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.

8th Day of Christmas

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

a jumbo floor puzzle from Grandpa and Granny;

My Pal Violet from another 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 from Grandpa and Granny;

and a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie.

7th Day of Christmas

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

My Pal Violet from another friend; a pink, butterfly purse from Grandpa and Granny; a Baby Einstein book and a Laugh & Learn camera from a friend;

Crayola Tadoodles Markers from Mommy;

a Christmas bear from cousin Meg;

a book from my Grandpa and Granny;

and a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie.

Emmaline picked out the present she wanted to open and actually started ripping into it. She got distracted by the cat part way through and by the cracker she was eating. (Crackers are her snack after daycare while Dan's getting dinner ready.)

She was very excited about this purple dog! While she was taking a bath, I uploaded the program that comes with it and downloaded the personalization (had to put Emma because it didn't recognize Emmaline although it had 4 different variants of Emmalynn and even an Emmaleen). It is a pretty cute too. Like the other gifts she has received, I think it will get a lot of use over the next couple years.

5th & 6th Days of Christmas

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

a pink, butterfly purse from my Grandpa and Granny;

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

Crayola Tadoodles Markers from Mommy;

a Christmas bear from cousin Meg;

a book from my Grandpa and Granny;

and a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie.

On the 5th night, Emma picked out her own gift (partially on accident). She was eating a cracker and decided to drop it in a gift bag. When she went to get the cracker out, she discovered a book and was very excited! She immediately forgot about the cracker (not a small feat) and ran over to me with the book so I could read it to hear half a dozen times. After that, she went back to find the cracker and found the Fisher Price Laugh & Learn camera. If you press one of the buttons, it occasionally sings "If you're happy and you know it", a song we've discovered Emma is quite familiar with and she knows to clap at the right part! It is pretty adorable.

The 6th night was when she finally seemed to understand to rip open the wrapping paper. However, once she got to the point where she could see the gift, she froze. We still had to take the gift (a fuzzy, pink butterfly purse) out of the paper and give it to her. At that point, she was very excited about it.

Obviously, I missed a few nights posting. The 5th night I came down with the stomach bug Dan had earlier. I guess he wasn't just being a baby about it - it was pretty horrible. I ended up going to bed at like 6:30. Luckily, it passed within about 24 hours for me instead of 72 like his and I was able to deal with work on Tuesday. Last night I was still worn out and decided to finish reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows instead of posting. After watching Pt 1 at the theater last week I realized that I'd only read the book once and did that very quickly just to get to the end. I couldn't believe how much I'd forgotten/missed the first time. It just may have pushed it back to the #1 spot on my Favorite Series list. Percy Jackson had crept up there, but it just doesn't have the same magic (for lack of better word) that Harry Potter does.

I think that Emmaline is starting to cut another tooth (although I haven't been able to inspect her mouth recently). She's getting a bit more cranky, drooling more -- luckily she has never been a super drooley baby, and keeps her finger in her mouth constantly. A big part of me wants to just give her the pacifier back because I know it gives her some relief, but we've gone almost 2 weeks without it. If only she would give up needing to be rocked to sleep as easily! :)

4th Day of Christmas

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

Crayola Tadoodles Markers from Mommy;

a Christmas bear from cousin Meg;

a book from my Grandpa and Granny;

and a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie.

I've already realized that the markers were a mistake! The ink is very runny (reminds me more of paint). They will definitely be used when she's up at a covered table or in her high chair and NOT when she's sitting on the carpet again. Luckily, they are washable and so the ink was quickly removed from her hands and the bookshelf. We also quickly swapped the marker for a pen and she was equally happy to play with that after just a little fuss. Should have gone with the round crayons and not the markers. :) Live and learn, right?

I think she may have had nightmares last night. She woke up screaming/crying and I went in and rocked her for about an hour. At one point (while she was asleep in my arms) she started swinging her arms, mumbled something, and then her eyes popped open and she started to cry again. A little later she started clapping in her sleep. Another time, she put her hand up and felt my face, then felt hers - I thought she was awake but her eyes never opened and her breathing pattern hadn't changed. I had tried to pass her off to Dan at some point before we had taken her to our bed and she completely freaked out. I really can't remember her screaming like that before. She just wouldn't let me put her down so she ended up in bed with us.

