Because I am...

tired of seeing Valentine's on my post when I'm reading other blogs, I thought I'd update with a picture of us...

Taken from our weekend trip to the beach, which should be blogged about but will have to come a bit later...

BE MY VALENTINE

Adam and I celebrated Valentine's Day at home this year. Adam sent me away on Sunday afternoon for a pedi & mani while he stayed home to prepare a delicious meal. He wanted to test out his culinary skills and I must say he's been holding out on me. It was delicious!

He set the table.

The meal: stuffed zucchini & chicken artichoke bake

Our little Valentine

On Tuesday, I hosted a Valentine's lunch at my house for my friends and their babies. It was a fun time to just hang out as mommies and let all the kids 'play' together. I wish I had taken more pictures of the delicious spread of food but oh well. I did get a few.

cupcakes

Addison & Houston

My sweet heart!

Chicken salad & Pimento Cheese Sandwiches

Cousins

All the kids...this was one of several pics!

9 months

Addison is 9 months old today. It amazes me how much she is changing in her first year of life. I am loving our time together. She finally decided it was time to see the world around her and is on the move (crawling that is). Though she is still very content to sit and play, she is realizing there is much more around the house to play with...like the door stoppers, the tile, mommy's kitchen towels, Bentley's ball, etc.

This is my serious look...(watching praise baby)

Just starting to stand!

I'm mostly smiles!

Bentley is dying for her to learn to throw it!

Loving her puppy dog!

I'm coming to get you mommy.

And I'm so excited to say that the outfit she is wearing was made by me! I got a sewing machine for Christmas and this was my first project. My friends and I have craft days and we are teaching one another different things to make.

Next up...bows!!

Addison's Baptism

So I was going to attempt to catch up from my last post but got really overwhelmed with how much time has passed so I decided I would just start with this weekend. My hopes are to update the blog monthly but we will see...

This weekend we had the amazing opportunity to baptize Addison. It was such a sweet time for our family. As Sunday approached I found myself reflecting on how much has changed in just 3 years. Three years ago we found out that we had miscarried and we were devastated and questioned whether or not we would ever have a baby. AND now we celebrate God's gift to us! I wake up every day and thank the Lord that He has given us Addison. She is more than we could have ever hoped for or imagined...just the perfect fit for our family! He gives and takes away but blessed be His name!!

our joy

sweet cousins

our family

My parents were able to be here for the celebration.

Rejoicing that we have such a wonderful family!

Addison is blessed to have amazing grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins.

She loves her Leigh Leigh!

3 generations

As we prayed for Addison before she was born, the Lord gave us a verse that we consider her life verse. Eph. 3:14-19 "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and high and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge~ that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Fall 2010

This fall we've been busy traveling and it's been so much fun to share so many new experiences with Addison. I know she won't remember but I'm grateful that we have pictures to share with her once she is a bit older. We began our travels by heading up to Tuscaloosa, AL for the University's Homecoming. I had so many highlights of this trip. My first highlight was visiting with my friend Stacey and her three children. She had the twins (Aaron & Abigail) on July 1st. It was so fun being pregnant together and then being able to meet the babies. What blessings they are to each of us and an answer to our prayers.

Stacey & me with our babies!

I have a few more to go to catch up with her!

Abigail & Aaron

We had a blast as a family watching the parade, visiting sorority row and seeing family & friends that we hadn't seen in such a long time.

Another highlight was catching up with my high school friends, Lauren & Margaret. It was so surreal being back at the AXO house as our little ones ran around. What a gift to meet their boys and spend some time together.

As you can tell it's a bit hard to get them all looking at the same time but I did manage to get a great on of Caedman (sp?) kissing Addison. What a sweetie! I think they all kind of resemble their mammas.

Then we headed to the quad where we got to see our cousins, Catherine & Cate. Mom & Catherine are first cousins who both went to Bama together. Mom enjoyed introducing us to a few of her sorority sisters.

And last but certainly not least, we got to see my great friend Jamie and her family. I was thrilled to see her even if it was so brief!! Addison likes her Auntie Jamie!!

After our visit to T-town we headed down to Spanish Fort, AL to visit my mom & dad and grandparents. I LOVED dressing Addison in her fall smocked dress. We were walking around Fairhope and found some of the best places to take pictures!!

Of course we had to get a family shot with some pumpkins. I guess we will save the pumpkin patch for when she's a little older and can pick out her own pumpkin. By this time she was ready for a nap so no smiles from baby girl.

Game Day

Pappy & Addison practicing Roll Tide on game day!

Bama Baby!

We love visiting Leigh Leigh & Pappy's lake house!

One of my favorite faces she makes! All smiles and pure joy!!

Now we are back in Orlando and looking forward to more fall activities with our friends and their babies. More pics to come...stay tuned.