Thursday 12 January 2012

Plays of the week (January 3rd - January 12th)

Plays of the week(January 3-Jan 12)

  • I am back to work full time! Tomorrow is my last day of my second and week and it can't come soon enough. Don't get me wrong I LOVE teaching but it makes life very busy. One thing about teachers that people sometimes don't realize is that we have to spend so much time planning. Everything the students do is prepared by us after school hours. I am teaching grade three for the first time and therefore I have to do all the prepping as I have nothing from previous years. I look forward to the day when I am permanent and can stay in one grade year after year. I feel it will allow me to spend more time and effort into making even better lesson plans!!!!!!!!!! 

  • Everyday I go to work Helen comes down to babysit Addison. She does very well with her and keeps up with all of Addison's therapy. I must say we are very spoiled that we don't have to bring her out anywhere. When I get home from work I have my obvious cuddle session(which if for some reason I don't right away little Ms. Addi will cry until I sit down with her!!)

  • Sleeping in the Halloran is a luxury. Addison doesn't really feel the need to get much sleep and doesn't worry about how much sleep her working parents get! Last week we were averaging the five hour mark of broken sleep a night and the last two nights have gotten better with 6 to 7 hours. We are functioning pretty good considering the lack of sleep we get! We are back on the melatonin giving her two mls before she goes to bed. We haven't saw too much of a difference yet.

  • Addison had a few bad seizures of the last couple days. Last Friday I got a call at work to say it was at the three minute point. My heart jumped out of my chest and I left school right away but luckily it stopped before I got home. When I got there Addison was limp and very lazy looking. The seizure took a lot out of her. Luckily my grandmother was there with Helen visiting so she wasn't alone. We have now increased her seizure med Keepra to 4mls to hope they get under control!

  • Addison had a cold over Christmas which we thought was starting to get better. Last week she didn't seem quite like herself but we just blamed it on seizures or tone. On Saturday we went to Joseph's Birthday Party and I fed Addison right away. When I was done feeding her I noticed her breathing started getting very quick. It was like she was struggling to breath. Debbie my sister who is an RN took checked her out and found her respiratory rate was 65 and normal is 20 to 40. We called the 811 health link number and they told us to call an ambulance. Well Alicia and Debbie who are both nurses said not to do that she was fine and breathing just to take her to the IWK emergency. We did this and ended up getting right in. They didn't waste anytime. They did a chest XRAY, cath for urine sample and blood work. They gave her steroids in her tube to help with breathing and also put a mask on her with medication in it to help her breath. That really seemed to make her more comfortable. The worst part of the emergency trip was that they needed to get an IV in and tried 8 times and had it in twice in those tries and both times it busted one time the fluid was being pumped in still and we didn't know it had broke so Addison's hand was enormous. In the end they gave her antibiotics in her tube and she was tolerating her food so didn't need fluid anyway. We were admitted and spend two nights on our luxury resort as we call it. The second day there was very bizarre Addison had seven naps. We knew our poor girl wasn't feeling well. But we had lots of company and passed the day away! We were released on Monday they told us all results came back fine and it was probably a viral pneumonia. There was some talk of it being from aspirating when she gets sick. 

  • We increased Addison's formula to four ounces at a time and she is doing well! I can remember when we were hooked to the pump all day and all night because she couldn't tolerate it any other way. When we moved from there we went to bolus feeding her every two hours all day long! Now we feed her four ounces three times a day and two ounces before bed and then hook her to the pump at 9pm for approximately seven hours!

  • Helen had a birthday this week so we went to the local restaurant for dinner with the family. Leo had Addison on his lap. Helen had given her prune juice in her tube earlier that day to help with her bowels we have to do that every couple of days. Needless to say she saved it for her poppy. We noticed her face and Leo could smell her so we knew she was having a poop! Helen got up to make sure it didn't get on her shirt at the top of her diaper....WELL it was way better then that! It was all over Leos leg, his chair and the floor! We all had a great laugh and Tyler and I had a huge mess to clean up!!!

  • We have been trying to work on our CME therapy but it seems like we always have something stopping us. First the infantile spasms, then Christmas, and then she was sick! We are hoping that now that she seems to be doing better we can make sure she gets it twice a day and we may see some progress so we can go back in May!!

  • We are noticing that Addison seems to be responding to noises more and more! She loves when you sing to her and make any kind of loud noise like vacuuming, banging toys or household items in different ways, talking in a different voice and sirens. I notice that she turns her head to the sounds more and I feel she is noticing when a new voice is in the room.

  • Addison got her first molar on the left side on Tuesday we could feel it!

  • We started Addison on Citicoline it is a supplement to help cognitive function!!! She also takes Omega fish oil!!

  • I had the best evening last night when Addison sat in her wheel chair and I spun her by the feet around the kitchen dancing and singing to her while she laughed and smiled! Melted my heart!

Present time at Josephs Birthday

My sick angel with her Auntie

Cake time!


Getting her medicine



Look at how big her hand is from the IV

This is when they had it in for a bit

Hanging out with Dad at the hospital
When she was up on Sunday she was in a pleasant mood until her teeth started bugging her


Addison's morning snack at the hospital. Normally it is only five at home. 

  • I will try to be more regular on the blog posts!!!!!!!!

Monday 2 January 2012

Christmas Vacation!!!! December 20th-January 2nd!!!

Wow so I guess I picked the wrong time of year to not blog now I have a lot of catching up to do!