3rd Day of Christmas

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

a Christmas bear from cousin Meg;

a book from my Grandpa and Granny;

and a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie.

Emmaline opened her gift in the afternoon today because my work Christmas party is at 6 this evening. We still aren't sure if everyone is going or if I'm going alone since Dan continues to feel horrible. I took Emma to the gym alone this morning and then we went to WalMart to buy some stocking stuffers for Dan. That gave him about 3 quiet hours home resting in bed. Emma also took a nice long nap this afternoon (about 90 minutes) and that allowed him to sit on the couch and read. He finally ate lunch (soup again), but that was the first time he'd eaten in 24 hours. I am trying to bite my tongue and not point out that maybe if he took some Dayquil, he wouldn't feel quite so bad.

Back to the gift. I pulled three or four gifts from under the tree and let her pick which one to open. She tore a little paper, but still left most of the unwrapping to Dan. Once we took the bear out she held it and then went and got her bear from last Christmas (Jingles). She set the new bear down next to Jingles and covered them both with a washcloth -- which is pretty much her favorite thing to do with stuffed animals lately. She takes it very seriously and concentrates hard while opening the washcloth and laying it flat on the animals (usually covering their faces which I find odd). I should also note that she was a good girl and made sure all of the scraps of wrapping paper were placed in the trashcan.

You may notice in the picture that she is eating something. I will admit that I gave her a snickerdoodle. What are the holidays without all the holiday junk food?

2nd Day of Christmas

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

a book from my Grandpa and Granny;

and a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie.

Tonight, Dan picked out the present (one from his parents). It was a book "What Little Girls are Made of." It's a cute book with quotes and story excerpts about little girls. The illustrations are beautiful paintings of girls in fancy, old-fashioned dresses. Right away Emma noticed that there is a cat on most pages!

As for the unwrapping process, she took about 3 swipes at the wrapping paper and then went over to the pillow and sat down. She waited there until I unwrapped the rest of the present for her. Dan is worried that teaching her to open presents is going to translate into disaster for all the other wrapped presents under the tree. I still believe that she's just not that into it.

Emma has been refusing her milk during the day. The last two days, they've been lucky to get her to drink 4 oz at daycare. She's also barely nursing in the morning (pretty sure we're going to drop that in the next week). She will take 4 oz at bedtime though. She drinks water from a sippy cup, but probably only 3-5 oz a day. Part of me feels like I should be worried, but she still has plenty of wet diapers. Tomorrow I'm going to use her old bottle (with the slow nipple) for her morning one and then try to give her milk in a sippy for the afternoon. Not sure if that will help at all, but I feel like if she's going to refuse milk - it might as well be from a sippy. Our goal is to get rid of daytime bottles over the holiday break. She stopped using a pacifier on Monday, except for naps at daycare. We're also planning to get rid of nap time pacifiers while she's home over break.

I'll admit that I still feel totally clueless when it comes to feeding this child. I miss the days of just nursing her and knowing that was enough! Now I'm constantly worried about what to feed her and if she's getting enough food and enough of the right kinds of food and how much she drank and what she drank and how she drank it.

As for the rest of the household, I seem to be getting over my cold (still a bit stuffy and the cough is lingering). Unfortunately, it hit Dan hard today. He just took some Nyquil and headed off to bed at 7pm! He's really trying not to act like a big baby, and in return I'm trying not to get upset that he's feeling horrible and not helping as much.

1st Day of Christmas

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

a Hokey Pokey Elmo from cousin Robbie!

Dan and I have been putting presents under the tree as boxes arrive from grandmas, grandpas, godparents, aunts, and uncles. And this kid is spoiled! All I've been able to think of is spending hours Christmas day unwrapping her gifts for her while she runs around the house or throws a fit when we try to get her to sit still. Last year she was too little and just slept. At her birthday, she just wasn't into it (we did manage to get a couple pics with her "playing" with tissue paper, but that was kinda faked). So to try to avoid this, we (and by "we", I just mean "I") decided to adapt one of my family traditions - opening 1 present on Christmas Eve - and turn it into open 1 present each night, starting tonight.

