Beautiful Pictures

Kari McGrath took beautiful pictures of Addison when she was 3 months old. She takes fabulous pictures! These pictures just remind me how fast my little girl is growing up. What a wonderful gift she is from the Lord.

Dear Jesus-Thank you for giving us a wonderful gift of life. Addison has been such a joy and comfort to us. Thank you for letting me enjoy her daily and staying home with her. Help us to raise her in your name teaching her about you. We love you! Amen

We are getting settled

We have been living in Arkansas almost a month now. We are slowly getting settled in our home which we love. The weather has been mostly great and warmer than what I am used to in Kentucky. The high today for South Arkansas is 61 degrees and the high today for Central Kentucky is 33 degrees. Due to this weather Addison has enjoyed swinging in her new yard.

I have been quite behind on posting and I hope to post more often now that I am home with Addison. I love staying home with her all day it has been a huge BLESSING! I am so thankful for this opportunity. I am finding out though my day is still as busy as ever but it is the good busy.

Addison has finally turned 1. We had a birthday party for her in Kentucky before we left. She was a ham. She loves being in the center of attention and she sure got it for her princess birthday party. She also celebrated her birthday at the local Mexican resteraunt but she was a little disturbed by

the large hat they were trying to put on her head. She also cried when they sang Happy birthday to her.

Addison has been a little slow in crawling in fact she never has crawled but only rolled everywhere until Sunday. On Sunday she started pulling herself on her stomach. I caught a little bit of it on my camera. She now is really doing everywhere. I was in the kitchen yesterday and she came in there after me. She is a little cutie. I can't wait until she finally decides to walk!

We're moving!

Sorry for the lack of writing but many new things are happening right now and taking all of my time. We're moving! We are heading to Arkansas country and it is exciting. The Lord has opened some exciting doors for our family. Phil is entering another phase of ministry as Family Life Pastor and I am going to be an almost full-time Champion Family Coordinator minus subbing one day a week to pay for my extremely expensive health insurance but I will save that for another post.

I have always wanted to be a stay at home mom but after having cancer it was even more important to me. Cancer makes you come to the reality very quickly that you will not always be here and I want my daughter to know me as long as she can. I want to make strong memories with her and unfortunately my career was taking all of my time and sacrificing my family. Now even though I am still busy at least now it is Addison and Phil keeping me busy.

Phil is already in Arkansas and it has been so hard to be apart. Addison and I were down there for 10 days but had to come back for a doctor's appointment and someone has to get us all packed up. I can't wait for our family to be back together again under one roof. I have a wonderful husband and he misses his family deeply!

The doctor's appointment Addison had to go to was for her hearing aids that she began wearing after Thanksgiving. When Addison was born she failed her newborn hearing screening. So after an ABR it was determined that Addison has a hearing loss most likely caused genetically. I also have a hearing loss as well but only in one ear. Addison has a loss in both ears and although she has lots of good hearing it may affect how she hears sounds and in turn cause her speech to have problems. She may not need the hearing aids as an adult but she will need them through school. The doctors want to continue to monitor her hearing so that it does not get any worse. Also, Phil's health insurance doesn't pay for hearing aids but again I will save insurance for another post.

Addison's 1st birthday is coming up which does make moving a little tricky. I anticipate having a small family birthday here in Kentucky because most likely we will be in Arkansas on January 27th. I can't believe my little girl is 1. She is such a blessing in our life.

Addison enjoyed her 1st Christmas. She mainly enjoyed the boxes and paper and also enjoyed hamin' it up for family and friends. She is such a social butterfly and she definitely gets that from her Daddy. On Christmas day she went to the fire station to see her Grandpa and she was all smiles. This is one proud Grandpa!

Beach Babe

We just go back from the Emerald Coast! It was a wonderful trip and it is amazing how beautiful the ocean and white beaches are in the Florida Panhandle. Addision enjoyed her first of many trips to the beach. Her parents LOVE the beach! She loved puting her feet in the sand as the waves hit her feet and of course her favorite part is all the attention she gets while on the beach. :o) We are already making plans to go back very soon.

Longing for more time with Addison

It's back to work for me. Yes, you heard it school is back in session and so am I. I put in 40 hours this week and it was only a 4 day week and I still didn't get everything completed.

I also missed 40 hours of Addison's life this week. I am horribly, upset about this and I don't think I will ever get over this. I am still shocked that I can't get affordable health insurance. Until Phil is back to working full-time again it looks like I will continue to work 50 hours a week 6-4. We have sacrificed a lot for Phil to work part-time. I am still looking for the blessings of this. Maybe its just me and my lack of Faith...

Usually, all of my posts are happy but I do get depressed just like anyone else. So right now I am just feeling sorry for myself and longing for more time with Addison...

Real Food (Almost)

My Precious Girl

My precious girl is 6 months old. It is hard to believe it has been 6 months.