Addison 10 months

Apparently I did not take a 10 month picture of Regan, because we were in Maine.

Addison is half scooting half crawling

She will only do it if she really wants something. And if you try to keep moving it just out of her reach she will sit up and get mad. And if she can stretch to get it, she will. But she will scoot/crawl to get something if it is just out of reach, and that is progress. She is also doing well with her pulling up to standing exercises. I don't think it will be long before she is doing that on her own. She will also stand and play with the Leap Frog table. Whereas before therapy she wouldn't stand at all. She has come so far in the past couple of weeks, and I am very proud of her.

Addison's 2nd Physical Therapy Appointment

We went to Addison's 2nd PT Appointment this afternoon. It went really well. The PT was very happy with her progress. She said that she doesn't usually see progress this quickly. She obviously doesn't know how obsessive I can be. Regan went with us, and she said that probably throughout their lives I will be trying to reign Regan in, and nudge Addison forward. She said that it is just their personalities. She also said that Addison has little to no motivation to move because her sister will give her whatever she wants. This was demonstrated soon after when Regan had a toy that Addison wanted and Addison raised her hands and let out a cry and Regan handed it to her immediately. She gave us some more exercises to do, and we go back in four weeks. She said if I feel like we need to go back after two weeks that I can call and make an appointment. But she thinks that four weeks will be fine.

My roommate from College, Darcy (Aunt Darcy to Regan), came to visit for a to short visit. We had a lot of fun. She played a lot with the girls. Regan, of course, thought she was her personal playmate. Yesterday was Darcy's last day, and Regan was basically telling me to get lost. Which is fine. It so did not hurt my feelings, I was wondering what it would take for Darcy to move in with us. While she was here we ate a lot, shopped in Baton Rouge, went to Tabasco, and shopped for some smocked dresses. They don't really wear smocked dresses in Montana, so Darcy couldn't believe that we have whole stores with nothing but smocked dresses in them. We found a great deal on some Christmas dresses for the girls, and Regan wanted to try them on. I think she liked them just because they were red. She's not to happy that she has to wait until Christmas to wear it. I bought an orange fallish one and Christmas ones, and I got one for each of the girls. When we were leaving the store we were trying to explain to Regan that two were for her and two were for Addison. So she says to us, I want both red ones.

Sat Up by Herself

Addison sat up for the first time today. When Matt went to get her from her bed this morning she was sitting up in her bed. Of course, she hasn't done it while we are watching. But now we know she can do it.

Already Seeing an Improvement

The main exercise we are supposed to do with Addison is to put her up on all fours (in a crawling position) and push her bottom towards the floor. I am already seeing an improvement. At first she would only tolerate them after her morning nap and then only a couple of times and then she would start getting aggravated. Today she has gone straight to sitting every time I put her up on all fours, and will even stay up for a minute or two and rock back and forth. She still doesn't get herself to all fours, but I think that will be next. I am so excited to be seeing an improvement this quickly.

Trendsetter

Every now and then Regan's Aunt Darcy sends her care packages. She sent her this skirt and hair thing (which Regan made into a bracelet) a while ago, but Regan just sort of re-discovered it. This how she went to Target today, minus the cd player.

The Princess On Her Throne

Now that Regan is not napping I am having to be something that I have never been before.....creative. Thank goodness they have books to help you fake it. Today we made a crown that kept her occupied for a whole ten minutes. After we made it, I asked her if I could take a picture of her. She said yes, and wanted to take it in her rocking chair. And no, I did not pose her. : )

Addison's Physical Therapy

Her Physical Therapy Consultation went really well. They confirmed everything that we thought. She isn't that far behind, and she is most likely behind because she had a lot going on in her early months when babies are usually building muscle during tummy time. They said that it's not going to take her very long, and without physical therapy she would probably be fine. But this will get her up to speed, which is what we want. We go next week again, and then she said we will probably go once a month after that. She gave us some exercises to do with her. I am very excited that we are getting started, and that I wasn't wrong in my mother's intuition.

Soccer Game

We went to our friend's son's soccer game this weekend. It was fun, but hot. I am so ready for some cooler weather. Regan is really getting into soccer. She will sometime's ask Matt if he wants to watch soccer, which makes him very happy. And when we were at the game she said.....Mommy, I want to play that.

Regan and I are going through a tough transition. I have not been putting her down for nap's, because if she nap's we can't get her to go to sleep until around 11pm. But she is obviously tired during the day and can get really cranky. We have been having her rest, which helps a little but she is still much crankier than we are used to. I am hoping that this is just a transition, and once she gets used to it she will adjust. Until then, I am praying for patience. On the bright side, she goes to sleep as soon as we put her in her bed now. And she got her treat for listening every day last week.

