Not too many pics of Addy recently, mostly Alivia.

Alivia is a girl on the move lately! She is rolling all over the place and getting her little hands on anything within arms reach. If its not within reach, so has no problem trying to dive out of our arms to get what she wants! She makes her way around the living room, playing with Addison's toys. Which doesn't really make Addy too happy, but I guess she'll have to learn to share, huh? :)

No teeth yet for Livy, I keep checking! I'm sure they will be popping through soon!

The girls are keeping us so busy...between our work schedules and taking care of them, life is flying by. It's still hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner!!

Christmas is fun this year. Addison loves the decorations, she's very excited to get ornaments on the tree. We opted for a real tree again this year. I think we will try to hit the after Christmas sales for an artificial one for next year. Addison loves all the lights on the houses too. There are always a lot of "OH!'s" and "WOW"'s coming from the back seat!! :)

This post is kinda choppy. It's late and my brain is functioning a little slower...

Hope everyone is healthy. We've been good here. I'm hoping to keep it that way through the holidays!!

Livy is growing quickly! Such a big girl she is! 5 months old and she is right in those 9 month clothes! At her 4 month appointment she weighed 16.3 lbs and was 27 1/2 inches tall! She is such a happy sweet little girl. Livy loves to watch her big sister Addison, and loves to snuggle with her momma and daddy. We've started on rice cereal and a little applesauce, which she is really taking too. She loves to grab the spoon to help shovel it into her mouth. It would be great if most of it got into and stayed in her mouth, but she's starting to get the idea.

Alivia is a mover, just like her big sister. When she's on her tummy, she's already getting those legs moving like she's ready to crawl. I'm sure she won't be stationary for too much longer!

What a great day to go to the zoo! This past Sunday was such a beautiful day, we had to go spend a couple of hours at the zoo! We got to see the new tiger cubs that were born in July. Addy had fun watching them play.

Helpin' Mom rake leaves, such a big girl!

My little bumblebee's!!
Halloween was fun this year. It didn't take long for Addy to catch on to the whole trick-or-treating thing. We let her have a few pieces of candy too, which she gobbled right up!

I had to post these...it's amazing how much they look alike! The top pic is Addison, the bottom one is Alivia. They are definitely sisters!! :)

Long time, no blog

So I realized it had been 6 weeks+ since I had posted anything. I've been feeling guilty about not taking the time to put new pictures up to share with our friends and family! So here I am!

What's new in the last 6 weeks... I started back to work August 31st. It was good to get back to work, and good for our family to be back in a regular routine. I am still working MWF 12 hr shifts, which are long, but the schedule works for us. Addy and Livy go to a new babysitter on Mondays. They are the only two girls with three other boys that are right around Addison's age. The girls seem to do very well there, and its gotten easier for me to drop them off on Monday mornings, knowing they are in good hands!

The girls are both growing and changing so much. Addison makes us laugh all the time, she is a very funny little girl. She has such a great personality! She is very smart and we feel she speaking very well for a two year old! Addy is a very active little girl. She won't sit still for more than a few minutes. She LOVES to take care of her babies and stuffed animal friends. Trouble is, I keep running out of diapers for Livy because Addison has diapered every baby and animal in the house! (she's very good at putting them on too, they look better than my diapering job on Alivia!) Addy is such a good little mommy, she'll make a great babysitter someday!

Alivia has turned into a very active girl herself, very wiggly. She rolled over for the first time a few weeks ago, which I think was at about 16 weeks old. (I have really lost track of the weeks) Which was the same time that Addison did. Alivia is such a sweet girl. She talks and coos, blows raspberries, smiles and giggles. We feel very blessed to have had two such wonderful babies! Alivia definitely has a different personality than Addison. I can't describe exactly how, but it will be interesting to see how they are as they get older. Alivia tried rice cereal for the first time a couple weeks ago. She does alright with it. It seems most of it ends up all over her face and hands, but she'll get the hang of it.

