1, 2, THREE!!!!!

Our McKenna is THREE! It's so hard to believe, but when I look at her I certainly do not see a "little" girl anymore. She is sweet, funny, sociable, and as a memory like a steel trap! She is into Tinker Bell, the Disney Princesses, and accessories :o) Her Daddy is her best friend and she is such a great big sister to her "Addi-bug".

She talks A LOT and the stuff she comes up with can be quite humorous...when asked a question and her response is no she says, "no thank you, I'm just fine." :) Unfortunately at this age she is also starting to think that "bathroom humor" is quite entertaining (sigh). She loves to sing and loves to dance. She has a great imagination! She can be quite a handful, but is a joy to be around and we are so proud to be her parents.


Swimming with friends, at our neighborhood poo,l for her Tinker Bell themed birthday party.


It's so nice that McKenna's closest friends are also our closest friends :) Pizza, chips, and fruit were on the birthday menu.


Cake time! Yum!




It was a fun day to celebrate our girl. She is one blessed little lady and dearly loved.

2 months & counting...

Month #1 flew by without any warning, so here we are with a 2 month old Addison!!! Boy has this little girl kept us busy over the last 8 weeks! I don't even know where to begin in capturing the last 60 days with her...hmm...lets see...

Just the day before she turned 2 months she surprised us with sleeping 8 hours through the night! Since then we have had 4, 8 hour nights, with 1- 9 hour night! This got her promoted to her big girl crib in her nursery! We have a video monitor this go 'round and it was fabulous having it to check on her when I got nervous having her so "far away" :) I'm excited about Addi being in her nursery and getting to spend more time in there, since we worked so hard on it!!

Addison is weighing in at 12.4lbs and is 25.5in long (McK was 10.11lbs & 23in) and has graduated to size 2 diapers! She is in 0-3 month clothes, but definitely wears more towards the 3 month end. She was a trooper getting her shots. She started to cry, I scooped her up, put the bottle of Heavenly goodness in her mouth, and she was back to her happy place! During this appt Addi was also put on new antibiotics that she takes daily for her urinary reflux.

I've worked hard trying to figure out a schedule for Miss Addison. She has proven to be MUCH more difficult than her big sister in this area :) With Addi's tummy issues and colic eating and sleeping have been a little more challenging...but...I think we've got a good system going now. Dave and I have both mentioned lately that we feel as if we can see the light at the end of the tunnel (knock on wood). This is what a "perfect" day for Addison would look like right now until she goes for longer stretches at night (according to me):

5:30am - Feeding, straight back to bed
8am (eventually would like for this to be 7am) - Feeding, wake time: play with McK and get dressed for the day
9am - Nap
10:30 - Feeding, wake time: swing and/or play-mat, time with McK
11:30- Nap
1:00pm - Feeding, wake time: swing and/or play-mat
2:00- nap
4:00- Feeding, wake time
5:00- nap; usually wakes up right at 6pm (begins the witching hour with colic)
6:30- Feeding, wake time: bath/PJs
7:30- attempt to lay down for a nap...usually does not go over well, maybe for 45 mins - 1 hour.
9:30- Feeding and down for the night by 10:15ish!

So as you can see she is on a 2.5-3 hour schedule. She has 4 oz of formula during feedings and burps like a grown man after each ounce :o)....just telling the truth! She is a spitter-upper, which is something we did NOT have to deal with for McKenna, so this has been new and different for us. Lots of changing clothes for Addison and Mommy, and lots of laundry to switch out burp cloths and sheets! We have dealt with 45-1 hour naps quite a bit with Addison. I have treated them as a "feeding-needing-to eat" issue and adjusted the schedule, we've also let her start to "cry it out" and has seemed to help.

The "witching hour" from 6-10pm has gotten SO MUCH BETTER!!!! Addison is now comfortable in the baby bjorn, so I can strap her to my front and have my hands free to do other things. She also enjoys her swing and play-mat now, which is HUGE!!! You can set her down for short periods of time through the 4 hours, which is progress from holding her the entire time! She is still quite the cuddle-bug though, and I love it (most of the time). She seems so much more settled now and doesn't cry as much. Dave doesn't have to walk her around the neighborhood anymore, so that is another plus :) This is where we are seeing the most "light" at the end of that tunnel!

