I WILL WRITE IN MY BLOG, I WILL WRITE IN MY BLOG, I WILL WRITE IN MY BLOG!

I have to apologize, since I have totally deserted you for a year! I dont know what is wrong, I intended to use this as an outlet to tell my thoughts and opinions and get things off my chest and share moments and memories with all of our family and friends but geez wiz...what happened???
I will make a slight attempt to recap the year...

Matt is literally on his way home from Afganistan! Literally as we speak. The volcano eruption in Iceland has delayed flights all over Europe but he is in Kuwait, last I heard...i think its wishful thinking to say that he is in Germany or Maine for that matter on his way home but all the while, he is longer in a warzone...and that is all that matters to me.

The kiddo, ummmmm where to begin??? She turned 2 in October, we had a joint party with Travis(our nephew who turned 9) and it was at Fun Fore All. They had a BLAST! I better post pics of that lol.
I can never put into words how much she amazes me, every.single.day. I feel like we went from

ME:"Addison, would you like some juice?"
ADDISON: "NO!" (which was quite a hurdle for us, no really meant yes in our world for a long time)
ME:" OK, mommy will get you some Apple Juice"
ADDISON: "Milk, peeeeeaaaase"

To the amazing young lady she is becoming!

My best description of Addison would have to be beautiful, smart, funny, assertive, authortative, tomboy, bitchy at times, outgoing at times and shy at times but lovely in every single way.
Addison has always been smart, but is this me being a gloating mother???? Still unsure of the consensus on that but I think she is brilliant. At two years old, she can not sing the Alphabet song but when shown a written letter can name every single letter in the alphabet. Impressive?? I think so! She can count to 20 in English and 10(so far) in Spanish. She can also recognize them written.
She uses manners, always asking for things with a "Please", "thank you", "Your welcome" and an accidental bump to Jeremy, Angel, myself, anyone else, Herself will lead to an "Opps, sorry!". A cough, sneeze, hiccup any other bodily function will lead to a "Bless you" in our home.
She knows all of her colors, all of her shapes, animals etc.
See????? I told you she was a genius. I am sure that there are tons and tons and tons of more things that she does as well.
DOOM!!!! DOOM!!!! DOOM!!!!!
Of course it had to come at some point! Addison is not however, potty trained. She has SEVERAL times sat down and gone potty, she now grabs herself when she has to go potty(not always but its a work in progress). I knew this day would come, the dreaded potty training but I always heard that girls were easier so I tried to not get crazy about it. I told Jeremy from pregnancy that I was terrified of two things in parenting the first being potty training and the second being teaching our lil' one to drive. Well to be totally honest, I dont think its been "hard" persay but it gets frustrating on occasion. If she is involved, playing of any sort it slips her lil mind to do the notable grabbing of the crotch so mommy knows she has to go potty.
She will rarely tell us "Need to go potty"...although we have honestly been pretty casual about the whole thing. I was told by the pediatrician & my mom that she will get to a point where she is ready and pushing sometimes makes it worse. I know she wont walk down the aisle in diapers so I am ok with that...but I am hoping and praying for a sooner than later approach.

I am going to try to keep up over here and really buckle down to keep everyone updated. Darn Facebook! Its so simple over there, here I have to actually think :)

