The Letter B

In the past week Emma has started to say some real words. Her best and most recognizable ones are: Book, Bye, Box and Brush. Apparently she is good with the letter B. And whereas she used to say "Nada" for our cat, she just today is pronouncing it correctly - Nala.

It's so amazing to hear her speak. I know that for a long time she has understood what we were saying but to really hear her say it is totally different.

She just started saying 'brush' today and she was referring to a toothbrush. It isn't as distinct as her other words but I think that's because it has a lot of other sounds in it so it's harder for her. She sees it as a challenge. Let me tell you why she started saying it...

We were getting ready to go visit Jaime so I was brushing Emma's teeth. She saw the big toothbrush that sings that Mimi gave her and of course she wanted it. So as I was brushing her teeth with the small one, she was playing with the big one. I finished brushing them but she wasn't done playing yet. I took the brush away and she pointed to it and said "Brus, Brus, Brus!!" I knew, of course, that she meant 'Give me that BRUSH!"

I learned pretty early on to pick my battles with Emma. If it is something that could physically harm her, obviously I stick to my guns. But if she wants to hold a toothbrush that sings, that is not quite worth fighting for.

She won...


The other day when she was sick, all I could get her to eat was some spaghetti I had made. I took a few pictures of her because she was so cute all covered with spaghetti. Josh got home from work and walked in on her in mid meal. He was shocked how messy she was and that I had let her just continue to make this mess. I told him that she was eating it and I didn't care how messy she got during the process.







And yes, she does have two spoons...what, you don't eat with two spoons at a time?

Sleeping Beauty

Emma had a bad night on Friday. I was up with her from 12:45 until 3:30 and then Josh got up with her from 4:15 until 6:30. She was screaming and crying and wouldn't go back to sleep. I concluded that her throat hurt and that she possibly had an ear infection (although both ears were clear on Wednesday when we went to the doctor). She would cough and then scream out which would just make her cough more which lead to more screaming. It was a very long night for all of us.

Saturday during the day, she didn't eat much and she seemed like she felt better but I think the lack of sleep affected her. We even called the doctor on Saturday night because clear liquid started streaming out of her right ear. It looked like tears were falling from her face, but if was coming from her ear not her eye. By the time the nurse called back, a red substance started to eek out along with the clear fluid...it almost looked like blood to me which freaked me out. The nurse said that if it was streaming blood, then she'd want us to go to the ER but if it was just a little pink or red it would be okay until Sunday when the offices opened for us to come see her pediatrician. We decided to wait until the morning and see how she did during the night. If she seemed in pain like she did on Friday night, then I was going to have them on speed dial by 8 am.

She ended up sleeping GREAT last night! She didn't wake up in the middle of the night at all. She woke up at her normal time of 8:15 coughing a little bit (although in reality it was 9:15 because of the time change). BUT she went back to sleep. She never woke up...Josh and I went to wake her up at 10:50...this was 11:50 with the time change! I think she should officially be called Sleeping Beauty after that showing.

Today she has been in much better spirits. We put drops in her ears this morning to flush out anything that might still be in there. There was a little drainage this morning, but nothing since. Praise God! And she's taking a nap now. It seems that she is catching up on all that sleep she missed out on...that's my girl!

When in Doubt...

...Feed her olives and pickles! Since Emma has had a fever, cough and runny nose, her appetite hasn't been what it normally is. At first she'd only eat green beans and hotdogs. But then she didn't even want that! Yesterday she barely ate anything at all...a banana, some cheerios, a handful of edamame, strawberries and some ritz crackers. For her that is less than she'd normally eat in one sitting. Yesterday she was extra clingy to me and fussier than usual. I think she was just fussy because she was so tired but she couldn't get any good sleep because of the cough. Poor thing probably has a soar throat too from all the coughing and I assume that is why she doesn't want that much to eat. I know it will pick back up after she gets better.

Here is a picture of her from yesterday. One of the only times her feet touched the floor all day. She found these two rolls of drawer liner and thought they were the best thing ever. She kept putting them on the floor and then strolling over to them with her shopping cart. Then she'd put them both in her cart and give me that big Emma smile.


Today her fever is gone but she still doesn't feel back to herself yet. But I did remember something that she loves that she might eat...olives and pickles! She ate so many that her tummy actually felt tight and full. Finally a full baby. After lunch, I gave her a bath, then her milk, changed her sheets and I put her down for a nap. She's out. Phew!

