Loch Family / Addison Update and Christmas

Well, I'm in my 3rd week off of work and decided to update my blog...finally... The first two weeks off for Christmas were wonderful! I typically store up my vacation to use at the end of the year so I get a nice long break for the holidays. However, this 3rd week off was definitely not my choice. The Honeywell Aerospace organization is on furlough this week (unpaid for those of you keeping track). I'm not sure the exact number of employees in our organization, but is somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 employees that are going unpaid this week. It's pretty incredible the measures Honeywell is taking to not only save money, but to ensure we don't have any large-scale layoffs. In 2009, we all took a 10% pay reduction through shortened work weeks for 3 Quarters, but finally had our hours and pay reinstated at the end of the year. Honestly, I'd rather have my pay back and take a week unpaid than have smaller paychecks all year long. Needless to say, this week unpaid is bittersweet. I'm able to be home to get some of our home improvement projects done, but I'm not getting paid for it and I'm not able to do anything work-related all week. Typically I'd be on top of my emails, corresponding with my customers and getting work done. Unfortunately, I can't do any of that so I'm having to find other ways to keep myself busy. Thankfully, there's A LOT around this house to keep me busy.

Ok, on to more important things. The Loch family had a wonderful Christmas and New Year! Now that Addison is 15 months, she's much more aware of what's going on and it was great to see her reaction to the chaos that is Christmas. On my birthday, we hosted the 6th Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater party at our new home and were blessed to have lots of friends attend. As always, it was tons of fun and made for a lot of laughs. Below, check out the link to the Christmas party web album.

6th Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

On 12/22, I took Addison in for her 15-month checkup and everything was great!

1. An ear infection she had been battling for a couple months had finally cleared up
2. The doctor indicated that the 2 VSD's (Ventricular Septal Defect) causing her heart murmur since birth sounded as though they had closed. This is great news and something we've been praying for since she was born.
3. He also checked her lungs, which both sounded good, but doesn't mean her asthma is gone. After talking at length, we decided to change her routine slightly to offer her more relief when she experiences wheezing or coughing that exacerbates her asthma. She's still on daily Pulmicort nebules in the evening and Albuterol nebules when she's sick, but we've also added a higher concentration Albuterol that can be added to her Pulmicort treatments as needed. She hasn't had an asthma attack since September and since she started her daily treatments, so I can only assume that the treatment is helping.
4. After evaluating her and her development, the doctor also was quite impressed with how advanced she was for her age. He said developmentally, she's at an 18-month level at least. He kept commenting on how smart she was, which made me feel really good that between us at home and her experiences at daycare, we must be doing something right.

Stats from her 15-month checkup:
Weight: 22lbs, 13oz (49th percentile)
Height: 2' 9" (97th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.7in (89th percentile)

Over the break, Addison has also managed to cut 4 new teeth with at least 3 more on the way. She got a molar on top and bottom as well as her two lower "canine" teeth. She wasn't in too much discomfort through it all, but definitely has had some rosy cheeks for the past couple weeks. In addition to teeth is her daily addition of new words. Some of our favorite phrases are:

• "Hello Moto" or "Hi Moto"
• "Cookie" (as in monster)
• "Papa" (as in Grandpa)
• "Opie Opie (as in open)
• "Row Row Row Boat"
• "Poop" or "Poopie" (and is actually sometimes right)
• "Nigh Nigh" (when she wants to got to bed)
• "Apple"
• "Man" (as in snowman)
• "Bailey" and "Eva" (but usually just Eva for both dogs)
• "Nummies" (whenever she wants her nummies)
• "Bee" (anytime she sees a bee)
• "Baby" (anytime she sees a picture of herself or a baby)
• "Linny", "Tuck", and "Ming Ming" (as in the Wonder Pets)
• "Ball"
• "Duckie"
• She'll pretty much repeat just about anything you ask her to and can point out objects in her books that you ask her to show you

Check out some pictures from her 15th month of life her 12-15 Month web album link below.

Addison: 12 - 15 Months

And lastly, Christmas was quite exciting for our family. Here's the run-down as well as the link to the Christmas web album.

