2 Month Update + Thanksgiving

Once again, it's been a while since I last posted, so I have a lot of catching up to do! Miss Addison is changing so much each day, I just had to post an update! We are loving her more and more every day!!! Since my last post, we finally got around to painting her feet (a gift from Andy and MJ at the hospital), her neck is getting so strong that she's able to fully lift it when on her belly, she had her first "baby" massage, and of course, it was her FIRST THANKSGIVING!!!

Painting her feet was an absolute trip! This idea of Andy and MJ's was awesome...and something I may have to steal shamelessly when I know of someone who'll be having a baby. Addison was not the most cooperative baby when it came to painting and pressing her feet to the canvases. Good thing we didn't try to paint her hands because they're constantly in fist :)

Her feet look good enough to eat We were able to get a couple keepers We tried to keep the bathroom as clean as we could

Now, when it comes to how much she's changing, our daughter is absolutely amazing! She is a very animated baby when she wants to be and brings a smile to our face every day! She growing up so much that it pains me to know that I have to go back to work soon! I finally understand why some people don't return to work after having babies. Here are a few pictures of our silly little baby!

She's not a fan of having shirts go over her head...Hanging out with daddy (it's a nightly thing)"Look how strong I am, daddy!!!"Addison talking to her "silly star"

Addison's first Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful! Addison and I surprised Auntie Eno (Erin) at the airport with my parents on Wednesday night! It was great for Erin and Nat to meet Addison first thing when they came home. Then, on Thursday morning, the entire Fuchs family walked (or ran...) in the Turkey Trot 5K in downtown Minneapolis. It was a perfect day for a 3-mile walk! After the race, we went back to my parent's house for a fantastic Thanksgiving lunch (thanks mom!!!). Later that evening, the three couples went out for drinks and apps at Majors and left the little ones at home with Grandma & Grandpa. All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving day!!!

Our little turkey is ready for the race The Loch FamilyAuntie Eno after running the race
(she came and met up with the walkers) The Meyer Family Addison & Mommy hanging out after lunch

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the whole Fuchs family met at my mom and dad's to get our annual family picture taken. One of our neighbors generously offered to take our pictures for us and at least two pictures with me in them turned out great! Here are a couple of the better ones :)

The whole Fuchs family The Loch Family

After pictures, we all headed down to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Fuchs' house to spend the day with them and have lunch. I know they were happy to have all of us there so we could have a nice visit and they could finally meet their 11th great-grandchild! That's right! Grandma and Grandpa have 22 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Needless to say, it's a full house on Christmas when the whole family gets together :) Here are a few pictures from our visit.

Miss Isabelle showing off her standing Eno, Nat, Madeline, Coco & Nanny (those are her dolls) Miss Isabelle's "funny" faceAddy and Mommy hanging out Daddy and Addy having a snack

Since Thanksgiving, life has gotten a lot more quiet just hanging out at home. Addison had her first "baby" massage (and I think she absolutely loved it!), she finally started sitting up in her Bumbo...hopefully she'll be sitting for real soon, and she has started to enjoy spending time every day under her activity gym. She's growing up so fast! I can't even believe it!!!

Addison's first "baby" massage Relaxing with daddy after her massage Hanging out in her Bumbo Hanging out with her toys "Wow! A poodle that doesn't lick me all the time!"

Until next time loyal blog readers!

Mom & Baby Class

Hello everyone! As I've posted a couple other times in this blog, Addison and I have been attending a "Mom & Baby" class every Friday for 6 weeks. I thought I would share with you a picture of her friends that she gets together with every week.

From left to right is Dexter (mom: Danielle), Jack (mom: Laura), Addison (mom: Libby), and Madelyn (mom: Allie). The other mom's and I have so much fun chatting, learning from each other, and watching our babies grow. We've now had 4 classes and I find it amazing how much the babies have changed in such a short time.

