Addie has been growing so fast! According to our very scientific “step on, step off, step on with Addie and subtract” method, she’s weighing in close to 11 pounds at just short of 6 weeks old. All her sleep – 4-5 hour stretches most days – must be helping her pack on the pounds.

Over the past week she’s become much more alert and stays up for an hour or two at a time during the day. She’s holding up her head more and more and we’re seeing the beginning of smiles! She is working on getting her thumb, fingers, or whole hand in her mouth and hopefully she’ll figure it out soon, because she has refused each of the five brands of pacifiers we’ve tried! Luckily she is pretty easily soothed as long as she has someone to snuggle with, preferably on the move. She loves walking around – maybe it was all the walking I did while teaching last year?

Here she was in her swing at two weeks.	And here she is at five weeks.

To complete Addie’s spa day on Lake Travis, we treated her to a manicure. She’s been scratching her face a little bit and Dad’s neck is sporting some battle scars as well. Time to trim and polish those little nails. Never one to be ungraceful, she gave us her best pose of outstretched arms. We skipped the nail polish this time around because she couldn’t decide on a color to match her green diaper cover but stay tuned…

Oh Daddy, easy on the cuticles!

Stop scaring me, Daddy!

Addie has been spending time on her playmat, exploring the different areas with a little help from Mom and Dad, checking out the hanging toys, and even drooling a bit (she must have learned it from big brother Ben). She can lift her head a few inches when she’s on her tummy but prefers to do it propped on the Boppy or while lying on Daddy’s chest. Here’s a video from last week, right before she turned one month old! She is sporting a romper – so fashionable!

Addie on her playmat from Ellen Strong on Vimeo.

Bonus video – Addie’s Aunt Meg also follows fashion trends. Rather than a romper, she is sporting the 2010 version of hammer pants. Check out this video for her interpretation of M.C. Hammer’s masterpiece. Addie can’t wait to learn the routine, Meg!

Addie was not too excited to wake up for a diaper change so we took the opportunity to document her “changing station.” Starting from the left you’ll see the basket of clean diapers, then the changing pad proper, complete with multiple layers of absorbent material (oh, and there’s Addie!). Next we have the assortment of diaper creams, powders and other magic rash-b-gone concoctions. The roll is used for the diaper cream that can’t go in cloth diapers because it makes them non-absorbent. Then there is the wipes warmer, the true symbol of a future helicopter parent, so that nary a cold, clammy wipe touch the little princess’s hiney.

Our typical weeknight dinner table centerpiece.

Not only does Addie have multiple recliners, rockers, chairs, mats and other locations to lounge, she has prime real estate in the middle of our bedroom for her nighttime beauty rest.

And yes, the dogs are mighty jealous. Don’t worry though, she doesn’t mind.

Not wanting to miss out on the fun, Casey decided to venture out to Dad’s work to figure out what he does all week.

Wow, was he disappointed! Besides the nice people, he really couldn’t be sure what his job was and why his boss was so funny looking!

Addie Goes to Work.

This weekend we took a trip out to Lake Travis to visit Great Aunt Jeanne and Great Uncle Richard. Addie’s still too young to swim but she enjoyed relaxing, watching us play Monopoly, and and picking up some of Daddy’s real estate tycoon tips. She wasn’t so sure about the hat, though!

Grandma Jane was wishing she could be there so we tried to capture Addie saying hi. By the way, she’s four weeks old today!

Visit to the Lake from Ellen Strong on Vimeo.

This video is from last week, when Addie was a mere two weeks old! She was wearing one of her newborn onesies, all of which are too small by now. Waking up is definitely a process for our little one…wonder who she got that from?

Waking up from Ellen Strong on Vimeo.