Truly Thankful!

Thankfulness...... I feel like there are no words to fully describe how Truly Thankful I AM!  Yes, I think we are Thankful, but when we really sit down and think about All that God has done/given/provided for us, it really puts things/circumstances into perspective.  It definitely makes the things that we don't have seem to be insignificant, because the things that we do have are so much more important.  This is a life long lesson that I seem to always have to remind myself of when things get tough.  God has given to Stephen and I more than we could ever imagine!  In just one year alone, God gave us a house of our own and a Child!  He also gave Stephen another job when his job was being eliminated.  These 3 things are what brings everything into perspective for me!  I don't need a Big house, with lots of things and I don't need Stephen to have the best job, bringing in lots of money.  All that I want is a "HOME", a job that my husband enjoys, that pays the bills and allows for the few extra fun things.  I wanted a Child for soo long, I begged God to give us one.  Why didn't he give us one earlier, I don't know, I will never know, but what I do know is, he gave us one, in his timing - the RIGHT timing!! and I am Forever Thankful, WE are Forever Thankful!

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above ALL that we could ever ask or think, to him be all the PRAISE!" 

Our little Angel turned 5 months on Thanksgiving Eve.  Its crazy to see how much she has grown in just one short month and how fast the time went.  OH.... to keep her small, but each milestone is a Celebration and she squeals with delight over her accomplishments.  Addison has officially at 5 months started to move out of 0-3 month clothing and into her 3-6 month clothing. I forsee by Christmas we will officially be 100% at 3-6 month clothing!!  Such a BIG Girl Now!! Not sure of her weight, but she is probably around or close to 13 pounds. We will be going for her 6 month apt after Christmas.

She reached several Big milestones this Month, from holding her bottle (when she wants too, little stinker) discovering her feet, being able to hold her head up on her own when he pick her up, pulling Mommy's hair all day..lol! moving one object from one hand to the other and to rolling over from stomach to back (still has not mastered back to stomach, but I would say she is definitely trying hard to do it) She can even sit up for a short minute on her own without falling over, however we do better if she has something propped against her back.  We officially put away her vibrator chair, which I can say I had a little break down of, "My Baby is Getting Soo Big and I dont want her to Get Big"  but she just did not enjoy Laying Down anymore, wants to be sitting up in her bumbo, afraid she will miss something..lol! So I washed it and put it away.  She is still a huge talker .. full of stories as I like to put it and is just a vibrant happy child.

                                                                 5 Month Birthday

                                                              Discovering her Feet
                                                                 

                                                      Such a Big Girl-  Holding her own bottle

Addison also had her very first Thanksgving.  Even though she didnt enjoy all the FOOD, she was very happy and she even gave Mom a special treat of moving her longer nap to the morning.  So no fight to go down in a new house/bed/smells/noise, that she had never been in!!  All in all it was a very nice relaxing day!

                                                  Watching the Macy's Parade...well kind of!

                                                     Thanksgiving at Nana & Papa's house

                                                       

Blessed Beyond Measure

Every day I am reminded of God's goodness in our lives.  To think that God has granted us with a child, a child that we waited for and prayed for, for 5 years.  Who would have ever known that after 5 years of desiring a child, 2 years of infertility treatments, God in his own timing, when we felt our hope of ever having a child was gone (as PA's Insurance doesn't cover any infertility treatment) would give us this Miracle, Addison.  I look back to our time in NY and the infertility treatments, when the Dr's promised us, bc of our age we were great candidates and would definitely get pregnant and didn't.  To moving to PA and having to give up trying with treatments, bc our insurance didn't cover infertility treatments,  to Today and looking at our Miracle, a miracle given by God in his timing, not ours!!!  Addison was given to us totally naturally, no treatments, out of the blue...... There are no words to describe how truly blessed we feel and how Thankful we are.  We are living proof, that Miracles can happen.

This past Sunday, October 24,  we dedicated Addison to the Lord.  For all that God has given to us, how could we not give our child to the Lord and promise to raise her to the best of our abilities to Love and Serve him.  We were Blessed beyond words to have my Grandfather do the dedication. Twenty-nine years ago, Grandpa dedicated me and to be able to have him dedicate our daughter, there are no words how special this was to us and how I will cherish it always.  Addison, wore the dress, slip, stockings and shoes that Grandma made for me some 29 years ago (out of left over material of my Mom's wedding dress).  She also wore a beautiful gold bracelet given to her by Grandpa and Grandma, that Grandma had the pleasure of putting on her. We held a small get together with family and close friends, Saturday evening in Celebration of this time.  We really want to Thank all of you that came to Celebrate with us and for your faithful prayers for us all these years. 