2 Months TODAY!

Our little Addison Lynn is officially 2 months old today! I can't believe how fast time flies...before you know it, she'll be a teenager and hate us :) We had her doctor appointment this morning for her 2-month checkup and we were definitely not looking forward to it. Our little sweetheart was such a trooper though! She got an oral vaccine and three shots that definitely made her cry. Everyone was right...her "pain" cry is totally different than any other cry we've heard to date. Surprisingly, it was easy to console her and before long she fell asleep...she's been sleeping ever since too :) Here are her stats and a picture we took of her before she got her shots.

Weight: 11lbs, 1oz (75th percentile)

Height: 23.5in (90th percentile)

Head Circumference: 15.5in (80th percentile)

(She's only smiling because she doesn't know what's coming)

Major Milestones!

Hello again blog followers! We've had some pretty major milestones (all things considered) since the last time I posted. On November 7th, after going to Mom and Baby class, we stopped by my parents house to visit. While having some play time, it's like a lightbulb finally turned on, and Addison started smiling, responding to sounds, making coo noises, and following objects from left to right. It's absolutely amazing how much we take for granted in our daily lives, but when a baby finally learns to smile, it's the most exciting thing on earth! The great thing is, she hasn't stopped smiling since! She is such a silly little munchkin! Check out some pictures below. I can't wait for all the milestones to come!

I just learned how to smile!

Hi mama!

Then, this weekend we were given the opportunity to get away and go to our friend Jon's cabin. For us and our friends, we love going to up to the cabin to hang out, play games, and relax (ok...and drink). This weekend, it was just me, Adam, Addison, the dogs, and Jon. Probably the smallest group ever to go the cabin, but it was still fun all the same. It was definitely different having a baby up there, but at least we know we can do it if we ever decide to go again with her in the future. Here are a few pics of our sweetheart from the weekend...

Happy baby!

Hanging out with daddy and BaileyHanging out with mama

Tomorrow, Addison will officially be 2 months old!!! I can't believe how fast time flies! I'm trying my best to enjoy every moment before I go back to work. We have her 2-month checkup tomorrow and are dreading that we finally have to hear her "pain" cry...she has to get 5 shots! YUCK! I'll post again with updates and let you know how it went!

Halloween Update

Ok, since the last time I posted (sorry it's been so long), lots has happened. Adam and I carved our pumpkin's first pumpkin, we took some birth annoucement pictures, we had Addison's first play date with Miss Ayla Sufka, we celebrated Grandma Fuchs' and Miss Isabelle's birthdays, I took Addison to her first "Mom and Baby" class, celebrated Halloween, Adam went back to work :( and Addison and I went to vote.

Carving her pumpkin was actually a lot of fun. Adam and I collaborated to carve what we thought was the best pumpkin without using a stencil. Check out a couple pictures below:

Adam looks a little scary with that knife :)

I had the honor of "gutting" the pumpkin

...and here's the final result! Pretty nice, huh?!?

That same day, we decided to take some "birth annoucement" pictures of our little sweetheart. We took pictures of her outside in the leaves and then took some inside with black backdrop. Note to self...when taking pictures of a naked baby with a heater going, expect that the baby will probably pee, so be prepared...and she definitely did! Regardless, I think we came out of our photo session with some really good ones. Check them out!

The sun's in my eyes :)

What beautiful eyes! I love this picture! This is the one we picked! She's our beautiful little girl!!!

Her first playdate with Ayla went very well...probably considering they don't actually play yet and both babies pretty much wanted to sleep the entire time. It was great catching up with Laura and Erik...it's been way too long! For those of you who aren't familiar with the Sufkas, Adam and Erik were roommates when they were over in Kosovo for a year. We always have lots of fun recalling memories from their time away and poking fun at each other! We definitely have to get together again soon!!!

Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the two girls
together, but here's one of the happy family! Go Gophers!!!

Then we celebrated my mom's birthday and Miss Isabelle's first birthday! We all had tons of fun hanging out with the Meyers and Hartmann's! Even though she was sick, Isabelle was definitely a trooper and loved having her sisters open up all her presents (or not...but she really couldn't say even if she didn't like it). Here are some pictures from our fun day!

