Merry Christmas From The Hensley's!

What an incredible first Christmas baby girl had today. I don't have much time as we are pooped and will have to come back with more details later. And pictures, lots of pictures.

I'll just say, we are so incredibly blessed and had the best Christmas morning ever. Our hearts and tummies are full and we still have one more round tomorrow!

Love to all our blog friends, hope your holiday was a great one!

She's Something Else.

I know it is something you hear from all parents, "Our son/daughter is special. He/she is different from all other babies." I'm guilty of it, that is for sure. There is just something about our sweet daughter that just completely sets her apart. Anytime she meets someone and charms the pants off of them, we always hear the same thing, "She's something else!" Oh yes, yes she is. She's quirky, she goofy, she's a chatterbox, she is the sweetest most affectionate little sass pot.

Her surgery was this morning and Jas and I were a bundle of nerves as we waited for her to go into the recovery room. They called us back and she was coming out of anesthesia which is something no parent should ever have to see their kiddo go through. She was in a very confused and frantic state, flailing her arms and legs, her eyes not really focusing on us. Like I said, frantic is probably the best word to describe it. Mommy and Daddy sang her the "Everything's Allright" song (that we totally made up on the spot... haha) and calmed her down.

Next thing we know, she is smiling at the nurses and wrapping her tiny arms around our necks for "huggles" and going back to her normal self. I held her hand all the way home in the car but I think that was more for me than for her.

We get home and she is laughing and playing and wanting to get right back into her routine. The child had hernias repaired on both sides but you'd never know it! I know children are resilient and they bounce back much more quickly than we do but I still think....

That she's just something else. :)

Addielicious Lurchenstein.

First off, baby girl got her ears pierced last Saturday, she was an absolute champ about it! I was a bit nervous, but she did great. She cried for about a minute and then got distracted by a sparkly scarf and completely got over it! Such a tough cookie.

Pretty girl with her sparkly new bling:

In other news, little miss sassy pants is trying her very hardest to crawl! She is pulling her legs up underneath her and lurching forward.

This morning she started doing what looked like pushups which cracked us up but then she started flopping herself forward and it literally looks like a fish out of water flopping around. Poor thing inherited her Daddy's dance moves! I kid. You can't tell by the pic but Zoe is standing there with her "WTH" face on.

Little nugget will be crawling in no time, time to hide the knives and fine china.

Best Pals.

The Littlest Patient.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving Jas and I got a pretty big scare when a bulge appeared near Addie's groin muscle while she was crying. The bulge went back in when she settled down but popped out any time she strained or fussed. A trip to the pediatrician the next day and she was diagnosed with an inguinal hernia and we were referred to a pediatric surgeon. After meeting with him today, he was able to put our minds and hearts at ease.

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He confirmed the hernia and let us know it was actually her ovary that was buldging out but not to worry as it was not in danger or anything. Basically he told us that there are a lot of gaps in infants bodies that close during development in the womb and one of hers just happened not to close up on its own.

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He said she is a rare case simply because this type of hernia usually happens in little boys (girls make up less than 3% of the cases) but the good news is the surgery to correct it is actually much easier than the procedure that is performed on males. I think our little girl is already showing us how unique she is determined to be!

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The surgeon summed it up best when he said this would be a lot harder on us than it would be on her. This will be a blip on her radar and she will be back to her normal self just days after surgery.

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It was good to get answers and we left feeling much more confident and definitely a bit relieved.

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I remember when I was pregnant, I felt like I could protect her as long as I was carrying her and was nervous for her to be on the outside because there are some things you just can't protect your kiddos from. I would do anything in the entire world to swap places with her for this darn thing.

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"Having a child is like having your heart forever walk on the outside of your body." That is no lie!

xoxo,

Mack

6 Months.

Half a year has gone by and you are growing cuter by the second. We had your doctor checkup yesterday and you are in the 50th percentile for weight and the 90th for height which confirms that you are indeed our little miss string bean.



Your doctor was so impressed with how much you have grown and how coordinated you are that he told us to skip Stage 1 and start you off on Stage 2 baby food. This is going to be a fun adventure even though the pureed beef with gravy does not look very appetizing. Pics will be coming soon of peas smeared all over your face, I'm sure.

