Addison's Spring Program

Addison had her Spring Program at school a few weeks ago and it was absolutely precious! The theme was "I Am God's Friend" and we have been singing the songs at the Skalon household for weeks! We are so thankful for her teachers and the sweet friendships she has made this past year at Hebron!

It was so hard to get a good picture of her up there but she did SO good! She knew all of the motions and every word. She was so excited to get to be up on the RISERS as she so sweetly corrected me when I called it a STAGE. Too cute!

Her teachers hosted a sweet reception for the parents afterwards in her classroom and she was so excited to see all of us there.

Daddy and his sweet girl...

Nana and Pop-Pop got to come also...

I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of her!

Way to go Addison! You did a fabulous job! We love you!!!

34-ish Week Appointment

I had my 34-ish week appointment today (which I call my 35 week appointment but everyone else in the office kept reminding me that despite the fact that I am 4 days past 34 weeks...I am not actually 35 weeks yet...whatever, we are rounding UP people!) and it was quite interesting.

Somehow I have managed to gain an additional 4 pounds in the last two weeks (seriously???) and I decided that I will get on the scale backwards from that appointment on and do not want to be told my weight gain each week. Truly...I've gained more weight this pregnancy than with Addison and although I know I shouldn't worry about it...I do.

Braxton's heart rate was a strong 150 and he was kicking and moving around so much that the nurse had to keep trying to "find" him each time he would move. I'm telling you...this little guy's a mover! I received the wonderful news that I WILL have a choice of which way this baby enters the world unless he is another big baby like his sister was, so I was so thankful for that. After everything both Addison and I went through to get her into this world, Dr. Graham was concerned that when my tailbone healed from her birth, that it may have healed pointing up. If that would have been the case, Braxton would definitely have been a C-section baby. However, yesterday, Dr. Graham didn't find any reason that if Braxton is in the 7 lb. - 7 1/2 lb. range that I couldn't have him naturally if I chose to. So, we will continue to monitor his growth and see where we are around 37 weeks. Fun and so thankful for that news!

What Dr. Graham did find yesterday is that I have already started to dilate. I am only 1 cm so he wasn't too concerned about it but did tell me that I need to take it easy, etc. unless I'd like Braxton to be here before Easter. He said that because I was past 34 weeks (and only 1 cm not 2 cm) that he didn't feel it was necessary to put me on bed rest and if I could make it to 36 weeks that he wouldn't stop labor if I did go into it. He made me promise if the contractions continued or if I felt like they were getting stronger, that I would come back in and let him check me and I agreed. So we'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

We are all so excited and anxious to meet this little guy and it seems like it may be sooner than later that we get to see his precious face!

20 Week Ultrasound Photos

When we went for our 20 Week Ultrasound appointment (right before Christmas), we were able to get the best glispe of our sweet boy...






Talk about feeling blessed!

So Much For Keeping Up With This Blog...

At this point, all I can say is "Oh Well" and try to move on. I truly had every intention of documenting this pregnancy using this blog so we'd all have something to look back on in a few years.

I had plans of taking the weekly photos (okay...I'll be honest..maybe monthly photos) of my ever expanding belly, writing about each doctors appointment, etc. I even had a cute story planned for the first time I felt him (by the way...we're naming him Braxton) move but all of that went right out the window when he decided to "bless" me with the exact same pregnancy symptoms as Addison did and the toilet and Chex Mix became my best friend. So...here we are, at 34 weeks and 4 days (which I will call 35 weeks) and I am just now returning to the blog.

So...what have we missed? Let's see??? Christmas...we had a wonderful Christmas despite the fact that the Christmas tree didn't make it out of the box until about 3 weeks prior to Christmas Eve and half of our typical decor never saw the light of day. Oh well, we still enjoyed our last Christmas as a family of 3 (crazy to think that!) and Addison was beyond thrilled that Santa brought her a "Big Girl Bike" complete with pink streamers on the handles.

Our weather was crazy this Winter and we got hit pretty hard with snow a few times. We had almost 6 inches at our house and it pretty much shut the entire state down for a week. Addison loved the snow the first day but as the week went on and she wasn't able to do much, she was ready to see it go. We passed the time by playing games, watching (lots) of movies and baking.

Addison is beyond excited to welcome her baby brother into the world and constantly showers my belly with hugs and kisses. She is so sweet! Each time I leave for work or to run errands, Braxton and myself get separate kisses. Then when I return, she will place her hands on either side of my stomach and tell him how much she missed him...Melts My Heart!