Grandpa and Maddie admiring Miss Addison Happy Birthday Isabelle!!! Isabelle isn't too sure about mama holding another baby :)

Then on both Monday and Friday of last week, I took Miss Addison to "Mom and Baby" class. My first day wasn't the best experience I've ever had. It was a class downtown at Fairview Riverside with what I like to call a bunch of "Mother Earth" moms. Let's just say I didn't feel like I fit in very well with them. None of them wanted pain meds during their baby's birth, they definitely didn't want c-sections, and at some point during the class, they all were breastfeeding while I was bottle feeding my baby. I had so hoped that I could get in a class at Southdale (in the suburbs where I delivered) and my prayers were answered a couple days later and we went to class last Friday. My Southdale class was absolutely awesome! I loved the girls and we had tons in common! I'm so happy we switched and I can't wait to get to know the girls and their babies even more!!!

And of course, there was Halloween! We went to class in the morning and then went over to my mom's to visit for a little while before heading up to Meredith's to take pictures with the girls. It was so much fun to see the girls in their costumes before they headed out to go trick-or-treating with the Nibbe's. After that, Addy and I headed home to have a bonfire with daddy and hand out candy. It was so much fun and something I hope we can do again next year (assuming it's nice out again)!!!

Our Little Pumpkin

The Cutest Poodle EVER!
(don't tell Bailey and Eva) Isabelle, Morgan, Madeline, and Addison
Could they be any cuter?

Pimp Daddy and Addy the Poodle :)

Bonfires rule!

Ok, I'm ready for bed now :)

Then, yesterday Adam went back to work, so it was an awfully sad day for me and Addy. We miss not having daddy around with us and wish he could be home all the time! I know it was bittersweet for Adam too since he loves his job, but also loves being home with his baby. I can only image how sad I'm going to be in January when I finally go back to work and she goes to daycare. Speaking of daycare, Addison and I went driving around today after I went to vote and looked at 4 different daycare houses. Each of them appear very promising from the outside, so I'm excited to call these 4 women to see if they have any infant openings beginning in January!

Well, back to baby duty! Below is a link to the albums if you want to see more pictures. Until next time!

Baby Addison: Week 6

Baby Addison: Week 7 and Halloween

Happy AnniBirthTines Day!

Ok, so I've been terrible at keeping the blog updated. If you can believe it, having a newborn is a lot of work :) A lot has happened since the last time I posted! Addison had her first tummy time, successfully swung in her swing without puking, used her activity gym, took her first vacation, went to Zoo Boo at the Como Zoo, and turned ONE MONTH old! Ok, and it was also Adam's 27th birthday and our 3rd Wedding Anniversary. Funny how our events now take a backseat to our sweet little baby's firsts! Check out our pictures from the last few weeks! Click on the pictures below to link to the weekly albums.

Week 3 Pictures

Baby Addison: Week 3

Week 4 Pictures

Baby Addison: Week 4 and 1st Vacation!

Week 5 Pictures

Baby Addison: Week 5 and Zoo Boo!

Either today or sometime this week, we're also going to plan on carving her pumpkin, taking her birth announcement pictures, and painting her hand and foot prints (thanks to Andy and MJ's gift when she was born)! I can't wait to share those pictures with all of you too!!! Until next time...

Baby Addison: Week 2 Update

We're almost through week 3 with Addison, but I thought I'd post a week 2 update after several requests. During week 2, she had many firsts! Her first walk around he block with mom and dad, her first doctor appointment, and her first bottle! At her first doctor appointment, we found out she was actually losing weight rather than gaining weight. Therefore, we met with an in-home nurse twice and have had two doctors appointments and as of today she has finally surpassed her birthweight. Come to find out, even though she'd breastfeed for up to an hour at a time, she still wasn't getting enough milk to sustain her. What we thought night after night was gas was actually hunger pains... so we finally transitioned to having me pump and have us bottle feed her full time so we could track exactly how much she was eating. She's finally doing great! She eats every 3 hours and sleeps 5 to 6 hours at night!!! We're ecstatic!!! Here are a few pictures from her second week as well as a link to her Week 2 Album.

