Teething!

Hi everyone!

It's been a while again... A lot has changed from our last post. We are a little less than a month away from Addi's first birthday and I have different feelings about it. I'm happy for her because I know she wants to grow up, I'm excited to watch her grow and she what she will become, but I'm sad and terrified too! My baby is growing up and she is needing me less and less every day. I remember what it was like growing up and there was a period of time when I wanted to be with my friends more than my family and that's heart breaking to me. She will go through that some day and I'm not looking forward to it! I know we have years before that happens, but it's going to happen so fast. In a blink of an eye she will be graduating from high school and then in another blink she will be getting married and living her own life. That terrifies me.

Anyway...I'm just not going to think about it! On another note, Addi is getting her second tooth! The bottom right one popped through the skin not too long ago and now the bottom left is working on coming in. It is so hard on her! I feel so bad...I would take the pain in a second if I could. Last night she woke up a few times crying, but then she went right back to sleep. I'm not expecting to see it though for a few days. Her last tooth took 3 or 4 days to actually break the skin.

Michael, Addi, and I are really excited for our up coming trip to Florida for 2 weeks! We leave in a week from this Tuesday. I'm so excited to just sit back, relax, and hang out with my family.

Well, Desperate Housewives is about to start so I have to go. Bye for now!

Halloween Weekend!

I can't believe how big Addi is getting everyday (I think I say that in every post I write, but it's so true!!!)! She is eating real people food, talking (just syllables ) all of the time, crawling every where, pulling up on everything, and trying to walk. I want her to slow down. I know she is going to be all grown up and heading to college in a blink of an eye and I just wish so badly that I had a pause button. I treasure this time with her and I don't want it to end. She is so much fun right now. I love watching her learn because I can see her wheels turning. Just look at how adorable she is!!

This week has been a lot of fun! Tuesday I took Addi to Gymboree in her costume (AKA...Addisaurus) and she was so cute. She crawled all over the place and made her Ah-Ah-Ah noise (part of the reason why she is a dinosaur this year).

She has changed so much since the first time I took her to Gymboree! She is such a secure baby. She crawls around with her friends, chases balls, chews on an

imals, and goes after Gymbo, then she will come over to Michael and/or me for a quick hug and a kiss (to make sure we are still there) and then she is off again! I'm so glad that she is secure and not anxious avoident like me.

Anyway...check out her adorable costume!!!

This picture was taken at the pumpkin patch in Florida. How adorable is my baby?!?!?

Happy Halloween everyone! Bye for now <3

Update

Hi everyone!

Wow it has been a LONG time since our last post. It's not easy to find time any more! Michael took Addi to the grocery store so that gave me a few minutes of free time :-)

We just got back from a trip to Florida (without Michael because he had to work). The plane trips were hard just because now that Addi is moving, it's hard to keep her in one place for 3 hours. On top of that, there was only one of us to entertain her.

We had a great time with my parents! We went to the beach (Addi HATED the ocean because it was so loud and she hated the sand even more!). Addi had a blast in the pool with Grandpa and we had fun shopping with Grandma. It was a great visit and we miss them SO much! We can't wait until my mom comes back next month.

I love having this year off because that means that I can spend time with my mom every single month! It's wonderful. I also love spending every day with my beautiful baby! She has changed so much since she was born. I still can't believe that she is 9 months old. I really wish I could pause time and keep her this age forever. She is SO much fun! Don't get me wrong...I have always loved her and loved being with her, but I really love it now! She is so curious and into everything. I love watching her move with a purpose; if she wants something she goes after it. She knows if you are hiding something from her and she will get it from you. She throws fits if she can't have what she wants, she laughs with me when I laugh, she loves books and stuffed animals, and she likes to be with us. She smiles at everyone she sees and she loves attention. Everyone tells us that she is so beautiful and happy! She really is the best baby on the face of the planet!

