Doctors, Doctors, Doctors, and More Doctors.

So the week before last week was FULL of doctors!!!

First of all we had Addison's one-year appointment. She dropped from the 97th percentile in height to the 87th, and from the 80th percentile in weight to the 68th since her last appointment. I asked the doctor if that was bad and he said it was pretty normal. As they get more active, they tend to lose weight...which is good. As he puts it, "You don't want them looking like the Michelin Man all their lives. :) Everything looks great. She has great muscle tone, is about to walk, and babbles in her own little language.

Which reminds me...I can't remember if I already posted this or not, but Addison LOVES talking to herself now. She is always babbling away. The other day I let her play in her nursery. Next to the rocking chair, we have a pile of books we read to her. She crawled over to it, pulled out a book, and babbled away while she turned the pages. It was so cute!!!

The day after Addison's Doctor's appointment, I had a doctor's appointment. For the past few weeks I've been having sort of a hard time breathing and my lungs hurt. It will be really bad for a few days, then I'll be perfectly fine for a few days. When it first started I thought I was just getting a cold...but the cold never came. Finally it annoyed me so much that I listened to Bart's nagging me to see a doctor. Well, the doctor couldn't hear any asthma or bronchitis, so she was worried that I might have some blood clots that moved to my lungs. She had me take some X-rays, then sent me to the hospital to get a V-Q Scan "to rule out pulmonary embolism" and to get some blood work done. I had to call my boss and tell him I wasn't going to be able to make it to work because I had to get all these tests done.

Nothing came up, so they sent me home. The next day (Friday) I felt considerably better. While I was getting ready to go to work, I realized we hadn't taken the car seat out of the car after we got home from the hospital, so Bart had taken it with him to work that day. I called my boss and explained to him that I didn't have a car seat, and told him I didn't have much to do that day. He said, "You've been through enough this week, go ahead and take the day off, and have a good weekend."

It was about half an hour into thoroughly enjoying my day off when my doctor called again and informed me she had scheduled a CAT scan for me at 4:30. Feeling perfectly fine, I really didn't want to have to go back to the hospital and get poked some more. I said, "I normally work at that time, can I schedule it for another day?" They said no, and offered to write a note to my work. I told them it wasn't necessary, hung up, and called Bart to tell him he had to be home by 4:15 so that I could go to the hospital again.

Once again the results were normal. And I went home not knowing what was wrong with me, but not caring too much because I was feeling fine.

All of Saturday I felt fine too, but then Sunday while I was at church, it came back. I was running around after Addison which only made it worse. Monday was just as bad, and I was about to call my doctor again when they called me at work and informed me they had made an appointment for me with a pulmonologist.

When I got there they had me do a breathing test before I saw him. Three hours and a million questions later, He told me he thought I had asthma onset acute bronchitis. But he said he didn't think I actually had asthma because nobody in my family has asthma, and I've never had any symptoms before. He just said my lungs were acting like they had asthma and that that may have caused the acute bronchitis. He also said it may have been acid reflux disease. I have never had heart burn...well, at least not what you would normally think of as heartburn...except when I was pregnant, but he said a lot of times it can feel like pressure in the top of your chest and throat. SO anyway, he gave me these pills for the acid reflux, an inhaled steroid for the asthma, and an antibiotic for the bronchitis. He said to take the pill and the steroid first and see if I felt better in a couple days. If I didn't I could start taking the antibiotic.

Well, Monday night Addison slept through the night until like 5:00 a.m. at which point I went and gave her a bottle. She fell back asleep, and slept until 8:00. Hallelujah!!! I felt GREAT when I woke up. Since then I've been pretty good. I still can feel it coming back a little at the end of the day usually, but I'm glad to finally know what the heck is wrong with me!

Bart is doing well...other than worrying about me. He had parent-teacher conferences this week which made for some VERY long days. But other than that everything is going pretty well.

Addison has also started getting very demanding, and very cuddly. She used to play on her own for quite a while, but now she hardly plays for two minutes without wanting me to play with her. When I do sit down and play with her though she will crawl up on me, and lay her head on my shoulder, or she'll crawl onto my lap, turn around and just lay back on me. It's SOOOOOOOOOO cute!!! She'll also lay down on our laundry when I am folding it. She loves climbing into the laundry basket and throwing all the clothes out too.

