2011--A New Start!

So, this year, my New Year's Resolution is to try not to stress so much about everything. I think I'm trying to just "Roll With It", as the song says....I'm doing pretty well, with the exception of a few instances.

Here are my updates on Addison.

She weighs 24 lbs, as of last weekend.

We haven't checked her height in awhile, so I'm not sure of that. I think she is just growing taller and skinnier though, as she's still in 18 month clothes, and most of those are still baggy.

She is eating so many new things. On Friday, she loved pork ribs and saurkraut that my dad brought over! I was sure she wasn't going to eat it, so we had the chicken nuggets ready. She ate it though, and really liked it!! What a little Pollock I have on my hands!

Addison loves books!!

Addison LOVES Elmo, who she affectionately calls Memo. We are going to see Elmo and his Healthy Heroes next weekend. Hopefully, she'll have a great time.

She's definitely starting to get a little attitude, as she has recently started to shake her finger at us and say "No, no, no." Of course, I don't let her get away with it though. She has gotten more spankings this month, too!! :) Along with the attitude, this weekend, she has really started "Mine!", which again, is not allowed in our household! Some days, I call her "Addie-tude".

Unfortunately, she started out the year with Bronchitis. Luckily, we're over that, two antibiotics later! She's such a trooper though, she seldom complains, and keeps on playing!

She's saying sooooo many words now, and definitely has a language of her own now. I'll try to list some of the words that she says, though I know I'll miss lots---Night-night, uh-oh, please, thank you, mom, momma, daddy, dad, dadda, book, bubbles, play, elmo (memo), bird, grandma (which is kinda says Ama), Pops, Mimi, Gramps (but she says Amps), PawPaw, baby....oh gosh, there are lots more. I just can't think of them. She also does tons of babbling that I have no clue what she's saying! She is really repeating lots that you say too. so, that has been really fun.

Addison has always tried to jump, but recently, she has actually gotten her feet off the ground. She runs everywhere now, so I'm not sure when her feet are on the ground!

She's still loving Barney, too.

We're going to try to think about potty training a little closer to the summer.

Her hair is getting much longer, but she doesn't want to wear any bows or anything in it.

She is most definitely our pride and joy. I really don't know what we did without her!

December Drama!!

Okay, for those of you who didn't read my previous post, I'm explaining that in November, I found out that I was pregnant, but it was just a sac, with no baby, called a blighted ovum....

Anyways, we did another ultrasound and saw the same thing, nothing had changed. I had made friends with the ultrasound tech, Carla, when I was pregnant with Addison. She was there for me the previous week. As I cried, she cried too. She still said that there was nothing, even though she wasn't supposed to. I had trusted in her enough that I was able to take the news from her. The problem was that my hormone levels were skyrocketing. My doctor explained to me that he did not want to take the chance of aborting something that was actually there. He wanted to continue to test and wait until my hormone levels dropped.

Well, this was a very LONG 3 weeks of waiting, continuously going back to the doctors' office. I did tons of reading, and had several friends telling me to keep the faith. That this had happened to some of their friends, and everything ended up fine. I tried to be positive, but was really ready to just get out this nightmare.

Finally, the Friday before Christmas, my levels did drop. FINALLY. Paul and I were ready to get the D&C done and over with, so that I could MAYBE look forward to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, there were lots of tears and emotion. Towards the end though, that's what we wanted--an end. So, a D&C was schedule for the Wednesday before Christmas. (Christmas was on Saturday.)

My mom took me to the hospital, as I told Paul not to miss work because of this. So, she took me. When we got there, my dad was there too! What a surprise! Anyway, I got through the D&C just fine. I was just worn out afterwards. I finally got the closure that I needed though. I was ready to move on.

We had Christmas eve at my sister's house that morning, then Christmas eve night, we went to church and had Paul's family over to our house. I didn't realize how exhausted I was, so this really took a lot out of me. We had my big family over our house for Christmas day, too!!! Talk about exhausting!! It was great, as I was able to feel comfortable in my own home, but also, I have learned that I won't do much after any kind of surgery again!