I need that though...I had never really experienced a case of the winter blues before but darn it, this winter was awful and I HAD some serious winter blues going on. Its still a wee bit chilly for me, I love watching the seasons grow and erupt but the whole spring/ summer/ winter/ spring scenario that has taken place over the last month or two is VERY frustrating. I love the spring cleaning gig. It feels like a nice fresh start to the year...I have never been one to make new years resolutions or anything but darn it I enjoy my new start in Spring. Cleaning, cleaning with the windows open is awesome! I feel a sense of accomplishment and certain degree of cleanliness after a good cleaning session of the baseboards, walls, ceiling fans, windows etc etc etc. This spring I took to updating the paint jobs on our stairs, front door and I plan to do all the trim...but that is yet to be decided. Considering we are considering stripping the 70 years of paint and restoring it to its original grandure.
This winter was tough for me, I felt like we were stuck in the house almost all winter long. It was cold, bitter cold. I think alot of things have changed in my life and in the things that I really truly enjoy. I used to love shopping and now the thought of going to the grocery store irritates me. I used to have such style, I had all the newest and hottest trends & looks in clothing...now oh geez thats a whole another blog entry there. I am now more focused on showing and experiences everything I possibly can with Addison and my family. I love taking her to the zoo, childrens museum, parks, entertainment centers etc. I was the queen of Mac n Cheese, White Rice, cereal and ramen noodles all day, every day. Now I LOVE cooking. I love trying new things and enjoy the idea of cooking a healthy NEW dinner for my family each and every night...sure I have my lazy days but most nights Jeremy is excited to see whats brewing in the kitchen. Now if I could just get Addison to eat it, we will be all set. I guess I just felt cooped up and cold. So my whole life was cold. I was miserable. I have had some significant changes in my friendships and in my family. Which also contributed to my Debbie Downer state of mind.
I have see friends come and go, move on, move up and changes in their every day lives sometimes just leads to a distance that is a total bummer.

Snowmaggendon 2010 hit my lil town and all of the Pittsburgh area with a wallope no one saw coming, no one apparently. Its devistation began on Friday February 12th and my Grandparents home caught on fire on February 13th! It took the front of their home with one swift sweep. Todays date is April 20th, 2010 and the roof is on...but not finished and the interior is a mess...no end in sight. GRRRR...I just keep them in my prayers...Thats the best I can do.

In the last year I have had so so so many ups that is most likely why the teeny tiny spiral downward makes me feel out of control and as a stubborn spawn of my mother...I cant handle when I feel out of control. Stress takes over and I am not myself. But there have been moments, sometimes glipmses of time this year that literally changed me...my thinking. I have added a link below to a day that I WILL write LOVE on my arm, I am thinking wrist and I am also thinking possibly a forever declaration...To me this personally means a promise to always be there, its a promise to support, to love and to raise awareness. To promise to intervene to stand up for and to stand by all. I love this cause, I am close to this cause (I dont think personally but other may think otherwise), I am dedicated to this cause.


Well I am going to try to keep up with my blog...a promise to myself cause even if no one else is reading it...the outlet makes me feel at ease. To rant, to rave, to bitch, to whin...I need this in my life and I have a great hope for better days and amazing moments with my love and my lil lady.

Tomorrow I will participating in this:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=115978155083886&ref=mf

http://www.twloha.com/vision/


"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." -Eleanor Roosevelt

Matt is in Afganistan & a little of everything else...

Well, The big brother made it:( Matt-chew is in Afganistan, his tour is scheduled to 12 months and we are hoping, praying and begging that they don't extend it as they did last time. He is in training for two weeks and then we can begin writing and sending packages. I am also attaching a link here to where his beautiful photo made the front page of the post paper.


I will upload pics later of the next few topics but we just had a great visit with Mom & Dad Freeman over the weekend. They came into town on Friday and boy o boy was Addison the perfect little angel for them. She gave Papa lots of kisses...which to be honest surprises me since he still has his hunting beard going. None for grandma this time hehe but she did lend her cheek for lots of smooches from Grandma.

We also had Uncle Jesse's prom this weekend, Miss Addison was "moody" by the time it was her turn for pictures...but that is ok. Uncle Jesse look very dapper in his white tux with his gorgeous date, Kelly.

We also attended Lexi and Lily's birthday party this weekend. Lily turned one year on April 16th and Lexi turned 2 on April 17th. Can you imagine...kids 364 days apart?!?!?! Mommy's BFF is an amazing and brave woman. We also discovered that Miss Addison loves those old school "buggy's". You know the red ones with the yellow roof. Well, we are looking into one of those since we couldnt get her out of it. Even when other kids were in there she was trying to climb in and join them on their adventure.

