Top 10 of 2010

Our Top 10 Memories of 2010

1. The birth of Addison Joy on March 25, 2010

2. Kate passing her NCLEX test and receiving her RN
3. Andrew's new position at the mission, which is a much better fit for him and he is able to teach and counsel men
4. Kate's new job at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital as a Registered Nurse in Emergency Department

5. Moving forward with EBM and pursuing becoming missionaries at Bethesda and finishing the application process

6. 4 amazing years of marriage on July 2, can't believe how fast 4 years have flown by

7. September Dodd Family Visit in Cresaptown MD

8. Many family visits and memories made and 2 new nephews Reece and Gideon

9. New home in January 2010, much bigger place for us to rent and raise Addison in

10. Watching Addison grow and change so much in just 9 months of life!


What an amazing year it has been for our family! Looking forward to what God has planned in 2011 for the Dodd Family!!

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful few days of Christmas celebration this year. Andrew's parents came down to visit for a day at our house. Addison had her first experience opening Christmas presents with them and she loved it! She would have been content with just getting wrapping paper for her gifts! She loved being able to rip and crinkle the paper without it getting taken away from her! She tried to eat every piece she got her hands on.

We celebrated our Christmas on Christmas Eve. Addy's two special gifts were a piggy bank we had painted for her and a puppy that plays music and lights up. She had a great time helping everyone open their wrapping paper and then proceeding to eat the paper. Andrew surprised Kate with 4 oil paintings of an African Sunset, it is absolutely gorgeous! And Kate gave Andrew a calendar for his desk at work. We had a big breakfast that G had sent us in the mail, it was so yummy- bacon, panacakes, ham. Yumm! We love reading to Addy each day and it was fun to read her the Christmas Story. We are looking forward to making that an important part of our Christmas celebration and remembering the reason why we celebrate Christmas. Later on, we had a Christmas dinner with steak and cheesy potato casserole and Christmas cookies. It was so wonderful to celebrate our first Christmas together as a little family :)

We celebrated Christmas Day at Kate's parents. Both of Kate's grandmas were there for the day as was Kyle, Kevin, Angela, Lizzie, and Gideon. It was great to spend the day with family. Many many laughs and smiles and memories made. Addison once again loved opening the presents and was excited to open everyone's present for them. She was quite nervous and could not take her eyes off of Buddy, Grandpa and Grandma's labrador retriever. She did not understand what the big black furry thing was. She loved watching her big cousin Lizzie play and it was so fun to see Gideon and Addison together since they are just 3 months apart in age.

Christmas this year was by far our best one ever, we loved watching Addison's face light up as she opened her gifts and watching her take in the many special things of the season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Love,
Andrew, Kate, and Addison Joy

Addison's Nine Month Update (Dec. 25)

We realized the other day that we had not written a 9 month update for Addison and figured we had better write it before she turns ten months old! From November 25-December25, Addy had so much fun enjoying the holiday season. We got a real Christmas tree and she LOVED touching and playing under it. Addison really became quite the crawler throughout the month. At first she just army crawled everywhere but by the end of the month she was crawling on her hands and knees. She really likes to crawl over us or under our legs. She also is now a little explorer and crawls through tables and under chairs and pulls on everything and puts everything she can find in her mouth, we think she has been plotting for the past 8 months what she will get in to and now that she can move she is doing everything she had planned out. She also started to pull herself up and Addy loves to stand. She has a table that makes noise and lights up and she can often be found standing at her table and dancing to her music. She is still a baby who loves music and shakes her knees, feet, bottom, and head whenever she hears music.

Addy has been working hard this month on eating baby food more often and having less milk and she hates it! We've been introducing food with more chunks in it and having her eat more foods than the ones she loves and it has been quite the struggle and there has definitely been days when both Addy and Mommy ended the meal in tears. But hopefully she will get better with persistance and patience.

Addy had her 9 month doctor visit and she weighs 18 lbs 14 oz (50th%), 28 1/2 inches tall (75th %) and her head was still in the 25th %. The doctor was very pleased with Addison's growth and development and said that Addy is doing great with her motor skills and will be walking before we know it.

Addy had her first snowfall in December. She did not enjoy getting dressed up in her snowsuit and not being able to move much. She was really not too impressed with the wet white cold stuff, hopefully she will enjoy it more next winter!

We are loving every moment that we are blessed with with our little baby girl!!