Illness Strikes The Grant Gang

Oh man....have we had a bad run of luck with illnesses lately but honestly I am thankful that they were really all very minor!

It all started on Wednesday March 16 when I came down with the WORST stomach virus EVER. I wont give details, but it was so bad that after all night of being sick I wound up in the ER with TWO bags of IV. Sheesh. I guess nursing and being sick like that will dehydrate you.

The next day I was still feeling blah, but started getting a headache and a bit of a cough. I did not think much of it until Addison ALSO started coughing just a tiny bit. Over the next few days Addison and I both started getting some congestion. By Tuesday March 22, Addison was wheezing so we had to take her to the doctor....Wednesday the doctor confirmed she was wheezing and needed to be on breathing treatments every 4 hours. AND he said she should NOT be in childcare for a week or so. Well normally that is not a big deal for us since I stay at home with her. During church she is in the nursery but missing one week is not terrible BUT...this was consignment week. What is consignment week you ask? Well it is a children's/baby consignment sale at my church benefiting a local pregnancy center and I am on the leadership team. That means, Addison is supposed to be in childcare for two days solid...and I found out the NIGHT BEFORE. Oh man I was stressed. Luckily everyone was able to step in and help me out at the sale and Matthew got home an hour early both days. I felt terrible being away from her when she was so sick :(

She took her treatments PERFECTLY...I am not exaggerating, she did not even move, it was so sweet.

All the while, I was neglecting my ailments which proved to be a bad idea. By Thursday I was so stopped up I could not breath...but of course I was too busy to call the doctor, until MONDAY. And by Monday MATTHEW was sick too!!! AHHHHH...so we all piled in the car Tuesday to head to the doctor. Matthew and I both had bad sinus infections. My doctor said I should never wait two weeks before coming in next time.

I am pleased to report, Addison is 95% back to normal, just a bit of a cough still.

Matthew is MUCH MUCH better now that he is on medicine and feeling better too!

Me? Ehh...I am allergic to amoxocillin so....there arent many antibiotics I can take to help with a sinus infection. Needless to say, I am still under the weather but honestly...I am THANKFUL I do not have a stomach virus anymore! WHEW...I hate those things!!!!!

Here's hoping we are all healed by Addison's First Birthday Party Sunday!!!! YAY!!!

Cookies Please

Addison has been blowing us away with her communication skills; she signs and speaks SO much already! I made some cookies for a church function the other night. I picked up a cookie to taste test them of course and then preceded to sit down with Addison to play. Well she was every interested in what I had so I decided to let her give it a try. I gave her ONE bite and she wanted more naturally, but alas I said no.

About 30 minutes later I picked her up and brought her in the kitchen to show Matthew the dress her grandma Grant made. She saw the pile of cooling cookies (which she had not seen me pull my cookie from), pointed at it.....said "eeee", gave the "eat sign" followed by the "please" sign. And repeated. We could not believe that a) she made an entire POLITE sentence with sign language and b) that she even knew that was the cookie she was eating earlier.

Of course we had to recreate it for the video camera, she did not do the eat sign here but for a recreation this was pretty good....so check this out....

Please ignore my haggard appearance...remember I am still sick.

Push and Ride Fun Outside

Santa gave Addison a push and ride for Christmas, but she has always been a little hesitant around it. Well the first kinda warm day here, we decided to enjoy the sunshine by testing the push and ride on the sidewalk in front of the house. I was admittedly nervous about the concrete, but I KNOW she has to fall and learn sometime so I kept a safe distance. Well, Addison LOVED riding on sidewalk--I think because it was much easier to push herself and she could go FAST.

Since this outing, we have taken her outside several times to ride around and she seems to get more and more endurance. It is a great way to burn energy, which she has TONS of now!

Waiting to go play outside....and playing with the light saber in the mean time of course

Good thing it is not a real one!

I just thought this one was sweet. She held onto this leaf the whole time we were outside.

