Our little peanut had her four month check up this week. She also got her next dose of immunizations. It's a pretty stressful event for me. It is one of the moments in parenthood where it feels like you are making the wrong choice, no matter what you choose. Addison had received the first dose of both of these shots at her two month appointment, so I was a little less concerned about an adverse reaction, but it was still there in my head. After her appointment we stopped by Ty and Joi's house and sat out on the porch talking. At one point I looked down at Addison's leg and noticed small red dots on her lower leg. I started getting nervous and wanted everyone to look at it, but Joi reassured me she saw a gnat on her leg earlier.

We did find out that Addison's head has grown quite a bit in the past two months... two inches! I had noticed a few weeks ago that she had a nice sized cranium and I often told her it was because of her very big brain. After the nurse measured her head on Friday, I was a little surprised by the number and brought it up to our doctor. She is completely fine developmentally, but he did say that was a significant increase in size. She is off the chart! He is going to consult with some other doctors and let me know what he finds out this week. Other than that, everything looks normal and she is a healthy little girl... not that little anymore, she weighed in at 14 pounds! She has almost doubled in weight from birth!

This week's "What's New With Addison": Addison has started to laugh when I pretend to nibble on her ribs. She only does it when I nibble on her right side, and not every time, but the ticklish response is starting to kick in.

What a talker!

My cousin Bladen got married this weekend in Charleston, South Carolina so we packed up Addison Friday morning and headed south. Addison doesn’t sleep in the car like she used to, but she is still very pleasant and easily entertained. The drive only took about an hour longer than the directions said it would because of the stops, but we still arrived in Charleston completely exhausted! I tried to get Addison to take a nap before we were to leave her with her very first babysitter.

Addison has been napping so well lately that I was nervous about our weekend away from home with no schedule. I was right to be nervous. She was exhausted, miserable and cried all afternoon. I was worried she was going to scream for the babysitter the whole night. We found our sitter through a nanny service based in Charleston. They provide profiles for all of their nannies so you can learn about their background, education, experience, etc. By the time Karolayne showed up at our room, Addison was completely exhausted and was finally falling asleep in my arms. As I made the switch to Karolayne’s arms, I held my breath waiting for the worst, but she opened her eyes and looked at her for a minute than fell back to sleep.

The rehearsal dinner was oceanfront and beautiful. I drank a glass of wine and enjoyed the salty breeze in between the two dozen times I checked my cell phone. I was determined not to call and check in. I wanted to enjoy my first evening away from Addison and not think about how much I missed her the whole night. We arrived back at our room at 10:45pm. Addison was fast asleep and absolutely adorable. I felt great!

Most of the Smart side of the family got to meet Addison this weekend. Friday, she met her great grandmother. Saturday she met her great aunts, great uncle and most of my cousins and their kids. We strolled around the city market and stopped for some yummy raw oysters. It was really hot out and the restaurant was open air and not much relief from the heat. I had my first experience with a busy restaurant and nursing. I wasn’t prepared. I think she was getting really hot when she was up against me so she did not nurse well. Even though I stressed myself a lot of the time, Addison seemed to enjoy herself. She would nap a little, smile a little, but she was still grumpy from her lack of sleep. Of course, what is most important is that she looked good. Her Grandmother(aka Ganny, Nanna, to be determined) and her aunts and uncles bought her an adorable daisy dress that made her look like a little southern belle. I forgot her matching hat, but she was so cute anyway.

Addison spent two nights with her babysitter. Luke and I loved her and felt completely comfortable leaving Addison with her. Luckily, Addison slept almost the whole time she was there, which I would imagine was kind of boring for her, but made me happy because she was getting plenty of rest. Sunday morning, Mother’s Day, we had a quick breakfast with the family then made the long drive back to Blacksburg.

Addison has started talking this week. It started this past weekend and over the past few days she has been more and more vocal. It is so funny to hear her in the next room telling stories. Sometimes when I feed her she will stop in the middle of eating, look at me and start smiling and talking. It is so adorable I can’t stand it! I feel like bursting into tears every time I hear it.

