Gra's Visit

Emily wasted no time warming up to her Grandma when she got here on Sunday. She grabbed Mickey and a book and got comfy!

She can't quite say "Grandma" (or just chooses not to), and has decided she'll just say "Gra" for right now. We ended up letting Emily stay home through Wednesday--not because she was really still sick, but more so she could spend time with Gra. She seemed to have a great week--she got to mow grass in her pjs,

play with all of her toys,

and even got some new ones! Gra gave her a new baby doll that has a bottle and sippy cup, and her own diaper bag that Emily likes to use as a purse.

They took walks every day, blew bubbles, read books, played with Gracie and Bella, and had all kinds of fun.

It was such a huge help to us to have my mom here this week--she went home Friday morning since Emily had gone back to school on Thursday and we knew she was fine. It's so nice to not have to worry about her when she isn't feeling great, and I'm glad the two of them got some quality time together.

Change of Plans

Emily struggled with a fever all weekend, and we kept alternating acetaminophen and ibuprofen, so she tried her best to feel good. Still, we didn't want to get her out too much since she really needed to rest, so we didn't take full advantage of the beautiful weekend outside. On Sunday morning, she still had a fever, and we were already starting to worry about the upcoming week, so we called for backup!

I called my mom to see what she had going on this week and if she would mind dropping everything to come to our rescue. Luckily, she didn't have plans and agreed to come stay with Emily. Mick drove out to meet my dad and pick her up, and they got back around 2:30 PM, right about the time Emily was waking up from her nap.

We had a good day--Emily's fever seemed to have broken, so she went without medicine all afternoon and we even went to the mall for a little while. She still wasn't 100%, but was definitely improving.

She had a tough night last night and woke up a lot, so I'm really happy she'll be at home to rest with Grandma today!

High Fever

Friday around 11:30 AM, I got a call from Gateway that Emily had a fever of 101.5 and wasn't feeling well. I had a 12:30 meeting at work that I had to keep, so I called Mick and he went to pick up Emily and bring her home. He gave her some ibuprofen and she went down for a nap.

When my meeting was over at 1:00, I left and headed home so Mick could go back to work. Emily slept from about 12:45 until about 3:00 and seemed to feel better when she got up. She ate some lunch (she hadn't really eaten at school) and wanted to play.

As the afternoon wore on, she faded some---by around 5:30, she was acting a little sluggish and wanted to snuggle, so I held her and rocked her. She fell asleep in my lap for about 45 minutes, and by the time she woke up, I could tell her fever was higher. Mick got home around 6:30 and she was acting even more lethargic. We gave her some acetaminophen and took her temperature--it was 103.8 and Mick really wanted to go to the hospital. I wasn't as adamant about it since I had seen the way she was acting all afternoon, and was convinced there wasn't anything seriously wrong with her. Still, we'd never seen her act the way she was, and the medicine wasn't bringing the fever down, so we decided to head to the ER.

We got there at 8:00 PM and got in to see a doctor around 8:20--they took her temperature and it was 104. They gave her a big dose of ibuprofen, and then said they wanted to test her urine for infections, so they had to use a catheter (this was the toughest part for all of us). It took three of us to hold her down, but they were pretty quick and she settled down when they left. They couldn't find any infection, and she had no other symptoms aside from the fever.

We were there about 2 hours and ultimately didn't find out much, other than she was okay and we just needed to keep alternating the ibuprofen and acetaminophen, since the fever was probably caused by a virus and would last 48-72 hours.

Poor little Em was so tired that she finally fell asleep on the way home, and was in her bed by around 10:45 PM. She slept until after 8:00 AM this morning, and then took a 3 hour nap this afternoon! She had a pretty good day today, but still had a fever of almost 101 when she went to bed, even though we've kept the medicine in her system all day.

We're hoping she's feeling much better by tomorrow.

Apple!

My mom had some fresh apples from a friend's orchard that she sent home with us on Monday, and Emily noticed them in a fruit basket while we were fixing dinner last night. She pointed and exclaimed "apple!" and picked one up (she was sitting on the counter).

She had a hard time getting it started, so I took a couple of bites out of it for her and then she got the hang of it.

It's funny, because she's never been crazy about just plain apple slices, but she really liked eating it on her own like this.