Christmas 2009

12/23: Erin and Nat finally got to come home from Boston after not seeing them since July. They flew in on the 23rd and stayed through the 29th.
12/24: We got about 10" of snow overnight, so Adam had to clear snow before starting the Christmas festivities. After that, we opened presents before heading over to my parent's house for the day. We had lunch and dinner with my family and then went over to Adam's aunt and uncle's house for the evening. After visiting with the Loch family, I headed back to my parent's house to get ready for midnight mass while Adam and Addison headed home to greet Corbett and the girls. Little did Erin know, Nat had set it up so that just our immediate family and he were at my parent's house so that he could ask Erin a very important question. That's right, Nat asked Erin to marry him and she said YES!!! We expect that the wedding will be this summer in Minneapolis and absolutely can't wait! After midnight mass, Adam and I hosted Meredith, Corbett, and family for the night so they didn't have to drive all the way back to Rogers just to come south again.
12/25: Christmas Day! We woke up early so that Adam could clear more snow and I could get breakfast ready for Adam's family. That's right! We had Adam's family over Christmas morning to open presents before we went down to my Grandma & Grandpa's house in Lake City. It wouldn't be Christmas if there wasn't constant chaos! After opening presents, Adam, Addison, and I decided to brave the icy roads and make our way down to Lake City for lunch and visiting with the Fuchs family. I look forward to this day every year since we don't get to see the Fuchs family very often. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stay as long as we liked because the roads were horrendous and we needed to make our way back to the cities. Once we got back, we dropped Addison off at Adam's parent's house and Meredith and Corbett left the girls with my parents so me, Adam, Meredith, Corbett, Erin, and Nat could have "family fun night" at our house. Was it ever fun!!! Check out the pictures from our fun night by clicking on the web album link below.

Family Fun Night

12/26: After two nights with Meredith and Corbett, what was one more night with the Meyer family? After a long night of "family fun" we decided to take it easy for the day and play with all the kids before heading over to Gastof's with my family for dinner. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it, but Gastof's is known for having their "meterwurst" challenge (3 feet of bratwurst) that Corbett couldn't pass up. In just 15 minutes, Corbett managed to eat the entire meter, two sides, and the rest of the food on Meredith's plate. After dinner, we headed back to the Loch residence to put all the girls to bed, watch a movie, and go to bed ourselves. We had so much fun with the Meyers that we can't wait for our next sleepover!
12/27-1/3: Adam decided to tackle a new home project...tearing up the foyer flooring and putting in a beautiful cherry-colored laminate. It looks absolutely gorgeous! I feel so fortunate to have a husband who likes to get his hands dirty and make our house a home. On the evening of 12/28, it was time to say goodbye to Erin and Nat. Our whole family decided to have one more dinner out at Christo's (our favorite Greek restaurant). It was a nice ending to a nice visit! The rest of the Christmas break was full of flooring, cleaning, and a nice New Year's evening with Addison at Adam's parent's house while Adam and I went out to dinner at Kabuki (our favorite Japanese restaurant) with Marissa and Scott and Meghan Boots. It was a quiet evening, but it was nice to spend it in the company of friends.

I think I've written enough now. I need to get back to removing wallpaper from one of our bathrooms before heading off to another bathroom to remove more wallpaper. A note to all of you...DO NOT PUT UP WALLPAPER EVER!!!

Addison's 14-Month Update

Well, it's been another month and Addison is changing so much that I don't even know where to begin. Once she started walking, there was no stopping her! She can't get enough of walking...across the room, across the furniture, on top of toys, everywhere! She's adjusting well to her new house and loves to get around. She's becoming a pro at going up stairs, but still has a problem coming down. She wants to walk down them facing forwards and hasn't figured out yet that she can get very hurt if she does that...and almost did!

We were outside one afternoon bagging leaves while we were letting Addison just be a kid...run around all bundled up without anyone saying no. That is until she starting climbing up the deck stairs. She got up one stair and I told her to get down. I looked away for a little while only to look back and saw that she was up four stairs. I yelled at her to get down...without remembering that she doesn't know how to come down stairs correctly...and tumble, tumble, boom! She fell down the stairs and smacked her head on the wrought-iron bench at the bottom. I immediately ran over and picked up my baby, crying without any noise coming out, so I knew it was bad. I held her so tight and I didn't want to look at the damage I caused. Adam ran over, looked at her head, and told me that she was fine, but that she needed to go inside. We brought her in, cleaned up the dirty scratch and bump on her head, and brought her back outside. She was such a trooper!

