A Colts Weekend

This past weekend we headed to Indianapolis to go watch the Colts play the Jets in the AFC Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.  Derek and I bought tickets the weekend before after the Colts beat the Ravens and made plans for Derek's mom to come up to Indy to stay with Addy in the hotel while we went to the game.  So on Saturday morning we packed up the vehicle and headed towards the Hoosier state.  After checking into the hotel, we spent Saturday afternoon shopping and we also went to eat at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was Adalyn's first visit to the Cheesecake Factory and she loved the desserts!  Even though we ate a bit later than usual, she was very well behaved and sat very well through the entire meal.  This was a pleasant surprise considering that eating at restaurants with her lately has been a bit of a challenge.  My favorite part of the night was when Adalyn quickly snatched a spoonful of whipped cream off of Derek's strawberry shortcake.  I have taught her well! 

Sunday morning Addy and her Daddy went swimming in the hotel's chilly pool.  Addy referred to the pool as the "ocean" on several occasions and had a great time in the water, even though the water was a bit chilly.  Later in the morning Derek and I headed to downtown Indy.  Being downtown was a lot of fun.  There were tons of fans wandering around and it was very interesting to see them show their Colt spirit with their creative attire.  We certainly saw some interesting wardrobe choices! 

The game itself was great!  It was very exciting to be in the stadium and the first half was a bit nerve-racking.  The Colts came out victorious in the end and are headed for the Superbowl again! We got to watch the celebration on the field afterwards and enjoyed taking in the festivities on the streets after the game.  Addy and her Grandma Freihaut had a great time at the hotel.  We had brought a huge rubbermaid container filled with some of Addy's favorite toys to keep them busy.  Adalyn loved her play time at the hotel and when it was time to head home on Monday, she wasn't ready to leave. 

Addy continues to increase her vocabulary and is talking in phrases more and more.  Over the weekend anytime she would see the Colt's horseshoe she would say "Go Dolts!"  We have celebrated several friends' birthdays over the past few weeks, so she now randomly tells people "Happy Birthday."  When I ask her to do something she doesn't particularly want to do she tells me to "Wait a minute."  She is also becoming more and more independent.  Recently our mornings have become a bit rushed because when we are getting ready we often hear her say "Addy do it."  She wants to do more and more things on her own and is becoming Miss Independent. 

Snow Days

Throughout the past few weeks Addy and I have had the opportunity to spend quite a few days together at home.  We had our first two snow days of the school year which excited and saddened me at the same time.  Everyone loves a snow day and is relieved to see their school's name scroll across the bottom line of the screen, however we don't have built in snow make-up days.  I know...pretty crazy!  So each snow day we take now is added on to the end of the year.  Needless to say, I don't want school to be in session in June and especially want to be out well before my due date.  Addy and I did have a good time at home and managed to get a lot of things accomplished.  Addy has started to take an interest in the chores I am doing around the house and wants to help out.  In the few days we had off she became the official dryer unloader.

Mommy's Little Helper!

We also started to clear out the upstairs office to start on Adalyn's new "big girl" room.  Our hopes are that she is moved in to her new room in March, but we have a ton of things to accomplish for that to happen.  At this point in time Addy isn't too keen on having a younger sibling.  When anyone asks her about mommy having a baby she says "no baby."  She has occasionaly started acknowledging that there is a baby in my belly and told it "goodnight" and "I love you."  We are hoping that as the day gets closer she starts to warm up to the idea of being a big sister, but for right now she's pretty content with being princess of the castle!

The Princess on her throne

This past weekend was a three day weekend for me due to the Martin Luther King holiday.  We worked again on organizing the house and moving room around.  On Sunday we went to Charli's birthday party.  Charli is Addy's good friend and is about 6 weeks older than Addy.  Adalyn has lots of fun playing with the other kids and all of Charli's fun toys.  On Monday Addy and I headed to the Children's Discovery Museum of Normal.  We got there when the museum opened, which was grat because Addy had the whole place to herself for 20-30 minutes.  We spend that time running from exhibit to exhibit.  She was so excited to have the whole place to herself and didn't quite know what to do with all of the freedom of having choices without having other kids around.  It was great!