You have to look pretty closely here, but you can see the swollen part of her bottom lip where she bit through it on Tuesday. It certainly doesn't seem to be bothering her much :).

Making the Best of a Bad Day

I got a dreaded call from Gateway this morning around 11:00--it's the worst feeling when I look at my phone and see that number come up! Emily had fallen at the small table where the kids eat lunch in her classroom, and had cut her lip. I think between the blood and the crying, they weren't sure how bad it was, so it sounded awful when they told me. I packed up and left the office immediately--on the way, I called Emily's doctor to see if I could get her in quickly. They made an appointment for her at 11:45--they're close to Gateway, so I thought they could at least assess and tell us if we needed to go to the hospital or the dentist if her teeth were damaged.

Then I called Mick, and it just happened that he was headed to a job in the same area as Gateway, so he changed course and headed over to see her. I talked to him when he got there and he said Emily seemed fine. I could hear her over the phone, and it definitely sounded like things were okay--still, I was almost there by then, so I wanted to go ahead and take her to see the doctor.

It turns out that she actually bit all the way through her bottom lip when she fell! The doctor said it will heal on its own without stitches since it isn't a gaping hole, and her teeth weren't damaged, so she was very lucky. She has a swollen lip and about a half-inch cut below her bottom lip.

I decided to just work from home the rest of the day, and I brought Emily home with me for the afternoon.

The morning started out hot and humid, but by this afternoon, it was beautiful outside, so we took out some sidewalk chalk and headed to the back patio. I had bought some popsicles on the way home, thinking they might help numb her lip a little if it was really sore. I thought they were way too big for her, but she grabbed that popsicle stick and went to town!

Disclaimer: these pictures get progressively worse!

I know, it looks like I'm a terribly neglectful mother, and like Emily is a little dirt dobber! By the time this picture was taken, she had taken her shoes off, dumped out the dogs' water bowl and played in it, gotten chalk all over her, and then dripped strawberry popsicle on every inch of exposed skin. I thought she deserved to be grubby and have a good time after the rough morning she had.

After Daddy got home and died laughing, we brought her in, stripped her down, and washed her off in the kitchen sink :).

Mountain Trip

We went to visit my parents in Brevard, NC this weekend. I'm embarrassed to say this is Emily's first trip to the mountains! It seems like we've always lived in a central location where my family comes to us when we all get together. This was a nice change, and we know we'll need to do it more often.

We knew my parents would be gone all day Saturday, so we took advantage of the morning at home to get a few things done before we left. We had lunch and got in the car at Emily's naptime for the 2 1/2 hour drive. She slept for about half of it. There was a festival going on in downtown Brevard, celebrating the 150th birthday of Transylvania County, so we spent a little while there. The drive had made us hungry, so we stopped for milkshakes, and Emily had a few sips of mine.

There were lots of things to entertain Emily--she got to climb on a real fire truck,

play on a choo choo train (she can now say "Choo Choo" and pull her arm up and down),

and we passed a Zumba fitness group dancing, so Emily had to join in. She got so into it that she was airborne at one point!

Emily loves flowers now, and even though she isn't always gentle enough to leave them like she found them, she does like to point them out, say her version of "flower," and tell us what color they are.

We headed to my parents house and got there just a few minutes before they did--in enough time for Emily to find all the good stuff to play with (like this little rocking chair).

We went out to dinner Saturday night at a huge buffet--Emily didn't eat great, but I think it was just because there was so much going on (and so much food to try). She enjoyed tasting lots of different things.

We met Uncle Jim Roy and Aunt Shirley at the restaurant so we could spend a little time together.

On Sunday, we went up into Pisgah Forest to a museum of forestry that was perfect for Emily--there was a tunnel for her to explore,

lots of animals to look at (including this bear, where she and Daddy practiced their growls!),

and even a simulated helicopter ride (she wasn't too sure about this one).

It wasn't too hot outside, so we enjoyed the big deck outside for a little while.

Emily acted shy around her Papa at first, but she must have said "Papa" three hundred times since we left! She's such a silly girl!

Emily enjoyed playing at Grandma and Papa's house as much as anything--my mom has kept a lot of the toys that Jason, Julie and I played with growing up, and Emily really enjoyed playing with this Fisher Price service station! It brought back memories for me too :).

