Emma the Sick One

There’s been a reason I haven’t blogged for a while… Emma has been sick for the last few weeks. It has been an adventure to say the least but if the last few weeks are any indication on how Emma will be when she is sick – we have the greatest baby in the world!! She is such a trooper!!!

Emma got a cold on Friday, Oct 15. It was a bad one! It was the sickest she has ever been in her life!! She had this poor pathetic whimper because she didn’t feel well and it was so sad. We would hold her and she would rest her little head on our shoulder. All she wanted was to be held and to feel better. Since she was sneezing all the time we needed to use the bulb and whenever it came near her face she would scream bloody murder. I swear if someone didn’t know what was going on they would think we were torturing her!

Then on Wednesday, Oct. 20 I was working from home as I usually do on Wednesdays. Emma had a strange night where she woke up crying at 3:30 for an hour and a half. Jamey was able to rock her back to sleep but we were so tired all day since we were up for so long. Emma seemed a bit “off” all day –she was happy, still sick but just not her self. So, I decided to take her to the doctor. I am so glad I did! She had an ear infection in her right ear and fluid in her left. She was given amoxicillin. I was so proud of myself for knowing that something wasn’t right with her…

Emma still had a pretty bad cold but again seemed to be getting better or so we thought. Come Sunday, Oct. 24, Emma had a high fever. It went up to 102 so we took her to urgent care. Obviously this was worrisome because Emma shouldn’t have a fever given that she was on antibiotic. The doctor at urgent care said that Emma still has an ear infection and fluid in her other ear so she switched her antibiotic. We were disappointed that her ear infection didn’t go away but were hopeful that it would now with the new medicine. Well, she had a poor reaction to her new medicine and it was giving her diarrhea. After three continuous days we called the doctor and she wanted us to bring her in. So here we are, Wednesday, Oct. 27 and back in the doctor's office. They checked her ear to only find out that her ear infection is still there. The doctor took her off the antibiotic she was on and gave her two shots. They had to watch her for 20 minutes to make sure that she didn’t have an allergic reaction which she didn’t thank goodness! The doctor wanted us to bring her back this week and we made an appointment on Monday, Nov. 1.

We thought things were going well – Emma wasn’t hitting her head as much as she was before. Her cold seemed to have gone away. Then on Sunday, Oct. 31 Emma go diarrhea again. We don’t know why and it was really upsetting to us since she seemed to be getting better! She also had a little fever again but nothing like before. We were thankful that we were going to the doctor on tomorrow. But it was also Halloween and we couldn’t let the cute little girl miss her first Halloween. We dressed her up as a lady bug and went to the fair at the Noe Valley Rec Center. We only stayed 15 minutes or so because Emma was so tired. There were a lot of kids there and I think it was a bit overwhelming for little Miss Em. We came home and she took a nap. Later that afternoon we dressed her up again and we went to 24^th Street. It is really cool there – all the merchants dress up and have candy for all the kids. There were a ton of people walking up and down the street. We ran into a bunch of people we know. We met up with Jamey’s co-worker Stephen and his wife and son Sammy. It was the first time we met Sammy. He is a couple weeks younger than Emma. Emma was the star of the street! There was a woman who crossed the street purposely to see Emma and to say what a cute little girl/lady bug she was. It was really sweet. We know we have a cute baby but it is always nice to hear it!

The doctor appointment on Monday went well. Emma’s ears were all cleared up and we were thrilled! Unfortunately, Emma’s tummy still wasn’t better and the doctor said we just need to watch her and give her tons of starchy foods to plug her up. So that’s what we did and by Wednesday Emma was all better!

During this time we thought that Emma might be teething too which is extra hard given her ear infection and bad tummy. The doctor confirmed that she indeed is and her left front tooth seems to be coming in. Dr. Dawn thinks it will break through in the next couple of weeks. Personally, I think her two front teeth are coming in so we will see who is right in the coming weeks. One thing new that Emma is doing in her crib is she is now standing up and chewing on her rail. Because of this we made a quick trip to purchase a teething guard. It was a fantastic purchase for many reasons. One – it keeps her occupied once she wakes up because it is kinda a toy for her and Two – she no longer is taking the paint off the rail and it is much safer.