Addison isn't only getting around everywhere, but she's talking up a storm! I can't believe how much she's picking up from one day to the next. She now says:
"thank you"
"there you go" (though it sounds more like "taco")
"hi puppy"
"hi blankie"
"hi mommy"
"hi daddy"
"milk" (and demands it often)
"up" (which means up and down)
most animal noises, she'll repeat if you ask her to
"a book" (she always wants to read!)
"bye bye"
"cracker"
"cookie"
"Elmo" (she loves Elmo , even though she doesn't watch Sesame Street)

Here are a few pictures since the last time I posted so you can see how big she's getting. Don't forget to check out our picture site often! I've included the link to the web album at the bottom. That's all for now!

Ever wonder what happens when you get applesauce in your hair? All the girls at the Landscape Arboretum for Grandma's birthday
The Loch Family
Our dirty baby on Halloween
Our sweet little monkey

She reminds me of the kid from "A Christmas Story"
Click here to go to the 12-18 month web album

Addison: 12 - 18 Months

1-Year Addison Update

Two months is my new record for not updating this blog! It's amazing how little time I have in a day between work, a toddler, and selling our house. I have a lot of updating to do, so here it goes...

Since the last time I posted:
- Addison got a new tooth on 9/11 bringing her total count up to 8
- She got a cold on her birthday that led to an asthma attack on 9/19
- She turned ONE and took her first steps on 9/18!!!
- She had a fabulous 1st Birthday party on 9/20
- She was prescribed daily asthma medication on 9/22 ...so far, so good!
- She officially started walking full-time on 10/3
- She got another cold, but no asthma attack to speak of yet on 10/12
- We sold our house in Blaine and close on our current house and the one in Bloomington on 10/21!!! We officially move in to the new house on 10/22!!!

Stats from her 12-month checkup:

Weight: 21lbs, 13.5oz (63rd percentile)

Height: 2' 7" (95th percentile)

Head Circumference: 18.27in (85th percentile)

Needless to say, we are one busy family right now! Addison is all over the place and getting into everything...especially those things we don't want her to get in to. We still can't believe our little sweetheart is already ONE! Time flies by so fast! I know everyone says it, but it seems like only yesterday she came into our lives! Now she's walking, talking, and being demanding just like her mommy! I'm definitely anxious to have another one at some point just like her, but we're still enjoying the one we have now :) Check out her 11 and 12 month photo albums below as well as the album from her 1st Birthday party.

I promise to update this blog again soon once we're in our new house. We're anxious to get in there and start some new home projects! I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and we look forward to having guests soon!

Baby Addison: 11 Months

Addison: 12 Months

Addison's 1st Birthday Party

11 Months Old and a Trip to the Hospital

I can't believe only one more month and Addison will be 1-year old! Babies grow up way too fast! Since the last time I posted, which was forever ago it seems like, Addison has been through quite a lot! Our little pumpkin is now walking along anything she can grab on to, crawling faster than anyone can catch her, and getting into everything she's not supposed to :) She went on her first Fuchs Family trip to Spirit Lake (check out the album link below), she now has 7 teeth, and this week she stood all by herself for about 5 seconds! Before you know it, she'll be walking all over!!!

On a bad note, if you can believe it, two days ago she had her second "asthma attack". The doctors still aren't willing to label her as having asthma just because she's so young, but it was scary again nonetheless. I was home alone with her all week while Adam was at a tournament in Moorhead, so I was fortunate enough to experience what a single mom must go through... Since my daycare was on vacation Monday and Tuesday and then Addison got sick Wednesday, I had 24-hours of Addison fun for 3 days straight!

