My Loves...

5 Months Old!

Size Stats: Weight, Height & Head – I don't have the specific weight because we don't have another well visit until 6 months, but I will try and weigh her at home later on.  Addy hasn’t completely outgrown all her 3 month clothing, but she most definitely has to wear 6 month sleepers.  Her little arms & legs are way too scrunched if we put her in anything else.  I might have to switch her from her infant car seat to her convertible car seat because she is getting too heavy for me to be carrying that thing!  Its one thing on the weekends when Justin can cart her around, but going to and from daycare or anywhere else is hard on my own!  Add to it the several bags I lug around as well and I’ve become a packing mule!

Development:  Addy is doing all sorts of fun things lately.  She definitely grabs at anything we put in front of her whether it is a toy, a cell phone, Brinkley or a cookie.  (We obviously aren’t letting her eat the cookies!?)  We just started trying to let her sit by herself.  She usually hunches forward, but she seems like she is getting the idea.  She loves to be held in the standing position and pushes down on her legs.  She still isn’t flipping from side-to-side, but I feel like any day now she might do it at least on accident.  She is so busy when she is on her tummy or back.  She flaps and flails like a bird flying or a frog swimming!

Personality:  She has quite the personality…she talks NON-STOP!  Even the people at daycare say she just chats away all day when she is there.  She loves to hear her voice I guess!  She thinks her daddy is hysterical even when he isn’t trying to be funny…good luck disciplining her someday Justin!  He’ll just look at her and she laughs, it cracks us up.  She still has a very sweet demeanor and is such a good baby.  She is generally happy and hasn’t cried once when I’ve dropped her off at daycare.  Now, I realize the time will come when she does cry, but it has made it so mush easier on me these first few weeks knowing she is happy.

Eating:  Some day’s she likes food and other days she just wants her bottle.  I’ve been trying to incorporate food on an every other day basis, but sometimes she just isn’t interested.  I see no need to push it at this point and when she does actually eat her oatmeal, fruits or veggies it seems to have no impact on her sleep…she still likes to wake up several times at night.

Sleeping:  She still hates to nap.  She’ll take a few 30 – 45 minute naps a day, but that’s it.  Sometimes she’ll lie down and talk herself to sleep, but sometimes she won’t buy into the whole nap thing and cries until you get her out.  At night she is going to bed between 7:30 & 8.  Usually she’ll sleep until at least 12:30 until she “needs” a bottle, but lately she has been waking up like a ½ hour after we put her down and is not a happy camper.  Justin still has the 1^st feeding shift while I have the 2^nd shift.  It is looking like we will be trying the ferberization method ASAP (aka crying it out).  I’m not really looking forward to the crying that will be involved but I am looking forward to a full nights sleep for all.  Most mommies I have talked to said it took their child about 3 nights to get the hang of it.  So if we start on a Friday night, hopefully by Sunday she will be somewhat use to the routine.  My only problem is that she is usually good when we put her to sleep…it’s the middle of the night feedings that I’m worried about.  I guess we can only try and see how it goes!

Likes:  Addy pretty much likes everything!  She loves to be held and cuddled with.  She is starting to really enjoy Brinkley.  I think she knows Brinkley’s name, but I could be wrong!  She loves laughing, being tickled or entertained.  She still loves bath time and at the end I sit her up to look at the frog that is on the faucet.  She can also see her reflection on this silver piece in the tub which keeps her captivated.  She always smile when I lotion her up after her bath and kicks like crazy.  She loves watching us throw the ball for Brinkley and gets very excited when Brinkley runs back with the ball.  She seems to really enjoy her exer-saucer.  We keep in primarily in the kitchen to keep her occupied when cleaning up or making a meal. 

Dislikes:  she definitely dislikes waiting for her bottle at night time.  After her bath we bring her in to get lotioned up and dressed for the night.  Towards the end of getting her dressed, she usually looses her patience and gets fussy.  She knows her bottle is coming and she wants it right away!  She also hates it when I wipe her nose or face, she swats at me in protest.  She also isn’t a fan of the nose suction I’ve been using on her lately since she’s had a runny nose, but I really can’t blame her there!

Addy is getting so big!

