My Sweet Addison

Since I am using my blog like a scrapbook and a journal, this is my moment to reflect back over the past nine months as I started my journey of motherhood. It is hard to believe that my sweet Addison is almost a year, and that she has accomplished so many milestones. She started life at 7 lbs. 2 ounces, and is now 16 lbs. 6 ounces, she is talking up a storm and has now learned to say "da-da". She knows a lot of signs like bath, water, eat, more, dog, bird, banana, juice, milk, all done, flower, sleep, cat, and ball. One of her favorite games to play is the chasing game, this is how we play...mommy or daddy will hold Addison while the other parent runs, jumps, or skips behind while smiling really big as we go around and around the small island in our kitchen. Addison laughs and laughs so hard some times that she has a hard time catching her breath, which in turn leads to the entire family rolling around on the floor with laughter. When she snuggles with me my heart just melts, and I can't help but give her a big squeeze back.

Now I have to share a story about Addison from this past Sunday. Jacob and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting, and in order to not distract from the meeting with snacks and toys and wiggles, we decided to sit on the front row instead of on the stand. When it was my time to give my talk, Addison watched me walk up to the podeum, and then proceeded to cheer me on with happy squeels and tons of clapping. I couldn't help but smile at her, and neither could the congregation. It was so nice to have a personal cheerleader cheering me on during my talk to calm my nerves. Addison has been such a blessing and a joy to have in my life, and I love her so much, and can't imagine what life was like without her.

I love you Addi girl!

Cupie Doll?

While running errands today, I recieved two comments (one at the grocery store and one at the Dr.) that Addison looked like a little cupie doll. I had recieved several comments before then as well that she looked like a cupie doll, so I decided to do a comparison...what do you think?

No Big News

We don't have any big news to report, just wanted to post a few glimpses into the simple life of the Langston's. The next few pictures are of our family home evening activity...we decorated halloween cookies (I know it was early) for Jordan because our theme was on missionary work, and so we thought we would send our missionary some cookies.

Addison couldn't help but get into the candy-corn.

Can you figure our what the middle cookies spell?

More Florida Adventures!

There is a lot to catch up on! We have had a blast ever since we arrived in Florida, we are taking advantage of these first few weeks of school before it gets to rigorous to see as many things as possible, and to just enjoy our new home! We hope you enjoy the pictures, and we hope that they will give anyone who was debating about visiting Florida, the extra push that they need...hahaha

These first pictures are of a fun miniature golf course that we went to. It was a lot of fun, but boy howdy was it hot! So after we played a round, we headed to the beach which was only 2 minutes away.

Our next adventure took place in Falling Waters state park (about 45 miles from Panama City). This is a beautiful park, and home of Florida's tallest waterfall. The picture doesn't show how deep it goes, but it is fairly large.

Addi loved the swings, and played there for a long time!

This next picture is not for the faint of heart. It is hard to see, but this is one of many gigantic spiders we saw at the state park. They were huge, about 2-3 inches long!!! Not only did we find huge spiders, but Jacob almost stepped on a snake, and after making our way to the swimming hole, we saw a sign that said, "Warning: Alligators, swim at your own risk"

A few days later we headed to The Caverns state park, just to find out that it was closed for the day, so instead we drove around and found some fun places in Marianna, Florida (about 50 miles from Panama City)

This was a beautiful park we found called Citizens Lodge where we had a picnic.

After we ate, we found a little boat dock that was covered with greenery...so pretty!

And there was no escaping a picture next to a big palm tree!

We found a trail at the park, and decided to take a walk where we discovered how many bugs Florida really had! This is a little lake, pond, swamp area that we found, and even though we were really hot, it wasn't a very inviting swimming hole.

Our last adventure for now, was a place called Gulf World, it is like a mini sea world. Oh, and don't worry, Addi isn't really being eaten by a shark:)

We saw lots of animals, including this sea lion who was posing for pictures

We even got to pet the sting rays...very slimy!

