A Few Updates

I have been delaying any blogging due to the fact that I have no new pictures to post. Well, actually I have taken a lot of pictures recently, but my camera cord is somewhere in Virginia. Once it is retrieved I will post more pictures than you can imagine. But for now my words will have to do as far as updates go.

Nathan
As many of you know, Nathan has had a very strenuous work schedule lately. For a while he was logging over 80 hours a week. Luckily we found out a week ago that he is being moved up to brigade. For all of you non-military people, a brigade consists of a few thousand soldiers (as opposed to his platoon, which is 20-30 soldiers). He will officially be the Satellite Communications NCO for the whole brigade during their tour in Afghanistan. This is a very positive advancement for him because he has demonstrated superior knowledge of the satellite over all other soldiers in his brigade. Also this move involves considerably less stress than leading a platoon of young soldiers. The only downside to this move is that Nathan is now scheduled to deploy a month sooner than we expected. We are expecting him to leave sometime around November 20th. As most of you already know, everything with the Army is tentative, so this date is definitely subject to change. We have decided that we will just celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas early. This was an important decision for Nathan so that he will not technically miss Addie's first holiday season.

Addie
Addie is such a wonderful, happy baby. Nathan and I always comment on how lucky we are to have such a bubbly baby. She recently had her 4 month checkup, and we are being referred to a Pediatric Orthopedic Specialist in Syracuse for a problem with Addie's hip. We have a lot of questions, but our pediatrician will not answer anything, as he wants us only to talk to the specialist. Addie weighed in at 11 lbs 3.5 oz (20th percentile) and was 24.5 inches (50th percentile). The pediatrician wasn't pleased with her weight gain over the past month, and suggested we supplement her feeding with formula. After much contemplation and a second (and third) opinion we have decided to go against his advice. I truly believe that human milk is the absolute best option for her. Not to mention formula usually exacerbates GERD symptoms, which is the reason she had slow weight gain last month. Needless to say we are in the market for a new pediatrician, as our parenting style/philosophy doesn't quite mesh with the current group we are with. Addie is also rolling over in succession. She log rolled halfway across our living room last week. She really wants to crawl and can get up on her legs, but she lacks the upper body strength to push up. I am willing to bet the farm that she will be crawling in a couple months.

Lauren
I am still working hard to lose this last bit of baby weight. I am getting there slowly but surely. I absolutely love spending my days with Addie. I really feel that I am able to enrich her environment, and provide lots of love for her by staying at home with her. Unfortunately I have struggled with balancing caring for her, and being able to do things for myself. Luckily, Nathan has the day off tomorrow and I am getting my haircut for the first time in 4 months. It's a much needed haircut, and a start to being able to finally do things for myself!