7 month picture attempt

*The picture attempts began here with Addison falling sideways.

* We then progressed to her grabbing the paper but sitting up.

* This is the look she gave Josh when he tried to take the paper away.

* This is the last attempt when we gave up on having her sit and smile without attacking the sign. Oh well, I can just tell you she is 7 months old. 

-Addie is eating all kinds of foods now and loving it. Connie has been having a bit of trouble getting her to take her bottle during the day but she still nurses just fine most of the time. 

-Her ear infection seems to have really cleared up in the last week. I'm hoping we don't have more of those but since Josh and I both had a bunch of them it's likely. I wouldn't mind putting tubes in her ears if it will save us a lot of the infection drama but we'll see where it goes.

-Just in the past few days she has started scooting around and almost crawling except that she is going backwards. I don't think it will be long until she is all over the place. Josh and I went last week to get more of the safety stuff that we need to put up. Part of me is excited for her to crawl and get more mobile, part of me is not so ready since that means life with a baby is a whole new ball game. 

-Addison frequently gets very calm and quiet. She seems ultra observant and likes to just sit and take it all in.  I think she will be curious little girl who watches everything. 

-I love seeing her smile first thing in the morning. She still wakes up usually twice a night to eat. That's ok with me. What's I'm less ok with is her waking up and 5am and not going back to sleep unless we hold her. Once Josh holds her in our bed she conks back out and will sleep until we wake her up around 7am. Any suggestions and that 5am wake up time? When we wake her up at 7am she loves to play with us while we get ready. She smiles, laughs and is so fun. It's our favorite time of day I think.

That's about it for now. A few more questions from the last week or two:

In a swing at Aunt Connie's house    and   Wearing her Future ACU Leadership Camps Camper Onesie          

Life is like...

Life is like a roller coaster. It goes up and down, makes you scream and costs a lot to ride. - Hannah Cheatem age 6

There have definitely been a lot of ups and down it seems like in the past week or so. Addie had to go back to the doctor because after a week of antibiotics her ear infection was not gone. She wasn't screaming, she just wasn't sleeping or eating well. The doctor gave her a new medication and she has been on that for a week. She seems to be doing well for the most part but still not quite 100%. I am still dealing with this ridiculous exhaustion. I think I'm honestly just adjusting to it (which I'm not sure is a good thing). It really feels like my body is just not getting any rest. To add to that, I think I'm not getting any spiritual rest and renewal either. That's a much longer story though and not one that I have the time or energy to share today.

2 weeks ago, on the same day I first found out that Addie had an ear infection, I also found out that my hours had been cut at work. It was a 10% cut. Not huge, but it's going to be tight around our house. It's kind of a long story but basically, our agency does foster care (where I am) and several types of adoptions - International, Domestic Infant, Waiting Child (adoptions from foster care), Kinship etc. International Adoptions in our agency is projected to lose about $170,000 this year. That is mostly due to the fact that countries are closing to adoptions and so applications are not coming in. We don't even work with Russia - this has been happening for a long time and there has been problems in Int'l Adoptions for a long time. The foreign countries can change laws, demand more fees and other things. 3-5 years is an average wait time to bring your child home. The application numbers and fees are down so we are losing money that way and sometimes we are ending up refunding families money. 
Anyway, instead of laying people off, the agency decided to do a 10% hours cut across the board and re-evaulate in July. The hard part for my Foster Care team is that we are more work than we know what to do with now and we are being asked to increase our workloads to bring in more families and more kids, but with less hours. So, I'm stressed out and working more than I'm actually getting paid for. I still love my job and love my team. Foster care is growing right now - we just hired a new Program Director and we are going to be able to try some great new stuff, it's just challenging at the moment. 


There have been some fun ups lately too. I got to see my Melanie. I took a rather lengthy detour to Cheyenne before playing Bunco on Tuesday (we were playing at a girl's house who lives pretty far north so I decided to take the afternoon off and keep going north to see Mel). It was great to see her. I can't believe that the next time I see her (hopefully soon) she will have a beautiful little daughter! 

