Well, we wanted snow this year and boy did we get it! We got over 20" at our house on Saturday and Sunday of this past weekend and it has been bright and sunny ever since. Emma has LOVED looking out at the snow and Shamus has been having a great time too. Here are a few pictures of what it looks like outside!

And of course I can't NOT post of picture of Emma! I went to pick her up from daycare last Friday and Ms. Krystal said she wouldn't stop sticking her tongue out all day, and she still hasn't stopped! Ha!

Our Routine & Sitting Up! Well...Almost...

Hi Everyone! I am sure you have been just as busy as we have getting ready for the big Christmas Holiday!! Yeah!! I think I finally finished up my shopping last night, with the exception of one or two more things so now its on to wrapping!

Emma is getting bigger and bigger everyday. We are heading to her 6 month (wow) appointment in the first week of January and I can't wait to see how tall she is and how much she weighs. She is drinking about 6 ounces of formula about 4 times a day with maybe two smaller 2 - 4 ounce bottles thrown in there after she eats her baby food. I thought it would be fun to post our typical routine!

5:30AM: Emma wakes up in her crib and talks to herself until Mommy can pull herself out of bed to go get her. She is pretty consistent with when she wakes up with the random 4:30AM or 6:00AM wake up thrown in there.

5:45AM: Normally I get her out of her crib and we snuggle for just a few minutes as she wakes up and gets used to the lights, etc. We then get a clean diaper on and head right for our first 6 ounce bottle with our vitamins in it. It usually takes her about 15 minutes to polish that off, then it is off to the bathroom in her pink, bouncy chair while Mommy and Daddy get ready for work.

6:45AM - 7:15AM: I usually try to head out the door by 6:45AM so we can be at daycare by 7:00AM but that usually happens about twice a week. Its normally about 7:00 or 7:15AM when I actually get out of the house haha.

8:00AM - 8:30AM: This is usually the time frame when daycare will feed the little ones that are on cereal and baby food. Emma will eat her cereal and container of fruit (the past few days she has eaten the whole thing), then she follows that up with a small 2 - 4 ounce bottle and usually passes out for a good 3 hour nap!

12:00PM: She usually wakes up around noon and has her next 6 ounce bottle, plays for maybe an hour to an hour and half and then goes back down for nap number 2! We definitely got a sleeper!

4:00PM: Time for another 6 ounce bottle and playing until Mommy or Daddy pick her up from school!

6:00PM: By the time we pick her up, gather all her things and head home its about 6:00PM and we usually get settled and have our next round of baby food, which is more cereal and a veggie! Then its play time before heading to take a bath!

6:30PM-6:45PM: Bath time pretty much ALWAYS follows baby food time because she is such a mess!! I think I should start feeding her IN the bath. :)

7:00PM: BED TIME! Bath usually only takes about 15 minutes or so (20 if she is in a really good mood and wanting to play) then its usually another quick 2 - 4 ounce bottle and she is passed out! She sleeps through the night until about 5:30AM and we then rinse and repeat!

Then it's time for Mommy and Daddy to get started on all their nightly chores like, washing clothes, cleaning up dinner, getting bottles ready for the next day, etc. That's pretty much our life! So far, Emma has tried Bananas (not a fan), Peaches, Pears (loves), Prunes (loves) and Sweet Potatoes. I think tonight though it might be carrots or sweet peas for the first time!

She is getting so big that she can sit up now! At least for a little while haha. She can only do it if you put her in the, what I like to call, tripod position, but she is usually good for about 15 - 30 seconds! It's adorable! I often wonder what she is thinking during that time...I wonder if its like viewing a whole new world!

Peaches, Sweet Potatoes & Pictures!

Hi All! Wes, Emma and I had a pretty good weekend and we hope you did too! Nothing too exciting, just some Christmas shopping, present wrapping and relaxing! I still have some last minute Christmas shopping to take care of so I am thinking about taking a half day because the malls and stores are just WAY too crowded on the weekends to get anything done. We can't believe how fast Christmas is coming!

