New York, New York

Mindy & Peyton and Addison & I headed to New York last Sunday to visit my parents one last time before they move back to Houston. Both the kids did amazingly well on the plane trips. We had lots of fun!!

Play Day With Peyton

GG's Visit

Addison's GG came to visit her for the first time and was also able to be here for Peyton's 1st birthday. We were so happy that GG was able to come. Addison sure loves her GG (and so do Scott and I).

Addison also loves the quilt that GG made for her. Thank you GG.

Here's one more pic of the princess. She is starting to love sitting up and she loves her Bumbo seat.

It's Official!!

We travelled to Kansas City this last weekend to attend the adoption finalization court hearing on Monday morning. Not that we haven't felt like Addison's parents since the beginning, but now we are officially her parents.

Here are a few pics of the day:

Addison has changed so much this last week. She has really started to talk and coo. She had a good talk session with her MiMi (Scott's mom) this last weekend.

Here is a picture of her sitting up.

2 Month Checkup

Addison went to the doctor today for her 2 month checkup. (It was scheduled for last Friday but her doctor had jury duty so it got moved.) My little girl is getting too big. She weighs 10 pounds 15 ounces (50%) and is 23 inches long (75%). She also had her shots today. She cried some, but once I was able to pick her up she calmed down, so she did really good.

Here's a new pic of her playing with her star.



Here's a pic of her cuddling with her blankie.

Pictures

There isn't really much to report on Addison so I thought I would just post some new pictures of her.

Addison loves her Papa and Grammy.





I am just loving all her smiles now.



She is looking less and less like this every day:



She goes to the doctor Friday for her 2 month checkup and shots. I am not looking forward to the shots, but I can't wait to find out how much she has grown.

Smiling

Addison has started smiling some off and on in response to our voices and smiles. We finally were able to capture a smile on camera.

She is still doing really well. Around the 3 week mark she became a very fussy baby, but I think we are on the downward end of that and she seems to be less and less fussy every day. She is starting to have more alert "happy" times. She is sleeping really well. At bedtime, she gets her bottle and then sleeps for about 5 hours, then another bottle and sleeps another 4 hours, so we cannot complain about lack of sleep.

We love seeing all the changes she is making every day.

Pictures

We had a friend come and take some family pictures and 4 wk photos of Addison. They turned out really good. She took over 200 pictures and then did some editing to them, so we have many, many new pics of Addison. Here are a few of them:

And this is just a sampling. There are so many good ones, I had a hard time choosing just a few to show.

One Month Old

I cannot believe it has already been one month. It has gone so fast. Addison has changed so much. Today at her doctor's appointment she weighed 9 pounds 2 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long.

Here are some new pics:

Enjoying Parenthood

We are home and adjusting to life with a newborn. Although, it really is an easy adjustment. Addison is really a good baby and we are so in love with her. She sleeps well, eats well and is very good sitting in her carseat so I can run errands or go shopping. We are really lucky to have gotten such a good tempered baby. Not to mention that we think she is the cutest baby around.

She is starting to have more wakeful periods through the day and likes to law on her playmat and watch her star with plays music and lights up. She also doesn't mind her "tummy time." It is amazing to watch her change literally overnight.

Here are some new pics of her:

Scott is also trying to adjust to going back to work. He started back last Monday, but it has been difficult with the nighttime feedings (he wants to help out with these). I found him like this the other day.

Coming Home!

Giddyup! We got the call this afternoon around 2:00 that we get to go home!
Right now the plan is to rest up this evening, get up early, and try to get home before it gets too terribly hot.

Mommy, Addy, and Grammy are already working on the resting up.

Off to the City

Today we took a trip to the big city. In this case, that big city is Wichita. Addy got to enjoy a couple of new experiences: a somewhat long car ride (45 minutes each way), a walk around the mall, and a trip to pizza hut.

Here we are in the mall

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...at pizza hut. no, addy had no parmesan cheese (what her daddy really loves)

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this is just a picture i really liked from this morning. addy looks so much like a 'real' person sleeping on her arms

First Doctor Visit

Addison went for her first doctor visit this morning.

Before we took off, we did a little bit of relaxing in the sun. Addy was totally relaxed and cool as a cucumber. Grammy took lots of shots, and this is one of my favorites.

so...how many people does it take to keep a baby's thermometer in her arm pit? the answer, it seems, is 3. we ended up having to take a second try, but she checked out ok.
The doctor did some checking of the eyes, ears, etc... Addy is still a little jaundiced, but the sun time should help that, and the jaundice usually peaks around day 5 or so anyway (which is about where we are).
This was another picture from earlier in the morning--one of Grammy's close ups.
After we got back to the hotel, someone had a snack that appears to have resulted in a full belly. Didn't stop her from having another snack an hour and a half later. I think there's a reason that Addy is already almost back up to her birth weight (she's now 7.10...only one more ounce to go).
Mom and Dad couldn't be happier.

New Visitors

Over this weekend we've had a good troup of visitors.


Gary (Papa) and Mindy, Dwayne, and Peyton arrived on Thursday. This allowed Terri to stay in a separate room for a night or two, allowing us to have some alone time with Addison. Peyton is helping Addy learn what it means to be a baby as well as giving us hope that life w/ a new one is more than eat/sleep/poop (though we're definitely having fun just watching Addison as she makes it through her first few weeks of life).

Uncle Cyril and Aunt Teri dropped by on Saturday morning and spent a lot of time holding Addison (and playing with Peyton).

Saturday afternoon arrived with Mimi, Steve, Jennifer, Haley, Hannah, and Paige about the same time Cyril and Teri made there way back to the normal world.

Altogether, life is going pretty good. Mom and Dad aren't getting quite enough sleep, but when Gary, Mindy, Dwayne, Peyton, Mimi, Steve, Jennifer, Haley, Hannah, and Paige all left this morning, Grammy (Terri) stayed on with us to give us a break or two from time to time.

We still can't wait for our ICPC to go through and to get home, but wherever we happen to be we're enjoying our new one.

Addison Elisabeth

A lot of you who read our blog may already know the wonderful news, but we adopted our baby girl this week. Addison Elisabeth was born on August 8, 2007.

She was born at 8:34 PM and weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces @ 20.5 inches tall (long?).

Thank you all for all your prayers and thoughts over the last months. Your support as we've gone through various ways of having our first baby has meant the world to us, and we hope that you will continue to keep is in your prayers as we raise our new baby.

Here are some more photos.