On Sunday, not only did Addison get dedicated, but she turned 4 months.  Friday, Addison had her 4 month checkup and she is doing really good.  She weighed in at 12 pounds 3oz (25 percentile) and 24 and half inches long (60th percentile).  She only had to receive 2 shots this time and luckily it went a lot smoother that the last time.  She is thriving and meeting all of her developmental  milestones, from reaching to things, jabbering, laughing, being on her stomach and holding her head up. She has recently discovered her thumb and pointer finder and spends all day (or any chance she can get) sucking away on them.  I feel I spend all day trying to pull them out, as I'm petrified she will be a thumb sucker.  It is super cute to see though, the drool and spit that comes along with the sucking, yeah... not soo much!!! She fills our home with her non stop jabbers and laughter (she really has a lot to say!!!) and its amazing to see how much she is learning in such a short period of time.  She still loves her play mat (from G.Uncle Rick and A. Linda) and has finally discovered how to turn the music on herself. (Such a Big Girl) She loves anything that rattles and makes noise bringing out squeals of delight.  She has discovered herself in the mirror and truly gets a kick out of seeing herself.  We went to the Hummelstown Halloween parade the other night and we laughed so hard as she just squealed with delight when the bands would go by.  She is just miss personality and I guess I shouldn't be surprised!!  She has recently moved from sleeping in her bassinet at night, to her crib and luckily the transition has gone smoothly...lol... at least for her.  Mom here still seems to wake up and check up on her a million times.  She always took her naps in her crib, but would sleep next to me in her bassinet at night. But, due to the fact that she has been sleeping for some time now through the night, it only seemed right to have her move to her Big girl bed.  I can say it is nice to not have to tip-toe around anymore when we are getting ready for bed.  All in all she is just thriving and we are enjoying each and every moment.

                                                         1st night in her big girl bed

During this busy time we also got to experience our first Halloween, not to worry, she didnt get any candy!!  However, she did get a super cute costume and was paraded all over town (ie: out to eat, to work and friends house)  I must admit, she is the cutest bunny I have ever seen!

Another big thing we did was get her ears pierced.  I do have to admit she looks super cute with them, but the process in getting them done, did not go as smoothly as I was hoping!!!  I had been wanting to get them pierced for some time now, but couldn't bring myself to actually go and get them done.  You have to wait until they are 3 months old and when 3 months rolled around, I was still not brave enough to go.  So finally this past weekend, we went!!!!   We arrived and I gave the big run down, of have you ever pierced INFANTS ears before? How many INFANTS have you pierced?  and so on.  We picked out super cute silver stars and sat down for the adventure.  Well lets just say it was just an adventure itself putting the dots on her ears with a pen and getting it even on both sides.  I guess that should have been the for-warning that this was not going to go to HOT!!!  Soo as the time approached to get it done, I freaked out and could feel myself shaking and Dad had to be the brave one and hold her down.  Lets just say SHE SCREAMED and CRIED... TEARS....for like FOREVER!!!!!! and then was just MAD and refused to go near Stephen for like an hour!!! I really did feel bad for Stephen.  Luckily after what seemed like forever of crying and screaming, unless I held her (but with whimpering)  She finally fell asleep and woke up about 3 hours later to have totally forgotten all about it!!  She has even done great with me having to turn them and clean them!! I think she has no idea they are even there or even remembers the ordeal!!! LOL!!! I guess that is why I wanted to get it done when she was small, so she wouldn't decide to get it done when she was older, only to get the 1st side pierced and refuse the other one!!!  Soo our little Angel has her ears pierced!!

                                                                           Before

                                                                        After

3 -4 Months

Crazy to think that our little Angel is 3 months now and in another week she will be 4 Months old!! Such a Big girl!!  She has officially fallen into a schedule (2 short naps in the morning and 1 long afternoon nap and then 1 short one again in the evening before bedtime) and has now for almost 2 months been sleeping through the night!