Last week, Emma had her first taste of peaches and wasn't a big fan! She thought they were okay but nothing to write home about haha. So before yesterday, Pears and Prunes were tied for first but I think Sweet Potatoes took the championship last night! Emma LOVED her first taste of vegetables and at almost the whole can in one sitting! This week, we also started to send some cereal and fruit to daycare so she can have her breakfast with her friends between 8:00AM and 8:30AM, then she can have her cereal and vegetables at night before bedtime. She is getting so big I can't believe it!

I told myself that I wasn't going to go crazy for Christmas either but that was a big FAIL too! Ha! I was all set with just a few things the past couple of weeks but I headed to Babies R Us this weekend for some more bottles and new bathing stuff and ended up getting several more things! Oops! Oh well...it's only your first Christmas once right! We took a few pictures with my first "studio" set up which consisted of an ironing board, a white bed sheet and a few Christmas props haha! Very professional huh? Here are a few pictures that we got!

Bananas = Fail! Prunes = Success!

We have learned a valuable lesson over the past few days. Emma is NOT a fan of bananas (and neither is her digestive track for that matter) but she LOVES, I repeat, LOVES, prunes.

Even more proof that I swear I gave birth to an old lady. Ha!

Tonight is a new fruit night...so we will see what she thinks about peaches!

A Great Weekend & A Bad Morning!

We had a great time this past weekend and started our first big family tradition (hopefully). We went for the first time ever to actually go cut down a Christmas Tree! I think what made this so special for us was that neither Wes or I have ever done this before with our families, so it was just something fun and new that we could make our own.

The weather was pretty questionable when we left the house Saturday morning. It was about 40 degrees and rainy and Emma was pretty fussy from her cold. Needless to say, we were expecting a rough trip and just thought "hey, won't this be a funny story to tell Emma when she is older. We can tell her all about how her first Christmas tree cutting was miserable. Haha." It actually turned out to be the contrary (which is an even better story to tell). We drove for just about an hour to a tree farm and by the time we got there, Emma had a good nap in the car and the rain turned into huge snow flakes! So we packed up Emma in her hat and gloves and strapped her in the Baby Bjorn (which we use all the time now and Emma loves it..thanks Aunt Leslie!!) and off we went in search of the perfect tree! It didn't take us too long to find the one we wanted and Wes had it cut down in no-time flat. We bought a new tree stand, and tied down the tree to the top of our car and off we went!

A few lessons learned from our first Christmas tree cutting:

1. Laura should wear boots, not sneakers. Boy my tootsies were cold and wet by the time we left!


2. Wes should bring thicker, water repellent gloves and a change of clothes for the ride home! Laying on that cold, wet ground made for a chilly ride home!


3. Make sure we have rope to tie down the tree! We were assuming they would give us some, but nope! Luckily, we had a few bungee cords in the back of the explorer but shew!
   
4. If a tree looks medium size in the field, it will look extra big in the house! Ha!

We brought the camera but didn't get too many shots since my hands were full with Tiny and an umbrella and Wes was busy chopping down the tree. Here are a few pics from the website though to give you an idea! It was so much fun! They had hot chocolate, tracker rides, fresh wreaths and so much more!

On Sunday, I left Emma at home with Daddy and had a day with the girls! Mimi, Aunt Mary and Lauren and Dana and I all headed to a dinner theatre for a local production of Annie! It was fabulous! The food was great and the show was even better!

That brings us to this morning, which unfortunately, wasn't so great! Wes and I woke up absolutely freezing to find out house a chilly 58 degrees because our heat cut out in the middle of the night! Poor Emma was frozen solid! So Wes is working from home today awaiting the repair man. To top it all off, Emma still has a cold and has a lot of mucus that she tends to choke on. So right after I was done feeding her, she sat up, coughed a few times, then choked which made her BARF everywhere! Even though she only drank 4 ounces, I swear 5 or 6 came out!! I was soaked from head to toe!! YUCK!! But, leave it to our happy little baby, she was smiling and giggling not 5 seconds later!

