Baker in Training

Emma has been very into helping me lately. She wants to help me load the dishwasher, vacuum, put clothes in the dryer...you name it, she wants to help me with it. She even wanted to help me brush my hair this morning! She says, "Emma help - Emma do it." I want to take full advantage of this excitement over cleaning while I can. So she helped me clean up on Sunday afternoon. After all her hard work, I decided it would be fun for her to help me make brownies. She had SUCH a good time! Sometimes it's the little things that you do with your kids that create the biggest memories. This was something that was easy, cheap, and we didn't even have to leave the house to do it. But it was fun to have some quality Emma and Mommy time.

This was her expression after I let her pour in the dry ingredients. How CUTE is this face?!

Pouring in the eggs all by herself. I was so proud of her for not dumping them on the counter. Very good aim!

Then stirring like a big girl.

She was much more interested in baking the brownies than eating them. Which is good - but she clearly doesn't get that from me because I have ALWAYS been more interested in the eating part rather than the baking part. Hopefully this means she'll get my mothers' cooking/baking genes instead of mine. She's a natural!

Park Play Date

Saturday we met some friends at the park to play. It was great to catch up with these girls and all the kids.

The group

I love this face!

Emma asking me to "come here."

Emma and Lillian

Emma and Mommy

Playing ball with Lillian

Making a little music before lunch

She took Lillian's baby stroller hostage and we took a LONG stroll

Doesn't she look like she's contemplating life in this picture?

Always a great way to end an afternoon

My Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday! Although it was hectic since I'm in the middle of busy season, I still had a great one. I got the best birthday present of all which is that we are all three on the upswing of feeling better! Emma went to school for the first time all week yesterday and her teachers said that she ate well, played hard, and had a really good day. So exciting!

None of us felt up to going out after this week, so Josh thoughtfully picked up dinner on his way home. After Emma ate, she got on the floor and colored quietly while Josh and I finished eating.

This is some serious coloring! She was really into it.

Here are the cupcakes that Josh and Emma picked up for me. Obviously, I picked the chocolate one and it was amazing!

They sang me Happy Birthday and then Emma said, "Mommy blow." After I blew out the candle, Josh lit it again for her and she blew it out. She thought it was great.

They got me a gift certificate to the spa and I can't wait to use it!!

Emergency Room

Last night was a seemingly normal night. Emma ate dinner around 6:30 and we were playing with the refridgerator magnets around 6:45. By 6:50, it began to go downhill. Emma started coughing. Not out of the ordinary right now so at first we weren't alarmed. But after about 5 straight minutes of this, we got her inhaler to see if that would help. No change.

We decided to take her in the living room and turn on the tv in hopes of calming her down and maybe that would make her stop. No change. After another 5 minutes, we got her breathing treatment down and got about half of it in her before she became too hysterical from the coughing to hold her down. Still no change.

Then Josh called the emergency line at her pediatrician's office and they said we had done everything they would suggest, so we needed to head to the Children's Emergency Room. Before even one minute had passed, we were all three in the car and headed to the ER. It was pouring rain and Emma was having a hard time breathing at this point from coughing so severly for what had been about an hour by the time we arrived at the ER. Clearly at this point, I am terrified and crying.

I pulled myself together long enough to check her in. After a couple of minutes in the waiting room, Emma all of a sudden stopped the coughing fit. We decided to stay anyway since she had already been checked by the nurse and we were so close to being called back to a room. Her face, hands, feet and chest were completely red and her heart was beating so fast.

The doctor was concerned that since the coughing began and ended so abruptly, that she had swallowed something. So we had to get a chest xray and do a 45 breathing treatment to see if that would help. Then we had to go back to xray to do two different angels. None of the xrays showed anything, so they were comfortable she didn't asperate anything.

They finally concluded that it was most likely an allergic reaction to something. To what, we have absolutely no idea. But they did give her Benedryl since her face, hands, feet and chest were so red and that did seem to help so they are pretty sure that was the overall cause.

