Thankful

T-Thankful for my wonderful family.

H-Having so much fun being a mommy.

A-Adore my husband and daughter dearly.

N-New experiences daily bring joy to my heart.

K-Keep trusting in our heavenly father as we raise our daughter.

F--Full of laughter; each day brings smiles to our face.

U--Unending joy as we grow as a family of three each day

L--Love my husband more and more each day.

Copy Cat Diva

I can't believe how much Addy has changed it just 8 short months. I hardly remember the days of her crying all night and getting only 2 hours of sleep. Now she sleeps through the night.

After going on our trip to Michigan to visit Grandpa and Grandma Paxson, Addy has picked up a few interesting habits. Grandma Paxson taught Addy to giggle when prompted by her giggle. It was the most funny thing I have ever seen. Addy now loves to giggle like crazy.

It didn't just stop there. She now has started to copy sounds that both Ben and I make. Sometimes she even copies movements. Growing up and even now, it drove me nuts when people would copy me. Just ask my husband or brother. Now, I love it! I love watching and hearing my daughter copy me. She is just so intelligent. I love it!

Another new habit she has acquired is being a little bit of a diva. It occured one night while giving her a bath. She was playing with her pink rubber ducky and I took it away and she screamed at me...it was hilarious but I was starting to see her personality come out. As days have gone by she does this with a lot of things now. Ben and I really get a kick out of it but soon I am sure it won't be as funny and we will have to discipline. Oh how I dread that day.

Anyhow...just wanted to share some cute tidbits of our little girl!

The Protector

One of my favorite attributes of Ben when we started to date was that he always protected me. I am sure some of that was because he was 6'5". If you know me well, I hate being alone. But when Ben is at home or near me, I don't have a care in the world because he always is there right beside me. I don't feel like I ever have to worry that someone will physically harm me.

Now, that we have a child I have come to learn what it feels like to protect. Protect Addy from the bad things in the world, aches, pains, and so forth. Unfortunately, we can't always protect our children from everything. There are going to be times where mommy and daddy cannot control what happens to our children. It scares me to think of that but that is why we have to put trust somewhere else.

Ben and I have learned already in these short 8 months that we have to give up control and put our trust in God. There are things that are going to happen to Addy that we don't have control over but our Heavenly Father can intercede. Just like I put trust in Ben to protect me, we have to put trust in God that he will protect Addy and us.

Some verses that come to mind:
The Lord will keep you from all harm--he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore." Psalm 121:7, 8

" When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze." Isaiah 43:1,2

"But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm" Proverbs 1:33

As parents we have to put all our faith into our creator that he will take care of our children no matter what. Yes, we can prevent some things but the only omnipotent Jesus Christ can really stand in harms way.
I encourage you to rest in HIS care.

" Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matt. 11:28

Brief Update

Well, I haven't had a lot of time to focus on blogging recently but I have a few updates. I have been working a lot from home with the clinic, about 25-30 hours a week which has occupied a lot of my time. Oh yeah, and I have a little 7 month old cutie to take care of too!

We have new windows in our house and they look great. They just finished them today. The original windows were 48 years old and really needed to be replaced. My mom and I are going shopping for curtains Saturday for some of the windows.

Tomorrow I am really excited to go shopping with my sis, Katie and her good friend from church Amy. We are going to Medford which I haven't been before. That will be so much fun to hang with those wonderful ladies.

Halloween is Sunday and Addy is dressing up and we are going to visit the grandparents for a little trick or treat fun. Of course, we will be watching the Vikings game too along with having some of my mom's homemade nummy pizza. Ben's mom is also coming to eat with us but unfortunately Dad Paxson is out of town.

However, next week we are going to Michigan to visit Ben's dad. Ben, Addy, Cathie (Ben's mom) and I are going to drive up there and spend some time with him and see where he works. I have been looking forward to this getaway for months now!!!

Well Thanksgiving is coming up and we have lots going on each weekend until then. We are actually going to do some Thanksgiving celebrations with both the Paxson and Ginn side prior to Thanksgiving Day due to some of them having to be out of town. I will be also going to Buffalo Nickel which is my mom-in-laws antique store; we are going to do that the morning of our Thanksgiving celebration for the Paxson side.

Im excited this year also to go cut a real tree with my dad like I do every year with him. This year I am going to bring Addy. Its always a fun time of hunting around for the right tree and then we get some wonderful peanuts and candy canes on the way out!

I love traditions. So excited for this time of year and to start new ones with our little Addy Paddy :)

Renaissance Festival

Ben and I went to the festival back in August for the very first time. We had a blast. There was so much to see and we went on the Dog Show weekend which was great. Just wanted to share some photos from that experience. It was neat to see all the dogs and rescue groups to help with dogs. Dogs are a big passion of mine.

Next year we will probably bring Addy as they have a lot of stuff for children to do there.Enjoy the photos! Ben happened to take a lot of me.

First's for Addy

Time has flown so fast with our little girl. She is already 7 months old. The past few months have been such a blast as she is doing so many new things. Since she is our first child it is all new to us, so seeing things for the first time is just the best.

Some of the new things she is doing:
1. Sitting up all by herself. She is such a strong girl
2. She loves to stand up (of course with our help), she even took a couple steps with my mom's help the other day (I walked at 9 months so maybe she will too)
3. Saturday she actually got into a crawling position on all fours but for now she is just army crawling and moving all over the place.
4. She is now eating graham crackers and today I even tried pieces of bananas. She loves it! So excited for all these new solid foods.
5. Attempting to talk. She actually keeps saying dadda. That is the first word I wanted her to say, so Ive been teaching her that a lot. Now she seems to be saying it alot. She also loves her own voice.
6. She also had her first photo shoot for 6 months of age and we also had a family photo shoot the other day. (photos to come soon)
7. I hold Addy in the front window every morning as daddy leaves for work. This morning she actually waived goodbye.
8. She has two teeth.

First's to come:
1. Carving her first pumpkin and Halloween. Daddy wants to carve the pumpkin with her
2. Thanksgiving- Looking forward to giving her some mashed and sweet potatoes.
3. Christmas- So excited to spoil her rotten and enjoy family time and beging to show her the true meaning of Christmas.

I am so blessed to be able to see all these firsts. I try to catch everything on video for Ben so he is able to see. She also said dadda to him the other day. She just melts our hearts.

In Love With Fall

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

(Isa 40:8 NKJV)

I don't know about you but I sure love the Fall. It means cool breezes, hot chocolate, sweatshirts, pumpkins, leaves changing color, Thanksgiving, and of course this all leads into Christmas.

We are so blessed in Minnesota to have such great seasons and wonderful scenery. You don't really have to leave Minnesota to see hills, bodies of water, and wonderful towns.

I am amazed everyday by creation and that our Heavenly Father created such a masterpiece. I have been trying to take some time out to enjoy this wonderful season. Addy and I went for a 4 mile walk yesterday and today we played in the leaves.

Each morning I wake up thankful for that cool natural breeze. Our Creator is so amazing!