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).