Addison's First Trip to Church

Jen and I are playing with Addison.

Addison sure loves being the center of attention!

Not the most modest child. She had bloomers on until she blew out her diaper at church and got a little bit on her bloomers.

Her face is telling everyone to back off!

Brynlee loved holding onto her cousin Addison! I think they are going to be great friends!

Aren't these cute cousins!

They grow up so fast. . . . Addison is already flipping the bird!

Addison kept trying to nurse on Brynlee's elbow and Brynlee kept trying to play with Addison's face and eat her fingers!

Makenna and Grammy were both on the verge of being asleep. Steve tried to capture it because they looked so much alike, but Makenna saw the camera and of course had to give us her camera smile.

Chillin' in the boppy!

She started smiling at everyone, but we haven't caught it on camera. . . .yet.

Addison's second favorite activity: sleeping. Favorite activity-eating/being held

Sleeping anywhere. . .anytime

We finally took Addison to church. I hadn't taken her yet since she had so much trouble gaining weight and I was really worried about her going to church and getting sick, so today was her first trip to church. It was an interesting day.
I'm quickly learning that you have to give yourself lots of extra time to get ready with kids and even then it sometimes isn't enough. We did make it to church on time, but barely. Of course the minute I put her in the car she started spitting up and choking! I'm just glad I put a bib on her.
At church, Addison decided to spit up all over me! I told Addison "Hey, I brought extra clothes for you, but I didn't bring any extra clothes for me!"
Overall, Addison did really well at church. She was quiet through most of church. Our Sunday school class that Steve and I teach (Valiant 11/12) really enjoyed having her as part of our class. Of course, Addison decided to be "naughty" (that's how Steve described it) during class. I was giving the lesson and Steve sat in the back of the classroom feeding the baby. He changed her poopy diaper and then started feeding her. Suddenly, she lets out a HUGE fart and all of the class turns around and looks at Steve. The kids were like, "was that you or the baby?" Steve was like "Sorry guys, she's a baby." Steve changed her poopy diaper again and he tells me it was the biggest blowout he's ever seen from her. Good job Addison.

Finally!

After a whole month of weigh-ins and worrying, Addison FINALLY weighs more than she did at birth! She weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and when I took her in to the doctor to get weighed yesterday she weighed in at 7 lbs. 15 oz.! Yeah! I've been working so hard with her to get her to gain more than 2 oz. a week and it was really frustrating us that we couldn't even get her to her birth weight. So, I'm pretty excited that I can worry less about the weight situation.
Addison and I have been struggling with breast feeding from the beginning, so I am sad to say that we've hit another roadblock. We had really started to get it going smoothly, but yesterday I called the doctor because of the major pain I was having. It turned out I have mastitis- a very common infection that happens when breast feeding. It's not really a big deal and it should be healed after about 5 days of antibiotics, but it is just another little roadblock that Addison and I are going to have to deal with. Overall, however, I am still very happy that we are breast feeding. I am SUPER happy to know that she is finally gaining weight and it all comes from breast feeding- no supplementing!

Hey, look what I can do!

Addison has learned her first trick- if you stick your tongue out at her several times in a row, then she will stick out her tongue too! I know it's a small thing, but it's the first thing she has done that shows her learning ability and that she is really aware of things going on around her. Steve says his mom saw that she could do this and showed him and he showed me.
I can definitely see on Addison's face that she is trying to figure out this world and what is going on. She scrunches up her face and concentrates really hard. I can't wait to see what she can do next!

Addison's First Trip to the Lake

This is what Addison spent most of her time doing at the lake- sleeping!

Poppa loves holding his granddaughters, but only when they are being good! :)

Addison wanted to go on the water with everyone else, but mommy said she was too little!

I love this face! She gets this looks sometimes when she's been feeding and gets really sleepy!

Memorial Day weekend 2009- of course, everyone is going to the lake. Steve and I weren't planning on going to the lake since his mother was coming into town, but then we decided it would be fun to go up there with her too.
Now, it wouldn't be the best idea to take a 1 month old baby out on the water, so Addison didn't get to partake in the water sports. She did, however, get to spend time with our family at the lake house. Ty and Jen were there with Brynlee and Makenna. My mom and dad were there too, and it was fun spending time with family.
I think next year we'll try taking Addison on the boat!

Not in the car!

