So Much Better

The doctor told us on Wednesday that it would probably take 48-72 hours for the amoxicillin to really start working, and that's about what it took. She and Mick had a good day at home on Friday, and even got out a little and strolled around some. By Saturday, she was almost completely back to normal.

Mick went in to work that morning, so Emily and I went out to do a little shopping--we needed some more baby proofing supplies, and we picked out a few new books too. She loves the "touch and feel" books, where the animals have fur or feathers that she can rub (or lick!) as she turns the pages.

After Mick got home, we went back out because the weather was just perfect, and we knew Emily would love being out in the fresh air. We didn't really do anything--we knew she wasn't 100% yet, so we stayed close to home, ate some lunch and watched the fountains and the kids playing outside. In no time, Emily will no doubt be joining them!

We had been planning a trip to Blowing Rock this weekend for Winterfest, but cancelled it when Emily got sick. We hated to miss the hayrides and bonfires, but we still had a good weekend at home. We'll have to mark the calendar for next year!

Under the Weather

We did take Emily in to school yesterday morning because she seemed to be doing fine, and didn't have a fever still. I called around 10:45 AM to check on her, and Miss Amanda told me she was sleeping and had a normal morning so far.

About an hour and 15 minutes later, the phone rang and it was Gateway--Emily woke up from her nap really fussy and had a 101.4 fever. They said we could come by and give her some Tylenol if we wanted to, so I called Mick since I knew he was closer. He got there, gave her the Tylenol and stayed with her until I could get there. The fever was gone by then of course, but I went ahead and made an appointment with the pediatrician to be safe.

Her appointment was at 2:00, and since we took the first available, we didn't see her regular doctor. Emily's cough had gotten worse and very raspy, and her little nose was running nonstop. Thankfully though, the doctor said her lungs were completely clear, and the congestion was all in her nose and throat.

She has a minor ear infection in her right ear, and the doctor thinks she might also have a sinus infection. She prescribed amoxicillin for her ear, and said it would also take care of the sinuses if she did have an infection--we should start to see some improvement in 48-72 hours. The alternative is that she might have a bad cold, which could last up to 10 days!

So we were at home again today. Emily is definitely not herself--she wants to sleep and snuggle a lot, so that's what she's been doing! I'm also managing to get quite a bit of work done in between--it's tough though! I'm catching up at night when I need to. We decided to go ahead and keep her out of school tomorrow too, so Mick is taking the day off to be with her. Their first full Daddy/Wiggles day!

10 Months Old: What's Happening

Emily's world is changing quickly, and so is ours! She's moving nonstop, and is getting better at getting exactly where she wants. We have put baby-proofing locks on the cabinet doors, the oven and the dishwasher. We left the two cabinets unlocked that have our plastic bowls and Rubbermaid containers. She gets pretty excited about pulling all of them out repeatedly.

We also had a pretty bad sick spell this month--on the day Emily turned 10 months old, she went to the doctor to find out she had her first ear infection, and possibly a sinus infection too. She was such a trooper though--even when she was feeling her worst, she still found smiles for us. The doctor commented that she was so happy, she wished she could see her feeling great.

Emily has been working on four new teeth this month--the gummy little smile we used to think was so adorable is just getting cuter with all the pearly whites coming through!

Part of what makes her more and more irresistable to us is her continuously emerging personality. She dances whenever she hears music, she imitates sounds we make, and she loves watching Baby Einstein. Another favorite thing is crawling into the basket with clean clothes--one morning, I started pulling her around in the basket, and Mick decided it would be easier to pull it with a rope--better yet, Gracie's leash. Emily just loved it!

Every day becomes more fun--and as much as we hate how quickly the time is passing by, we sure love watching her grow.

Days at Home

I took Monday off to get some things done (dentist appointment, drivers license, Gracie to the vet--you know, all the things you can't do on the weekend but never seem to have time for during the week), but Gateway called around lunch time and said Emily was running a fever, so I cancelled the afternoon appointments and went to pick her up.

