Bag of Tricks

Just in time for Halloween Emma has a set of tricks ready to go!

For the past week this is what I open to the door to after nap time is over. She has been able to stand up for a while now if we stood her up or let her pull herself up. But now she can go from laying down, to sitting up and then standing all her own.


This video is of her showing us her muscles, her tongue and her head. Isn't she smart?


She has recently decided that the green bean is far superior to any other food. Here is what I gave her for lunch (green beans, chicken, spinach and zucchini):


And then here is a video of her picking out all the green beans and spitting out or batting away anything else that came her direction. The only reason I put so many beans on the plate was because I knew she probably wouldn't eat the rest of it...I was correct. Although she did end up eating some spinach (which she really likes) and some apples before lunch was over.


Here is a picture of her almost standing up from a crawl position. I love how her butt sticks straight up in the air. She still won't crawl...she only has eyes for standing and walking. She has mastered standing when she has something to pull up on and now she has her sights set on standing without having to rely on anything at all. She will also walk if you hold her hands.


And as you can see from this video she is doing fantastic with the sippy cup and feeding herself. She is watching Baby Einstein's "Baby Noah" which is her absolute favorite. If you're in the market for a DVD for your little one, Emma gives this rave reviews!


This is one of her older tricks but we have never caught it on video. She loves doing this over and over again. Sometimes she'll put the rings back on herself, but most of the time she expects us to do it for her. And of course we do it because we do anything she wants...she has had Josh and I wrapped around her tiny fingers since before she was even born!


I don't have a picture of them yet, but the four teeth she now has make her look like a little jack-o-lantern. Hopefully we'll get a cute picture of them this weekend while we're out trick-or-treating.

Tiny Fingers, Tiny Toes

I went to visit Alissa and the new baby this weekend. He's so small...it's hard to believe that my ladybug was ever that tiny. I know she was though because they weighed almost the same thing when they were born. Her little boy is so cute...here is proof:



This visit made me reminiscent of the days when Emma was just weeks old. I realize now that God gives parents the gift of forgetting all the restless nights, the nursing, the belly button cleanings, the spit up, etc. All I can remember are the cuddles, the smiles, the first time she looked at me, and all the other warm fuzzy moments. It's amazing that such a tiny person can take up so much of my time, my laundry and my heart!

Here are two pictures from when she still had tiny fingers and tiny toes...

Recovery Update

Emma is recovering very quickly. She slept most of the day yesterday and never cried or even got fussy after the surgery. Her finger is doing as well as can be expected. However, I will say that is tougher than you'd think to keep a band-aid on a 9 month old. We came home from the hospital with surgical tape around it to keep the stitches in. That tape did not last long at all. Babies already want to put everything in their mouths, but when it's attached to their body, it's extremely hard to keep that from happening. She just kept looking at her finger. I can only imagine that she was thinking "Something is different, something is different...I must chew on it to figure out what it is." When she would put it in her mouth, it got wet and then it just started to unravel. Before it came completely off, we put a band-aid over it. This only lasted as long as it did because she was sleeping most of the time. After an hour of playing this morning, it was gone too. And then so was the reminiscent of the surgical tape. We have band-aid number 2 on her finger now. We'll see how many we end up going through! Hopefully none of you will have to experience stitches, but if you do, you'll need to know that they can't get wet for 3 to 5 days. It's not pleasant trying to sponge bathe a baby when it's chilly. I think we'll skip the bath tonight...how dirty could she be, right?

Josh came home yesterday from Costco with a value pack of assorted band-aids. Let's just say we're prepared for whatever lies ahead! When I first saw the 3 big containers that held all of the band-aids (as well as a rather large package of gauze by the way), I thought to myself, we will never use all of these band-aids! But then all the memories of Josh hurting himself over the past 10 years came rushing back to me...now I'm wondering if this will be enough band-aids. Dear God, I hope so!

Here are few photos that I took before I put her down for her nap. Although a few of them are fuzzy (because she wouldn't stop moving), I posted them anyways because they're so cute. She doesn't look sick to me!

2 Tubes, 3 Stitches

I woke a very sleepy baby girl up at 5:30 this morning. We arrived at the hospital to get the tubes at 5:50. At 7:20 they took her back with the doctor and by 7:35 she was back in my arms. The surgery went great! The doctor said she had two ear infections again so he was happy that we went ahead with the surgery. I just don't think they ever would've healed on their own. It does explain why she wasn't eating quite as much, but she has not shown any other signs that she had ear infections again. Poor little girl. They discharged us and we were on our way...