Addison has turned into quite the happy baby, which I never thought I'd be able to say! She smiles ALL. THE. TIME! She is coo'ing and seems to just crack herself up. She is really starting to make some sweet noises. She has made some loud screeches too and seems to scare herself as if to say, "Who in the world did that?!"

Of course the one who can get her to smile the MOST is her big sister. Every time Addi smiles at McKenna, McKenna says, "Her smiled at me because her love me!" McKenna has taken to calling little sister "Addi" or "Addi-bug" instead of "Baby Addison". McK cannot wait until Addi can play with her. McK continues to love her sister and is such a help with getting burp cloths, diapers, or bottles. We do have to be careful when Addison is in the swing though. McKenna likes to think she can pick Addi up and hold her when she starts to cry, "It's OK Addi, I got'chu. I'm here!". McKenna also loves to hug and kiss her still...Addison does not, however, love this all the time, so we have to be careful with all the "love" Big Sister wants to share :o)

Some other firsts have been - first trip to the beach, first time in the church nursery, and first time in the bathtub w/out the newborn sling. We are just really enjoying Miss Addison and all that she is already bringing to our family. Time is flying, but we are trying to soak it all in as much as possible.


This is Addison at 1 month


Enjoying some wake time on the play-mat and time with Big Sister.


Smiles before 2 month shots, first time in the bathtub, first trip to the beach, and first Sunday in the Nursery at church!


Sisterly Love!!!!

Two Truths & a Lie

McKenna has always been fun, but lately she has been SUCH a treat!!! I don't know if it's her age or what, but she is putting things together, figuring them out, remembering, repeating, coming up with her own stuff...just hilarious and awesome!

Last week I came across the little activity she made at church the previous Sunday. It was a little "fold on the line" paper bed with a little paper doll boy on a Popsicle stick that you can stick up through the middle of the bed - like he's standing on it. I asked McKenna what it was and she said, "That's Samuel Mom." I said, "Well who is Samuel and what did he do?" She responded with, "God said, Samuel! Samuel! Samuel! and Samuel said, Here I am! Here I am!" My heart was filled to the top once I realized she was telling me about the story in the Bible from 1 Samuel 3. Samuel heard a voice calling his name, thinking it was his teacher Eli he kept going to Eli saying Here I am! Samuel eventually learned that it was God calling to him and his response was, " Speak, for your servant is listening." I prayed right then and there that McKenna would always remember this story and there her response would be the same when she hears the Lord speak to her heart.

We have been reading a story a night from "The Jesus Storybook Bible" By Sally Lloyd-Jones. It is a FAVORITE of mine. We have read it through about twice since McK was just weeks old. Last night we read the story about The Tower of Babel from Genesis 11. This is where the people built a tower up to the Heavens so they could make their name great and be like God. God wasn't so thrilled that they were trying to be happy without Him, so he came down and made them all speak different languages so they could no longer speak and understand one another. McKenna and I talked about how that is why there are so many languages like spanish, english, and french (just to name the ones she knew). So this morning when she was watching Dora the Explorer, she said super excitedly, "Mommy! Dora was at the Tower of Babel! God made her speak Spanish!" :o) I couldn't help but giggle and giggle, but was amazed by her retelling. Again, I stopped and prayed that she would never try to find happiness or make a name for herself without the presence of God in her life, for He is where true happiness lies.

So now for the lie part...

Just as quickly as my heart was filled up this morning by McKenna's sweet memory of last night's bible story, it was broken by a first...McKenna told her first lie...sigh.

I had given her blueberries, bananas, and a nutrigrain bar on her plate for breakfast. I told her she could watch TV (Dora) on the couch as long as she ate her breakfast. While Dora came to an end and she hopped down off the couch and started toward the playroom. I said, "McKenna, did you eat all of your breakfast?" She looked at me and said, "yes." To make myself clear I started again, "Is your plate happy and clean?" Again, she looked into my eyes and said, "yes." One last time, "All of your food is gone and in your belly right?" "Right." So I walked over to grab her plate off the couch to put it in the sink and lo and behold there were still a handful of blueberries and 3 bites of banana still on her plate.