All of our Christmases were great though. Addison really enjoyed opening presents this year, so it was really fun. I was able to enjoy Christmas. And, was thankful that all of the drama was behind us!!!

We spent New Years Eve at Gary and Melissa Majewski's, as we always do. Addison was a trooper and stayed up to watch the fireworks. She was Aunt Kristen's date that night, as she really didn't want much to do with me!!

Here's hoping for a brand new start to the new year.

November News

To start off, I know it's been forever since I've blogged...we have some craziness going on in our lives, and I finally have a minute to sit down and type it all out. So, here it goes---November.

In November, Addison came down with a pretty high fever that would not go away. She had it for about 2 weeks, and I continuously was taking her to the doctor. She supposedly had a sinus infection that wasn't getting better. Well, I took off of work one day to get everything situated, as she and I had a rough night of sleeping. After all kinds of tests were run, it was found that she has had a bladder infection all this time. We finally got to see our actual doctor, Dr. Lacour, after about 3 different trips to the doctor. He gave her an antibiotic and told me that he'd like to run some tests....She had to have an ultrasound of her kidneys, bladder, etc, along with a VCUG, where she has water flushed up in her, and they watch on an x-ray type machine to see where the water goes. WELL....I took her into the hospital and my mom, my dad, and Paul's mom all wanted to be there. To be honest, with all of them there, it made me a little nervous. I tried to settle myself down, telling myself that this was a routine procedure. I wanted to take her in the room, by myself, and have them wait in the waiting room, for my sanity.

Well, we did the ultrasound and everything looked great. She was anatomically correct--2 kidneys, one bladder, everything where it was supposed to be. I kept telling Addison to look for Elmo in the screen. This way, she wasn't too scared and crying. She did great.

Then, it was time for the VCUG. We got her almost all ready to go, when the nurse asked me if there was any possible way that I could be pregnant, as I couldn't be in the room with the x-ray. Lo and behold, I had been late and had JUST taken a pregnancy test that was positive. Paul and I didn't want to say anything to our families yet though, since we had not been to the doctor or anything. Well, that ruined that---I had to go out into the waiting room and spoil our surprise. I had to tell my mom, dad, and mother-in-law that there was a possibility that I was pregnant and that I couldn't be in the room. So, my mom came back and was in the room with Addison.

Poor baby, she screamed the entire time, as she had to be held down. They used the smallest catheter possible, so it took a long time for the water to get up to her bladder. Finally, after about 25 minutes, we started to see something. Some of Addison's urine is backing up into her kidneys, rather than being all flushed out.

So, the next day, I went to her regular doctor, to get the results. He didn't seem too concerned, but was glad that we did the procedure. (My mom kept trying to talk me out of doing it.) He said that there is a flap that is on your ureter that closes so that the urine will not back up into the kidney. Unfortunately, hers hasn't grown all the way yet. So, he put her on a mild antibiotic for 9 months to prevent any bacteria from going into the kidney and causing another infection. Hopefully, in the 9 months, it will grow. So, we go back in June to do all of this testing again. Hopefully, we'll have better results this time!

Back to me---I did go into the doctor, where they did blood work to confirm the positive pregnancy. I had to keep going in every couple of days to make sure that my levels were all rising, like they should have. My doctor, Dr. Baker, was excited, but cautious, as I was never able to get pregnant on my own before. So, we went ahead and told our families on Thanksgiving, that there would be another grand baby. Unfortunately, when I went in for my first ultrasound, it showed that I had an empty sac (a blighted ovum). For whatever reason, I had set my expectations low, and worried that this might be what was going to happen.
My levels were still rising though, so my doctor remained optimistic. He said not to wave the black flag yet, and to come back in 4 days. We'd repeat the ultrasound and go from there. This takes us into December....(I'll start a new blog!)

Lots to Catch Up On!!

Wow, we have so much to catch up on! I'll be doing several blogs so that all of our info will be split up. Sorry it's been so long!