Take a deep breath, it's a LONG one...

Today marks Addie's 16th month of life. Our daughter is such a blessing in our lives and we thank our lucky stars that she is the baby God gave us to raise. Addie continues to amaze us on a daily basis. She is feeding herself with a spoon at each dinner setting... the food actually makes it into her mouth! She is speaking more words on a daily basis and truly understands what we are saying when we ask her to do something. One of my absolute favorite things about my daughter is that she is so affectionate. She will hug, love and cuddle on anyone. Don't get me wrong, she's no angel. We are proud owners of a new time-out chair and have had to use it twice since Thanksgiving. God, even when she is a rotten stinker, I LOVE HER, LOVE HER, LOVE HER with all my heart and soul.

You may be aware however, that you haven't read any blog entries or watched any video clips of Addie taking her first steps as a little tyke. It will probably be awhile before you will. This afternoon we spent some time with two very nice ladies, Miss Leslie and Miss Julie from First Steps. They came over to play with Addie and evaluate her developmental strengths and weaknesses.

Addie is off the charts for cognition developments, reasoning and fine motor skills. I'll be honest folks, she brought her "A-game" today! She put on quite a performance, throwing balls, stacking blocks, sorting shapes and colors. She was happy and really enjoyed working with Leslie and Julie.

Addie will however require physical therapy. She will receive services once a week for gross motor skill weaknesses. From her face to her knees she has lax muscles that are under-developed. Her joints are also loose. This is why her legs can't support her body, she sits in a very slouched position and her cute baby cheeks are so chubby.

It is a condition that she has had since birth, but doesn't become apparent until the big milestone of walking. Big factors that contributed to her already existing condition were having her in an exersaucer and a jumping gyminee. The use of these two products during her infancy, actually made her condition much worse. (I guess that throws all hopes of "Mom of the Year" out the window!)

The good news is, we now have a diagnosis and we will sit down with our therapist and work out a plan and set goals. We have a list of fun products and activities that we get to do each day with Addie and she thinks we are just playing and having fun! We get to sip milkshakes and smoothies through big kid straws. We will be doing baby sit-ups and side crunches. Daddy took us to Wal-Mart tonight and we got a new automatic Hello Kitty toothbrush to stimulate her face muscles. Best of all, we get to finish our day with a massage from head to toe after bath time... Ahhh!!!

So she may be a "delayed walker." Put any label you want on her. The kid's OK in my book, I think we'll keep her! Oh, and when she does take those first precious steps, you better believe there will be a video waiting for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks to all of you who actually read this far...

* Side Note for Nana: As we walked into Wal-Mart tonight I said "Wal-Mart" and Addie repeated it clear as day. We knew this would make your evening!