She has also finally mastered the kiss. If you say, "Addison, Kisses," She will either jut out her chin at you and wait until you give her a kiss, or open her mouth wide and plant a big wet one on your mouth. Those ones make for some wet kisses, but it is dang cute!!!

She is eating really well. We have transferred her...for the most part...from formula to milk. She loves eating whatever I am eating. Yesterday I had a tomato, onion, feta Greek salad. I was eating it on a chair in our living room, and she crawled over to me, climbed up, and opened her mouth like, "Give me some mom!" I thought for sure she wouldn't like it, but she LOVED it! She will hardly eat three bites of baby food now, but she'll eat just about anything that I'm eating.

Well...that's pretty much it for now...Oh wait!!! I forgot. A few weeks ago we went to Moab to visit with Bart's uncle and aunt who were in town. Addison LOVED Bart's aunt. And once again, she fell asleep while grandma was rocking her. I don't know how she does it! :o)

A Last and two Firsts, and a second.

Well, this week we had a last two firsts, and a second.

My family came to visit on the Thursday before labor day. They came up to bring Amy’s stuff back up to college, and so that we could see Eric one more time before he leaves on his mission. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them all weekend. Eric even helped us get and install a new hard drive on our computer…we are SOOOOOOOOO screwed technologically when he leaves.

Friday we ran some last minute mission errands. Eric & Bart stayed up late playing Star Wars Lego. Bart loved it. I’m still trying to figure out if Bart or I will miss Eric more. :o)

The next day Dad, Eric, & Bart got to go to the BYU game. It was AWESOME!!! Mom & I stayed home to watch the game. It was an awesome game!

Sunday we went to Grandma & Grandpa Timms’ house for dinner. It was fun seeing them. We went through a TON of old pictures they have! It was AWESOME!!! IT was also a lot of fun hearing grandpa’s stories. We’re glad we got to go.

Monday morning Amy & I drove my mom, dad, and Eric up to the airport. It was really sad. I think it’s not quite sinking in that that will be the last time I will see him for 2 years!!! I bet it will really start to sink in after he leaves and I can’t talk to him on the phone any more.

On Saturday, Addison got a runny nose. I wasn’t too worried because it was clear, so I thought that she was probably just teething. On Sunday it got a little worse, and was more cloudy, but she also was sneezing a lot and her eyes were watering, so I thought maybe it was just allergies. Bart has bad allergies, and they’ve been acting up a lot lately.

She didn’t sleep very well Sunday night because she couldn’t breathe, so I decided I’d set up an appointment with the doctor on Tuesday just in case. Monday night she slept very well, and even slept in until 9:00. I almost didn’t call the doctor because she seemed to be doing better, but I figured I’d better go to figure out whether or not she had allergies.

Addison’s nose had stopped running, and she was as happy as could be when we got to the doctors. I felt a little silly being there, but when the doctor looked in her right ear it was bright red. She said, “Wow! I can’t believe you’re so happy little girl. That’s a pretty bad ear infection.” She wrote out a prescription for the infection and sent us on our way. I NEVER would have guessed it was an ear infection! She’s been SOOOOOOO happy lately! She’s hardly been fussy at all!!! I SWEAR! I have the happiest baby in the world.

So this week I saw my brother for the last time in two years, and Addison had her first ear infection. So far, a not-so-good first and last, but it gets better!

Addison also had her first birthday! Bart got Addison a book called "Olivia" and a little car type thing that supposedly can help a baby learn to walk, then transform into something a toddler can ride. The seat splits in two so that a baby can stand up behind the car and use it kind of like a walker. She really likes it...although she prefers to sit down behind it instead of standing. She still loves it. It flashes, and plays music, and says things like, "Open" when she opens the hood, and "Close" when she closes it.

