Ear Infection & Bronchiolitis

Addison battled with what we thought was a cold beginning around mid to late January.  We took her to the see Dr. Ramsey on Friday, January 14th and she noted that Addison  had a cold and to give her Tylenol/Advil in alternating doses every three hours and it would run its course.  She ran a fever for a couple of days an was fever free by Monday and returned to school on Tuesday, January 18th.  Things continued to seem routine in our house except that we continued to pass cold-like symptoms around.  On Saturday, January 22nd, we went to my friend, Stephanie's, baby shower in Coppell and then hit the DFW malls before heading home.  That evening when we were leaving Ft. Worth, Addison seemed a bit hot and as a matter of fact had a fever by the time we got home that night.  We missed church again that Sunday due the fever and she continued to have a fever on Monday coupled with a very, very runny nose and the desire to constantly be held.  In addition, she began to pull on her ears.  We went back to Dr. Ramsey on Tuesday, January 25th and this time found she did have an ear infection in her right ear as well as Bronchiolitis.  This required that she begin taking 2 antibiotics:  1 tsp. of Amoxicillin twice daily as well as Albuterol Sulfate breathing treatments every 3-4 hours.

She loves the Amoxicillin but did not have great affection for the breathing treatments.  They require that she wear a mask that looks similar to an oxygen mask and inhale the steroid treatment for 10 minutes.  This is a difficult challenge on multiple levels 1) she is only 9 months old and does not stay in any one place for 10 minutes which required we 'restrain' her 2) she has no desire to have a foreign object covering her face.  To simplify, there are no pictures/videos of this process because it took everyone to do the treatment/entertainment and no one was free for pictures.  We enjoyed the help of Lisa and Grammy in the afternoons when they would sing and read to Addison during her treatment.  This made a difficult process a little less stressful. We are glad that is behind us and we have our healthy, happy girl back.  I must stay she did laugh and play even while she was sick; she has the sweetest spirit!

We are the proud new owner of a nebulizer compressor complete with a fish mask.  I bet you can't guess who picked the mask?!?

Our Big Helper

Addison is learning to do new things every day and during her 9th month she has learned to do some very 'helpful' things.  She can now open drawers, doors (if they are open she will grab on the side/bottom and swing them shut), and cabinets (with handles) as well as pull kitchen chairs "across" the kitchen.  Granted, she does not always recognize that something is capable of being opened, but her recognition of such things increases on a daily basis.  Needless to say, we have gotten very serious about Addison-proofing items that could potentially be hazardous.

She has not only discovered the drawers, but also realized it contains clothes that can be pulled out. (January 11th)

This is just the beginning.....

 Another new thing she loves to help with is unloading the dryer after I have loaded it.  She finds great humor in pulling wet clothes onto the laundry room floor after I have placed them in the dryer.  I know that one day we will work in unison with laundry, but right now I am just pleased to have her company!

Step 1- Pull out the clothes (January 16th)

Step 2- Throw them in the floor and go back for more (a bit blurry but the end result is the same)

Hello Toothbrush!

Dr. Ramsey mentioned at Addison's 9 month appointment it is time to start brushing her teeth, and by teeth we mean the two bottom ones she currently has.  Thanks to Heather's wonderful baby shower gift and mommy wisdom that knew a baby toothbrush would be needed in our future, we got Addison's Elmo toothpaste and tooth/gum brush to get the process started.  Her first session was on January 4th, immediately following her ice cream cone like good parents.  She loved it!  I guess it should not be surprising because she enjoys any time you would like to put your fingers in her mouth to let her chew on and this process comes with the added bonus of toothpaste!  The only difficult part of the routine is getting her to let go of your finger long enough to brush her entire mouth and not use the toothbrush (fingerbrush) as a toy.  Dr. Baum will be so proud when he sees you in a few years for your first dental visit!

Ice Cream Cone

 Addison had her first encounter with an ice cream cone (January 4, 2011) and loved every bite!  A picture says a thousand words.

New Year's Eve

This year we celebrated Addison's end of her debut year.  Needless to say she was in bed by 9, but we still had some party attire to celebrate the occasion and her 9-month birthday!  If you will notice, she touches them in most every picture.  She has now discovered she can remove all objects that were once safe on her head including my most beloved bows!

First Word: Bye, Bye

It is official as of December 5th, Addison is now talking!!  We are so very, very impressed by her verbal abilities!  She will now say bye, bye to you when it is said to her.  We practiced before church while we were eating breakfast and once we returned from church and were practicing some more, she began repeating bye,bye.

She has been babbling for a while now, but this is her first word that she actually seems to associate and which is clearly spoken.  She is starting to also get the hand movements to accompany, but as of now the wording is enough to leave us speechless.

Her is her video of her first word and I must say it has gotten more clear each time it is spoken:

As I mentioned she is also working on her wave and is 99% there.  We love the ability to interact with you in yet another way.

Mitchell Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Monty's dad's family on Christmas Eve.  We had a lovely meal followed by more yummy dessert.  This gathering was a bit larger than the one the day before which kept Addison very alert.  She and Jax, who is almost three, played very well together, all though I am not so sure he liked sharing his cars with her.  Addison really enjoyed the sweet potatoes that her dad gave her as the ones she is used to eating do not come covered with delicious gooey marshmallows!

Yet again Addison received a ton of wonderful things including singamajigs, a Little Tykes kitchen, dolls, clothes, a First Christmas ornament, a pink elephant with matching blanket, and more money for college (we are starting early!).  She is one fortunate girl to have a family who is so very generous to her!

The ABC money from Granny Virgie and PawPaw

Pink elephant and blanket from Aunt Heather and Uncle Corey

Oh tissue how I love to crinkle you in my hands and make noise

Action shot - pull that tissue paper out!

I believe I will check out the noise this Singamjig is making.  

That was fun!  I believe I will now yank my bow out and take a little nap.

Addison's gift to her dad was a Nascar driving experience.  We hope he has fun and is super careful because I am not sure if his life insurance policy will cover that type of incident in addition to the fact that he is the most important person in our lives!