Addison goes for her physical therapy consultation tomorrow. I am ready to get started. I think it is going to help her get on track. One of my friend's little girls went to speech therapy two times, and she went from me not being able to understand a word she said to speaking clearly. So, I have high hopes for Addison. Especially since I really think it is not that she can't, it seems that it is more that she doesn't want to. I am anxious to see what the Physical Therapist says.

Weekend

We went to New Orleans on Saturday. While Addison took a nap we took Regan to feed the ducks which were hard to find and not very hungry. But she had fun. Then we took her to another park to swing and slide.

Saturday night we stayed out to late, but had a very good time with some friend's at dinner.

ENT

Addison went to see the ENT today for a follow up visit. She said that her ear tubes look really good, and that her pallet looks perfect. As long as there are no issues inbetween, we don't have to go back for another three to four months. Yay!

Addison - 9 months

Addison's Nine Month Well Visit

Addison had her nine month well visit this morning. She has to see a physical therapist, because she is developmentally behind in gross motor skills. He said he doesn't think anything is wrong with her. Especially because while sitting she will bend down to get a toy and play with it. She just won't get herself to sitting. And she should be starting to crawl and pull herself up on furniture and she is not. He said it is better to get started with these things early in case something is wrong. We had to see a physical therapist when she was having trouble with the bottle, and it was a one visit miracle. We are hoping that this will be similar.

In other news..... she is growing really well. Following the curve like she is supposed to.

Here are her stats:

Height: 28 inches (67%)
Weight: 18 lbs. 14 oz. (48%)
Head Circ: 18 3/8 in (98%)

Happy Birthday Matt

Saturday was Matt's Birthday, and I think he had a good one. We went out to dinner on Friday night with a friend and he went to the LSU game on Saturday. We had cake for him yesterday, because he was gone most of the day on Sunday. Regan was very excited to give him his cake and sing happy birthday. She wanted to get him a prince charming cake, but they don't have those (not a lot of demand, I guess) so we settled on a cookie cake. Which is Matt's favorite kind of cake.

Pool

Regan was cleared for public pools, and she has been asking to go to the "big pool" for a while. So! This Sunday we went to our gym's pool for a couple of hours. It was Addison's first time and she was not to sure about it, but Regan had a blast! So much so, that we had a little bit of a meltdown when it was time to go. She even said she wanted to go underwater in order to be able to stay. Something she is already out of the habit of doing.

The Next American Idol

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=657596026681439873

Regan's First Ballet Class

Regan had her first Ballet Class. It was too cute. They did Tap and Ballet, and were already learning heal together, etc... It brought back memories of when I took as a kid. I think Regan really liked it. I think she especially liked that there was a mirror all along the front wall that she could see herself in.

First Salon Hair Cut

Matt and I took Regan with us to get a haircut this weekend. I wanted him to clean it up. It was the first time she had her hair washed in a sink and the first time shehad product put in her hair. I think I am going to take her every few months. It's a better haircut, but it is hard for her to sit still for that long.

Imagination

Sometimes Matt and I question if Regan has an imagination, because she can be so literal. Like last night Matt was asking her if her butterfly stayed in the "friendly forest." We learned at her orientation that they have a white board with butterflies with their names on it for the MWF kids and one of the disciplinary measures is to take their butterfly down or "out of the friendly forest." So, when Matt asked Regan if she had a butterfly in the friendly forest....she says no it is on the board. So, we are almost surprised when she does imaginative things. Like last night when she and Matt were pretending to catch lightening bugs as an at home activity to reinforce the letter L. She told him there weren't anymore and then a minute later she said...look there are some more up there. And then this morning she built a castle for Sleeping Beauty and a castle for Belle.

Second Week of School

Regan started her second full week of school today. I have to say, the transition has been easier than I would have thought. We have had no tears, and she seems to like it. They started the "letter people" today. They start with "L." I think because it is the easiest one to write. So, today they started talking about Ms. L and how she has long laughs. We have a worksheet with stuff that we are supposed to do with her throughout the week to reinforce the letter L. Regan told me all about Ms. L today on the way home from school. She even had a sticker with her on it. It's very cute. On Wednesday we go for Orientation, so that they can tell us the curriculum.