In addition, the doctor was not happy with the sound of her breathing. He thought it should be more improved after being on a steroid and 4 breathing treatments a day since Sunday. He wants us to go see her regular doctor in a few days for a follow up.

So, after FIVE hours at the ER, Emma was finally discharged. On the bright side, she had a good time exploring everything in her hospital room. And she flirted BIG time with her doctor. She already has her sights set on a doctor!

Isn't she a cute patient?
Playing with the Emergency Room Visitor stickers - you know how she loves stickers.

Trying to relax for a few minutes.

Being adorable even though she is sick.
Daddy playing with her trying to keep her spirits up even though it was WAY past her bedtime.
Approximately 20 seconds after pulling out from the ER...so tuckered out.

Making It

We're making it still. We sound rough and we're all tired, but we've made it another day.

Relaxing (Even sick she insisted on a wearing a bow ALL DAY)

She finally mustered up the strength to eat something even if it was just yogurt covered pretzels.

How pitiful is this face?

The she decided to be a daredevil and push back from the table. It backfired though because she couldn't reach her pretzels.

The good news is that we did four breathing treatments today and by the third one, she was holding it on herself. She had gotten to the point where she couldn't take it anymore, so I took the mask and put it on my own face for a few seconds. Before those seconds were up, she looked at me and said, "Emma do it." I handed her the mask and she put it right up to her face until it was done. I was so excited! When Josh went up to give her the last treatment of the day she said, "No Daddy, that Emma and Mommy's." Ha

We also had a victory when she ate two entire cheesy eggs for dinner. I know it doesn't sound like much but she has barely eaten in days so this was major!

She's been a trooper...albeit a pitiful and clingy trooper. I don't blame her though, I always want my Mom when I'm sick too.

Breathing Treatments

Emma started to get sick on Saturday but we thought it was just a cold. On Sunday morning, we knew it was time to see a doctor when she woke up before 7:00 am and had a fever of 101.4. We took her in and the doctor was very worried about her wheezing.

After hours at the doctors' office, a strep test, a flu test, a finger prick, a breathing treatment and a steroid shot we were finally ready for the doctor to give his diagnosis. He isn't ready to label it asthma yet, but thinks she may be developing it. And he thinks the asthma is what started the fever and other symptoms as well.

So we have this breathing machine now. It is loud and has a mask. Do you know how hard it is to hold a 2 year old down in order to put a mask over their nose/face while a very loud machine is in the background and a smoky haze is coming out of their mask? Let me tell you...it's difficult! But it already sounds like it is helping her, so I will continue to do it even though she is so pitiful with tears running down her face as she tries to call out 'mommy.' Hats off my friend Alissa who has done a similar breathing treatment with her son on and off his whole life...and I'm pretty sure his are usually around 30 or 45 minutes. Emma's are only 10 minutes and those minutes pass so slowly - can't imagine 45!

I'm asking for prayers for a quick recovery for Emma. Oh, and did I mention that me and Josh are sick too? Yeah, that always makes it more fun. Quick recoveries for us all!

More Juice

That's what Emma said when I gave her this:

She picked this out herself at the grocery store and I just knew that she would hate it because it is so good for her...BUT she loved it!

Emma is such a chatterbox lately. This also goes hand in hand with her having more of an opinion. Actually, that's how she ended up with the juice above. This is how our conversation went:

Me: Emma, let's get some orange juice.

Emma: Ummm, No Momma.

Me: Daddy needs orange juice because he doesn't feel well. Don't you want some more orange juice too?


Emma: No, Momma. Emma want that one right there.

Me: Are you sure you want this one? I'm not sure you'll like it.

Emma: Uh HUH! That one! (Then she proceeded to point to the OJ and say "Daddy's Juice" and then to her little bottle and say "Emma's Juice.")


I went ahead and purchased the juice because I figured I'd give it a shot. Sometimes she doesn't like to eat her fruit, so I thought this would be a new, fun way for her to get her daily allotment. As soon as we got home, she asked for it and sucked down what I gave her. Before I knew it, she was asking for "More Juice, More Juice." Guess what I'll be getting more of the next time I go to the grocery store?