A small post...
I can't believe how grown up Addy looks!  I threw on her cute Tommy shirt from Uncle Adam & a pair of jeans and she grew up before my eyes!  Her hair is growing more & more and is getting lighter in the process.  She has lovely blonde highlights that I would love to still have without having to go to the hair dresser.  She is getting very close to being able to sit up on her own, but still won't roll over!  She's happy on both her stomach and back, but isn't interested in rolling from one to the other. 
Addy & Brinkley are definitely becoming BFF's.  I can't handle the cuteness that goes on between them.  Every time I get Addy out of her crib, Brinkley comes in to say hi and get a "pet" from Addy.  We are working on Addy's gentle "pet" because right now she hammers away or pulls at Brinkley's face.  Brinkley doesn't seem to mind right now but I don't want it to be a problem later.  Addy gets super excited when she sees Brinkley after bedtime or after a nap.  She also loves to watch Brinkley run after a tennis ball and run back to us.  It's nice that I can semi-exercise Brinkley and amuse Addy at the same time. 

We've tried a few foods with varying success. 
Likes: Oatmeal cereal, Bananas & Sweet Potatoes
Dislikes: Peaches & Green Beans

I can understand not liking the green beans, but peaches!?  I hope she doesn't think she'll never taste them again because she'd be very wrong. I'll try them again in the next couple of weeks to see if she has changed her mind.
Here's her cuteness in her Tommy shirt!

Addy's First Cold

My poor pumpkin has her first cold!  My mother & I both had colds the past few weeks so one of us could have passed it on to her OR she picked it up from daycare.  She started to not sound great on Saturday and had a fever of 100.0 on Sunday night.  I decided to bring her into the doctor for her first sick visit just to make sure it wasn't anything other than a cold.  She had been a coughing, sneezing, snotty mess!
The doctor checked her out and said it was just a virus.  She said to get some Vick's Vapor Rub and put it on Addy's chest & back and to keep her humidifier up and running.  I also found a Vick's plug in that emits vapor into the air once you plug it into an outlet.  Her room smells so lovely in the middle of the night!
Addison is definitely looking and sounding better, but I feel so bad for her when she coughs!  This past weekend she really just wanted to cuddle, so we all obliged.  She didn't head to daycare on Monday.  My mom took the afternoon off to watch her, so that was nice!  Here are a few pictures of her just wanting to cuddle.

Addison's Baptism

Addison’s baptism took place this weekend at St. Francis of Assisi in Raleigh.  We were very fortunate to have both sets of parents & all siblings accounted for!  Justin’s brother Gannon flew into town on Thursday February 16^th and his dad, brother Adam and dog drove into town after work and arrived at about 1:30 am the same day.  Our little townhouse was packed to the gills! 

Addy was baptized at 11:30 Sunday mass and although the day was very gloomy, we had lots of smiling faces around us.  When we got to church, they have you take your little one to this back room to undress them down to their diaper and then wrap them in white towels.  I brought one of Addy’s blankets that my mother had made and wrapped her in that as well for an extra cute look.  Addy was very good through the whole mass.  The baptism was done after the homily and I really liked the priest who performed it.  Father Bill is a very personable guy and he didn’t make my baby cry, so that was a plus!  We took Addy to the front of the altar and then all the children of the parish were asked to come and make the sign of the cross on Addy’s head.  It was very cute to see all these kids come racing towards us. 

We then walked back to the baptism basin and slipped Addy’s diaper off, handed her off to the priest and then he dunked her.  She looked at me and was a little startled, but didn’t make one peep.  After, he handed her back to me where Justin & I wrapped her back up in her towel.  The priest blessed her baptism gown & cross and we went on our merry way.  Justin & I then took Addy back to the room where we undressed her to finally put some clothes on the girl!  She looked so cute in her dress, stockings, bib and shoes…her shoes refused to stay on though! 

After mass was over, we all went back to my parents house for brunch.  We were going to take pictures at the church, but they turned the lights off on us!  It was a great day and we couldn’t have felt more blessed.  It seems crazy that exactly one year ago we were sharing the news of our pregnancy with our parents…everything really came full circle.

Start of Mass

About to get dunked

Getting dunked

Aunt Amanda & Uncle Adam - GodParents

Dad & Mom with their sweety

The Rosplock Clan

The Crooks Clan



Sibling photo

3 Men & a baby

Girls only

Aunt Shelly & Uncle Gannon - The wannabe GodParents

4 Month Checkup

STATS

Weight: 14lbs 13.5oz (60^th percentile)

Height: 25 inches (75^th percentile)

Head: 42cm (85^th percentile)

Addy’s doctor appointment went really well.  She is such a good baby and was chatting away with Dr. Sarah.  I of course had been dreading the shots, but she literally only cried for less then 10 seconds and was over it.  She had 3 shots; 2 in one leg and 1 in the other leg.  My mother came with me to her appointment because I was sure Addy would be crying again which in turn makes me cry.  I needed my mommy!!  It’s also nice to have an extra set of ears because sometimes I leave the doctor’s office and forget everything they’ve said.  Oops!