By far though, her favorite thing of the weekend was the chiming clocks my parents have! This one was her favorite, and she would want to hear it chime over and over again. Papa reset the time on it so many times we were all convinced it would break!

I took a video of her watching it, and she says "Clock! Clock!" every time she sees the video now. It's too cute.

We hate that trips like this always seem to short, but we headed back home Monday morning to get ready for our four-day week.

Please

We've been working on "please" and "thank you" with Emily because she's picking up on words so quickly now, and we both feel like those are both important ones to learn. I was not, however, prepared for Emily to start saying "please" when she really wants something. She likes to open the pantry while I'm making dinner and pick something out, hand it to me and ask for a "nack." It is usually fairly easy to tell her we're not going to eat crackers or goldfish before dinner, but last night, she handed me a sleeve of Ritz Crackers and (with her sweetest smile) said "cacker, peese!"

We're really going to have a hard time saying no to that precious little request!

Silly Games

Emily really likes to hide and for us to look for her so she can jump out at us. She'll hide in a kichen cabinet, closet, or just about anywhere she can find. Her new favorite place is this coat closet in our front hallway. She thinks she's so funny, and wants us to close the door for her over and over. We'll close it and say "where's Emily?" so she can push the door open and giggle. It's too cute.

On Sunday, we decided to set up the sprinkler in the backyard. It wasn't quite as hot as it has been, but it was warm and sunny, and we just let Emily keep her clothes on rather than change into a bathing suit. She had been running around with her lawn mower, but had to go check out the water and the new toy. She'd go in and out,

and she kept mowing, even after she was soaked!

Lazy 5 Ranch

There's a place in Mooresville, NC (about an hour north of us) called Lazy 5 Ranch that we've heard about from several people and finally decided to visit today. It's an animal park where you can really get up close and personal with the animals! You can either take a horse-drawn wagon ride through the 3 1/2 mile trails, or you can drive your own car through like on safari. We chose the wagon ride--we thought it would be more fun, and didn't want Emily stuck in her carseat while we drove through.

I called ahead and made reservations for the wagon (recommended), and we got there a few minutes before they loaded us up. We boarded the wagons in the horse barn, where there was a 3-month old baby giraffe whose mother wouldn't nurse her--they were keeping her separate until she was big and healthy enough to join the other giraffes. Emily enjoyed petting her!

This was our tour guide through the ride--he explained the rules up front--how to feed the animals, and which ones not to feed (anything on two legs should eat out of the bucket, but anything on four legs could eat out of your hand).

Here's what the wagon looked like--this was the one behind us.

Interestingly, our guide told us the zebras were the only animals there who had teeth on the top and bottom, and they would bite, so we didn't stop to feed them. A car behind us was confronted by a zebra though--luckily, they didn't roll their windows down!

There was so much to take in--we thought Emily would be smiling and laughing the whole time, but she mostly maintained this look of pure fascination.

She wasn't intimidated though--when we stopped at the first group of animals, Emily jumped right in and grabbed some food.

She stuck her hand out and fed the llama,

but thought his tongue felt icky!

This was the wagon behind us, to give you an idea of how the animals surrounded us when we stopped.

The giraffes were really cool--we were able to get so close to them,

and they just leaned right over and helped themselves to our buckets of food.

Here are the last few animals we fed on the wagon.

This was a little buffalo--the animals would run toward us when the wagon stopped, ready for snack time!

When the wagon ride ended, there was an area where we could walk around and see more animals--Emily insisted on carrying the bucket of food by herself, and most of it ended up on the ground.

There were miniature donkeys, kangaroos, lots of birds and fish, and even camels!

She enjoyed the sheep and goats, because she can speak their language!

She really perfected her "Baa!" today.

It was a such a fun morning--we stopped for lunch on the way home, and by the time we got back in the car, Emily couldn't keep her eyes open.
She slept most of the way home, and then another 2 1/2 hours once we got back and I put her in the crib!

17 Months Old: What's Happening

Emily is learning so much. I haven't done a terrific job of documenting things as they happen--partly because they seem to be happening so quickly, and it's tough to keep up! I'll try to capture all the things from the past month.