Deep in thought...thats our scientist :)

Testing out the push and ride on the grass first....just to see if she would climb off

YAY!!!!

This looks like an advertisement :)

National Zoo

On March 20, 2011 we decided to take a trip to the National Zoo. We have been once before but she was VERY young; since she can make so many animal noises we knew it was time for another trip. D.C. is such a cool place to live because we have SO many exciting things to see and nearly all of them have free admission and the National Zoo is one of them!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but the Ape house was the best because every time she saw one, she did her signature monkey face, it is THE cutest face!!!

Riding on the metro to the Zoo

Still not tired of the self portraits

She's already checking things out

She was grinning like this the ENTIRE time she as on his shoulders

And when she would get tired, she would rest her head on his

She is excited to see the elephants

She is making the elephant noise here...see the elephants in the background?

My favorite, the monkey face in the ape house!

She would do this face every time she would see one...and sometimes wave her hands like crazy with excitment

King of the national zoo

We had a blast, I cannot wait to make another trip back there soon!!!

Playing With Piper...Sorta

Ok...so maybe I was being mean to Piper when I put her in the pack and play with Addison, but Piper really does love playing with Addison. Once I saw how funny Addison thought it was...I HAD to record this! Addison has never been one of those babies that just giggles and giggles forever at one thing. Normally, she laughs a few times and she's over it, but not this! I crack up every time I watch it...enjoy!

Milk Sign

Here is Addison doing her milk sign! This was one of the first times she did it, now she does it all the time!!!!! So fun!!! Please excuse my loud talking, I try to enunciate very clearly so she learns her words properly. Enjoy!

"Please" Sign Success

We recently started working on manners with Addison's sign language and I am pleased to report within less than 2 weeks she got "please". She has always had trouble being consistent with the "more" sign; sometimes she does it and sometimes she claps to indicate it. When we were teaching her please we started with "more please". Instead of her putting them both together now she just says "please" when she wants "more please", however she understand that this sign indicates she wants something and that she must do it to get what she wants....and thats all that matters.

I think we are in what most refer to as the "sign explosion" stage. She seems to study your signs so meticulously right now and repeats them fairly quickly. In the past two weeks she has learned please, potty and milk. We are still working on her getting them consistently though.

Another interesting observation, she understands the signs when she sees them and hears your words along with it. When I sign "drink your milk", she looks are her cup, picks it up and takes a drink. FUN!

I have had a few people ask me about our baby sign language experience and I am going to write a thorough review of our journey soon. So stay tuned...

PLEASE

Vegetable Lasagna

Many of you have asked for the recipe for the Vegetable lasagna I was facebooking about the other day. Since Little Joy LOVED it, I blogged about it on the Little Tummy Yummy blog: Vegetable Lasagna. Check it out and enjoy!

One taste bud warning, this is a southwestern take on lasagna so if you are expecting an Italian taste, you will be disappointed. Go in with an open mind and you will love it as much as we did!

11 Months, Can it be??

Happy 11 Months Addison Joy!!

I cannot believe in less than a month Addison will be a year old, where has time gone?? This month was full of ups and downs but its easy to forget the downs. Some of the downs: double ear infection and a not so pleasent flight from MS to DC. Some of the ups: she is saying more and more words, learning more sign language, understanding more of what you say and getting so mobile.

The Stats

• Weight: Hovering around 21 pounds; she lost quite a bit of weight when she got sick
• Height: 30 inches I would guess
• Clothes: 12 months and some 18 months. Depends on the brand
• Diaper Size: 4

