Another Flu Shot

Since all children 6 months through 8 years old have to get two doses of flu vaccine this year if they haven't had the flu shot before, today was Emily's appointment for the second half of the vaccine, one month after the first half.

We went in this morning and it was really quick--so quick, in fact, that Emily didn't cry at all! No bottom lip, no tears, no nothing. She was such a big girl--and got a pack of Goldfish crackers as a reward (those actually ended up being my reward!).

Hopefully the vaccine will help keep her safe this flu season!

Seven Months Old: What's Happening

Wow, another month has flown by...our little girl is growing so quickly and seems to be doing new things every day.

Emily is great at rocking on her hands and knees, and can scoot to get wherever she wants. It's only a matter of time before she puts the two together, and then there will be no stopping her. We joke that the weeks she had to wear the hip harness in the beginning have made her determined to NEVER stop moving her legs now! They are nonstop, and we feel like that will probably be the case when she starts crawling and walking too.

We've thought a few times we heard attempts at words, but over this past weekend, we heard a definite "da, da, da, da" and "ga, ga, ga" from Emily several times. She always seems so happy with herself when she figures out something new. Certainly part of that pride could come from hearing Mick and me cheer for her when she does!

We've started trying to incorporate reading into our normal routine now. Everything I've read says it's especially important to read aloud to her daily, beginning when she's around 6 months old. We've always read to Emily periodically, and I even read to her before she was born sometimes, but now we feel like we really need to make the effort to get it in every night. She's so sweet when you're reading to her--she sometimes seems more interested in eating the book than listening, but other times she sits quietly and acts like she's taking it all in.

Emily is doing great with her foods. She's had green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, peaches, pears and prunes. She's pretty much liked everything so far except the prunes, and I can't say I blame her. Even though you're supposed to let them try foods 8-10 times before determining a dislike, we will not be trying prunes again. She usually eats a vegetable and some cereal at lunch and then a fruit and oatmeal at dinner each day.

She continues to do well at day care too. The teachers tell us what a sweet disposition she has and how easy going she is in comparison to some of the other kids in her class. Of course, we already think she's perfect :).

Just in Case

Sunday, we decided to take Emily to the doctor because she continued to have diarrhea through Saturday and we wanted to confirm our feeling that she wasn't sick. She had no other symptoms at all, and was eating and drinking normally. Our pediatrician's office has sick appointments on Saturday and Sunday mornings, so we took her in on Sunday.

The doctor confirmed that she's fine--she said it might just take her little system longer to recover from the stomach virus that was going around in the last two weeks. She also said that her teething could have something to do with it. Not only are her two bottom teeth visibly coming in, but the doctor said her two top teeth are also getting ready to come through too! She showed us where to look for her swollen gums. The teething explains why everything goes straight to Emily's mouth these days, and why she kept chewing on Mick's chin when we were waiting to see the doctor!

Pumpkin Patch

We've been wanting to take Emily to a pumpkin patch, mainly just so we could take some pictures of her with the fall scenery since we knew she was a little too young to really pick out a pumpkin or crawl around.

We decided to go this afternoon, and probably waited a little too late, because Emily was a little sleepy and not her usual happy, smiling self. Still, we managed to get some cute pictures, and it was fun just seeing her look around. The weather was gorgeous, so we just enjoyed being outside for a while.

This was right around the corner from our house...not the most authentic pumpkin patch, but it served the purpose!

She had fun playing with her baby pumpkin on the way home.

Girly Girl

We haven't been too successful with putting bows or flowers in Emily's hair yet--for one, she doesn't have enough hair to actually clip something in--but the bigger challenge is getting her to leave a headband on. She would much rather take it off and taste it! So you'll typically see her in comfy clothes without the ruffles and lace and flowers and bows--not that I don't love that stuff, but she just seems to be happier in her soft little onesies and stretchy pants. I figure there's plenty of time for the fancy outfits when she gets a little older and will probably want to dress like a princess. This time though, I happened to capture this sweet little picture with the girly pink flower.

Working from Home

Since Emily was out of school two days this week, I worked from home so I could stay with her. Luckily, she was feeling good enough to take long naps and play by herself (or with Gracie and Bella) for the majority of both days. I tried to plan her naps to coincide with my conference calls so I didn't have to explain the singing in the background :).

I had one call that I was only a participant on, so I kept the phone on mute and let Emily sit in my lap for part of it. She decided to help me update a spreadsheet I was looking at--I think this picture is just hilarious, because it looks like she was caught in the middle of something mischevious!

