Newborn Shots.

So, 2 days after we came home from the hospital with Addison my sister came and got us and took us to her house for a newborn photo session. That was her gift to us at the baby shower. I thought I would share a few of the shots with you all. I am surprised that we got so many good ones because Addison was in a mood that day and would start crying as soon as my sister started shooting. It's alright though because the pictures came out great!

In Hawai'i...

In Hawai'i there is an AMAZING photographer named LeeYen. She just launched her new website so I thought I would share it with you: http://www.lobleephotography.com. Also, I am sharing it with you so I can win a 16X20 canvas of one of our engagement pics. Anyways, LeeYen and I first met when she took our engagement photos and then we went to church together when Ralph and I got married. Here are some examples of her work:Just the two of us...
You might remember this picture from our announcements...

This is the picture I'm going to use when I win the contest...lol.

1 Year Down

Ralph at the top of Multnomah Falls.
Sign that talks about the landslide that happened at Multnomah
View from the top
Ralph and Addison on the bridge at Multnomah. They are in the middle of the bridge. Ralph is wearing the dark shirt.
How Addison got around.

Happy 1st Anniversary to us! It is true. We have been married for 1 year now. CRAZY! It seems like just yesterday we even started dating. Time does fly when you are having fun. As is normal for us, nothing went as planned for our anniversary. We planned to go to Multnomah Falls just outside of Portland and we did, but as I usually do I ruined the day for us. We got there, got out of the car, and I was like, "Wow. I'm not feeling too well." However, we continued on for awhile. When we went up to Multnomah Falls, I was like, wow, I don't think I want to hike up anymore because I am REALLY not feeling well. I didn't want to ruin the day so I sent Ralph and Addison up to the bridge between the falls. When they got there, Ralph really wanted to hike the whole way up but I was feeling even worse by then so I flagged him to come down. We went back to the car and he really, really wanted to go to the top so the plan was to let me rest in the car with Addison while he climbed up. Well, that plan backfired because I began feeling even worse. I started getting horrible chills and we are sitting in the car and it is getting hotter and hotter and I have a sweatshirt on and I'm getting colder and colder. I was not dumb though. I knew that no matter how cold I was I needed to look our for Addison's well being and make sure that she stayed cool enough. So, we waited it out for 1 1/2 hours while Ralph did his hiking and then when he finally returned he saw me crying, and worried because he doesn't have his permit or license yet so I was the only driver. I thought of a lot of solutions to our problem but the only real solution was to pray and get in the car and drive home. So that is what we did. When we finally got to Monmouth, I just stumbled out of the car and walked inside, grabbed the thermometer and saw that my temp was a whopping 101.6! So, I took some medicine, put on my pjs and climbed into bed. After waking up I was sweating so badly. We then decided at that point that a blessing was in order so we called around until we could find someone else to assist Ralph in that. I got a blessing and then went back to bed. Around midnight, I woke up and was shivering again so badly that I couldn't even get up to get medicine. So, like a good husband, Ralph rolled out of bed and grabbed it with some water. Also, around that time, Addison woke up crying because she was hungry. Well I was shivering so hard that even the tiniest bit of air on my skin made my shivers worse so my mom thankfully took Addison and gave her a bottle. I am so grateful that she took it. She was a champ through all of it. So, that is how we have been spending our anniversary. In sickness and in health, in good times and bad, we will be together!

Title...

So I figured an update to the blog was in order since I have a few minutes today. Unfortunately, I have no pictures because I am unable to find my camera!! To be quite honest I haven't really even taken the time to look for it because I have been too busy.

Addison is doing great! She is smiling and cooing up a storm now. She will be 6 weeks on Thursday. It seems like Addison is right on track as far as development goes. I would say that she is growing in leaps and bounds but according to my mom, every mom thinks that and what she is doing is normal for the stage she is in. What a party pooper my mom is. The funny thing is that if Addison had her way, she would be walking and talking right this minute. She loves to have any kind of attention that she can get. She will coo and smile and blow bubbles at you to her heart's content. It is SO adorable. Also, Addison has rediscovered her baby swing. She loves it. I feel kind of like a bad mother sometimes because it is so convenient to just put her in her swing and get stuff done. I feel like I'm not paying enough attention to her. I know she is getting enough attention though because she is eating 10+ times a day so I make sure to give her extra love and attention during those times. She is down to taking just 2 to 3 bottles a day unless we are out somewhere. That is GREAT news.

As for me, I am back on the job hunting train. I have applied for a TON of jobs and I am hoping to find a job from one of them. We shall see. Also, I am feverishly working on my online class. It has become top priority now that Ralph is home from school. I am able to focus on it now because he is available to take care of the baby. It is nice to get a small break from being a mommy all the time and it has really given Ralph more confidence in his skills as a Daddy. I must confess too that it has given me more confidence in his skills as a Daddy too. Sad, I know.