We are also "Hopefully" finalizing the bathroom renovations. The bath has been under contruction for two weeks now. We have a rebuild it from top to bottom and done all the work ourselves with the help of my Dad. We have "indoor plumbing" now and a functioning toilet. All we need is a sink and the decor. We are also doing a few odds and ends projects in there to finish it.

I will upload pics ASAP!
Thanks for checking in!

Visiting Matt -n- Crew & Happy Easter

Well, Well, Well...what a weekend:-) This is how our week ended, I took off on Thursday versus Wednesday in order to head out Thursday, for the what always seem like a 24 hour trip, but only in reality takes about 8-9 hours. It ended up that Jeremy had to work a half day so by the time he got home we were not able to head out till 1:30PM. On our way we went, I tried my best to keep Miss Addison awake until we were on the road so that we were able to get a good two hours of driving in before we'd need to make a "stretch the baby's legs stop". So when she didn't wake after three hours we were shocked, four hours "wow, she must be exhausted", five hours, "is she still alive?", then at 5.5-6 hours into our trip she woke briefly and we were able to get some food in her and allow her to stretch her legs. She felt warm to me at the rest stop but I chalked it up to her being cooped up in a car for 6 hours. So as we left Steak -n- Shake(yummy chocolate banana milkshakes!) we were look at another 2 hours of driving...Boo!. But Miss Addison fell right back to sleep.....ummmmm that's odd? But we thought for sure this was doom for us later. We were 100% sure this kid just did her night time sleeping at 1:30PM and was without a doubt going to be up...all. night. long! When in fact we got there(10:30PM), she was still feeling warm to me, so I asked Sara if she thought so as well. She concurred and we took her temp...103.1!!! WTH? So I gave her some Tylenol and sent her on her merry way, since she was not acting like herself but still had some pep from the 8 hours of sleep she just got...We were finally able to get her down at 12:30AM! She slept ackwardly between us, because I win the bad mom award this week(forgot the pack n play for her sleeping arrangements but keeping in mind that Sara and Matt have a 7 month old that so she could have slept in his crib but she refused)She slept till 5:30AM and woke cranky, crabby, fussy, warm and just over all....a hot mess! Over the weekend she was hot off and on and just in the worst mood I have ever witnessed my child in. She had a stomach virus and threw up for 9 hours straight and wasnt this crabby. I noticed she was loosing her balance and stumbling so I assumed it was an ear infection.
Well, to keep a long story...less long lets get to the good parts of the weekend. As said before, Matt is leaving at the end of April 2009 to go to Afganistan...please pray for him...this will be his third tour, first two were to Iraq, we wanted to make sure that we visited and saw him before he left. We had a fantastic weekend aside from a crab butt baby...we got to see Matt and Sara, Travis, Bryen(whos b-day was on April 8th just days before) and little...ok well big Dominic. Dominic is such a cutie and really is starting already to take after his Daddy. I know where my husbands genes can from...the not so tall Freeman men and most physical traits are from the Hemphill side...but Matt's genes??? No freakin clue! He is a big man! He is (my guess) 6'4" and approx 250? Jeremy is 5'10" & 200! How does that happen? But at any rate...Dominic is already taking after his Dad, he is 29 in and 20 lbs at 7 months. Addison is currently 17 months and 30-31 in 21-22lbs! Dominic has a long torso so when they sit on the floor together, he is taller...when standing she only has him by approx 1-2 inches!
Since we don't get to see the "carriers of the Freeman name" (Matt's boys: Jeremy is convinced we are going to have all girls, Matt stole all the male sperm)very often we were excited to find out that Travis & Bryen play on the same soccer team this year and they had two games while we were there. Which we were able to attend & I was able to get some kick butt photos of.
This weekend was filled with Family, Fun, Love & lots n lots of laughter. We played Wii with the boys & DDR Dance Dance Mario & Addison was able to be "with the big kids" since she seemed to not have too much interest in Dominic (he doesnt do anything that is deemed cool to her yet)...
The trip back home went much better, Addison was still "off her game" and only slept about 1/2 way but she is used to driving two hours a day with me to work so she is great in the car.
Which brings me to Easter, every year since I can remember(prolly before I was born) my grandparents host all the holidays and every Easter we have an easter egg hunt in their yard...well three rounds usually. This involves plastic easter eggs(Come on people you know what I'm talking about??) and they are filled with money!!!!!! Yes, Money! We save our change alllll year for this! It is usually $.50 or $1.00 per egg. So my brother (yes 17 and still doing it...but ahhhh hell who am I kidding I would if I could) made $80.00! That is some serious mojo for an Easter Egg hunt! Addison pulled out with about $30.00! Not too bad for a 17 MONTH old! She really caught on much quicker than I expected her too. I think she was mostly just wondering around the yard and when she stumbled upon a brightly colored egg...she grabbed it. What we found hilarious is that she didn't want to give them to Daddy and was perfectly happy just having her hands full...two eggs that is it...we had to force a release of one to grab another. Which finally she was ok with.
Easter dinner was great and who didn't know that Grammie & GIGI were going to spoil their little bean. Addison walked away from Easter 4 baskets full, lots of new clothes, summer beach toys, money from Grandma Freeman and Money that she worked darn hard for.
We had a wonderful "spring break" with 4 days off(Jer 3.5) and spending it with family was the greatest gift of all!
Here are some photos from our adventures!

