Update

I know.. I know... I haven't posted for a week or so but I have a good excuse. The whole Paxson house has been sick; colds, sneezing, coughing, and sniffling. We are finally now just getting over it.

There have been many new things that have happened since I posted last. Addy is sitting up on her own. She is such a big girl. She has had some play dates with some new friends and really enjoyed it. She loves sitting up and holding on to things and grabbing for anything that is near.

Another new thing is that she now has 2 new teeth!! They have really hurt her (I am assuming) as they have come in. They are so cute. They are the lower front 2 teeth. We have had some sleepless nights but Addy and I enjoyed some wonderful cuddle time. I really can't believe she is already 6 months old; time flies.

Ben is still as busy as ever at work. He usually works 6 days a week which is kind of a bummer. But, he is the #1 Banker in the district at US Bank after only being there 6 months. Ben also has been enjoying a couple nights a week of basketball leagues. Addy and I sometimes go to watch which is a blast.

I am working from home about 20-25 hours a week for the clinic which I enjoy. However, sometimes its very hard to squeeze that time in with a little one. I am so blessed that I can stay home everyday with Addy though. Such a blessing my boss has allowed me to do this!

Well, now that my favorite season has come I am looking forward to sweatshirts, leaves falling and changing colors, Thanksgiving, Halloween (Addy is dressing up), Christmas. This is probably my favorite few months of the year.

Many blessings to everyone! Have a great FALL!

Addy's First Vikings Game

Happy Birthday My Sweet!

Well today is Ben's 29th Birthday. I am proud to say he is older than me and yes maybe even a little wiser. This year I wanted to make his birthday extra special because last year it wasn't so fun due to me being really sick from my pregnancy, my crazy hormones, he was doing EVERYTHING in the house plus he had a career change.

So this year I wanted to make it a great celebration. Saturday we will be going to the Gopher Football game vs USC at the new stadium with Ben's good friends Jon and Matt. On Sunday I made reservations to eat at the Rock Bottem Brewery (no we are not going for the alcohol, wanted to try something new) and I bought tickets to see Wicked at the Orpheum; its something Ben has really wanted to see. After, we get home from that we are celebrating with the Ginn side of the family at our house for a grill out and football.

And to top the week of celebration off; Ben's parents, sister, bro-in-law and sweet niece are at the National Quartet Convention and we will be celebrating with them next weekend by going to Osaka! We are super excited about that as it is a really fun experience.

In honor of my wonderful hubby's birthday I just wanted to list 29 things I love about him. If I listed them all I would probably have to post about 2 million blogs. :)

1. Wonderful, godly man
2. Great Husband
3. Superb Father/daddy
4. Helpful
5. Honest
6. Loyal
7. Protector (one of my favorites)
8. Best Friend
9. Wonderful son
10. Terrific brother
11. Supporter
12. Great Banker
13. Hard worker
14. Always puts family first
15. Strives to be the best at everything he does
16. Works hard so I am able to be a stay at home mommy
17. Love his wonderful bear hugs especially when I am feeling down
18. Is a great cook--always comes up with something new and tasty
19. Always can make me laugh
20. Cares so much about others
21. Excellent basketball coach
22. Always willing to try something new
23. Great kisser (close your eyes on this one) haha
24. Respectful
25. Best basketball player around (77 with the bod--inside joke)
26. Kind
27. Super Smart
28. Enjoys to discuss a variety of topics/good debater
29. He loves his family so much and WE love him back

I love you my wonderful husband!!!! You are the best guy around. Addy loves her daddy too!!! Have a great birthday!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Addy Paddy!

Well today is Addy's half birthday. I can't believe she is already 6 months old. Yesterday we had her 6 month check up. She was 18 pounds and 25.25 inches long. The doctor said she looked great and was very healthy. We saw a new doctor and I really liked him a lot. Addy got her 6 months shots and also got the flu shot which was recommended by the doctor.

Addy has had many new accomplishments this month. She can roll over both ways and she even sleeps on her tummy now. She has been sleeping from 9pm-7am almost every night. She just recently got her first toothy which hasn't been very fun for her. I can see now that she has been in a lot of pain. However, the tooth is so cute. Our little peanut has been eating solids now for a couple months too. Addy also can move objects back and forth between her hands. Addy knows her name really well when we call it; even reaches up to mommy and daddy to pick her up.

Little Addy Rose has been such a huge blessing in our lives for the past 6 months. I wouldn't change one second of our time with her for the world. It has been a blessing that I am able to be home with her. God has really blessed Ben and I to be able to allow me to stay home with her each day. We have been so blessed in our lives to have such wonderful family and I cherish each moment with each one of my family members.

Tonight we will be celebrating Addy's 1/2 Birthday at Paddy Wagon's Irish Pub. Since Addy was born on St. Patrick's Day we are taking her there plus we call her Addy Paddy. We are going to go there with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Dana. Ben's parents really wanted to attend also but they are out of town working hard with Katie's southern gospel group at the National Quartet Convention.

So enjoy some of these new photos. DADDY AND MOMMY LOVE YOU ADDY PADDY!! Happy 1/2 Birthday! (As a side note I use to celebrate my half birthday every year and to this day my parents either take me out or call me for my 1/2 birthday!!)