Last weekend we went and picked out pumpkins. Addy wanted to take ALL the pumpkins home I think. Not sure what she is going to be for Halloween yet. I'll be sure to post pictures post-Halloween though.

I guess thats it for now. I'm very tired and need to head off to bed.

August

So August went by in a flash!! We were quite busy all month! Realizing that I only had a few more weeks of maternity leave left, we tried to get all those fun summer things in. We went to River Rhythms, which is held every Wednesday night durning the summer in Downtown Milwaukee, for some live music. Addison really enjoyed that, she loves to dance and be social! We also went to the Milwaukee County Zoo as a family. We have a zoo pass which allows us to go at any time, so I take the girls myself, but this time Tom got to go too! We went to the Sea Lion Show , rode the Zootrain and went on the Merry-go-Round. Addison had a blast! Alivia will probably enjoy it more next year! :)

August 9th was Alivia's baptism. It of course, was the hottest weekend of the summer to have a house full of people, but turned out great! It was so nice to have family here!

August is also Wisconsin State Fair time. We thought Addison would like all the animals a little more this year, but she was still a little uneasy around them. She didn't even like being in the barns where all the animals were, maybe its a smell thing. She liked seeing the ones that were outside better. Addy's favorite part of the fair was the big slide! She went down 3 times! (With Mom or Dad of course!) She also enjoyed having a corndog (a must-have at the state fair) and some frozen custard (ice cream/frozen custard is Addison's FAVORITE!)

Towards the end of the month, Tom and I made our annual trip to IKEA in Schaumburg. The girls got to spend the day with Grandma ( a good warm-up for Grandma, since she is watching them every Friday for us). That night Tom and I went to the McHenry Outdoor Theater. For the last 6 weeks of the season they were having "themed" weekends. The weekend we were there they showed Ferris Buellers Day Off and The Breakfast Club, a tribute to director John Hughes who just passed away. Every weekend they are having a different "theme" for their movies.

August 10th marked Alivia's 2nd month. She had her 2 month pediatrician appointment (at 10 weeks). She weighed in at 13 lb 11 oz and was 25 3/4 inches tall. So she grew almost 4 inches and put on about 4 lbs!! She's our growing girl!! Alivia is such a great baby just like her older sister was! She has a sweet little personality, very smiley and happy! She's not quite sleeping through the night yet (she had couple of nights where she did, I thought we were going to keep that routine), but she's not too bad. She goes down for bed around 9:30 or so and sleeps until about 3:30 or 4 AM, when she gets up to eat. Then she goes back to sleep for a few hours. So I really can't complain, its just tough when I get up at about 4:45 AM for work.

August 31st marked my first day back at work. I am back to my normal schedule, MWF 12 hr days. It was nice to be back into a routine. I actually did enjoy being back to work, I like what I do. It was hard to be away from the girls after being home with them for 12 weeks. I have decided that being at work is MUCH easier than being home taking care of two small children. I love them dearly, but they are a handful!!

Now a word from Addison:

e

' pl' 'jh ghhjhkkkjmmjmvmd,

hvvv dbj

mmjk djnbfkjmkjjlnnv m/

ufjcdvn mlouj8

She really wanted to type something like Mom! :)

So now into the month of September, I'm sure it will fly by just as fast as August!

Alivia at 2 months old

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

July

Playing with Daddy

Sisters

Running through the sprinkler at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Hangin' out

Wauwatosa fireworks on the 4th of July



Its been a fun month in our household...busy, but fun. 4th of July we went to the Wauwatosa parade. Addison loved seeing the firetrucks and the horses. After the parade we went to the annual Hagopian-Smith 4th of July picnic, where there were TONS of kids to play with. Addison had a blast! She was definitely ready for a nap when we got home. A late nap was good for her, so she could stay up for her first fireworks. Addison loved the fireworks, she talked about them for days afterwards. Alivia enjoyed sleeping through them.