Addison continues to thrive in school and with her learning, I know every parent thinks their child is smart, but Addison truly amazes us daily. She can write anything you ask her to and is always wanting to know how to spell things so she can write them. Her vocabulary and the way she puts things together truly is amazing. She knows how to spell (and write) her entire name as well as Mom, Dad and Braxton. She knows her phone number, my parents phone number, her full address as well as her birthday and my due date (which she tells EVERYONE!). She just learned how to count to 100 on her own and we hear her do that a lot (which makes for some long car rides...Ha!) but we are so proud of her! :)

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow so I'll have some "baby" news to report then. The plan is to try and determine whether or not this peanut needs to be a C-Section baby or if we're good to go the "other way" so I'll let you know. Hard to believe we're almost there! Let's hope I can at least blog about the next few weeks.

Brownie the Bunny

This little girl has really settled into her new home and we are all enjoying her. She is right at 7 weeks old and truly couldn't be any sweeter!

We've had the best time watching Belle and her play together! Belle is so excited to finally have someone her size to run and play with! When we put Brownie back in her cage, Belle sits in front of it and whines for us to get her out. They're best buds...at least in Belle's eyes!


Luckily, Belle is even sweet enough to share her toys with her...

Addison is thoroughly enjoying her and in all honestly, probably holds her too much! We have to constantly remind her that if Brownie is in her lap, she can't eat or drink.

We had quite the entertaining conversation with Addison about Brownie the other night. I asked Addison why she had chosen her out of all the other rabbits that Aunt Bridget brought to the party and she very seriously looked up at me and said, "Because this rabbit matched my hair Mom!"

And there you have it...that's how Brownie came to join the Skalon crew!

Addison's 4th Birthday Party...

It's still so hard for me to believe that this little lady turned FOUR this year! Where does time go???

Addison loves to paint and draw so we came up with a "Painting Party" theme and ran with it...

I ordered these cute little piggy banks from Oriental Trading...

Made a sign to put by her awesome cake that Mom made...

And a few sweet centerpieces for the tables...

Added an apron for each child to wear while painting their pigs and a few polka dot balloons and POOF! We had a party! :)

Addison had about 25 of her friends there to celebrate her special day and each of them were so cute painting their pigs.

Love this sweet picture of the birthday girl working so hard on hers!

Mom truly out-did herself on Addison's cake this year! She even included a little pig pink (Can you see him???) to go along with the piggy banks...so stinkin' creative!

The beautiful cupcakes that went along with the cake...they were DELICIOUS!!!

And just to top everything off, even this paint bucket was cake...yep...you could eat it!

Addison was in awe of her cake as you can tell! She couldn't stop looking at it.

Happy 4th Birthday sweet girl! Make a wish!

Duke and I were so proud of her this year as she took the time to open and "read" EVERY card that came with EVERY present before she opened the gift. Then after she opened the gift, she found that person and said "Thank you" for her present. We were quite proud parents even if it did take her a hour to open her gifts!

The guest(s) of honor at the party were definitely these sweet little bunnies that Aunt Bridget brought to share! Aunt Bridget had asked us before if she could give one to Addison for her birthday and we had agreed. Addison SQUEALED with delight when Aunt Bridget told her she got to take one home. She picked the little brown one immediately and made sure everyone knew that one was going home with HER. We had fun teasing the parents by telling them the bunnies were the kids party favors! The looks on their faces were priceless!

A proud NaNa and Pop-Pop with their birthday girl!

Such a beautiful group of girls...Aunt April, Aunt Bridget, Addison and Maw-Maw!

We had such a fun day with our sweet girl and simply can not believe she is truly 4! It's even harder to believe that this time next year we will be a family of four!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little lady! We are so proud of you and love you SO very much!

Addison's Thanksgiving Feast

Right before Thanksgiving, Addison enjoyed a Thanksgiving Feast at her school with all of her classroom friends. They had the best turn out and all of the parents provided the yummiest food for the children to enjoy. I am truly loving being Room Mom and having the opportunity to be so involved with Addison during her first year of school. She has the sweetest teachers and Duke and I both feel so blessed that she is in their classroom.

Look at this craft they did...What a sweet reminder this will be of how precious she was at this age!

Some of the sweet children in her class...

Our little turkey waiting to eat...

Each child shared with Ms. Tracy and Ms. Christy something they were thankful for before their Thanksgiving feast and their answers were proudly displayed around the classroom. Duke and I got the biggest kick out of Addison's answer!

Me with my sweet (and growing up WAY too quickly) girl!

Addison with her precious teachers. SO very thankful for them!