It is official our website for our charity ITSY is up and running and plans for the fundraising event are well under way. Check it out at www.itsy.ca. “Itsy”is a charitable organization which serves the families and the “itsy bitsy” residents of the Neonatal Unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital in London, ON. Fundraising events will raise monies that will be used to assist the families with infants in the NICU with the unexpected costs that arise, as well as the Neonatal Unit with the purchase of much needed equipment to help with their itsy residents.

Mark your calendars for the premier event being held on the evening of Friday, November 20th at Aroma Restaurant in London, ON. The cocktail style event will feature entertainment, guest speakers, silent auction, raffle prizes, fabulous fare and preemie-tinis to sip…all of which will be sure to impress you! Our theme this year is “tiny”, so expect to find all things small…complete with a gourmet miniature menu! Event tickets will be available to purchase online, and if you cannot attend please consider donating to this cause which is near and dear to our hearts. Greg and I will not only be attending, we are helping out and speaking at the event about our experience with Addison. We will keep you updated with all news about the event coming up.

First Tooth Making an Appearance

Guess who has cracked her first tooth. Yep thats right on Sept 17th at about 7:45 pm daddy noticed Addy's first tooth popping through her bottom gum. It has been long awaited and we felt she has been teething for awhile. Finally Mr. Tooth made his appearance. Addy has handled it, of course with ease and did not make much of a fuss. Other than the drool and her pink cheeks we may never have guessed. It is so cute now to see her little toothy smile and it looks like there will be more on the way soon.
Addy has also discovered that she can do a few other things that will elicit great responses from mommy and daddy. First we shake our head "no no" and mommy and daddy go all crazy and laugh and start shaking their head back at me. Yes we do this and we do laugh , because even though we are sure she does not know what it means she seems to do it at just the opportune moment. Not even with just us, with her doctors and therapists too. Secondly she has learned to clap her hands together, which makes mommy and daddy mimic and do the same and scream "yeah". It is so amazing how we revert back to children as we watch our own children grow and discover things before our very eyes. It really is quite cute to watch her clap. She still is lacking full use of her left side and though she can get her hand part way over to the middle to clap, once the left meets the right hand it stays sedentary and the right one does all the work. Just adorable and she is so proud of herself, her little smile just melts your heart.

So with the appearance of her first tooth we have introduced some more chewable food to Addy, which she seems to love. She still gives us a little gag and shudder now and then but she is managing to get things down well. Her favourite treat are the Baby Mum cookies. You can just tell she feels like such a big girl eating these now, its funny after days of sitting and staring at us eat, she now looks at us like "hey are you gonna give me one of my big girl cookies or what?" We have also introduced a sippy cup with water, but she has not quite got the concept that she has to draw the water out, but that is okay she has fun with a new toy at the table.
Addy also had her followup appointments with her pediatrician and the NICU Developmental Followup clinic. Both the doctors and therapists seemed pleased with Addison's progression, weight and development. The physiotherapists advised that they did see some asymmetry still going on with Addy's body, meaning she was utilizing the right side of her body more than her left, but they advised that it was definitley harder to find this time than it had been at her last appointment. They advised us to just keep doing what we were doing and perhaps the appearance of this will be even less visible at our next visit. Lets cross our fingers.

We have continued to have some great fall weather and we have been taking full advantage of it. The weekend of September 18th, I had a great Reunion weekend with a my "Vintage" girlfriends from my highschool days up at our cottage. It was so much fun and we reminisced about the good ole days and talked till the wee hours of the morning about our lives now. (Okay we may have danced a bit too) Addy was again the queen of the day and got to meet all the girls who have been supporting us and reading about her daily. They were all so happy to meet her and it was so wonderful to share some time with people and celebrate Addy's being!! This feels right and this is what having a new little baby should feel like, all the proud moments you get to share with others and have them revel in your little baby's cuteness. Not that we didnt have that during her first months of life, I guess it was just celebrated differently. Thanks girls it really was a great time and thank you for including Addy too. Cannot wait to do it again next year!!!

This past weekend the three of us took a nice Sunday drive up to Sparta and Winter Wheat, just outside of St. Thomas. The fall colors were beautiful and we got some great fall shots outside. This is our favourite time of year and fitting that Addy came into the world during the fall season. Here are some great shots of Addison outside at Winter Wheat. This is such a great place to visit. The neat little outbuildings and art over the property really gives this place so much character. Addy loved it and I am sure it will be a place we return to visit with her again and again.

ENT Followup News

Well great news, Addison went for a followup appointment with an ENT specialist in London regarding some concerns we had with her vocal chords and choking while eating. The verdict; she did have some damage to her left vocal nerve, causing some paralysis to her vocal chord. This however has since corrected itself and her vocal chords appear to be working just fine. She did so well and hardly fussed even when they put a scope through her nostril and down her throat. I think mommy had a harder time with the whole procdure than Addy, though it was very neat to watch and see her chords under a fine microscope. The strength and pain tolerance of this little girl amazes me more every day.

Another good tidbit of news received, we finally found a local home daycare that Addy will be attending once I return to work. We still hope that I will not be returning in Octoer as planned, but we do now feel better that we have a good spot for Addy to go when I do have to return. Man I really dont want that day to arrive.

We have had some great fall weather, with some hot sunshine so Addy and I took advantage of it and went Fall Raspberry picking at Parks Blueberry Farm. The place was empty and the berries were plentiful. In a matter of just an hour we got all these scrumptious berries picked and a few that we ate while picking too. I swear I am blessed with such a good little girl, she is so patient and laid back and lets me get so much done while she just hangs back. This past weekend Addy had a great visit with her grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins while Greg and I took a long overdue trip away with some friends to Niagara on the Lake. Yep thats right we actually stayed overnight away without Addy. She did absolutely great and was such a good girl while they stayed with her, I however had a very hard time. I cried as we pulled away and then asked Greg if I could call home every hour. As we toured the wineries I think I saw about 10 different families with little ones touring around and got so depressed that I didnt have Addy with us. It was a hard one but we had a great time thanks to our great friends and thanks to our family for being there for Addy.