Here is scary mustache man... B's been on break for two weeks, so he grew out his facial hair. Then today he decided it would be funny to just leave the 'stache. NASTY!!!! We had a photo shoot before he reluctantly shaved it off! Thank goodness!


To leave you with something prettier for the New Year... here's Miss Addie :-) Happy New Year!!

Christmas was wonderful! Here are a few pics from our two days of celebrations!

Two nights ago, Amber and I went to Celine Dion.... best concert I've ever seen- EVER! She was amazing :) Wow, can she sing!!

Almost Christmas break... I think we're both ready for a vacation!
Just wanted to update with Addison's new words:

*fishy (we bought her one for Christmas)
*show
*nutcracker
*'baa', 'moo', 'he-haw'
*purple
*pink
*football
*pretty
*door
*tickle

LOVE LOVE the stage we're in!!

Today I wish I stayed at home. I missed out on the first 'playing in the snow' experience! Grammy and Addie got bundled up and played in the snow for over an hour this afternoon! She just loved it and kept wanting "more"... here are a few pics :-)

AHHHHH! Today was long and exhausting... it was one of those days where I was counting down the minutes until I could put Addie to bed. I think you're allowed to have those moments as a parent, right!? It was like nothing we could do for her was right today. I still love the girl like crazy... all I'm saying is that I am at peace now that she is asleep in her room ;)
Ok... now onto another agenda...

Tag, You're It- I've been tagged by a friend.

The task is to take the sixth folder on your computer and pull up the sixth pic and describe it. Then, tag four others. So here goes...

This is my Addie girl at 2 1/2 months... she's laying in her crib admiring the mobile that we don't use anymore :) She loved it for awhile though! She of course is in a onesie with pink socks on, just as content as can be. She was a very good baby. I am thankful.
I now tag... sista Kylee and Ana :)

Hey all -

We've decided to try and rent out our place in Otsego. We'd like to rent it out and find a new place a little closer to Minneapolis. Please let me know if you hear of or know of anyone interested in a great place. Thanks!

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/apa/943299639.html

-Brandt

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent Thanksgiving Day with the Larson side and Friday with the Sorbels. It's been a relaxing week- sad that it's almost over. But only about 3 weeks until Christmas break, so that gives us something to look forward to!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!

Addie is at the stage where it seems like she says a new word every day! It's so fun to hear her say something for the first time! Here are some of her latest words:
-bubble
-apple (my favorite)
-soap
-shampoo ("ampoo")
-moon
-robot (Yes, we have the Roomba)
-cheese
-bath ("bat")
-towel ("toll")
-pear

We're hanging in there. I'm so thankful for friends and family... you all have been so supportive this weekend. Thanks for the phone calls, messages, hugs, flowers, and cheesecake ;) The Lord has blessed us with so many wonderful people to just surround us with love... so thank you. Yesterday was a tough day, but today I am feeling so much better! I'm sure everyday will get easier.
I'm pretty nervous/anxious to head back to school tomorrow and have to explain to co-workers and students, so if you remember to throw up another prayer tomorrow, that would be great.
I'm trusting in God that He does have a plan for our lives. I know we go through these trials to bring us closer to Him. Although I know all this, it's still hard not to ask Him, "Why?" But as many of you have reminded me... I feel confident that I will get to see this little one up in heaven someday! That is amazing :)
The best therapy through it all has been this little bundle of joy below...


I take that back-- it's been the both of them...

Hello all. It's Brandt and it's been a long time since I last wrote. I wish it were under better circumstances.

Unfortunately, we lost our little one in the middle of the night last night. Steph is fine but we could all use your prayers.

In the short time since this has happened, I've been able to reflect on a few things. First of all, life and the miracle of child birth seems even more amazing. Second, I think I love Addie more and want to protect her more than just one day ago.

Finally, when we decided to try for #2, it was a big step for me personally to give it to God. Though I thought God was blessing us with another child because I was being stubborn about not having one, I think there's more to it. I pray that He does teach us something from this and that He'll use this as a way to patch old wounds or lead us in the way He has planned.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

-B

Playing in the leaves! We are enjoying a relaxing weekend at home :) More updates to come...

