::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

"Feeling Good"

So it has been far too long since our last post. Baby Addison has had two surgeries in the last month, flown to Philly, gone to her first baseball game, and started crawling!

Surgeries first because I'm sure everyone is wondering what happened. Because Addison was so early she needed help breathing for a long time. Now if you don't learn anything about medical advances and preemies - learn this - everything is a double edged sword. Stereoids are super helpful and great for little ones with swelling but has been linked to different types of palsys. Feeding tubes give baby food so their guts don't go unused but then the babies tummy never learns to close and they can have reflux issues. Most importantly, these little ones often need help breathing which can lead to swelling and scar tissue, which is what we have with Addison.

Her first surgery went in and removed a mucus cyst (from all the tubes rubbing) and lasered out some of her scar tissue to allow her to breath easier. We felt like things went well but at her follow up there was still some significant narrowing of her airway and a second surgery was planned. That happened yesterday.

Two narrowed areas were stretched with a balloon and everything seems to have gone well. There was some sign of acid damage from her reflux so doctors are stepping up that part of her meds, but all in all - she is happy and healthy, and most importantly - home! So we are all feeing good.

Crawling is a whole other adventure! She is into everything and we love it. She moves around and looks at us like, "why are you in the way?" or "why did you move that up there?" and she smiles all of the time. Won't be too long before she is walking and mommy has to finish baby proofing the new apartment.

Summer is calling so hopefully there will be a first trip to the beach soon and pictures!! Take care out there!

"I've had one of those days..."

Big week with a lot to balance...Addison was sick again and we made another trip to the ER. Sadly this ended up with an ENT referral and Addison is now scheduled to have "surgery" on Wednesday. I use quotes because we don't know so much that there will be cutting - which is what I think makes a surgery, but there will be anesthesia so there you go. Long story short, Addison has always made some noise when she breaths and everyone thought she'd grow out of a it...a year later and very little progress so they want to go in and check it out.

Eric got a job offer at the same hospital Addison will be in which is great because we really needed it! He is getting a big bump in work and finally a set 8-5 weekday schedule, so yay! I also have news on the job front - an interview Monday at the same hospital (which is also a medical university). Needless to say we are staying put in the Low Country for I'm thinking at least 2 more years...it could be worse. We have an amazing support system here, but it's just hard being away from home. But the move is in 7 days...haha why do I do this to myself?!

Strawberry picking has gone really well and if I can wrap this up and get baby to sleep after her next bottle I have big plans for some strawberry bread and strawberry preserves...packing and cleaning can wait until after some mommy time...Hope all is well out there.

(Newest pictures from Mepkin Abbey)

Grooms Family

Daddy's Girls

Addison eating a flower

She was so done by this point :o( poor thing

"Strawberry Wine"

So it is strawberry season in South Carolina (just one more reason I love living here) and I went out this morning and picked some of the first available before we move away from the fields. I totally lucked out and got some awesome berries! Addison loves them cut up and that's great...but mommy doesn't know what else to do with them besides shortcake and baby nibbles.

Does anyone out there have some ideas or better yet awesome strawberry recipes they'd like to share? I thought I'd go ahead and ask because last year I made the mistake of picking tons of blueberries and then had nothing to do with them...this year I'm trying to pace myself. :o) Please send strawberry deliciousness this way and I'll be sure to share how it all goes.

Moving in t-minus 16 days...where to? We don't know yet...hopeful to have a place tomorrow.

"Blessed"

So much has happened since Little Miss turned the big ONE! Oh my! (Oh Mylanta, as my landlord says.)

The big day came and went and while I did unload our story on to the world, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The biggest thing is Addison is here with us and doing amazingly well.

We spent this past week in Texas with my family and it was much harder than I thought it would be. My parents love that small little girl more than she will ever know and she cried when they picked her up, which in turn made my mom cry...All in all everything was fine. Addison got over the newness of TX quickly and started terrorizing the house.

Nothing was safe! The Easter decorations, the curio cabinet, Addison's Easter dress was all fair game and they all felt the inquisitive hands and mouth of the little princess. We even had a chance to go get her official birthday and Easter pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. And while the photographer was a nightmare we managed to get a few good shots.

She even showed signs of movement with all of her tummy time and inability to reach anything from her typical arm stretched position. The airport was interesting to say the least and when we got home Addison showed us all what a little actress she was. After being put on the floor with daddy across the room there was a clear "step, step, step" as she worked those little arms and legs and crawled her way over to daddy! Seriously? You couldn't have done that for grandma and grandpa so they wouldn't feel like they were missing everything? Silly girl. I fear she will be as hard headed as her mother.

When I look back and think about the past year in the back of my head I can hear one of my mom's favorite songs replaying over and over...so in the words of Martina McBride, "I have been blessed / And I feel like I've found my way / I thank God for all I've been given / At the end of every day / I have been blessed / With so much more than I deserve / To be here with the ones that love me / To love them so much it hurts / I have been blessed"