That thing you do....

Miss Addison amazes me everyday. Its amazes me and scares me all that the same time about how much she is learning and how quickly. She has suddenly started repeating a ton! Every time that I snatch her up in order to change her diaper, she says "no". She is also starting to put together one, two and three word phrases. Probaly not in proper english speaking or proper grammar/ tense but she is saying something! hehe. We kinda halted a bit when she became more active. Soooo as she was walking she wanted nothing to do with those things called words. Now if she is for instance, she and Pap are always munchin' on something so when Pap has treats she always says "Want some"...now she just have to get her to say "please" & "thank you". Currently, when she gives me something I tell her "thank you" and she says " aaahhh hhhuuuhh", in the same voice tone as I use. Also if she drops something she says "uh oh" and then "get that". She is also VERY into music! She has a piano and honestly I think that is her absolute favorite toy, my mom got her a drum set for Easter that I notice was already set up this morning, so I am guessing that is an early easter gift...can't wait to see what she does with that. I played drums in HS so I am hoping that she takes to it! hehe. She is also developing in many ways as far as learning to use a straw(sometimes she still tips her cup & ends with a mess...but she grasps the concept. We are still having the darnest time getting her to eat her veggies...as in "real" veggies. She will eat any veggies you give her in baby food but the Pedi told me to "stop catering to her" sooo we have been offering only people food. So we are "supplementing" with some veggie/ fruit drinks. But she is most certainly a dairy child...thank goodness there are no reactions to it...but she will chug milk, eat cheese, cottage cheese& yogurt like it is going out of style. She loves eggs, pancakes and waffles. I also would like to mention EVERY KID loves chicken nugeets...not our bean...she wont touch them, grilled chicken only! Which I don't mind due to the healthy aspects but it makes it odd to go to a restaurant and ask for a hunk of grilled chicken for the kid, no kiddos menus for us.

March...been there, hope to do that!