WOW :(

I just had to stand there for a moment and let it sink in that my (almost) 3 year old just sat there and lied to my face not once, but 3 times...sigh...

I called her back to the scene of the crime, and asked, "What is this on your plate?" She just stared up at me with those huge brown eyes and knew she was in deep trouble. She said, "my breakfast." I asked, "did you tell Mommy you at your breakfast all gone?" "Yes." "Did you really eat all your food or is there still some on this plate?" "It's on the plate." "McKenna, you lied to Mommy and did not tell Mommy the truth."

Needless to say she got a spanking and had to sit in time out until her plate was really empty of all breakfast. After the tears were dried, from her eyes and mine, I went back to her to explain that she will always get into trouble when she does not tell the truth. I reminded her of my love for her, but told her how she hurt my heart by lying. She apologized, I forgave her, we moved on.

I know this is only the first of many times we will have to have this conversation. It was a huge reminder of how we must hurt the Lord's heart when we sin. As our Father, He must punish us because He loves us. We say sorry, He forgives us, and we move on. I am so thankful for His grace, love, and forgiveness. I pray that my girls have a heart of honesty and seek to do what is right always. I also pray that I will parent them justly - with honesty, mercy, and most of all love.

Addi's Hospital Stay

Monday, May 16th, Addison woke up from her 4:00pm nap very hot! I decided to go ahead and feed her and wait to see if she cooled off or if I needed to try her temperature. She stayed hot, so at 4:30pm, I took her temp - 103.3. I immediately called her pediatrician and they sent us downtown to our Children's Hospital. Dave was at paramedic school and I hadn't a clue on how to navigate downtown. I called Dave and was so thankful he was able to pick up. We met at the mall, he hopped in the car, and all 4 of us high-tailed it to the hospital.

They saw us right away. Her fever had gone down to 101 by the time we were triage'd. After getting her vitals, the yucky testing begun :( With a fever so high in a little one so young they had to put in an IV, draw blood, get a urine sample, and do a spinal tap. The nurses had a heck of a time trying to find a vein in our sweet girl. They had to try several times in several places and it was just horrible. I was walking the halls with McKenna and let Dave handle the blood stuff, but I quickly decided I'd rather be in there with Addison rather than just hearing her screams from the hallways.

The doctor who performed her spinal tap, finally was able to draw blood from a vein in Addi's leg (yeesh!). My poor baby was exhausted and quickly settled once all the testing was finished. By 8:00pm we knew that her spinal fluid came back clear and she was administered antibiotics. We were admitted to the hospital. I spent the night while Dave and McKenna went home. Addi had a good night, her temperature stayed down, and she continued to eat well.

The next day, they took Addison for a Kidney and bladder ultrasound: A test that uses sound waves to examine the kidney and bladder. This test shows shadows of the kidney and bladder that may point out certain abnormalities. Her blood test came back fine and there was growth of a bacteria showing on her urine culture. They were thinking the fever was due to a U.T.I. They scheduled a VCUG test for the following day.

Voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) is a test that examines the urethra and bladder while the bladder fills and empties. A liquid that can be seen on x rays is placed in the bladder through a catheter. Pictures are taken when the bladder is filled and when the child urinates. This test can reveal abnormalities of the inside of the urethra and bladder. The test can also determine whether the flow of urine is normal when the bladder empties. They test for "reflux" this way.

Urine normally flows in one direction—down from the kidneys, through tubes called ureters, to the bladder. Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is the abnormal flow of urine from the bladder back into the ureters.

VUR is most commonly diagnosed in infancy and childhood after the patient has a urinary tract infection (UTI). About one-third of children with a UTI are found to have VUR. VUR can lead to infection because urine that remains in the child’s urinary tract provides a place for bacteria to grow. But sometimes the infection itself is the cause of VUR.

Addi's VCUG came back to show she has a grade 3 (our of 5) reflux in both ureters. While we won't need surgery to correct it, Addison will be on antibiotics once a day until the reflux corrects itself as she grows. The doctors mentioned that by age 5-7, she has a 76% chance of growing out of it. She will have yearly urine cultures and VCUG test done also.

