Monday, Jan 26th

As the ice builds up on our driveway, and the heat STILL out in our house, we take a moment to look at the brighter things in life.

Friday, January 23

We got to go to Kansas City last weekend to see my good friend Meredith and her family.  Hard to believe we've known each other for 10 years!  Her son Deacon & Addison are birthday buddies- they share the same bday, a year apart.  It's hard to tell, but he's actually giving Addison a hug in this picture (while being very sure to keep his ball outside of her reach).


She is an incredible photographer in KC, and she did us the honor of taking our pictures while we were there.  She has such a way of capturing personalities on film.  I've posted some of them for you to see.

We are battling RSV at our house these days.  Addison started coughing Wednesday, and then Thursday did me the favor of taking her wet hand out of her mouth and sticking it in mine before I had time to react.  Please pray that she gets over this without any complications.  We know so many kids with Downs who end up in the hospital because of it! 

Sunday, Jan 11

Being a little more mobile, Addison has gotten herself into a few predicaments lately.  I guess the nice thing to do would be to go to her immediately and help her out of it.  Instead, we like to laugh and take pictures first.

So we’ve been trying to sign with Addison off and on since about 6 months old.  We’d show her signs diligently for a while, and she’d just look at us like we’re crazy, or laugh at us.  They say she’s ready to sign when she waves bye-bye, which she’s been doing since the summer.  So, we’re on again for now, and the last couple of nights I’ve been showing her the sign for bath during bathtime, and tonight, SHE DID IT!  I couldn’t believe it.  I must have said the word “bath” a hundred times after that, and she loved showing me the sign.  

Monday, January 5

We’ve got teeth! Well, tooth. Addison finally got her first tooth last week. And, you know, it’s funny. One tooth doesn’t do much for you. But it sure is cute! And we’re on our way now. Just a couple more, and she’ll be scarfing down ribs and steaks with the best of them.

Addison got to spend last week with Grans and Granddaddy while her parents spent the week in Mexico! It was a much needed break for us, and, although a little less restful, still lots of fun for them. They taught her all kinds of new tricks and managed not to spoil her too badly. We could not be more appreciative.

And then, yesterday when we got home, Addison crawled for the first time! She’s been doing the belly crawl for a while, but this was a real hands-and-knees crawl. She did it three times before we got the video camera out, and then… nothing. We tried for the next half hour to get her to crawl (someone should have been videoing that!) That's okay, we'll get it one of these days when she's least expecting it.

Saturday, December 27

Addison enjoyed her second Christmas much more than her first. It's funny to think that at this time last year her schedule was: sleep, eat, poop, repeat. This year she thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas tree, the lights, the wrapping paper and playing with her cousins.

Matt and Ethan had fun with Addison in Abilene.

Owen and Grant with Addison in Waco.

We are so excited Addison has such great cousins to play with and look up to!

One Year Old!!

Wow! It's hard to believe, but Addison is one year old! What an incredible year it's been! We've learned so much about ourselves, our families, friends, and, of course, Addison. She had a blast on Saturday opening presents and squishing cake between her fingers and in her hair. However, she also had her first sinus infection, so I don't know that she could even taste it. Is there some kind of rule out there that kids have to be sick on their first birthdays? In true Addison form, she had fun in spite of it.

It's amazing to look at how much she's grown over the year. The pictures above are her 12 month and 1 month pictures with the bear.

We are excited to see how Addison grows over the next year. There will be plenty of interesting and fun moments. Hopefully, we will be able to capture most of them on film to share with you. Here's a taste of what's to come...

Monday, Dec 8

This year is clearly a year of firsts for Addison. Thanksgiving was wonderful. She didn't get any turkey, well none that we had anyways. Hers was from a jar. She had a great time hanging out with her cousins and the rest of the family.

Swimming lessons are going well, although Addison is not really learning to swim. I highly doubt she would be able to save her own life if she fell in a pool, but we're having a blast going to the lessons. She's about to graduate from the diaper dolphins to the flippers class, which begs the question, "How does one graduate if one learns nothing?" That's the great American education system, I guess.

On Saturday, we went out into the wilderness and found a great tree and Rach cut it down with her bare hands. Or, we went to 41st and Harvard and bought one from Isaiah who hooked us up with a $25 tree stand too. Either way, Addison loved the experience of getting her first Christmas tree and we all had a great time.

An almost new development is that Addison is almost crawling. We can see the desire to crawl in her eyes, but she gets up on her knees and then plopps right back to her tummy. Sometimes she sort of makes an army crawl looking motion. It takes her a while but she gets to her destination eventually.