A 10 month update!! I can't even believe I'm typing that!

10 months! Double digits! Let me just bury my head in the sand and pretend this isn’t really happening...because 1st birthday party planning has already begun and that is just such craziness to me! 

The photoshoot was almost over before it began, with Addison ripping her monthly photo sticker off her vest before I'd even taken the first photo! 

and there was lots of crawling off set! but with a little help from big sis and Daddy, we got there in the end! 

She has been learning to do so much this month and I feel like her little personality is really starting to shine! 

There are now high fives, giving kisses, saying hooray, putting her hands together when we say it’s prayer time and crawling begun just the eve before she turned 10 months!

But I think my favourite of all is the pointing! She has begun, quite frequently, to point out things of interest to us! Most often these seems to be lights, lampshades and things happening outside the window! but I just love to see what she gets excited about and wants to show us! It is beyond cute! I think here she's saying 'Look Mom, there's another baby!' or maybe she's noticed we're matching!

There are also a whole lot of new teeth that have come through. Her two main ones up top finally came in, and a third and fourth are appearing too at the top - along with her two bottom ones so she’s building up quite the set! She was basically off food the whole of last month in between all her teething/cold and cough dramas and lived off blueberries so it’s been really nice to see her interested in food again!

I just love watching her eat - she grabs each little bit of food off her high chair tray with such enthusiasm with those teeny little fingers - often dropping them along the way and not even realising! It is quite funny to watch. Up until recently she hadn’t really been a fan of meat but we gave her some sausage and mash and peas and she ate every last scrap and then the next night some pork and veg and she devoured her first roast dinner last Sunday too!



She also tried her first pancake on pancake day! and the picture above shows you just how she felt about it!



I had to sneak this pic in because I still can't get enough of her hair! It just keeps growing, and getting wilder - but I love it! It is always a conversation starter, and she literally has hair for days!

Rummaging has been a prominent feature this month! I used to spread out all her toys on a blanket for her to play with - thinking it would give her easy access to everything. Then when Ella’s party happened I found a big storage tub and whipped all her toys into there and didn’t think anything of it (just to keep them out the way). When it was time to bring them out again I just put the tub on the blanket and Addi started tucking in pulling everything out and oh boy, did she have fun! So that is what I do now. When I need to get some housework done, or baking done, I just leave her beside a whole pile of stuff for rummaging...

whether it’s a full laundry basket...

or a tub of toys...

or a pile of Ella’s things that she’s usually not allowed to play with!

Yes, she’s never happier then when playing with things she’s usually not allowed access to! Cables, the remote control, our phones, the plug! 

At the start of the week she was just doing a couple of crawls and then sitting back on her bottom again when she ventures too far and gets a bit too daring! but she has been crawling more the past few days and I just know once she picks up speed we are going to be in serious trouble with everything she’s going to get into! 

I laughed that out of all the motivating things for her to crawl toward, it was a dog that made it happen! She really does love dogs, when she sees them in a book or hears the woofing in a song she gets so excited.  I have also heard her make a 'woof woof' noise a few times! I just think she loves animals!



She is pretty taken with the fish at our local garden centre even! We're hoping to take the girls to a farm park over the Easter weekend, and I'm so excited to see what Addison makes of all the animals because I know she's going to love them!

One of the biggest milestones this month was starting nursery! It was hard for my Mama heart to let her go so little - she seems so little to be braving a whole new environment on her own! I never had to put Ella into nursery as a baby so this was whole new territory. I didn’t know how she was going to be and if she would cry and it would break my heart the way it did when I used to leave Ella as a 2 year old at playgroup...

but I think the age worked in her favour. So far there haven’t been any tears when leaving her! 



The first day we left her Ella and I snuck out so she didn’t know we had left, but these days I wave her off and she climbs quite willingly into the open arms of her teachers.  On her first day it was an unseasonably warm February day so we were able to take a nice stroll in the sling to nursery - in our short sleeves! what!! Now as I write this today we've had snow, so who knows what the weather is upto these days!!

 The first day I left her was just for an hour while she was doing settling in sessions - when I returned she had been playing with a whole basket of musical instruments, the nursery keys (that are specifically designated for play) and she had been reading the ‘that’s not my’ books which are basically her top 3 things to do! So she had been living her best life and I didn’t need to worry about her being left!

She has been doing lots of fun sensory activities - jelly play, and tubs of flour - and one day when I picked her up they were all sat around the table on the most adorable mini chairs you’ve ever seen eating snack with her little pals - it was the cutest!

She only goes for two afternoons a week, so she’s not in much - but it’s enough that I can get a good head start on my baking for the week now that I’m back to baking full time and maternity leave is over - boo hoo!

I don’t think a month has gone by that I haven’t talked about her love for her big sister, 



but it is all encompassing and just so sweet to see that it always deserves a mention! They are really starting to play with one another now, this was one day when Ella introduced her to bubbles! Love the giggles!

and playing ball, by rolling the ball to one another is another game they like to play.



Laundry basket rides are always fun! although I think Addi was getting a bit squished in this one! She's like 'Mom, what is going on here?!'



They are so sweet together!



Ella was teaching her what to do with the balls at her first time at soft play!



It was a new soft play we'd never been to before, and I thought Ella would be tearing round like a crazy person checking everything out, but no - she just wanted to stay right by her little sister in the boring baby section! How cute!



Addison is also going to have to take up big sister's obsession with Harry Potter, whether she likes it or not! This was a little dress up session for world book day! Addi, of course had no idea what was going on, but was ever the willing model - not even squirming that much when I drew her glasses on with eyeliner! She's a good sport! I think she was pretty taken with the all singing, all noise making wand she had been given so she was like the cat who got the cream!