We are still waiting on her first tooth. Every time she messes with her gums I think we will see a tooth soon, but I have been saying that since she was 4 months old. Everything goes in the mouth and she chews on everything she can! The doctor told us that she has been teething since she was 4 months old, but that was 5 months ago and we are still waiting. I think she will get 5 all at once because I know they are there. I wish they would just make an appearance already because I know those pesky little things bother her. I really hate it when she is in pain.

Well...Michael and Addi should be back any minute. Bye for now!

Memorial Day

Addi with her silly daddy!

She loves her walker, but she hasn't figured out how to walk in it yet.

Happy Memorial Day!

The love of my life!

"I can sit!!!" (Supported that is!)

Wow it has been a LONG time!!! Things have been really busy with school. I'm never home when Addi naps so I don't have time to update (I would rather spend my time with her while she is awake then type on the computer).

Addi is 4 months and 4 weeks old (she will be 5 months on the 10th!). I can't believe how fast time is flying by. She has gotten so big since the last time I updated. She has starting rolling over (not consistently, but every once in a while), she can stand really well now with support, she can sit supported, she has started giggling and laughing, she has noticed her feet, and she is talking a whole lot more! She has also started taking more consistent naps during the day, but we do have to go in and put her paci in a few times.

Michael and I took her swimming for the first time last week. It was SO much fun!!! She wore the swimsuit that I used to wear when I was her age. We took her again today at Nikki and Kevin's house...that was really fun! My dad is here for the weekend and while we went to the pool, my mom and dad went to see a movie!! They have not been able to spend time together in almost 2 and 1/2 months! I'm glad that they get to have this time together.

Well, that's pretty much it for now. I am counting down the days (7 1/2) until summer! I can't wait until I can spend every day with my little girl again. I hope we can get Michael and job for next year so I can stay with her for the whole year! I will keep you posted on that :-)

Bye for now!

Update

Hi again!

I'm glad to say that Addi is doing much better now! Our daughter DOES NOT sleep when she is not swaddled and the past few nights she has not really slept well at all. She kept wiggling out of her swaddle and her arms were out every morning! That's why she kept waking up at 2 or 4 in the morning. Well...I found a swaddle me blanket that Holly gave me at my shower and I used it...and she slept great! I got a few more from Babies R Us and we used one last night. She slept from 9:30-7:30!! Also, yesterday the doctor put Addi on 1 oz of prune juice to 1 oz of water...let me just say that it helped! She woke up smiling this morning and yesterday was an amazing day! She smiled all day long and just seemed happy. A complete 180 from the day before.

Addi is finally sitting in her bumbo! I'm so proud of her!

She also noticed her feet for the first time :-)

Frustration :-(

So let me say this first...I love being a mom (especially to Addi!). I love how my life means more now. I love that the reason I get up in the morning is for Addi (and Michael of course!). I love how when I look at her and smile, she smiles back at me. I also love how I usually know what she needs when she needs it.

On that note however, Addi has been crying a whole lot more than usual lately. I have given up breastfeeding (work is going to be too crazy and I really won't have time to pump...which would not work for me!) and Addi is now on formula. I really miss feeding her! It was a huge adjustment, but I think we have transitioned well. Addi is having some trouble with her BMs, but I'm not going to go into detail about that :-)

We have noticed though, that Addi has started to cry a whole lot more than she has ever before. This started about 2 weeks ago...today being the worst day yet! Nothing I did made her feel better. She was either crying because she was having a BM, she was over tired, hungry, or for unknown reasons. She took a lot out of me today! I feel bad for writing this, but I guess I just needed to rant for a minute. I thought babies were supposed to cry less when they turn 3 months, not cry more!

Did anyone else notice their babies crying more as they got older?

One more thing and then I'm done. Addi can't put herself to sleep (mostly during the day). I have tired to just let her cry for a minute or two, but I just can't let her go. She gets so frantic and I can't just sit there and listen to that. I love how all of the books tell you to put your baby down when she is drowsy but awake...well what if your baby doesn't want you to do that?!? How do you get your baby to do that? I have read A LOT of books about sleeping and NONE of them tell you what to do if your baby starts to scream when she is awake in her crib.