Addison's first walk...she slept the entire time :)

Adam consoling a naked Addison at the doctor

Addison's first bottle! She loves it!!!

Click here to go to her Week 2 Album

Baby Addison: Week 2

Baby Addison: Week 1 Update

Though we're already in the midst of week 2 as new parents, I thought I'd post our week 1 update for you all. Adam and I are absolutely in love! Not only with each other, but with our beautiful little girl! She is a blessing every single day and I can't help but smile every time I look at her. She's just so helpless and innocent and has her entire life ahead of her. I just can't wait to watch her grow!

Week 1 has become an absolute blur. Not only because we were in the hospital for most of it, but I felt as though we had a revolving door of wonderful guests the entire week. Several family members and friends stopped by for a visit or even to bring us some food and I truly consider us blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives!

Some of my favorite moments from our first week include giving Addison her first bath, taking our first family trip to Target (my favorite store), and watching my wonderful husband and my girls take some snoozes on the couch. I'm excited to have 6 weeks at home with Adam and to have so much time off of work so I can continue to enjoy some of these simple moments in life. Below are a couple of my favorite pics from the week, but you can also visit the Week 1 album by clicking the image below.

Addison's first bath...I think she actually enjoyed it a little :)
One of many naps with his girls

Picasa Web Album (Click to view the album)

Baby Addison: Week 1

The Story of Addison

Again, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update my blog with Addy's story, but we've been "surprisingly" busy since last Thursday :) It's been quite a ride and one that I'm so happy to have taken. Below is our story. I've included very few pictures, so if you'd like to see the full album from our stay at the hospital, please visit our photo album here:

Baby Addison: The Beginning

Thursday, 9/18
At 7:30am, we were admitted to Fairview Southdale Hospital to be induced and finally get our little girl out! She was so big I could barely move or sleep comfortably anymore! At 8am, Dr. Leitgen broke my water and started me on pitocin so I could finally get things started. My amniotic fluid was a dark-greenish color indicating that Addy had already had her first bowel movement, making things much more complicated. The doctor explained to us that once she was out, a team would be on hand to make sure she doesn't cry or take her first deep breath until her mouth and lungs were suctioned out of any poo. This increased our anxiety levels for an already nerve wracking situation, but I trusted that they would do everything they could to make sure Addison would be ok.

8am and still smiling after water was broken and pitocin was started

The first hour or so after inducing labor, the contractions weren't so bad. I was wondering what I was so worried about. Then, the second hour of contractions got progressively worse. I'm glad we learned some breathing techniques because they definitely came in handy. As the contractions became unbearable, I told my nurse I was ready for an epidural and the anesthesiologist showed up in a matter of minutes...thank God! Once that epidural was in place, I was in absolute heaven! Then it was just a waiting game for the little girl to come out...that is until the drugs wore off... I quickly progressed throughout the morning for being 0 station, 3cm, 80% effaced to being 0 station, 8cm, 90% effaced by 2:30pm. Then, at 3pm the epidural wore off...OWWWW! After being in la-la land to being in excruciating pain, I could not for the life of me understand why anyone would NOT want drugs...they're a life saver! Once the epidural was redosed, I definitely felt much better.

3pm and feeling much better now that the drugs are working again

It became a painfully long day waiting for our little one to be born, but thankfully we had the support of our families who spent most (if not all) of the day with us. I'm pretty sure we were all equally anxious to finally meet Miss Addison! Then, at about 7pm, I began feeling the pain of contractions again on top of the pressure I was feeling in my pelvis from Addison moving down. However, the pain (not pressure) progressively got worse, and worse, and worse, and worse, to the point that I was driven to tears. No thanks to my nurse who was trying to tell me this was perfectly normal, I knew something much greater was wrong. Good thing I stuck with my instincts and demanded that an anesthesiologist be called again. When the doctor finally came to see me, he found that my epidural had begun pooling in my right leg and my left leg and abdomen were no longer being numbed. Needless to say, at 0 station, 9cm, and 100% effaced, I was in A LOT of pain!!! Thank goodness for my anesthesiologist because he then administered the same dosage of medication that you receive during a C-Section so I was feeling much less pain.