Last weekend was busy with the Ladies Tea at church. I was helping put it together so that was stressful (another "down").  My friend Michelle was able to come. I worked with Michelle's son when I was at Tennyson Center and we have remained close. It was great to see her. That evening Josh and I were able to have dinner with Addie's Grandma Joan and Grandpa Thayne. This couple has been so very special to us for several years. Thayne recently stepped down as one of the elders at University so they could have more time to travel and do other things. Joan and I have a very close relationship. Their son and daughter in law lost a baby right after Josh and I did so Joan and I  formed a unique bond. We had been trying to get together for several weeks and it finally worked out. Josh tried and new steak marinade and it was delicious. I made twice baked potatoes to go with the steaks and Joan brought a great salad and dessert. Yum!

So, life is going up and down. I'm trying to enjoy the ride instead of just holding on, closing  my eyes and screaming.  

Q- Quallity Time

I am going to finish this alphabet. I keep forgetting about it. But I will finish it!

We are now up to the letter Q. There are a surprising number of words that start with Q that I thought about using: Questions, Quirky, Quiet, but I settled on Quality time.

I think that sometimes we mistake time with people for quality time. At least for me they aren't always the same thing. I know that Josh and I can be home together all day but barely talk if we are both doing separate things in separate rooms. I find this happens in my time with God. I know He is always with me but I don't stop and just be with Him nearly as often as my heart desires to. One of the things I love about summer is that I can take more walks. That is when I do my best praying - on walks by myself, there is no cell phone or tv, no chores to do etc. I need to spend more quality time with God.

I am a so thankful for the quality time I have with Josh. Lately I have found that I have to make a conscious effort to have our breakfast dates be time together instead of planning our weeks or talking about money and other mundane stuff like that.

My quality time with Jackie Beth is via text messages and phone calls. It's amazing how a few text messages can reaffirm a 10 year friendship. We talked on Saturday for about 20 minutes and it was wonderful. Time with her is wonderful.

I've been thinking more and more about how we can have quality time with grandparents as Addie gets older. I want her, and all of her subsequent siblings, to know -really know- her grandparents. I want them to have a close relationship and not just visit on holidays or birthdays.

Quality time is so important! (I'm getting more and more excited as I write this by the way)

God, thank you for creating us to be in relationship with each other. Thank you for giving us hearts that love, hope, hurt, grieve and connect. I pray that we make it a priority to relate to each other, listen to each other, pray and love in truth.

Addie's 1st Easter

We had a pretty busy weekend. On Friday we took Addison to take 6th month/Easter pictures. They were great! Then Addison and I headed up to Cheyenne to see my dear friend Melanie at her baby shower. She is having a baby girl, Julia Grace maybe any day now. Her actual due day is towards the very end of April. We had a wonderful time meeting her friends and seeing all of the gifts for Julia. I gave Melanie an ACU shirt for Julia and she absolutely loved it. Mel and I have been friends for a long time (since freshman year of college). Moving to Colorado was rough on both of us. I am so glad that Melanie first found a wonderful husband Matt, and then, after moving to Cheyenne, found a godly group of women to support and love her. Anyway, we had a great time at the shower. One of Mel's sweet friends put Addie and I up for the night so we didn't have to drive back to Denver so late. Addison was a hit and was so good even staying out late. She also loved Matt and Mel's dog Abby.

Saturday morning we woke up early and drove straight to church to go to the church Easter Egg hunt. Josh started this as a community out reach 3 years ago and it has grown every year. This year we collected, filled and hid over 2,600 eggs in the park across the street from the church. This year we had more "visitor" children than member children. The first year we did this Josh was the Easter Bunny but the past two years he was had one of the high school boys do it. Tons of fun!

Sunday morning a new friend I met at the baby shower on Friday came to church with us and one of the youth group girls was baptized - Hallelujah! That was a great start to Easter morning. Addison looked beautiful in her dress from Gigi and tried to chew on everything in her basket. She got a soft lamb, a touch and feel Peter Rabbit book and a fuzzy baby Bible book. I am amazed at how big she is getting and how much she is learning. She looked so sweet and pretty.

I'm pretty much rambling now so I should get back to work.