Beware - Emotional Alert!

It must be the holidays that is doing it to me, but I have been feeling so emotional and sentimental lately about having Emma in our lives. Maybe it is because the holidays are all about being with family and maybe its because for the two years it took us to get pregnant, each holiday was bittersweet because we both were dreaming about having our baby with us. We kept thinking, maybe by Christmas, or maybe by Easter, or maybe by 4th of July and so many holidays came and went, with no little one to share them with. Until now!

I can't even put into words how excited I am for Christmas this year, and it's not just about Christmas Day but about all the traditions that we can't wait to share with Emma. Everything from driving around and looking at Christmas lights, to putting up a little tree in her room, to opening presents (or her just trying to eat the paper) to going to cut down our Christmas tree for the first time ever. I look at our Emma Kathryn and already can't remember what our lives were like without her. I feel like for all those years, a piece of me was missing and it was just waiting to be filled by Emma. One of my favorite times of the day is in the early morning when she wakes up and the house is quiet and its just Emma and Mommy rocking in her chair while she is having her bottle. With her little fingers wrapped around mine, her chunky little legs stretched out across my lap, her bright blue eyes just looking around her room soaking it all in, and that big smile that comes across her face and just lights up the room. I have actually found myself tearing up a few times lately during our special morning time, just thinking about how long we waited for her to be in our lives, and how every moment and heartache was absolutely worth it.

Last night Wes and I were talking as Emma was snuggling in Mommy's arms, that we can't believe she is 5 months old already. Although that doesn't seem like much, it will only be in the blink of an eye that she is walking and talking and turning 1, then 2, then 18! Wes was saying that he can't wait for her to talk and to walk and to tell us things. Sometimes when she is laying in my lap, I look down at her little teenie tiny feet and just imagine that before we know it, those little teenie tiny feet are going to be big enough to be walking around in Mommy's high heels and how I am not ready for that day to come. I'm not ready for her to learn to walk, I'm not ready for her to learn to talk, I'm not ready for her to eat real food, I'm not ready for her to go to school, I'm not ready for her to start sports, I'm not ready for her first date, or for her first driving test, or for her first prom or homecoming. I'm not ready for her to go to college, or get married, or go off on some worldly adventure that I know one day she will ask for. I'm not ready for any of it, and I'm not ready for her to turn 6 months and start sitting up all on her own and I'm not ready to put away even more of her clothes because they are too small. I'm not ready for her to grow up but can't do a thing about it. If I could just keep her this age, I could guarantee she would never have her heart broken, or that she would never get hurt, or ever worry about her away from us in college, or out late with friends or that she won't need me anymore.

Even though I wish she could stay 5 months old forever, there are also so many things that I can't wait to teach her and tell her. I can't wait to tell her how lucky she is to live in America. I can't wait to teach her about the world (at least how much I know about it) and how we are so fortunate to live where we do. I can't wait to teach her about life and science and math and history and animals and the environment. I can't wait to take her on vacations and go boating, and teach her how to eat crabs for the first time. I can't wait to show her fireworks and the ocean and the snow and mountains. I can't wait to teach her about kindness and respect and God and about her grandmother that passed away before she was born. I can't wait to show her how to make cookies and cakes and teach her how to ride a bike and how good roses smell. I can't wait to help her pick out her wedding dress. I can't wait to teach her to be responsible, independent and to not take things for granted. Most of all, I just can't wait to show her, every single day, how much she means to us and tell her that I have no doubt, that she is the reason I was put on this earth.

Pears Were A Success!

I ended up bring home Emma a little treat today since I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home and it was a big success!! We had our first taste of pears today and LOVED them! She ate half the jar in the first sitting and probably could have kept going if I let her! So it looks like pears were a success! I also brought home some bananas and peaches so in a few days, we might try some more.