"Milking" the cows at the museum

Painting a masterpiece

As far as Adalyn goes, she continues to surprise us and make us laugh everyday.  She has started to use many more phrases and has become much better and answering and asking questions.  Addy knows many of her colors and has also started to really love finger plays.  We sing a lot of Isty Bitsy Spider, Little Bunny Fu Fu, and Ring Around the Rosy.  She continues to test her boundaries each day and has started to excercise her independence in eating and choosing foods.  As we near the two year mark, it is evident that she is no longer our baby girl, but a full grown little person with an attitude and personality all her own. 

This week I will reach week 20 of my pregnancy, which means that I am halfway!  I can't believe it!  It really has flown by.  We have scheduled our ultrasound for early February and we do plan to find out the gender.  We'll keep you posted!

Playing with laundry baskets....getting in was a lot easier than getting out!

Celebrating the Holidays

   We have finally returned from our nine day holiday visit to our families in Southern Indiana. We had a wonderful time and Adalyn enjoyed all of the extra attention she recieved from all of her aunts, uncles, and grandparents. We also had the oppotunity to see a lot of extended family, which was wonderful! As always, we didn't get the chance to visit with everyone as much as we would have liked. We are always amazed when we plan to go home for a week or more and by the time we arrive in Indiana our entire weeek is already planned; this week was no different as it seemed like we were always on the go! Derek ended up having an extra vacation day that he needed to use by the end of the year, so he took off Christmas Eve at the last minute. On Christmas Eve morning we headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. While we were at breakfast, Santa's fufilled our request of an early visit and left Addy's present under the tree. We are so glad that he is so accomodating! Adalyn had a blast opening her presents and spent the majority of the day playing with her new toys. Since Derek ended up not working, he and I decided that we would head home that evening instead of early Christmas morning. On the way to Indiana we stopped at Derek's brother and sister-in-law's house to say hello. They just moved in, so it was good to see their new home, Adalyn's six month old cousin--Cameron, and Derek's mom. I hadn't told my parents that we were ocming early, so I called them at Terre Haute to tell them we would be home in a few hours. They didn't quite believe me at first but were very excited once they did believe me. When we got home that evening we exchanged gifts and stayed up late.

Since this blog is already getting quite lengthy, I'll make a list of the rest of the highlights of our week:

• We spent Christmas Day with my family and ate a wonderful dinner. Adalyn was so worn out from her fabulous few days of Christmas that she fell asleep with her fork and spoon in hand!


Four Generations


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  Adalyn picked out a special gift for her Uncle Brian all by herself--a Cookie Monster T Shirt!
  
  
  

• Mom and Dad hosted the Schum Christmas Party on Sunday (12/27). I was great to see everyone and watch all of the little ones play together.
• On Monday and Tuesday Derek and I went on a short shopping get-away to Louisville while Adalyn stayed with her Grandma and Grandpa Schum. They took Addy to Chuckie Cheese, while we actually went to see a movie. That's something we haven't done in quite some time!
• On Wednesday we picked up Adalyn's big girl furniture in Evansville and visited Derek's mom. We went to the Children's Museum of Evansville, which was a lot of fun! Addy loved the rice table (and so did Grandma)!

• On Thursday Derek, my dad, Brian, and I headed to Bloomington, Indiana to see the IU vs. Michigan game. The Hoosiers came away victorious and it was an exciting game to watch. Adalyn stayed home with Grandma Schum and her Aunt Ashley.
• Thursday evening we rang in the New Year hanging our at my parents' house and then headed to Derek's mom's house on Friday. On Friday we went out to eat at Red Robin with Derek's mom and brother's family.
• On Saturday Derek's mom had a Christmas party at her house. It was great to see his entire family and Adalyn really enjoyed playing with Jamie's boys!

Uncle Derek and Cameron

We headed home on Saturday afternoon and arrived at our house around 9:00 that evening. We were greeted with 2-3 inches of snow that fell in central Illinois earlier in the week. Since Adalyn had been cooped up in the car for five hours, she was ready to get out and play with her toys. She had been away from some of her toys from Santa for over a week, so it was a lot of fun watching her get excited about them all over again.

With the arrival of 2010 we are happy to welcome the new year but also feel very blessed for 2009. We are very excited about what 2010 will bring as we look forward to adding a new member of our family and all the changes that come it. We would like to wish everyone a wonderful and happy new year and hope that your 2010 is filled with many blessings!