So, back to the attack... on Wednesday morning, I knew she had a cold, but she woke up screaming and crying. I couldn't figure out what was wrong! I decided to keep her home for the day and keep an eye on her until I could figure out what was wrong with her. While she was waiting to eat her breakfast, I could hear her wheezing again from across the room. I thought to myself "this isn't good...not again!" I immediately got her started on her nebulizer treatment to try to get her breathing under control. Unfortunately, 3 nebulizer treatments and about 8 hours later, she still had labored breathing and was breathing quite fast. I decided to call her doctor to consult with one of her nurses as to what I should do next. They decided it would be best if I brought Addison in to the ER. What treat that was..........I HATE THE ER! After 5 hours in the ER, Addison and I finally got to go home after she had 2 more nebulizer treatments (5 total that day) and a shot of prednisone. She's doing much better now, but I still need to have a discussion with her doctor to find out what we can do from a "maintenance" perspective to prevent any more attacks in the future. I'll keep you posted!

Here are the links to her 9-month, 10-month, and cabin trip albums. Enjoy!

Baby Addison: 9 Months

Baby Addison: 10 Months

Family Cabin Trip 2009

Colds and Asthma

Well, we had quite the scare with Addison last Thursday! At 4am (rather than 7:30am), she woke up with a cold. I'm thinking "Great...she hasn't had a cold in 3 weeks, she must be overdue!" As a good mom that doesn't bring her child to daycare to spread germs, I kept her home with me that day. At about 3pm, I noticed that she was breathing heavy and starting to wheeze. I called Adam after an hour or so and told him I wanted to bring her in to get checked. I was worried the wheezing may have been the start of pneumonia or RSV.

So, off Adam and I went with Miss Addison to urgent care. When we got there, the nurse was concerned with the wheezing as her breathing could be heard from across the room. She took her pulse ox and found that it was in the low 90's. She immediately started her on a nebulizer treatment to help calm her breathing. The doctor then met with us and decided she needed a chest x-ray to confirm whether or not we were looking at pneumonia or some other kind of lung infection. The x-rays came back clear, so he determined that she was having an asthma attack. After a second nebulizer treatment, the doctor met with us again to discuss with us the risks of asthma and what to look for in the future. They gave us a nebulizer machine to bring home with us as well as a prescription for prednisone with the hopes that her bronchial tubes would become less contracted an allow her to breathe better.

When we got home, we fed her and tried to give her the prednisone. To our dismay, she ended up puking EVERYWHERE! The quantity of the dosage he gave us was absolutely ridiculous. He expected us to give her 15mL of medicine at one time, which is the equivalent of 3 syringes full...a little much if you ask me. The next morning, I made an appointment with her regular doctor to lower the quantity. I had every hope that a smaller amount would be easier on the baby...I was VERY wrong!!! I gave her a bottle and got no more than .25mL in her mouth before she gagged and puked EVERYWHERE again! I quickly called the doctor to inform her that prednisone orally was probably not going to work. All the while, Addison still wasn't breathing well even with the nebulizer treatments, so I knew she needed the medicine. The doctor agreed that I could bring her back in to get a prednisone injection that would begin working immediately. Sure enough, after 3 trips to the doctor in less than 24 hours, the prednisone injection worked! YIPPEE!!! Addison made a complete 180 within an hour after the injection.

Who knows if this bout with asthma is just the beginning or if she'll never have an attack again. I guess we'll see...especially the next time she gets a cold or allergy season hits! There's no way of knowing for sure what her triggers are, but you can bet we'll have the nebulizer on standby if we ever catch her wheezing again!

9-Month Update and Videos

Well, it's been a while again so I have a lot of updating to do. Addison is changing so much that I'm realizing that her days as a baby didn't and aren't going to last very long. Before you know it she'll be walking and talking and never look back. Makes me kind of sad when I think about it. I can barely remember her days as a "pod" where she couldn't make eye contact, couldn't smile, couldn't coo...those days didn't last very long at all!

Here are some of the changes that have happened since the last time I posted:
- She starting clapping on June 20th
- She went in a lake for the first time on June 21st
- She started pulling herself up to stand on June 28th
- She got her 4th tooth (top left) on June 30th
- She starting waving on July 1st
- She started waving and saying "bah bah" (bye bye) on July 3rd
- She saw her first fireworks on July 4th (duh...)
- She started saying "doe" (don't) on July 6th
- She started shaking her head "no" on July 10th
- She started saying "I did it" on July 11th

Addison also celebrated her first 4th of July a couple weeks ago! It was so much fun lighting off fireworks and watching her eyes light up in amazement! I can't wait until she gets older so she can really enjoy the 4th of July!