Addison has been struggling with her weight ever since her birth at the hospital. We really struggled with breastfeeding for the first week, until I realized how independent Addison is and that I had to learn to breastfeed her the way she wanted to be breastfed. But, we are still working on getting her back up to her birth weight of 7 lbs. 9 oz.
After leaving the hospital Addison had gotten down to 7 lbs. 1 oz. Dr. Simmon's wanted us to bring her in a week later for a weight check. This was my first outing with Addison where I would be driving and she would be in the back seat with no one sitting right by her to watch her. I fed her right before we left so she would be ready to be gone for a while (big mistake). I hadn't even driven out of the neighborhood when I heard Addison majorly throwing up and gasping for air. I VERY quickly parked on the side of the road and jumped into the back seat with my baby. It seemed to take forever to get her out of the car seat straps, so I could start working on getting her airway cleared.
We got to the doctor, thankfully without another incident, and found out she weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. I took her again today and she weighs 7 lbs. 6 oz. I am very grateful she is gaining weight, but I have definitely learned not to feed her right before we leave the house!

Kimber's Pictures

Cousins! Addison enjoys spending time with her cousins Makenna and Brynlee.

Look at those gorgeous lips! She is so beautiful to us and Kimber did a fabulous job capturing it.

Steve holding up baby Addison. She has her daddy wrapped around her finger.

I love this picture with the black and white mixed with color- great job Kimber!

This is my absolute favorite picture of Addison!

We really enjoyed having Dallin and Kimber home a few weeks ago. It's great getting the whole family together, especially since they hadn't seen baby Addison yet. Kimber decided that she was going to take pictures of Addison, Brynlee, and Makenna which was really special. I love the pictures she took and hope that she will continue taking beautiful pictures of my baby in the future!

First Time Parents

It's funny all the things you learn when you become a first time parent and all the little mistakes you make. For example, Steve and I decided last week to take Addison out for her first walk in her stroller. We take Addison outside and Steve sets her in the stroller and starts strapping her in. I look at how small she is inside the stroller and how her head is flopping forward like crazy and I'm thinking "this can't be right."
So I say:
me: I don't think this is right. . . I think we're doing something wrong.
Steve: Don't worry, I'll strap her in really tight.
That's when I remember that babies are suppose to be in the car seat and you set the car seat inside the stroller. It was pretty hilarious seeing little Addison in the big stroller! I'm just glad we figured out what was wrong before we started going around the neighborhood!

All about Addison

Steve is introducing sisters- Addison and Gigi. As you can tell, Gigi isn't that interested in being friends yet.

I can't believe how much color Addison has! She has lightened up some since she came home from the hospital, but I can't believe that my peaches and cream skin (and Steve's not that tan either) produced this baby! I also can't believe that her hair is that dark when I was a blondie!

Addison wrapped up in one of her many blankets. This blanket was crocheted for her by a friend at work.

Isn't she adorable? She has the most wonderful facial expressions. She smiles a lot in her sleep and you can see it in her eyes and on her face when she is thinking and trying to figure this world out.

At 1:52 p.m. on April 24, 2009 Addison Dodson became an official part of our family! She has been a major shocker from the beginning. The minute she was born we saw this thick black hair. Where did that come from? I had NO hair when I was born (I was a fuzzy headed baby until I was about two- even then it was blonde hair not black). But, they tell me Steve had some thick dark hair when he was born, so I guess that's where Addison gets it from. The second shocker was how dark her skin was. Everyone in my family has been calling her an Eskimo, and I've been asked if she has Indian in her. I was really surprised to see her have that much coloring. She has lightened some since the hopsital, but she has more color to her than I thought she would have considering I'm her mom.
Addison has a very strong, indepedent personality already. She and I really struggled with breastfeeding the first week of her life until I figured out exactly how she wanted it to happen. (I'm still trying to figure out how she wants to sleep at night cause that's not going as well as I woud hope).
Addison is a wonderful baby. She really doesn't cry that much and when she does it's pretty easy to get her to calm down (knock on wood). She has been smiling a lot in her sleep and is starting to smile when she's awake too. She loves to be held and will almost never cry as long as she is being held, so I'm trying to work on not spoiling her too much with holding her but it's hard not too.
Motherhood is a lot harder than I thought it would be, well I guess I'm trying to say it's more draining than I thought it would be, but it is wonderful having her in our family. I love giving her kisses and seeing her smile up at me makes me just melt.
She doesn't do that much right now, but I'm really enjoying all the small moments I have with her and seeing her grow everyday. She is a huge blessing in my life, and I am really happy to be a mommy!

