GREAT NEWS!

As many of you know, Addison was diagnosed with a seizure disorder in Korea due to obvious symptoms and irregular EEG. To follow up on this we took her to see a pediatric neurologist who conducted an EEG and then observed her developmental progress and responses. First of all, the EEG was completely normal. There was absolutely no sign of any seizures whatsoever. Secondly, her MRI was completely normal. Thirdly, she is developmentally ahead of where typical one-year-old would normally be, so there is no concern here. Also, we have not noted any symptoms at all since being home (and the foster-mother hadn’t noted any symptoms since December of 2009) I truly didn’t expect such great news, (my husband did!) but I’m so delighted that she won’t have to deal with this issue as she grows up. It is truly a blessing. God has been excessively generous with us!

Prayer Please

I was asked to speak at our church's mother/daughter brunch Saturday. As the date approaches I am a bit nervous. I've never spoken in front of a large croud, not that that makes me nervous, I like speaking. What makes me nervous is that my words can't be changed. Once I say them, they're out there. I can't re-word them or tweek them, nothing. Its done. When I write, I can think about what I've written and change it whenever I want. I'm suddenly struck by the weight of this task and really want every word, phrase, and thought to be exactly what God wants from me. Please pray I bring Him great glory and follow His leading. Thank you so, so much.

More photos!

Addison is 1!!

The dress Addison is wearing was given to her by her foster mother. It is called a hanbok. It is the traditional dress one-year-olds wear on their birthday. She told us she chose a pink one for her because she is a princess. We couldn't agree more!

More about Addison...

Addison LOVES ice cream!

Addison is now taking about 6-10 steps at a time. She's trying to walk everywhere.

Why I don't have more photos of my boys...

He's clearly irritated

This is the "Are you serious?" look.

Jack, deliberately trying to take a bad picture

Oh great, just the pose I wanted.

He's done...but I still have no good pictures.

But, my Nick...he usually takes pretty good pictures for me...

...especially if they're with Addison!

A slice of Life

Pray for sleep!

Drew is cute too!!!

Eating bananas...her favorite food!

Stuffing her mouth..we'll work on manners later.

Our little angel is not sleeping well at all. Her sleep habits have actually gotten worse, instead of better. She is up 2-4 times a night which means I'm only sleeping a couple hours at a time. Then to top it off, she isn't really napping either. If I can get two 40 minute naps out of her I'm thankful and one of those naps is typically in the car. I'm completely exhausted!!! Please pray we get her sleeping regulated SOON!!! I'm so tired. With that being said, she is still completely darling!! Here are some photos which prove that fact!!!

Adjusting…

Here's a break down of the good & the bad:

• The Good: (Other than the fact that she's perfect!!!! Just like all my children!)
  She is becoming more and more vocal (lots of babbling, screaming, and "talking")
  She is really starting to take to her brothers (gives them kisses and will let them hold her)
  We're making lots of good eye-contact and getting plenty of smiles
  Starting to get a nap schedule: 30-40 min. in the morning, 1-2 hours in the afternoon.
  Growing accustomed to her carseat and usually doesn't scream while it in anymore
  
• The Bad: Night: she usually wakes up 2 times for a bottle
  She cries in her sleep off and on throughout the night (it always wakes me up)
  …because of the prior two bullets…I'm exhausted.
  If were around a lot of strangers, and they hold her a lot…she melts down after we leave, won't eat, and I end up holding her the rest of the day, while feeding her bottles. Its clearly still overwhelming for her.
  She is teething … and you know how teething babies are.
  

We think things are really coming along fabulously; especially when you consider she has only been home a little over two weeks! She is so perfect for our family!! She laughs when the boys wrestle, and loves all their attention. She loves to climb into things; buckets, baskets, toy boxes etc… and it makes us laugh! We are so blessed!

Before & After: Hair

Addison's hair: cute & in pig tails
Well, kinda like antenna!

Here's what her hair really looks like...even when we've combed it down after a bath! It just sticks straight up...all the time.

Crazy hair!

Jack & Addie: at the park

Clapping while swinging!

(See the hair..it sticks straight up...even after her bath!!!!)

So sweet

Addison loves to chew on toothbrushes, so I bought her one just to "play" with. Here she is chewing it. Her little pink outfit was a gift from her foster mother. It is SO darling!!

Thank you foster mother!!!

Our trip to the zoo

The boys were off school so we all went to the zoo Friday. My kids love the zoo, and Addison had fun being outside and having her brothers dote on her!

A little windy...not terribly unusual.

All the kids on the lion statue.

Addiosn taking her morning nap in the stroller.

Drew feeding Addison Saltine crackers: one of her favorite snacks

Nick & Jack: Buddies

Addison: getting to know us!

Each boy got to stay home one day and spend time with Addison (and helping me!) Heres a photo from Nick's day.

Here's Drew on his day home feeding her ice cream. She loved it!

Here's Jack, getting ready to take Addie on a walk in her stroller

Here she is on Easter. This outfit lasted about 4 minutes...but it was cute while lasted!

Here she is with her daddy...she loves playing patty cake with him!

Video of us at home: Part 1

Addison's favorite place to be: strapped to me!


Addison's favorite place to sleep: strapped to me!!

Video of our trip; Part 4

ADdison at the end of our 10 hour flight from Seoul to San Fransisco. She slept the whole flight and was very happy!


On our flight to San Fransisco, this sweet Korean lady kept talking to Addison and making her laugh thoughout the flight. While we were waiting for our Denver flight, we ran into the same lady who was also going to Denver. She came over and played with her and Addison loved her!! She laughed, squeeled and was so happy! (I think Addison was delighted to her someone speaking Korean..poor baby.)


Once we got home, the boys couldn't wait to play with her. She was completely exhausted, overwhelmed, and not in the mood to play...as you can see.


Addison didn't sleep well that first night, and I was completely exhausted from being up with her and the jetlag. I felt sick I was so tired.

Video of our trip: Part 3

Side note: Nights have gotten better. Its still a struggle and take tons of time ot get her calm and asleep, but there are signs its getting better.


Our plane didn't leave Seoul until 5pm, so we went to a nearby palace earlier in the day before leaving. She did great and loved being outside! (That was the palace where we went on the Japanese tour!)


We wanted Addison to have some play time before boarding the plane, so we found this great little playroom in the Seoul airport. While there, we ran into two other Holt babies being escorted home! They were adorable!


Addison did SO wonderfully on on trip home! We were so happy this went so smoothly!

Video of our trip: Part 2

Video of our Trip: Part 1

Random observations about Seoul

Here is the Kia headquarters building in downtown Seoul. Other major industries in Korea are Samsung and Hyundai.

Many of the toilets were quite elaborate! See the rectangular button on the left side? There were a variety of options on those buttons such as "flushing sound" and many other cleaning options! It was really funny. I didn't know what to push!

The shopping in Seoul was simply incredible!!! There were little shops like this one everywhere; on the side walk, in the subway...everywhere. They sold t-shirts, coats, tons of shoes, and many other things at these little shops. I would never make it to work on time if I lived there! (...and I'd be broke because I LOVED all the shoppping. It was amazing)

Other observations:

• The Koreans are very well-dressed people. I've never seen so many people wearing heels!
• Very, very few Koreans are overewieght.
• Korean stores always had incredible customer service!!! (amazing!!)
• The Koreans were very polite and helpful
• The city, airport, and subway were all very, very clean, but we could never find a trashcan?!
• Pop is very hard to find and when you do find it, it's expensive. (I did miss Diet Coke!)
  

A Korean stop sign near our hotel. I just thought it was interesting!