Addison the 10-Month Old

Wow, 10-Months Old! She sure is creeping up to that one-year mark real fast! Every day, she is becoming much less a baby, more and more a toddler! Here’s a snapshot of Addison’s world the past month…

Sleeping



Her bedtime is still 8pm sharp, and boy is she strict about her bedtime routine! She gets a bath every few days that we always do right before her bedtime. We let her play in the bath, then dry her off and lotion her up real good while giving her a massage. Then we read a story and she nurses/has a bottle, then down in her crib. There have been a few instances where around 7 she has a dirty diaper, but instead of changing her, we decide to just give her a bath right away. Then we’ll get her in a PJ’s and bring her back out to the living room to play and she just WILL NOT have it. You can just see the confusion in her face. So yes, humans truly are creatures of habit right from infancy!


Addison has been doing very well at sleeping through the night – until about 7am usually. In this month there were a couple nights where teething woke her up and we had to give her the “tour of soothing” – orajel, bottle/nursing, frozen teething rings, Tylenol/Motrin and of course, cuddles!


She is very good at taking naps at well. Her morning nap is around 9:30am for about an hour. Her afternoon nap is a little after 1pm for at least an hour, but sometimes over 2hrs! She has been on this routine since October.


Eating



The Gerber Diet is coming to an end for Addie. From 6mos-9mos she ate the full-range of Gerber fruits and vegetables, then meats starting around 9mos. The meats went over really well, but around the same time she lost interest in the Gerber fruits and vegetables. She would simply turn her head when the spoon was offered to her and sometimes would even push it away and cry! We just weren’t sure what was upsetting her.


Until one day, over at Auntie Lorie’s –she was refusing Gerber food, but was wanting to leap out of the high chair to get cousin Bianca’s pancake! So Auntie Lorie gave her a pancake, and low and behold – Addison was as happy as can be! So, enter real food for Addie!


So now, her typical daily meals are as follows:


Breakfast: Bottle, Gerber Puffs or Cheerios, Pancake, cut-up fruit (melon, grapefruit, banana, pear)


Lunch: Bottle, Gerber Puffs or Cheerios, jar of Gerber meat or chunks of real meat, cut-up fruit


Dinner: Bottle, Gerber Puffs or Cheerios, jar of Gerber meat/dinner, cut-up fruit and a sampling of our dinners which has included the following:


• French fries, Mashed potatoes, cut up potatoes


• Turkey sausage, chicken, ham


• Corn, peas, green beans


• Mac ‘n cheese, pasta, rice


• Corn bread, garlic bread, pizza crust


On the Move


Addison is certainly a baby-on-the-move! Long gone are the days of just plopping her in her room while I got ready for work. Those days were short-lived, but certainly the easiest. She could sit up independently so I didn’t have to hook her up in the Bumpo, or prop her up in the Boppy or Bouncer (enough B’s for everyone?). But her only mode of transportation was rolling and that was easy to manage and watch from the bathroom.


At the end of February, Addison began to crawl. It began as 3 or 4 crawls at a time – to now all out “running” crawls! So getting ready in the morning has gotten a bit more interesting. Now, Addison likes to crawl into the bathroom with me and sit in between my feet while I’m blow-drying my hair, trying to dump over the trash can, or tooling off into the kitchen or down the hall to the living room – screaming in excitement the whole way. So, yes – it’s entertaining and fun, just not as much when my hair’s half wet and I’m chasing a silly baby down, trying to finish getting ready. Usually, however, she sleeps til 7am, which by that point I’m done getting ready so it’s 100% attention on her!


Standing


Addison is able to stand up against things if we set her up that way – such as against the ottoman or her Leap Frog keyboard. In this month, she has also progressed to waving while she is standing up against something!


She pulls herself up to kneeling often, and is very functional and balanced in this position, and has also graduated to kneeling upright without having to hold onto anything for support!