 Baby Christmas Party! We had a fun filled but VERY busy day at our party. We enjoyed play time and good food but the times sure are changing. The babies are all over the place and into everything they can get too.It sure makes it interesting when there are so many all in different places! It was probably the last play date we will have together as we are all going back to work:(

Photo Shoots are pretty much near impossible. I still think it is adorable!

Megan and Lloyd

Jayne and Joseph opening his present. We did a gift exchange 

Addi and I with her present from Ava

Debbie and Jared. He is modeling his new had from Lloyd

Alicia and Ava!
Trip to Nanny and Poppy Mills
On Thursday Daddy started his vacation so we packed for and went to Debert for the day and of course Auntie and Jared did as well! Addison did well on the drive and had a great visit with Nanny! We had a wonderful spaghetti dinner! It was nice to get to Nanny's to see her pretty Christmas decoations
Play time

Poppy and Jared playing

Jared loves to talk on the phone

Daddy making Addison beat up Jared

I have to say this was one of the best Christmas' yet! 
Christmas Eve we always host a gathering at our house. This year we had Buddy, Holly and Brianna come for a visit in the day time. Nanny and Poppy Mills came in the afternoon along with Great Grandma and then as the evening went on we saw all the rest of the family and friends. We had lots lots and lots more to eat, lots to drink and lots of laughs...especially thanks to Jimmy(Sheryl's husband)! When you see Tyler you will have to ask him about the You Tube video that they watched I think Tyler is still laughing over that one. 

Holly and the Girls

Addison and her Great Grandma

Nanny and Poppy Mills and Addi

My family!

Daddy and his girl

Jared loves his cousin Addi

Poppy H and his Addi

Nanny H and her girl

Hanging out!

I guess Callie found us boring

Our angel

Too cute!


Christmas Day was filled with lots of family and maybe a few too many presents thanks to Addison's many grandparents!!! This year we had dinner with my Dad. This was the first time in the 10 years that Tyler and I have been together that we didn't have dinner with the Halloran's. It was different but we went and saw them on Boxing Day. Our plan was to have brunch at Debbie and Nathan's with Mom and Max and then head to dinner at Dad and Breanda's. One thing that is always stressful at Christmas is having dinner with everyone. We always try to please everyone but it never works. We were worried about Mom and Max not getting to have dinner with us. Well much to our surprise when we showed up at Dad and Brenda's house Mom and Max were there for dinner. What a great treat! It was the first time I ever remember sitting down to dinner at Christmas with my Mom and Dad! We had a wonderful dinner cooked by Brenda and Grandma! And of course Jill and Chris stopped in to visit on Christmas Day as well!

Christmas Morning

I think Santa found us!


Addi and Daddy Christmas morning



And after all the fun did we ever have a mess

Poppy and his babies!

I love her outfit!




My sister and I and our babies!


Dinner time!

Cheers!

I love it!

Jared didn't love it as much

Addi loved the whip cream!

We had a sing along that evening when they came to visit us. Addison loves loves loves when you sing to her!


Boxing Day we were supposed to go to Antigonish for a family gathering but the weather scared us off so we ended up spending the afternoon and evening at the Halloran's. We also went to visit Jodi and Travis that day. 

Addison was in a great mood!
Travis and Addison in their hats!
A few days before Christmas we went to visit Jodi and Travis. Addi had on her cool Pjs that matched Travis's other hat!
  • We did a little bit of shopping on the 27th. We brought Addison with us and she did great! We went to Auntie Jeralee's for a wonderful dinner.
  • We had our annual visiting train on the 28th were we go visiting with a few great friends! A tradition we have had for a few years that we just love!
  • Addison was sick for the last part of Christmas Vacation. She started with a cold and quickly she got a cough and quite congested. By Thursday we were worried that it could be pneumonia so we took her to be checked out at the IWK. Thank goodness it wasn't they said her ear was a little bit red but not enough to give medication. Addison had a bad seizure a couple of days before this and aspirated really bad taking her ten minutes to get her breathing back to normal so that is why we were being extra cautious. She is getting better now. She still is getting sick her and there, but with us it is hard to know if it is because she is sick, re-fluxing, or just one of those things. 

  • Addison got another tooth! She now has four on the bottom and two on the top!

  • We had to make two increases to her Infantile Spasm medication and haven't saw one since we did the last increase. Fingers crossed they are gone and we can move on!
Addi passed out New Years Eve!
Happy New Year!!! From the Halloran's
Addisons Play Time!
    Addison had a glowstick bath. She didn't seem to interested but were hoping she may like it at some point!
  • Tyler and I didn't go out for New Years. With Addison being sick we didn't want to worry about her having to go out somewhere and us being tired the next day. We had a wonderful evening at home. Tyler made us Chicken and Broccoli Fettuccine for supper and we sat down to eat it Addison feel asleep in her chair...never happens!  So we had a nice quiet meal! We started watching a show we have been recording called Revenge! We have caught up now and look forward to it continuing this week, we really like it!

  • New Years Day we relaxed at home and then went for a family dinner at Steak and Stein with the Bayres' family!
Addison was in a great mood! She was laughing when we got home!

Jared coloring before he decided to eat the crayon!
Everyone! 
Dinner time!
We had Addison set up to color!
I made Jared a hat!




  • The end of vacation was spent at home relaxing and getting ready for the change of life....Ashley working full time and  Helen babysitting Addison!!  I am not sure how I feel about it but all I know is it is too late and I need to go to bed because I have to WORK tomorrow...haven't heard that in 18 months!!!!
    Next time I wont wait so long to blog!!