"I'm Moving On"

So we are moving on and moving out! For those of you who haven't heard yet, I was offered a job in TX and we took it. And that's about it. :o) No...just kidding. Umm I will be advising as a UT campus and the hubs is staying in SC with the baby for the time being. (The plan is for them to come out in Dec).

This is an amazing opportunity for us and we will continue to keep all of up updated. Who knows, maybe I'll get better at it now that we are on the move. :o) Well, here we go!

"Making Memories of Us"

Hmmm...so much can happen in a month. I really need to be better about blogging. Although, this blog was started to make it easier for our family and friends to keep up with us and when the family in question is in town it is hard to remember to blog.

We had all our check ups this month so here we go:

Eyes - look good for now. No need for an immediate second surgery, possibly never a second surgery.

Teeth - our baby teeth are coming in amazingly well. There were worries because of how early she was.

Ears - passed. Well mostly...haha our stridor make it hard for us to hear the softest tones.

Which brings us to our last issue - Airway - there was some swelling but it was hard for the doctor to tell if it was from allergies and the change of the seasons or actual scar tissue. We have a follow up in 5 weeks and until then are back on our nebulizer. If there is swelling or any question about her airway they will knock her out again and go back in to take a better look and possibly laser or dilate her again.

I feel like I need to add this disclaimer in case you stumbled across our family page. Addison was born at 27 weeks instead of 40, and has overcome some unique preemie milestones in the last 18 months. Premature births happen and I don't aim to scare anyone or preach, but this is our story and I aim to share it in the most straight forward way.

Life happens, and we are making the most of it. Today, for instance, our little ball of sunshine and I made some more amazing memories. After playing at the park for a grand total of 10 minutes before Addison got bored we began walking home and passed the pool. It was empty and Addison started stretching for the sun glistening pool. One would think I learned for our last impromptu pool trips, but no. We put our feet in and that wasn't enough, so she jump off the first step and planted her hiney on the second step.

Then the splashing started, and the next thing I knew - we were both in the pool, fully clothed and giggling in the sun. For the next 30 minutes or so we splashed and swam around...walking home was fun...squishing the whole way. Of course for Addison that was it, mommy was left with all the laundry (yay!) and I'm the only one who will remember today, but it was totally worth it. :o)

Thanks for checking in...updates will come more often, promise.

"I Can See Clearly Now"

Well at least that is what we are hoping. It has been a week since Addison's eye surgery and she seems to be fairing pretty well. Don't get me wrong it isn't a pretty site (imagine busting a blood vessel in both eyes at the same time) but all in all she is happy and totally unaware of her current situation. There does seem to be a little bit of a turn - but we are hoping that as the swelling goes down her eyes will return to the right position. The biggest risk with this surgery is a second surgery, so we will have to wait and see.

Also here in SC school is back in session and we have decided to homeschool the little peanut for the time being. I mean she is almost 18 months old and we obviously don't expect her to recite sonnets but we are a little afraid that she will be so far behind with her physical stuff and we don't want to add to that. So we found some awesome stuff with the help of another mom in Summerville Mothers and More and are going to start learning our letters. You can check the Letter of the Week curriculum we are using the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler. We can't wait to get started!!

It's late and I still have a lot to do so...off I go. Good night everyone.

Summer 2010 Challenge

So in an effort to direct my craftiness I am entering in my first online challenge.

Scrappin' Happily Ever After is my craft store here in South Carolina and their blog (Scrappin' Happily) is hosting it's first online challenge and "Summer 2010" is the theme.

This is my first summer truly crafting and so I've tried to use the new things I've learned this summer to showcase my "Summer 2010"

A tear "puppy", stamping, ribbon waves, chalking...fun!

I've used the following items to complete this challenge - a flower, button, ribbon, brad, and stamped image. :o) YAY me!

Now time to work on my card swap card...

::Catching Up::

Sadly, I have fallen very, very far behind in updating about Addison and our family. With that in mind, I am forgoing my normal song related title and just trying to catch everyone up.

Eric started his new job at the hospital and loves it and I am celebrating my 1 year Scent-iversary with Scentsy! The biggest updates come with baby Addison, who is now very clearly toddler Addison. :o)

We have had 2 airway surgeries in the last 6 weeks and we are happy to report Addison is blossoming now that she doesn't have to work so hard to breathe. She has started babbling and making noises, we've given up our bottle and drink from a big girl straw cup. With that said, we are a little behind on our talking and have brought in a Speech therapist. So if you are keeping count, that's the 4th therapy that Addison gets so all in all we are a very busy lot.

Walking is another project Addison has been exploring and while we cruise with the best of them she seems a little, while drunk. We wobble and fall a lot more than I feel she should and upon having her routine 3 month eye appointment found out that Addison has a depth perception problem due to her extreme earliness. In order to fix this, she will be undergoing a double eye surgery in two weeks. Yay!  Upside is the surgery is outpatient so we should be back home that night, no issues.

So that's about it. We have been keeping very busy with all of that. Not to mention Eric playing softball in this fall and me crafting (pictures to come). But we are never too busy for company. So if you are making a trip to the area, we'd love to see you. I really need some Texas and Ohio in my life...it's getting a little lonely out here.

That's it for now - off to the library with toodles. :o)

~Katie