First Smile

Brayden is 1 month old! When he was three weeks old, he smiled at me for the first time. Three weeks is pretty young for a first smile, but it was a real one. He looked right at me and smiled in response to my smile. He is smiling more and more often now. Last night he finally smiled at Matt and it was a big one. I was fortunate enough to get a good picture of it too!

Happy Birthday Addy

I can't believe my little girl is already 2 years old! She is just so much fun and I feel so blessed to be her mom! Here are a few things about Addy. She is currently obsessed with her babies and does a great job taking care of them. I will often find her wrapping her baby in a blanket and then bouncing/rocking her baby or changing it's diaper. She actually does a pretty good job of putting diapers on her baby all by herself. She also loves music and dancing. It doesn't matter where we are or what we are doing, if she hears music she likes she will stop what she is doing to dance. She loves her new baby brother and does her best to help out. The other day Brayden was crying in the car and Addy said repeatedly, "It's ok buddy, It's ok buddy". When he didn't stop crying she said " It's ok buddy....No Screamin'!" She's pretty patient with him, but apparently she has a limit. I had to laugh when she said that. She loves to read stories and her favorite books at the moment are "Alice the Fairy" and "Falling for Rupunzel". She knows each of these books word for word. The other day, I was reading to her and I was curiouse to see if she knew all the words to the story so I stopped randomly throughout the book and waited for her to continue. To my surprize, she knew every one! What a great memory! She loves to dress and undress herself and does it often throughout the day. I can't get her to keep her clothes on! What a fun phase...
We just had a little birthday party for Addy this year. I made a rainbow cake. After she blew out the candles, I planned to cut her a slice of cake, but she threw a fit when I tried to take the cake away, so I figured there wasn't any harm in letting her dig into the cake herself since I had a different cake to share with everyone else. She got lot's of fun toys, but I think her favorite was the shopping cart grandma George gave her. She is growing up so fast!

Happy Halloween!

Addy was an owl for halloween this year. Some people thought she was a turkey, so I thought I would clarify. On Friday night we went to our wards trunk or treat. Addy caught on to the trick or treat thing really quick. I knew she would, considering how much she loves candy. The next day she walked around the house saying "tricka treat" expecting to get a little candy. We didn't actually go trick or treating on halloween day because we were busy moving into our new house(more on that in the next post). I think one night of trick or treating was good for this year, next year will be more memorable hopefully.

Brayden Matthew Lerch

Our sweet little Brayden was born Thursday, November 10th at 4:10 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. He's a big boy! I was induced one week early. Imagine if I had gone until my due date! I would have given birth to an almost 10 lb baby! The delivery of Brayden was a much better experience than that of Addy which I am grateful for. The recovery has been much better as well. Here we are awaiting his arrival.


Here he is!




He had some jaundice unfortunately and has been under the lights for the past five days.
Addy warmed up to him pretty quick and is constantly wanting to give him kisses and see how he is doing. She has her own little baby that she takes care of as well and it has been kind of fun to watch her follow my actions. When I change Brayden's diaper, she changes her baby. When it's time for Brayden's nap, her baby has a nap. While he was under the lights, I constantly had to keep her from putting her baby under the lights as well.
Brayden is such a little sweetheart, and we are grateful to have him in our family.

Nap Time

I have been having the hardest time getting Addy to take a nap lately. I went into her room to check on her today and this is what I saw. It's hard to tell in the picture, but she is wearing 3 shirts, 1 dress, 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of panties, and two socks (both on the same foot). I even put a chair in-front of her closet. I have no idea how she got in!

I Am a Child of God

Addy sings "I Am a Child of God" all day every day. She LOVES this song! It's usually a little more high pitched and enthusiastic, but as you can see, she is busy eating and singing at the same time.

35 Weeks

We only have about a month left before this little guy is here! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Here is my 35 week picture. Is it just me or did I get huge in 5 weeks? :)