We went to the zoo a few weeks ago for the first time in months. We need to get there more often (seeing as its only 5 minutes away and we have a Zoopass), Addison loves to go see the animals. The monkeys and the elephants are her favorites right now.

Alivia is growing like a weed! She is almost grown out of any 3 month clothes! She's been a really good baby for us. Not sleeping through the night just yet, but not doing too bad. She usually gets up just once to eat and then goes back to sleep. She's had her first smiles in the last few days and is really starting to coo and "talk" to us more. She's such a cutie! Addison has adjusted well to having a little sister and loves to help take care of her.

The last week or so has brought some big changes for Addison. We started potty training last week and she has done very well with it! We had several puddles on the floor the first day, but since then she has done very well with keeping her big girl underpants dry! She has enjoyed going potty on the toilet so much that she sometimes like to tell us every 5 minutes that she has to go, oh what a fun game! But she's getting the hang of it! Yay, we'll only have one child in diapers!! :)

Along with the potty training, we (by we, I mean Tom and I) decided it was time to be done with the Nuk (pacifier for those of you that don't call it a Nuk). So, I cut the end of it off on Saturday...it was hard for me to do it, knowing how she was going to take it, but I did it. The first two days were tough, but she seems to have gotten better with it. However, she seems to have decided that if she doesn't have her Nuk she is not going to take an afternoon nap. We're still trying to make her take one, but she mostly ends up playing in her room for an hour. Which to me is still an hour to myself (mostly). Bedtime is tough too, it takes about 2 hours for her to settle down and finally fall asleep. That was a little better last night, we'll see what tonight brings! Tom and I are making mental notes to ourselves that we are not going to let Alivia go as long with her Nuk as we did with Addison! We are learning from our mistakes...the older child is always the test child right?? :)

Thats it so far for this month...will post more in the near future! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

This week at the Scharlau's

Our little water bug! Addy loves the pool- she is totally fearless, which is a little scary for us! But we are happy she likes the water!

Alivia's first bath in the kitchen sink! Big sister Addison was there to help.

Babies make the greatest faces :)

Alivia Grace has arrived!

Alivia Grace Scharlau

Wednesday June 10th

7:25 AM

10 lb 2.4 oz 22 inches

Still waiting...

Unfortunately, I don't have much to report. Baby still hasn't decided to join the outside world! I will be going to the OB tomorrow afternoon and I am hoping she will induce me. Until then, I am trying to keep myself busy around the house...

Happy 2nd Birthday Addison!

Addy and Milo playing with the new sand & water table.

Playing with the new tea set out on the patio. She sits like such a little lady doesn't she?

The morning of Addison's birthday party, we let her get a little practice in on her new tricycle. She'll need a little more practice! She just doesn't quite get the pedaling thing yet. Good thing there is a handle that goes on the back to let Mom and Dad push and steer!

Addy digging in momma's soon to be vegetable garden. She's my little garden buddy!

Addison's new big girl bed. She has been in her new room for about 3 weeks now and has done very well with the new bed. We have a little decorating to do still, but she loves her room! She had no problem giving up the crib in the baby room! Lets hope she still feels the same way when the baby moves in!

Addison's birthday party was lots of fun! We had a great day, sunny but not too warm. She got lots of new stuff to play with outdoors, which will hopefully keep her entertained in the backyard this summer! Addison had chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream for her birthday this year. She did a good job keeping herself clean this year! I probably didn't even need to take her dress off! It was a fun,yet exhausting day for everyone- mom and dad especially! We were thankful to have Monday off to clean up and rest!

Now that Addy's birthday has past, we can focus on getting Baby #2 out! We had an ultrasound two weeks ago to estimate the size of the baby, and it's definitely another 8 pounder. I guess I am destined to have big babies! The ultrasound tech said that this one has a lot of hair too. I'm excited about that! It took Addy 18 months to grow any hair that I could do anything with! So I went to the doctor today, she said things are moving along (not fast enough for me though). I'm at 3 cm. If I haven't gone into labor by next week Tuesday, we'll try inducing. I am trying to keep busy with cleaning and laundry, etc around the house (not to mention working 12 hr days still) to get things going!! I would love for things to get started tonight! Waiting is so hard this time around. I don't remember being this anxious to be done with Addison.