OK...I'm done. I am so lucky to have Addi as my baby girl. It is a little frustrating right now just because I want to make her better but I have no idea what is wrong. It kills me to see her cry like that and I get mad because I can't help her. Hopefully this is a phase and she will grow out of it soon... Until then...I'm still the luckiest mommy in the whole world!

Changes

I can't believe how much Addi (and myself for that matter) has changed over the past 11 1/2 weeks! This picture was taken when she was 4 days old...

And this one was taken at Nikki and Kevin's wedding when she was 9 weeks old.

Here are some pictures from her 11th week of life!!!

10 Weeks

I can't believe how much Addi has changed in just 10 short weeks! She is more alert during her "play" time, which is a lot more fun for Michael and I. We can all actually play and interact and she seems to really enjoy it! She is smiling ALL of the time and I love it! I will do absolutely anything to see her beautiful gummy smile. We sing songs, tickle her belly, and just smile at her (and she will smile back). Making my baby smile is the most amazing feeling in the world!

Addi is more alert during her awake times, but that leads to a very over stimulated and tired baby when she wants to sleep, which means she cries harder and longer than she has ever before. I hate when she cries like that! It feels like someone is ripping my heart of my chest. She still fights sleep during the day but she is still doing really well at night!

Yesterday, Michael and I decided to take her to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid. She was GREAT! We swaddled her and she slept most of the time...I was very surprised because the movie was kind of loud. It was really nice! Michael, Addi, and I had a great time on our date! We might do that more often while she is still little enough to sleep most of the time.

I love Addison so much! We are SO lucky to have her as a baby. Bye for now :-)

9 Weeks

Hi!!

I know it's been a while, but things have been really busy around here. Addison is getting so big I can hardly stand it! Although I am so excited to see what she is going to be like when she is a toddler, I love this baby stage! She is so cute and cuddly. I love the new sounds she makes every day and watching her get stronger and more baby like.

We are so lucky to have Addison as a baby. She is a really calm baby (most of the time) and extremely flexible and easy going. She was wonderful at Nikki and Kevin's wedding this weekend (which was beautiful!). She didn't cry until the very end of the evening. I am so proud of her for that!

This evening was a rough one. She didn't sleep much today at all which leads to a very tired baby. She cried for an hour and a half straight...not like her AT ALL! And it wasn't the normal baby cry...it was like she was saying, "I'm so tired and I don't know what to do!" She sounded so weak and helpless (I checked for a fever just to make sure she wasn't sick and it was normal). She even cried in the middle of her feeding. I felt so helpless. I hate listening to her cry like that! I am not used to it because she really doesn't cry like that very much.

Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully she will actually go down for her afternoon naps so this won't happen again! Bye for now!

7 Weeks

Here are some pictures from her 7th week :-)

I will update later!

6 Weeks

Sleeping beauty!

My baby is getting bigger :-(

She likes her sling when I'm walking around. When I wear this, it feels like I'm pregnant again!

This bag was mine when I was little...and it looks adorable on my daughter! Look at that smile :-)

I can't believe that Addi is almost 7 weeks old! Time is flying by so fast...which is good and bad. I love spending this time with her but I am really excited to see what she is going to be like when she is older! I know I will regret saying this, but I am looking forward to her crawling, taking her first steps, and hearing what her first word will be! However, I really enjoy my little bundle right now. She is SO cute because she is finally starting to notice the world around her. She has really started sleeping better at night, which means she is not sleeping so well during the day. She fights naps by crying (screaming actually) until I can finally get her to fall asleep. I feel so badly for her because I know she doesn't want to miss anything, but she is too sleepy to stay awake for longer than an hour and a half at a time.

Addi is getting so big! She has almost outgrown her 0-3 clothes and she is not even 2 months old! We tried on a 3-6 outfit today and it was pretty big around her tummy and chest, but it almost fit the length of her body! I just can't believe it.