I received the best gift today... my baby girl said, "Mama" for the first time! Not quite sure if she did it on purpose, trying to talk to me, but regardless, she's been saying it all evening :) I'm in love!

Our little ladybug! We had a blast tonight :-)

I have sad news... for those of you who haven't heard yet, Celine Dion is very sick and her concert has been postponed until February. I am so sad I won't be attending tomorrow evening :( I will be playing her cd all day in honor of the supposed-to-be-concert. Sniff...sniff...

Hey all! Dance team started last week, so coaching is in full swing! Things are busy now. We are all doing well... just relaxing today, watching football, and trying to stay warm indoors. The snow is depressing today. Hope everyone had a nice weekend. More pictures in a few days...
Celine Dion Countdown= 4 days! Yes, I'm going to see her and I can't wait :)

I know a lot of you saw these on facebook, but my parents are out of town... so these are for them! We went to the pumpkin patch yesterday. She LOVED it!



Now we're off to the Dells with friends! Catch you up after the weekend.

These are pics from when Addie stayed at Amber's house on Monday. Love them!

I'm a stay-at-home mom today! Kinda nice :) My parents are out of town this week, so Addie went to Amber's yesterday, and I took the day off to stay home today. A much needed vacation day! We got some pictures taken this morning at JCPenneys... the lady was able to snap 6 pictures total before Addie flipped out and didn't want anything else to do with the camera. But, 6 were enough! They turned out cute. I'll post them on here soon. Other than that, just ran errands today, went on a walk, and got some work done while she napped. Tomorrow is my last day for the week, and Friday, B and I leave for the weekend on a vacation with friends! CAN'T WAIT!!

Well, not much going on, but I get frustrated when people don't update their blogs... it's been a week since I've updated ours, so I thought I'd give you a little something :)

This is our house right now- a disaster!


I got Addie's hair into a single pony tail (with lots of clips, of course)... maybe that only brings excitement to me, but it was an exciting moment!!


I heard a slurred, "I Love You" for the first time this weekend. That will make one's heart melt! She also blew me a kiss for the first time. Fun to experience these "firsts" :)

Addie and Liam


Sweet Landon :)

We had a nice weekend... Date night on Friday (thanks, Mom!), scrapping with my mom on Saturday, and lunch/Vikings game with the Marsh clan today (pictures above).
Two funny stories...
Addie enjoys dancing in our bedroom because there's a cd player in there. Well last night, while home with Brandt, he caught her dancing in front of the mirror in our room. When she saw that he had 'caught' her, she closed the door on him! She wanted privacy :)
Addie has a habit of grabbing at the tall blinds in the living room. We tell her "no" and she steps away. Or she starts to slowly grab a blind and glance at us, testing us, and waiting to see if we'll say "no" again. Well, today Brandt started slapping her hand when she touched the blinds. He did it a couple times and she got the hint. Later this evening, though, she grabbed the blinds again. We both said "no" and she slapped her own hand and walked away! We kept straight faces until she wasn't looking at us, but then we had to laugh. So cute :)

We always pray before meals, but usually Addie pays no attention. But two days ago we made the effort to teach her to fold her hands and 'pray' with us. So one day later, she is praying all the time!! She folds her hands, looks at us, and waits for us to pray. Then she proceeds to clap when we say "Amen." Clapping for God, I suppose! I'm sure He enjoys that :) So this morning, as we sat down to breakfast, Brandt and I just started talking, not realizing we had forgotten to pray. We look at Addie and she has her hands folded, waiting for us. So we prayed together. Then she was satisfied and began eating. She kept us in check this morning :)

Well we did it! We are Northshore Inline Marathon finishers!! This was us before the race began, both going on very little sleep...


