We are alive!!!

As I look at our last post it's pretty appropriate to report back in at this point. Sorry no catch-ups...Halloween - great, Christmas - wonderful, New Year's - uneventful. Ok now you're caught up. No really. We have just been enjoying life. We have fallen into our routine and rarely does that include getting on the actual computer (and not checking FB on my phone).

So here we are - day 3 of 4 snow days. We have not been to school since Monday and I have been LOVING it. I was grateful for my in-laws to take Emory and I into the doctor this morning. (I certainly didn't want to drive in this mess!) After seeing Dr Wiley, he determined Emory had bronchitis and both ears are still infected. In fact both tubes are clogged with wax so the infections will continue until we can get those cleared out. Believe me, you would never know she was sick. She is still such a happy girl! She doesn't miss a beat even when she's sick. The only difference is her sleeping habits. When she starts waking up at 5:00 instead of 6:30 then I know she's sick. Lucky me!

So here's what big E is up to at 18 months:

- saying LOTS of words: momma (which could easily be translated into "I want" or "Gimme"), daddy, papa (both grandpas), nana (Aaron's mom), mammy (my mom - supposed to be Gramsy), sometimes Justin, Pali

- cracker, water, juice, please (still signs these sometimes), more, signs eat,

- moo, baa, duck-duck, sticks her tongue out for puppy (that's the sign for puppy), ri-ri (ribbit)monkey

- hi, bye-bye, night-night

She is definitely a girl of routine and don't mess with that routine:

-she has been going to bed by herself - she'll say night-night and take off to her room, stop and give Daddy a kiss, want me to turn off her light, turn on her music, night-light, and humidifier, I put her in bed, she gives me a kiss and then gets covered up.

-mornings - she wakes up and watches Handy Manny in our bed while drinking her milk and while we get ready. Fusses when getting dressed, but once she's all dressed gets her jacket (often by herself) and tells me bye-bye.

She still is a picky eater. Things she likes to eat:

-any fruit, corn dogs, french fries, chicken nuggets, spaghetti-o's, mac and cheese

-not many veggies - She will eat some cucumbers, avacados, tomatoes.

-They say she eats veggies at school so I'm hoping she's getting enough with them.

Speaking of school. She LOVES it. She always gets good notes home and they tell me that she's a big helper. Her friend Parker, from church, has started going to her school and so now she asks about Parker (Par-par) all the time.

She is definitely hitting the independent stage. She wants to do everything by herself. From feeding herself, to changing her clothes. She will help pick up her toys, but doesn't like to pick up a mess after it's been made (too bad sista).

Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy from the past couple of months. Loving my little diva!!

Emory and her Daddy in the snow!!!

Diva girl taken two days before the snow hit...yes short-sleeve weather.

Watching her cousins play outside.

Part of our morning routine. Oh did I mention, we have a thumb-sucker. Started out being just when she was tired...pretty much all the time now. It will definitely be fun to break that.

Successful Surgery

Friday, October 24 Emory was able to have tubes put in her ears. We arrived at the surgery center at 7:30 which may sound early, but trying to keep a baby occupied with having anything to eat or drink since dinner the night before is NOT fun. We were taken back very quickly and things went fairly quickly from then on. Emory might not have thought so, hence the tears in the picture below.

She was in surgery for literally 15 minutes before she was right back to us. At first she was very groggy, but quickly became very angry while coming out of the anesthetic. Not much could comfort her for about 30 minutes. She didn't want to be talked to, be fed, sung to, got tired of her juice, and so on and so on. She just flat out wanted to be MAD! Here's a picture of her finally getting calm with a cracker. We were on the road heading home by 9:00.
Since the surgery, Emory has been great. She is sleeping better, 11-12 hours a night. She has only done that a handful of times since she was born. Her appetite has also increase. She has always been a good eater of particular foods, but lately she has been finishing off her meals and still asking for "mo." I pray the tubes will help her stay healthy this year. I know there will still be sick times, but if we stay out of the dr every other week then we'll be doing good!