I chose the weirdest shaped gift (mostly because I was curious about what it was) and we kinda got Emma to open it. She liked pulling the ribbon off of it and then smacked it a few times which ripped a bit of the paper. Eventually her curiosity got the best and she tore a little more paper until she could see that it was Elmo. Then she got excited and squawked until we took it the rest of the way out. This was about a 5 minute process. That made me feel like we're making the right decision because I can't handle 5 minutes per gift with like 50 gifts all on Christmas day!

My goal is to post each night with her latest gift.

December 13, 2010

We seemed to have survived croup, but Emma still has a cough and a LOT of nasal drainage. The last few nights, her left ear started draining a lot too. We attempted to take her to Urgent Care on Sunday but we're denied. Apparently here on Sundays they just offer "Quick Care" services by a nurse practitioner. Although the website included the symptoms that we wanted to take her in to be seen for (ear ache, cough/cold) they only see patients 18 months and up. That fact is not listed anywhere on the website. So we waited it out -- and luckily she slept last night -- and took her to the doctor today. We were told that her ears are waxy, but otherwise fine. The drainage was actually a good sign that the tubes are doing their job. We did get some recommendations on treating her super red, dry cheeks (cortisone with aquaphor over that for a week). It's starting to get really bad around here mouth from all the snot/drool and the pacifier. Yet another reason to get rid of the pacifier. Unfortunately it's still the only thing she wants when teething and she has molar #3 and #4 that have cut, but are still working their way down.

This weekend was a bit of a flop. We went to the Picture People on Saturday morning to do some Christmas pictures. That was a disaster. The photographer sucked, to put it nicely. She was determined to just take pictures of Emma sitting or standing perfectly still and looking directly at the camera. I don't think she snapped more than 30 photos in all and only uploaded 13 for us to choose from. That's a huge difference from the 275 choices we had at her last pictures with Portrait Innovations. Granted, she wasn't mobile at that shoot. It was very frustrating and I think we'll travel the extra hour next time and go back to Portrait Innovations. Their staff was much friendlier and seemed to work better with babies.

Sunday, I had plans to go out of town with a friend and then a friend's daughter was going to come watch Emma so Dan and I could finally go see Harry Potter in the theaters. Friend cancelled (not a huge problem cause Emma had been up most of Saturday night and I was exhausted). And the girl who was supposed to babysit never called back to confirm -- even though SHE was the one who asked to babysit. So Dan and I didn't get to go to the movies.

I never realized how hard it would be to get a babysitter! When I was pregnant, tons of people told me "oh, I can't wait to babysit!" And then when I tried to set a day and time - they flaked. Let's see if I can list the number of times Emma has stayed with someone (other than daycare) so that Dan and I could go do something -- his parents watched her once last November and we went to the movies. Robin watched her once last December and we went out to dinner. Dawn watched her once last November while we finished Christmas shopping. Jess watched her in June while we went to get our eyes checked. Our moms watched her (sleep) at the hotel room in Vegas while we went to see a Cirque du Soleil show with family. That's it. Five times in 14 months. It's not like Dan and I are real social people or anything. We are definitely home-bodies, but it would be nice to get out occasionally with just the two of us.

Pictures this week are a blog exclusive - they won't be posted on Facebook until after Christmas cards have been sent out. These are the 3 decent pics from this weekend. They aren't horrible - but Emma never would smile (probably didn't help that I wasn't smiling much either because the photographer was frustrating me so bad). Next year we won't bother with professional ones.

