Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Neurodevelopment Check Up

Yesterday Addison had her home nurse visit to see if she is on track with all of her milestones. This was the first visit that Daddy was there since Mommy was in Grand Rapids for work. She did SO well!! She scored on track in some categories and ahead of track in quite a few others. As expected, she is ahead with word association! She knows so many words and phrases! The nurse was also very happy how she did with gross motor movements like pulling herself up, standing, and how strong she is. The one thing that she is a bit behind in is her fine motor skills. We have been on and off track with this since the beginning. She doesn't try to grab something with just her thumb and first finger... she uses her whole hand which is an "immature" way to do it. Part of me wasn't surprised because we don't practice picking up small things because she would eat it faster than I could take it away!! The nurse always has her try to pick up this small button off a clipboard, but we will practice with the gerber puffs. We tell Addison they are "num nums" or "cookies". :)


Here is our smartie pants demonstrating her word association skills..... "monkey pool" is just outside on the deck. She got herself behind the curtain and was hitting the window to go out.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

One year Dr appt

It is always fun going to the Dr's office to see how Addison is doing, how much she weighs, and how badly she will rip up the paper on the exam table leaving the mess behind EXCEPT when you know there are 5 immunization shots with her name on them waiting for her. I know kids need there IM's and it is a part of life, but I know that I am better at being a nurse giving the shots than the mom holding her daughter down. I gave her some Tylenol in her lunch before we went to her 2pm appt and she actually did quite well. The usual piercing scream that comes after the mouth open with no sound, but after all the pokes, I had a partial bottle ready that she sucked down in no time, burped, farted and was back to laughing and causing trouble. :)

She weighed in at 16 lbs 8 oz!!! That is a 1 lb 3 oz gain in the last month! She had only gained 1 lb. previously over 2 1/2 months. So way better!! Still have to take her in for extra weight checks just to keep a close eye, but I was very happy with that. She also grew a little over another inch.

It is now time to pack away the 6 month onesies and move on to the 9 month. She has already been in 9 month outfits for a while, but this is still a big step for Mommy and Daddy. She is just getting so big so fast.

She also can understand a lot of words and phrases! She knows where her ears, nose, and mouth are. She knows where to go in the house to get outside to feed the fish. She knows where her "num nums" are whether she wants a bottle (baba) or food. She says mama and dada all the time. If you ask her "who's home?" she will crawl around to the kitchen to see. She can clap on demand... although sometimes hitting herself in the face and she knows how to wash her hands. She even folded her hands when we prayed yesterday. She also knows highchair, car seat, monkey pool, books, bear, dollie, blocks and has even started to match up her shapes with the correct hole.

She crawls everywhere, walks along furniture, stands alone, and is just constantly on the move!

What happened to our 4 lb preemie that would hang out in her boppy next to me??


Every night we go out to "feed the fishes"!!!



Crazy pool hair


LOVE TO SPLASH!!!!!!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Water RAT!!

It is NO mystery that Addison LOVES to be outside and now IN the water. She is happy to get in to whatever water she can whether it is sticking her foor under the sink faucet or her hand in our drinking glasses. Her new love is her little tikes monkey pool!! She knows and understands so many words. You can ask her where her fish are and she will crawl to our side door to go out to our koi pond or if she wants "num nums" and she will laugh and clap. Now if you ask her where her monkey pool is she will crawl to the window, PULL the curtains and hit the window while screaming at her pool. We have taken her out in it a few times... the first time being the night of her birthday!! She had so much fun and so did we! She splashed so hard, Tim and I were about as wet as she was. We let her stay in until she was getting pruny and it was time to start the bedtime routine.

She is growing up so fast! We love interacting with her and her sweet laugh and endless expressions!!


Splashing!!!




She has to stand and walk ALL the time!



She loves that the monkey spits water :)



Snuggling by Mommy



Already wants to go back in.... and look at her stand!!

She is going to walk away any day now!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Landon John

Happy 1st birthday to our perfect baby boy up in heaven! We talk of Landon often with Addison so that she knows she has a twin brother watching over her.

We placed balloons on his tree in our yard and have his stone placed by it that we made as well. On the previous post you saw that we also did one blue cupcake for him. One other thing we did in rememberance was posting a memory announcement in the Holland Sentinel that ran today.

It has proven difficult again to be both happy for Addison and mourn for Landon.  We all went to the cemetary and sang "Happy birthday" and placed a car and a truck in his flower urn. We just can't say enough how much we love and miss him.

Thanks to our family and friends for all your thoughts and prayers over the last few days.




This is on the back of Tim's car




The stone we made for under his tree





Our twins



Playing with his car




Our family

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Addison's First Birthday!!!

I have gotten behind in "blog world" and I apologize!! This past Tuesday I took Addison to the pediatric eye specialist and she passed with flying colors!! We never have to go back unless something would happen to her eyes (she goes cross eyed or fails an eye exam at the pediatrician). Another accomplishment and item off the list!!

AND......

ADDISON IS 1 YEAR OLD TODAY!!

The time has absolutely flown and we cannot believe everything that we have conquered. She is right on track with all of her milestones but is just small for her age (which is expected). Her most recent weigh in she was 15 lbs 5 oz. We get so many comments in stores how cute she is and then when we say how old she is, the response is always "she is so small!". To which we respond, "No, she is hige!!". She was only 3# when she was born. :)

Her birthday party today was so much fun. She slept right before so was happy and the life of the party all afternoon. So many of our family members were able to come, which made us so thankful we have a WAY bigger house now!! Not to mention... all the toys we have to find a spot for. :)

My decorating didn't turn out as planned because apparently there is a national helium shortage so we blew up all the balloons the old fashioned way. Tim made plenty of food and over 100 cupcakes! I brought some to my weekend friends at work (since I was supposed to work today but traded).

Addison loved all her presents and grunted and laughed at every card. We had her try a cupcake, but she wasn't too impressed. She made more of a mess with it than eating any of it.

She is crawling everywhere and will pull herself up on anything. She can walk along the couch and get to anything she wants. Her determination is crazy! She LOVES books and is learning so much.

We cannot believe a year has passed already! We love and cherish every moment we have with her.






The cupcake factory!





Cupcake table! We had a cupcake for Landon too.


First cupcake!!





She sat in her adirondack chair to open presents



Addison crawling through the tunnel from Mommy and Daddy


Playing on the bike from Uncle Kevin, Auntie Chris and the Fab 5....



....but she can't quite reach the floor...

so it is a scooter :)


Sunday, July 1, 2012

July!!

We cannot believe it is July already!! Addison went to her first 5K-- the Zeeland Zoom where we got to see lots of friends and cheer for Daddy!!! The whole time Tim ran all she would say was "Dadda, Dadda, Dadda.... over and over!! She loves to be outside no matter what you are dong. She was even content to sit in her stroller and watch Mommy and Daddy finish some landscaping over the weekend ;).

Today was too hot though to be out for too long.... so we played inside. Mommy likes to build and assemble things... so I built the ducky a little house to sit in. Addison only destroyed it 3 times before the last time that I finally got it built! :)



Chillin with Dadda before the race





Waiting for Dadda to finish....



Mamma's Duck House....



And Addison on her way to destroy it :)

(It actually stayed up for over an hour!)