She was very happy to see me and seemed a little more clingy than normal, but otherwise fine--I'll take clingy any day, because it translates to snuggly! Because of the 24 hour policy though, I had to keep her at home today too. She hasn't had a fever all day--other than a runny nose and a little cough, she seems okay. If nothing changes, she'll be back in school tomorrow!

New Look

Emily is experimenting with a new look where she scrunches her little nose up at everything--we've noticed that it doesn't necessarily mean she's unhappy though. I just love this picture--and Emily just loves her Uncle Stacy.

Road Trip

We took a trip down to Atlanta this weekend for our nephew Zachary's birthday party (hard to believe he's already 5!). We left Saturday morning and stopped for breakfast at Chick-fil-A. Admittedly, not the healthiest breakfast, but we wanted somewhere clean and quick, where we could let Emily eat too. She just loves sitting up at the table like a big girl! She looked around and made friends more than she actually ate, but she had some of a biscuit, a tiny bit of chicken, some fruit and Cheerios. We checked into the hotel around noon, and had a welcome note and a balloon in the room. Emily has decided she's a huge fan of balloons--I didn't get any pictures of her with it, but you can certainly tell how excited she was in this video.

Zachary's birthday party was at a place called Mighty Jumps--it was a building full of inflatable jumping houses and slides with party rooms at the back. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun--Emily was a little young to get in, even to the toddler area, since most of the kids seemed to be at least two or three. Her grandma had other ideas though, and insisted on putting her in for a few minutes. She wasn't sure what to think of the carousel horse! After Zachary's party, Emily and I went over to another friend's first birthday party--I used to work with Tricia, and her daughter Natalie and I became "blog buddies" because we were pregnant at the same time. She was a couple of months ahead of me, and it's been fun to continue following her blog over the past year. Sarah Graves turned one on Friday and had her party on Saturday too. We stopped by for a little while, and I don't know why I didn't think to take my camera out and take any pictures. It was great to see them though, and it was a good opportunity to steal some cute ideas for Emily's 1st birthday party!

Dancing Queen

This is an extremely short video, but it's the only time I've been able to catch Emilly's dancing on camera. She dances now almost any time she hears music, and it's the cutest thing ever!

New Food and New Teeth!

Emily has quickly become a big fan of eating! She has tried so many new things now, and seems to be enjoying almost everything. She had some watermelon for breakfast this morning with her egg and biscuit--then we went out to an Italian place for lunch today and she ate ravioli and bread! We're trying some cheese again while we have some time at home with her to see if she really does have issues with dairy. We're hoping she doesn't, because she loves cheese and yogurt.

I made chicken pot pie for dinner one night this week, and she gobbled that up. She also loved the carrots, chicken and mashed potatoes I sent for her lunch at school.

She seems to have finally gotten the hang of her sippy cup, and she likes to chew on cold apples in this little mesh teether.

It's no wonder, because she has four new teeth coming in! We've been so busy watching her two top teeth getting ready to break through that we almost missed the two new bottom teeth she has coming in! They've already come through her gums the slightest bit.

Snow Days

It started snowing in Charlotte very early Monday morning, and didn't stop all day long. When we got up at 4:45 AM, there was probably an inch or so on the ground and it was pouring. We knew we wouldn't be going anywhere Monday--but to confirm, Mick's boss called him to say Whaley was closed, and Emily's day care was closed. ARAMARK was open, but I decided to work from home.

You can sort of tell how hard it was coming down in this picture--it was really beautiful. We were probably getting an inch every hour at some points.

I did get some work done, but we also took advantage of some down time--Mick read some stories to Emily,

and by Monday afternoon, the snow started to slow down significantly, so we decided to get outside.

It's tough to find a place in the snow to set the camera for a self timer shot!

As I mentioned before, Emily touches everything with just one little finger now.

