Happy Anniversary

Happy 9th Anniversary honey. Can you believe it, next year is number 10. Well we have had a wonderful 13 years together, but nothing measures to what this year has brought us. We now not only have our love that we share between one another, but the love that we now share together for our beautiful baby girl. You have been such a pillar of strength for both of us over this past year, I am not to sure where we would be without you!! Thank you for giving me so many laughs, so many good times and so much love, I look forward to what the years to come will bring us not only as a couple but a family. Remember that I love you each and everyday and that this love continues to grow and blossom with each new day that rounds the corner. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am so very blessed to have you in my life. Happy Anniversary and know that I would not change a thing!!! Love you. xxx000xxx000x

Addy's First Haircut and Visiting with Friends

What new things is Addy doing these days you ask?? She continues to grow and grow, I cannot believe that almost a whole year has gone by. It seems that every week there is something new she is doing or something old that she is getting better at. She really has come along well with the use of her muscles and improving daily with the use of her left hand. She has been continuing to work hard on her rolling over and can almost get herself over unassisted from her back to belly. Crawling still seems to be a challenge, but she is sitting incredibly well unassisted. She is such a big girl. She really has come to love and enjoy her jumparoo bouncer that we purchased a few months back. She really gets that thing going up and down, pointing her little toes as she jumps up and down. I see a little ballerina or future member of Cirque de Soleil in her. She is so very intrigued with dogs and cats these days, maybe because she is feeling more on their level. She giggles up a storm when Tal and Fergus run by her and doesn't bat an eye when they bark at her to play with them. She really shows no fear as she meets cousin Ryan's new Shephard puppy, in fact I think the puppy was more nervous than she.

On October 1st Addy went for her second hearing test, but because of her heavy teething we were unable to complete the test. They advised that she had too much fluid behind the ears and they would not get a proper assessment, so we go back in December. We did do a test trial however and Addison faired well with voice recognition, but not well with tone, so we will keep playing the music and hope that it will improve.

On October 4th we travelled down to mim's house and had a visit with the family. We had a great visit from our friend; Joyce who is an avid and faitful follower of Addy's blog, so it was wonderful to see her and have her meet Addy finally in person. Joyce gave a generous donation to our Itsy charity that will be made in Addy's name as a gift for Addison's birthday. We have decided that we are very blessed with our little girl and received so much help and assistance through our journey that this was another way that we could give back. Instead of gifts for Addy's birthday we are asking that donations be given instead to Itsy to help some new families in the Unit over the holidays. While down visiting Mim took the opportunity to give Addy her first hair cut. Even though she doesn't have much hair there are some long pieces and we are trying to trim it to thicken it up.

On October 8th Addy attended Pathways Center for children and completed a speech and communication assessment. Of course as expected Addy was admitted to the program but they offered great tools to help us improve her ability to communicate with us and to help assist her speech development. We are to mimic more of her sounds that she does daily and do so face to face so that she may recognize the sound as one she made and how it was made by watching our mouths move. Of course the following day Addison decided to create more sounds, some sounding very close to "da da da". It seems like she knows exactly what it is we are doing with her and then she says ahaha, watch this and does it. Which is great we will keep it up and do all that we need to help her out with whatever services we have available.

We have had some great visits these past few weeks with some new friends we made while in the NICU. First we met up with Tania and her two little girls Sadie and Reese, who were born in the unit just before Christmas. We actually met before in our prenatal class, and then met up again at the hospital. The girls all got along great and we had a fun play date, hope that we can do it again soon. After that we got a quick visit in with our friends Jen and Addy's boyfriend; Deecon when we went down to Mim's for Thanksgiving. It was so great to see them and see how far our little monkeys have come from only just a year ago. Addy and Deecon are both very similar in their development and progression, each with their own differences, we hope to have another playdate soon so they can teach other the new things they have each picked up. These two kiddies were so cute with each other, I can only imagine where they will be next year!!!

It is official our website for our charity ITSY is up and running and plans for the fundraising event are well under way. Check it out at www.itsy.ca. “Itsy”is a charitable organization which serves the families and the “itsy bitsy” residents of the Neonatal Unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, ON. Fundraising events will raise monies that will be used to assist the families with infants in the NICU with the unexpected costs that arise, as well as the Neonatal Unit with the purchase of much needed equipment to help with their itsy residents.

Mark your calendars for the premier event being held on the evening of Friday, November 20th at Aroma Restaurant in London, ON. The cocktail style event will feature entertainment, guest speakers, silent auction, raffle prizes, fabulous fare and preemie-tinis to sip…all of which will be sure to impress you! Our theme this year is “tiny”, so expect to find all things small…complete with a gourmet miniature menu! Event tickets will be available to purchase online, and if you cannot attend please consider donating to this cause which is near and dear to our hearts. Greg and I will not only be attending, we are helping out and speaking at the event about our experience with Addison. We will keep you updated with all news about the event coming up.