Rob had the last couple nights off and Addison enjoyed EVERY minute of it!
Robbie had to move the crib down one slot, because she is getting SO big! 
I just wanted to take a minute and say thank you.
I blog because I love having this record of Addison's "doings". I do it for Rob and I and for you who also love Addison. It brings me joy to blog because I love thinking of looking back on this stuff with her when she is older.
And it's so nice when I get the email or the messages from you guys saying thanks for the blog and that you love the blog or when you call to talk about something you read. It's so much fun for us to hear you be so excited about Addison....cuz we are too! So thanks to everyone! We love you guys!
(Plus it's much easier to blog than send out 40 emails every week! lol =)
Okay, so now that Addison has one upper and two lower teeth a very strange thing is happening. We are pretty sure she is grinding her teeth. She was hanging out with Rob this afternoon and he called me in from the kitchen and said "listen". So i did and the worst most horrible sound came from Addison. After ruling out gas (the usual culprit), we realized it was coming from her sweet baby mouth. GRINDING TEETH! I covered my ears and Robbie grabbed his teeth in pain to hear such a bad noise come from her little mouth. She laughed at our shocked faces and went on with it, totally unbothered. After that we tried not to make a big deal out of it in fear of her catching on and doing it more. She only did it a total of like four or five times today for only a few seconds, thank heavens! I immediately called my mom to ask if any of the five of us did this and she laughed so hard I am surprised she could stand up. I think she said "Only your child would do this". Thanks mom. not funny. =) I am assuming she is doing it because now she can. I think it's because she has these weird hard things in her mouth now and she is just experimenting with them. So I am actually asking for feedback on this ladies....did any of your children do this?
Tooth number three poked itself out today, exactly two months from the first tooth, and it looks like tooth number four will be making an appearance soon. I am so glad that the biting has stopped, because she could really do some damage now!
She turns 8 months tomorrow.
Just wanted to post these pictures. It was so cute for her to be right there with me. I had set her down with her toys in the living room and before I knew it, she had crawled in to join me in putting groceries away. She is so much fun.
So cute.
So last night about 10:30pm I went from feeling just tired, to feeling wretched! Barfing, sweating, headache. Addison had gone to bed at 8 on the dot and I was so scared I was going to wake her up. I seriously said a little prayer that she wouldn't be woken up and would sleep good so I could lay down. Rob was on a gang detail with LASO and then to graves, totaling a 16 hour shift. So I knew I was on my own.
Anywho, so I finally laid down and fell asleep and Addison did not make a peep until 6:15am!! Never in her whole entire life has she slept for over ten hours straight!! I nursed her, put her back down and she slept until 9am!! If that wasn't divine intervention, I don't know what is!! =)
Rob converted the play center to the walker today and awayyyyy she went! This is so so cute! (But mute your sound and it's more enjoyable.)
What an amazing show!! and we had GREAT seats. Thanks Dad! He stayed in the hotel and babysat Addison while we went off galivanting! I wasn't sure I could leave her, but he reminded me that he had something to do with raising the five of us and seriously, how much damage can be done in two hours?! wait, I don't want to answer that! =) They did awesome. They were besties until he changed her diaper and found out that she will run for her life the minute that thing is off. He said No and she yelled at him. I think he said "we have another Megan on our hands". ummm. Let's hope not.
Then on Thursday, everyone came out to Grandma's for the day.
It was an awesome trip. We really enjoyed ourselves. Thanks to everyone for EVERYTHING! and especially to Ang for bringing Autumn down with her. We loved seeing you two!! We'll be up there to see you SOOON!
I know that Rob is a cop. I am not, nor have I ever been in denial about this. I am proud of him, he is outstanding at his job. But, every once in a while I just think...
"Ya, so Rob's a cop"...
and then I just sit there.
This most often happens while I am driving. I don't know why. The only thing I can think of is that it's because for 16 of the 17 years I have known him he was NOT a cop. So I guess it's still somewhat novel.
I do have to brag just a little. Last month Rob led his ENTIRE office for DUI arrests. Not his shift, but the entire office. This is pretty amazing for a new officer...he's not even off his one year probation yet! Anyway, it earned him some nice kudos from his highest ranking sergeant (which I will be framing=) and I hope he is taking a little bit of pride in this. But you know Rob, it's hard to tell...he is so nonchalant about the whole thing.