Last night I got to celebrate my birthday again! How nice are my friends? Jaime cooked us dinner (baked ziti & garlic bread) and Emily baked me a cake (chocolate cake with vanilla icing). All of it was delicious! And they gave me a gift certificate to the place where I am getting my massage on Saturday...didn't that work out well! So I am looking forward to using it tomorrow! Unfortunately, Leah and Rachel couldn't make it, but I thank you girls for the gift and want you to know that you were there in spirit.

Blowing out my candles:


Here is the cake (yes, there are two chunks taken out of it - see next picture for explanation):


Me and Emily couldn't wait for the formality of cutting the cake, so we decided to just bite right in:


Then Jaime wanted to do it too and of course me being the great friend that I am, I volunteered to do it with her:


By the end of dinner we decided to eat our cake outside on the patio...don't you like the big "Over the Hill" button that they got me?


Thanks for the celebration ladies! And also a shout out to Leah who got engaged this week!! I'm so excited for you LL and I know that your future with Cody will be full and blessed.

Priceless

Today is my birthday and here is how it played out...

5:30 last night Emma started with a fever (100.3) - Oh no
9:00 last night a rash appeared on her belly - Not good!
3:02 this morning the loudest thunderstorm/lightening storm began and woke me up - Ugh!
3:15 Josh has already fallen back asleep - Typical
5:30 I am still awake - Also Typical
6:00ish I finally fall back asleep - Hallelujah

7:30 Josh leaves for work and comes and sings me happy birthday - So sweet!
8:30 Emma wakes up and I feel that she still has a fever (100.4) - Aahhh
Her rash has doubled and it looks terrible - Panic!
Call the doctor, make an appointment, traipse through the rain - Seriously?
Make it to the doctor's on time - Miracle!
Copay - $30
Weight - 24 lbs 7 ounces
Amount of snot that ended up on my shirt during the appt - immeasurable
Lab work - "not the flu at least"
Verdict - Bronchialitis and a viral rash (none of it contagious) but she'll be fine
Prescription - breathing treatment for the cough and a prescription cream for rash
Quick ChickfilA before Emma falls asleep/Josh has to go back to work - $8.96

Spending your 30th birthday this way - Not awesome
50 minutes massage that Josh gave me as a present - Can't WAIT
Birthday dessert - FREE courtesy of the restaurant
Getting a kiss from Emma & having dinner alone with Josh while Jaime babysits - PRICELESS

At the end of the day, I can't complain! Here is a picture of me and Josh from tonight...

Spring has Sprung

It's officially feeling like spring time out there. And we know what that means, right? Spring cleaning! I have asked myself the same question about 20 times since yesterday...how do two adults and one baby produce this much trash? I mean, seriously this is not rhetorical. Do you know what Josh's answer to my question was? He simply responded, "Talent." I think that is where it all begins. He views this as a talent and I view it as a problem! Why does God make opposites attract? I think it proves that He has a sense of humor.

Yesterday afternoon Josh and I tackled the garage while Emma took a nap. If we're being honest, I didn't do that much except for hold up things and say, "Can we throw this away?" and I swept a lot. My main purpose was to make sure that Josh stayed focused. You probably think this is not necessary and possibly qualifies as overkill. Well, then you obviously don't know Josh. I would be going through a pile of stuff and turn around and he'd be gone. I would walk to the backyard and find him looking at trees. He claims he was looking for a good tree to hang Emma's swing on. Either way, we're not hanging the swing now...we're cleaning. This is the kind of thing that went on the whole time. He is so easily distracted. Once Emma woke up I had to leave him to it alone. After 5 minutes he was cutting the Crepe Myrtles in the backyard. So now our garage is really close to being fully cleaned out and the Crepe Myrtles are really close to being all pruned...but neither is done completely. These are the times when it is good for me to breathe deeply and realize that his priority list just isn't the same as mine and also realize how great of a man, husband and father he is. And really that is all that is important at the end of the day.

I do have a small miracle to tell you about though. We have lived in this house for over 6 years. When we moved in Josh put up a new mailbox post...but he never put the new numbers on it. We have physically had the numbers since he put up the new post. Yep, SIX YEARS. And do you know what we finally have ON the post? Hallelujah - we have numbers on it. He finally did it! No longer will I have to tell people directions by saying which house on the right we are. Now I can just say our address like a normal person. It's the little things in life that make me happy!