Your favorite things right now are WonderPets (I'm pretty sure this has staying power, I've listed it every month in your faves), pureed pears, your plastic ring toys and your Daddy singing "Twist and Shout" to you.

You've mastered "Dada", "Baba" and Gaga and mimic so many things that we do. The other day we could have sworn you said "Hot Dog" but it was by accident. If I have anything in my hands (cell phone, papers, cup) you are reaching for it and trying to snatch it away from me. If I am on my laptop you are trying to "type" with me which makes for some interesting emails.

You are finding all kinds of ways to be mobile. You are rolling all over the place and squirming around to cover every inch of your mattress while you settle down to sleep. You have also been throwing your head backwards while we hold you in our laps which means you want to hang upside down and watch TV between our knees. Funny little thing. You LOVE music, anything musical makes you smile and giggle... when you are on your tummy and pushed up with your arms watching TV you sway your shoulders back and forth with the music and "dance." I finally caught it on this video.

Happy 6 Months, sweet girl. We love you to the moon and back!!!

xoxo,

Mommy & Daddy

Adultness.

The key to keeping your sanity while raising a feisty almost-six-month-old is date night. WOOO-WEEEEEEEE! The stars aligned (and my mom offered to babysit) on Saturday night and we had a wonderful evening including : hot husband, oysters on the half shell, champagne, good friends and Rock Band.

In order of importance of course. :)

I Think She Has "Dada" Down.

Even though she has no idea what it means, it seems to be her word of choice these days! :)

Putting It All Together.

I've been down with the crud. Woke up Friday morning with a sore throat and I knew it was going to be a yuck weekend. I am NOT good when it comes to being sick, I have a hard time admitting it because I NEVER get sick (I haven't been sick in over a year!) and I try to just tough it out. Luckily I have a husband who steps in to talk some sense into me or I'd still be in denial and probably feeling much worse. He made me cancel all our weekend plans, set me up a "sick couch" and forced me to rest. Which I really really needed. Sunday morning he woke up and made me and Addie breakfast in bed (she had a stuffy nose herself). It was so nice to be taken care of. I am still not 100% but doing better thanks to Super Hubs/Daddy and ready to face the week!

Apparently Addie's stuffy nose wasn't going to slow her down because she did something big this morning! So, she has been rolling over both ways for a while but she would always roll to the right and then roll back to the left so she never really got anywhere.... until this morning! She finally put it all together to roll in one direction and actually get somewhere! I was in the kitchen when it happened the first time.... I had laid her down on the edge of her playmat and started puttering around in the kitchen, the next thing I knew I glance over and she had made it off the other side of the playmat and was just looking up at me like "what?" So of course I put her back in her starting spot to try and get her to do it again. It took about 30 minutes but she made it!! I like to call the combination the INCH-ROLL-SQUIRM.

Starting position:

And... 30 minutes later!!

We are so proud of our little sprout. She might be small but she is a strong little thing!

One Of Those Quotes You See That Stick In Your Head.

"Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about."

On The Lamb.

So the cold front never came and it was 85 DEGREES on Halloween. The weather man is going DOWN! Addison wasn't too thrilled at first as we put on her warm toasty Halloween costume but once it was on, she hammed it up like usual.

Doing the lamb chop shuffle:

Clearly, she has fine tuned her WHAT THE CRAP face.

Trick or treating at Gigi's wore her out so we headed home and watched a scary movie. Don't worry, she covered Jason's eyes during the scary parts.

Hot Springs. (Really Hot, Actually!)

We had the pleasure of going to my dear friend Ashley's wedding in Hot Springs, Arkansas and decided to turn it into a mini Hensley family vacation.

Here we are looking a lot like tourists or what I like to call "Addie sports the wind-blown look.":

Addison takes in some pay per view at the hotel after a long day:

Our lovely hotel, The Arlington:


Addie navigates:

Seriously hot springs! :

Who is that guy in the back ruining this picture? Oh wait that is right, statue man! :

Addie and I in front of one of the pretty bath houses. She was all game to take a mineral bath but opted out when she realized there were no bubbles involved:

Addie meets with some of her closest friends:

Hot Springs National Park:

The wedding:

Congratulations Ashley and Jason! Thank you so much for having us, we enjoyed your town so much!