5 Months & Rolling!!

Hi Everyone! It has been a while since our last blog update but as you can imagine, Emma has been keeping us very busy! Since it has been so long, I am sure I am forgetting things to update but here goes!

Emma just turned 5 months old this past weekend (on Friday actually) and on that day, she decided it was FINALLY time to roll over! Ha! She is so laid back, she just wanted to take her time and finally rolled from her tummy to her back on Friday, November 27th! It was a big weekend because on that same day, she discovered she has feet ha! So diaper changing is about to get really interesting haha.

We had a great Thanksgiving and Emma even had her first taste of Mashed Potatoes and she was not a fan! The face was absolutely priceless but I'm not sure we can say much seeing that she gives that exact same face for her first bite of cereal everyday (like she hasn't been eating it for a few weeks now) haha. She is doing much better with her cereal (still makes a giant mess) but we are starting to slowly introduce her to some fruit as well.

Emma is now old enough to not only recognize Mommy and Daddy but also recognize who ISN'T Mommy or Daddy and doesn't like it! She isn't quite as easy to pass around to family members now because she doesn't "know" a lot of people yet and has gotten very clingy to Mommy especially (which is okay because I secretly LOVE it haha). She is a very cuddly baby but also wants her own time where she can stretch and yell and kick on the floor all by herself!

Emma and Mimi and I went shopping the day before Thanksgiving and she was such a good baby! We carted her all around this weekend from the mall, to Thanksgiving, to back to Mimi's house on Friday, then off to Costco on the weekend then down to Uncle Brian and Aunt Mary's house to celebrate her cousin Robert's 2nd Birthday. She had a great time playing with all the little ones and couldn't stop laughing at her big cousin Lauren and her friend as they were rolling a ball across the floor. She thought it was the funniest thing in the world!

Wes and I absolutely can't wait for the holidays, even though Emma won't remember a lick of Christmas and will probably sleep through most of it...but it just seems different this year.

A Little Holiday Cheer!

I have to admit that I do this EVERY year and it makes me laugh even more from year to year (I know...I have a ridiculous sense of humor). Wes and I are in the holiday mood already!!

Update: Since the video was taking FOREVER to load in the Blog, I decided to just post the link instead.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/HnktiCffS6sUFAWa

Who knew Emma was such a good dancer!!

What A Difference...

A little comparison...this is Emma in her Little Lamb Swing a little over a week old.

July 6th - 2 days before her due date:

This is Emma in her Little Lamb Swing a little over 4 months old (November 5th):


No wonder we started calling her Tiny.

Cookie Exchange!

Hi Everyone! I thought I would take a few minutes to update everyone on how things are going with us...great! Emma is doing well and is almost 5 months old already. I absolutely can't believe how fast time is flying by. She is still working on rolling over thing haha but has been a little distracted lately because she is teething! That's right! 4.5 Months old and definitely teething! It's going to be an interesting few weeks!

We had a great weekend with some awesome weather. It reminded me of our wedding day when it was bright and sunny and 70 degrees in the middle of November! We ran some errands and did just some odds and ins on Saturday. I had to get ready for a cookie exchange on Sunday so I was baking away! I decided to make some Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter cookies and they turned out pretty good!



Sunday, it was off to the cookie exchange after a really productive morning! I was up-and-at-em and had my second batch of cookies finished, my 7-layer salad made and dinner in the crock-pot all before 9:00AM. Shew! That's probably why I was back in bed by 9:00PM that night haha! I ended up coming back with 25 different kinds of cookies and recipes for all! Yum! Between the new cookies and ones I made, I took about 10 bags (3 each) to give away to work, have two LARGE freezer bags full in the freezer, a frozen bag for my parents and a bag in the pantry for Wes and I to eat! We are in cookie overload! Needless to say I won't have to do much baking for the holidays!

Emma ended up taking one LONG nap on Sunday but just couldn't stay awake until bedtime, so about 5:30PM when I got home, I found this....