Probably 6 or 8 weeks ago, Emily discovered her belly button and decided she liked to show it off--shortly after that, she found out she enjoys finding other belly buttons too. She'll gladly show us hers, but then she wants to point out ours too! She actually has learned many of her body parts over the past month or so--she's good at hands, feet, head, shoulders, knees and toes, and also knows eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Anytime she sees a bottle of nail polish, she holds it to her foot and says "toes!" She's a little girly girl and loves her painted toenails :).

Her little attitude is growing by leaps an bounds--Mick will sometimes tell her "no" and shake his finger at her when she's doing something she shouldn't be. So now, when she does something she knows is wrong, she'll look at him, shake her finger, and say "no, no, no" with a big smile on her face. It's cute right now, but I'm sure it won't be soon, so we don't encourage it.

Emily is a real chatterbox! She likes to grab one of our phones and hold it to her ear and say "hi, Da Da!" Whenever my phone rings, she automatically assumes it's Da Da on the other end. She says "bye-bye doggies" when we leave for school in the morning, and goes toward her bedroom saying "night night" to them when it's time for bed. She's always talking--she'll often ask us "what that?" when she's curious about something new, and she says so many things that we haven't quite deciphered yet. She has asked me to "read book" a few times, and has gotten to where she'll help with the story in some of her favorites that she knows. She also enjoys listening to songs and watching videos online--she really likes the Phonics Songs on YouTube!

I don't think Emily is near ready for potty training, but she does know when she has a dirty diaper, and will usually come over to let me know--sometimes she even brings a clean diaper with her! Still doesn't mean she necessarily enjoys diaper changes, but she normally cooperates pretty well as long as she has a book or something else to distract her.

This month has probably had more injuries than any other, which has not been fun for Mick and me. Emily is so adventurous and moves so fast that she'll sometimes have little accidents even with us right beside her--most of the time, she jumps right back up, but she's had a couple of pretty bad bangs on the head this month from falling. Nothing to warrant a trip to the doctor, but the Elmo ice pack has emerged from the freezer a couple of times. She's so strong and resilient, but it's tough to see her get hurt--we don't recover from it nearly as quickly as she does!

She's still a terrific little "helper," except for the fact that she sometimes has a different idea of help than we do--she loves to scatter clean clothes from the laundry basket as we're folding.

Being outside continues to be a favorite thing too, so we're looking forward to some nicer fall weather. Some afternoons, Mick will take her for a little drive in her car when he gets home from work.

Emily is turning into a little girl quickly, and we're trying to keep up with her! Each month seems to get better and better.

Hot Dog!

Emily sure loves music she can dance to--she usually doesn't want to watch an entire cartoon, but she'll pay attention when the music starts for sure. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has some peppy music that she always enjoys, so I downloaded some of the MP3s for my iPod so we could listen in the car.

It's really too bad that she has to be strapped into the carseat and can't boogie like this when we're riding!

Bubba

Mick is on call this weekend and had to work on Saturday morning, so Emily and I spent some time doing girl stuff, including going on a little shopping excursion. We went to Kohl's for some picture frames, and she saw the Kohl's Cares display as soon as we walked in, because it was filled with stuffed animals. They have books and characters from Clifford the Big Red Dog, and she pointed and exclaimed "doggie!" We picked one up and she carried it around the store--she does this fairly often with different things (even in the grocery store), and then we usually put them back before we leave. Not this time!

She proudly showed her doggie off to Mick when he got home, and when we asked her what she wanted to name him, she replied "Bubba." She has held on tightly to Bubba ever since--he rides in the car with her and just about everything else. It's too cute! I think she's smitten with him, not only because he's a doggie, but also because red is the color she knows best, so she likes red things lately.

Movie Star

I tell Emily she looks like a movie star when she puts my sunglasses on--this morning, Mick was playing with her before breakfast and she kept wanting him to put the sunglasses on her, only for her to pull them off.

She thought it was hilarious!

Got Milk?

There's an Earth Fare right down the road from us, and on Thursday nights, kids eat free when a parent buys dinner. We decided to go tonight for a change of pace, and Emily seemed to enjoy it. We were out of milk, so we picked some up while we were there.

I've mentioned before that she loves to be a little helper--she was determined to carry the half gallon of milk out of the store. She did really well until about the halfway point, and then kept stopping to take a break and rest her little hand.

It was really adorable--I only had my phone to take a picture, so it's not the sharpest.