42 Week Update - RSV Is No FUN!

42 Week Picture

Our poor little Addie has been sick!  On Thursday evening of last week, I noticed that Addison was coughing a little bit.  The next morning we woke up and she was a little more congested, but I figured it was probably just a little cold she was getting.  That evening, Shane and I had plans to go to Kansas City and stay the night (for a meeting Shane was scheduled to attend Saturday).  We made arrangements for Addison to stay with Uncle Dillon.  Shortly before arriving in KC, Shane and I received a call from Uncle Dillon that Addison had a fever of 102, was pulling at one of her ears, and was even more congested than earlier.  I couldn't believe what we were hearing.  This was the first time that Addison had a significant temperature so of course worries began to set in.  Uncle Dillon's initial thought was that Addie was probably teething.  After receiving a call that her temp was back to normal and she was resting, we were able to relax... a little anyway.
Saturday we headed home immediately after the meeting.  The drive seemed like an eternity!  We made the collective decision to take Addison to the local Urgent Care center.  The doctor looked in her ears and didn't see any fluid, listened to her lungs and didn't hear any problems and decided to check her for RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).  The test results came back that she did in-fact, have the virus.  We also learned that it's pretty common for babies to get it, but that doesn't make it any easier when it's your baby!  The doctor said the best thing is to keep her hydrated, well rested, and give Tylenol to keep her fever down.
Addie kept pretty high spirits all week long despite a huge lack of sleep.  By Wednesday night though, her congestion worsened .  Thursday morning, we were back at the doctor's office.  Dr. Calipjo decided to send Addison home with a breathing treatment system.  Mommy and Daddy worked together on giving Addie the treatment Thursday night.  As expected, Addison was not too thrilled about the mask and being held down but we definitely saw an improvement in her breathing afterward.

Milestones:

First major illness:  Addie came down with RSV on Thursday of last week.  It lasts approximately 7 days and can cause symptoms ranging from coughing, sneezing, stuffiness, abnormal breathing, and fever.  Because of Addison's excessive coughing, she also experienced some broken blood vessels on the side of her face that resembled freckles but they went away within a few days.

No No:  Addie seems to be really understanding the word "no" now.  For example, when I have to pump, I have no choice but to sit her next to me so I can keep an eye on her.  Sometimes cartoons don't keep her distracted and she decides to lean over and grab the hose that goes to the pump.  I tell her "no-no" and she swiftly pulls her hand away and looks up at me.  Of course, a few minutes later she is back doing the same thing but all it takes is another no-no reminder and she stops.  I'm sure there will come a day that she decides not to listen to the word, but it's nice to see her listening to me for now :)

Bye-Bye:  On Thursday while we were at the doctor's office, Addie was more than frustrated with the staff as they checked her ears, breathing, heart, etc.  At one point, with tears in her eyes, she began waving to the nurse in the room.  The lady said "oh, she's saying hi" I replied back "no, she's saying bye-bye"! ha!

Paci Games:  We probably give Addison her paci more than we should, but we would rather her have the paci than her thumb or fingers.  This week she started something really funny.  I was cleaning out one of our drawers and Addie was playing nearby.  I happened to throw all of the pacifiers in a pile near her.  At one point, I looked over and she is trying to get all of them in her mouth at once.  When she realizes she can't do that, she started switching them out... she would open her mouth, let one drop out of her mouth, and then replace it with a new one and then repeat.  I was cracking up!!

More Pictures From Week 42:

Day one of being sick :(

She's actually not sleeping here, but

"humming" and watching 

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse :)

 Switching out her paci... really funny to watch!

Switching again! ha ha!

41 Week Update - First Valentines Day

41 Week Picture:

This week we celebrated Daddy's 33rd Birthday.  Uncle Dillon, cousins Blake and Avryl, and some of Daddy's friends were here.  Addison was pretty tired all afternoon because she hadn't napped much so she seemed to just be absorbing all of the commotion.

Milestones:

Bye-Bye:  Addison waved bye-bye for the first time this week!  The three of us (Shane, Addie and I) went out for a date night to Captain Ron's on Saturday.  As we were getting ready to leave, our waiter (and friend) Bob came over to say bye.  He waved to Addison and she bobbed her arm/hand up and down back at him.  I thought it was just a fluke but he did it again to see if she would and she DID!  The two of them went back and forth for a couple minutes like that until finally Addie was "over it" LOL.  She has done it several times since then too.  I'm sure she doesn't understand what she's doing or why, but it's still really cute!

First Valentines Day:  For Valentines day, Shane bought us (Addie and I) matching "hoodie-footie pj's". They were sent to us via Pajama Gram in the mail and came in really cute packaging.  Addie's even came with a little toy puppy and dog house.  What a cute idea!

Food and Drink:  Addison has been doing so great with solids and drinking water.  Her pickiness has subsided too, at least for now.  We still have not introduced any other liquids to her other than water and don't plan to for at least another month or two.  When we sit down for dinner, Shane and I will break off little pieces of whatever we are eating and let her try.  She seems to like trying everything we are eating too which is great.  Pretty soon, we will have to guard our plates! :)

Poo Update:  I'm sure there aren't many people that care much about Addie's bowl movements, LOL, but I put them on here anyway.  Of course since Addison is eating more solids lately, her waste release has changed significantly.  Before it was.... ahem, sorry to be so descriptive but..... loose and "seedy".  Most of the time too it would be all over the place inside and outside of the diaper.  Now,  it's thicker and it's all in one place when we change her.  She seems to have to work a little harder to poop now, but I think she's definitely getting the hand of it! :)




More Pictures from week 41:

 Daddy celebrated his 33rd birthday this week. 

