America the Beautiful - Addie's First Fourth of July

Today we celebrated our nation's independence...isn't ironic on how we are moving to the country to which we kicked butt against a couple hundred year's ago. This morning we went looking for new bedroom furniture. Our new house doesn't have built in closets so we needed some extra storage. We then went over to Amy and Jason Bloms' house for a great BBQ...it was super hot but we had a wonderful time. We skipped out on the big fireworks because Addie didn't take a nap in the afternoon and after our fit with her last Friday night we felt it was best to head home. We watched the Washington DC fireworks on TV and the Nathan's hotdog eating competition.

First Time Eating Cereal

Today we tried feeding Addison her first rice cereal. She had been spitting up really bad over the past several days and we wondered if some cereal would stay down a little bit better. What they suggested to mix up for her first batch was really soupy and was an utter riot to feed her. Her little tongue kept sticking in and out...we didn't know if she didn't like it but then she would lunge forward to eat more and more.

25 days and Counting...

It's July 2nd and we are going to be taking off in a plane to live in the UK in 25 days. Wow...where did the time go. Addison turns 5 months old tomorrow. Today Kevin and I went to CAT health services to start our medical visits in order to get checked out and start our series' of immunizations. Eventhough the UK is pretty safe in terms of diseases and such they have different strains of things and they don't immunize for a lot of the things we do here in the States. It was quite ironic that Addie was there to lend moral support for her parents this time when we got our shots. I almost forgot how much I hate needles until today. Kevin and I are also on the look out for new bedroom furniture. Since our new house does not have any built in closets we have to find an armour and dresser to hold our digs. We also had a gentleman from Allied movers come today to do a moving survey on our home to see how much stuff we have and if it will fit in the container we are allowed. Right now we only have 1/2 of our 40' sea shipment container and 1/2 of our airshipment container accounted for...so this means we have more room to send over more of Addie's stuff earlier and plenty of room to buy lots more things in the UK before we come back....woo hoo!!! It looks like we'll be living in a furnished apartment for the first two weeks since our house won't be ready until August 14th, so hopefully by the time we get in our house our air shipment will make it to us and then a couple weeks later all of our stuff will be moved into our new home. Don't worry...CAT is helping us out by stocking the apartment and/or house will all the basic necessities for us to function day to day...essentially we need to bring our clothes and other special must have things until our big stuff gets there. I'm just hoping our ship doesn't hit an ice berg on the way over...hee hee. Also we know there are some scary things happening in the UK right now, so please put us in your constant prayers and know that we'll be okay!!!

Big Birthday Weekend

Lots of fun things went on this weekend. Addie's Uncle Ryan and Aunt Lindsay came to visit us Friday night and got here just in time for Mommy's birthday party. Lots of good friends came to wish me well on my Golden Birthday...I turned 29 on the 29th. I can't believe I'm 29 already...less than a year until I'm 30. Anyway...on Saturday we went to the lake with friends from Kevin's work and had a wonderful and relaxing time. Kevin got to go out and ski his one time this year...we really miss our boat.

Our New Home!!!

Here it is...our soon to be English home away from home. After two long days of looking at some very interesting homes in the Peterborough, UK, we found this quaint 4 bedroom two-story home in Glinton. Glinton is a small village on the northern side of Peterborough (it is one of the few villages around that haven't been swallowed up by Peterborough). The town itself has a nice pub called the Blue Bell, a church, a fish store, post office, town hall and primary school. We are very excited about our new place. We got to meet a lot of other Caterpillar people and some very cool British folks that we hope to become friends with. Interesting features about the house are the conservatory and the refridgerator which is seriously the size of my old dorm fridge. We are hoping to buy a washer and dryer - they'll roughly be 1/3 the size of our American sized ones. Also we'll try to buy a fridge/freezer which could be about 2/3 the size of a regular fridge in the US. We'll be buying two cars when we get over there...the Passat we have right now is a large car compared to the average sized vehicle over there. The big question is to try and figure out what stuff we want to bring over and if it will all fit in our new house. The other cool things are that the house is about 15 minutes from Kevin's office, 15 minutes from downtown Peterborough shopping and 3 minutes to the closest McDonald's...also there are some other very nice ISE mom's and kids who live near by as well.

A Week at Grandma & Grandpa Schafbuch's

This week Addison stayed with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Jeff while Mommy and Daddy went to look for the family's new home in England. Not only did Addie enjoy the time with them but I think the Grandparents were just as excited to have our little munchkin invade their space. Addie learned how to do lots of new things that week. Before we left she was just getting comfortable kind of rolling over. After we got back she was rolling over like a champ and now holding up herself on her arms with her head looking all over the place. She also got broadcasted across the internet to see us via web cast through Skype which we have found to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. It is going to be a great way to stay in contact with family and friends. The greatest thing is that it's free and it has video...tough thing is coordinating the conversations for each party during decent times of the day with a 6 hour time difference.

Auntie Crystal's Bridal Shower

We went back to Iowa this weekend to go to Auntie Crystal's bridal shower. She got lots of really cool stuff, but Addie got pretty tired. Only a month until the big day.