I Love To Sing

Addy is 22 months now and her favorite thing to do is sing. She sings pretty much all day long. She makes up her own little songs and she combines songs. I tried to tape her singing, but I could never get her at the right time. She has such a sweet little voice that I can't help but laugh when I hear her singing her little songs in the back seat of the car. She usually stops and says "laughin?" and I say "yes because you are so cute." So she will say "laughin? I cute!" Matt has done a great job teaching her manners and she will now say "excuse me" at all of the appropriate times. He also taught her the word "fart"(typical dad). The other day she said "I fart, say excuse me". It just made me laugh to hear her say that. She is still doing great with the potty. She has only had one accident since I last wrote and it was actually my fault. We were at the store and for some reason she always says she has to go potty the second we get into a store. She had already gone before we left the house, so I didn't believe her when she said she had to go, so she had a little accident. I don't think she will regress once the baby comes, but you never know. She's really into it right now. She has even been taking her baby and her lamb to use the potty as well. I don't mind that she takes her toys to use the potty, but it does result in frequent "baths" for them. She will run down the hall with them and hold them on the potty and say "Go potty? A try? Did it! A job!" (she starts most of her sentences with "a") The other day I heard her say "it's ok, got you, got you" while her baby sat on the toilet. I often say this to her because she get's a little nervous sitting on the big potty. She is at the stage where she copy's EVERYTHING I say and do, so I have to be really careful. The other day while I was putting her in her car seat I accidentally pushed the panic button on my key and muttered under my breath "stupid car" and what do you know, Addy has been repeating that phrase over and over again since then.
We took her pick out her own pumpkin the other day. She loved it! We found a perfect little pumpkin just for her. She also got to take a little walk through a hay maze.

Potty Training

I have been potty training Addy for a little over two weeks. She's pretty young for potty training, but she doesn't like having a wet diaper and was pretty consistent about telling me when her diaper was wet. One day we went through half a package of diapers and I decided it was time. She went straight to underwear. From past experience potty training other children, I found that pull-ups were too much like diapers and potty training took much longer. The first day, I pretty much followed Addy around with carpet cleaner and a fresh pair of panties the whole day. I bought a package of 10 pairs of panties and she went through all of them. I will admit, it wasn't fun constantly cleaning carpet and panties, but after three days of staying home all day and putting her on the potty every hour, she got the hang of it! The key is staying home. At first, I would stay home part of the day and then put her in a diaper and run errands. She was sort of getting it, but she really caught on when we just stayed put. Like both her parents, she LOVES treats, so that has been a huge motivator (she's kissing the potty treat jar in the picture). She will try her hardest to get a few drops out so she can get a treat. The other day, she was on the potty and nothing was happening, so she tried making potty noises to trick me ha ha. Funny girl. She hasn't had an accident in about five days and goes on her own now without being reminded. I'm so proud!

30 weeks

I can't believe I only have about two months left! Time went by fast! Here is my 30 week picture! Looks like maybe I'll have another big baby!

20 Months

Look at that cute little girl! She is growing up so fast! She LOVES shoes as you can see in this picture. Her favorites are her "sparkles" jelly shoes. She has been talking up a storm and can pretty much repeat anything you say. Some of my favorite things that she has been saying lately are "Oh man!" when she drops something and "all beyure" (all better) after she gets a kiss on an owie. She has already started the terrible two tantrums. I often tell her it's not nice to scream, so now she will scream and say "I screamin" and then she will get a really serious look on her face and shake her head and say "no no". She also loves making messes so she can clean them up. She proudly announces "mase a mess!" and then grabs a wash cloth out of her special drawer and cleans it up. She loves to help me with cooking or cleaning and I think it's great! I hope it lasts!
She has recently developed a love for her sunglasses and wants to wear them all of the time! Pretty cute!

19 months

I'm a little late getting this post out! Addy is nearly 20 months now, but here is a list of some of the funny little things she's been doing this month.
* Addy has become quite a little nurturer. We try to encourage her to take notice when someone is sad or hurt, but I think it comes naturally for the most part. The other day she had a little friend over and he was sad when his mom left for her doctors appointment. Addy took notice right away and pulled a book off of the bookshelf and offered it to him and said "read book...car?" and patted his little head. I was so proud of her and it was such a sweet thing to see! She is going to be such a good big sister and helper...maybe a little too helpful ha ha. I have had to stop her a couple of times from trying to offer babies her sippy cup or food. She means well! She also like to pretend to feed her doll or stuffed animals.
* A couple of weeks ago we decided to put her in a big girl bed. The first night was a little sad, and I had to move her from her little spot on the floor in front of the door, to the bed a few times, but she is doing great now. She never really cared for her crib, so I'm assuming that is why she transitioned so well.
* Addy is talking more and more every day and I am always a little surprised at how much she understands and how much she can say. She was talking to Matt on the phone the other day while we were at the store and she said "Hi, what's up? A store." I guess I didn't expect her to think to share that information with him.
* She is really into putting clothes on by herself. Here is a little picture of her efforts.
* She can count to 6...sort of. She tends to skip 4. She knows the star shape and circle.
* One of my favorite things that she has started doing lately is "whistling" to my moms dog Grizz. She says "heehooo Gizz" and pats her leg. It just cracks me up.
* Addy has been in nursery for nearly two months now and hasn't enjoyed it much until last week. They learned the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and she LOVED it. I wasn't aware of this until we got home from church and she plopped herself down on the floor and started singing. I haven't really taught her the song, so I was really surprised and thrilled to hear her singing it in that sweet little voice. She sang it all day long for two or three days straight!