As for milestones - she's been nodding her head yes and no. That's absolutely adorable! The other day I found her standing in the living room, pointing at the cat, yelling "no, no, no". We've been trying to teach her to say "No, no Jo-Jo" to Jonah because he likes to try to run outside. (We also try to get her to say "bad kitty" to Britney when she's on the kitchen table.) She has started using a fork when she feels like it. She has figured out how to put her knit hat on all by herself. And she is getting very familiar with daily routines. When she knows it's time to leave the house, she puts her hat on and brings her coat to Dan. As soon as she gets inside (school or home) she takes her hat off and fusses until you take her coat off. After dinner tonight, I took her out of the high chair and hoped that she would play for a few minutes so I could clean up. Nope, she went straight to the bathroom and banged on the door. She's holding a crayon and actually drawing lines now inside of just making dots. For now, she seems to be over the separation anxiety at school and waves bye-bye from the breakfast table inside of screaming and clinging to me. (That only lasted a few weeks, but was still difficult.) Her latest toy obsession has been the Glo-Worm. She doesn't necessarily like the glowing part or the music - she likes to take a washcloth and cover it up. We dug out Jingles (her Christmas bear from last year) and now she carries both Glo-Worm and Jingles around with 2 separate washcloths and sets them down places to cover them up. Then she'll pick them up and move them somewhere else and cover them up. She is also obsessed with Elmo. We started watching some video clips on SesameStreet.org and she is a bit addicted. Our favorites include the Imagination song, Elmo's song, Song about Elmo with Adam Sandler, What I am by Will.I.Am., Elmo's Ducks, Elmo Loves You, and this one with a duck that moos and a cow that quacks. We watch each of these (and a few others) 2-3 times a day.

November 28

Emmaline is sick.... again! We just finished a 3 week course of antibiotics to deal with a (possible) sinus infection that caused nasal drainage and a bad cough from August - October. And less than a week later, she started coughing again on Thanksgiving day. By Friday night it was a barking cough and she had spiked a fever. She didn't sleep at all that night and refused to take her morning nap on Saturday. (Barely got a tiny nap that afternoon.) She seemed better during the day Saturday, but by 5pm the fever was back and she was very pathetic. *The picture is from Saturday evening. She just moped around and would lay her head down on the futon or the black box and whimper. Saturday night was rough, but not as bad as Friday. She actually slept off and on. She woke up at 4 and screamed and cried for 30 minutes. Just when Dan was ready to put her in the car and go to the ER, I was finally able to calm her down and she slept for another hour or so. Same thing today - seemed fine most of the day and then around 5pm her temp was up to 101.8. She laid down on the floor for about 20 minutes - not really moving, not talking, just laid there. I finally got her to crawl up in my lap and she sat there for another 20-30 minutes. At that point we called the on-call doctor for some advice. (We did try to take her to the doctor Saturday morning, but they were all booked so we have an appointment tomorrow afternoon.) The doctor agreed with my home diagnosis of croup and called in a prescription for a steriod to help with her breathing. So far she has been sleeping for a couple hours. We'll see how the rest of the night goes. We're still not sure whether or not to send her to daycare in the morning. I think she should be past any infectious time frame and she seems fine during the day.

On a much more positive note. She has been such a joy lately. She started nodding her head 'yes' and 'no'. She has been dancing all over the place, and not just bending her knees. She does a little shuffle and throws her hands in the air. She almost falls down just about every time. It's so precious! We've been letting her play with utensils during meals again lately and she started using the fork on her own. She can identify her toes, belly, and nose when we ask. She knows the difference between the 2 cats and can point at the right one in a picture when we say its name. Britney actually lets Emma pet her now and Emma has really learned to be gentle (although sometimes she just gets too excited and shrieks, which scares the cat off). She is still waving and blowing kisses and playing peek-a-boo. She is also very good at following directions (I've asked her to go to her room and bring me a book, put her clothes in the hamper, put her toys away, etc). At daycare, they said she's the only baby who actually helps pick toys up when they're done playing. She also does a little sign when we say "bath" and instead of doing the correct sign for "more" - she claps her hands together.

We had a good Thanksgiving (despite coming down with the cough). We went to a friend's house in West Virginia. Their daughter is a few weeks older than Emma. We met them through the Baby Signs class this summer and now they also go to the Little Gym on the weekends with us. It was very relaxing and fun to watch the girls play together. *I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that we didn't pass the germs onto their daughter.

I also gave her another hair cut this weekend. It's pretty jagged, but at least I didn't cut the bangs as short as the last time. It looks a little boyish, but I was going nuts because her hair was constantly sticking out in every possible direction. She has a lot of hair, but it's very thin (like mine) and there is just no way to tame it at awkward lengths. I would eventually like her to have longer hair, but for now we will continue sporting a bowl cut. Thankfully, she's pretty darn adorable regardless of what her hair looks like!