The thing I alluded to earlier is that Emma loves to stand. She can pull herself up effortlessly and will pull herself up on anything – a chair, sofa, bed, and dresser. She also has learned how to climb up stairs so now she can roam the house and will come find us if we aren’t in the same room with her. She hasn’t championed getting down stairs yet but we are working on that with her. Additionally, she is taking steps when you hold her. She is getting pretty good at that. Judith thinks she will be walking before she is a year old. Time will tell. There’s no mistaking it though, Emma loves to stand and likes being mobile.

Emma knows how to give five. When we say Emma give me five, she will put both her hands up and start hitting ours. It is so fantastic. We love that Emma knows how to do things and understands things. She is getting so big it is amazing. Every day there’s something new.

Another fabulous thing Emma is doing is she now gives kisses. It is so wonderful to get a kiss from her. And she loves to give them. After each kiss she makes a happy noise as if she is so proud of herself for giving a kiss. It is really cute and it never gets old. I hope when she is older she continues to love giving kisses because I love them!

Dancing. I think that is one of Emma’s favorite past times. She loves to dance. It is the cutest thing to see her dance. She does this little wiggle that is so engaging you will want to join in. When we went to the doctors she was dancing for all the nurses and even for the doctor. Everyone was telling us to video tape it and put it on YouTube. While she will dance on command she loves the video camera so much that her dancing segments don’t do justice. I am sure we will get a good one on tape and we will upload it. But in the meantime, people will stop us to say how adorable she is and how cute her little dance is. As you know, we call it her happy dance because she is so happy and smiley when she does it.

Emma also is a master at waving. She waves at everyone and everything. And I mean everyone and everything. She is so social and is so friendly to everyone. She will wave hello and goodbye to people. Every morning before I feed her she waves hello to the mask on the wall. After she is done eating she waves to the pictures on the wall. She also will wave at Jamey, her toys and anything else she sees. It is sweet to see her so happy and for her to understand when we say she should wave goodbye to someone.

This weekend Aunt Mer came to visit. Emma loves having her here. They slept in the same room together. It was really nice having Meredith here and for her to spend time with Emma. We love when family comes to visit! We took Emma to her new swim class at the YMCA. It is at a much better time 10:40am and it is much closer to our house. Right now there are only two other kids in her class. Emma by far is the youngest and most inexperienced but that is OK, for now. The YMCA is no Le Petit Baleen but at this age all we want is Emma to feel comfortable in the water and she is. She loves the pool and splashing around.

I’m off to New York on Tuesday until Friday. This will be the longest time I am away from Emma and I am really sad about it. I know she will be in great hands with her daddy and Judith but I will miss her. I luckily have Skype on my work computer so hopefully the timing will work out where I can see her.

October and Halloween Pictures

Emma's Happy Dance

This is the cutest thing in the world. Emma loves to dance and does this happy dance :) She will do it on command and our hearts just melt when she does it! She likes to put on a show for all the nannies at the park, for strangers, for us - really whoever is looking at her. She is such a star!

More pictures of me

Pictures from September

Grandma's Columbus Day Weekend Visit

Grandma Marcia came to visit last weekend and it was a blast! She came on a great weekend because it was Fleet Week which meant the Blue Angels were going to do an air show on Saturday and Sunday. When Grandma arrived, Emma was sleeping and when she woke up Grandma went to get her. Emma was so excited to see her – she had a huge smile on her face and loved that she was here.

We went to the park to watch the Blue Angels show and we met up with Darleen and Sadie. It was so cute to see the girls play together. We have to do it again soon.

On Sunday, we went to Cal Academy of Arts and Sciences and went to see the butterflies. We also went to the aquarium. Emma loved seeing the butterflies and the fishes. It is so fun to watch her explore and look at everything.

On Monday, Judith came and took care of Emma while my mom and I went shopping. It was so much fun and Grandma and Grandpa bought Emma a bunch of clothes. We can’t wait for Emma to wear the clothes. One of the cutest things Grandma bought was a little jean jacket. It is absolutely adorable! Later that afternoon, we all went to the park. Grandma was able to meet a bunch of Emma’s friends and see what Emma does on a daily basis. Emma had a blast crawling around the playground (although Grandma thinks it is too dirty for her to do that) and playing with Audrey. After the playground, we ran to music class. We were a few minutes late but it was OK. It was really nice to see Emma enjoy music class and for my mom to partake in the fun. Emma loves going to music class. She pays such close attention to everything going on and loves being with all the people. They played Casey and the Sunshine Band and Emma was shaking her booty. To say she loved that song is an understatement. She as laughing and having a grand ole time!