Beautiful Spring Day

Today was a beautiful day and I got to play out in Mommy's garden. The lilac bush was so pretty and smelled so good. I also got to wear this super cute new outfit mommy bought for me...see the little monkey. My little shorts say "Cutie Pie" on the bottom. Today we also went to Best Buy so Daddy could buy Mommy a new camcorder for Mother's Day. She was so excited because now she'll be able to make home movies of me to send to my Grandma and Grandpa's as I grow up. The funny thing is that while at Best Buy we met a gentleman who is also going overseas with Caterpiller in their Geneva, Switzerland office. We exchanged emails so that we can meet up with them some day when we move over there. Tomorrow Daddy leaves for two weeks to visit his new job. Mommy and I are going to Grandma and Grandpa Schafbuch's house for a week. We are really going to miss him, but we'll be instant messaging and emailing a lot.

We Sold the Boat :-(

Mom and Dad had a tough time tonight because they sold their Crownline boat tonight from a couple who came all the way from Kansas City to buy it. They really loved going boating and felt pretty bad that they weren't able to bring me out on a ride on it before they sold it. They tell me that we'll most likely get another boat when we get back from England...in the mean time, I'll keep them busy this summer and maybe they won't miss it so much.

We're Selling Our House

As you all know we are moving to England in two months for Daddy's new job. Today our house went up on the market. Mommy and Daddy have been working really hard to get the house all cleaned up...it gets a little tough to keep things clean with all my stuff around the place.

Uncle Casey's Graduation at ISU

Today I made my first trip to Ames to attend my uncle Casey's college graduation from Iowa State University. He's going to be a construction engineer...I'm not sure what that is, but he's pretty smart. We went to Uncle Joe and Aunt Brenda's house afterwards and I got to play with all of my second cousins. We had so much fun and ate lots of good food!

Sleepy Time

I got so tired this morning. After a full tummy and a little time hanging out with Daddy and Mommy, I got tuckered out.

Me and My Jumparoo

My tried getting me to play in my jumparoo a few weeks ago and I didn't like it very much but now it's one of my most favorite toys. I get to play in exersaucers at daycare, but I get to rock and roll in this bad boy at night when I'm home with mom and dad. It lights up and plays music. My little toes just barely touch the ground, but I giggle and laugh as I bounce. The thing is that I can only handle about 7-9 minutes of the bouncing before my little body gets tired.

Hanging Out with Auntie Crystal Jo

This weekend we went back to Iowa so that Daddy could see his old Ag Engineering buddies from Iowa State. Addison and Mommy hung out at Grandma and Grandpa Schafbuch's house so that we could get Auntie Crystal's wedding invitations assembled. Since it got up to 80 degrees, Addie got to wear her new outfit from Grammie Sally. Doesn't she look super cute with pink cow on her bib which comes in handy now days, since Addie is really starting to drool up a storm. Since it was so bright out as well, Auntie Crystal let Addison borrow her sunglasses.

New Suit and Lots of Smiles

This week Daddy finished up his finaly week of Black Belt training. Addison got to get her picture taken with Kevin on the day of his graduation. Last Saturday we helped him pick out this new suit and boy does he look goooood! Addison thought his looked so handsome that she couldn't help but smile ear to ear.

A New Face, A New Toy

Today we went to Target and got a new toy for Addison. It's a Leap Frog Baby mirror with fun little animal shapes that make noises when you squeeze the tabs. Cool thing is that you can hook up a MP3 player to it so we bought another Baby Genius CD so we could load up some fun baby songs for her to listen to. We thought this would be a good toy for "tummy-time" that Addie seems to like for about 30 seconds and then the big lip comes out. She does like to look at herself and if her Daddy and I looked as cute as she did we'd like looking at ourselves all day. Daddy was reassured that we got a good buy because we found a similar toy recommended by Parents magazine.

Back 2 IA for Easter

We all went back to Grandma and Grandpa Schafbuch's for Easter. Addie got to go to the Marengo Easter Egg Hunt and meet the Easter bunny. We showed up a little bit late so we could miss the long line but not so much luck...the line wrapped a long ways around, but she did get 5 tickets for baskets since they were trying to get rid of them. Needless to say, Mommy and Daddy got lots of candy that they didn't need to eat. Grandma Sue got Addie this super cute bunny that says "My First Easter". It was a super cold weekend but it was so nice to see the whole Schafbuch family at Great Grandma Lynn's house.

She's a Trooper

All I can say is that my little Addie is one tough cookie. Today she got 4 shots and never shed a tear. We went to the county health department today to get Addison's two month immunizations. We tried to get there 15 minutes early but by the time we got there, there were 20 other children ahead of us. It was so sad seeing the little kids who knew they were getting shots. We missed our scheduled appointment with Dr. Carlson, so we had to wait in the waiting room for about 40 minutes until they could get us in. Her two month check up went very well. She is growing like a weed. She's is now 23 3/4 inches long and weighs 13 lbs 9 oz - she's gained 5 pounds since she was born almost 8 1/2 weeks ago. She's in the 95th percentile for her weight and 90th percentile for her height. Dr. Carlson said she was doing great!!!

First Night in My Own Bed

Last night Addison finally slept in her own bed in her own room. Mom and Dad picked up that she didn't look as comfortable in the pack 'n play anymore at night. This was a big step for us all. Addie seemed to do great...she slept very well. When we laid her down, we popped on her lullaby CD which Kevin and I seem to really enjoy listening to as much as Addie does. We can hear it through the monitor, but its very soothing for us all.

Camo Bunting

Today we went on two fun walks around the block. With it being a bit windy we had to keep Addie warm so we used the camo bunting that Grandpa Jeff gave her. It's a little too big but she is so cute and fell asleep both times.