Tiny must have had a hard couple of hours of playing with Daddy because she was almost done for the night! Although I really had a great time at the cookie exchange, I couldn't wait to get home and this is exactly why. Nothing in the world compares to these snuggles. After a short nap on Mommy, Emma woke up and was completely content just snuggled in my arms, "chatting" with Mommy for the rest of the night. Even though she isn't even 5 months old yet, I can't imagine my life without her.

As I am sitting her tonight, listening to the baby monitor I can't help but think about my cousin who just went into the hospital about an hour ago ready to begin her new journey of mother-hood. Kim, you are in our thoughts and prayers tonight and I can't wait to come and get to meet Baby Girl for the first time!! Good luck!!

Some New Pics - Playing with Photoshop

I am still working on my photo editing and so far have just been playing with the free 30 day trial of Photoshop (lots of fun, and free so you can't beat that)! I told Wes that Photoshop Elements 8 was on my Birthday list for next year but being the great hubby that he is, he surprised me with it early, so I got it this weekend! I can't wait to get started and to learn some more tricks. Although the online tool is fun, there are a few missing tools that the full versions have... so I can't wait to learn! Of course this depends on how Tiny cooperates in the evenings haha.

Here are some more before and after pics...

Before (Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC)):

After (Photoshop Free 30 Day Trial):

Before (Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC))::

After (Photoshop Free 30 Day Trial):

I am also heading to the fabric store this weekend to buy a few yards of fabric for backdrops! This is such a fun hobby!! So far, Emma has been a great model and I think I have a few more months before she learns to crawl and things get really tricky!! Haha!! At least right now, she can't get away from me!

Celebrating 4 Years!!

Well, Thursday, November 5th was our 4 year wedding anniversary and since it was smack in the middle of the week, and Emma was running a fever from her shots the day before, we decided to wait and celebrate tonight! So we are heading to a restaurant called Pazo's and Mimi has offered to Babysit overnight for us, so we even get to sleep in a little tomorrow!! Woo hoo!!

I can't believe it has been 4 years already!! I am really looking forward to celebrating tonight and I can't wait to see what life brings us in the future!!

Doctor's Appointment & Cereal Time!

Hi Everyone! Emma had her four month doctors appointment yesterday (rescheduled from last week when she had the dreaded H1N1) and all is well! She now weighs 13 lbs 14 ounces, is 24 inches long with a head circumference of 15 and 3/4 inches. She is in between the 25th and 50th percentile for everything. It was kind of funny because when I told Wes what percentile she was in he was worried because he thought the ideal is 100%! I said HOLY COW! That would be one big baby!! Ha!! We asked Dr. P about her appetite because it seemed to drop off all the sudden and he checked her gums and thinks its because she is teething! WHAT?!? Yup, that's right, teething at four months. He could feel a bump on her lower gums and said that a tooth was probably moving up closer to the surface. You can't see any white yet so it won't be making its appearance tomorrow by any means, but he said that when a tooth moves up, it can hang out there for a while before poking through. Emma did pretty good with all her vaccines and boy did they put her to sleep! We got home at 3:30 yesterday afternoon and I had to wake her up at 6:30PM for some dinner. She was back to sleep after a bottle and some cereal at 7:30PM and slept until 6:00AM this morning. Add another hour nap while Mommy was getting ready for work and she slept for 14 hours in a 16 hour span haha. That's my little sleeper!!

She is running a low grade fever today most likely from her shots. I got a call from daycare this morning that she had a temperature of 100.5 and is a little fussy. So I am sure it will be a long day for both Tiny and her teachers.

We are getting a little better with the cereal too. Dr P said that when she masters the cereal, we can start introducing fruit little by little between now and her 6 month appointment. He told us to start with fruit as opposed to veggies as they can be a little harder to digest. He told a pretty funny story though about how previous generations would feed "solid" food to babies earlier and earlier and in his baby book, his mom wrote at 6 weeks of age that he wasn't a fan of pees. Haha!