We are finally being able to get outside a little bit more now we've had a few warmer days...

trampolining together! We can't bounce Addi yet, she just feels pleased to be included even if she's just sitting on there! 

and a beaut sunny day spent at the park feeding the ducks...

and getting pushed by big sis! 

It makes me so excited for spring/summer, and all the new things we can introduce her to! if it would just hurry up and get on with it already!!

A 9 month old update

Oh 9 months! You have not been a fun one.  Addison has literally only been well for about 2 days out of this whole entire month, so you can imagine how the rest of it has gone.

Of course the biggest impact was on her sleep...and we all know how fabulous that was anyway! but the poor little darling was so stuffed up for most of the month that as soon as she lay down she just couldn't breathe...which led to many nights me having to just sit up upright with her so she was able to sleep on me.  So I'm definitely declaring this the worst month yet for sleep - are we noticing a pattern? I think I've said every month since 6 months has been the worst yet for sleep, but they have been spiralling into decline ever since! Naps as well were mostly on me, and not in her cot - which led to me getting zero done! and then when she was able to eventually go down in her cot she was napping for anywhere between 15-30 minutes! I'm really ready for some longer naps to start happening around here, and more sleep would be amazing too if the powers that be are listening! Hear my plea! 

I wish I'd written this post sooner, but February has just been a crazy one! I can't believe it's March already! Addison has been learning and doing so much in just the past 2 weeks that I feel like I can't even remember what she was doing last month, but I'll try my best! 

She learnt to wave! which has been really fun, saying hi and bye to anyone and everyone...and just on the day of her turning 9 months she learnt to clap! We were all very excited for her.  At first it was just a silent clap, but more recently she actually makes noise when she claps which Ella is just thrilled about! 

She is becoming more destructive! as evidenced by ripping her sticker logo in half by the end of the photoshoot.  In fact ripping paper is just one of her fave pastimes - when she's not trying to eat it! 

After a couple of weeks of being unwell, she had the 2 days of being well, and then that night had some horrendous teething! and for the next few days too.  She still only has the 2 teeth at the bottom, but it looks like more are going to break through at the top. 

So there's been a whole lot of poorly snuggles...

and lots of sleeping on me.  Look at those little rosy cheeks.

So cute when she sleeps! 

One of the saddest things about her month of sickness is that she's stopped sucking her fingers! I think she realised she couldn't breathe properly when she was all blocked up and tried to put them in her mouth so she just stopped doing it, and never went back! It was so cute, and I miss seeing her sucking away, it was also great for helping her settle at night so I would have loved if she'd carried it on!! 

We did a 5 week block of a music class with a lady called Pooee and her puppets, with our friends Gillian and baby Cohen, and this picture up above sums up how Addison felt about it! She just loves music! Her favourite time in the class was instrument time! All the boxes of musical instruments would come out and everyone could pick one - maracas are definitely Addi's instrument of choice! She would happily shake away to every song, and we'd always finish on a rather rousing rendition of Nelly the Elephant! We were so sad when the classes came to an end, but back to work beckoned so we're planning to go back for one of the Easter specials next month instead.  

She is still big into her books, and the 'that's not my' series are definitely her favourite (just like they were Ella's too).  My mom bought her the new one - 'that's not my owl' at Christmas and this definitely seems to be the book of the moment! She knows just where all the fluffy/fuzzy bits are to feel.

She also loves a bit of vanity.  She has 2 toys she plays with that have mirrors on - and she always acts so delighted when she peeks in and sees herself! She literally sat on the floor for about half an hour the day she first discovered this mirror in big sister's Hello Kitty case! 

Her favourite spot right now is probably playing in an empty bath! Oh the fun she has in there! Those silver handles are the big draw (she is trying to pull herself up on one in the pic above) and the plug is pretty exciting too! 

Baths with water in are still a big highlight too - especially with big sis, because everything is more fun when Ella is around! 

That knowing sister glance!

I feel like Addi looks like she's riding sidecar in this one!! Going for a spin around the Hirsel in their retrospective modes of transport! 

She also got to try out a swing for one of the first times! I think she wanted to eat the chains!

Cuddles before school...

and laundry basket rides!

Sharing a sweet moment at the library as Ella wanted to pick out a book she thought Addi would love, and then read it to her.  

Matching dresses will just never get old! 

This outfit even came complete with matching unicorn tights! 

A frosty walk in the woods and some snowsuit snuggles! 

I was super excited when this little outfit finally fit! This bear shirt and dungaree dress were some of my fave clothes for baby Ella.  So when Addi wore it to church one Sunday, I had to dig out a pic of Ella wearing it too and do a throwback! 

Same outfit, same happy countenance, but Addi obviously wins in the hair department! 

So much so that she's getting better at rocking a ponytail these days! 

She has also been enjoying some of big sister's old toys too - especially this Balapalooza, she has got really good at putting the balls in herself!

and I really think she thinks baby Annabel is real! She loves to pull her eyelashes up and down - and also tries to replicate this with Ella! and has also become quite obsessed with baby Annabel's dummy, if only she could have loved her own one quite as much!

She got to celebrate big sister's birthday...

and absolutely loved all the music and dancing at her party! She was bopping around like crazy on her bottom - I can't wait til next year when she'll be running around trying to join in!

She also got to be loved on lots by family when they all came for Ella's birthday.  Like this balloon sword fight with Grandad! 

and relaxing with Auntie Mara!

and some hair pulling!

and giggles with Granny! 

I would say I hope the next month brings more sleep, but since it is over tomorrow I already know that didn't come to fruition!!! I'll try and be more organised about posting next month's write up!