Smiling again after attempt #3 to eliminate my pain

Finally, at 9pm after stalling out at 9cm, Dr. Leitgen finally decided to go forward with a C-Section. After doing an exam, she found that Miss Addison's head had barely come down and only a small portion had formed to come through my pelvis...the rest of her head was pretty well stuck. So, 13 hours after starting labor, I was finally going to get to see my little pumpkin!!! Now we had to totally change gears from getting ready to push to getting ready for surgery. After 10 months of anticipating that this was likely going to happen (given my family's history of C-Sections), I really wasn't scared at all...I was ready! So, we got all geared up and off we went to the operating room.

We're ready to go! Let's go have a baby!

Here we go!

While I was prepped to begin the C-Section, Adam was asked to wait patiently outside the room until they were ready. What was only supposed to be 10 minutes or less ended up being over 30 minutes of waiting...the anesthesiologist was unable after several attempts to numb one of the nerves going down the left side of my abdomen next to my belly button...so rather than being completely numb from the shoulders down, I had one nerve that was only able to be dulled...I could therefore feel much more than I should have during the C-Section. You know what?!? It was totally worth every second given the beautiful baby we ended up with!!! At 10:07pm after a VERY long day, Addison Lynn Loch was born weighing 8lbs, 8 oz and was 21 inches long. Her head had a 14" circumference which is one of the largest my doctor has ever delievered...just means she's going to be super smart like her mama!!!

Addison's first picture! Welcome to the world little one!

The rest of our hospital stay flew by in a flash. We want to thank those of you were were able to come visit us and welcome our new little girl into the world! We really enjoyed visiting with all of you!

• Friday we had several visitors (primarily just family due to the long day we had on Thursday). The visitors included, Grandma and Grandpa Fuchs, Grandma and Grandpa Loch, Meredith and Corbett and the girls (who love their new little cousin by the way), and our friends Tiff and Brian.
• Saturday's visitors included the usual immediate family members, Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle Cliff, Cousin Sarah, and our friends Tasia, Mai, and Pat
• Sunday's visitors included again the usual family as well as our friends Andy and Mary Jo

Finally, Monday came where we were going to be able to go home. However, after her third visit from a pediatrician, they found that little Addison had a heart murmur. To be safe, the discharging pediatrician wanted to make sure an ultrasound and EKG were done to ensure our baby was ok to go home. This meant that rather than going home at 11am as planned, we "hung out" in our room at the hospital all day and didn't leave until nearly 7pm. Thankfully though, Addison is ok despite the two pinholes that were seen in her heart muscle during the ultrasound. The cardiologist explained that these are common and often resolve themselves on their own. We will have an appointment with another cardiologist in 4-weeks to check the progress of the pinholes and make sure they aren't causing any other issues.

After a long 5 days in the hospital, we were so happy to finally get to go home. I'll be posting weekly updates to show Miss Addison's progress and share some of our favorite pictures that we've been taking. We absolutely can't get enough of her and are so happy she came into our lives! She is an absolute blessing and brings a smile to my face every single day! Also, with the amount that she's sleeping and how content of a baby she is, she has made our transition to being parents a very easy one. I'm not sure what we did to get so lucky, but we are thankful every second of every day for God having blessed us with our beautiful baby girl!

Until next time blog followers! I promise to post our week 1 update soon!

Coming Soon: Addison Update

It has come to my attention that many people have been waiting for an Addison update. I'm sorry to say, but you are going to have to wait a bit longer for the full details...if you can believe it, I've been a little busy :) Here's the abbreviated to wet your appetite. I hope to post the full story and lots of pictures sometime tomorrow.

Addison Lynn Loch

Born on 9/18 at 10:07pm

Weighed 8lbs, 8 oz and was 21" long

The Happy Family

Adam's Girls

Thank you for your patience, loyal blog followers! I will post again soon!