We ended up with about 5-6 inches of snow at our house, and then we had sleet and freezing rain overnight, so the roads were in bad shape this morning. We're all at home again today!

Christmas Presents

Stacy's pictures from New Year's Weekend were much better than mine, so I decided to post some of them since I didn't have any of the gift opening!

Rob and Stacy gave Emily some really sweet handmade dresses and hats that she'll enjoy this spring--she's not too sure about the hats right now though!

Mick gave me a silver necklace with Emily's birthstone (aquamarine) in it--it's really pretty, and Emily thought so too!

The sweetest, most sentimental gift was from Lala, who gave Emily this gold baby ring that belonged to her mother--we're not sure exactly how old it is, but it's certainly a treasure.

Bubbles

I realize this is the third bath picture I've posted today, but when they're this adorable, can you blame me?

At the recommendation of one of Emily's teachers, we recently bought some California Baby aromatherapy bubble bath, made for cold and flu season. It's all natural and made with eucalyptus and aloe vera, and it seems to have helped some of her nighttime congestion. It smells wonderful, and is really easy on her sensitive skin. It's also a great excuse for us to let her stay in the bath as long as she wants!

Pointing

Emily is getting quite skilled at using her fingers rather than her entire hand--she's very precise when she picks up her food, and has started to point with one finger at things. She now reaches out to touch Bella and Gracie with one finger rather than grab handfuls of their fur.

She also likes pointing to certain pictures in her books, or touching our noses or mouths.

More Favorite Things

Emily has had some more time over the past week to explore some of her new toys and decide which ones are her favorites. There are enough of them that we are planning to rotate them every week or so and give her new things to try.

This one is called a pillow pet--it's a pillow and a bumble bee. It's nice for her (and us) to have something soft and comfy in the pig pen :)

Bath time continues to be a favorite time. Mick's mom gave her two of these bath books, and she loves them! Anything she can play with while she's in the tub seems to be a hit.

You can't tell much about this toy from the picture, but it attaches to a walker with wheels that she can hold on to and walk around with a little help. It also detaches and she can sit on the floor and play with it. Her favorite part is a little door she can open that says "peekaboo, I see you!" She laughs every time, so it's one of our favorites too :).

New Foods

This has been a big week for little Emily's diet. We talked with her teachers on Tuesday and decided that we'd start sending in some finger foods with her for a couple of weeks--she's enjoying them so much at home, but we weren't quite ready for her to get a plate from the kitchen at school. I made her a scrambled egg yolk Wednesday morning to go with her fruit for breakfast, and we sent some apple cinnamon puffs to go with her veggie for lunch. Wednesday afternoon, the teachers told me she gobbled up her food and wanted more! Thursday, I made her an egg and a pancake to take in, and she loved it--so now she's up to fruit, an egg and a pancake for breakfast and still acts like she can't get enough.

We've been giving her chicken or turkey at night with a veggie at dinner. She's also had potatoes this week and loved them. She's starting to lose some interest in the baby food, and really likes being able to feed herself. Looks like our little piglet won't be in the 25th percentile for weight much longer!

Happy New Year!

We all went out to breakfast the morning Mick's family left, and Emily sat in a restaurant high chair for the first time. She absolutely loved it. She's becoming a pro at eating, and wants to try everything now, especially if she can pick it up and put it in her mouth.

So hard to believe that we're starting a new year already--our little girl is growing up way too fast!

Second Christmas

Mick's family came up on Thursday to spend the long weekend and celebrate Christmas together. Emily was excited to see her Uncle Rob and Cousin Zachary, who she hadn't seen since we left Atlanta when she was only 4 months old!

When Grandma, Grandpa, Lala and Cousin Landon got here, she didn't know what to think! So many people wanting to hold her and give her kisses.

She had a great time trying to steal Grandpa's hat,

and enjoyed some good snuggle time with Grandma.

