Wednesday, January 30

On Monday this week, Sooner Start came to the house to evaluate Addison. The first thing they did was a hearing test. When we were in the hospital, she only passed the hearing test on her right side, and failed on her left, which led us to believe that she might have problems. However, the test on Monday morning showed that she can hear perfectly fine with both ears, so we were pretty pumped to hear about that. After the hearing test, they evaluated her, social, cognitive and motor skills. There were some areas that ranked a little low and some areas that ranked about average. Considering the fact that she was being charted on a bell curve that shows expectations for all children, not just children with special needs, we were extremely pleased with the results. They will come back and evaluate her as she gets older to monitor her progress, but there were enough areas that were low at this point that justified them being here to help us. So, it looks like we will have a few helping hands around the house from time to time.


The past few days, Addison has been able to hold her head up straight a little better. When she's on her back, she started to pick her head up to put her chin on her chest. She can't hold it there for very long, but she's making progress, which means that her muscle tone is certainly improving. Hats of to Rach for being so diligent in helping Addison with her exercises during the day to improve her muscle tone.


I received a call today from Kids' Quarters here in Tulsa that the crib we ordered in October has finally arrived. That's right, October. While we have heard that the company who made the crib, Ragazzi, has been having issues, we also have been getting seemingly dishonest answers from the people running the store here in Tulsa, so we aren't really sure who's responsible for our crib being so late. At this point, we are just happy that Addison has a place to sleep. She's been shacking up with the dog on the floor for the past six weeks, so I think Bearfoot is happy to get his square of floor back. Thankfully, this crib has a lifetime warranty, so it should last through all of the children we plan, and possibly don't plan on having.

The past two days, I've been spending all my time working in Tulsa, and I can't tell you how many people I've run into who have some connection to the Little Light House. It seems like everyone knows someone who either has a child or grandchild attending school there, or someone currently volunteers their time there, or did for several years. I've even met a few board members out and about town. It truly amazes me how many people in this community support the school in one way or another, and it is extremely encouraging. Just today, I met a man whose grandson attends school there. We are very lucky to be involved. Hope you enjoy the pictures this time. As she grows, we'll keep you updated. Thanks for your prayers. If you haven't figured it out yet, they are certainly helping.

Saturday, Jan 26th

Thanks for being patient. This week was a big one. On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to go to the Little Light House, which is the school that was created specifically for children with special needs. We took a tour of the facility and we were able to meet Marcia Mitchell, the woman who started the school as well as several of the board members and the school nurse. They all fell in love with Addison imediately, and so Rach and I fell in love with them immediately. We knew from the beginning that it is a special place and we most certainly want her to go to school there. They don't accept any federal funding, so they are free from government regulation, which allows them to experiment with new ways of teaching children with special needs. On that note, they teach most of the children sign language, because it requires the use of less complicated muscle groups to communicate. So, if your interested in communicating with Addison, you might want to learn a few signs here and there. They also don't require families to pay tuition if they have a child attending school there, which is a huge burden lifted off of us. So, if your money is burning a hole in your pocket, and you want to do something good with it, you can give some to them. I could go on and on about it, so I'll just leave it at that. It's a great place and Addison is going to school there...in two years or so.

Just this week, Addison has started to stay awake much longer during the day. So, hopefully, we can get more pictures of her big blue eyes. Sooner Start is coming to our house on Monday morning to complete Addison's first formal evaluation with specialists and doctors and instruments and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure. I don't think they're going to tell us much other than the fact that she does have Down Syndrome, and she's going to need a bunch of help.

For those of you in Texas, (which I think is pretty much everyone) Addison will be taking her first official trip to Texas on Sunday, February 3rd. We are coming down highway 75 through Dallas and on down to Waco, so if everyone could pitch in and line the streets and highways with huge signs that say "Addison, WELCOME HOME!!!" I think it will go over very well. For now, enjoy the pictures. More to come soon.

Monday Jan 21

In honor of the late Martin Luther King, we had a handful of Texas gals come up to visit for the long weekend, and we had a great time. Addison is getting bigger and better every day. She's been working very hard on nursing and she's been very successful for the last four days. She is talking to us much more these days, and is much more aware of her surroundings. She will follow people accross the room and she recognized people's voices when they haven't been around for a little bit. She certainly isn't crawling, but she has figured out that if she wiggles enough, she can scoot her way towards something she wants. I don't think that makes her mobile yet, but it does mean we can't just leave her lying on the couch any longer while we run to the grocery store and assume she's not going anywhere. (That's a joke, don't call CPS.)

On Thursday night, we attended a meeting for DSAT (Down Syndrome Assoc. of Tulsa). It was a bit overwhelming, but it was very good to meet other families with similar situations as ours. It was also good to meet some of the children with DS and see how they really are just like any other kid. On Tuesday morning, we will be visiting and touring the Little Light House here in Tulsa. Addison is on the two year waiting list, so we need to check it out as soon as possible and see if it really is a place where we want her to be educated. We've heard many wonderful things about the school, and we are looking forward to learning even more. Please pray that it is everything we hope for. Other than that, we are here at the house, using today to just relax and hang out with our little cuddle bug. Enjoy some of the new pics from this weekend.