Oh, There's Good Stuff Too

I feel like all I've written about lately is sickness, and there's actually a lot of good, exciting stuff going on with little Miss Wiggles in the last week.

I keep trying to get some pictures of her trying to crawl--she's really good at getting up on her hands and knees and rocking like she wants to go somewhere. And speaking of going places, she has no trouble scooting around to grab a toy or to get closer to Bella or Gracie. We'll be needing a baby gate or two very soon!

Diaper changes are especially fun now, because her favorite thing is flipping over and thrashing around like a fish out of water! We can usually entertain her with a toy long enough to get a clean diaper on her, but we've had to become pretty skilled at dressing her backwards.

She's reaching for everything now--not just toys or blankets she wants, but also for us. I love picking her up from day care in the afternoons when she stops playing, smiles and reaches up for me when I see her. She has the cutest way of acting shy and burrowing into us when we hold her.

I keep trying to get her to say mama or dada--she's made a few consonant sounds, but nothing we could consider a real word yet. I know it's a little early, but we're needing her to be a genius if she's going to support us when we retire at 50!

Emily just gets more and more fun every day--her disposition is so sweet, and she's truly a happy little girl. Mick said the other day that she's like a new toy every day, and it feels like Christmas morning all the time with her. What a perfect description :).

Home Again

Yesterday, I got a call from Gateway to let me know Emily was sick again. I got there to pick her up around 1:30 in the afternoon, and she came home and took a 3-hour nap! She must have really needed the rest, because she went down for bed at her usual time and had no trouble falling asleep. I'm at home with her today, and she seems like she's uncomfortable for sure--she does have diarrhea, and is just generally a little more fussy than usual. She's eating fine, so I don't think she's in danger of becoming dehydrated, but I'm still a little worried about her.

Unfortunately, I was so sick over the weekend that my milk supply dropped to almost nothing, and it's not quite back to normal, so I won't have a choice but to give her some formula today. I'm afraid my pumping days are coming to an end though--it makes me sad because I feel like she needs that milk more than ever now. We will have to believe that she got the best first 7 months we could give her, and that now she'll get well with lots of rest and TLC!

Daddy's Turn

I think the stomach bug is determined to get to everyone in our house! Julie told me yesterday she got sick after she went home and had to be out of work yesterday. This morning, Mick woke up sick and missed work today! Tonight, he's not feeling quite as bad as he was earlier, but is in no way feeling great yet.

We'll definitely be glad when we're all healthy again!

Another Tooth

Emily has another tooth coming in! Her little bite is now especially fierce. We noticed this weekend that she now has a pearly white pairof teeth peeking through her bottom gum. She certainly drools a lot more and wants to chew on everything, but she's really done well so far with teething.

We noticed it this weekend, and this picture is the closest I've gotten to being able to see both of them (if you click on the picture, it should enlarge it).

Sharing the Bug

After I accused Emily of faking her stomach bug on Thursday, she decided to share it with her mama. I woke up Thursday night/Friday morning around 12:30 very sick, and had to stay out of work on Friday. Thankfully, Emily was 100% better, so she went to day care. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to take good care of her if we were both at home because I was so sick.

I stayed in bed most of the day on Friday, and then picked up Julie that afternoon (she got in early for a friend's baby shower, and spent most of the day with her friend). We went to pick up Emily from day care a little early, and Aunt Julie got to meet Evan, Emily's boyfriend :).

Unfortunately, I've stayed sick most of the weekend, so we didn't have a chance to do much, other than shop for a baby shower gift and lie around in our pjs watching movies. Luckily, Emily is still doing great, so she and Aunt Julie spent some quality time together. Hair pulling is now something Emily has mastered!

We were sorry to see Aunt Julie go home, but are looking forward to seeing her for Thanksgiving next month.

Sick Day...Or Playing Hooky?

Yesterday afternoon as I was packing up my computer to leave the office, my phone rang and it was the director at Gateway. Seeing that number show up is not a good feeling! She immediately told me it wasn't an emergency, but said that Emily seemed to have caught the stomach bug that's going around, and she had thrown up twice and had diarrhea in the afternoon. Their policy is that when it happens twice, the child has to be picked up.

I got there about half an hour later, and Emily seemed okay, other than being a little fussier than usual. Apparently, the state regulations require children to remain out of child care until they've been symptom-free for 24 hours. Certainly seems like a reasonable expectation, and a good idea to be on the safe side.