Addison has pulled herself to stand only ONE time last weekend against our ottoman. She has not attempted this at Auntie Lorie’s yet. A couple times at home it looked like she was trying again, but her foot would slip a little and she would simply give up and move on to something else. However, just last night, she did nearly pull herself up to standing in the bath tub of all places! So that’s quite a feat as I’m not so sure I wouldn’t slip and fall if I attempted that myself 


Talking


Addison’s vocabulary hasn’t progressed too much in the past month. No new official first words yet. However, her little personality has come shining through in the new way she likes to say “mom” – she’ll say it very short and clipped, and stick her bottom lip out when she’s done. And she knows it’s cute!!! She continues to mimic the “k” sound when she sees the kitties walk by. “Da” has become the word I believe she is using to say “here, there, this, that”, etc when she is handing us something, showing us something or wanting to grab something. “Dada” is also highly used.


Playing


Our little Addison is quite the happy baby – and of course, very silly! She is very active and always playing. She really enjoys when we stand her up against her LeapFrog keyboard as well as any of the footrests or our couch. She stands there happily banging on the top! She also likes bringing toys around with her when she crawls, sometimes this involves her carrying a toy in her mouth like a doggy or kicking it with her knees as she crawls! Quite the multi-tasker! Now that she is so mobile and knows she can find us when she wants to, whenever we are in the kitchen cooking, etc. she is out there immediately pulling the little instruction manuals we have for various kitchen devices off of the microwave stand and waving them all around. We’ve decided this means she will be an avid reader 


She has also recently discovered the joys of placing a toy in a bucket/basket/cup and shaking it all around until it pops out, then placing the toy back inside and repeat! Her other new favorite game is a manners game! Yes, she has learned to “share” and passes toys back and forth. She can do this for upwards of 10min or more! However, you have to keep up with her, if you hold onto that toy too long without passing it back to her, she will let you know that she doesn’t like it!


Events

Addison just had a busy Easter weekend along with her cousin Bianca’s 2nd birthday party. Starting next weekend, Addison and I will be taking a “Mommy & Tot” swim class at the Park District on Saturday mornings, 8:15am! Then, for her birthday Mommy & Daddy are taking Addison to her first Cubs game! The next day, May 29th, is her birthday party at the Schaumburg Park District. A busy spring ahead for the O’Neills!

The Neurologist

The Neurology Appointment
Monday, March 15

After six long weeks, Addison's appointment with the Neurologist finally arrived. The seizures, while constantly in the back of our minds, have now become almost a distant memory (thankfully/knock on wood). Two episodes, three weeks apart - with her first cold in the middle - seem like a blur. We tried not to think of it or worry about it too much in this time, and just patiently awaited this appointment.
The appointment was at 6pm, so Tim had the day off and I went in to work early so I could leave at 5pm to get to the appointment in Niles. We sat with the Neurologist and re-told the story of her two seizures, stories that we have repeated over and over again, it feels like a scripted narrative.
Tim told his story, how this also happened to him four times between the ages of 6 months and one year. He was placed on seizure medication until he was 5-years old at which point he was taken off and did not experience any more episodes. He knew this information at the time of Addison's first seizure and that was very helpful to the medical staff and Addison's pediatrician. However, Tim did find it odd that this possible genetic issue began with him - which is why he never thought it was genetic.
Then, we found out that this also happened to Tim's mom twice when she was an infant. So, another piece of the puzzle.
The Neurologist found all of this background compelling and was happy that we have this family history to explain Addison's episodes. Since Addison has already had blood work, an EEG and a CAT scan - all clean, plus the fact that her seizures were not accompanied by a fever, the next steps would be to get her on a prescription and/or schedule her for an EEG. But since the family history has resulted in the seizures being outgrown with Tim and his mom growing up just fine - there is seemingly no need to drug her up or subject her to rigorous testing.
So, in essence this is a closed case. We will revisit if (again, please knock on wood) Addison experiences regular seizures. For the meantime, we still have her syringe medicine to give her in the event of another seizure. But until that happens, we are moving on. We hope that she has outgrown this and that we have put this behind us.
While this is an answer, but not a "cure" and that it can still happen - we are not going to lose sleep over it. We are educated and prepared in the event of a recurrence, but we will drive ourselves insane if we fret over it day and night. Besides, there are already hundreds of fears we are already equipped with as parents!

Thank you all for your support, prayers and concern over the past couple months. Addison continues to grow and learn in so many amazing ways, that everyday we are thankful to witness it.

Addison - the 9 month old!

Addison has officially been *out* of me for as long as she was *in* me! Even though her name changed from Silly Baby to Addison Grace, she is still very much a Silly Baby! So let's take a look at her progress in her 9 month!