Well, the next time I post it will be to introduce Baby Scharlau #2!

34 weeks and counting

No pics this week(for now), just thought I would throw a post in here!
We are all doing well, Tom and Addison are getting over colds. I'm still constantly wiping Addy's nose! Luckily she is pretty good about it and I don't have to tackle her to do it! I do have to tackle her to change her diaper though! I'll be potty training this summer while I am home on maternity leave!
Tom has been working on getting Addison's new room ready, he had started painting last week. With all the rain we had over the weekend, we discovered a leak in our roof, which is leaking into Addy's new room. So...we have to get that checked out and fixed before moving on. Hopefully it doesn't take too long!
I am doing well, just over 34 weeks now. I went to the OB today and everything looks/sounds really good. We're in the home stretch! Tom and I are starting to work on a plan for what we are going to do with Addison when I go into labor. It probably would be easier to schedule another c-section, but I REALLY don't want to do that again if I don't have to. So keep your fingers crossed that I can VBAC!!
We had a ton of rain this weekend, and its amazing how fast everything has greened up! My tulips are starting to bloom and everything else just seems to be popping out of the ground. I love this time of year! :)

Well, here it is April already! Although it doesn't really feel like it. Its so cold and windy outside, and they are predicting snow this evening. The day is turning out better than I expected though, I think it was supposed to be rainy/sleety/snowy all day long. Instead its just cold and gray! I guess that is spring in the Midwest though! You never know what you'll get right?
So two months have gone past since I blogged last. I'm not quite sure where the time has gone! Addison has grown and so have I! My belly is nice and round now, only 9 more weeks to go! The baby is healthy and so am I. I am anemic this time, just like I was with Addison, and have to take iron supplements. Other than that, the pregnancy is going well. Its a lot tougher this time with an almost two year old running around the house! I can't sit and put my feet up when I get tired! Addison would have the house in shambles if I let her get away with everything!
I am still working my usual schedule, 12 hour days MWF. I think at this point with Addy I was able to switch over to 8 hr days 5 days a week. We can't really do that this time with daycare and all. So I just keep plugging along. I am definitely wiped out by the end of the day, and could probably go right to bed when I get home at 7:30!
Addison is a handful these days. She is very smart and a lot of fun! She talks so much and likes to be independent. It takes us about 30 minutes to get out of the house these days because she doesn't want to put her coat on and wants to put her shoes on herself! It can be very frustrating for Tom and I at times, but she has to learn how to do things for herself!
Addy loves to talk, she points out everything she sees when we go somewhere in the car. She is very good with her colors. Counting is coming along...she likes to skip 5 and 6 when counting to ten! Its amazing how many new words she learns every day and how she remembers things she learned days before! The toddler mind is just a sponge for information!
Addy loves to take care of her babies! She changes their diapers (wipes and all), sings them to sleep, feeds them and takes them for walks around the house! I'm hoping she'll be this willing to help with the new sibling! I think it will be an interesting transition!
I guess that is the (somewhat)short and sweet summary of the last two months. I'm going to try to be better at posting more often again! I picked out a few pics from Feb and March, wish I could post more!

Addy decided to eat some snow that we got last weekend instead of helping daddy shovel!

I have outgrown a lot of my clothes and I am refusing to buy new things for these last two months, so I am wearing more and more of Tom's t-shirts and fleeces!

Here is Addy listening to Auntie Hannah's iPod! She thought it was the neatest thing! She was just dancing away!

This was taken on Valentines Day. Addison decided to help herself to Daddy's chocolate covered pretzels!

Addy likes to build with her blocks! It keeps her entertained for a while!