November 13

It was so much easier to title my posts when I was just putting week numbers. Now I spend like 5 minutes trying to think of something clever to put as a title and get frustrated because everything I think of sounds stupid. Instead, I'm just going to put the date from now on.

I think we may be near the end of nursing. I stopped pumping during the day after her birthday and she's been taking 2 bottles (1/2 thawed breast milk, 1/2 whole milk) instead. But I've still been nursing at bedtime and in the morning. Tonight she refused to nurse. She would start, but then bite me and roll off my lap. We've gone through biting phases before and it was always related to ear infections or teething (usually a combination of both). I pushed through those times because she still needed to nurse and I was determined not to have to use formula. Part of me thinks this is probably teething related since she has been a complete crab for the last week or so. She has one molar (took about 6 weeks to come in) and I'm wondering if another one is coming in. I have tried to reach in and feel, but that always ends painfully. Last time I thought I might have felt a little point before I was chomped. The dilemma comes from knowing that she doesn't have to nurse anymore. Tonight we just went ahead and gave her a bottle with a couple ounces of whole milk. (I hate giving whole milk in a bottle, but she still refuses to drink it from a sippy cup even though she will drink water from a sippy.) I'm going to try to nurse her in the morning and again tomorrow at bed. I hate that I feel so guilty even thinking about dropping those feedings. I've nursed her for over 13 months. I should feel proud, but instead I feel like I'm being selfish for giving it up just because I don't want to be bit.

On other notes - Emmaline's cough is FINALLY gone! She still has 1 more week to go on her antibiotic, but it definitely seems to be doing the trick. She spiked a fever about 10 days after her 12 month vaccinations and had the injection site was red and swollen for several days. We called the doctor and she said to keep an eye on it, but not to worry unless it got worse. Luckily, that passed quickly. Separation anxiety has arrived. Over the past week she has started clinging to me and crying whenever I try to drop her off at daycare. She was doing so well in the Wobbler room in the beginning and she still seems to enjoy it during the day, but mornings have been tough. I think she really misses Miss Lisa from the nursery. She was filling in for the Wobbler room for a few mornings and then when she disappeared the fits started. It may be a coincidence, but I think it's connected.

Not sure if I mentioned it in a previous post, but Emmaline has started blowing kisses. It's awesome! The other morning I went in to change her diaper before nursing her when she woke up and she laid there blowing kisses the whole time. What a way to start a day! I am anxious to be able to start blogging about all the things she is saying. I worry that her speech is already delayed. She still says 'dada' and occasionally says 'mama' (usually just when she is really sleepy or doesn't feel well), but that's about it and even those aren't really consistent. She jabbers a lot, but no real words. Most of the development charts that I've seen say that by 12 months they should have 2 words in addition to mama and dada.

Pictures for the week are her laughing during dinner the other night (covered in black beans) and her crying about something yesterday morning.

No rest for the weary!

I missed another blog post last weekend. It's getting harder and harder to find time for anything that isn't directly related to taking care of Emma and work. I find myself really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas, but not for any reason actually related to the holiday - just the days off!

This weekend we went to Roanoke for another MACK reunion. I still don't like traveling with Emma. It was so hard to keep her on schedule when there were so many other people around and so we ended up with a very cranky baby! Luckily, she has gotten over the pink eye and the ringworm is almost gone (we'll continue with the Lamisil cream for another week though). She still has her runny nose and cough. That's going on about 9 weeks now so we went to an allergist last Friday because we were getting worried that she might be allergic to the cats. The allergist said that she is too young to develop allergies (other than food allergies). He suspects that she has a nasty sinus infection and recommended a 3 week dose of antibiotic. I don't like the idea of having her on medicine that long, but my mom had a similar theory when she came down with the pink eye. I found it a bit frustrating that my physican couldn't have just said she was too young for allergies, but we're crossing our fingers and hoping this will help her out. (I hear her up in her crib hacking away right now.)

Last night we were looking through pictures from K's wedding last June and couldn't believe how different Emma looks. She looked like a baby and now she looks like a little kid! I was thinking that it was just because she can walk now, but even the pictures of just her face still look so different. She really is growing up! She has started saying "ma-ma" more. Usually just when she feels super sleepy or her mouth seems to be hurting (I think she's getting a couple molars now). It's not the excited "hi dad-dad" that Dan gets when she sees him, but it is nice to know that she trusts me to comfort her.