5 1/2 months

I posted my first pregnancy belly pic when I was this far along with Addy, so I thought I would do the same with little Brayden. I don't have any good pics of him because he was so wiggly during the ultrasound! No picture of his profile! I was disappointed, but what can you do? So here we are!

Sensory Table

This is Addy's new favorite toy and it only cost about $20 to make! You can put so many different things in the table to play with and experiment with. In this picture, the table has just a little water, colored with a couple of drops of blue food coloring. I added some water toys and put a towel underneath the table to prevent and huge mess. I also had a little apron for her to wear to keep her clothes dry. She stayed entertained for a long time! If you make one yourself, be sure to get a lid with your container so you can cover it when it's not being used. Here is just a small list of some of the things I plan to put in the sensory table in the future:
* sand
* play dough
* shaving cream
* colored rice or pasta
* corn starch and water
It's going to be so much fun!



Materials needed for table:
28 qt container (23" x 16 1/4" x 6")
20 ft 3/4" PVC pipe (you may not use all of the pipe, but it's good to have just a little extra)
8 corner fittings
PVC pipe saw

Most containers have a little ridge half way up and that is where you want the top of your PVC frame to rest. You will need to measure around that ridge and cut the pipe according to those measurements. Use the rest of the pipe to cut 4 legs. I made mine about 16" tall. You may want to make them taller or shorter depending on how tall your child is. After you cut the pipe, just hook it all together with the corner fittings, to make a box. Set your container in the top and make sure it's a little snug, and you have a sensory table!

18 Months

Addy is now 18 months old. Yahoo! That means nursery! I have been looking forward to her being able to go to nursery for a couple of months now. It's not that I'm desperate to have time away from her. That couldn't be further from the truth. I love my time with her. I'm just happy that she has a place to play. It's hard for a little toddler to get through one meeting, let alone three! She get's so cranky and we spend pretty much all of our time in the hall. She had her first day in nursery a couple of weeks ago and she did pretty well. She got pretty attached to one of the nursery leaders and had a fit when she left the room for a minute, but calmed down when she got back. Addy has a tendency to get attached to certain people really quickly. She isn't like this with everyone, she just knows when she really likes a person I guess. She was sick last week and we had stake conference this week, so we will see how she does the second time around!
For some time now, Addy has been in-love with the phone. She loves so talk to daddy while he's at work. I thought I would put up a little clip of her talking on the phone.

Addy has also started "reading" to herself. It's so funny to watch her jibber-jabber and flip through the pages. Every now and then I'll hear something recognizable like an animal sound or name. She knows most of her farm animals and is currently obsessed with the song "Old McDonald Had A Farm". Matt found a little clip on youtube with cartoons and animal pictures that go along with the song. She loves it! She gets the biggest smile on her face and chimes in when she knows the words. She could probably watch it all day if I let her! As I have mentioned in previous entries, Addy LOVES to dance! She used to move her hips a lot, but now it's evolved into hand movements, twirling and wiggling. I tried to upload a little clip of her dancing and watching Old McDonald, but for some reason it isn't working! I'll have to try again in another post.

It's a Boy!

We just went in for our prenatal visit earlier this week and we were able to find out the sex of the baby. Matt and Kiera were right, it's a boy! While the doctor was doing the ultrasound he said "This kid is not shy! We are getting plenty of views in between the legs, but not many of the face!" He said he has never had such a clear view. That's good I guess, but I was hoping to see his little face! We have the official ultrasound in a couple of weeks, so hopefully we will get some good pictures then! I have had different symptoms this time around, so I figured it would be a boy as well. I know it's just an old wives tale that you have different symptoms with each sex, but I had to wonder. For example, with Addy, I craved frozen fruit and strawberry milk. With this little guy, I have been craving chips, french fries and fried chicken. Also, my morning sickness went away at about 12 or 13 weeks with Addy and this time around I was still feeling sick at 17 weeks. I am now 18 weeks and starting to feel better...knock on wood. Matt and I went out and bought his first little outfit and cuddly toy. I'm excited to get started on some projects for my little boy. Maybe I will try to make a quilt. Too ambitious? I have never made one before, so I'm a little nervous about it!