Last night, she seemed very hungry, but we decided to skip the fruit and cereal. We gave her about 3 oz. of breastmilk around 6:30, and when she kept it down fine, we went ahead with her bath and another 4 oz. of milk. She drank it like she was starving, and went right to sleep when I put her in the crib.

This morning she has seemed fine too--no diarrhea and no vomiting at all. Of course, today was supposed to be a business trip to New Orleans for me--the first one in several weeks--but I canceled last night, and now am wondering if little Miss Wiggles planned this all along, just to get some quality time at home with her mama :).

Another Eventful Walk

I picked Emily up this afternoon and her teacher told me about the wonderful walk they went on today--Emily and Evan sat next to each other in the stroller, and held hands again on the walk! I told Miss Christina that they were going to HAVE to take a picture for us!

The other cool thing was that Emily met another new friend on her walk today. Gateway is located next to a neighborhood, and apparently there's a lady in the neighborhood who likes to come out and see the kids when they're walking. Today, she came out with her Golden Retriever. Miss Christina said every child in the stroller was afraid of the dog, but Emily stuck her little hand out and petted him! She said she smiled the whole time, and was so excited to see the dog. I'm sure she thought it was Bella or Gracie coming to visit her :).

Being Silly

Emily is getting very comfortable in her high chair, and now knows exactly what time it is when she gets buckled in--she usually starts making her little hungry panting noise when the food gets close. Last night, she was being extra silly and wouldn't put her legs down. I didn't catch the picture when her toes were actually in her mouth.Her favorite at night is bananas mixed with oatmeal--she just loves it. You might be able to tell in the picture how wet with bananas her feet are! It's a good thing she gets her bath right after she eats, or she'd stay sticky from head to toe.

Like My Auntie

There's no denying that Emily looks like her daddy--we hear it everywhere we go! Once in a while though, she'll do something or I'll catch a picture where she looks a little different--in this one, I think she looks so much like her Aunt Julie! I wish I had one of her baby pictures to put side by side here.

Here Comes Cold Weather!

This weekend has actually been warm again, but we've had such cold mornings lately that I wanted to look for a jacket or a hat for Emily. The hats at Babies 'R Us were a little thicker and warmer than we really need, but I couldn't resist trying this one on her. Even as sweet as she looks, we decided not to buy it.

We ended up buying a cute little pink coat with a teddy bear hood on it. If we get any snow this winter, we'll probably have to get something a little heavier, but I think this one will be all we need.

OOPS...it's Evan!

If I'm going to keep up with Emily and her boyfriend, I do need to get his name right. It's actually Evan, not Kyle...I'm not sure why I mistakenly called him Kyle!

Anyway, I picked Emily up this afternoon and Miss Amanda told me they took another walk outside today, and Emily and Evan held hands the whole time...again! I just couldn't believe it. I would give anything to have seen them. When I mentioned to the teacher that Emily's daddy wasn't quite ready to deal with boyfriends yet, she said "don't worry, he comes from money." Too funny! At least we know Emily already has expensive taste :).

First Boyfriend

Today was a beautiful fall day, and when I picked Emily up this afternoon, her teacher told me they went for a walk outside today. They have a big 4-seat stroller that they take the babies outside in sometimes--today, they put two of the older babies in the front seats, and put Emily and Kyle in the back seats. Kyle is a cute little boy about Emily's age, and just moved up to her class this week from the younger class at Gateway. Miss Amanda told me this afternoon that Emily and Kyle held hands for the entire walk, and just loved being outside. I can just imagine how adorable that was!

Changing Quickly!

It's almost unbelievable to see how quickly Emily is growing and changing. On Friday when I picked her up from day care, she still needed a Boppy pillow to help support her when she was sitting. Then on Saturday, she could all of a sudden sit unassisted! Spending time with her is obviously our first priority, judging from the distastrous mess that is our house! We still aren't completely unpacked--there's just always something better to do.
Each new milestone is, of course, exciting for us--the best part though is how pleased she is with herself each time she does something new. She's thrilled to be exploring a different group of toys than she did before, and even seeing the same toys from a new perspective seems fun for her.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Tooth!

One of Emily's favorite things to chew on is our fingers. This morning, shortly after she got up, she grabbed my hand and bit down on my finger. Ouch! I felt a sharp little tooth poking through her bottom gum! We've been saying for a while now that we think she's teething, so now we know she is.

She's been a little more hesitant to eat, and shows some other signs of teething, particularly this week. We've seen her drool a lot more, pull on her ear, and this might explain her cold symptoms (they may or may not be related to the tooth).

I'll try to get a picture as soon as we can see it well, but for right now, she's pretty protective of it.