In other news, my mom is coming on Thursday!!! I'm so excited because she has not seen Addi since she left in January! She has changed so much!!!

Well, it's time for Addi to wake up. Bye for now!

5 Weeks

Here are some pictures of her from this week!

Hi!

My friend Megan is having her baby today (in Oregon, otherwise I would go visit her instead of writing this post!!) and thinking about her and Michael has got me thinking about Addi's birthday. No matter how horrible the whole process was (and it was extremely horrible), I got the most precious gift out of it! My daughter is absolutely amazing a beautiful and I couldn't ask for a more precious baby! After her birth, my hormones were not normal and I had a really hard time with the transition of having a baby. Overall, I was not myself at all. I missed out on some really precious time with Addi during that time and I wish with all of me that I could go back (the way that I am now) and relive the experience. I love spending time with Addi, I love looking at her, kissing her, holding her, watching her, nursing her (I have actually come to like doing it... especially since I have a manual pump now that I can use in the car on the way to a restaurant or place if we are out. I still don't want to nurse in public so this has helped a lot!) and so much more! I love just being with her and I miss her when she is sleeping for naps or for the night. I just wish so much that I didn't have to go through that transition period, dealing with hormone changes, becoming a mom, healing from the c-section, and deal with the trama from her delivery so I could have given her all of me from the beginning.

Enough of that! I am SO happy for Megan and Michael. I can't wait to see pictures of Grayson :-) I know he is going to be little, because Addi was when she was born too! But babies change so fast. Addi looks like a baby to me know, not a newborn any more. I know she is only a 5 and 1/2 weeks old, but she has changed so much from the first few days of her life. I hope Megan and Michael enjoy every minute of these first few days. Waking up every 3 hours to feed is not fun, but that's OK.

Speaking of sleep...Addi has been sleeping in her nursery since Monday and she has been doing great!!! The first night was not so good. We both had to get used to being away from each other and she needed to get used to her room, but Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night she has slept longer than ever before. I really think it's because she has been sleeping in her room and we don't wake her up if we cough, change positions, or go to the bathroom. I'm really glad that we did it!

Well...that's it for now.

4 Weeks

Here are some pictures of Addison (4 weeks old)

I can't believe that Addi is already 4 weeks old. I know it's only been a month, but time has flown by! I guess time has gone so fast because I live my life in 3 hour periods...which makes the day seem shorter.

Addi is getting so much stronger every day! She can lift her head for about 30 seconds before she gets tired, which is awesome! She can follow objects from side to side. I have seen her smile while she is awake and looking at me twice now!!! I am going to assume that those smiles were for me! I think she knows my voice because when Michael is holding her and I talk she kind of turns her head to look at me. That makes me really happy. She still grunts ALL of the time, but I am starting to hear different sounds mixed in as well.

Addi has moved on from newborn to size 0-3. Her newborn clothes were too tight for her (and too short)! We also moved on to size 1 diapers today because I'm tired of the explosions that were happening. The size 1s are a little big, but she has plenty of room for everything in them! LOL.

I am so in love with Addison! I love to look at her, kiss her hands and her chubby cheeks, rub her head and her back, give her massages after her morning bath and before she goes to sleep, put her on my chest and watch her lift her head so she can look at me, and so much more! She is the most amazing little human I have ever laid my eyes on.

And speaking of eyes...hers confuse me. I have no idea what color they are going to be. It seems like her eyes are getting lighter...not darker. It would make sense for her to have brown eyes since Michael and I both have brown eyes. However, Michael has green in his genes and I have blue, so there is a slight chance that she could have lighter eyes. She has olive skin like me though...and it's strange for a person with darker skin to have lighter eyes. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

That's it for now. Bye!

Pictures

Here are some pictures of my beautiful 2 1/2 week old baby girl :-)

This picture was taken right before our first family outing to the mall. It was a lot of fun until Michael forgot about the bags that were under the stroller and left them in the parking lot. Thank goodness that all I had bought was two pairs of pants (buy one, get one free) so it wasn't that big of a loss. He went back for the bags, but it turns out someone stole them! We went back the next day to buy my pants again! LOL...I love my husband!!