Yesterday, Addison hung out with her new friend James. James is nine weeks old and came down to Virginia with his parents to visit his grandparents. He is already talking a lot and smiles quite a bit too. We drove out to see him and his parents, Jimmy and Bekah, today. We hung out at Jimmy’s dad’s house which is in the mountains and beautiful. Addison enjoyed lounging by the creek on his property while we took turns paddling around on the stand-up paddle boards. Before we headed back to Blacksburg we got some cute shots of the two little ones side by side.

James and Addison

Addison and I are enjoying our sunny day on the New River.

Addison and her Great Grandmother, Clarke.


What a sweet and happy little girl!

Addison loves all her pretty dresses!

Luke and Addison digging in the dirt.


Mommies and babies

True, Addison and Ellen

Addison loves playing her piano!

Who couldn't love this fat face!

Sleepy Time!

Since my last post, Addison has started to interact more every single day. It is so rewarding to see the little milestones that you read about. She is really examining her hands a lot these days. She is also grabbing at toys more and more. When I put something in her hand she will usually hold it with the death grip for maybe a minute before forgetting about it and letting it go or by throwing either into her face or over her body with a jerky force.

I have tried relentlessly to get more laughs out of her since my first success. I have given myself whiplash from throwing my head in all directions and making any goofy noise I can think of, but none of it brought more than a big smile…until yesterday. While Addison and I were hanging out on the sofa, I had to reprimand Friar who had been barking at the neighbor. The magic phrase was “FRIAR…STAY!” and she would immediately throw her head back and begin to laugh. Keep in mind, she has not yet mastered the laugh, so it sounds even funnier than a real laugh. I was dying!! I was so bummed that no one was there to share it with me. When my friend Kate came by, I tried to reenact it, but it didn’t work that time. Later in the night, I also found a funny sound that used the same force as Friar stay, that brought it out again. Luke was there to hear it that time.

This week has been nap time training. I have been reading the book “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child,” loaned to us by Joi. I realized that I have not been creating an opportunity for Addison to nap. I was still under the assumption that she would just fall asleep when she was tired and it didn’t really matter what we were doing or where we were. Addison had not been napping much over the past couple weeks and I was keeping her up for long periods of time trying to entertain her, when she was actually just really tired. For the past week, I have been putting her down every two hours in a quiet place and she has been napping! She is sleeping for about an hour or more each time. What is crazy is that the statement in the book “sleep begets sleep” is totally true! I have picked up on her cues and noticed she is ready for bed earlier each night. I used to put her down at 8pm and she would go right to sleep. Last night, she went down a little after 7pm! It is great to know I have all the time in the evening to work, clean, unwind, etc.

Our other sleep success occurred yesterday as well… the move to the crib! I have made a few attempts at getting her to nap in her crib. Normally she would be content for a few minutes and then start screaming. I tried using the mobile, but that seemed to be more stimulating than calming. I tried spending more time in her room, reading books and having belly time, but when I would leave her alone she would start screaming every time. Yesterday morning, I put my shirt in the crib with her and sat in the chair watching and waiting. She was asleep in only a few minutes. I kept the shirt in the crib all day and all night. She took every nap in the crib and slept in it all last night. It was a bittersweet victory as I miss having her right next to me. We went in and checked on her a few times through the night to make sure she hadn’t escaped.


The weather has been incredible lately, which has really been great for getting Addison out and about. We have made trips to the river, where there is a great grassy park for us to hang out and watch the water and watch Luke paddle around. We have also been spending the early morning hours either on a walk or under the umbrella right outside our bedroom door. Addison loves being outside so we take her for walks around the yard every chance we get. When we were in Raleigh a few weeks ago, Addison decided to catch some rays. She is really excited about her beach trip in July.

