Week 17

It's been a busy week and I can only imagine what next week will be like!


Monday night, Emmaline slept horribly so we figured something was up. Took her back to the doctor on Tuesday and sure enough, ear infection had flared up in the right ear again. She's now on her 3rd different antibiotic in 2 months (amoxicillan, zithromax, and now omnicef). She started taking the Omnicef Tuesday night and still doesn't seem to be feeling much better (although sleep has improved some). She started pulling on the left ear last night too. Diarrhea started Friday and seems to be okay for now but only because we completely changed her diet. We're taking advantage of this side-effect and letting her eat all the foods that were previously banned because of the constipation. She even got to try pancakes yesterday morning. I found an egg-free recipe and replaced the milk with breastmilk. They were very fluffy and she ate an entire one for breakfast (the leftovers are in the freezer now). We are scheduled to go to a specialist on Aug. 11th to discuss tubes. I'm terrified of this process, but if it helps than I guess it'd be worth it. I narrowly avoided tubes as a toddler when mom finally weaned me from the bottle, but Dan had tubes. We've known from the beginning that she could have a lot of problems with her ears, but we were hopeful that breastfeeding would help. I don't feel like it has helped any, but whose to say that it wouldn't be a lot worse if she was a formula baby.Oh yeah, she had a fever this morning so we'll probably be calling the doctor in the morning.




Tuesday was her first night of swim lessons. She did fantastic! (And no, swimming is not related to her ear problems. People keep implying this and it's starting to irritate me. There's a difference between swimmer's ear and a middle ear infection. Plus, we don't even put her ears underwater in the bathtub!) She dunked her face in the water a couple times and didn't seem to mind too much. The class is in the evening, so she was getting cold by the end and then it pushed bedtime back by 30 minutes which made for a cranky baby.

We had the final Baby Signs class Saturday. We've enjoyed going to that even though it was an hour drive in each direction. (This week's picture is with Beebo the Baby Signs bear holding a flower - which was one of the signs we learned.) I realized that I've never really been with her around another baby so it was good to get that experience. She is so outgoing at daycare, but we've discovered that in other settings she is very shy and stays close to me. When we take her to the nursery at church, she cries for a minute but then does fine as long as the ladies hold her constantly. A coworker told us about The Little Gym and so we checked that out this week. We're going to try to take her to a free class when we get back from Vegas. I like that it works on developing motor skills and cooperative learning. This would be on Saturdays again, but only 25 minutes each way! (In a way that seems like a lot to travel for these activities, but if we hadn't moved out here it would have been 2-3 hours each way to have any opportunities for her.)

Dan and I have decided that before we leave for Vegas on Thursday we need to actually get some sleep. Here's the plan: I am going to sleep in the downstairs guest room tonight and let Dan get up with Emma on his own. I'll leave a couple bottles ready since she's been nursing twice during the night this week (growth spurt?!?). I'll keep the pump downstairs if I need it, but the goal is for me to actually get a full, uninterrupted night's sleep for the first time in about 18 months! Then tomorrow night, Dan will sleep in the guest room and I will get up with Emma on my own (currently we take turns going in there and since she has been sick that is anywhere between 3 and 7 times a night).

I'm going to start packing for our trip this afternoon. Have to go in to work for a bit on Monday and will be at a conference all day Tuesday. That will leave Wednesday for last minute stuff and Thursday morning we head to the airport. We will get back late Monday night. I'm definitely nervous about this trip b/c I don't know how she's going to be feeling. And there's a 3 hour time difference. Not sure how that will work out. We would love to keep her on her schedule, but that would mean putting her town at 4pm and getting up at 3am. Dan is working hard to stay positive. Perhaps it will rub off on me at some point.

Looks like I get to wake a sleeping baby now since it's time to leave for church.

Almost forgot our horrible eating experience this week! I think this happened because we had just commented about how it had been forever since she even gagged on her food. Dan was eating some apple slices downstairs and gave her a peeled slice. She was doing fine until she leaned over and started crawling towards him to get more (still having a piece in her mouth). She started choking. :( Dan responded quickly and calmly. We were able to clear it, but it involved a lot of vomiting. She puked up a ton of mucus along with the apple bits. She cried for a while, but once we calmed her down she was off to playing like nothing had ever happened. Lesson learned: eating will only be done in her high chair where she can sit up straight! *We don't normally feed her anywhere else, Dan just wanted to share with her and felt absolutely guilty.