9-Month Check-Up

Height

28 1/2" - 90th Percentile

Weight

19 1/2" - 50th Percentile

Head Size

17 1/2" - 50th Percentile

Addison received the first round of H1N1 vaccination and will receive her second dose in a month. The rest of her check-up went well.

Talking

Last week, I decided that Addison officially said "mama." It went from just being a noise she made to being what she would say when she is nursing, or wants me to pick her up, or I walk in a room, or walk her away from her. She does, however, still say "mama" sometimes when in context it does not make sense for it means "mama." In those instances, I think she is saying "more", especially when it involves eating. Which is another good achievement since we have been working on teaching her that word, both by repeating it and using the sign language motion for it when we are feeding her.

Addison may also be trying to say "kitty." Although it will take awhile for her to actually be able to say it. But it is a word we say a lot - every time the cats are nearby we say "look at the kitty!" or "what's that kitty doing?" So she certainly has heard it enough. When the cats do get close to her, she sounds like she is trying to make the *k* sound. Yes, it is probably mostly Mommy reading into it - but hey, it's fun!...And maybe I'm right :0)

Eating

If Addison's height and weight growth are any indication, she is quite an eater! She has now been introduced to Gerber's full line of fruits and vegetables. She really enjoys Gerber Graduates puffs, so we always have them on hand for her to feed herself during meal times. We also give her her own spoon during meal times for her to entertain herself. And, as you can see from the picture, she really does enjoy it - and cute faces like this make it fun for us too!

Now that she has passed the 9-month mark, we will begin feeding her some table foods and the meaty versions of those Gerber foods.

Crawling, Kneeling, Standing

Just one month ago, Addison was rolling all over the place. However, now that she is much better at just sitting right back up after she tips over (and she tips over less often), she doesn't need to roll to get herself back into position. But even more important than that - Addison has learned to crawl!

In just one month's time, Addison mastered the art of the "army crawl" where she would kick her legs out while pulling with her arms. Every once in awhile, she would get up in crawling position, and rock but most of the time one of her legs were still tucked under her from being in the sitting position.

But then early last week over at Auntie Lorie's, Addison took to all-fours and began to crawl. Mommy and Daddy didn't get to see the full-out crawl until two days later, when she took four full crawl-strides in the living room. Just two days later, she was crawling - fast - all the way back and forth Grandma G's family room floor.

Addison has also begun pulling herself up to a kneeling postion when holding onto a foot stool or coffee table. Last week she also advanced to pulling herself up to kneeling, then letting go and being able to stay in the kneeling position!

She does not stand alone yet, and has not pulled herself up to standing except when assisted by us. Sometimes when she is in crawling position, she will pull her leg up so that she has a foot flat on the ground. When I watch her crawling and feel how much she still needs my support when she is standing - it seems that her standing and walking is a long ways away. But as babies go, I know she will be standing and walking before I can believe it.

Addison - the 8mos. old!

So wow! Addison's 8th month was quite the adventurous one. After 7 months of great health, no scares and no worries - we were dealt with a full deck of issues.

ER Visits
On Tuesday, January 5th, Addison had a small seizure. She was in her Bumpo chair while I was getting ready for work. All of a sudden, I looked at her and her head had dropped down to the side and she had a funny look on her face. I crouched down to look at her and her eyes were glazed over, then they started to flutter and roll back in her head and she started to tremble. I rushed and got her out of the chair and ran to call 911.
By the time I was done with the 911 call, the shaking had stopped and she was just out of it. I was instructed to lay her on her side, so I sat with her across my lap on the floor of her nursery. Moments later, the EMT's werethere. They didn't see anything wrong with her, by then she was her usual self. They checked her temperature and her vitals. She was taken to the ER for further tests.
In the ER, they took blood work (from her heel) and checked her temperature and vitals again. Everything came back clear.
That afternoon we took her in to see her Pediatrician who scheduled an EEG for the following Monday. The EEG results came back clean, so still no answers. We hoped this meant the seizure was a fluke and we wouldn't have to worry about it again.
However, only three weeks later, while at Auntie Lorie's she had another seizure in the afternoon. This time, it lasted longer than a minute - long enough for the paramedics to witness the final moments of the seizure. So again, she was taken to the ER. They took more blood work, this time from her arm which was terribly painful for us to watch Addison have to go through. They also gave her a CAT scan. Again, both test came back clear. We went to see the Pediatrician again and he gave us a referral to see a Neurologist. The earliest appointment we could get in Mid-March. After the initial appointment, Addison will most likely be scheduled for an extended EEG - which is a 48hr. EEG. I am not sure how that would work - but we are patiently awaiting the appointment.
In the meantime, Addison was prescribed medicine that we give her rectally in the event of another seizure lasting longer than a minute. We hope we never have to use this, but it is good to know it is there.