Luke and I bought a bouncy exersaucer toy at a yard sale last weekend. It was such a great find and Addison loves it! She is too young to be left without assistance since she has not mastered the head control yet (we are so close!), but she gets a huge smile when I put her in it and bounce around with her. She also loves when I hold her and do really fast, deep squats. My thighs have been burning and I walk with a limp now, but it makes her smile, so I am happy. I think that she is going to take after her father and be the adrenaline junkie… oh the days of worrying I have ahead of me…

Addison is Laughing

OK, I got the first hint of a real laugh out of her two days ago, but today was a huge change! She loves when I make funny faces and sounds and she laughed for real today!! Here is a video.

I am late getting this one posted, but it’s never too late to share!

March 21st, 2009

We are still on the road! After driving home from Raleigh last Sunday, Luke decided that he needed to go back down to buy our new “family” van, a 15 passenger van… I don’t know what he has in mind, but it’s not the same as me! Anyway, Tuesday morning, the whole family woke up early and made yet another trip to Raleigh. We drove back to Blacksburg on Wednesday morning in time to do some laundry, clean a little, payroll, take Addison to the doctor for her immunizations and then pack up for our trip to Maryland. Addison was very brave during her visit to the doctor and even with a needle to each leg, she only screamed for about two minutes before calming down and then slept the whole way home.

Thursday morning was our last visit with our midwife, Hannah. She has been incredible and we could not have had a better birth/delivery with anyone else. Even though the process of labor and delivery was the hardest, and of course most rewarding, event in my life I would never to go through it in a hospital, unless of course there was a high risk situation. Hannah was really impressed with how much Addison has grown. At almost eight weeks, she is weighing in at 11lb 3oz. That is just about four pounds in two months.

After we left Hannah’s office, we got in the car and started driving north to Maryland’s eastern shore, and Addison’s grandparents. It was a long day of driving so we broke it up with a stop in Northern Virginia to see some of our friends and so Addison could meet her new friend Adrian. While Mia and I caught up on each others’ lives, Addison and Adrian hung out together too… I just don’t think Addison realized that is what she was doing. After our five hour layover, we continued east and arrived in Easton late and completely wiped out.

Everyone was so excited to see Addison again! It had been two months since they had seen her and she has changed and grown so much since then. Although she still
mainly eats, sleeps and poopoos, now she is smiling and interacting more. She is also starting to make the first part of a laughing noise. It sounds like “Haaaa.” At this point it is more of a moan than a laugh, but you can tell by her face that she wants to laugh. Grandma Hopkins has been lots of fun for Addison singing her lots of songs.

Meg and Dan drove in from Alexandria on Saturday afternoon. After hanging out with Addison for a bit, they headed on the paddleboards and Addison and I went for her first boat ride with her Daddy as captain. It was really cold out, but I had her bundled up, tucked in close and covered with a fleece blanket, so she was nice and toasty!




On a negative note, Addison has been dealing with a lot of gas this week. I haven’t been able to figure out exactly what is making it so bad. There has only been one day that she screamed in pain and it made me feel so horrible to watch the tears roll down her cheeks and not really be able to help her. So I went to Target and bought some infant gas relief. I have given it to her twice so far, but I don’t really know how well it has helped. She hasn’t screamed again, so it must work! This morning she woke up with big man farts. She could go up against the best of them in a fartdown.

Bringing it back up a notch, Addison had a six hour stretch of sleep the other night. She fell asleep at eleven and woke up to eat at five in the morning, the back to sleep again until nine. A little after nine I woke her up because I was tired of waiting for her. Then back to sleep until noon! I couldn’t believe how long she slept and I was sure it would be a long night the next night, but she has been consistent with her five hour stretches. I am one happy mama!

Another week in Raleigh

Sunday was a big day for Addison! We have been in Raleigh for the past week and Sunday was the St. Paddy’s Day 8k sponsored, in part, by her Uncle Pete’s pub. I decided it would be a nice time to get out and do my first real outdoor run in six months. The five miles was brutal but with A LOT of walking I finished. Addison and I met all the family at the pub for Sunday brunch and stayed downtown for the race. She was out on the town from noon until about 6:00pm! She decided to celebrate with everyone else by wearing he St. Paddy’s Day outfit from her pub Auntie Annie. I must admit, she looks good in green! Grandpa and Barbara were very helpful and babysat Addison while I ran the race. I worried the whole time that she might get upset since that was the longest time she has gone without one of her parents around, but she was really good and slept most of the time.