I love my spaghetti-o's!!!

Sick Baby & Birthday

For my birthday I got just what I wanted, time spent with my family. Fortunately for me my birthday happened to be on the same day my parents had tickets for the Tech vs UT game. Unfortunately for us Red Raider fans, UT won. We still had lots of fun though. We got to the game plenty early (like 3 hours). So we found a nice spot for Emory to run around on the grass and play. She was enjoying her time outside and even got to see the Masked Rider up close.

Emory wasn't too sure about the game. We thought she was very overwhelmed with the 61,000 people that were there, but come to find out she was getting sick. She tried to sleep through the first half of the game, but Tech was doing well and it was quite loud. She was able to sleep pretty soundly through the 2nd half though.
On our way out of the game (in the middle of thousands of people) Emory decided that it was time to be sick. After she got sick all over me, I rushed her to the bathroom where she continued her sickness. We woke up pretty early on Sunday morning with more sickness and made it home before it got too bad. Once at home, Emory continued to sleep but woke up once with 102.6 temp and still throwing up. She wasn't drinking much, but having very wet diapers. I started to get worried so off to the ER we went. We probably could have gone to the dr on-call, but were already at the ER by the time they called us back.

At the ER, we had to get the dr that had never seen kids before. He told me she looked fine (sucking her thumb, laying her head on my shoulder). Um NO!!! I quickly informed him that this was not normal behavior for our happy, on-the-go girl. So he decided she was dehydrated and needed to get some fluids. After more waiting three nurses came in to begin the IV. None of the nurses were excited about having to hurt my sweet baby, but were trying their best to do what would make her feel better. They were able to draw blood (which ended up to not be enough) and tried to get the IV going without any luck. So after 15 minutes of Emory screaming and poking around, they went to get another dr. Emory laid on me for a while and then popped up ready to go. So when the next dr came in she was acting much better. He didn't think she needed any fluids and checked her ears to see her left ear was infected. So he changed her antibiotics and gave her juice to make sure she could keep it down. After about 45 more minutes we were on our way back home.
Monday Emory was pretty good. She didn't run fever, but I was giving her Tylenol and Motrin all day. I sent her on to day care today, but found out she started running a fever at the very end of the day. So it looks like it's Nana day-care tomorrow. I hope that we can get over this SOON so we can go through with the tubes on Friday. My prayers are that the tubes will eliminate all this sickness in the future. I know it won't cure it all, but hopefully will at least cut down on the ear infections. This momma is tired and Emory I know is tired of feeling bad.

Hope for a more positive post next time. :)

Day Care

Emory started back to day care last week. She had quite a rough week last week. The rest of the kiddos did not make the promotion until this week, but we didn't really want to start her back in her old class just to move her again in a week. So last week she was in with some of the "big kids." She would only take 20 minute naps and would not be on the floor to play. She was very clingy to the teachers and would have to take her naps in another room where there was a crib.

This week, however, is a completely different story. She has still gotten a little sad during drop off, but the notes have said "Emory was GREAT today!" She has even taken 1 1/2 hour naps on her nap mat! What a big accomplishment for my little one-year-old.

*Warning-bragging moment*

Today I went to pick her up and all the babies were sitting in the table watching the teacher with flash cards. Emory's back was to me so I was able to watch her for a second. The teacher showed them a picture of food and I watched Emory sign "eat" then said "mo" (which is her more), and sign "please." The teacher didn't understand her "mo" and thought she was saying "meow." Luckily her mama knows how smart she is. I was so proud!!!

Unfortunately there are no pictures to add to this post, but I have yet to take my camera with me to day care.

My Baby turns ONE!!

We have had a wonderful past few weeks. Emory took her first steps back in June, but the week of her birthday was when she really started to get somewhere. She also got her first 2 teeth that same week. It has been so much fun watching her turn into a sweet little girl.