We are slowing finding a sense of normal living around our house again. Last night Addi woke up every 3 hours (when she has been sleeping for 4 hours every other night). She has been really fussy in the evenings...around 5 or 6, but I'm happy that she is pretty much sleeping at night. Some times it takes her longer to go back to sleep after a feeding, but for the most part we are REALLY lucky! She was never much of a night owl when I was pregnant with her...she never woke me up at night. However, she was crazy active around 7:30-8:30 pm. Funny how that works!

Michael goes back to work on Monday (yes he has been off since the beginning of the year and it has been wonderful!!!) I am nervous about him going back for a couple reasons; 1) I won't have the extra pair of hands any more, 2) No more grown up conversations with someone that is sitting right next to me, 3) I have gotten so used to having him with me all of the time and I have really enjoyed this time getting to know him as a daddy, 4) nighttime will be difficult because I am going to have to take over some feedings by myself so Michael can be rested for work, and 5) I will be in charge of this precious little person all by myself during the day. I'm sure that once I get a some what routine set for us it will be much easier, but as of now, I'm not looking forward to Monday. Maybe time will stand still between now and then.

Addi is sleeping peacefully in her swing and Michael is working on making some chili for dinner for his parents tonight. I'm going to use this time to get myself ready. Bye for now!

New Life

So it has been two weeks and two days since Addison has been in our lives and things have been turned completely upside down in our lives (in a good way of course). My mom has been a huge help to us! She has done all of our laundry, cooked, cleaned, pretty much everything that I have not been able to do. I am not really aloud to do house work for 4 weeks (because of the c-section), so she took that over for me. She would watch the baby for Michael and me after a really long night so we could get some sleep. She was truly wonderful and made the transition a whole lot easier for us.

Now that she left, Michael and I need to establish a routine and some sense of "normal" to our lives again. Addi a really good baby. She can have her moments, but they usually don't last long. (I really hope I'm not jinxing things). She is pretty good at night as well...we can get three to four hours of sleep out of her, but some nights it's really hard to get her to fall asleep after a feeding (even though she falls asleep ALL OF THE TIME while feeding). Michael has been a huge help to me! He will sleep while I'm feeding her, change her diaper in the middle to wake her up, go back to sleep, then wake back up to rock her to sleep so I can sleep. He has helped keep me sane in the middle of the night...actually all of the time! He is my rock and I am so thankful for him!

Addi is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen in my life. She makes me feel so many things at one time...scared, happy, love, clueless, and so much more that I can't even think of the words for. I love her more every day. I love when she smiles, even though she doesn't really smile because of us yet (I am counting down the days until she does). It still melts my heart! But it also breaks my heart when she cries and I can't tell why. I have started to learn the difference between hungry crying and tired crying, but we still have a lot to learn about each other. And, I'm looking forward to every minute of it!

Addison Lee's arrival!

This is going to be a long post...FYI

Michael, Mom, and I had been sitting around the house since January 2nd waiting on my beautiful Addison to make her appearance into the world and it was getting really old! We were all so ready to get the show on the road, but Addi had a different plan for us! I had a TERRIBLE headache on Saturday that lasted all day long. I knew something was wrong when the extra strength Tylenol did not help at all, but Michael's mom suggested that we should get a blood pressure cuff and check my pressure. My blood pressure was scary high (155/94) so we put in a call to my doctor's office. Dr. Owens (Dr. Fliedner was not on call) had me go over to the hospital to have some tests done and then decide what to do from there. My blood pressure was extremely high and I had protein in my urine, which meant that I was dangerously close to having seizures. I was admitted into the hospital right away and started on a magnesium drip (which is a serious muscle relaxer...not good for labor). I was still not dilated at all, but we didn't have time to ripen my cervix, so the doctor just decided to induce me at 10:00 pm.