The First Cold
In between the two seizures, Addison got her first cold that lasted a little over a week. We wondered if perhaps the onslaught of the cold could have caused the first seizure, since that is somewhat common even though she didn't have a fever at the time of the seizure. She came down with the cold 3 days after the seizure and it was a lot of chest congestion and from what we could tell - a very sore throat. So that meant many sleepless nights for us all, with her coughing and screaming in pain. One day, her fever was 103 while she was at Auntie Lorie's so she ended up taking her to the doctor that instructed us to give her Motrin and Tylenol on a rotating basis for her fever. Tim stayed at home with her the next few days and her fever came and went. Then, her first day back at Auntie Lorie's - she spiked another high fever in the late afternoon, so I took off work early to take her into the doctor again who told us to just keep going with the Motrin/Tylenol and that this was most likely a virus so there was nothing else we could do - it just had to run it's course. Which it did in a matter of a few more days.

IN HAPPIER NEWS....let's review Addison's developments!

Talking
Addison consistently says "mamamamama", "bababababababa" and "dadaddadadadda" and some combinations of those. This does not mean she says "mama" or "dada", although sometimes we like to pretend ;) She does, however, understand when we say "where's mama" or "where's dada" she will look at the appropriate person.

Eating
She is eating more and more. She now eats the following fruits and veggies: sweet potatoes, corn, green beans, peas, squash, carrots, pears, apples, bananas, strawberries and peaches. We've also been giving her Gerber sweet potato puffs that she can feed herself and water in a sippy cup, although she doesn't drink too much of that.
I still nurse her in the morning and at bedtime, as well as through the night when she awakes. But many times we need to supplement a bottle, as I don't think nursing is quick enough for her and she gets frustrated - although she still finds it soothing.

Sitting, Rolling, Crawling
Addison constistently sits up unassisted for long periods of time. She only tips over when she is trying to get something out of reach or wants to roll over. She rolls everywhere now and quickly so the baby proofing has begun. She has some noise-making toys we have set up on the ground for her that keeps her well entertained.
When on her belly, she will push herself up to a crawling position and rocks back and forth, although no progression forward yet.
She still enjoys time in the jumperoo, although more of her time is spent rolling around on the living room floor.
She will be on the move before we know it!

Addison - the 7-Month Old!

December 27, 2009
For some reason, Addison being 7-months old sounds so much older than 6-months old. Perhaps that in this second half of her first year, big changes are coming down the pike. Let's take a look at her lifestyle!

Eating
Her eating habits are perhaps the biggest change that I feel because, well, I used to be her only source of food! Here's her eating schedule:
7am - Nurses for 10-20 minutes before Mommy goes to work
8:30am - Cereal
10am - Bottle of formula/breastmilk then nap
12pm - Jar of fruit/veggie
1pm - Bottle of formula/breastmilk then nap
3:30pm - Bottle of formula/breastmilk
6pm - Cereal and Fruit/Veggie
8pm - Nurses at bedtime
**Usually wakes sometime between 12am-2am to nurse, and sometimes even again at 4am**

The foods that she now eats are: rice cereal, bananas, apples, carrots and sweet potatoes. Next up - pears!

Sleeping
As you can see above, she is in a very good routine which began in the few weeks before I went back to work in November.
10am nap lasts about an hour
1pm nap lasts almost two hours, but sometimes up to three hours!
8pm bedtime is sometime as early as 7:15pm based on how she is acting. She shows signs of tiredness with redness around her eyes and resting her head on our chest and shoulders when we hold her. In the past two weeks she has begun the classic rubbing of the eyes!

Her bedtime routine includes changing her diaper and getting her into her pj's and sleepsack. Then I sit with her in the rocker and read her a short story, which is when her sleepiness really sets in and she begins to get cranky. So, then I nurse her for as long as she needs - which can be up to 30-minutes.