This is us with one mile to go!! Yeah :)


All done and sporting my "free" long-sleeve T-shirt!
Amber and I finished in 2 1/2 hours exactly. It was a blast! Plan on doing it again next year :)

Addie's stats at 15 months:
Height- 31 1/2 inches - 70-90th Percentile
Weight- 26 lb. 1 oz. - 95th Percentile

Well, the week has flown by and we are headed to Duluth for the weekend. Amber and I will be rollerblading in Grandma's Marathon on Saturday morning. 26.2 miles!!! We've been training (sort-of), so I feel we're ready :) Just nervous about the weather... it's supposed to rain. I'll take some pics of us in our helmets! Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Addie at Grammy's house... We're finally in a groove. She enjoys being there, which is great! Her 15 month appt. is this Tuesday, so I'll update then. Hope everyone had a nice weekend :)

Labor Day weekend Events!

Saturday we took a bike ride to the park...


And attended a Gopher Football game in the evening


Sunday we spent the evening celebrating Grandma and Grandpa Sorbel's 50th Anniversary


And today we were on the lake with the Sorbel clan! Addie had her first tubing experience... this was her face throughout the entire ride! hehe :)

Last night we had our first ER experience. Addie woke up at 10:15 PM coughing, gagging, choking, and crying. She clearly had something caught in her throat that was making it difficult to breathe. The good thing was that she was crying. She was scared, though, because she started to hyperventilate. We tried to calm her down to see if that would help the matter. We also tried turning her over and hitting on her back to dislodge whatever was in there. She was still having trouble breathing so we decided we needed to take her in. On our drive to the Monticello hospital, she began to calm herself down. I could still hear the rattling in her chest when she took breaths so we decided to still take her inside. We were there for 2 hours... they checked her oxygen level, which was normal, and they looked in her ears and throat. They listened to her chest, but by that time she had been crying for about an hour, so that may have been why she was hoarse. Finally, they took two chest X-Rays, just to make sure there wasn't anything lodged anywhere. She was surprisingly calm for her X-Rays! We looked at them and got the "all clear" from the doctor, so they discharged us at 12:30AM and we came home.
I know we did the right thing bringing her in because something was wrong when she woke up last night. I am also thankful nothing was wrong! At the same time, the people in the ER have a way about them that makes you feel stupid for being there when it seemed as if she was normal from the time we stepped into the hospital. I felt as though we were 'bothering' them with our concern. But they did go through all the steps to make sure I felt comfortable leaving, knowing she didn't have something stuck in her throat... so I appreciated that. Anyway, we are doing great today. She slept until 8:30AM, which was nice for all of us!

First day of school = fabulous! I was loving every minute of it! Yeah for school :)
Addie has been sleeping through the night the past 4 nights, so thanks for the prayers! Yeah for Tylenol and Baby Oragel :)
Brandt is taking this Friday off, and since I don't have school on Fridays, we are giving Addie to my mom for a couple hours and going to a movie! Yeah for dates :)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week as well...

Teething... when will it end? Addie has been so miserable the last couple of nights. I know you can always blame crabbiness and crying on the fact that "she's teething'- but she really is!! She has her top two molars, but we are just waiting for the bottom two molars to fully come through. One has made it through the surface of the gums, just barely, but the other is yet to be seen :) Last night she cried and screamed... I got her out of bed to hold her twice. Poor girl. Tonight we loaded up on Tylenol before bed, so hopefully that will help a bit. I'd welcome any teething tactics or secrets!
We are back into the swing of things. I am back at work, trying to get my act together before students come on Monday. Addie has been with the grandmas this week! We are so blessed know she is in good hands every day! Brandt has his fantasy football draft tonight, and he could hardly contain himself all week. He is beyond excited... like a kid in a candy store. Oh, the joys of life! That's all for now-

Our trip to Brainerd this week... it was a blast!


Addie and Grandpa- she loved swimming... we swam at least twice a day!


Always carried around her wooden spoons :)


Family photo... Yes, I know... we look like the color wheel. No, I did not plan us to dress in primary colors... but very exciting ;)


Addison and Auntie Tricia on the giant chair! Gotta love it!


All of the cousins :)



I got her laughing pretty hard! She was a riot :)
All in all, it was the perfect end to a fabulous summer! I start back to work tomorrow. How time flies!?