My contractions were not too bad, but I really did not want to get an epidural yet because I didn't want it to slow down my labor...especially since I was on the magnesium drip. They started to get really intense (1 minute apart) at 3:00 am so I decided to try a really strong pain medicine. It helped me relax for a while, but my water broke at 4:30 and I really couldn't handle them any more. So I got an epidural and I was in HEAVEN! I could feel the contractions, but there was no pain :-) I thought that my labor was progressing nicely because my water had broken, however when the nurse checked me I was only 1 cm and Addi's head was still really high (they couldn't even feel her head). After about 30 minutes Dr. Owens informed the nurse that we should move ahead with the c-section. My blood pressure wouldn't be able to handle 12+ more hours of labor so my c-section was scheduled for about 30 minutes later.

I really started to freak out because this is not how I saw Addi's birth in my head. The thought of having a c-section was really scary...that's major surgery!! Before I knew what was happening, the anesthesiologist was in my room pushing a ton of medication into the epidural. I was so numb that I couldn’t swallow the right way and it felt like I wasn’t breathing. That was scary! Michael had to wait in the hallway as I was prepped for surgery…it felt like hours before I got to see him again.

I was on so many drugs that I really didn’t know what was going on during the surgery. It took about 10 minutes to get Addi out of my tummy. The doctors showed her to me over the curtain for literally 1 second before they took her away. Michael stayed by my side until Addi was out and taken to the assessment table. I started to cry because all I wanted to do was see her! The NICU nurse came over to me and told me that they were going to take her for a couple of hours to make sure that the magnesium drip didn’t hurt her, which made me cry even more. Before they took her away, they brought her over to me so I could see her but I couldn’t touch or kiss her at that time.

Michael went with Addi to the NICU while they finish the surgery on me. I was crying the entire time…I was scared, alone, and my baby girl was some where without me for the first time. It was very emotional. After the surgery, I was wheeled back into my room. The room was empty because my mom when to find Addi and Michael. I spent the next few hours in bed waiting for Addison to come to my room. All I wanted was to be with her. Finally, she was brought to our room at 2:00 pm (keep in mind she was born at 8:13 am).

Over all, it was a terrible experience. I hated every minute that I had to be away from my daughter. Everything would have been fine if they would have let me be with her. The NICU gave her 2 formula bottles; one in the morning when she got there because she was going to be there for a few hours, and then one right before they brought her to me (which was extremely stupid because I could have fed her myself). I pretty much spend that first part of that first day crying, but everything was much better when I finally got to see my baby.

Overall, the c-section experience was horrible. The ONLY good thing to come out of that is Addi! I would rather forget the entire thing and just remember holding Addi in my arms for the first time.

The hospital stay was wonderful! All of the nurses were really nice and helpful. It felt more like being in a hotel rather than a hospital. I’m nervous now about beginning our new life on our own. I worried that I won’t be able to sooth my baby when she cries or read her and know what she wants. I know we will work through all of this, but it is a really scary thing!

Well…I’m pretty tired (go figure). Bye for now J

Update

Hi!

Last week Michael and I went to the doctor and I was not dilated at all. I also found out that my blood pressure was pretty high (140/90, which is very high for me!) and he gave me 4 options that we would discuss at the appointment this week:

1) Go into labor on my own this past week

2) Go into the hospital on Tuesday (tomorrow) to be induced if I was at all dilated

3) Go into the hospital on Monday (tonight) to be ripened and get induced on Tuesday morning

4) Schedule a c-section

Well, we just got back from the doctor and I am still not dilated! Addi is just not ready to join the world yet, which is OK because it is safe for both of us. My blood pressure was still high, 140/90, so Dr. Fliedner had me lay on my left side for 10 minutes before we checked it again. My blood pressure was 124/72...which is pretty normal for me. So...we decided to wait for one more week, but he told me this is her last chance to come out on her own. Next week we are either going to induce labor or schedule a c-section.

Her actual due date is January 8th, so hopeful she will come by then! We'll see what happens and I will keep you all updated :-)