I got Addison some nesting cups and "The Very Quiet Cricket". My family got her a bunch of cute clothes. One of which she wore on her birthday. Bart's Family got her a doll, a bunch of awesome books, some really cool balls, and some sippy cups. She loves them ALL!!! She is just thrilled to have some new toys around. :)

I wanted to make chocolate cupcakes that I could frost and then let her get as dirty as she wanted eating it. But I totally burnt them, so I had to make brownie panckaes because we didnt' have any more cake mix.

The next day some of Bart's Brothers and Sisters were coming down to celebrate Addison's birthday, so I went and got a cake mix and made some cupcakes. Addison got her day with the frosting. :)

Bart's Parents, Sarah, Charles, Heather, and her sister Michelle stayed the night. The next day, Amy, Heather, Michelle, Sarah and I ran the Spanish Fork 5k. And I came in 2nd in my age group!!! YAY! True, if I hadn't had a birthday last month, I would have been like 17th, but we won't think about that. And! The only girl who came in ahead of me won the entire 5k!!! (Boys & Girls Considered)!!! So I was pretty proud of myself.

Sarah also took first in her age group, and Michelle took third, so in our group we had a first, a second, and a third. :)

Although the last at the beginning of the week was a little sad, Eric is going to serve the Lord...and although the ear ache was not fun, we are grateful that she hasn't had more. So overall it was a pretty good week.

My Baby’s Sleeping Through the Night!!!

All I can say about that is Hallelujah!!!

Well, Addison is getting closer and closer to walking. Right now she can stand for short amounts of time without holding on to anything…that is if she forgets that she’s not holding on to anything. If she realizes at any point that she is not holding on to anything, she will get this terrified look on her face and slowly reach her hand out to whatever is closest to her, once she is securely holding on to it she will squat down and sit. It’s pretty funny.

She has also started doing this thing where she’s kneeling, but one foot is up on the ground and she sort of bounces there. It looks like she’s about to stand up, but she never does. She just bounces. It’s pretty funny.

She is getting solids at least two times a day now, which is an absolute mess!!! She’s been constipated lately, and we couldn’t understand why. We took her completely off of rice (or other grain) cereal, and fed her fruits and veggies to her hearts content, but it wasn’t helping. We finally decided maybe it was the formula we were feeding her, so we switched. Sure enough it worked. But then we started trying the cereal again, and it plugged her right back up! So I’m not sure what to do. I’ll talk to the doctor about it next week…

Speaking of which! I got an email at the beginning of the week saying, “Next week your baby will turn 1!!! I was like, “What, no, that’s not right.” So I went to check the calendar. Sure enough, next Thursday, she’s one! I couldn’t believe it! I can’t believe how quickly the past year has gone by!!! Addison has also learned that when she’s in her high chair, if she coughs, I come running. She absolutely loves chewing on fruit, so a lot of times if I have to clean the kitchen or cook I will put her in her high chair and give her some watermelon chunks or peach slices and just let her chew on them. Well a couple of times she bit off a little more than she could chew, and coughed a little. I was worried that she was choking so I ran over to her. She was fine, but then a few seconds later I hear this little dry cough. I look over and it stops and she smiles at me. I smiled back and went back to what I was doing. Suddenly I hear the cough again. I look back, and it stops and she smiles at me. I believe we need to teach her the story of the boy who cried wolf.

She’s also getting much better at getting what she wants. This past week Bart left the diaper bag all zipped up in her play area. She somehow figured out how to unzip it, pulled out the formula can, opened it, and dumped it on the ground.

We have set up a baby gate in the door that leads to our kitchen so that she can play in the front room and I can work in the kitchen without worrying about her coming in there. We have molding at the bottom of the door way, so we usually put the gate up about 4 inches from the ground. Yesterday I was clearing out the dishwasher, and I look over. She is laying on her stomach flat on the ground, reaching her hands under the gate to try and get something on the kitchen floor!

She’s also really starting to learn how to talk…not that she understands what she’s saying, but she’s always saying stuff. When she wakes up, she almost always sits in her crib and babbles to her self for at least 15 min. Also, when she’s playing with her toys, she’ll talk to herself.

We’ve tried to get her to consciously say words too. I think she’s finally catching on…although she doesn’t quite have it. Whenever I say, “Say Mama.” She smiles, and very obediently says, “Dada.”

Hawaii Baby!