...That would've been the entire story had there not been a mishap last night. I decided that I would actually go out with some girls from church last night and my fantastic friend, Jaime. It was planned before Emma's surgery or else I wouldn't have gone. We went to Sips 'n Strokes which is a place where a group of people sit in a room while an art instructor demonstrates how to paint a particular painting and everybody paints the same thing. During this night out, I looked at my phone and saw 3 missed calls from Josh. Uh oh! I called back quickly and I heard in his voice that something was wrong. He said "Emma cut herself and it won't stop bleeding." A mother who is away from her child and has no transportation to get back to her (I had ridden with a friend) does not want to hear these words. Thankfully our session was almost over so I wasn't away for too long and was able to come home in time to hold my baby and comfort her a little.

As I was doing this...


...Here's what happened...I had laid out a pair of pajamas for Emma to wear to bed last night. It was a specific pair only because we were instructed to bring her in a two piece outfit. She only has 2 pairs of pajamas that are two pieces. One she has never worn and the other she has worn but there are no footies in it. Since it's cold outside, I wanted her to wear the ones she's never worn before. Apparently that was a mistake. Josh noticed that there were huge tags inside the clothes and they had sharp edges. Naturally he took them out. He decided that the best way to do this was to come downstairs, get a brand new razor blade out of the pouch, and go back upstairs to take care of it. He took the tags out of both items of clothing and then put on her shirt. As he turned around to pick up her pants, she went from a sitting position, to a crawling position and then used her Gumby-like hands to stretch out and reach several feet in front of her. She saw something shiny and new on the floor and wanted to investigate. He immediately scooped her up and didn't think it was that bad. Then it started to bleed more and then he couldn't get it to stop. And the last thing a 9 month old wants is for somebody to restrain their finger by putting pressure on it. He called the pediatrician's office and the nurse said that as long as he could get some gauze around it and stop the bleeding and make sure that the blood didn't soak through the gauze, she should be fine. That happened and she was fine.

When we arrived at the hospital this morning, Josh requested that a nurse look at it. She took off the gauze and it was fine. She said it looks great and she won't need stitches. Great! But then two minutes later it started bleeding profusely again. She now has 3 stitches on her index finger of her right hand. I really pray this is the last time she has stitches! But if she follows in her father's footsteps, it might not be. Therefore, I am requesting that everybody say a prayer now to keep her safe!

Pumpkin Patch Kid

I have wanted to take Emma to a pumpkin patch before she was even born. Now that it's that time of year, I had to find one to take her to. And aren't we so glad that I did, because we got some great pictures!





















After the pumpkin patch, we all decided it was time to eat. We went to a Japanese restaurant and it was delicious. Emma enjoyed it just as much as we did! She had salmon, chicken, and rice off of Josh's plate alone. She had some of her own food too but once our food came out, she decided her food was no longer good enough. Out of everything she ate, the funniest thing was the soup. It was that clear soup that comes with Japanese food. It was really good, so Josh decided to see if Emma would like it. She couldn't get enough. I think she ate at least half the bowl.

Big Girl Cup

Emma really has the sippy cup down now. We had been doing the sippy cup only at snack time with her juice so that she could get the hang of it. Now she's doing so great that I think we're going to slowly switch over and say goodbye to bottles! I can tell she's ready because now she is collapsing the bottle nipple when she drinks. That was always our sign that she needed to move nipple sizes. Now it looks like she's ready to give them up altogether. I can't believe it! We'll probably still give her a regular bottle at night for a little while just because when she gets sleepy, all she wants to do is chew on the sippy cup. In order to keep her drinking all the milk she needs to, we'll stick with a bottle at that time until she's ready. The pediatrician said the goal was to be off the bottle by the time she's one. Of course that doesn't always work in every case, but it's a good rule of thumb. So we're aiming for that. Could it be possible that washing and sanitizing bottles will not be a part of our daily lives anymore?

She also got a new tooth on top Wednesday. When she got the two on the bottom, they came within a few days of each other. So, maybe the other top tooth will push it's way through soon.

Show Me the Muscles!

This is Emma's newest thing. She randomly started doing it the day we went to the doctor's office. She was sitting on the table and just did it about 3 times. It was so cute. She even had the pediatrician laughing. So the past two days we've been doing it and when she sees us do it, she mimics us. Emma and I met Josh and some of his coworkers for lunch today and we took this video there. Add this to the adorable list of things she does.


And just because it's so cute here is another video of her doing it. This one is taken inside so there is no restaurant noise. Isn't it funny how she gets her whole face and everything into it?


A quick update on the tubes: I scheduled her tubes to be put in next Wednesday. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and she recovers quickly.