Addison loves being outside. Every time we go out, she gets a very curious look on her face and stares out in wonder. We had some really warm days earlier in the week so Addison and I sat out in the shade of the umbrella and enjoyed the southern temps. I was excited because it was the first time she could sit around with just her onesie on and no pants. I don’t get to appreciate her chubby little thighs very often since she usually gets upset when she is unclothed… not to mention it has been so cold I usually try to get her dressed as fast as I can. We have also gone on a few walks and it is so nice not spending all the time making sure she is bundled up and warm. Of course, now I spend the walk making sure she is not too hot!



Luke got to town Tuesday night and Addison was so happy to see her daddy! On Wednesday, we went to Falls Lake and enjoyed the hot weather while Luke got out and paddled a little on his paddleboard. It won’t be long until Addison is out there on the board with him! They have both been playing so much this week that they were completely wiped out and decided on a nice long nap.

Everyone has really loved spending time with Addison while we have been here. Elizabeth “Auntie Bella” insisted she drive up and pick us up while Luke was out of town. So for the second time in a month, we packed up and headed south. This time, Friar and Lulu joined us. What a handful! Friar and Lulu rode in the back of the car now that we have the dog gate up. They hated it and cried for about two hours straight. Even though I was about to pull my hair out Addison slept through it. I was very thankful she got used to it in utero!

Addison has been a lot more responsive lately. She is such a morning person! When I hear her moving around, I turn on the light and start talking to her and she immediately gets a huge smile and starts to kick her legs and wave her arms. Addison also prefers to lay on the bed/sofa and look around rather than being held. She loves to look at the lights and is now batting at her dragonfly toy.




Addison visited Elizabeth and Rick at their office, the Chiropractic Cafe. She will now be the poster baby for their website!


Uncle Rick gives Addison an adjustment! Yikes!




Addison loves her new clothes and loves hanging out with Aunt Kitty Kat.



We have been trying to divide our time among everyone's homes while we are here... dinner at Aunt Liz's, at Grandpa's, lunch and brunch at the pub...



Addison loves her hat from Grandma Hopkins!



Grandma Pagano and Addison spending time outside.



Addison and Daddy are very tired after a busy week!

This week has been a pretty easy week. Addison had her longest stretch of sleep to date. Tuesday, after her play date, she decided not to sleep at all the rest of the day. By 8pm, she was out cold and didn’t wake up until 3am to eat. It was great! However, since I was used to waking up every few hours, I started to worry something not might be right. On top of that, there are other discomforts I have to deal with by waiting for her to eat for that long. Enough said about that.

We are trying to slowly ease her up into the crib during nap time. When I feel like she is starting to get sleepy I will put her in the crib and start the music and lights from the mobile. Sometimes she will remain awake and watch the mobile the whole time, other times I get about 20 minutes out of it. When the music stops she usually decides she does not like being there any longer and will let me know to come and get her.



Another first for Addison this week is the introduction of the pacifier. I have three different styles and we went through all three to find out which one she would like. I wish I had kept the packaging because I am not sure that all the pacifiers are for her age. Some of them look pretty huge and even as I was offering it to her, I was afraid she would gag on it. She has decided she likes the Nuk brand best for now. It is really cute when she spits it out because she has the outline of the pacifier around her face from sucking it in so hard against her cheeks. This morning she started to grab hold of it with her hand. That means one step closer to grabbing toys! I tried to see if she would reach for it if I held it out in front of her, but nothing yet.


Addison has really started to enjoy bath time now too. I think initially she was too cold since she was sitting in the tub and not completely immersed in the water. Now I hold her so she is sitting up and her whole lower body is submerged and I swirl her around the tub. She holds her position and stares at me the whole time like she is in a trance. We have to be quick with the hand off from tub to towel to keep her calm. Considering how much she hated it before, I feel like it is a huge success!