Although this was not the "diagnosis" we hoped for, we were so thankful to find out the cause of fever and to have a plan of action. I stayed at the hospital 2 nights and Dave stayed 1. We were so ready to come home! Wolfson's Children's Hospital took such good care of us though. They were really fantastic and we never felt "forgotten".

It was a looooong and stressful week, but one in which I could still see the Lord's hand moving and working. He showed us His new mercies every morning and we felt the love and prayers of all our friends and family. We are so blessed.

Happy Easter!

Dave had to work at the fire station on Easter, so we took full advantage of the beautiful Saturday weather and participated in a local church's Easter Egg Hunt and festivities. It was our first outing as a family of 4, so the adults were a little nervous :o) McKenna was super excited about finding eggs...she was probably just so thrilled to be leaving the house she wouldn't have cared where we were going!!!


They had bounce houses, music, and characters walking around. JFRD sponsored a bounce house, so this dalmatian came along with it. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what a dog had to do with Easter :) Ha!


McK didn't need any practice, she knew just what to do. She did get preoccupied when she found out there were treats inside the eggs! Every time she found one, she had to open the egg, get the treat, have the treat opened, eat the treat, and then she'd continue :)


Egg hunting is hard work!

This is how Addison enjoyed her first Easter Egg Hunt! She was a great baby during our morning. Slept the whole time! We were so thankful!


Gigi left some goodies for McKenna's basket before she went back to Oklahoma. McKenna loved her bubble blower, DVD, pool toys, new sippy cups, and more!


My sweet redheads in their Navy Blue dresses.

Addi was ready for her first Easter!


After the service, our church puts on a giant Egg hunt for the kids. McKenna was excited to find more treasures and go hunting with her friends.


She didn't make it home with very many eggs this go 'round...too busy wanting to know what was in each one of them!



I got the girls dressed, fed, and out the door on time all by myself East Sunday. I must admit, I was way impressed with myself :) We missed Dave terribly, but were thankful to have had such a good day together on Saturday. The Burke gals ended up over at the Baughman's house for Easter late lunch/early dinner. More friends were there and we had a grand 'ol time!

We are thankful for the real reason we celebrate Easter. We serve a RISEN Lord and couldn't be more humbled by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

Living Life: The First 2 Weeks!

As mentioned, my Mom got into town the day we got home from the hospital, Dave's mom left the next morning, and my Dad got here Saturday! All hands were on deck as we started trying to figure out how our new life as a family of 4 was going to work out!

We got our family's picture taken professionally before Addi was 10 days old. We did this with McKenna (she was about a month old) and I really wanted to capture the "newborn" stage with Addison. The pictures turned out beautiful and I know we will treasure them forever. We also got a generation picture with us four girls since Mom was still with us! I went with 4 outfit changes for the girls (HA!) and we made it into 2 of them...with only 1 really turning out :o) A Mom can hope right :o)

McKenna continues to be perfectly wonderful with "Baby Addison". She continues to say, "Her so cute!" whenever she sees her. She also wants to "hug her head" and "see her eyes" and "touch her". There hasn't been any jealousy (knock on wood and thank you Jesus!) and she is such a good helper. I know McKenna would like for Addison to be able to play with her. McK doesn't understand why Addi has to sleep so much and loves it when "her eyes are open!" :o)

By Friday of the 2nd week, things started getting worse with breastfeeding. I was going through what seemed to be the "normal" aches/pains with breastfeeding, but it wasn't getting any better. In fact, it was getting more painful instead of less. Finally I did some "research" and diagnosed myself with mastitis, a breast infection. I called the OBGYN explaining my symptoms and she called in a prescription for me. I went downhill fast! It felt like I had the flu - high fever, sweats, chills, among other hurts. I was so thankful my mom was there! I just needed to sleep and that would have been impossible without her help! By Sunday I really hadn't improved and called the doctor again. They called in a different prescription and had me come in for an appointment on Tuesday.

By this point, Addison had stopped taking my milk. She outright refused no matter how hard I tried. She was having really tough nights, being awake and very unsettled for about 3-4 hours at a time. She usually became wide awake (and very unhappy) from about 11pm - 3am. This was every night! We just couldn't figure it out. We literally had to sit and rock her or hold her up on our chest until the 4 hours was over and then she'd lay back down and be fine. She was perfect through out the day, but come 11pm you could forget about sleeping! One of the nights she hadn't eaten in far too long (in my opinion) so we tried some formula and she inhaled it! Ugh...what to do?!

