Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Okay, so I haven't done one of these posts in a really long time.

Addie

Saddie

Maddie


and finally...
Gladdie!

I hope everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

Addie Medical Update

I guess it is finally time for an update on Addison's medical situation. I haven't written about this recently because it consumes a lot of my time/life, and I often want to write about other things. But anyways...

As you probably know, Addie was diagnosed with reflux at 3 months. She was put on a small dose of Zantac and we went on with life. It was under control (or so I believed) until she was about 5 1/2 months. She became a lot more fussy around this time, and she started waking up ALL THE TIME. Being the inexperienced mom that I am, I really chalked it up to teething.

At her 6 month checkup our doctor became concerned with her inability to gain weight. Since we were coming to Virginia to wait out the rough New York winter she suggested that we find a doctor to keep tabs on her weight. The doctor in Virginia was not too concerned with her weight at first (because she was ahead of the game on development), and even suggested we take her off of the Zantac. BIG MISTAKE!

It didn't take long to figure out that she really still needed to be medicated. She actually had silent reflux, which meant that she was swallowing all of the acid that came up. In other words, the stomach acid was going through her esophagus twice. She then got prescribed Prevacid, which never worked for her. At this point (2 1/2 months later) we were directed to a pediatric gastrointerologist.

Which brings me to our current situation...

We were referred to a doctor who was voted one of the top doctors in the Washington D.C. area. I feel as if we were in good hands. We had our first appointment in late February, and it resulted in Addie being put on some pretty hefty doses of meds. She now takes Prilosec in the morning, and Zantac at night. Her dose of Zantac is 6 times what her pediatrician had her on.

Also, the doctor wanted her to have an endoscopy and upper GI series to make sure that we were treating the right thing. She had to get anesthetized for the endoscopy, which was very hard on both of us. The doctor and staff were all very wonderful. Two areas were biopsied (both came back normal), and they were able to see that her lower esophagus is very swollen. The upper GI was much less invasive, but unfortunately for Addie it was probably the worst test. She had to drink barium (nasty, vile stuff), and then be still for the x-ray machines. Keeping Addie still is a quiet a chore. They did see her reflux the barium, but we did find out that she had no intestinal obstructions or malformations.

The medicine seems to be working and she appears to be gaining weight. We go back in a couple of weeks to make sure we are on the right track with her treatment. I feel terrible that she had to be in excruciating pain for so long. It's really no wonder why she hates to eat, and has trouble sleeping. She still doesn't have much interest in solid food, and the doctor told me that her aversions might take a long time to break.

I must say through this whole ordeal I feel I have been very fortunate on the insurance front. I LOVE Tricare, and believe that it must be one of the best aspects of military life. I have paid a total of $6 (2 prescriptions) for medical costs in the past 3 months. We never have co-pays or deductibles, and Tricare has been wonderful about getting me into the doctors I want to see even if they aren't network providers. Every cloud has a silver lining!

Baby Supermodel???

Addie had a doctor's appointment with her new pediatric gastro-interologist on Monday. That is another blog in and of itself. Since it was her first time seeing this new doctor they weighed and measured her. And the stats are:

Weight: 14 lbs (under 3rd percentile)
Height: 28 inches (90th percentile)

Her weight was actually way off the charts, and even when they combined her height and weight she was still under the 3rd percentile (which is as low as they would measure). I really don't know when she got so tall. She has always been in the 5oth percentile for her height. She must have had a major growth spurt recently, but I think she is likely to head back down closer to average soon. I just can't help but laughing at these stats. By the way, we will definitley be in need of a seamstress if these numbers don't find balance soon.

Our Friend, Richard Engle

Meet our new family friend....
A few days ago, I was on the phone with Nathan and he nonchalantly mentioned that there was an NBC news reporter staying in HIS tent. Of course my first reaction was that he needed to try to be on the national news. Afterall, I would have been jumping up and down waving my arms around shouting "Pick me, pick me....I want to be on the news!" But Nathan is not me, and much can be said about his decorum (especially in situations like these).

Then I finally got to the more important questions concerning Nate's new roomate (like the reporter's name, and what he was reporting on). I thought Nate would tell me it was some Joe Schmoe reporter that I'd never heard of. But again, I was wrong. It was Richard Engle, and if you've ever watched NBC Nightly News you will recognize him as their foreign war correspondant. Someone famous in my husband's tent?! Holy cow!

