Baby Brag

I have been absolutely horrible at keeping up with the blog in 2011. It would be putting it mildly to say that I've been in a bit of a funk. As summer finally approaches I'm starting to feel better (although the testing tension is rising as we're now in the single digits until exams). I think Dan and I will be so relieved when this school year is over. I've applied for 3 new jobs, but never heard anything. Definitely disappointed to not even get an interview. Oh well.

Now, on to the interesting stuff about Emmaline that you come here to see anyway!

Em's vocabulary continues to expand weekly (sometimes even daily). Her list of words includes: no (still an all-time favorite), mama, mommy, dada, nana (banana), og (dog), ball, bear, Abby (apple, Abby Cadabby, and Gabby), Aiden (friend at school), sit, shoe, saw (sock), wa (water), doll, Jo Jo (all cats, not just Jonah), boo (peekaboo), Misha (daycare lady), cracker, mine, hi, uh-oh, mommy's shoe, stop it, jump, one, two, three, seven, hey, quack-quack (duck), sippy, baba (bottle), hey, shhh, nose, eye, open, shut, cookie (for treats and for Cookie Monster), Nernie (Ernie), Amy, Emmy, Papa, nigh-nigh, eat. She's starting to combine words too like "no, mine", and "no dada" and "mama, sit" "no, no, Jo-Jo". Notice a theme?

She has also started singing. So far she sings "C is for Cookie" by Cookie Monster (she just repeats Cookie and then does the "Oooooo" part and she also sings the "No, No, No" song by Oscar and the Grouchkateers. She wags her finger and shakes her head right along. It's pretty stinkin' adorable!

As for other accomplishments:

*Can drink from a cup (but still wants milk in a bottle)

*Runs and kicks a ball (and throws pretty well too)

*She's been sleeping in a big girl bed for about a month

*She peed in the potty 2x (and on the floor 2x tonight)

*Walks up and down the stairs holding a rail

*Walks on the balance beam and tries to jump off

*Can take her pants off and put them on, same with shirts with a little assistance

*Has 16 teeth

*Gives closed mouth kisses and bear hugs

*Does simple puzzles (with the handles)

*Matches up animal pictures

*Points to all sorts of things in her books (Ernie, bottle, glasses, duck, baby, bear, apple, banana, sippy, flower, bunny, ball, boat, cat, dog, bird)

* "Plays" her recorder and drum

*Spoon feeds herself without much mess (really loves her soy yogurt)

*Pretend feeds us and her stuffed animals

*Is starting to jump (practices on the bed nightly)

*Points to a body parts when asked (nose, mouth, tongue, ears, eyes, eye brow, hair, head, toes, belly, elbow, butt)

*Throws her trash away (and occasionally ours)

*Does her chores - feeding the cats, putting her clothes in the laundry basket

*Throws championship level tantrums

Time for a change

Emmaline's hair has been driving me crazy lately! She has a lot of hair, but it's very fine like mine. That means it sticks all over the place. Her bangs had gotten very long and she was looking like a ragamuffin. I've been trying to avoid giving her a haircut, because it never turns out well and I want it to grow out. But yesterday I decided the bangs just had go to and went ahead and (purposely) chopped them super short. I think it has a bit of an Audrey Hepburn-ish feel to it. There are still some strands that I didn't cut that keep falling in front, but I think with a little time they can be trained to go to the side instead. The pics today are BEFORE and AFTER shots of the hair cut.

This week she has added "hi", "bye-bye", and "bear" to her vocabulary. She also says "moo" when we talk about animal sounds.

She has definitely developed an independent streak and I think we are officially in the "Terrible 2's" stage. She really wants to do things on her own and quickly goes into a full tantrum when you try to help. Meals are still a rough time with her throwing things all over the place. We went ahead and took her to the doctor to make sure her ears looked fine (they do). The doctor assured us that she won't starve herself and to keep exposing her to a variety of foods, but don't freak out if she gets picky for a while. I think that has helped us relax about it and in return she hasn't been a complete monster the last few nights when it comes to food. Bedtime, on the other hand, has gotten worse instead of better! She used to flip out when it was time for bed and then she was suddenly okay with it for several weeks. Now she is back to screaming and crying. It took 2 hours to get her down the other night! Thankfully (knock on wood) she sleeps well once she's out.

She keeps going, and going, and going...

Emmaline has turned into the Energizer Bunny lately! Until we force her to settle down for her 1 nap and bedtime, she is going 100 mph. Climbing on furniture and then trying to get from one piece of furniture to another seems to be her favorite activity (other than looking at books or throwing food at mealtimes). You would think then, that any injury would come from one of these adventures..... nope! She was just walking out of the bathroom this morning and face-planted into Dan's night stand. She scraped her chin and had a bloody nose. She cried for a few minutes and then was ready to keep playing. She patiently sat while Dan got it to stop bleeding and cleaned up her face.