14 Month Update

Now that I have a minute to catch up, it's time to give an update.

Emma has been walking more and more but if she isn't in the mood to walk, then you might as well give up. She definitely knows what she wants (and what she doesn't want!). As promised, here is a video of her taking her first big girl steps.


In addition to walking, she has gotten even more fond of dancing as the days pass. This is a video from when we were shopping. First of all, please notice the car stroller...she had a blast with it! Second of all, in each store we went into they were playing different music and it thrilled her. She kept dancing to all of it.


Both Josh and Jaime commented immediately on how long Emma's hair had gotten when we got back. Apparently it grew quite a bit over the weekend while we were away. I can't wait for it to get long enough to put a bow or something in it. Won't she be so cute in a bow?

She's also getting her last one year molar in. The other 3 weren't that bad but this one is bothering her. She was fussy yesterday and some the day before. She is constantly chewing on whatever she can get in her mouth. I give her teething rings and things like that, but it just doesn't work as well as when she shoves her entire fist in there. I gave her some Motrin a few times but that hasn't seemed to help much either. I can't wait for this one to pop through!

Hotdogs. That word about sums up last night's supper. It was her first hotdog and to say she enjoyed it would be the understatement of the year. Who knew? Some of my friends were talking about how they buy hotdogs all the time for their kids and it didn't occur to me until then that I should try that. Obviously I'm never surprised when she likes a new food because she likes ALL food. But this was crazy. She wouldn't eat anything else. She just kept grunting towards the plate and then pointing to it. She ate the entire thing in under a minute (not exaggerating!).

We went to Mary Lynne's first birthday party today. I forgot my camera, so I have no pictures of it but I can tell you that it was such a cute party and I'm so glad we got to go. ML is precious and I think she had a great time. I can't believe our little girls are one already. I feel like Mary Lynne's mom, Rhonda, and I were just talking about prenatal vitamins and maternity clothes!

Here are a few pictures of Emma from the other day when Jaime came over to visit. It looked like she was posing for the camera the way she had her hand under her chin.



And here she is sipping her tea. Don't you like how she already sticks her pinky finger out? She's such a lady!


I think that covers us on her updates right now. Always something new happening around here!

Back on Land

We made it back earlier this week but there was a lot of unpacking and unwinding to do. Me and Emma had a great time at Mimi & Papa's house. It always seems to go by so quickly though.

Emma had a fun time with her cousin, Jay. Now that they are both a little older, it was fun to see their interaction. Jay just turned two, so he's 10 months older than Emma. We know how Emma loves to watch other kids run around and be goofy. Well, Jay entertained her for a good while doing just that. He would run towards her and hop over something and she would cackle. If he stopped for a second, she would be upset and want him to come back and do it again. She didn't understand why he wasn't at her beckon call. They also found a great game of Emma throwing her sippy cup down and Jay going to pick it up and bring it back to her. Jay would say, "Throw it down, Emma!" and she would slowly reach her arm down from the highchair and let it drop. We would all clap our hands and say yay and then wait for Jay to go pick it up and then we'd clap again and say yay again. It doesn't take much for those two to be happy!

Our ride home was better in some ways and worse in others. The first half way great. She was so good and sat in my lap and then right after we took off, she fell asleep the rest of the duration. And then during our layover, I pulled out the DVD player and put Mickey on. To say that I think it is the best invention ever, is an understatement. Here she is watching it while we wait:


Then we boarded the second plane and it started to go downhill. Bless her heart, she was so tired and all she wanted to do was get down and crawl/cruise around. But she couldn't, so instead she screamed and cried. By the time we were able to turn on electronic devices, it wasn't enough time to watch a whole Mickey before we would have to turn them off again. And if you turn off Mickey in the middle, you wind up with a very upset baby. So I just didn't try to turn it back on during the flight. I am just thankful it was only a 30 minute flight. It was virtually the whole way home that she did this. I'm also thankful that the people around us were understanding. I think all of them had kids because they all had that look on their faces that said, "Don't worry, it happens to everybody...no judgment!" It's over now though and we've enjoyed being back home. We really missed Josh and we were so happy to see him pull up to the terminal.

The other night, Emma kept going up to him and just reaching out to touch him. Like she wanted to make sure he was real. We did Skype him once while we were there, so maybe she wanted to make sure it wasn't an image...she wanted the real thing. It was so cute!