The next day, when Nate calls back I had to grill the poor guy even more about his new friend. They ate breakfast together, and that's not all.... Nathan showed him pictures of Addie. Richard Engle told Nathan that she was beautiful. That's right folks, a famous journalist thinks our daughter is cute! I can't say that I really needed that confirmation, but it's nice to have anyway.

Oh yeah, and we're not sure when the important news that our friend Richard was reporting on will make it to the airwaves. I have been watching like a hawk and will definitely post it when it airs.

Valentine's Day

I spent this Valentine's Day like so many previous Valentine's Days in years past...without a Valentine*. Don't worry, I'm not bitter mostly in part because I got to celebrate with Addie. And of course the ever-faithful husband sent flowers from half the world away. I can always count on Nathan to send flowers when he is gone, and it really does brighten my day.

Nathan mentioned on the phone earlier in the week that he was excited to have another Valentine to shop for. I guess he turned into a super softy for that little girl. She is pretty cute and special after all. When my flowers were delivered on Valentine's Day there was a bouquet for Addie as well. It had Addie written all over it. I'm amazed that he has been gone for almost 3 months, and yet he still knows Addie so well. I couldn't resist taking pictures, but Addie really wanted to eat the flowers.

Addie's flowers

My flowers

Thanks Dad!

* Nathan and I have spent 4 Valentine's Days IN A ROW away from each other. You may remember that he was deployed from January 2006 to May 2007 (2 right there). Last year (2008) he was in Georgia for training, and deployed again this year. In fact, out of the 6 possible Valentine's Days in our 5 1/2 year marriage we've spent 1 together (deployed in 2004). WOW!

Daddy...

will you be my Valentine???

Waterbabies

Twice a week, for the past 4 weeks Addie and I have schlepped to the swimming pool in Winchester at 9:00 a.m. for swimming lessons. Last week Addie graduated (with honors) from the first session of Waterbabies. They weren't actually lessons per se, as the purpose was really just to get her used to being in the water. Some days she really loved it, and other days she hated it. She mostly hated floating on her back and getting cold.

As for the floating issue, she is much more comfortable now than she was when we first started. As far as being cold in the pool, there is really nothing I could do about it. The poor girl seriously has no fat on her body to keep her warm. Many of the other babies her age in our class weighed 5-8 pounds more than her.

On the last day I asked one of the lifeguards to take pictures so that I could send them to Nathan, and thought that I would put a few of them on here too. All in all, we liked the class enough to sign up for the next session. I plan on keeping her in swimming classes until the summer so that she will enjoy being in the water this summer.

8 months ?!

How can it be that Addie just turned 8 months old? Where has the time gone? Surely if life had a pause button I'd have my finger on it all the time. I love watching her grow up, but I'm not sure I like the fact that it occurs at break-neck speed.

The other day we were at story time and I noticed that Addie was developmentally on par with the 11 month olds. I know it's a slippery slope to compare babies to each other because they all develop at such different rates, but I couldn't help being alarmed by what I saw. At 8 months she has her crawling down pat, pulls up, and is cruising the furniture.

She really wants to walk. She no longer likes to be carried or held. She really thinks that the world is her oyster. I keep thinking that it was just yesterday that Addie slept in my arms all day.

Anyways, enough with the lamenting...I included the video of Addie crawling because I just realized there were no crawling videos on here. Usually I take longer videos and send them to Nathan.

The Adventures of Curious Addie

Written & Illustrated by L. A. Farley


This is Addie. She's a good little girl, but she's very curious. Today the lady with all the milk got out Addie's toys, and Addie couldn't wait to see what was in the basket. She was so excited she decided to scale the side of the basket and take a peek inside. Curious Addie was so surprised to find a big monkey named George in the basket.

Addie decided that the best way to play with George the monkey was to climb right into the basket with him. The lady with all the milk told her it wasn't a good idea, but Addie was just so curious.









Addie tried and tried to get in the basket, but she couldn't get both of her legs in. She kept getting stuck and kicking her legs in the air. The lady with all the milk kept laughing at Addie and wouldn't even help her climb in.











But Curious Addie was determined to get in that basket with the big monkey. She tried all of the ways she could think of to get in, but she only ever got one leg in.

At last, Curious Addie gave up getting in the basket and took a rest in her chair. She was so exhausted that the lady with all the milk took her upstairs to her room, gave her some wonderful milk, and put her to sleep in her crib. She slept very peacefully, and dreamed of new adventures.

Thou Shalt...

not covet thy baby's eyelashes.

But how could you not?