Busy, Busy, Busy...that is all I have to say. Between my work, Jeremy's work, Addison...family, friends blah blah blah...we are Busy! This week especially.
On Wednesday March 18th we went to the children's museum for a playdate with Benjamin and Addison had a blast!!!! She was so sleepy when we left the house at 12 and she napped the entire way in the car. When we got there and mommy had to drag her outta the car and her sleep, she was NOT a happy camper. So she cried and fussed from the timeframe of getting her out of the car to the point when we walked into the museum...she saw kids....and that is all that she needed to "hush up". She realized we were in a "kids place" and she was suddenly the happiest baby ever. When we got up to the toddler room and she was "released" from lock down in her stroller she was on the go from that moment on. She played a solid, hard 45 minutes in the sand, to the giant lite brite, to the see saw, to the blocks, to the birdseed, to the "see through" floor and back and forth again and again. She even managed to get in trouble, when she attempt to pick up an unsupervised infant that apparently looked like a doll to her. (Keep in mind this woman left her 4-5 month old child unattended in the plush infant area, but who am I to judge...but I did. Who does that???? In a public place????) Addison had a blast in the toddler room and when I placed her into the stroller to go up stairs to the "water" room...she threw a fit and was NOT ready to be done playing. But once released in the water room I tried to fit her with a raincoat...but they were all huge and too large for Addison or Benjamin. Thank goodness it was 77 degrees that day because Little Miss went home in soaked clothing. She had a blast and was again alllllll over the place. Poor Benjamin was tired and off schedule so Addison ran in circles over and over and Benjamin was completely content with a couple fountains and the edge of the pool. Not Addison!
We also went to the Park on Saturday, which was a great outing for the family. Addison was not big enough or interested in climbing and crawling all over the playset but was stoked about playing the sand and riding the slide and swings. Mommy and Daddy even joined in the fun on the swings. Boy I miss those days, where all I had to worry about was getting on my bike and riding all day, heading to the park and swinging on the swings and playing outside. Saturday and Wednesday were a dream for us! The weather replenished my soul, I know that sounds cheesy but seriously. I cannot wait for summer and I ready....full steam ahead on this first day of spring.
This weekend wont be any fun for any of us but I am vowing to get a walk in with Addison. I **had** a decent weekend planned but that fell through when Jeremy was told that he unexpectedly had to go out of town. Which actually I am not to keen on or happy about. I have had Bridal Fair booked and planned for 6 months or more, so we had to scramble on Wednesday to find a sitter while Jeremy and I are gone. Jeremy will be flying out to Kansas City on Saturday morning and driving back (he says through the night, gosh I hope not! I have seen him drive at 8PM & look tired) but his driving will be mostly Sunday. I had a well deserved and most of all very needed massage planned for Saturday...but had to cancel...soooo hopefully we can reschedule for Wednesday or Saturday next week. I am starting to look and feel like my days, weeks, months and years revolve around those two days.

Well I will stop rambling for now...here are some pics of our adventures this week.

Prayers for Matt

Matt got his orders and he is in fact getting a stoploss. So he will not be getting out of the army this year he will instead be going to Afgantistan in April 2009! Please please please to continue to pray for his family! My dear Sara is yet again be a single mom for as long as the army needs her hubby. I am almost 90% sure it is a 12 month/ 1 year tour but last time they said that they informed him one month prior to leaving (Iraq last time) that he instead would be doing a 15 month tour! Gee Thanks! So Sara will be at home in Louisville, KY hours away from family and caring for three boys! Travis, Bryen and little Dominic.
We are definitely planning a trip to see him before he is deployed, sometime in March.

Learning is fun for both mommy & baby

Miss Addison is quite the character these days and like any little 16 months old sponge she is picking up on anything and everything. She loves books and is constantly sitting down and flipping through one, bringing them to mommy and we read them together. Well she has had a recent fascination with her counting/ numbers book. Although she is not counting yet, she picks up the book and points to the 6 SIX cars on page 6 each individually and mommy counts for her. Last night I said one...two...(Addison recited)three!!! I couldnt believe it! Maybe a fluke because after that excitement that mommy displayed everytime that she pointed to a car on the page she said "thee", but at any rate I think its safe to say....she is starting to "get it".