We went for Addison's 2 week check-up Monday, and she was up to 9lbs and 21.5 in. The doctor walked us through how to take care of her little clogged tear ducts in her eyes, was impressed that her belly button had already fallen off (ick!), said that her incredibly odd hiccups were normal, and said the word COLIC when I explained her nightly episodes...SIGH. Definitely not a word you want to hear, but at least we now knew how to better help her through her nights. I also shared our breastfeeding woes with the Pediatrician and she suggested we move to a formula that is specifically made for babies with colic. I would continue to pump through the infection, but Addison needed a formula that would be easier on her digestion. She also said for us to use "gripe water" to help settle her tummy. I was armed with some good information and determined in my heart that this colic thing may be a long tunnel, but there was light at the end of it! The Pediatrician said that Addi will grow out of the colic by about month 3-4...sigh...We can do this!

Tuesday was my OB appt. They confirmed my self-diagnosis and talked me through some options. We decided to continue on the antibiotics, pump until the mastitis is gone, stick with the colic formula, and be finished with breastfeeding. So that was that. It felt good to have something resolved and a decision finalized with what would be best for both me and Addison.


McKenna got some GREAT one-on-one time with Gigi. They played play-doh every day, hide-and-seek, tag, read books, sang songs, played in the water table, played on the neighborhood playground and swung in the swing! Gigi taught McKenna some new songs that her preschoolers sing. McKenna loved the song "These are my glasses, this is my book" the best.


Ellison and Shelby Voiselle came for a visit...Time with Daddy is always fun!


I supervised and took pictures while Gigi gave Addi her first bath. I felt like I needed a crash course in remembering how to do everything. Addison didn't mind her bath. She enjoyed getting her hair washed (what girl doesn't?) and smelled so sweet after we lotioned her up!


Addison is not a BIG fan of her swing or papasan chair. She will sit happily for about 10 minutes right after she eats. She has fallen asleep on occasion, but that has been rare. She also doesn't seem to get a kick out of the "vibrating and/or song" features with her pack-n-play or papazan chair. McKenna loved these features, but not this chick! I'm hoping she'll learn to enjoy her swing more the older and more alert she gets!

Addison doesn't not like being on her back. She likes to be up against your chest, belly to belly, over your shoulder. She is a tummy sleeper too! After 1-2 rough nights, we just flipped her over and it really seemed to help. She is very strong and has good neck control. She is able to turn her head side to side, so I haven't felt worried about her being a stomach sleeper! The pressure on her tummy really seems to comfort her.


We were thrilled that Pop could come for a few days! McKenna adores Pop and soaked up all of his attention. Pop got some good snuggles in with Addison too, but what we REALLY used Pop for was to burp Addi! He is a pro at getting that girl to burp. It took forever sometimes, but Pop stayed with it and got the job done!!! :o)


We got to go to church the Sunday after Addi was born and it was so good! It was fun to be up and out of the house, showing Addison off, and worshiping God whom we were so thankful to! I always love when mom and dad can come to church with us here in Jax. Our church family is so good to us! One of the pastor's wives set up meals for us for TWO WEEKS!!! We had someone bring us dinner every single night for the first 2 weeks! It was SUCH a blessing and we could not even begin to express how thankful we were!

Our girls are so pretty in pink!


Grandma Joan and Kelsea Kirton, along with Mama Martha and Auntie Ginny (Braddock) came to get some snuggles and brought fun gifts! Our friends spoil us rotten!


Gigi got the girls these PRECIOUS big/little sister shirts and bows. This was the best we could manage for pictures while Mom was here. I'm hoping to get some other good ones before Addi outgrows her onesie!

The first 2 weeks FLEW by! Although some of the days (and nights) seemed much longer than others, they really did go by quickly. Before I knew it, it was time to send Gigi back to Oklahoma to wait on Grandbaby #3 from Keith and Hannah! I wasn't necessarily "ready" for Gigi to leave, but I knew we had to do this on our own sooner or later. It was time for our family to just be the Burke 4! I had to keep repeating, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..." :o)