Not a Care Bear

They opened a new BabiesRUs here, and the grand opening was this weekend. The flier said that Cheer Bear would be making an appearance. So being the dutiful parent's we decided to brave the crowd's. Luckily we did not tell Regan that Cheer Bear was going to be there, because she wasn't. Apparently the costume people brought the wrong costumes. However, Regan was none the wiser and enjoyed shaking hands with Geoffrey the Giraffe and the Little People. I was so disappointed, though. I wanted a picture of her with Cheer Bear.

Two more teeth

I noticed yesterday that two more teeth have popped from Addison's gums, and I think two more are going to pop out soon. At this rate she is going to have a mouth full of teeth by her first birthday. Crazy!

Birthday or Christmas?

As you can see, I don't really have to buy Regan anything inbetween birthday and Christmas. She get's so much!

Birthday Party

Regan's Birthday Party was a sucess. She had 29 friends come to celebrate with her. It was a big party, but we were glad that so many friends were able to come celebrate with us.

Home From Big Girl School

Regan's teacher told Matt that she had a good day at school today. She said there was one little girl that was sad. Which we learned was Lilly from Regan. She saw one of her friend's from Asbury, but I think he is in the five day class. Hopefully, she will continue to adjust well. She seemed to have had fun.

Big Girl School

Matt dropped her off this morning. He said she looked nervous, but went with the teacher. I brought cupcakes to her school, so that she could celebrate with her classmates. They were going to let me bring them to her classroom, but I told them that was not a good idea. They understood. Hopefully, she had a good day today.

Regan's Family Birthday Party

We celebrated Regan's Birthday tonight at home. For two reasons.....the first and foremost being that she starts big girl school tomorrow and she kept telling us that she wasn't three, yet. Secondly her party is on Saturday, and we thought it would be better to have everything end on Saturday. She really liked her presents. My mom got her a princess bicycle. It took her a little while, but I think she is getting the hang of it. I thought it would be easy for her since she has riding her tricycle downpat, but apparently it is different. We got her a big love a lot, because she kept telling everyone that she was getting one for her birthday. We saw one probably six months ago at Wal-mart, and if there is one thing my girl does not do is forget. I don't even want to discuss what it cost me. We also got her a art easel. I actually wanted Santa to bring it to her, but he told me that he was all tapped out. So, we got it for her birthday. I think she is going to really enjoy it as she is really into drawing.

We Did It!!!

I don't want to brag to much, because I don't want to jinx anything. But Regan slept in her big girl bed yesterday for her nap and all night last night. She had told Matt the night before (I was out doing the project for her school with a friend) that she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed and did not want to be a baby anymore. Of course, she told him that after Addison was already sleeping in her pink room. The next morning she told me that she was just trying to stall. But Matt decided we should hold her to it, maybe at least subconsciously because I was talking about buying another crib and painting and moving furniture. Anyway, so we told her that her animals told us that they wanted to move to her big girl bed. She could either sleep in her crib by herself or in her big girl bed with them. After about 20 minutes of running around hysterically (it was very hard not to laugh) she settled down and got used to the idea. She took a long time to take a nap. To the point where I didn't think she was going to take one, but she has done that in her crib before. And the nighttime battles weren't bad either. All in all it was very easy and I'm glad that we finally took the plunge. Fingers crossed that everything continues to be this smooth.

Addison Eight Months

Regan's New Haircut

I took Regan to get a haircut this weekend, so that her hair would look nice for her party and school.

Addison Sitting in the Bath

Addison sits up well enough to sit in the bath now. She seems to like it. She really likes her baths. Especially getting her belly washed. I think she is tickelish.

Race

Regan and I (Addison stayed home with a babysitter) went to cheer Matt on in a race that he ran in yesterday. He and his friend, Karl, have run in it for the last three years. This year Karl's son, Conner, ran in the 1 mile "fun" run. He was the second kid to complete it and 1st in his age division. I'm not sure if he will run next year, because I heard him telling his sister that she might not want to run it next year because while he was running he felt like his chest was going to explode. Regan had fun running around with Conner's sister Catherine. Between the face paint residue and the snowball, I think she might have gotten the dirtiest she has ever gotten.

Surgeon Visit

I took Addison today to the surgeon for a follow up visit. He said that her pallet is fully healed and that it looks good. He wants me to take her to see the pediatric dentist when she is a year and she will see him again in a year from now. They want to moniter her teeth and her speech pattern. Sometimes they have to go in again and lengthen the pallet if her speech is to nasally. She is saying mama and making other baby talking noises and she sounds normal to me, so I don't anticipate another surgery.