We also took her to the 3M Championship last weekend at the TPC in Blaine and come to find out, 9-month old babies are not very quiet when people are trying to golf. We definitely got some nasty looks from people, but seriously, it could've been much worse. We had tons of fun watching Lee Trevino and Chi Chi Rodriguez as we do every year. Can't wait until the PGA Championship in August and then the 3M Championship again next year!

Here are a few pics and videos since the last time I posted. She's changing so fast, so make sure to check back often!

Addison's first day at the beach Addison with Erik & Ayla Sufka (Addison's first sleepover) Our little firecracker on the 4th of July I have no words for this picture whatsoever Our sweet baby
Here are a couple cute videos. Check them out!

"Bye Bye"

Sleepy jumper

Guess who's 9 months old?!?

I can't believe how fast time flies! My little baby is growing up so fast!!! Addison had a big week! She starting saying "up" which is super cute since she enunciates it so well, she went swimming in Meredith's mother-in-law's pool, she got her 3rd tooth (upper-right), and she took a couple headers while crawling causing her to bruise both cheekbones.

I brought her to the doctor for her 9-month checkup and the doctor was very pleased with her progress...she also knows that she's not abused since cheek bruises are common in babies learning to crawl, just like shin bruises are common when babies learn to walk. Thank goodness! Addison has to be about the most loved baby in the world, so I'm glad the doctor recognizes that. She did tell me we should start "disciplining" her though so she gets used to the word "no". She could tell that Addison runs the roost and may need some boundaries. I thought that was super funny! She also told me that we can start feeding her some real solids now like canned peas or carrots, chopped up canned fruit, bananas, bread, egg whites, etc. I'm super excited to see how she takes to "real" food instead of just bottles, baby food, and rice cereal all the time! Here are her 9-month stats:

Weight: 19lbs, 15.5oz (71st percentile)
Height: 29in (92nd percentile)
Head Circumference: 18in (91st percentile)

"I'm 9-months old...no leave me alone!"Playing in her pool

Here's a video of her making the most ridiculous noise on the face of the earth! It was too funny not to capture on video to use against her when she gets older :) I'm pretty sure she's possessed when she does this...that's the only explanation I can think of. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Lastly, here's a link to her 8-month web album. I just love looking back at all the previous months to see how much she's grown!

Baby Addison: 8 Months

Crawling Baby!

It's official! After several weeks working with Addison on crawling, she's finally done it! It's incredible to watch her accomplish such a major milestone! Now it looks like we're going to have to start child proofing since we definitely don't live in child-friendly home...no railing, floor lamps, cords, you know...

Here's a few pictures and a couple videos of our little pumpkin. What a big girl she is! They grow up way too fast if you ask me!

What beautiful blue eyes she has!
Thinking about crawling...
She'll put just about anything in her mouth...

Addison's first crawl (6/8/09)

Getting better after only one day!

Teething, Moms, and Raspberries

I feel like a broken record, but sorry it's been so long since I've provided an update on Addison. The Loch family is doing great! Our little one is now 8 months old and growing every day! Addison is now saying "da-da", "ba-ba", "pa-pa" (as in pup-pup for the two dogs), "na-na", and..........drumroll please.........."ma-ma"!!!!! As of yesterday, she is actually saying ma-ma pretty consistently! Definitely exciting for her mama!

Addison also had her first bout with teething. When her first two bottom teeth came in, she barely had any response whatsoever. Now that her top two front teeth are getting ready to come in, she was absolutely inconsolable last Thursday. I ended up staying up with her for an hour or so hoping to comfort her through her pain. A little Orajel and some Tylenol seemed to do the trick. I'll have to remember that when they actually punch through...not looking forward to that!

She's also so close to crawling it will likely happen within the next few days! I can't wait to see her take her first crawl...assuming she doesn't do it at daycare first :( So many people keep telling me how they had kids or know kids who were walking by her age...to which I want to say "great, but my daughter is going to crawl first". Developmentally, I know how crucial it is that a child learn to crawl before they learn to walk. I welcome crawling with open arms! That just gives us time to get our house "child-proofed" :) We are definitely not ready for a mobile child yet...pretty sad, huh?!?

