Christmas goes WAY too fast!!!

Every year I start listening to Christmas music in October, buy my new wrapping paper in September and get our tree pretty quick after Thanksgiving. I can't wait for our many stops on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Then before I realize it's Christmas, it's OVER and I'm so depressed that I have to wait a whole year before it gets here again....waaaahhhhh! But, we had a great Christmas and Addie did too. She had fun opening presents and is excited to have new toys. We haven't really bought her any toys and frequently are scolded because we give her measuring cups, spoons or other household objects to play with. So, now she actually has real age appropriate toys to play with...thanks family!!!

Family pic in front of the tree

Addie and mommy

Freeman Family 2008
Addie enjoying a new toy

Family pic and Addie not interested in smiling..

Addie loves her cousin Jaxon!

Wahoo!!! I get to rip it open!!!
Toys???

Yeah!!! Real toys!!!!

Costello Family 2008

Busy, busy, busy

I can't believe it has taken me so long to put an update on this thing. My favorite time of the year is here and I can't wait until Christmas. Here are a few pictures of my quickly growing baby girl. She is already 9 months old!!! She has now officially been out of my belly longer than she was in it. Time sure has flown. I just keep falling more and more in love with her!

Helping with Laundry

She loves to be naked!

Her hair is finally long enough to put in ponies.

Playing at Grammy and Papa's house.

We went to a friend's superhero birthday party. We were from the x-men. Brian was Wolverine, I was Rogue and Addie was night Crawler. Mark was Quailman from the cartoon Doug, and Kristina was the cheerleader from Heros.

The last 2 months

So, I've been a really busy and have been bad about posting new pix. So, you get two posts in one night. I finally downloaded all the pictures from my camera and 270 images later, they are finally on my hard drive. Here are a few moments from the last two months.

My happy girl...

Addie and both of her grandpa's with her "I love grandpa" onesie and her grandpa's with the hats she got them for Father's Day.

Addie started eating food a couple of months ago and is finally liking it. There was a little while we thought this kid wasn't going to like anything but breastmilk!

She also loves her cool walker and loves being outside.

We are very fortunate to live right next door to Brian's sister Kelly and her husband Kevin. They had their baby boy Jaxon in July and the two get to see each other everyday. Addie LOVES it when Jaxon comes over and we sometimes have to keep her from attacking him. She usually screams and gets very excited when Kelly walks in with him. Here they are in their cool coordinating rockband outfits Auntie Kelly got them from Old Navy.

Addie got to spend time with her cousins Jason, Tyler, Josh and Brie!

Back to Normal and Halloween Fun!

So, luckily, I didn't have to stay on the the no sugar diet for too long. After 2 weeks of torture, none of the symptoms had gone away. The doctor did a culture to see if I had a bacterial infection and it came back negative. Nobody knows what's wrong. So, I've been back on sugar for 2 weeks and am not any worse than I was before...yay! For now I am stable and have one sore left and a little bit of burning after I nurse Addie. I guess I will just keep going unless I get worse. But, let me tell you something; our brains NEED sugar!!! I was going absolutely crazy (just ask Brian)!!! I did not handle the no sugar thing very well, and everyone around me knew it. Now I'm back to normal and am actually enjoying eating again.

On a happier note, Addie had her first Halloween and had a great time. She was a ladybug and was so adorable. Brian's Aunt Judy made her costume and it couldn't be cuter. We went to our ward trunk-or-treat party and she LOVED being around all the kids. She had a great time.

Our little ladybug!

Her wings were detachable!

Too cute...

Family pic at the ward activity. Brian was a laker fan and I was tired.

Addie with her cousin Jaxon and Uncle Kevin. Aunt Judy made Jaxon's devil costume too!

What???? NO SUGAR?!?