As for Ralph he is keeping busy as best he can. He just finished spring term at Chemeketa Community College and is off for the summer. He is just waiting until he gets his work permit and/or his residency so he can get a job also. His number one priority is Addison right now, as I have said, but he is also keeping busy with the gardening around our house. He will spend hours working outside (even if it's pouring rain) just working away. We should have some good veggies this fall. Too bad I won't eat any of it...lol. I am not a big veggie fan.

On another note, this Saturday is our 1 year anniversary! I am very excited to get this mark behind us. They always say the first year is the roughest and I believe it! We have plans to go to Multnomah Falls if the weather is decent and to explore up in that area. Of course we will have our party crasher, Addison, with us but that is alright. We will be building memories. Anyways, more about that later.

That's it for now. HOPEFULLY I can find my camera soon. I especially need to find it before Saturday...

Tragedy in the Backseat

I did not come up with this title on my own. It is actually from a story that I read in Parenting Magazine. It is a story about parents who leave their children in the backseats of their cars and the child overheats and dies. The story was quite touching to me. First, some quick statistics:

• Children heat up 3 to 5 times faster than adults.
• A child can overheat and die in as little as 15 minutes if left inside a car.
• It does not have to be an extremely hot day for the child to overheat. A child who is over dressed can overheat on any kind of day.

It is so important to know that leaving a child in a car can happen to anyone. A change in a routine can have parents forgetting their child. Our brains are wired to keep to a set routine and they make sure that we do. It is extremely easy for our brains to override a change in our routine and fabricate a story that we have dropped the kids off at daycare or something like that. There is a lot more to this but I will keep it short. All I want to do is to please ask you to be ever vigilant of your children. I myself am guilty of leaving Addison in her carseat in the car with Ralph while I run into a store and get stuff. I have noticed that when I get home from such trips, Addison is usually soaked in sweat. Because of this article, I am realizing that she is over heating and should not be left in the car. Even cracking the windows don't help. So please, PLEASE be vigilant. For more information on this you can visit the website kidsandcars.org.

More Pictures

This is Addison just chilling at my sister's house.
This is how Addison sleeps. I don't know how you could get any sleeping done like this but she refuses to sleep any other way.
In our house bath time is Daddy time. I can honestly say that I have given Addison exactly 1 bath and she screamed the whole time. So, I have officially given the job to Ralph as she is happy as can be when Daddy is washing her. It is nice too because it gives them time together and gives me a few minutes of me time.
So I was changing Addison out of her pjs and into her clothes when the dryer stopped. I went to grab the laundry and set it down next to Addison. I left the room quickly to grab her outfit and came back and I found her asleep in a pile of warm laundry...now I know the secret on how to get her to sleep!

What a month!

What a month it has been! It seems like it has been two years that have gone by but it also feels like just two minutes that have gone by! I can't believe it has already been so long since my last blog post. It seems as if there are never enough minutes in the day. We have done so much. For starters, Addison and I have been going to the doctor on what seems a constant basis since she has been born. We go there so much that the nurses and the doctor all know us by name and don't even need her chart to know who we are! Between weight checks, lactation appointments and regular doctor visits we seem to be there at least once a week. At the begining we were there every other day! Addison had her 2 week check-up on May 20th. This is where she was:
Height: 20 3/4" 70%
Weight: 8lbs 12.2OZ 65%
Head Circumference: 36.9cm 70%

Since then, her weight has increased drastically. At her last appointment she weighed 9lbs 13oz. I can say that she is definitely a healthy baby. Also, she has been diagnosed with acid reflux. We are monitoring her and give her antacid medicine 2 times a day. She seems to be improving a lot. I can definitely say there has been less screaming since we started the medicine.

For Memorial Day, my mom, my sister, Addison, and I went to the coast here in Oregon. It was baby's first beach trip. It is always kind of cold on the coast so we had her nice and bundled up. The purple bonnet she is wearing is one that my sister I wore as babies. Her head barely fit in it because it is so large! She wasn't very amused with the coast and slept the whole time (unless she was eating). That's alright. She will have many, many more trips to the ocean. Here are a couple of pictures:

Mommy and baby! How cute.

Addison napping on the beach.

Addison also had the opportunity of meeting her Grandpa this last weekend. My dad and his wife, Marti came from Colorado to visit for a couple of days and to see Addison. They came with a big bag of beautiful dresses for church. I can't wait to put them on her! They are absolutely adorable. We spent a day on the coast and then we spent a day at Silver Creek Falls State Park and both nights were spent with my sister and her husband. It was a jam packed couple of days and Ralph was stressed because he had finals yesterday and wasn't getting his proper studying time for them but he seemed to do alright.

This is a picture of my dad and Addison's first meeting. When we showed up to their hotel Addison was kind of fussy because she needed to be changed and fed but once I fixed that she was happy as could be.

This is a picture of us at Silver Creek Falls State Park. Marti is on the left, my dad (Jim) is in the middle and of course I am on the right. I have more pictures to post but it's not letting me so I will post them in another post.