I'm not sure what milestones to post now. She seems to be learning new things daily, but they're not major things (like crawling or walking) and it's hard to even list foods because she pretty much eats whatever we're eating unless it's junk and then we find something healthier for her. She has been rejecting a lot of food lately, but I think that's due to the teething and I'm hoping it will go away soon.

That reminds me: Am I the only person in the world who thinks it is ridiculous to take a 12 month old trick-or-treating????? I can't believe how many people asked if we were taking her out this year and they were shocked when I said no! Other people kept asking if it was okay for her to have candy and daycare even had a party Friday with a sign up list for things like cookies, cheese puffs, chips, candy, etc. Seriously? My kid doesn't eat any of that stuff and I have no plans on allowing her to eat those things for quite a while. Apparently, I am the Halloween grinch! At least I have another year before I start getting harrassed about it again (and no, I don't plan on taking her trick-or-treating when she is 2 either).

What a week!

(Left: Birthday party; Below: pink eye)

I wasn't prepared for this week to be such a whirlwind! Last weekend was insanely busy trying to get ready for the birthday party, but we still tried to have fun. I think her party was a success, but honestly I was so stressed out that I can't really be the judge of that! We've gotten great reviews from Emma's guests and Emma seemed to have a blast, so I guess that's what matters.

Monday morning I woke up with a sore back and within a few hours it hurt every time I took a breath (any breath, not just a deep one). I tried to call my chiropractor, but no one answered so I called a different place (Dan used to work with this guy's wife). I managed to do quite a number on it and so I had to go back 2 more times during the week and will need to go twice a week for a month or so. As if I actually have time for all these appointments!

By Tuesday, Emma's cough had come back with a vengeance and she had icky green snot. She was scheduled for her shots, but the doctor had called in sick and we had to reschedule for later in the month. On a positive note - my friend at work had her BABY Tuesday evening! Little Lauren arrived weighing 7lb 9 1/2 oz.

Dan went ahead and took Wednesday off to stay home with her. They went to the doctor (not our normal doctor) who informed us that the spot on her cheek is not eczema, but ringworm (opps!). So we've started putting an anti-fungal on it twice a day. By this weekend it looks like she's getting one or two more spots on her face. Figures that she wouldn't get any new spots for over a month and then it would spread as soon as we actually start treating it!

Thursday it seemed like things were improving. The snot was clear instead of green so we were pleased about that. Oh yeah, the doctor said the cough may be asthma and prescribed Singulair. Not sure how the green snot fit into that diagnosis, but whatever. It was pretty fitting that the pharmacy was out of this particular prescription until Friday. I think it was around Thursday night that we discovered her first molar is poking through!

We made it until my lunch time on Friday and then I received a call from daycare that Emma woke up from her nap with her eye all gooked up and her eyelid was swollen. I managed to find a sub and throw some stuff together. We went back to the doctor (another doctor, still not our usual doctor) who confirmed that she had pink eye and prescribed an antibiotic eye drop. We had to rush from that appointment up to Winchester to the ear specialist for the follow-up appointment from her tubes. Her ears look great (thank God)! We follow-up again in 6 months.

We started the drops Friday night and were amazed at how much better she seemed Saturday morning! She was in a great mood, the swelling was down, and there was hardly any gunk throughout the day. The only down side was that the other eye started to gunk up a little too so we started treating both. After she went to bed that night we started Operation: Disinfect. We have wiped down every surface and toy that she possibly comes in contact with. Washed her bedding, clothes, and all our bedding and clothes that she's touched in the past week.