Milestones

• Talking: She can "say" so many words now and can look at pictures of a couple of things and identify them. For example, she can see a picture of a baby, daddy, duck and Addison and say each of those words. Now let me tell you her words on not pronounced perfectly but she sure says those words and many more. It is so exciting to see her learn words!
• Mobility: I believe she is still very far from walking, which is fine with us! She has a lot of baby and height to drag around. Plus, she is an observer so she is happy watching rather than getting up and joining in. She pulls up on EVERYTHING and cruises around on everything as well. She sometimes does a regular crawl now too versus her usual army crawl. She is much faster army crawling though.
• Breastfeeding: Oh man....we are quitting in a matter of days. As soon as she's finished with her antibiotics---straight to the cup with cow's milk we go! She was doing great with milk in her cup until she got sick then she would drink from a cup OR bottle---ONLY ME!!!! This is the first time EVER she has ONLY wanted to nurse. We are thinking we will continue a bedtime bottle with expressed milk until 13-14 months or until she wont take it which ever comes first. So technically she will be breastfed the whole first year. I feel blessed we made it this long!!!! Thank you to all my friends and family who encouraged me every step of the way--I could not do it without you. A special thank you to my most precious husband who not only encouraged me but also helped me eat right and stay focused on the commitment. I don't see how people do it for a year on their second, third and subsequent children--wow!
• Eating: We are pretty much off all purees with the exception of a few here and there (especially fruits to ensure she is hydrated). It is so fun giving her some table food and some super yummy "toddler" foods such as turkey loaf, sweet potato fries, Chicken and Rice Peach Stew, toast with homemade fruit paste, pancakes, etc. I still do not LOVE mealtimes, but it is beginning to grow on me.
• Personality: Not much to report here that is any different than previous posts. Addison is still quite an observer; the church nursery all love Addison because she is so well behaved but they joke because she usually finds one spot with one toy and stays there watching everyone. She does not like diaper/clothing changes and has started a bit of separation anxiety again. Addison is truly a JOY and lights up a room with her goof ball faces.
• Routine: I AM LOVING THIS ROUTINE!!!!!!!!!!!!! She only takes two naps but they are LONG!! She naps from 10am-12:00 or 12:30pm and then again from 2:30pm-4:30 or 5:00pm; not to mention she sleeps from 7:45 or 8:00pm to 8:00 am. I am not convinced she is actually asleep that entire time, but she sure doesn't make a peep.
• Teeth: Oh man do I hate hate teething! She is about to get her pre-molars in. Poor thing gets her teeth so early, I think she doesnt know how to handle it. I am so over it, but she really is a trooper.
• Independent Play: After vacation for 2 weeks followed by a week of sickness, this has been a challenge. She is back to 15 minutes of independent play once a day. Our goal is 20-25 minutes in the morning and then 15 minutes in the evening. We will get back though!

Coming Up

• The Spring Consignment Sale is coming up at my church and I cannot wait---WE NEED CLOTHES!!!! AND Addison will be in the nursery all day for 2.5 days so it will be great for her!!!
• We are turning her car set forward facing on April 1...YAY!! I am so ready for this, then she and I can chat in the car better!
• Her first birthday party, not sure what I am doing yet....but my old high school friend made these cupcake pops and I may have to try it out too!!! Tonya---Any words of wisdom??? Either way, I will throw something together the week before I am sure!

Pictures & Videos

Bloopers from the 11 month photo shoot, she loves sticking her tongue out. Good thing we are ending the monthly pictures at 12 months cause she wont sit still anymore!

Monkey face; she loves to do this at people because she always gets a laugh.

How about I hold the sign mommy??? Much more exciting!

She is ready to be done with independent play, ha! The timer went off and she is reaching for it!

Loves helping Daddy on the computer.

Cooking pizza with mommy; I cannot wait until she can stand on a step stool and really help. One of my fondest memories growing up is helping my mom cook; she was/is such a great teacher. If only I could cook like my mom!!!

Daddy's light saber!

This is how she waits for Matthew to come home sometimes.

Spaghetti is messy!

Mommy with her girls.

I really just wanted a picture of her outfit. I HAD to get the shift because she got so excited when she saw the frogs.

hehehe, I love the frogs and I dont know why!

Clean Up Sign

Jump, Jump, Jumping....but not getting much air. If any of you have seen ME try to jump, you might know where she gets this from :)