include: NO, Up or Uppie, Now (that one comes and goes), Norm (kinda comes out as Orm), and ball and baby are still favorites. She really enjoys playing pretend or copycat. Last week I was mowing the lawn and all she wanted to do was follow me while pushing her own mower. When I making dinner, she's either rearranging my temporary kitchen in the basement or feeding her babies.

Hope all is well up in Canada! That stinks that the Canucks lost. At least that means that my hubby will climb into bed before midnight on a consistent basis.

We love you all lots. Miss you more! God Bless, Stefan, Betsy, Addie, Norm and Baby J #2

Babies

Addie is quite obsessed with babies lately. She now has 3 baby dolls and enjoys spending her time feeding, walking, kissing, and cooking for all of them. She's also enjoyed all the real babies that have come along. We've had multiple friends give birth in the last couple of months (almost all boys): Erik, Harper, Jack, Samuel, Kellan, Will and Gracie. There are 4 new friends coming her way as well by fall. It's so much fun! What a blessing all babies have been happy, healthy and moms are doing great.

Karin and Brant's wedding

The girls! Karin and Brant's wedding was supposed to be outdoors (they had this gorgeous overlook to a lake and prairie). But our Minnesota spring day didn't allow it. Their reception site was beautiful and nice and warm! :) Loved the Famous Daves!

Stef and Trevor (this was the 3rd attempt to get a good picture where both of their eyes were open!)

Karin and Brant! Her dress was stunning!

Stef was a dancing machine all night! Towards the end I had to drag him home. I love that my hubby loves to dance as much as I do!

Our helpers

Norm either enjoys napping on the bed or running around the house while we work on the kitchen.

Addie enjoys finding daddy's tools and pretending to build things. She also likes rearranging his tool chest and especially likes the pliers.

My mom and I had the job pleasure of nail pullers last weekend. We salvaged our old wood floor and consequently needed to pull around 2000 nails. Two sore backs later, we are almost finished.

2 weeks later

We ran into a piping issue, which set us back a couple weeks. Stef and my dad contemplated plumbing themselves but we ended up hiring a plumber to come and move our water lines over into the next stud. Thanks mom and dad!

Last weekend, my dad and Stef finished excavating all the installation and sheet rock from the dining room, kitchen,and ceiling. Yikes! This proved almost a messier job than the first demo.

All cleaned up!

Before and after our header

This was the end result after a long and hardworking Saturday. Grandpa Gene, Cousin Matt, Dad, and Stef all spent the day taking apart the kitchen. :)

This is 3 days later after Bryan and his dad installed our header and framed in our sliding patio door area. What a difference!

Addie - 18 months

Addie is now 18 months old. She continues to amaze us. Addie is such a happy, friendly child. Some of our fun moments and memories with her:

-Her hair is now long enough to put in either a barrette or side ponytail. I barely have enough time to get her hair ready and put the clip in, before her little hand reaches up to take it back out. It's become a game now to see who wins.

-She likes pretending that she is going places. Addie will find a bag, basket, my purse, doctors kit, anything that carries and holds items, pick it up, turn around and wave and say, "Bye." She then heads out of the room and then the entire process starts over. She fills up her container, puts it over her shoulder and says "Bye."

-Meal time has become interesting. She now notices differences in our dinners and her own. If anything is different what-so-ever, she wants ours. Last night we were eating sandwiches, fruit and veggies (we are kitchen-less right now so this is the consistency of a lot of our meals). She noticed that we had Fritos on our plates and she didn't. She shoved all of her food to one side of her tray, signed to Stefan for more, pointed at the chip bag, and did her little grunt sound that we've translated to meaning "now". Seriously!!

-Neighbors of ours had two of their huge oak trees cut down about 3 weeks ago. Addie was fascinated in watching the men use the chainsaws and big trucks. Every time a branch fell, she'd say, "Uh oh!" "Uh oh!" lasted the entire Saturday morning.

-Addie learned how to smile for the camera in Palm Springs (lots of pictures being taken). She not only smiles for the word cheese, but anytime anyone has a video camera or camera even out in the vicinity, she taps them and starts smiling. It's the face crunched, eyes shut, chin up, type smile. Very flattering, and pretty funny!!

Her vocabulary is pretty consistent with the words: Buh bye, Bye, dog, ruff, mum, dad, ball, bug, bebe (soother), and Hi. She still signs for more (a lot) and does this hands up, shoulder shrug for what's that, wear's that, and I don't know (that's our interpretation). Every once in a while, I think I hear new words that are probably in the forming (Susie her daycare lady, Papa, Cheerios).

Our biggest news is that Addie will get her dream fulfilled around November 1st. Our daughter absolutely adores babies. She hugs, kisses, pats, taps, leans on, brings toys to, any baby she can find. Stef and I are expecting Baby Julien #2 this fall. We are super excited and can't wait for this new blessing to join our family! I'm almost 13 weeks along and feeling pretty good. It's crazy how already having one around the house, allows no naps or extra rest period for mom. I found myself just going to bed at between 8:30 and 9am each night!

We love you all and miss you tons. Stef and I will update our blog soon with our kitchen remodel pictures. Right now it's somewhat of a mess!!!

God Bless, Stefan, Betsy, Addie, Baby J #2, and of course Norm :)

Addie's picnic

Addie has this amazing ability to put a lot of food into her mouth at one time. Witness how she eats her favorite sandwich, peanut butter and jelly's.

Spring Break

We were blessed to be able to spend the last week in Palm Springs with the Julien family. Mark flew in from Australia the night before we arrived. We hadn't seem him since Christmas 2008. We missed him a lot, but it was awesome to hear about how God worked through his lives and the ones he touched while on his mission. Sarah and Carley also flew in later that week, so everyone was together for Easter weekend. Addie helped find all our Easter eggs, so that the big kids could divide them up and eat them. :)

Stef and I, overlooking the view from our place. It was overlooking the putting green on the 3rd hole at PGA West. Absolutely beautiful!

Nana, Papa, and Addie saying goodbye at the airport. Addie learned the word "cheese" this last week. Her smiles are quite interesting. She squints her eyes, wrinkles her nose, and give a big toothy grin. :)

Zoo

Addie took her first trip to the zoo while we were in Palm Springs. She'd LOVED looking at the giraffes. She kept pointing at the baby giraffe.

Warthog. We didn't realize how ugly they are. They only reason they are kind of cute, is if you think of the Lion King.

Addie was NOT a fan of the petting zoo. Something about lots of goats and kids all over. She kept climbing up in our laps.

The African drums.

Easter in Palm Springs

Addie was quite smitten with her uncle Marky. She loved having him read books to her, play in the swimming pool, and hang out with her.

Eating a Cheerio snack (best way to keep her happy while hanging out by the pool). :)