Loves.

~Taken At Hot Springs National Park~

Isn't it crazy how you always feel tired when you get back from vacation?? Still recouping from our trip to Hot Springs and getting unpacked and the house back in order but I just HAD to share the above photo. Has two pretty amazing people in it. :)

5 Months.

Addison Monroe,

5 Months! It is so exciting and a little sad at the same time! A few days ago, your dad and I were watching you playing with your toys on the floor and babbling away in "Addie speak" and looked at each and were like "WHERE DID OUR LITTLE BABY GO?!" It is like we blinked and you were no longer that wrinkled snuggly newborn anymore. I know we will blink again and open our eyes to you blowing out your first birthday candle so we are trying to savor every moment with you.


You continue to be Ms. Independent. You try to hold your bottle and you grab onto the spoon when we are feeding you and try to feed yourself! If you have been sitting in our laps for a while and are ready to do something else, you bow your back and try to wriggle away! This means you want to play on the floor surrounded by your puppies and your toys.


The holidays are coming up and we are so excited to start so many family traditions with you! I keep begging your dad to go ahead and let me decorate for Christmas but I'm not sure if he is going to budge. :)

You are an affectionate little thing. Daddy lays his head in your lap and you slowly pet his hair for what seems like forever. When we hold you, you stroke our arms and shoulders so slowly and sweetly with your hands and wrap your arms around our necks when you are falling asleep (usually with a fist full of my hair firmly in your grasp). The other day you put one hand on both sides of my face and I thought I was going to melt right then and there.

Your hair is really growing though we are still not sure what color it will be. Some days it looks blonde and some days it looks more light brown. Your eyes are still an amazing blue and I am hoping they stay that way! I cannot tell you how many people have stopped me at the grocery store or when we are running errands and told me how gorgeous you were and how pretty your eyes are!

It seems you have been taking so many strides lately in your development and every day it is something new and I am just trying to keep up! We are SO very proud of you and are your biggest cheerleaders and always will be.

You are the best part of us!

Love,

Mommy & Daddy

Pumpkin Eater.

I reeeeallly need to be writing Addison's 5 month entry so I will make this quick! Sunday morning Addie gathered all her pumpkins for carving. We had a Mommy, Daddy and small Addie sized pumpkin. Of course we had to get some shots before Daddy got out the pumpkin chainsaw and got to work,....

Of course she seemed to be more interested in playing with the grass and pulling it out of the ground than she was in the actual pumpkins.

We put paper down on the back patio and got to work. She was hesitant at first but that quickly went away as she dove in and started squeeezing all the pumpkin gooey-ness between her fingers! She is definitely not afraid to get her hands dirty.

Our finished pumpkin with a crooked smile.

Addie and her pa snuggling on the floor afterward. Carving pumpkins is hard work!

If This Does Not Make You Smile You Have No Soul.

Our child is seriously the happiest little baby. It seems she is smiling from the moment her eyes pop open in the morning until we kiss her goodnight. The only way I even know she has woken up in the morning or from her nap is I can hear her little fingernails scratching lightly on her crib sheets and the sound of her talking and giggling to herself in her own little world. It is the best wake up call EVER. :)

The other night she got into one of her laughing fits and just became so tickled with herself. Having a bad day? Not after you listen to this! :)




I seriously am smitten with this kid. I totally understand big families now. :)

Still ridiculously full of baby bliss,
Mack

Falling For Fall.

Since it has cooled off so much we have been spending quite a bit of time outside and frequenting the park that is right down the street from us. It is the most incredible thing to watch Addison be amazed at every single thing. A leaf, a lady bug, the wind. She is experiencing it all for first time and the looks and smiles on her face on priceless. It is all brand new, what a feeling that must be!

Her favorite thing is the swings, she pumps her legs up in down while we push her and I really think she thinks she is doing it herself! The excitement she shows with each push is enough to make anyone smile.

There is just so much we want to show her and experience with her. There are so many places to explore and so many adventures ahead of us. :)