We couldn't resist taking a picture of Emma during her first cereal experience. Usually, a spoonful goes in, half comes out. We recycle that and put that half back in, and half of that comes out, then repeat for about three more times. Then a new spoonful goes in and a spoonful and a half comes out. Wait a minute...how did that happen?!?! Although Tiny doesn't seem to see the humor in this process, Wes and I sure do.

What A Busy Weekend!!

Before I get into the busy weekend that Emma had, I HAVE to post a little video of her. It's not the best quality but she just started to really laugh over the weekend and we had to capture it (on our digital camera). The video is from Saturday night. After a LONG day, Emma took a really good nap on the way home and was in a great mood. This was the first time we got her really laughing! She was laughing so hard, you can actually see her get freaked out at the end like "WHOA...What was that?"

You will have to ignore me acting like a fool in the video though haha. For some reason, if I just bobbed my head and said the word "cereal"...she thought it was the best thing in the world! This was right before bedtime which is why it was so dark out! The microphone was also covered up for the first 27 seconds...so you will hear her better after that haha.



Friday was Emma's first day back at daycare after being sick and we were so happy that she was able to go back and not miss her Halloween parade!! It was really cute and Wes and I got to join her! She was a little bit fussy when we got there (she has been pretty picky eating lately) so she was hungry when it started. We tried to feed her while walking which was pretty challenging but needless to say we were all the way in the back of the parade playing catchup the whole time haha! Here are a few pictures from the parade...

This is Daddy and Emma getting ready to leave for the parade! Emma was all dressed up in her Poodle costume!

This is how we spent most of the parade. Emma is over 13 lbs now so this is no easy task!

It wasn't very crowded where we were but in front of us it sure was. We paraded through a shopping center and all the store owners come out and watch and give the little ones candy. It was really cute!

Before we left, we tried to get a picture of Ms. Holly and Emma but the little poodle wasn't cooperating haha.

Wes had a friend come up on Friday night which usually means that Mommy and Emma are stuck upstairs because its PlayStation night. This time, we decided to go visit Mimi and Pop and we had a great time, just relaxing at their house and playing. Tiny was super tired and slept all the way home and went right to bed!

Then it was Halloween!! Saturday morning it was off to our Alzheimer's Memory Walk with Daddy and Mimi and although the weather was a little questionable, it held out for the most part. Since Emma wore her Poodle costume in the parade, she decided to wear her Pumpkin costume to the walk. Although it was a short walk, we had a good time and we thought about Muzzy a lot. We were doing this for her, and I could absolutely feel that she was watching down over us and was proud!

This is Mommy and Emma all ready for the walk! Doesn't she look excited?!?!

We met up with a couple of my coworkers at the walk and one of them has a daughter, Olivia, about three weeks older then Emma. Emma and Olivia have met a few times and actually look very alike! Olivia's mom makes the cutest headbands and they are actually interchangeable with different color flowers! I have to admit that I am usually not a big fan of baby headbands but these are adorable and they were kind enough to make Emma some too! We can't wait to go show them off!

Here is Emma modeling one of her new headbands! We have to put something there to distract everyone from her bald head!!

After the memory walk, we decided to head down to southern Maryland with Mimi to watch Cousin Lauren and Dana's soccer games. We had a great time (minus one little fussy bout) and man those girls are good at soccer! Emma was a trooper and held out for a long time and finally just couldn't take any more since it had been a big day...so she spent the rest of the soccer game in her stroller frowning haha.

Saturday night was also the first time we introduced Emma to cereal (which probably helps explain the videos haha). She LOVED it! We started out small with just a little bit in a 2 ounce bottle and she drank that right down. So we went with another little bit in another 2 ounce bottle and that was gone before we knew it!