16 months and news

Here is a little list of what Addy and the rest of us have been up to this month:
-Nanna came to visit for a little over a week and we had lot's of fun with her. Addy especially loved playing with Nanna and spent every second she could with her.
-Addy discovered bubbles and is now obsessed. She asks for them all day long. She can even blow bubbles herself!
-Addy FINALLY started calling me Mama a couple of weeks ago. For a while I was wondering if I was just going to be Dada forever. It was a happy day for me!
-Addy can say over 20 words now and learns a new one almost every day. She always was a talker!

-This is just a funny picture of Addy wearing one of my shirts as a dress. She pulled it out of the laundry basket about two seconds after I folded it (this is something she does often) and tried to put it on. She finally got her head through one of the sleeves and then pulled it down around her waist. She wore my shirt like this for half the day. When I tried to take it off, she threw a huge fit!
-We have been working really hard to get Addy involved in prayers for meals and bedtime and she has been pretty good about folding her arms. Tonight, she decided to say the prayer too. She closed her little eyes about half way and started jibber jabbering. It was so sweet and funny at the same time.
-Our most exciting news is that we are going to have new little member of our family in November! Addy LOVES babies and I know she will be a wonderful little helper and big sister!

15 Months

We have had a busy month and the time has just flown by! We just got back from a week long visit to Georgia last week. Matt's sister Crystal was married and we were able to be there for the reception, but unfortunately not the wedding. She was married the week before and Matt wasn't out for Spring break yet. Anyway, Crystal and her husband Alex had a fun Luau reception and of course I didn't take any pictures! I am terrible about that! There was great food and decorations and I didn't get pictures of any of it. I'm so mad at myself! She had a fun "candy bar" with lot's of different kinds of candy in a variety of pretty glass containers. Addy looooved that! I spent most of my time trying to distract her from it. She kept walking up to it and saying "pwe?" (please)in her sweet little voice. It was hard not to give in. Her little cousin Brennan, who is just two months older than her was there and he was so excited to see her that he ran up to her and gave her such a big hug they both fell right over. He is such a sweet little boy. I don't think I have ever seen a child his age be so attentive and considerate! Here is just a cute little example of what I mean. He has this stuffed animal named Scout that he takes everywhere. He LOVES scout. Anyway, he saw Addy admiring his little Scout, so he picked him up and handed him to Addy, and then turned and walked away crying. It was quite a sacrifice for him to let her play with his toy for a minute, but he was willing to do it. I just wish we had gotten it on camera! Though he was constantly trying to share with Addy, she didn't quite know what to do. She's not really used to kids her age bringing her things and sharing with her, so she would just look at him kind of confused. She's actually pretty good at sharing most of the time as well. I hope it lasts. We took Addy to the park a few times while we were there and she loved the slides. I actually remembered to bring my camera to the park, so I got a few really cute pictures. Though the visit to Georgia was wonderful, getting there and back was horrible! Matt absolutely hates to fly. More than anyone I have ever known. While we were waiting to get on the plane, he seriously considered driving to Georgia instead of flying. This happened both ways. It takes about 34 hours to drive from Utah to Georgia! Fortunately, he faced his fears and got on the plane. On the way to Georgia, we had to fly from Salt Lake to Phoenix and then Phoenix to Atlanta. On the flight to Phoenix I sat between Matt and a sort of heavy set woman who seemed to be a little nervous or something. Addy was being very squirmy of course and a little fussy, but I was doing my best to keep her happy and calm. Just as I had accomplished this, the woman next to me asked the flight attendant for a coke. She had taken maybe two sips from it when somehow she knocked her entire cup of coke right into my lap. I was wearing light gray pants, so I kind of looked like I peed my pants for the rest of the day. The poor woman was so embarrassed! They really shouldn't put those seats so close together! So I was cold and very wet, but I was dealing with it. About 20 minutes before we were about to land, I felt Addy's diaper leak all over my leg. I had given her so much water and juice to keep her quiet that her diaper leaked! This was only the first hour of our travels! I still had 3 hours to go! On our flight from Phoenix to Atlanta, Addy cried for about 30 minutes and then fell asleep sucking on a lolly pop. I will admit it, she had quite a bit of sugar. Desperate times call for desperate measures. On the way back from Georgia, Addy would have nothing to do with any of the toys or snacks that I packed. She screamed her little lungs out for at least an hour. I felt sorry for the people on the plane, I felt sorry for her, but mostly, I felt sorry for myself. It was terrible! It was so bad I told Matt I would drive the 30 something hours next time! It was so bad that during our layover, a woman from our flight offered to buy me a margarita for the next flight. I also heard several other people comment on how Addy had behaved on the plane. I will never fly with a 15 month old again!
So here is a little update on what Addy has been doing this month.
* She can now say please, thank you, dog, eyes, teeth, water, light, baby, Jesus and her favorite "where is it". She puts her little hands out when she says it and looks at me inquisitively. It's so cute!
* She has learned to kick a ball, but is still working on throwing
* She still loves to dance
* She thinks the snow is lot's of fun and she loves her little hat. She likes to put it on and wear it around the house.