During the second set of eye drops Sunday morning, things seemed to go downhill again. When she started tearing after the drops, there was a pink tinge to the tears. I totally freaked out and called the on-call doctor. He said to keep an eye on it, but if she was acting normal and not running a fever that we could wait it out until tomorrow and then take her back for a follow-up at the office. I wasn't very reassured by that so I called my mom. She thinks that Emma has some infection going on more than just the eye thing and needs an oral antibiotic too. She tried to comfort Dan, who was feeling like it was something he'd done wrong because we really do have to pin her down and pry her eyes open to get the drops in. (It's a completely miserable situation for all of us and I really hate the baby who gave this to her!) At that point she was still in her normal, cheerful mood. She took a good morning nap and another long one in the afternoon. She did not wake up well from the afternoon nap though - the redness in her eyelid was worse, the swelling around her eye was worse and she was super cranky. She kept laying back down and whimpering. We are trying to decide if Dan is going to take tomorrow off or if we'll go ahead and drop her off at daycare and be prepared to get a call to pick her up. He's still going to try to get a doctor's appointment in the afternoon to get her checked out (hopefully we can see our normal doctor). She's scheduled for her shots next Saturday, so I'd like to have her feeling better by then!

This week doesn't look like it's going to be any easier. There are multiple things that we have to do each evening. Wednesday I leave for Richmond for work. It will be my first night away from Emma. I know Dan will take good care of her, but I'm still really anxious about being away!

Birthday!

I totally missed blogging last weekend and now Emmaline's birthday has come and gone! I think she had a good day. She went to daycare since it was a workday. We felt a little guilty not being with her the whole day, but felt like it was too weird to take a day off. The good thing about it is that she loves daycare! We baked some of our delicious pumpkin cupcakes and took them in with her. Several of the older babies (already 1 or close to it) got to have cupcakes together. They took some pictures so we're hoping to get copies of those soon. We went out to dinner that evening (3 Brothers Burgers) and she had a little bit of hamburger meat, but mostly shoved that aside so she could eat sweet potato fries. Unlike the ones we cook at home, these ones were covered in cinnamon and sugar. I wasn't too thrilled about giving her more sugar, but it's her birthday so we caved. When we got home there was a box from my parents so she got to open that. My friend (who is due with a baby girl any day now) came by and brought presents. Emmaline received a HUGE box from her other grandparents the day before. The downside - she isn't that excited about opening presents. We've gotten a few cute pictures of her playing with the box or tissue paper. Honestly though, she's really not into those things either. A few of the things she's received have been big hits so far - a fork and spoon from her auntie, monster squirt bath toys from her godparents, doll and play bottle from my aunt, and puzzles from a co-worker.

Today (the day after her birthday) was a fun day too. We went to the Little Gym for our regular class. Emmaline was way more outgoing than she usually is. I think she's getting very comfortable with the setting. We also went to the Festival of Leaves and walked around for a bit. It's an annual event and vendor set up booths and whatnot. They also open the historic museums near Main Street for free. The only thing we really got out of it (other than exercise) was talking to a couple different people about gutter cleaning and guards. I guess that was fitting since it was the Festival of Leaves and we're trying to get the freaking leaves out of our gutters. Since the house is 2 stories tall on 1 side b/c we're built on a hill, Dan can't get up on that side to clean them out. We don't actually have any trees on our property, but the neighbor has some huge ones that drop a ton of leaves. (We raked 20 bags one year!)

Tomorrow is her party. We are having that at the Little Gym as well. We're very excited about it and can't wait to see people. Most of the guests are co-workers and their kids. A couple friends from college are coming from out of town and bringing their kids (or in 1 case, just coming since they don't have kids). Emmaline's friend from Sign Language class is also coming from out of town. We invited the other babies that she's been going to daycare with for a while, but never heard back from them so I'm not expecting them to show up. Don't blame them, I'm not really sure if we would have shown up if we'd been invited to their parties since we don't know them outside of daycare. For one of the babies, I've never even met the parents. But I know Emmaline adores these kids and I would actually like to meet the families so maybe they could get together occasionally "after hours".

As for developments, she has some weird spot on her face. I'm thinking that it's an eczema kind of thing. It's gotten bigger over the past month, but looks like it might be fading now. She goes to the doctor on Tuesday for her 12 month check up and vaccinations so we're hoping to figure out what the doctor thinks about it. About a week ago, Emma got ahold of an apple out of the cupboard. She started chomping away on it and before we knew it had eaten it to the core (we got it away long enough to cut the core away, but she'd already eaten the stem)! I was worried that she would gag once she got down to the smaller bits, but she did great. Today she grabbed a nectarine as I was putting away some groceries and did the same thing (we took it in plenty of time to cut the pit out).