We also are getting a lot closer to rolling over! Tiny doesn't really like tummy time so once and a while she will just get really wiggly and try to roll over from her back to her front. She can get herself all the way on her side, but she just can't seem to get over that darn arm!!

One year ago today, we actually found out that we were expecting little Emma! It seems like it was just yesterday and I remember it so well! I can't believe it has been a year though since the day we found out our lives would never be the same!

Follow Up Doctor's Appointment

Okay, this goes in the category (that is rapidly getting filled up) of the "things I didn't know about because I am a new mom". After calling the doctors yesterday morning and telling the nurse that Emma was still getting a temperature of about 99.7 (remember that number...it comes back in a bit...) and she started feeling sick last Friday, that we were concerned that we weren't shaking this fever. So they looked up her records and from when I called on Monday and Dr. P had said that if she still had a fever by Wednesday, to bring her in. So luckily, we were able to come in that afternoon and see her regular doctor.

So we get there and get all checked in and they take her temperature at about 99.8. Dr. P comes in and asks us a bunch of questions, and starts to check out little Tiny. Ears...check! Lungs...check! Throat...check! This is where it gets a little interesting. Dr. P says that a baby's temperature can range anywhere from 98.6 (or even a little lower) to almost 100 degrees in a day and that's normal. UM...SAY WHAT?!?! So every time she had a temperature of 99.8, or 99.9 or something similar and we gave her Tylenol she was fine?!?! He said that we don't have to give her Tylenol until her temperature reaches 100.5 or higher. Okay...so why didn't ANYONE ever tell us this before. Things that could have been brought to our attention prior to doping up our child....this! And why didn't the nurse that answered the phone tell us that when we called?

Emma is now fever free and that's what matters most, but Wes and I ended up coming home from the appointment quite frustrated. Not at Dr. P, not at the office, not at ourselves but just at the whole situation itself. Sometimes I just feel so new to this whole parenting thing that it frustrates me that I don't know any better. Who knew there were three different settings on a thermometer either? One for the mouth, one for the underarm and one for the rear-end. What ever happened to the normal thermometers where you just stuck it in and it told you the temperature without having to mess with the 'mode'?!?! Who knew that 99.8 degrees isn't a fever?!?! Who knew that when they are infants you have to wake them up to feed them at night if they don't wake up themselves?!?! How in the world are you supposed to introduce cereal?!?! How much do you give them first?!?! Do you put it in a bottle or use a spoon?!?! When can you start to give them a bath in a big bathtub and not in the little baby tub with the inclined rest?!?! Are they allowed to watch TV when they are this young?!?! Is it bad for them?!?! I could go on and on about all the stuff I don't know!

The only thing that I do know is that Emma is the most important thing in our lives and we want to do anything and everything we possibly can to make sure she is safe. That, and I also know she looks so darn cute in her pumpkin costume that it actually hurts. :)

Stupid H1N1 - Go Away!!

ARGH!

Here I was thinking that the H1N1 flu that Emma has wasn't all that bad. Well, it reared its ugly head again last night and just will not leave my little girl alone! Every morning she wakes up with a perfectly normal temperature, happy as can be. So we think OH! today must be the day she is going to be all better! Then, without fail, about an hour and a half later her temperature rises yet to around 100 degrees. So then it's back on Tylenol. As soon as the Tylenol kicks in, her temperature goes back down to normal and she is her happy, loving self again. The minute that we don't give her more Tylenol on the 4 hour mark though, that temperature just skyrockets again! Yesterday, she was doing so good though that we didn't give her Tylenol except in the morning, but right around 5:00PM her temp went all the way back up to 101.1...woke up this morning, perfectly fine, then about 2 hours later...up to 99.8. Gave her Tylenol, temperature went back down to 98.4...not 4 hours later...back up to 100.1. It just will not leave her alone! This has been going on since Friday of last week and yesterday was her last day on Tamiflu.

Needless to say, I called the doctor first thing this morning so we are heading back to see Dr. P at 2:00 today. We had to move her regular 4 month appointment until next week because she can't get shots with a fever. At this rate, she will have this fever until she is 18!