Grandma fed Emma dinner – well she tried to but Emma didn’t really want to eat much. And what ensued afterwards was one of the most memorable Emma moments ever. Emma was hysterically laughing for the next 30 mins or so every time she looked at my mom or my mom looked at her. She was working herself up and it was hilarious. She didn’t care/laugh when Jamey and I looked at her only when my mom did. It was the sweetest thing! She has never done that for us before and it was so wonderful that she was acting this way with my mom. It was so special and Jamey and I will never forget.

Emma loves her Grandma so much and it was so evident during her visit. She had such a wonderful time with her and was sad to see her leave. But we are looking forward to spending lots of time with our family during the holidays.

Update on Emma

It has been too long since we posted last (all my fault) and we have a lot of Emma news to share. When I was supposed to write this post, Emma had just had her nine-month doctor appointment. Well, now, she is only 2 days shy of being 10-months old. At her nine-month appointment, she was 18 pounds and 28 inches. Doctor said she is doing really well, and although she is bit small for her age, she is a healthy happy, trusting little girl. (She did not even cry when she got her flu shot.)

Michele got out all of Emma’s new clothing recently only to discover that our smallish, little girl suffers from having enormous thighs. We could have never imagined that although Emma is only in the bottom 25% in height and weight, her new pants do not fit her oversized thighs. The only way I can describe her thighs in relation to her pants is to imagine yourself in stretch pants two-sizes too small. Her thighs have always had a Michelin-man thing going on. But with these new pants make it even worse. Good thing, Grandma Marcia was here last weekend to help rectify the pants problem. (More about Grandma Marcia's visit from Michele soon.)

Michele came down with Strep throat for the second time in six months. After nearly a week of sick-mommy, she recovered only to catch a cold, and suffered through another week of being sick. I was doing fine through all Michele’s sicknesses until Tuesday. I definitely got her cold. Now, it looks like Emma got her cold too.

While Michele was sick, Emma and I went to our third installment of swim lessons. Although the less than pleasant membership rep at the JCC said Emma was really late for her age for starting swim classes, she is doing great. She has learned to close her mouth and eyes before going under water. We are working on kicking and other swim lessons. As much as we love the swim lessons we are going to be switching places to the Stonestown YMCA. It is much more convenient and we think at a better time. That switch comes in November.

Emma-on-the-move. That is Michele’s newest description of Emma. In September she started a precursor to crawling by getting on all fours and rocking back and forth. That lasted all of two weeks because she is now an accomplished crawler. She gave Michele an early birthday present as she started to crawl on Oct. 1. Emma is unstoppable going where ever she wants whenever she wants. To get her better at crawling we would put some of her toys on the other side of the room and watch her use a combination of rolling, crawling, and reaching to get her desired toys. As she became a better crawler she would crawl herself over to her toy boxes, which sit on a cube about 24 inches high, and try to pull herself up. She hasn’t fully managed to pull herself up to the toy boxes but she is getting close.

She has managed two new tricks in the last two weeks. She has learned to sit herself up when she is lying down or crawling. It is so cute to watch because it takes a huge amount of space for her to swing her legs underneath her. She has gotten so good at it that half the time when we get her from her crib she is sitting up clapping her hands. (That too is really cute to watch.) The other new trick is under construction but it goes something like this: Emma can sort of pull herself up if the thing she is pulling on is close enough to the ground (ie: 16 inches or so, the cubes are too high). She earned the name: “Standing-Emma.” Michele said she pulled herself up yesterday on the ottoman but she hasn’t replicated it. Standing Emma is cool, but “Walking-Emma” is just around the corner. When we hold Emma’s arms or if she is leaning on something, she will take a few tortured steps to move. It is pretty incredible. Just a week ago, Standing Emma would not bend her knees at all – just stand there with locked knees and legs as straight as can be.

Emma has also had the arrival of two-top level teeth; not the incisors or the front two, but the two others. She has been eating more real food and has come to favor real food over baby food when she has the choice.