Sunday Jan 13

Today is Addison's one month birthday. To celebrate, we took some pictures of her next to the bear that her aunt and uncle gave her for Christmas. We thought this would give everyone a gauge as to how fast she's growing. We also took some pictures of the three of us. Hope you enjoy.

This weekend, Addison's feeding has changed. She doesn't seem to be eating as much and doesn't seem to be as interested once she starts to eat, so we're trying to figure that whole thing out. Hopefully, it's not that big of a deal, but you can pray for that.

Over the next couple of weeks, we have to find a time to take a tour of the Little Light House, which is the school here in Tulsa that was created for children with special needs. Since she's on the waiting list for the next two years, we have to go check out the school and see if it's a place we want Addison to attend once she gets old enough. We have heard many great things about the school, so we are excited to finally visit.

As far as doctor's appointments are concerned, we really don't have anything coming up other than the normal appointments with the pediatrician. So, I guess we're good to go for a bit.

Friday, January 11

Well, it's Friday night, around 11:00, and the night is still young for Addison. She has eaten about 4 times in the past two hours, and she is WIDE AWAKE, and very active! This is somewhat of a new thing of hers, so we have that going for us. Just the beginning of many new things, I'm sure. I started back at work this week being out of town for three days, and I have to admit that it was a bit more difficult than I thought, but I think we can make it work. Leaving Rach and Addison here was a challenge to say the least.

We crossed the cardiologist off our list this week, and Addison came through with a clean bill of health for the most part. There is a muscle bundle in her heart that is enlarged and looks a bit like a speed bump, but the doctor thinks that it will, most likely, stretch out as her heart grows and shouldn't be a problem at all. So, Addison and I spent about 20 solid minutes on the treadmill tonight just to get that whole process rolling, and she's looking strong.

Grammy Taylor left town on Thursday morning, and we took a big blow with that. She had been helping with feedings in the middle of the night and cooking and cleaning and running the house while she was here. So, Rach and I are trying to find our groove again without our own personal servant tending to our every need. Addison misses her already. Luckily, Grans Jumper and crew will be visiting next weekend, and we will be putting them to work (I'll be expecting a pedicure and a massage when y'all get into town by the way.)

Addison made her debut at ERgent Care today to meet the people that work with Rach. We have a few volunteers for baby sitting gigs down the road, so that's nice, and Addison was very impressed with the shrine that was built and dedicated to her in the office. They warned us not to leave Addison alone in the office with any of them because she might disappear, so we'll be keeping a close eye on those ladies.

Other than that, Addison keeps eating, sleeping, breathing and pooping, so I guess that means she's going to make it. If she's anything like her mother, I'm sure she will be building algorithms to help determine the purpose of oxygen by this time next year, so I'm certainly not worried. We are planning a family picture with the three of us this weekend, so stay tuned for those.

Tuesday, Jan 8

Well, my update may not be as entertaining as Wes’s, but I figured it’s better than no update at all. Wes left this morning to travel for work and misses Addison already! We saw the pediatrician and geneticist yesterday- both visits went very well. Addison now weighs 8 lbs 4.5 oz, and has grown ¾ an inch in length. The doctor was very pleased with how well she’s eating and growing. We learned from the geneticist that the type of DS she has is Trisomy 21 or Nondisjunction. This is the most common type of DS, causing about 95% of cases. Really the only thing this tells us is that it is not hereditary. No one will be able to tell us anything about the severity of her DS until we see how and when she’s meeting her developmental milestones. Until then, we’re assuming she’s pretty smart… she’s already taking phone calls, has sucked her thumb a couple times, and her grandparents are convinced she’s tracking objects with her eyes. The night before last, she slept 8 hours straight. We were pretty impressed with our little girl, until she stayed up from 2:20 to 6:45 last night. Also impressive for a newborn, just not in the same way. Our friends here are taking good care of us, bringing us meals and making sure we have everything we need. We’d be struggling without them! We will see the cardiologist later this week, and Wes will be posting another update after that, so check back Saturday for the latest details on Addison Taylor.

Wednesday, Jan 2

We have a few pictures for you this time. Addison bought Rach and me a nice camera for Christmas so that we would take lots of pictures of her, and we thought we would share. Grammy and Rach gave Addison a bath today, so we have a clean baby in the house again. Since my mom has been here, we have actually been getting a pretty good night's sleep. Grammy stays up with Addison and we just sleep. We are all going to miss Grammy once she leaves on Saturday.

A representative from the program we mentioned before, Sooner Start, came to the house today. It was an introduction meeting to give us an idea of how the program works and to give her an idea of what our needs are for Addison. It was an encouraging meeting and I think we are getting off to a good start, sooner rather than later, of course. Over the next few weeks, we have many doctors' appointments. We have appointments with the geneticist and the pediatrician on Monday, and we see the cardiologist on Friday. So, next week will be a big week for us.

We wish we could update you on fun things that Addison is doing, but the fact of the matter is that she eats, poops and sleeps, generally in that order. Every once in a while, we get a smile or two, and she will be wide awake at 11:30 pm or 5:30 am and any time in between. Other than that, she stays in a semi-comatose state. We think she's going through a growth spurt since she's getting taller every day. We put her up to the measuring stick in our house tonight to give you an idea of how tall she is now. We will give you updates on this as they come in. For now, enjoy the pics.