Dr. Sarah was very happy with her progress and said we could start introducing some solid food.  Probably sometime this coming weekend we are going to try some rice cereal!  If she likes them, great…if not, they said wait one week and try again.  It isn’t completely necessary to give her solids until 6 months, so there is no real rush.  Justin & I are basically trying to cut down on “middle-of-the-night” feedings and want to see if some solid food will help.  Dr. Sarah this is an old wives tale, but sometimes when so many people believe it works, there might be something to it!  It never hurts to try!

Addison

still hasn’t rolled over yet and seems to have stopped caring to do so.  For awhile, she seemed adamant about doing it, but now just seems content lying on her back.  When she is on her back, her legs are constantly moving.  Once she learns how to crawl or walk, I think we are going to have an active one on our hands! 

Addy is enjoying spending time in her Bumbo with the tray attached.  She has been sitting in it while we eat dinner lately which is nice…Justin & I can eat at the same time!  Addy still loves bath time and I can’t wait to get her little body in a pool this summer!  My parents are currently planning a trip to Texas to see my Grandma, Aunt and her family in April.  My Aunt has a pool so I am hoping it will be warm enough to give it a try when we are there.  I am beyond excited that my parents, sisters, Addy & I will be headed to Texas…I can’t wait for my Grandma to meet her great granddaughter!!
Oh...last but not least, the doctor did confirm that Addy is indeed teething!  It seems early for it, but her gums are swollen and you can see a little nub under the skin!

4 Months Old!

SLEEPING

As of right now, Addy has kicked her bad habit of being placed in her crib for bedtime and waking up 10 minutes later. (Knock on wood!)  She is pretty much going to bed between 7:30 & 8 depending on her last nap of the day.  Lately I’ll come home from work, and she’ll get all cuddly with me and fall asleep for about a half hour.  I absolutely love that time with her!  She is still waking up 2 times a night.  Justin still gets the first feeding (anywhere from 11 – 1!?) and I get the second feeding (anywhere from 3 – 4:30!?).  Addy will then wake up between 6:45 and 8 for the day.  She still takes her bottle and falls asleep pretty quickly after she has finished it, so we really can’t complain too much!

EATING

Addy is funny about food.  She seems to enjoy more of it at the wee hours of the night/morning opposed to during the day when normal people eat!  I am hoping that on Friday when we have her 4 month appointment we can talk about giving her rice cereal because I’ve read a lot of information saying she might just need a more full belly before heading to bed.  I guess we can try it and see what happens!

CLOTHING

She pretty much doesn’t fit into any 3 month old clothing!  She is wearing all 6 month old sleepers because anything smaller and her little arms are only half covered! 

STATS

Weight, Height & Head: We haven’t been to the doctors since her 2 month old checkup, so we will have to wait and see for the 4 month checkup…I’ll follow up after Friday’s appointment.

Loves: Addy is enjoying her hands & feet lately.  She has managed to get both fists into her mouth and on very few occasions, just a thumb!  She is super interested in her feet right now and tries very hard to get them to her mouth.  She has been unsuccessful thus far!  She’s also loving her Sophie the Giraffe squeaky toy…Brinkley loves Sophie as well.  Brinkley doesn’t try to pick Sophie up, but she looks like she is being tortured by not touching it.  Thankfully, she is a good dog and listens pretty well! 

Addy still hasn’t rolled over, but is getting very very close to going from back to tummy.  I have several videos of her “trying” to roll over, but she hasn’t gotten there quite yet!

Hates: She doesn’t have any huge hates at the moment.  She still isn’t thrilled when she is put in her car seat, but it’s growing on her.  

OTHER

I think Addy is starting to recognize her name.  I think she knows when we say “Addy” it has something to do with her at least.  Addy is starting to pay more attention to Brinkley and following her with her eyes.

More to come on this front…

Here are a few pictures of her 4 month old photo shoot…again, mostly somber photos because she doesn’t cooperate!