WARNING....this post is not so rosy, and may gross some of you out. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Since the end of August I have been dealing with an infection related to breastfeeding called "thrush." Thrush is basically a yeast infection that thrives in warm moist places and commonly happens to babies and moms during breastfeeding. The baby will get small blisters in her mouth and moms will get very sore and painful breasts in the process. Originally I thought Addie was just changing the way she latches on and that's why I was sore, chapped and peeling (can you say ouch?), but then I would get intense burning shooting pains following nursing. So, I decided I should actually go to the doctor to see if anything could be done. Well, Addie had a couple of blisters on each side of her mouth and the chapped, red, painful cuts (along with the burning shooting pains) I had were definitely thrush. So, I learned all about how to get rid of this horrible infection and hoped for the best. Addie and I were both put on medication. I had to throw out over half of the milk supply I had built up in our freezer and couldn't keep and of the milk I would pump at work for more than a day because it was loaded with the infection. Not to mention the fact that I was in excruciating pain EVERY TIME I would feed Addie and pump at work. I was told the infection would be gone in about 4-5 days and that a couple days after that I could start keeping all of my milk again. So, we started the meds and it worked within 3 days for Addie. Me on the other hand is a different story. So here I am 6 weeks later, 3 rounds of medication later and it is still not gone! It is definitely not as bad as it was in the beginning, but my left side can't seem to get rid of it. So, the only way to kick this things is horrible. NO SUGAR OF ANY KIND in my diet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, NO CARBS!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!! So, I have to stick to this thing for at least 6 weeks but probably more like 2-3 months. Once all my symptoms are gone, I have to do this for at least another month and then I can SLOWLY work sugar and carbs back into my diet. So until then, my plight is vegetables, cheese, meats, eggs, hummus and some raw nuts. The good news is, I will probably lose some weight. I have been doing this for exactly 1 week and have eaten more vegetables this week than I have in the last year. I feel like I'm going to turn green! So next time you have pasta, potatoes or any kind of delicious sugar filled dessert, please savor every bite for me! Hopefully the next few months will fly by! :(

Vacation...yay!!!

We have had the most insane summer of our lives, and we were finally able to get away from it all for Labor Day Weekend. We were lucky enough to spend some time in a condo on the beach in Oceanside with my mom, brother Mark and his wife Kristina. It was our first time going away with a baby and of course we brought WAY too much stuff, but had a great time away from all of our responsibilities. Addie went in the pool and the ocean for the first time and she loved it. Of course we are psycho and documented every moment of being in the water with videos and pictures for your viewing pleasure. Please prepare by putting on sunglasses to shield your eyes from my pasty white skin. Addie already has more color than me and she has never been tan. Lucky girl got her dad's coloring.

Addie's first swimsuit...she's ready for the pool!

Addie loving the water with mom.

All warmed up in her cover-up and towel.


This is what humidity does to her hair as if it wasn't crazy enough.



The Gang at the pool.


Venturing into the pacific


Family pic on the coast...like Brian's scruff?? He's on a strike from shaving.
We couldn't get Addie to look at the camera and we were sick of looking stupid trying to take our own picture so we gave up trying to get her attention.

We tried...

Well, it looks like Addie is just going to have to excel in academics or sports or some other thing worthy of a college scholarship. Thanks to everyone who voted but unfortunately, Addie did not make it to the finals of the contest. :( So, looks like we'll have to come up with some other scheme to pay for college. Thanks again! I can't post something without a picture, so here's a picture of my beautiful baby. Can you believe she is already 5 months old?

The Final Round

Another BIG thank you to everyone that voted in Round 3 for the 104.3 myfm beautiful baby contest. Unfortunately again, we did not win round 3, so our last chance is round 4. If you have time, we would appreciate it if you would take a minute one LAST TIME . Addie is Contestant 11 again this week under the "Aa - An" category. It's the same picture as the previous 2 weeks. Thanks again for your time. I'll let you know if she wins and make her in debt to you forever!!! Our last hope if she doesn't win this week is for Tori Spelling to pick her as the wild card winner. I guess we'll see what happens. Thanks for your support everyone!!Here's the link again:

http://www.1043myfm.com/pages/beautifulbabycontest/index.html

Thanks a million!

So this is what Brian and Addie do while I'm out working....I think "working from home" is Brian's cover up! They're having way too much fun without me!

Addie helping Daddy with emails.

Going out for a walk.

I came home from work one day and found Addie and Daddy out back playing on the swing set. Addie LOVED it!

Holding on to dad!

Just looking too cute!

Round 3!!!

A BIG thank you to everyone that vote for everyone last week for the 104.3 myfm beautiful baby contest. Unfortunately we did not win round 2, but we are trying to win round 3. If you have time, we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to vote in round 3. Addie is Contestant 11 this week under the "Aa - An" category. It's the same picture as last week. Thanks again for your time. I'll let you know if she wins and make her in debt to you forever!!! If for some unknown reason she happens to not win round 3 we have one last chance in round 4 and I'll be posting one more time for this next week. Thanks for your support everyone!!

Here's the link again:
http://www.1043myfm.com/pages/beautifulbabycontest/index.html

Thanks!

Vote for Addison!

104.3 My FM is having a beautiful baby contest so of course we had to enter Addie. There are 4 rounds to the competition, and we didn't make it into round 1, but we are entered into round 2, 3 and hopefully round 4. So, we need your help to vote for Addie so she can win a $20,000 college fund!! Here is the link:

http://www.1043myfm.com/pages/beautifulbabycontest/index.html

Go to the "A" category to see Addison's picture. She is under "Addison" and is contestant 12. To vote, click on vote under the "A" category and choose CONTESTANT 12. You can vote once for every valid email address you have.

