1, 2, 3, 4... I Don't Want to go to the Doctor Anymore!

Yesterday I counted, to the best of my ability, how many times we have taken Addie to the doctor. Here is Addie announcing the magic number....


















NO KIDDING! It seems incredible, but that is true. Now, to really be amazed, we counted how many doctor or lab appointments Niki went to since last January and found that I went 22 times. So that means that in 60 weeks, Addie and I went to the doctor 52 times!!!!!

No wonder I feel like we go to the doctor's office a lot!!! For the record, during that same stretch of time, Greg went to the doctor ONCE.

To those of you wondering how Addie's appointment with the gastro went yesterday, it was good. His opinion is that she probably was beginning to recover from the reflux in December (like we thought), but that the stomach virus she had at the beginning of the month probably set her progress way back. I guess with reflux kids their stomachs don't recover well from that kind of excitement and it can do that. So... I will be very vigilant in the future to keep Addie away from stomach viruses! (As best as I can anyway)

She is back on Zantac, in addition to her Prevacid. Signs look positive that it will help since she slept through the night last night (HOORAY!) and is pretty perky and happy this morning (double HOORAY!). But it is too soon to tell for sure- we just want to be positive.

As for her growth, we got good news. Yes, her weight gain isn't great, but as far as length goes she IS growing well and staying on track. So that is good news.

As far as all the ear infections and sinus infections, he isn't ready yet to attribute that to reflux yet (some kids have their stomach acid go up into the sinuses and ear canals and that causes recurrent infections- we wanted to know if this could be the case with Addie). We will have to wait and see. We will also talk to the pediatrician about this issue.

That is probably more than most of you wanted to know! The bottom line is that we got some good news and some GOOD medicine! We hope that we can see the happy side of our daughter for awhile now.

A Brief Update

Sorry for the lack of new posts! Addie has been sick.... (I sound like a broken record).... and that has kept us busy.
Addie's reflux has been TERRIBLE lately. She isn't sleeping well overnight or taking good naps. For the last week & a half or so, we've all missed 2 hours of night time sleep almost every night! Her daytime naps are shorter than normal, so she is extra tired and extra cranky. It is the standard reflux behavior- tired but won't sleep, low tolerance for ANYTHING, clingy and wants to be held a lot.
She also has a rotten little cold that she shared with Niki (who is trying to keep an ear infection from taking over too!).
We are having little moments of sweetness here and there, but we haven't captured anything on film since we're both busy just trying to keep out heads above water! We want to thank our friend Dee Davis for coming over last week and spending over three hours keeping Niki & Addie company on a day when Greg had to work from 7 am to 9:30 pm. It was such a blessing to us!!!!
Addie sees the Gastro today and we are praying that he will have something to help us get our little girl feeling better again FAST! :)

First Haircut

Niki gave Addie her first haircut today. It wasn't a "cut" as much as a little trim really.


Addie didn't think much of the experience, but she's cranky anyway. Due to reflux she hasn't napped great today and was overtired. Oh well.

As you can see, the back sides of her hair have grown faster than the rest, so I just trimmed them up a bit. We are letting the rest of her hair grow long and pinning back the front. I'm afraid to cut bangs lest we end up with the "mullet" look.

So now we can fill in another page in her baby book- I can't believe how fast it's filling up! 

Sunday Best

Just for Grammi & Poppi- here are some pictures of Addie in the little red dress they bought her.

Here is Addie chasing Timmy around the house- a favorite new passtime. The funny thing is, she doesn't want to catch him, she wants him to catch her. She runs past him, then looks back to see if he will chase her. If he does, she squeals with delight.
 

Cream Soda

Mommy, can I try some of your drink?
Eww, what IS that? You LIKE that?!?
I'll stick to Cheerios, thanks. 

Bet Our Lunch Was Better Than Yours

Thanks to the fact that my sister is dying to go and has been mentioning it lately, we decided to go to PINKS for lunch on Saturday. If you haven't heard of it, it's a hot dog place in Hollywood that has been mentioned on many a TV show (the Today Show & Martha Stewart lately). So we went, why not?


(If you look closely on the bottom right of this picture you can see Greg waving with Addie in the stroller in front of him.)


Greg and Addie wait in line. We waited about 30 minutes for this lunch!
Greg order a "Lord of the Rings" dog, which comes with BBQ sauce and onion rings on top, and I ordered a "Johnny Grant" (the honorary mayor of Hollywood) which comes with coleslaw and tomatoes on top. We also had some old fashioned root-beer and cream soda- YUM!



In case you're wondering, the hot dogs were GREAT and we highly recommend the experience that is Pinks. It is worth the drive and worth the line! We will definetely go back!




Now Kim, as you read this, you are seriously bitter that you cannot go to Pinks and we just went, BUT we want you to know that we bought you something while we were there and will give it to you when we see you in two weeks! 