Week 16

Emmaline is a super eater! This kid has been chowing down. It's almost ridiculous how much she eats (although I am proud to say that she is still nursing just as frequently and so breastmilk continues to be the primary source of nutrition). We have overcome the work-hour nursing strike and I'm even considering leaving the pump at home when we go on vacation in August. It would mean a lot less packing if I can ditch the pump, parts, bottles, nipples, cleaning brushes, soap, etc. I know Dan's parents are pretty uncomfortable with me breast-feeding, but my relatives should be fine with it -- and if they're not the can scram for 15 minutes 6x/day! (3 of those are before, during, and after bed so it's not like we'll be around people for those ones anyway.) With the Baby-led weaning she is comfortable with table foods and so all we will pack is her favorite spoon.

No major milestones that I can think of. We do officially have 7 teeth now, can't remember if I posted that last week and she has been drooling a lot this weekend + a runny nose so we're pretty sure something else is approaching. There have been a couple developments that I'm loving: 1) she has started playing peek-a-boo. It always takes me a few seconds to realize what she's doing, but once I start saying "peek-a-boo" when she pulls the blanket (or toy) down from her face she cracks up! I think part of why I love it is because it's so darn cute, but the other part is because she actually laughs. She has always been very stingy with the laughs and so we really cherish the times when we hear it. We've also discovered that when Dan chases her (crawling after her) she will laugh and if I take my hair and rub it on her forehead she laughs. 2) she has started interacting with the cats! She likes to take the jingle stick and point it in the direction of the cats to get their attention and then she shakes it around or taps it on the ground until they pounce it. She also grabbed one of their mouse toys and was dangling it in front of Jonah's face so he would paw at it. She gets super excited when they play along with her and when she can actually pet them (we are working on the concept of 'gentle').

*Note for Kate: Emmaline LOVES the music table! She has been playing with it off and on since you brought it over. I keep meaning to get some pictures to send you. Today she kept playing the alphabet song and danced around. It was precious. :)

Week 15

Sleep troubles are gone! We finally caved in Tuesday morning and took her back to the doctor. I had been hesitant to go because we had just been there Thursday and she was fine. Thank goodness we went because she had another ear infection! By that point a top center tooth and a bottom side tooth had finally cut through. We can see the other top center and it looks like it's cut through, but I don't really feel it yet. By Tuesday night she only woke up a few times and then Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday she slept through the night! Last night she woke up at 3:30 so I nursed her and she went right back out. I think it also helped that we put up some black-out curtains in her bedroom. She's slept until 6:30 or 7 a few times instead of 5:30 like most days this summer. We definitely weren't happy that she had another ear infection, but it was a relief to know that there was a specific (curable) cause for the sleep problems we'd had. They gave her zithromax this round and she has already completed it. We go back Tuesday morning for a follow-up.

It has been so nice to have our happy baby back. I know we have more teeth on the way, but I am enjoying the days until then. This week has been a bit of a roller coaster so it was good to be sleeping. My sister's tumor is back. We don't have many answers right now, mostly questions. We do know that she will need to start chemo soon. I spent most of the week doing work stuff (meeting Monday, Wednesday and Thursday doing professional development). We took Emma to the town pool on Friday and again this evening because temps were in the 90s (Friday had a heat index of 100). Friday we also had an earthquake! Being my usual nerdy self I even marked it on Emma's calendar: "baby's 1st earthquake". They don't make a sticker for that one - so I had to write it in. :) It was a 3.7 around Rockville, MD. The largest on record for the area. I didn't feel anything, but Emma woke up right around the time it happened!


We've tried a lot of new foods this week. We thought we discovered a food she didn't like (cottage cheese) but she was interested in it tonight. She didn't like the yogurt this morning either, but I'll keep my fingers crossed and keep offering it. I'd been looking for a yogurt for a while, but needed whole milk yogurt and everything in the store was low-fat. Finally found the Yo-Baby brand! Her tummy was doing really well this week, but I'm afraid she's starting to have problems again. I think we'll start back with the daily prune juice for now. I'd really like to make her pancakes soon, but the recipe requires banana and I don't want to go down that path until I think she can handle it.


We got her a Playskool Walk 'n' Ride (shown in the picture). I've been trying to get a video of her with it because she pretty much takes of running, but every time I try she gets distracted either by the cats or by the camera and stops. She is getting really good at cruising. It is hilarious to watch her weave in and out and all around the kitchen tables, chairs & high chair while we eat dinner. It's nice that she is entertained and we can actually eat a meal though!