We had a FUN night!  Love you Daddy!

Grandma and Grandpa Handley bought Addie this

adorable Mickey Mouse for Valentines day. She LOVED it!

Our Matching "Hoodie-Footie" Pj's that Daddy

bought us for Valentines Day.  Too Cute!

Got tired of waiting for mommy to get ready one day.

holding back a smile...

Still holding it back.

She becomes EASILY distracted with a cellphone!

Daddy needed some new pictures for his office

so Addie and I took some self-portrait pictures

to give him on Valentines day.  

40 Week Update - Super Bowl Time

40 Week Picture

Addison watched her first Super Bowl this week.  We opt out of going to any parties and decided to watch the game (and commercials) at home.  Addie actually watched the TV and sat next to Shane, it was really cute (see pic below).


Milestones:

Water:  Addison LOVES water now.  Last week Addie was definitely getting used to the water but she never really seemed to be sold on it.  This week, she drank on several occasions without spitting anything out and without making faces.

Face Studying:  Daddy was half napping (half not) one morning while Addison fought off sleep.  I looked over and saw Addie "studying" Shane's face.  She was gently petting his forehead and cheeks, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.  while singing to him.  It was absolutely ADORABLE.

Jumper-Roo-Roo: Addison has loved her "Jumperoo" since day one of trying it out. This week, mommy helped Addie stand on the outside of it.  At first, she would jump and tuck her feet under thinking she was going to be supported by the seat of the Jumper.  After a bit, she realized that she was free standing (with mommy's help) and had to be careful about her moves.  I think it has actually been a great way to start Addison out on "cruising".

Pulling Up:  Apparently Addison has been doing this for a while and I didn't realize that it was considered to be pulling herself up.  She would sit facing one of us holding our hands and then pull herself up (with a little tug on our part).  I thought that it was only considered pulling themselves up if they independently hold onto furniture and use it to stand.  So.... officially, Addie is pulling herself up :)

New Foods:  Periodically, we try to introduce something new for Addison to try at dinnertime.  This week, mommy made ravioli.  We cut the pieces really small for her and she fed them to herself.  It was the first time we had given her anything with meat, but the filling is ground so fine that chewing isn't even really necessary.  She seemed to really like it!

New Toys:  This week I had been running errands and came across some new blocks that Addie seems to like a lot.  They look like wooden building blocks but they're foam and a variety of colors.  What's great is that they can be used at any age.  Currently, they are being used to chew on ;)  But my 2-year old niece was over this week and had a great time building with them.  Not to mention, my 30-something brother had a great time too :) You can see pictures below.

More pictures from week 40:

Watching the Super Bowl with Daddy

Hanging out with Cousin Avryl

 Playing in the Jumper-Roo

Hanging out at Uncle Dillon's

Still LOVES to watch the doggies eat...

except when mommy snaps a picture and distracts her :)

Playing with some new blocks

 This is Addie's idea of putting the toys away....

 My happy little girl :)

39 Week Update - 9 Months

39 Week Picture

What a WEEK!  Monday was the start of a snow storm that made history!  Our area received nearly 18 inches of snow in two days.  Needless to say, daddy got to stay home with us from Tuesday until the rest of the week.  It was like a little vacation for all of us.  If it weren't for the record-setting low temperatures, we would've taken Addie out to enjoy the white mess.  She seemed perfectly content watching it from inside the house though :)

Milestones:

9 month Checkup-  Wow! 9 Months already?  We had Addie's checkup on Monday (her 9-month birthday!).  We didn't have any shots at this appointment, but Addison was still not really very happy about being at the doctor.  She really hates the paper sheet that they put on the exam bed and screams every time she is laid on it.  She is also very uncooperative when the nurse tries to weigh and measure her.  It seems as though she just does NOT want to be messed with! ha ha
Here are her stats:
Height:  27.5 inches (roughly 50th percentile)
Weight:  20.9 lbs (roughly 80th percentile)
Head: 18 3/4

More Please:  We were watching movies this week and every time Addison wanted another chip, she would tug on Shane's arm to get his attention.  He would give her a chip and then once she was finished with it, she would tug on his arm again.  Way cute!

Loving herself:  Addison loves mirrors.  Since day one, she has seemed to be fascinated with them.  We have a little bendable toy mirror that she plays with on the floor.  Her newest thing is laying on her back and holding the mirror over her head "talking" to herself and making herself laugh.

Clothing size:  Addison is in pajamas more than anything which makes it easy to tell when she's growing out of a certain size.  Over the last week or so, we've noticed that her size 9-mo pj's are getting snug.  It seems impossible to think that she's nearly in 12 month outfits already!

Little quirks:  We posted last week that Addie has been winking at us lately.  She continues to develop this new characteristic daily.  Her favorite now is to wink her Left eye, crinkle her face and breathe hard out her nose.  We're not sure where she picked this up at, but it always gets mommy and daddy laughing.

Solids:  Addison ate three meals of solids a few times this week.  In addition to increasing her solids, she is taking about half the amount of breast milk.  Some days she can be really finicky and doesn't have a huge interest in baby food.  On those days, she will take in 25-35 oz's of milk (depending if she wakes in the night).  On days that she eats 2-3 meals of solid food, her milk intake is closer to 15-25 oz's.

Tongue twirler:  We've noticed this week that Addison loves to twirl her tongue.  Sometimes she'll do it when she's playing with toys and sometimes she'll do it when she's just sitting around watching cartoons.    

More Pictures from week 39: