Mackenzie's One month Update

Mackenzie turned one month old on June 4. What a fast month it was! She is a great little baby in her first month.  She is getting used to her new life "on the outside". She loves to eat and eats every 2 to 3 hours and screams very loud if we make her stretch the time in between :) She has reflux so we are careful to keep her her upright and burp her really good after each feed, or else everything comes out! Even with these precautions she still is spitting and gets a lot of "tummy pain" after eating.  Just part of being a newborn, and hopefully she will grow out of it quickly! Mackenzie loves tummy time and will stop crying and often fall asleep once on her tummy, which is very different than Addison (who screamed like we were torturing her when placed on her stomach). Addison absolutely loves her little sister, she is constantly wanting to give "Kenza" (as she calls her) a kiss or to hold her or to "shake her hand". It is so fun to watch her love her little sister. Mackenzie has had many visitors this month including both sets of grandparents, GG, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Angela, Gideon, Elizabeth, Uncle Rob, Aunt Stephanie, and Caleb. Grandma Schneider even came and stayed with us for a few days to help us out.  We have felt so blessed by our church family at Chapel Pointe.  They have been a huge encouragement to us during this transition time with bring meals and helping out with Addison. We are so thankful that God has given us an amazing church.

It's been a long time...

Wow! It has been over a year since we posted on this blog! Well you can keep more current with the Dodd family at our website   www.doddjourney.com  Lots of changes in the past year for our family, the biggest being the addition of Mackenzie Grace on May 4, 2012. Addison is now 2 years old and such a great little girl with a sweet heart that loves people.  She is quite the talker, speaking in full sentences and she loves to play kitchen and plat dolls.  Hoping to do monthly updates again on this blog for Mackenzie but not making promises ;) Life is busy with 2 little girls, both of us working full time and raising support to go to Bethesda.

Dodd Wedding Weekend

June Update

June Update

Addison has 7 teeth now. Loves to stack things up and carry them around. She’s our little organizer. Can climb up on to the couch and loves to get up on her tippy toes to reach as much as she can. Her hair easily goes into two piggie tails and even goes up into one high pony tail. She can snap and clap and loves to dance whenver she hears music. She just started to imitate Mommy and Daddy when they do things. She loves to snuggle and will give you a big hug and kiss if you ask Please Hug or Kiss. She loves to eat and will eat anything other than broccoli and potato salad. She loves ice cream just like her Mommy. Loves to play outside, although she didn’t like the pool too much…she doesn’t like to be splashed in the face.

Her words include (but aren’t limited to)

Da, Ma, No, Yes, Ball, Peek (peekaboo), Uhoh, Baby, Beep Beep, Please, Duck, Quack, Moo, Baa, Piggie, WeeWeeWee, Woof, Dog, OooEeEe (Monkey Noise), Bye, Hi, Up, Night night, Book, Shoes

We are looking forward to a summer full of fun memories made together as a family of three.

Addison's Twelve Month Video

Addison's Eleven Month Video

Addy's 10 Month Video

I forgot to post this last month, so here is Addy's 10 month video

Addison's Eleven Month Update (Feb 25)

Can hardly believe that our baby is already 11 months old! Though at times it was a hard month, it was still filled with many fun times and memories. Addison loves to talk and now when you ask her she will tell you what a doggie says: woof....woof. She also has become a much better eater this past month and wants to try everything that Mommy and Daddy are eating. Addison is able to stand without support for much longer now and we are looking forward to her first steps which will probably be soon. She loves to climb up the stairs. Constantly. Up the stairs! Not necessarily sure what she wants to do when she gets up to the top, but just loves the thrill of climbing stairs. She loves climbing all over mom and dad as well and often uses us as leverage to climb up onto the couch. We got the biggest snow storm of the winter this month, at least 18 inches over night. We took Addy out to play in it and although she did better than last time, she is still not a big fan of the snow. She is learning how to roll a ball back and forth. One really fun thing she has learned is how to blow raspberries on any exposed skin of mom and dad that she can find. She thinks it is hilarious to "tickle" us and make us laugh!

Addy had her first over night trip and it was actually 5 nights! We went to a counseling conference in Indiana, and Addison stayed at Grandma and Papa Schneider's house for the week. She did really good but really missed her momma and daddy. She loved playing with family and especially loved Buddy. Just before her trip to the grandparents, she had her first ER visit. Addy had a fever for 3 days of 102-103 and it would not go down with tylenol and she started to vomit. This was all the night before we were to leave for our trip and we could not take her to the doctor's office. So we brought her into Mommy's work to make sure she was okay. She was fighting a virus, they took good care of her there and we were confident to leave her at grandma and grandpa's the next day. She ended up having a fever for a total of six days with a very bad cough and congestion. It was so hard to be away from our little girl while she was sick. And at the same time, Addy was teething! It took another two weeks but just before her 11 month birthday one of her top front teeth came through! Now we are just waiting for the second top front one to come in.

Looking forward to Addison's first birthday in just one month!!

Addison's Ten Month Update (Jan 25)

Addison has grown much in the past month. She is quite the crawler and loves to explore everywhere and everything in our home. She climbs into cupboards underneath coffee tables and even crawls behind the couch. The day she crawled behind the couch, she came out the other side and was covered in dust! Silly girl! She is such a happy baby, always laughing and smiling and singing to herself. Always talking too, can't wait til we understand what she is saying! She is really good at standing up and often lets go and stands on her own for a couple seconds before sitting back down again. She doesn't like walking holding our hands too much anymore though, she would rather be crawling. So we are working on this!

Addy celebrated her first new years since the last update, and she had lots of guests for that night. Papa and Grandma S, Uncle Kevin, Aunt Angela, Lizzie and Gideon all came for the party. We had lots of fun.

We are working on eating better with our foods. Addy is not always the best eater of baby food. But she loves eating big people food and loves to try new things that we are eating. Hopefully soon she will be a better eater. Her favorite finger food to eat is cheese! She loves getting little chunks of cheese to eat. One last fun thing that Addison loves to do this month is tickle mommy's tummy. She will lift up Mommy's shirt and blow rasberrys on her tummy just like we do to her tummy. She thinks it is SO funny! We are loving each moment of raising our little girl!

Top 10 of 2010

Our Top 10 Memories of 2010

1. The birth of Addison Joy on March 25, 2010

2. Kate passing her NCLEX test and receiving her RN
3. Andrew's new position at the mission, which is a much better fit for him and he is able to teach and counsel men
4. Kate's new job at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital as a Registered Nurse in Emergency Department

5. Moving forward with EBM and pursuing becoming missionaries at Bethesda and finishing the application process

6. 4 amazing years of marriage on July 2, can't believe how fast 4 years have flown by

7. September Dodd Family Visit in Cresaptown MD

8. Many family visits and memories made and 2 new nephews Reece and Gideon

9. New home in January 2010, much bigger place for us to rent and raise Addison in

10. Watching Addison grow and change so much in just 9 months of life!


What an amazing year it has been for our family! Looking forward to what God has planned in 2011 for the Dodd Family!!