The 2011 Word Explosion continues: she has added "shoe", "sit", "doll", "ba-ba" (bottle) and "water" to her oral vocabulary. She is also picking up new signs - please, book, and love are new. She still uses older ones too (more, eat, drink, milk, cookie, sleep, bath, hat, all done, nodding yes or no, sit, diaper, and want). It's not usually spontaneous but she does do it in context if we ask her to "show me ____".

I posted 3 new videos on Facebook this week. The big hit is her with Hokey Pokey Elmo. 2 videos of the Little Gym are also featured - one on the low beam and one playing with balls. They're all pretty adorable. We also have some videos of her climbing on the coffee table and playing, but I need to edit those for time before they're posted (I think the limit is 2 minutes).

I turned 30 today! It's been a wonderful birthday weekend. I remember last year, all I wanted was for Emma to say "ma-ma" and of course, she didn't. Today she said "ma-ma" a lot and gave me hugs and even brought me my present. She is such a sweetie pie. I couldn't have asked for a better family!

Where does time go?

I can't believe that February is almost over and this is only my second blog of the year! I keep intending on updating, but there always seems to be something more important that needs to be finished first. Tonight I decided to make this a priority.

Sleeping troubles are currently fixed (knock on wood). The allergy medicine seemed to make a difference right away. We also tried experimenting with cutting back on milk. As soon as we stopped giving her a bottle before bed she started sleeping all night again! I thought she'd put up a big fight about no bottle, but I offered her a bottle of water for a couple nights. She didn't want water in a bottle and then stopped signing for milk at bedtime. After a while, we tried taking the allergy medicine away, but her cough came back and she started waking up more at night. One day at daycare they forgot to give her one of the bottles at daycare. We didn't know, but she slept fantastic that night. The following day they gave her both bottles and the one from the previous day - that was a horrible night. So, we're giving the allergy medicine every night and have cut back to just 5 oz when she wakes up and 5 oz after her afternoon nap. Once she started sleeping well, our happy, silly baby returned!

We're pretty sure that right now she is either teething or going through a growth spurt (possibly both). She's pretty fussy during parts of the day, but overall is doing great.

She had a major spurt this weekend with her vocabulary. (What a relief!) Last weekend her only words were still "mama" "dada" and "no". Now she is also saying "nana" (banana), "og" (dog), "abby" (Gabby, a girl at daycare), "Aiden" (a boy at daycare), "ball", "Jo-jo" (one of the cats) and "baby".

Emmaline absolutely loves books. She seems to have a new 'favorite' every week or so. Right now it's "Everyday Babies". Our bedtime routine starts with bathtime after dinner, play time, books, and then rocking her. Most nights, during play time she chooses books over toys. Sometimes she wants to look through it by herself, sometimes she pretend reads to us, and other times she wants one of us to read to her. She also loves the "That's Not My..." series (we have dinosaur, cat, and penguin). It cracks me up when she grabs my hand and makes me feel the different textures.

Emmaline has also turned into a little daredevil at home. She can climb onto my cedar chest and likes to dance around on it and then run to the other end and dive into the chair. She climbs on top of her little table and then onto the coffee table and plays around on that too. At the Little Gym, she is currently loving the balance beam. She figured out last week how to get on the low beam on her own and has walked several steps without us even spotting her. Even on the high beam (with an extender) she walks/runs up and down it with very little support.

She is also developing her own sense of style. She enjoys wearing her red bib backwards, like a cape. Headbands have become "necklaces" and she wears (at least) one every day. Her godmother gave her a little purse for Christmas that had a pink, plastic bracelet inside that Em loves wearing. Like me, she is a fan of hats (beanies). Even in the house, she usually insists on wearing one. Since she puts them on herself, they're usually backwards. Or else she wears mine or Dan's and then her eyes are barely poking out.

first blog of 2011 (finally)

I keep meaning to post, but I also keep waiting for something exciting to post about. This month has continued the no-sleep, constant cough, clingy, whiny (for no apparent reason) streak. I am exhausted. Dan is even more exhausted because I at least fall back asleep when we've been up for hours in the middle of the night. He can't fall back asleep and just stays up. We've been to 2 different doctors this week and both pretty much say there's nothing wrong with her (except a bad diaper rash that popped up yesterday evening). The 2nd doctor was willing to prescribe Zyrtec to see if the cough is related to post-nasal drip and the nasal drainage possibly related to allergies. I'm not very hopeful because 1) I'm a pessimist by nature and 2) 2011 has just been 2 1/2 weeks of disappointment so far and I doubt that will change any time soon.