We also had a great time at her birthday party. It was a somewhat rushed event. I had been teaching Threshold (the gifted camp at HSU) for two weeks so Emory had been in Ackerly for a few days the first week, home with Gramsy for a couple more days, and then spent the days (and a night) at Nana's with help from her cousin Sarah. So I got home at 5 and had most of Emory's friends from church come around 6. We all had a great time.

Emory didn't dive into her cake like I expected, but we were able to get some good shots of her cake eating with Aunt Martha the weekend before. Even then she wasn't a complete mess.

Some things Emory's up to at the age of 1:

- pulling up on any and everything

- walking across a room without falling

- has 2 teeth

- LOVES to eat all fruits, mac & cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, most breakfast foods (Nutri-Grain bars, waffles, yogurt)

- does NOT like the texture of veggies, meats, eggs (I was told by the dr today that she will eventually come around...I sure hope so)

- weighs 18.2 lbs and is 27 3/4 in long -10th percentile

- can sign "all done", "more", "please", "bath", and sometimes "dog" although she is just imitating Pali when she does it

- wearing 9-12 month clothes

We are definitely blessed by our precious little girl. Our life has changed drastically in the past year, but we certainly wouldn't trade it for anything. We love you sweet Emory!!

Fireworks, family, & fun

We just returned from a trip to Nacogdoches visiting my brother and aunt and uncle. We had so much fun. We got there on Friday (early afternoon). We had a low key evening with ordering pizza and letting Emory loose after being in the car for 6+ hours. She is the BEST traveler. She doesn't sleep the whole time, but stays mostly happy and content. What a blessing!!

Saturday we were able to go to the next town (Lufkin) and ride a train and go to their zoo. It was lots of fun and Emory loved the train ride. She would have enjoyed the zoo more if she wasn't quite so tired. It was definitely lots of fun. Here she is on the train ride.

Sunday was the day of Freedom Fest. My brother's band plays there every year and once again did a great job. Emory enjoyed being able to crawl around on the blanket and enjoy the music. Emory with her Uncle Justin after he played his set.

Since I haven't updated in a while, here's a little bit of what E is up to these days.

-Uses sign language for more (always) and all done (sometimes). Here's a pic of her saying more. She doesn't do it correctly with all fingers together. She taps one finger on her other palm, but she definitely gets her point across. It's so cute...she does it any time she is eating and when she wants to eat. It definitely helps to know what she wants.

-Eating all the time. She loves goldfish, Gerber's puffs, fruit of any kind, waffles, yogurt. She's not too into her veggies so we're still doing baby food there just to get some vegetables in her.

-She's getting very clingy lately since we're spending so much time together during the summer. I'm hoping this is just a short phase and that going back to "school" won't be too traumatic.

-She has actually taken a few steps!!!! She took her first (unassisted) steps at my parents the weekend they kept her. She's taken quite a few more since then and I know it will be no time before she's cruising right along. I don't think she actually walked without assistance this time, but she was trying.

-She still has NO teeth. I'm hoping that her fussy attitude is due to that, but I have thought that many times before so we'll see.

-She's wearing 6-9 month clothes.

And most importantly she is absolutely PERFECT!!! We are having so much fun. We are planning her one year party for the end of the month. It is definitely hard to believe that this time last year I was absolutely miserable and now I know how worth it all that uncomfortableness was.

Memorial Day weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. E and I went to Ackerly for most of the weekend where we got to spend time with Gramsy and Papa Reg. The Addison's and the Brown's also came out on Saturday to play and visit. Emory was surprised by a pool just her size to take her first swim. She loved it (even after taking a nose dive into it while playing).

Emory and I came home on Sunday so we could spend the day with Aaron on Monday. We went to have an early breakfast and then went to the zoo early before it got too hot. Emory was tired and fell asleep on the way to the zoo so she was a little zoned out while we were there. We will have to keep trying until she's there at a time where she's wide awake and can enjoy the zoo to it's fullest. :)

Although I did have to go back to work for a few days after Memorial Day, I did make it through and we are now enjoying summertime!