Regardless, I am very proud of him and want him to know it. I am thankful for the work that he does and how hard he works at it. He is constantly reading case law and learning more in order to be a better officer. To me that is inspiring. I admit it gave me pause to learn that last night a guy on a stop had a knife and another guy (who was drunk) almost got in a fight with him. But in reality it comes with the territory. Good, aggressive cops are going to come in contact with the real "cream of the crop", especially working graves which Rob has been on for three months and will be on for three more. A scuffle, a tazing or two, they are bound to happen. But I always know that he is well trained, very smart and aggressive enough to be on the cuffing end of things. Robbie, I am proud of the job you do, and how you do it. Thank you for always doing the hard things for our family.
Okay, on the biting-- saying "no no" in my "I mean it" voice seems to be working wonders. This worked a lot faster than I thought it would.
Now, all of the sudden, going to sleep easily is a thing of the past. We went from getting up once or twice a night, to not being able to go down at all.
Morning nap is still a breeze. Get her in the swing, read some books, end with "Goodnight Moon" give her one toy and a big kiss and leave. No problem.
Afternoon nap in her cribby used to be nearly as easy. Now she is boycotting afternoon nap completely. Two days in a row now, she shows the tired signs and we head for a nap like usual. She's nearly asleep in my arms, but then when we head for the crib she is awake and crying instantly. Same thing at night.
Tonight she slept for an hour and a half, but then woke up and can't go back down. It's very sad.
Once she gets down and gets to midnight or so, it's smooth sailing with one "get up" between midnight and nine a.m. It's just getting her to go to sleep that is all of the sudden a very tricky thing.
From all the reading I have been doing, it seems like a separation anxiety thing. She also has learned a ton in the last week or so....standing herself up, "chasing" me and me "chasing" her, continuing to learn to really crawl. This is lots for a busy little girl. All this new exciting knowledge is just making it hard to settle I think.
This is serious. We are not joking. She goes after you now to bite you. Not to play or to touch nice, but puts her face to any body part she can reach and actually bites. It hurts.
However at the beginning of this, it did not hurt. It was cute. So we laughed and this encouraged her. So now, we have created a monster.
Babies learn. Quickly. Apparently parents also learn. Less quickly.
So now I am nursing a baby who when she bites and I scold...she laughs.
She does not understand how this went from being funny to not being funny. Let me tell you. It is not funny. and I have NO idea what to do about it.
confession....
Yes I am the Smythe child who at age 7 bit Jason in the stomach and drew blood. My mom then promptly bit me back. (she did not draw blood). I can see where this is headed. In six more years I will be biting Addison. Agh! what have I done?
Today we went to Hollywood. We went and saw the sign, went to Rodeo Drive and cruised through Malibu. We were taking our friend Shannon to the airport and decided to go out there for a little sightseeing first. Rob and I had been there before of course, but it was kinda fun to drive around again, except that I got carsick as we were driving through the Hollywood hills on tiny WAY curvy roads. I almost barfed.
Anywho, here are a couple pics...
I took this video a few weeks ago, but mom wants to see Addison motoring around, so here it is. It's funny now, before she starts motoring, she gets up on her hands and knees a few times and rocks, but isn't really sure how to get moving forward so much. Cutey. But she has figured out that she can get up on her hands and knees and then pounce on our Roomba vacuum. I will try to get video of that, she torments that thing. She chases it down and then smothers it. Its so cute I can't make her stop. Rob says it's the most expensive baby toy ever. haha As you can see, she also loves towers made with her blocks. She will come from the other side of the room to knock it down, she can't stand to let it stay.
Addison seemed a little fussy today and had her hands in her mouth all afternoon. Since I am awaiting her top two teeth, I chalked it up to that. I now think though, she may have been starving. Because....
At 6:30pm, Robbie fed her two bowls of oatmeal mixed with mango and pears and then a little bit of bottle...about 2 ounces or so.
Then at 7:30pm she was acting hungry, so I gave her some cheerios and just grabbed a jar of applesauce and fed her that straight from the jar, thinking that would fill her up....
She looked at me and yelled and then opened her mouth like a little bird, so I followed the applesauce with a full container of green beans...
Hand back in the mouth asking for more food, so we followed it up with peaches, which aren't her favorite or I am convinced she would have finished them off too! As it was, she got through about half the container.
So all in all, she ate...2 bowls of oatmeal mixed with mango and pear, a full container of applesauce, a full container of green beans and half a container of peaches, PLUS 2 ounces of a bottle, plus some cheerios! WHEW! I would never have guessed she could possibly eat that much! Where does it all go??
She had to have a bath after all that chowing down, then went straight to bed without a peep, sweet girl. Little Piggy will sleep great tonight for sure! 