Addison loved the turtles, she wouldn't take her eyes off of them for anything.

The underwater stadium was fun too!

One of the great things about Gulf World is that a lot of the animals are at arms length away with no cages or fences or anything...you really get an upclose experience, as you will see in the next few pictures!

Can you believe it? Jacob is actually holding a real snake! For someone who jumps out of bed at night thinking there are snakes in the bed, this is a big accomplishment! In fact, this same night, Jacob woke up in the middle of the night, but this time in stead of jumping out of bed from fear, he said "Did you see that snake?" and then he proceeded to laugh. I think this experience has cured Jacob's deep down fear of snakes...Wahoo!!!

I even held it too, but from the look on my face, I think my fear of snakes is just going to be worse!

And Addison decided that she was just going to hold the snake in the souvenir shop

Just one last picture of cute little Addison on our way home from gulf world, she was eating some snacks when this picture was taken. I love her baby blues!

Farewell to the St. Lukes CCU

Here are some picture of Jacob's (Jack's) last days of work at St. Lukes hospital in the CCU in Boise. He had a great time here, and misses all of the friends he made. St. Lukes was an awesome place to work!

From left to right: Carla, Ross, Susan, Jacob, Barb, Kristen, Elena, Gretchen

Joan brought Jacob a farewell cake, and they sent him off with many nice gifts.

Jacob's charge nurse, Travis

Jacob's good Bosnian friend, Mirdihan...oh so strong!

Favorite Respiratory therapist, Elena

Jacob's preceptee, Karen

Jenn was a student at NNU, and decided to work at St. Lukes because Jacob bragged it up so much

Jacob's preceptor, Kristen. When Jacob told people who his preceptor was, they told him he would be in for a fun time, and they were right!

Jacob's director, Candy

Jacob's favorite cardiologist, Dr. Colin Lee

Play Time!

Addison is finally enjoying her tummy!!! She rolls onto her tummy just for fun now. She wants to crawl, but can't quite get herself in the right position yet, so for now she just does a body roll to get around...she rolls on her side tucks in her legs and then rolls back onto her tummy and somehow moves herself around a little bit.

This is a picture of Addi playing in her oatmeal sandbox. Every once in a while she will grab a huge handful and try and stuff as much of it in as possible. She is so much fun to watch when she plays!
Grandma and Grandpa Larson gave Addi some pooh bear stackers, and she loves them, especially the honey comb! This is a picture of the toys I made for Addi. We use so many baby food containers, and I hate to just throw them away, so instead I made toys! I painted the inside of the container, then I put some kind of noise maker in it, then glued the lid back on, I left a window so she could still see what was inside. It was a quick project, but Addison has enjoyed them since.
Oh, and I wanted to show this picture of Jacob, all ready for his first day of clinicals! I am so grateful for him and his dedication to going to anesthesia school! Good luck Babe!!!

Addison's Nursery

Here is Addi's nursery, it is still really plain, but it will get there slowly, but surely! Enjoy!!!

The bedding, lamps, curtains and some of the decor was given to us by Deena, one of Jacob's co-workers at St. Lukes in Boise, the Crib was given to us by my sister Tiffany, the mobile by grandma and grandpa Larson, the chair by Jacob, the diaper basket by Jarron and Salena, the figurines by Wendy and Chelsey, and there is a picture I recently put up that isn't shown that was created by Grandpa Langston...we are very gratuful for everyone who has helped decorate Addi's nursery!This is a better look at the crib details
It is hard to see, but the 'A' on the wall is painted up...that was my adition to Addi's room.
Another look at the crib...I know the pictures are crooked, but I worked a long time to straighten it and it wouldn't straighten out. Oh, and the mobile has been a lifesaver on many occasions. We put Addi in her crib at night and she usually goes right down, but on those occasions where she doesn't, the mobile helps to really calm her down and put her to sleep.