As I also mentioned above, she usually wakes at least once a night just to nurse, which did not bother me since it would only be fore 10-15min and I could fall back asleep while nursing her securely in bed, then when I would wake up, I would simply put her back in the crib. However; in the past couple weeks she has begun to wake a few times a night - and not to nurse. She just wants to hang out. I did read an article about nighttime separation anxiety. Separation Anxiety is supposed to kick in around 7 months, so perhaps she is beginning with the nighttime variety. But it is very frustrating for Tim and I as we are both working now and have been booked solid for the past 8 weekends so that has left us little recovery time from being awoken 3-4 times a night. We may attempt another round of sleep training, to at least minimize the number of times she wakes up. We'll see about that.

Playing
Addison still very much enjoys her Jumperoo and it is a part of her daily activity. Especially during dinner time so Mommy & Daddy can eat! She is also sitting up better and better on her own. We typically have the Boppy pillow as support around her in case she tips to one side or the other, but sometimes she is rolling back and forth so much - we take it away so she can roll around easier. For Christmas she received some stationary entertainers, including a LeapFrog keyboard as well as a couple similar items. So she enjoys sitting and looking at them. We usually need to do most of the button pushing to make things happen, but she has her few known functions on them that she knows how to do that gets a reaction.
She enjoys "grown-up" items such as a remote control and cell phones, of course. So she now has her very own real remote control and cell phone - neither which work, but entertain her nonetheless.
Anything and everything goes into her mouth - so what they say is true!!! But we take it as a sign of her really liking something!
All in all, when she is playing she is a very happy baby. Squeals and screams of delight, with happy baby babbling throughout. She enjoys being tickled and her belly "eaten" - she will grab onto our glasses and hair and laugh away! Some very special and fun moments for us all.

Addison's 6-Month Check-Up

Thursday, December 3

Addison had her 6-Month check-up yesterday. Let's take a look at her stats!

Height

27" 90th Percentile

Weight

15lbs. 10oz. 50th Percentile

Head Size

16 5/8" 40th Percentile

Addison remains tall and thin. She is filling out a little as her weight was only in the 40th percentile at her 4-month check-up. Her head size has certainly gained some ground, since she has been only in the 10th percentile in head size up until now.

We will begin to feed her solids in addition to rice cereal that she has been eating for the past two months. Starting this weekend, we will be feeding her bananas (baby food version of course!). The doctor recommends introducing a new "flavor" to her every four days or so to give time for any allergies to appear - and also to get her used to the new flavors!

Addison received her third round of shots: Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis and Hepititus/Hib as well as her first flu shot. She will go in for a booster flu shot in one month!

Otherwise, Addison is in good health and is growing well!

Her next appointment is her 9-month check-up!

Addison's New Life

Mommy Got a Job!
After enjoying nearly six months of being a stay-at-home Mom, but agonizing over my seemingly endless job search - alas, my job search and life as a housewife has come to an end. This is a big change for me, with a lot of adjustments to my schedule. I've worked full-time for six years, so it's been like riding a bike! However, the hours before and after work have been very different. I've added an extra hour to my morning routine to give Addison the opportunity to nurse; as well as enjoy some Mommy time with her and get her packed up for the day.
Addison is now spending her days between the hours of 9 to 5 with her Auntie Lorie and cousins Isabella, Nicolas and Bianca. Second only to Tim or I being home with her, this is really the best arrangement we could dream of! Lorie is a very experienced mother with three children between the ages of 18mos and 5yrs! I am familiar with her parenting, so feel secure knowing that Addison is in great hands.
Addison is also fortunate to spend her days playing and watching her cousins play - which is something she did not get at home! They have plenty of toys for Addison to play with so she is certainly entertained in her time there.
My first two days back at work, Tim stayed home with Addison - which was a really great transition in getting her used to being away from me and then being away from home too. Today, Wednesday, was Addison's first day with Lorie and it went very well! She ate a bunch and stuck to her morning and afternoon nap routine that we've established over the past few weeks. She enjoyed watching her cousins play and they no longer startled her like they used to when she was younger.

We are so fortunate to have family available and willing to take care of Addison. We hope she continues to be a good girl for her Auntie and Cousins!!

(THANKS, LORIE!)