We are on night 2 of that, night 1 was unsuccessful. Actually, she fell asleep great and we didn't hear a peep.... for 3 hours. And then she was up crying and could not be put down so she ended up in bed with us again. Dan is worried that it's just become a pattern to come to bed with us, but I still worry that some thing's wrong and don't want to leave her crying in her crib if she's not feeling well.

On a positive note, we had a good time at the National Aquarium in Baltimore over our 3 day weekend. (And Emma actually slept the night before and after. Dan claims she slept in the hotel there, but I think she was moving around too much to have really slept well.) After that trip we thought we'd hit a turning point in the sleep problems, but then it got worse.

I have to go out of town tomorrow over night. I feel horrible leaving when she is like this. I know Dan will do fine without me and is totally capable of taking care of her. But I also know that lack of sleep and the sound of your baby screaming in the middle of the night can quickly wear anyone down. Plus, it's not like his day job is a cake-walk. I know I fall into the trap of thinking that his job is easier than mine (because he only makes 1 set of plans a day and repeats them 4 times vs. plans for 4 subjects), but I do realize that his job is tougher in other areas. And those areas are ones that I could not handle.

Christmas!

Can I start by saying that I am so glad that Christmas is over?!? It was a fairly uneventful day, but tiring nonetheless. By Christmas day my cold had crossed over into probably sinus infection and I felt like someone had whacked me upside the head with a brick. Emma was wide awake crying/screaming by 4am and would not go back to sleep, even when we brought her back to our bed. We've been chalking it up to teething, but I finally got a good look inside her mouth tonight and there is not even a hint of red or swollen gums. After a week of crappy sleeping and increased fussiness, I honestly expected to see something poking through. I'm pretty sure incisors come next. Perhaps she's getting a 2nd molar instead and I'm just not looking in the right place. Unfortunately today, her nasal drainage picked up again and her cough has really swung into high gear again. We managed about 30 minutes of a nap today total. I'm not looking forward to tonight since I know she is going to be awake most of the time coughing like crazy.

As for the presents, we finally gave up with trying to get her back to sleep by 5 and went out to show her the big unwrapped gift (a kitchen set) and open stockings. I'm not calling it a "Santa" gift because I think we're still leaning towards no Santa. Then we ate breakfast and opened some gifts. Took a nap break and then went back to finish the presents. By the final round, Emma was completely over it and just ran around playing with things she'd already seen while we finished opening things. I really can't say which gift was her favorite because she seems to be playing with things pretty equally.

Around the house things are feeling somewhat normal. The decorations have been removed and put away. Thank you cards have been written and mailed. We went to the bank and opened a savings account for Emma with her birthday and Christmas money. (We already have a separate savings investment for college.) I went to the doctor today and got an antibiotic. Decided that this was as good a time as any to go ahead and drop that morning nursing today (I wouldn't have been able to nurse her on the antibiotic anyway). I figure if I did it now, I still have that extra time home with her during the day rather than jump right back into the daycare schedule after 10 days home AND wean on top of it. She seemed fine taking a bottle today and hasn't indicated any desire to nurse. I'm hoping that since I was down to just one time a day and have weaned gradually that it won't be a jolt on my body.

Even though she's majorly cranky and I'm sick and cranky too, I've really been enjoying being home with Emma. She is so silly! She has this new facial expression that can either break into a big smile or a scream - either way, it's adorable. She is really saying 2 words recently - "noooooooooooooooooo" usually in a yell as she is running away from me and 'mama' which has nothing to do with Mommy and everything to do with yummy snacks! She has been signing a lot lately (glad those classes finally are paying off). She signs milk, more, bath, eat, sleepy. She blows kisses if you say kiss or love. Once she signed want and another time she signed diaper. We are working on water and help next. We also sign mommy and daddy frequently, but she hasn't used those yet. She's still nodding yes and no. And knows nose, eye brow (that one is thanks to one of her favorite songs on Sesame Street), toes, and belly. She seems to be figuring out head, cheeks, and hair but isn't as consistent with those ones yet.

9th Day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas, my loving family gave to me --

a giant monkey jammie suit from cousin Robbie;

a jumbo floor puzzle from Grandpa and Granny;

My Pal Violet from a friend;

a pink, butterfly purse from Grandpa and Granny;

Baby Einstein book and a Laugh & Learn camera from a friend;

Crayola Tadoodles Markers from Mommy;

a Christmas bear from cousin Meg;

a book about Little Girls from Grandpa and Granny;

and a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie.

Dan made his delicious homemade spaghetti & meatballs for dinner tonight. Emma didn't care much for the noodles, but enjoyed the meatballs! You can also tell that Dan made pizzelles the other day. Emma likes to take a few bites, but then seems to bury it under a towel or shove it in a shoe.