Please keep Addison in your thoughts on Monday, June 1st. It's nothing serious at this point, but we have a preventative appointment with a Pediatric Opthamologist to have her checked for congenital glaucoma. Since Adam was born with glaucoma, we figured it was better safe than sorry. They told me the appointment will last 2-4 hours as we meet with a variety of doctors and specialists confirming that she either does or doesn't have glaucoma. Her eyes will be dialated and she will go through a host of tests that can see better into the eye than a typical doctor can.

As I believe I posted before, we are also in the process of trying to sell our house. You can't even imagine how hard it is to live in a "staged" house with 2 dogs and an infant. Everyday, I find myself cleaning the house and doing the same routine of dusting and vacuuming in the event that someone wants to see the house. So far, we've had 5 showing and an open house with good feedback overall. The only problem is we are charging more for our house than other houses in our neighborhood because we have literally updated the ENTIRE house...new kitchen, new bathrooms, master bedroom suite, deck, fence, driveway...you name it, we've probably done it. Buyers don't understand that though...and until we find one who does, we probably won't be moving any time soon...

Before I end this post, here are a few more pictures, videos, and links to albums. Check back often for more updates!

Riding a kiddy 4-wheeler we were selling in our garage sale My first Mother's Day at the Arboretum Hanging out in the backyard Super happy baby! Playing at the park during a showing Addison's new "silly face"

I realized I haven't posted the last couple monthly albums, so here you go...

Baby Addison: 6 Months		Baby Addison: 7 Months

Here's a video of Addison playing around...she's so silly


Here's another video of Addison blowing "raspberries"...I think she's just hilarious!

Addison Update and Bathtime Video

It's been a while again...sorry about that! Things have been pretty crazy in our lives lately. On April 17th, my grandpa was admitted to the hospital in Rochester with pneumonia following his open-heart surgery (less than two weeks prior). He was in congestive heart failure during the day, having difficulty breathing, and was rushed to the hospital almost immediately. After what looked like he was getting better, he took an extreme turn for the worst on April 21st when he "coded" twice. The doctors had to shock him, do compressions, and intubate him. My dad and his siblings were asked to come to the hospital and gather while the doctors discussed their options and the probability of my grandpa's recovery. The outlook was grim. They gave my grandpa a slim chance of survival, and thus, we prepared for the worst.

Let me tell you now that I truly believe in the power of prayer! On April 22nd, the doctors were set to remove the breathing tube from my Grandpa and the family was on pins and needles. However, when my aunt Mary Kay went in to check on him that morning, he was awake, alert, and waving at her as she entered the room. Not the greeting she was expecting! They extubated him as planned and amazingly, he's been on the road to recovery ever since! He was discharged from the hospital this past week and was admitted into the Lake City hospital to continue his rehabilitation before going home. He is such a fighter and I feel so blessed that he's been doing so well! After several trips back and forth to Rochester over the course of a week, Addison and I went to visit him in the hospital with my parents last Saturday. Here's a picture from our visit.

She is just the cutest!

On a lighter note, Addison also had her first experience in the swimming pool on April 18th! She did so good and absolutely loved the water! I suppose it helped that the pool water was extremely warm. We probably swam for 2.5 hours that morning before heading down to Rochester to visit Great-Grandpa. She had a great time playing with her new friend, Elle, who's only one week older than Addison. Elle's dad is our Loan Officer...that's right...we've been preapproved for a mortgage and are working on getting our house ready to put on the market!!! Ideally, we'd like to move to Bloomington, but it may end up that we'll stay in Blaine and get more house for our money...I guess we'll see once we actually get an offer on our house :) Anyway, here are a few pictures from her first swim!

She loved her lilypad! The "bath squirters" we brought were a big hit!Addison & Mama Addison & Daddy

Lastly, I just love sharing videos of our sweet baby. The older she gets, the more she absolutely loves bathtime! I just had to get some video of our little pumpkin splashing it up in the tub! Enjoy!