We appreciate your vote! We need your help with all 3 rounds. The voting is as follows:
Round 2: July 30 - Aug 3
Round 3: Aug 6 - Aug 10
Round4: Aug 13 - Aug 17

Here is the picture we entered. We will keep you updated to let you know if she makes the finals! THANKS A BUNCH!!!!

Hiatus

I have not purposefully taken a hiatus from blogging, just been super busy. We have had a CRAZY month and haven't spent much time at the computer. After 4 months of bliss with my baby I went back to work June 30 full time....wahhh! But, we are really blessed because Brian is able to work from home so he can take care of Addie...wahoo!!! It's been a really tough transition for Brian and I (well, mostly for me), but Addie is happy as a clam. Some days she lets her daddy get some work done and others she requires a bit more attention. I'm slowly getting back into things at work and am now surviving without tearing up when I treat one of the cute little babies on my caseload. On a happy note, Addie is now in her own room in her crib and is sleeping through the night most of the time....she's such a good baby. She is also the most talented baby in the world...she can roll from her back to her stomach AND she eats her toes!!! Have you ever heard of a 4 month old doing this??? I think not!! :)

Here is my talented little girl in action!
(she was a bit cranky during the making of this film)

Addie happy as a clam.



The results of Brian's first week at home....ewwwwwww!

Happy Addie!

Addie is smiling all the time and thought everyone would enjoy some new pictures of her. Enjoy!

Brian to Dean Cain

So apparently Brian's celebrity look-alike is Dean Cain...cool huh? I always loved the show Lois and Clark!!

Kara to Katherine Heigl

Katherine Heigl? I would have never guessed she is my look-alike!

Check out your celebrity look-alike at http://www.myheritage.com

Costello Look-alike Meter

My friend Amy posted this look-alike meter on her blog for her boys and I thought it was so cool so I decided to try it. Everyone says Addie is a good mix of the 2 of us, but that she looks more like Brian. I guess they're right! If you want to try it out, go to http://www.myheritage.com and upload your pix. It's fun!

RIP Mrs. Potts

When I graduated from High School way back in 1997, I was very fortunate and my parents bought me a car. I had received a scholarship from CSULB, so my parents decided that since they didn't have to pay tuition, they would instead buy me a car. Having a car also meant I didn't have any excuse not visit them on weekends....Long Beach and Fontana are not that far from each other when you're driving. So, we looked around and found the perfect college student car, a 1995 4-door Honda Civic. It was only 2 years old, but it already had 75,000 miles on it and a lot of quirky things the previous owner has done to "improve"the car. There were power windows added in the front (only the passenger side worked, the driver side was manual), the windows were tinted (which soon began to bubble up), and it had an alarm that honked to horn when you pressed the button (it was the wimpiest sounding thing ever). Despite these quirks, I loved it!!! The body and interior were in great condition and I had my own car! I decided that I would keep it until the wheels fell off or it died. Well, the wheels have not fallen off, but Mrs. Potts (my name for the car....as in the fat little tea pot from Beauty and the Beast) has died. We have had 11 good years together! She was there when I left for college, received my mission call, graduated from college, got married, graduated from grad school, started my first "real job", and when Addie was born. She held out as long as she could. She will now be sold to some other lucky person who can fix her to work again as I move on to my upgrade. Mrs. Potts has been replaced.....hallelujah!!!! After11 years, that car has taken a beating as well as given others a good beating (including hitting a cyclist outside of CSULB....that's a whole other blog entry). She's old!!!!! The paint is oxidizing, she takes about 10 minutes in the morning before her heater works, and 10 minutes in the dead of summer before the a/c actually feels cold, she's loud on the freeway, had dents, scratches and cracks all over!!!! I have been waiting for her to kick the bucket for a while and she just kept going! Honda's last forever!!! Mrs. Potts has been good to me over the years and I am grateful for her, but soooooooooooo excited to have a new car! Well, it's a used car, but new to me. My parents bought a new Toyota Prius and sold their 2002 Lexus ES 300 to us! Leather seats, sunroof, dual climate control, keyless entry, 6 disc CD changer..... need I say more....I'm in heaven! I feel so ostentatious in this car, but I'm over it. I love it! Now I need a name for her and then I can drive this one into the ground too! Rest in peace Mrs. Potts!

Mrs. Potts
(dents in the hood from that pesky biker that decided to ride out in front of us at CSULB)


Backside view...it's hard to see the crappy paint, but you can see some of the bad paint in the bumper.

My new ride!!!!

Isn't she beautiful !!!!