It was right around 3 and a half months that she finally out grew her NB clothing and NB diapers and Mom here had to let go and realize that her baby was growing and needed to move up to 0-3 month clothing.  Let me just say that yesterday, Oct 14, (16 wks) I finally put away the last of the NB clothing.  She has officially moved 100% to 0-3, 3's still being Massive on her.

We have experienced so much joy and are treasuring each and every moment that we have had with our little girl. These last 2 months Addison has discovered the bumbo chair allowing her to sit up and be real close to Mom while I get dinner ready and is now really good at holding her head up (getting lots of compliments at how strong she is from all the church ladies)  She has also discovered the playmat (given to her by her Great A. Linda & U. Rick Warken)  which she greatly enjoys and spends at least a half an hour or so every morning on.
 
She has filled our home with such laughter as she has discovered her voice and seems to chatter non stop about all that she has done that day (or so I like to think).  This past Saturday (Oct 9), Stephen and I went to the PA football game and she stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa Nelson and upon our return she was soo excited she let out squeals of delight (first time).  I cannot begin to tell you how much my heart melted to hear those squeals.  She is soo alert now and can follow us so clearly when we enter a room/leave a room ect.  She loves bright lights/fans ect  and we have even watched the last 20mins of Seaseme street (Elmo World) the other night and she loved it. She loves to try to stand, (standing, with help, more than sitting) making me wonder if she will try to skip the crawling stage. She has attached herself to this little bear-blanket that we got from Ray and Harriett Adams (I call him Bear-Bear) and she loves him, snuggling up to him and at times I find her practically talking to him in her baby chatter - cutest thing ever and now we don't go anywhere without Bear-Bear!!   Its crazy how much she has grown in just a few short months.  

All in all we are just so truly blessed.   Going back to work has gotten easier and we could not be thankful enough for Jen our day care girl who helped make the transition a lot easier.  Jen has been fantastic with Addison!  keeping her right on my schedule. Addison has taken to Jen just perfectly ( I can say there have been a few times of fear that Addison will like Jen more than me) but when I walk in the daycare door and go and wake up my Angel from her nap and see her instant smile as she sees me, all those fears melt away and I am reminded of Gods goodness in our lives and am Thankful for him giving Jen to us.

Addison will have her 4 month checkup here in another week and I am very interested to see what her weight will be, (not to interested in the shots that will follow that visit). I will keep you all posted on her weight and how the visit goes.

2 Months

 Due to this being Posts about Addison I decided to upload an earlier post.

Addison is 10 weeks today and had her 2 month checkup yesterday.  She now weighs in at 9 pounds even, our little peanut is getting soo big!! even though she is still in New Born clothes and diapers!!  She had her first shots yesterday 3 shots and 1 oral vaccine.  Poor thing by the last shot, tears were streaming down her face!!  Mom here was strong, I even held her when they administered the shots and luckily didn't cry along with he!!r  Soo far though no low fever and she seems to be right back on schedule!!

She is officially for the most part sleeping through the night, which I am very happy about.  Morning is all about cat naps swinging in her swing, hanging out in her chair, being held (while I sing to her and we do the hand motions to deep and wide, head and shoulders, knees and toes and the hockey pockey song, walks around the block (if its early enough, its been a VERY HOT summer) or going along with me as I run my errands.  OH and of course bath time is always in the morning!!  Her afternoons are faithfully spent napping in her crib and evenings are spent in her swing, cat napping and of course being held and loved before she goes down around 9.  She truly is a blessing from above and every day I am reminded of Gods goodness in our lives! 

I go back to work in another week (Sept 13)  and Addison will join an in home day care where she will have 3 other children(ages 2-3) and one 9 month old to hang out with.  I can honestly admit that its going to be really hard to go back.  As much as I love my job, leaving her is going to be very hard and not something I am really looking forward to!! 

She is filling our home with lots of smiles and coos, which is the most wonderful thing I could ever experience.  She is super alert always having to check out whats going on around her and she can hold her head up pretty well now for longer periods of time.  She just recently discovered her fist/fingers and is forever trying to shove her fist in her mouth... super cute!

Deciding to Blog

I decided to blog to be able to journal about our Little Miracle Addison and be able to share with my family updates rather than emailing or giving just a few simple lines of updates on FB.  I hope that they (you) will enjoy this journal.  More posts to follow soon,  just trying to figure this all out!