All things new

With things getting back to normal in the Wall house, I thought I would get back to blogging about this blog's MVP: Addi. She is growing up SO fast! It hit me this morning at our weekly playdate. We met at the mall & let all of our kids run around the food court tree house. Addi is a little younger than the rest of them, so she usually just follows them around (thumb in mouth) and mimics what they do. Well this morning was no exception. The main tree house attraction is of course the tree house slide. It's a long & winding slide that can only be reached after climbing about 15 gigantic steps. It never crossed my mind that Addi would actually think the task feasible. It never even phased her. She steadily climbed every step all by herself & slid down (bottom first, thank goodness) all by herself. I had to call Ben at work & give him a play-by-play. I was so proud of her! I think she was even tickled with herself. A few of the older girls would "catch" her at the bottom and direct her back to the stairs so she could do it again. It was adorable. My baby girl is growing up. I wish I had my camera on me. Here's a few other things that are new with Addi.
* American Idol: She LOVES it & claps for EVERYONE, regardless of their talent
* Shoes: She knows that when we put our shoes on, we're going to go "bye-bye", so she now brings them to me
* George: Since we run everywhere we go, we bought George (a backpack/leash) a few weeks ago. (I'm now one of those moms). She loves George. She pets him, kisses him, drags him around by his leash, I mean tail. But she absolutely hates George when we put George on as a "backpack" (the whole purpose of George). Ahhh. We're learning. I'm learning. * The Aggie war hymn (Ben's favorite): One of the local tv stations plays the war hymn during it's "station identification" break. Addi claps and rocks back and forth. Is this brain washing?
* Elle the Elephant: Addi rocks as hard as possible, falls off, laughs, and then gets back on. Repeat. * The big-girl bed: Last week we tested out a twin mattress & she absolutely LOVES it. Every night around 7:30, she gathers up Lovie, Lucy & Puppy and swaggers to her bed room and tries to climb into bed. Our evening prayers have been shorted to "Thank you for mommy, daddy & Jesus. Amen." Then she literally leaps into bed. It's awesome! Why did we just now think of this?

Ben's home!

Ben was released from the hospital today (a day early)! He'll have some follow up visits over the next few weeks, but he should be here to stay. Addi loves having him home. She sits in his lap and gives him hugs. It's so sweet to see them together again! Thanks again for all of your prayers and encouragement this week. We love you guys!

Family update

Hey guys. Thank you for all of your phone calls, texts and prayers! The Lord has used you to speak peace and encouragement into our lives these last few days, and we're so grateful for you. I thought I would give you the latest update on our crazy week: Ben's blood work came back yesterday and it showed to have bacteria in his blood, something fairly common with pneumonia. They are now able to attack it with a specific antibiotic but he will not be released until Saturday. He's still on his IV and oxygen but can now eat solid food, so he's liking that of course. Addi's ear infection has cleared up on one side but she broke out from head to toe in red bumps last night, which about sent me over the edge. I mean, seriously?! After a doctor's appointment this morning, we've learned that she's allergic to the amoxicillin that we had been using to treat her ear infection. Although she looks horrible, she's not in any pain or discomfort, thank goodness. We've switched medications & the allergic reaction and rash should take care of itself over the next few days. As for me, I went to an ear specialist yesterday to learn more about my own ear infection. The antibiotics should clear it up by next week & hearing in my left ear will return soon after that. I still can't believe I'm having to write all of this. It's sounds ridiculous! I can't wait until this weekend, to have the two loves of my life happy & healthy. Then maybe I can return to blogging about the silly things that Addi has gotten herself into. Maybe even add some cute pictures!

prayers please?!

hey prayer warriors. can you be lifting us up? we're having quite the morning. it began at 2am, when i checked myself into the ER here in College Station. i have fluid in my left middle ear & have been put on pain killers and ammoxicillian. i cried at walgreens as the sweet 24-hour pharmacist helped me put drops in my ear & cried on my way home, feeling sorry for myself that I had gone through the ordeal by myself (ben & addi have both been sick so i had left them at home). and cried myself to sleep in the guest room at 4am, praying that the pain would end. little did i know that at 6am, Ben got up & drove himself to the same ER, saw the same doctor and has now been admitted into the hospital for pneumonia! he'll be in the hospital for 4 or 5 nights until they can get it all under control. poor guy! we had already taken him to the ER friday morning & they had sent him home with a "viral infection". i hate that they missed it the first time. he's been so miserable. now his entire right lung is infected. even the doctors are a bit concerned. ben's mom is on her way here to watch addi so that i can go to the hospital and sit with ben. and my mom is planning on getting here wednesday to relieve debbie. even ben's grandmother has volunteered to come help out. i feel so blessed to have such sweet ladies just a phone call away! if you'll also keep addi in your prayers. she's still recovering from her ear infection from last week. thanks guys! love you!

home, sweet home

Well, we said goodbye to our precious home this week. We packed up the remainder of our things on Tuesday. As the movers carried out the last of our furniture, I cried at the empty rooms left behind. Even writing this now, brings tears to my eyes. I can still remember the ice-cream party that we had the weekend we moved in. And I can picture little Samson trying his best to jump the ledge that led to our back porch. It seems like just yesterday, I found that perfect chandelier for Addi's new nursery. It was such a good house to us. I laugh when I think about all the complaining that I've done over the years. How I hated the fact that the washer and dryer were in the garage. And that the closets and bathrooms were WAY too small. Sharing our bathroom on Sunday morning always led to an interesting conversation on the way to church. Now I sit back and think about how much the Lord blessed us in that house. The precious memories we have of where our family first began. I'm so happy and so sad at the same time. Here are some snapshots from over the years...
July, 2004: Our "hired" help on moving day. The Brewer's and Cox's.
Spring of 2005: Our little buddy's routine bath. Man, I miss him!
Spring of 2006: The new landscape. The handy work of Mr. Danner.
Christmas 2007: Just 2 days before Addison's debut.
January 08: The week we brought Addi home. Ben was a natural.
Dec 08: Our snow day. Just 2 weeks before moving to College Station.