There were way too many gifts, but Emily seemed to enjoy her first Christmas. Everyone says that babies usually enjoy ripping paper and playing with the wrapping more than the actual gifts, but not Emily. She didn't like the sound of the paper tearing--she preferred that her presents were unwrapped and handed to her, ready for action.

The sock monkey was one of her favorites,

as was the pink pony on wheels. At one point in the day, I misplaced my camera and missed a lot of good pictures. I'm hoping to add some when I see everyone else's.

9 Month Checkup

Emily went in for her 9-month checkup on Monday, and she's perfect (like we didn't already know!). She weighs 17 lbs 14.6 oz, is 28 1/4 inches long, and her head is 17 1/2 inches--she's in the 25th percentile for her weight, but the 70-75th percentile for height and head circumference. Not too surprising, since she's moving 90 miles an hour these days and it keeps her thin!

She's doing all of the developmental things she should be (crawling, pulling up, cruising, starting to feed herself, babbling up a storm), and is sleeping through the night again now that she's over her stomach issues.

One thing we've noticed lately is a touch of separation anxiety--Emily will often start crying when we get ready to leave her at day care, or even if we walk out of the room at home. She'll hold her arms up and poke out her little bottom lip, and it's just the most pitiful sight. It always gets another hug and kiss for her, and then she's fine after we leave. We confirmed at the doctor's office that this is perfectly normal at her age.

She got one shot (Hep B), and she did great, and only cried for a minute.

The doctor told us that it's rare at Emily's age for a baby to have an allergy to dairy, and she thought it would be a good idea for us to try reintroducing some dairy into her diet to see how things went. Today, we took some of her yogurt blends to school, and Miss Amanda said she gave her about half of one and it didn't go well. Her little belly started reacting again, and she was working on a diaper rash again by the time she came home. We decided it was enough to get rid of the dairy for good though--at least until she's a little older.

First Snow!

In case you read the previous post and thought we didn't get outside to let Emily experience her first snowfall, I thought I should elaborate a little on our day today. We got up this morning and had about 3 inches of snow on the ground, with some still falling. We decided we'd take all three girls for a walk, so after Emily was all bundled up, off we went!

Then we went outside to take some pictures--it's really too bad we don't have an easy way to get a picture of all three of us together!

These were outside on our back deck.

Emily seemed happy to get back in the house when our walk was over. She still enjoyed watching it snow from the window though.

Even Gracie and Bella were glad to get back inside and cozy up on the couch.

Nine Months Old: What's Happening

This month has been one of the most exciting for Emily and for us when it comes to devlopment. It seems like yesterday she was just learning to sit up on her own, and now she's rarely satisfied just to sit--she'd rather be pulling up, cruising around or crawling, and getting into everything! She's so much fun to play with and seems like she enjoys life so much.

In her ninth month, Emily has perfected her cruising, and can now easily move between pieces of furniture or along the sides of her fence. Nothing goes unnoticed with her--she is very perceptive and likes finding hidden objects (especially our phones, cameras, remote controls, or anything else she isn't supposed to have).

She's becoming a proficient little eater too--some of the new foods she's tried this month are scrambled egg yolks, cheese, avocado, tortellini, blueberries and apple cinnamon puffs. The eggs are a favorite, along with the pasta. The puffs were mainly a starter that helped her learn to pick up small pieces, but she seems to still like the texture of them. And speaking of eating, it was this month that we switched to soy formula after ten long days of diarrhea and a very fussy little girl. She seems thrilled with the change, and we just couldn't be happier about the difference it's made.

Emily is still teething of course, although we haven't seen any more pearly whites peeking through her gums yet.

Emily saw her first snow on the day she turned 9 months old! She will surely enjoy it much more when she's a little older--for now, she seemed content to watch it from inside, so we skipped the snowman building.
She has her 9-month checkup on Monday, so there will be more updates then!

White Christmas!

It has started snowing tonight, and we're sure hoping there will be enough around in the morning for little Emily to experience!