Dancing Queen

Addy is now 14 months old and she has accomplished some big things this past month! About one week before she turned 14 months, she decided it was time to start walking. She has been able to since she was almost 12 months old, but she just wasn't confident enough to do it without holding on to someones finger. Then, one Sunday night when we were at my mom's she just started walking around all by herself and now she can't get enough opportunities to do it! Of course with walking comes more curiosity. She is into everything! I try to direct her to a cupboard or drawer that is OK to pull everything out of and it works pretty well....most of the time. She has also discovered toilet paper and loves to tear it up into little tiny pieces after she has blown her nose. Yes she really does blow her nose! I couldn't do that until I was practically a teenager! She has learned a couple more words like "up" and "eat", but her favorite form of communication is to nod her head yes when she sees something she likes or wants. Usually it's food and along with the nodding she says "num! num!" enthusiastically. I don't give her dessert very often, but for some reason, even if she has never had it, she knows it's good. For example, the other day I was watching this show on food network called "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". I don't let her watch tv very often either, but I like to watch a cooking show every once in a while. Anyway, there were several different dishes featured on the show and most of them were pastas or meat or something, but one was a 24 layer chocolate cake. Addy didn't pay attention to the show until that giant slice of chocolate cake came on the screen. Her eyes got really wide and she said "num!num!" and pretended to take a little nibble from the screen. She's never even had chocolate cake!
Addy loves her stuffed animals and her doll. Over the past month, I have noticed her patting their backs, kissing them and rocking them. It is such a sweet and cute thing to see. I can tell that one day when she has a little brother or sister, she will be a great little helper. We used to have to ask for kisses, but I have noticed her voluntarily giving them out more often. It's usually to her toys, but every once in a while Matt and I get one. She has a little book that she likes to look at and there is a little boy in it dressed like super man and she gives him kisses over and over again when we read it. He has dark hair like Matt, so maybe that is why?
My favorite thing that she has started doing recently is dancing. It is just about the funniest thing I have ever seen. She will dance to most music, even commercial music which happens to be what she is dancing to in this little clip.

Girl with Opinions

I didn't post what Addy was doing at twelve months, so here is quick review of the month. She started saying "wow". She loves Christmas trees and whenever she saw one she would say "wow!". She did pretty good with leaving the Christmas tree alone, but there was one ornament she just couldn't resist. We went to Georgia for Christmas and she had lots of fun playing with her cousins, aunts and uncles, Nana and Papa. Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures. I just never had my camera with me. Christmas was fun, but she did not like unwrapping presents. Tearing paper still scares her. She refused to walk for about two weeks, and then finally she started trying again. She's back to refusing to walk. I think the problem is that she doesn't like to fall down.
So here is the update for 13 months. Addy has always been an opinionated child. I think it's a good thing. She knows what she likes. The other day we went to target to get her some shoes. I held up two different styles of shoes and asked her to pick the one she liked. One had cute little flowers on it and the other had sparkly stripes. She immediately grabbed for the sparkly ones and said "wow!". Every time I put those shoes on her she says "wow" and points her toes so she can see them sparkle. It just makes me laugh. She takes after me in that respect, I like sparkles too. She also knows what kind of music she likes. She has recently started dancing to music. I play music a lot, but the only tunes she likes to dance to are the oldies! She likes books, but her favorite is "Alice the Fairy". It's on a shelf in her room and she makes a point to look at it every time we go in there. Her favorite fruit is blueberries. She likes all other fruits, but she will kind of whine for them if she sees them in the grocery store. She is finally starting to like milk, but it has to be warm or it has to have bananas in it.
Addy's newest words are "mo" (more)and "uh oh" (if that's even a word). She is also nodding yes. At the moment she's not really walking consistently, but maybe next month?

Addy's favorite ornament. My guess is because it's sparkly.

Looking distressed while opening a present.

Being silly with daddy.

Tickle fight with daddy