The Worst Pictures of Addie Ever Taken

Did you think I was kidding?????



During dinner the other night, she got her fingers into her hair and made a great mess. Then we decided her hair looked like Donald Trump and we should take a picture. Well, this is what the pictures looked like and I think they are really funny. Hope you all get a giggle too. 

Not Your Mama's Astro-Turf

So they replaced all of the grass in our apartment complex with astro-turf...

sounds wierd, I know....

But not bad looking, don't you think? We kinda like it!
Here some of the neighbor kids try it out a few hours after the workmen left. The kids were cooped up inside all week and dying to get out.


Addie had to check it out for herself, and she approves! (thank goodness!)

Rotten Reflux

Well, here is the proof that it is back and rearing it's ugly head again. Sorry that I look so scary in this picture. We are just taking things day by day until Addie goes in to see the gastro again in a week and a half. We've had some yucky days and good ones too, so we're just taking one day at a time! 

You Won't Believe This!

This is the ground outside our apartment!

I TOLD YOU IT WAS COLD HERE!
My neighbor Jen knocked on my door to get me outside so I wouldn't miss this! Hail and a few flakes of snow were coming down and covering the dirt outside our door. (Why dirt? I'll get to that in a minute)

Many of the kids came out to see a rare So. Cal. sight.
Keep in mind that there isn't much on the ground inside our complex because there are a lot of trees that make a canopy over the courtyard.
So here you get a glimpse of a piece or two of hail coming down.

I know it isn't much, but it is so out of place here that even a little is a big deal!



By the way, all the grass in our complex has been removed to make room for the astro-turf that was suppossed to be installed today (guess not!). It sounds strange at first, I know, but with so many kids here, it was impossible for grass to grow or sprinkler heads not to be destroyed. The broken sprinklers meant there were ALWAYS mud puddles for the kids to get into. Astro-turf will mean a mud-free play area! Yeah! 

Happy New Year

I just realized that I still haven't posted our pictures from New Years Eve! Better late than never.

We spent our holiday in Phoenix with Greg's family. On the big night, there was a large party (about 60 people) at Greg's parents house for his brother Mark, who is leaving very soon for service in Afghanistan. The party was a formal shin-dig, mostly held outside (although it was pretty cold!)

Here is Mark holding Addie. I apologize for the hair, I was busy in the other room and Greg was responsible for this look.

We gave Addie a bath and put her to bed just as the party was starting. She slept all the way through!

Here is a shot of the special blessing she streamed down my leg just before going in the bath. Nothing since Happy New Year like pee-leg.
At the party, we had a special time to tell Mark about how much we love him. Here, a fellow service man presents him with a bayonet to wish him luck.Notice the approving gleam in Mark's eye.
Mark, Jessie & Ally listen to the wonderful words of friends and family. Everyone had such nice things to say about Mark & Jess. We were so proud to be part of their family! 

The Dance Floor Gets A Workout

All that hard work Greg put into the dance floor did not go to waste!


Here Mark takes his beautiful wife out for a turn.
Greg and I enjoyed a little dancing too! With Addie in bed, we were so glad for some romantic mommy & daddy time.
Notice that Greg and Niki were dancing in the back corner of the dance floor! We decided our skill level was best kept quiet. Plus, that little glowing thing near our feet was a heater! We're no fools! It was the warmest place to be outside!
A great picture of Mark and Jess. 

New Years Dancing

Here's Mark dancing with his daughter Alathea
The Spanglers boogy down to "We Are Family"
Mike taught us some great moves (or just how to find our rythym)
Galen took Allie for a spin around the dance floor before leaving for work (he drives a truck route and had to leave very early in the morning) 

Happy Birthday Greg

On Saturday, Greg turned 32!

We enjoyed a whole Saturday without major chores, traveling, or sickness. It was so nice to be able to relax at home, since it was COLD outside!

For dinner, we grilled some big Rib Eye steaks- yum! Greg had to BBQ wearing ear muffs and gloves since it was about 40 degrees. (the next morning at 7 am, it was 19 degrees!)
Chris & Brooke Kropf joined us in the evening for some birthday cake.

What a great day!

Greg's favorite part of his birthday? He said the food- we had his favorite breakfast casserole in the morning, and for dinner the steaks and parmesan roasted potatoes. 

Family Pictures

We took the opportunity while together to take some family pictures.

Here's us..
Everyone together...

California Spanglers in RED
Connecticut Spangler in WHITE
Indiana Spanglers in GREEN
Phoenix/Afghanistan Spanglers in BLUE
Parents in BLACK, seated
Mark, Jessie, Ally & Micah (and baby)

Brad, Sarah, Dalton, Macy, & Elliott

Mike

Galen & Julie