Addison's Birth

We went to the hospital Wednesday, April 22 at 8:00p.m. to begin the inducing process. I didn't realize that I would immediately get into the hospital gown, be hooked up to an i.v., and basically getting down to the business to trying to get the baby to come.
Early Thursday morning, they began giving me pitocin to start getting contractions. The contractions started off well, but things soon began to go awry. I think we jinxed it when they first gave me pitocin, because my contractions began being really strong and regular immediately. So, my nurse commented that everything was moving even faster and better than expected and she thought we may be having a baby quicker than expected. But, by that evening I was only dilated to a 2 and when they began to up my amounts of pitocin than I began having very irregular contractions. I started having contractions that lasted ten minutes a piece and was really wearing on my uterus.
The initial plan of attack was to take me off pitocin for an hour and than restart to see if my body would reset and begin working better, but by Thursday night I was still only dilated to a 2 and my contractions were again very long and irregular. Dr. Goff suggested we give me the epidural and break my water to try to progress my labor. We followed his plan, but by Friday morning I was stuck at a 4 and was again having irregular contractions. Dr. Goff told us we may need to start thinking about a C section.
Steve and I discussed the situation and decided that if I hadn't progressed by noon on Friday that we would do the epidural. At this point, I hadn't eaten since Wednesday night and I was beginning to feel really weak and tired. By noon, no progress had been made and it was decided to go ahead with a C section.
I was SO scared to do the C section! I mean, it's surgery! Plus, I hadn't eaten in two days, had barely slept, and in the last couple of hours they wouldn't even let me have anything to drink (for good reason since women get very sick during C sections and often throw up). I was afraid that I was too weak to go through the surgery.
We were told we would do the C section at 2 p.m., but the two C sections before me went so quickly that I ended up having the C section at about 1:20. I didn't like having to wait after making the decision to have the C section (cause I was starving!), but it ended up being great because they took me off pitocin- my contractions completely stopped- and I got an hour nap before the surgery.
I was so scared being wheeled in to the surgery room! The medicine was taking forever to completely numb me and they kept testing me to see if I was ready for them to cut, but I could feel everything they were doing. Finally, they got started. At this point, I asked where Steve was because he hadn't been brought in yet. I think they forgot to get him. Steve came in and held my hand. My mom, in her scrubs, was in a utility closet that had a window looking into the surgery room. (Mom got the great view of EVERYTHING-she saw the whole surgery!)
The minute Addison was born, I could hear her crying. I heard them move towards the other side of the room, showing mom Addison. Suddenly, Dr. Goff popped Addison over the sheet scaring me. (I thought they were still on the other side of the room). When they started cleaning her off, Steve asked me if he could go be with Addison. I totally let him go, but being a wuss, I had one of the doctors hold my hand while Steve was gone.
After they cleaned up our baby Addison and I had been sewed up, they started wheeling me back to the room. At that point, someone put Addison in my arms. I was completely concentrating on holding her because I felt so groggy from the medicine and the surgery.
Overall, it was long, but it was still a great experience. Addison was never in distress, so I'm glad that she was safe the whole time I was in labor. The worst part of the labor for me was the epidural and not eating for two whole days. The epidural had to be put in three times becuase it kept going towards the right and not numbing my left side at all. I think part of the problem was my nurse just wanted to lightly hold my hands when I needed someone to really hold onto. Luckily, after the second time she had to leave and I got a new nurse that really let me hold onto her during the epidural. Dr. Goff tells me that future deliveries will be much easier. We found out during the C section that Addison was transverse (her head was coming out sideways), so she was never going to make it out without a C section. Once they cut me open, they also discovered that my pelvis is too narrow for birthing babies. Dr. Goff said he felt really bad that I didn't get the delivery that I was wanting and he was afraid I felt robbed of the birthing experience I had wanted, but I really don't feel that way. Yeah, I had planned on a regular delivery, but I just didn't know that I didn't have that option. I kind of think you can't feel robbed off something that was never an option in the first place. Dr. Goff jokes that now I have a zipper and that it will be much smoother in the future.