9 month checkup!

Thursday morning Addison had her 9 month checkup. We almost missed it, because of the crazy weather and I almost forgot! So, daddy and I both went to this checkup. Addison now weighs 15 lbs. 8 oz (4%); she is 26 inches long (7%), and her head circumference is 17 inches (26%). So, basically Addison is little! The doctor said she is fine; that she is small, but she is continually growing so he's not worried about her development. Developmentally, she is on track so no worries there. The doctor did say we could go ahead and start feeding her breakfast in addition to breastmilk. The best part of her 9 month checkup- no shots! I thought she was going to get shots, but the doctor said they only give makeup shots at 9 month if they have missed some. It was very nice going to the doctor together as a family. We are so glad we have our healthy, happy baby! She is a wonderful blessing!

Go bananas! Updated pics!

I love to eat. . . MY FEET!

Trying to eat the camera!

Bath time! I usually get my bath in the kitchen sink, but every once in a while mom bathes me in this little tub.

Bask in my nakedness! Are you basking yet?

Napping in my crib! I sure do love my lamby!

Daddy's little girl!

I think these pics are SO cute!

Look at those baby blues!

I love playing my piano!

I don't know any songs yet, but mom says she will teach me when I get older!

Addison decided to try playing with her feet!

Addison has decided this week that she LOVES bananas! I started about a week ago giving her bananas. I mushed them the first couple of days and she would make this face and use her tongue to push out most of the banana. Then, I decided to just try cutting up the banana into little bite size pieces. She then tolerated the banana and would eat a couple of bites. Then, a couple of days ago it just clicked! She just started eating her bananas like a pro!

Addison has now tried bananas (yum), oatmeal (yum), carrots (yum), rice cereal (yum), brocolli (yuck), finger food puffs (yum), and sweet potatoes (yuck). She still is breastfeeding, in fact, she only eats "food" at dinner time. The rest of the day she is only getting breastmilk. She is a beautiful little girl that amazes me with everything new trick she does and all the changes she goes through. She is a wonderful blessing in my life!

Daddy's little girl!

For his first day in speech class, Steve had to introduce himself and was told to share anything that was special or unique about himself. He let the class know, "I thought I'd never love someone more than I love my wife until I had my daughter Addison."

Steve has been saying for awhile that he wanted to take Addison into the shower with him, so we finally did. Addison had a lot of fun, and I think dad enjoyed time with his daughter too.

I remember when Steve and I were dated how he would talk about having kids. Everytime he talked about having kids it was all about this massive numbers of boys he was going to have and how he would have enough boys to have a football team (no, I didn't take him seriously or we never would have gotten married!) But, then he has Addison. And today, Steve told me how much he loved his little girl and how he would be perfectly happy just having a house full of girls. (When asked about his football team, Steve said it was okay because he would just have the girls be the football team. Some dreams never change.)

Dodson Christmas!

Opening presents with the Connelly family.

Talking to Aunt Roxy while we open the present from her. Thanks Roxy!

Addison helped me unwrap the paper. Gigi tried to help. . .

A sock monkey!

Getting attacked by a sock monkey!

I think she enjoyed the wrapping paper as much as her presents!I know, I should have posted this sooner. I have been bad lately; I will try and be better. We had a wonderful time visiting Steve's dad and stepmom the day after Christmas. We had lots of yummy food, got to open presents, and played some fun games!

Feeding Addison

She's too cute for her own good!

In her hair, on her shirt, up her nose, on her hands. . .she manages to get her food just about everywhere on her body and mine!

We have quickly learned that Addison needs to be naked before she eats a meal; it's cleaner that way.

Yes, there is rice cereal on the camera!

Even with the carrots, I have to mix in a little bit of rice cereal.

Mom's homemade organic yams. . .yuck! I only like rice cereal, mom's homemade organic carrots, and breastmilk!

She is ALWAYS putting her hands in her mouth or trying to grab the spoon and feed herself.

We have definitely got a messy eater on our hands! She loves to put her hands in her mouth while eating, and just like when she's breastfeeding, she likes to run her hands through her hair! She has tried yams (yuck), green beans (yuck), green grapes (yuck), and carrots (yum, finally!). Carrots are the first food that she likes other than her rice cereal. I still can't give her a bite of just carrots, I have to mix in a little bit of rice cereal, but this is the only food that our baby likes right now. I hope we can expand that list in the coming months!

Addison's fixed eye!

Only about an hour after getting her eye probed. My eye is swollen and I still have an ear infection, but I'm still a happy girl!

That's my happy girl!

We had Addison's left eye "probed" this past Monday. She has had leaky, watery eyes since birth. Her left eye is much worse than the right. Steve and I met my mom at Dr. Johnston's eye clinic inside of Mercy Hospital. He looked at her eye (when the doctors put on the goggles and get really close to her, it really scares her), and said that they could unclog the duct there in the office since she is under the age of 1.

They had Steve and I wait in the lobby (we weren't allowed in the room, we asked), and they wrapped her up in a swaddling blanket and held her down. They gave her a shot to numb the area and then they went in to poke the clogged area and clear it out.

Her eye was swollen for only a day or so. These pics were taking right after we got home from the procedure, so you can see she was already happy again. The doctor said that this has about an 85% chance of fixing that eye permanently. I don't know if we will be doing the other eye. He said her other eye isn't near as clogged. The only dilemna is that if her other eye later has problems after she turns 1 it would be a much bigger procedure. She would have to be put to sleep, and it would also be a LOT more expensive. We'll let you know what we decide.

Addison 1st: Ear infection, waving hello!

Last Friday night, Addison had a rough night. She woke up several times, and she felt really warm to me. Steve and I took her temperature and realized she had her first fever. So there we are on a Saturday morning trying to figure out what to do.
Luckily, her doctor was working at a well child clinic and was okay with us bringing Addison in. I had noticed that she had been pulling on her ear a little bit, had a lot of congestion, and a fever. He confirmed that she had an ear infection and a cold.
Within a couple of days, Addison was feeling much better. Her dad and I have worked together on trying to get her to swallow her medicine (I guess I was VERY stubborn as a baby with taking medication, so Addison is just following me lead), but we seem to be getting enough medicine in her system that she is feeling much better.
On a happier note, Addison (during this bout of illness) started waving hello. Her poppa was waving at her and saying hello to her, and she waved back! Ever since then, she has been waving to just about anyone that looks her way. I'm working on getting her to add a "hi" to that greeting. I'll let you know how that goes.

Family Pictures

How cute!

I think it's so cute. . .Brynlee holding onto Addison. They do love playing together. . . and beating each other up.

The proud grandparents!

Poppa sure loves his grandbabies, even though they are all girls!

On December 22, Steve and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary. I am happy to say that on our 5 year anniversary I weighed 5 lbs. less than when we got married, which I thought was pretty cool. It's been an awesome 5 years full of good times (baby Addison, lots of wonderful memories) and some bad (Steve's year in Iraq), but I can't wait to see what the next 5 years hold for the Dodsons!

I love this pic of Addison and her daddy.

Momma and baby Addison! I sure love my baby girl!

I love taking pics in nature, but Addison's eyes begin watering more and more the longer we are outside! She definitely got her allergies from her daddy! Thanks dad!

I'm finally posting some family pictures that we had taken at Thanksgiving. We had so much fun seeing so many of our family members during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday. Enjoy!