I will keep everyone posted, but please cross your fingers for us that Emma can kick this H1N1 and get better soon! Right now she is fast asleep in her crib and is not going to be happy when Mommy has to wake her up and go to the doctors! My poor baby is going to miss her Halloween parade at daycare on Friday!!

All Ready for Halloween!!

Okay, so I had to go to Babies R Us the other day for some warm PJs for Tiny since she is out-growing hers on a daily basis now and I needed to pick up a Halloween costume! Well, they just happend to be 50% off...which means you have to buy two!

The first one I found was a little pumpkin...ADORABLE! I couldn't resist. Here is Tiny doing a little fashion show!





The next one I saw I couldn't resist either. This one is for Tiny's Gigi! It's a pink poodle! Although it's kind of hard to tell haha



And I just couldn't resist posting this picture either. Even when she has the H1N1 virus, my baby is happy! Well, at least after a shot of Tamiflu, Infant Tylenol and milkies!

Our Night at the Emergency Room

Shew...what a weekend. We ended up spending most of our weekend at home with a sick Tiny, a sick H1N1 Tiny.

I got home about 6:00PM on Friday to a fussy and really warm baby. So we went upstairs for a diaper change and temperature check and after a clean diaper and a reading of 101.4, we were off to the emergency room. Emma's pediatrician has always said that any temperature over 100.4 means a trip to the hospital if its on a weekend. So off we went! In the car ride over, I think Wes and I were both so freaked out we didn't know what to do or say. I almost felt guilty on the way over because we were kind of joking around and talking about our experience so far with P90X. Although I realized what was happening at a stoplight where I was so nervous and scared that I almost got sick.

As soon as we walked into the ER we wanted to just hold our breath from the number of folks walking around with masks on. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long and Tiny had fallen asleep (and seemed cooler) so within maybe 30 minutes we were in the Pediatrics department waiting for the doctor. The nurse came in, checked Emma out, and then we were waiting for the doctor which didn't take long. She was amazing! She was exactly what you expect a pediatrician to be like, bubbly, great with kids, funny and knows that the parents are pretty freaked out and knows how to calm them. She kept calling Emma "doodle" or "doodle bug" and was so nice and calmed us down a lot. She diagnosed Emma as having H1N1. Yikes! We have been doing okay though and taking it easy this weekend although we just can't seem to get rid of that fever. She was put on Tamiflu, twice a day for 5 days and has been on Infant Tylenol to keep her fever down. It basically has been ranging anywhere from 99 degrees to 101 degrees all weekend and continues to be the same today.

Emma had her 4 month appointment scheduled for tomorrow morning but since she has a fever, they won't be able to give her shots, so we rescheduled for next week. So we are just now in a holding pattern until the fever finally disappears but sounds like we will be at home for most of the week.

Its times like this though that I tend to stop and thank God for bringing Emma into our lives. She is such a good baby, that even with a fever of 101, miserable with the H1N1 virus, she still manages to give us lots of smiles and laughs. Of course the majority of them come after a does of Tylenol or Tamiflu and a bottle. Ha!

Photo Editing

For a while now I have wanted to get into Photography as a hobby, and Wes got me a really good start for my Birthday this year with a Canon - EOS Digital Rebel XS 10.1-Megapixel Digital SLR camera (I am still learning what all of that means haha). As you can see from a lot of the pictures I posted, I still need a lot of work. I found a couple of really fun Photography blogs and websites to learn from and one of the websites that someone posted about was this one: http://www.picnik.com/. Picnik is a free online photo editing tool that I have had a lot of fun playing around with the past few days. By no means am I any good at photo editing, but this website was a great (and FREE) start to learn about editing. I would love to purchase Photoshop but that will have to wait. So here are a few examples of what I have been playing around with!

Keep in mind this is FREE online software so there are only so many editing features...that...and I am totally new at this ha!

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