Addy's First Trip to the Park

Addy got to enjoy her first trip to the park on September 12th with mommy and daddy. Enjoy all the pictures, they are much better than words. She even made some friends (some cute little girls came and asked if they could touch her..it was adorable)

Daddy, Addy and Mount Coonrapjaro

Mount Coonrapjaro

See Ben prepare to climb the mountain

See Addy and Daddy Begin their adventure

See daddy climbing with all of his might

Daddy and Addy are almost there

They Accomplished the Great Mount Coonrapjaro

All in a days work for the 2 Great Climbers

Thankful

I will never forget 9 years ago today driving to college and listening to KDWB morning show and hearing about the plane that struck the first tower. I thought KDWB was playing a sick joke so I immediately turned the station to KTIS (Christian radio) and that is when I heard the second plane crashed into the Twin Towers. My heart was breaking for those families and for our country. I wanted so badly to be near my family.

This day was a great tragedy to our country. So many thoughts flooded my mind about this date; hate, sorrow, rejoicing, horror, forigiveness and so much more. Initially I had so much hatred for the people that did this to our country and couldn't understand why people would sacrafice innocent lives to glorify their religion. It was so wrong of them.

I also felt so much sorrow for those families that wouldn't have their mommy or daddy coming home that night. It brought me to tears thinking of what if it was one of my loved ones. This day was one of the saddest days I had observed in our country. How could these people willingly do this?

As a follower of Christ I had to take a step back from my emotion of hatred and think how would Jesus react to this. I think he would forgive these people and through this horrible day he would find a way to rejoice and bring glory to HIS name. As the days passed after 9/11 so many stories came out about all the heroes of that day. Some were business people, some were fire fighters, police, and so forth. Some of these people laid down their lives for our country and for that I am thankful.

One of the stories I really wanted to share was of Tom Burnett whom was originally from Minnesota. He was one of many people that were heroes that day. See his story below which is from the Tom Burnett Family Foundation website.

"On September 11, 2001, Thomas E. Burnett Jr. became an American hero. On the same morning of the terror attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the plane on which Burnett was a passenger was hijacked. He called his wife Deena from the plan several times, telling her, “We have to do something. I’m putting a plan together.” Later he said, “We’re waiting until we get over a rural area. We’re going to take back the airplane.”

Tom and a handful of fellow passengers accosted the hijackers, causing United Flight 93 to crash into a Pennsylvania field, rather than into another American landmark. All on board were killed, but no one on land perished. Tom died a hero and will be remembered the way he lived his life each day – with character, faith, courage, leadership, spirit, and integrity."

So today as I sit here with a heavy heart, I remember all of these people that were hereos or lost their loved ones or the soliders that are still fighting for us now; I am thankful for each one of them.

Yes, this was a horribly sad day in American History but Christ brought us through this day and he used heroes like Tom Burnett to be one of the many people that tried to do something to save lives that day. I am so thankful that Jesus protects us and helps us through these trials.

We will ALWAYS remember. 9/11/2001

We're Gonna Win Twins, We're Gonna Score

This week Addy got to expereince her first Twins game. We went on Labor Day with Grandpa Ron, Grandma Dana, Scott, Amanda, Ainsley, Thaddeus, Ben, Addy and I. It was so great! When we sat down a man from the Joe Mauer Fan club came over to ask if it was anyone's first Twins game. Of course it was for Addy. He proceeded to give us a bunch of free stuff and gave us a first baseball mit and ball. In the pictures below you will be able to see the ball and mit. He also told us it would be on a Twins website after the game. So..enjoy the pictures and the awesome article about Addy. GO TWINS!

Simon #11 Monday September 6 vs. Kansas City
First game kid; Addison 6 months from Coon Rapids, MN in section 316 with her mom; Katie, dad; Ben, aunt; Amanda, uncle; Scott, cousins Ainsley and Thaddeus, grandma; Dana & grandpa; Ron.
The Twins 81 and 57 beat the Royals 57 and 80 today by a score of 5 to 4 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
For Minnesota: 5 runs, 9 hits, 1 error.
For Kansas City: 4 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors.
The winning pitcher was Jeff Manship who is 2 and 0.
The losing pitcher was Sean O'Sullivan who who is 2 and 5.
Matt Capps picked up his 36th save.
The Royals got out to an early lead, but after the Twins tied the game, Jason Kubel and Jim Thome blasted homers, with Thome's going an estimated 480 feet, to put Minnesota ahead, and the 'pen held off Kansas City.
The game was played in 2 hours and 48 minutes in front of a crowd of 40,228.

FOOD

Over the past couple months now we have started Addison on solids. We started her out with rice and oatmeal cereals but neither of them really sat well with her stomach so we moved on to better things. Such as licorice, strawberries and chocolate. I'm just kidding of course.

We started veggies next and she is just loving them. Sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peas and green beans have been the meals. She did not like squash at all but she sure has loved peas (which I really dislike) and carrots. She also really loves the spoon. She opens her mouth like a pro! This next week we are going to try some fruits! However, we are going to do something new.

My sister in law Amanda has always made her own baby food from food her and Scott would normally eat for dinner. By doing this you save money and only have to make dinner once. So I am going to try it out. We got a food processor for a baby shower present and I am going to start blending away. I bought some bananas and a bunch of veggies from the Farmer's Market. I am really excited to try out my own way of making baby food.

Another great idea I got from Kristin (a friend from high school) is to prepare all the food ahead of time and freeze the veggies/fruit in ice cube trays for later. Super creative I thought. I also bought a book online called Super Baby Food that shows you a bunch of different ways to feed your baby solids. I am very excited to read and start the new baby food adventure. Wish us luck!!