Okay Okay Okay, so I know it has been pretty much forever since I last wrote, but in my defense, a TON of things have happened since then, and it's taken forever to write them all!

My Grandparents had their 50th wedding anniversary. We went up to New Mexico the last weekend in June to celebrate. It was a blast seeing everyone! Everyone except one family on my dad's side was there, so it was a lot of fun.

Amy & Stacy, my sisters, came home from the reunion with us and celebrated the 4th of July here. Bart's brother and his roommate also came. It was a lot of fun. We got some fire works and set them off on our street. Addison loved it. After that Bart was gone for a weekend in Virginia for the NAEA board meeting. Then the weekend after that we headed off to California. From there we left for Hawaii with my family. It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!!!
We flew in on a Sunday to the Island of Kauai. The first full day we were there we just sort of hung around a chilled. Bart caught his token vacation creature. This vacation it was a crab.

That night we went to a Luau. It was a lot of fun. Some of my sisters went on stage to learn how to Hula, and Bart, my brother, and my brother in law wend up to learn how do the poi balls. It was a lot of fun. Addison loved the luau. She was memorized by all the pretty colors.
The second day we took a boat ride to the Napali Coast. It was beautiful. We had a ton of fun. There were these trampoline type things at the front of the boat that we could sit on. On the way home we were going over waves so fast it threw everyone up off the trampoline. It was a BLAST!!! And Bart had quite the hairdo after words.


Day three was Bart's birthday. Last Christmas my mom sent us a book about Kauai and told us to go through it and see if there was anything we really wanted to do. The only thing Bart really wanted to do was a hike along the Napali coast. So that's what we did for his birthday. He originally wanted to do a huge overnight hike, but he decided a smaller 8 mile hike would work. It was AWESOME! We hiked two miles along the Napali Coast to a beach, then two miles inland to a 300 foot waterfall! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! It was a hard hike though. It was really wet, so we kept slipping on mud. On our way back we ran out of water, and were VERY ready to be home. Overall it was a lot of fun though. :o)

Day four we went on a mud-buggy tour. That was a blast! We got SOOOOOOO muddy! We went to a few waterfalls, but after our 300 foot one, they weren't very impressive. :o) Somehow our tour guide managed to not get muddy though, so we snuck up on him afterwards and took care of that. :o)

Day five we got to go on a really cool adventure. We started out kayaking, then we hiked to a zip line and did that, then we went to this pool with a HUGE rope swing that you could jump off of into the water! It was a total blast! All the other excursions we had left Addison at the hotel with my mom, but this one they got to come on. I wasn't sure how Addison would like the kayaking, but after the initial dislike of her life vest, she did pretty well. I set her on my lap, and held the paddle in front of her and paddled. It was a great adventure.

My mom took Addison swimming every day. She really liked that.

Overall it was a great vacation! It has been very hard to come back to reality, but I think I've finally gotten back into the swing of things.

Bart is starting school again on Wednesday. The teachers need to be there a week before the students have to come. I'm going to miss having him at home. There are definitely some advantages to having the summers off.

Father's day, Teeth, and the Arts Festival

Well, this week was a good one. Bart & Addison both had a good father's day. We have pictures (one of which I've posted) that very clearly show only two top teeth on Father's day. On Thursday, Bart said, "Hey! She has another tooth on top!" Sure enough, now there are three on top. I had no idea she was teething either! No fussing, whining, or waking up in the middle of the night. This is way better than the first four.

I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but Bart has also taught Addison to clap. It's so cute! He'll clap, then she'll clap. I love it!
Earlier this week I was laying down next to her and I was hitting my belly like a drum. Every time I did it, Addison started shaking her hands and opening her mouth really wide...albiet the opening her mouth really wide isn't that unusual...but when I stopped, she'd stop. When I started she'd do it again. It was so funny!This past weekend we also went to the Utah Art's Festival. It was a ton of fun, even if it was hot. I kept pouring water on Addison to try and keep her cool. At the end we went through the mister...she was NOT a big fan of that. She didn't like the water fountains at the gateway either! I was really disappointed! Now what am I going to use as an excuse to play in them?!? Sheesh.