Fashion Friday: The Christmas Outfit

This is from Emma's 2006 Christmas Collection, complete with sparkling nose juice!

Merry Christmas to all...

...and to all a good night!

Fashion Friday: Luxury, Baby!

This outfit is so impractical, I love it! What I love even more is that I didn't buy one thing she is wearing!

The hat: From Chico's... a gift from Grammie's fall outing with her girlfriends

The poncho: From a local baby boutique... a birthday gift from a very generous friend of the family

The shoes: From Preschoolians... a "just because" gift from boyfriend Cricket

The pants: On loan from my awesome girlfriend who has supplied 98 percent of Emma's wardrobe

Put all those things with my baby's smile, and it doesn't get any better than that!

Emmaisms...

I am so behind on Emma's "milestones," that I've been dreading this post. So much to write, but I know I can't possibly remember it all. Maybe that's because I should write these things down AS they happen, right?! I know, I know, I know...

So here ya go... a bulleted list of Emmaisms as of late. Enjoy!

Her first "clear as a bell" word is "Mommy." It sounds like a real person saying it... a little freaky actually.

Other real words include: Daddy, Grandma ("Maaama), Grandpa/Papa ("dop pa"), Todd, doggie ("dada"), more, all done, water, bye bye, banana ("nana"), up ("uppie"), nose, and NO! She also repeats apple and owl really well.

Some "non-words" that I still count: nye, nye; num, num; shhhh, mooooo, buzzzzzz

In case you didn't guess from above, she knows a cow goes "moo" and a bee goes "buzz"

She signs the words "more" and "water"... mostly because that's all we've taught her. I'm going to try to get better after the New Year!

We no longer walk... we just run/sprint. EVERYWHERE.

She gets into EVERYTHING. And I mean everything. I can't leave her alone for two seconds without fearing for her life. Honestly, she is determined to seriously hurt herself or ingest something fatal.

She still enjoys her books, which is very obvious by the bends, tears and chew marks they have endured these last 16 months.

She loves her baby more than ever. She puts her to nye, nye; feeds her; gives her some of her sippy cup; and loves on her constantly!

Anything even remotely furry also gets fed, kissed and is put to sleep. If she's in a really good mood, this sometimes includes non-furry things like blocks...

She still kisses just about anyone who asks, as long as they are not holding her. She also hugs by patting you on the back as she says, "Ahhhh."

She talks on her toy mobile phones by clutching them between her shoulder and her ear. Wonder where she learned that from???

She is a total goof ball and often runs around wiggling her head, smiling and saying, "Duba Duba Duba."

She will chase you around our kitchen/family room ALL.DAY.LONG.

She loves to dance -- this includes spinning around, kicking, shaking her arms, and we're working on shaking her butt.

She can do some the motions to a few songs -- "If You're Happy and You Know It," "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Head Knocker." My favorite is when she spins around in a circle with her fingers pointing to each cheek when we sing, "You're face will surely show it."

Playing outside is her absolute favorite, which makes this yucky weather a bummer. We bundle up every now and then for some playtime though.

One of her favorite indoor activities is climbing inside of the laundry basket while Mommy takes her for a spin!

She helps me load the dryer... sometimes. Ya know, when she feels like it.

She also knows what it means to clean up when we sing that Barney "Clean up" song, but again, only when she feels like it. Of course, that excuse will only last a few more months...

But my absolute favorite thing is when she runs over to kiss and hug me for no reason. There is no greater gift than that! Most of the time it's when I'm acting goofy with her. I love that she has such a great sense of humor!

I know I'm leaving out a million things, but this is all my mommy brain can remember right now. See ya'll tomorrow at Fashion Friday!!

Fashion Friday: GI Jane

Who says army gear can't be feminine?!

It's been a while...

Sorry I haven't really posted any long entries lately, but there has been a reason for that. Besides crazy work deadlines, a few things have been going on lately that have made it hard for me to write without sounding like a basket case. But enough time has passed now where I can coherently explain all that's been going on.

First of all, everything is fine. Praise God that He has blessed our Emma with good health. Besides the usual colds kids seem to get every 3 seconds, she is a healthy, growing child with a curious mind and well, a strong personality! We wouldn't change a thing!

But a few weeks ago I decided that I wanted real answers about her silent reflux. I was tired of relying on my own instincts to diagnose her, and I hated that she had been a medication for so long. I needed confirmation that she did indeed still have reflux -- or better yet, that she had grown out of it. When she was an infant, it was easier to tell when it was bothering her, but as a developing toddler, there are way too many other factors and issues that have made it hard for me to tell what's going on inside of her. (Hmmm, maybe that's why we have X-ray technology...)

Anyway, we made an appt. with the GI, and I was all ready to demand a scope, an upper/lower GI, or whatever they needed to do to give us some answers. But instead we ended up talking about Emma's enormous appetite. Now I know what you're all thinking... just feed her if she's hungry... it will all balance out eventually. But she is ALWAYS hungry... before AND after a meal. She practically jumps out of her high chair yelling, "Muh, muh" and will continue to do so until I pry her out of her chair. She eats EVERY morsel, and she eats A LOT. Case in point: Breakfast might include one scrambled egg, whole-wheat toast, fruit, and 6 oz of formula. And she is still hungry after that. The GI agreed -- that was a lot of food for a baby only in the 25th percentile of her weight class. He was concerned she wasn't absorbing her nutrients.

So before I knew it, words like Cystic Fibrosis, Celiac Disease, and Hyperthyroidism were being discussed. Tests were being ordered, and I was being assured that Emma probably didn't have the terminal form of Cystic Fibrosis since she hadn't had pneumonia or respiratory problems. Um, what?!!! It was all happening very fast, and I was trying to stay calm. I only wanted to check on her reflux.

So the following week we did all the tests. I apologize to those of you who feel upset that you are just finding this out now, but we really didn't want to worry anyone until we had answers. It all seem a little far-fetched to us, but we wanted to follow the GI's suggestions. We decided to only tell our parents so they could pray. And boy did we pray!

In the end, every test turned out to be NEGATIVE. Praise God! It took a few weeks to get all the answers, but slowly but surely, we were getting the confirmation of what we had known all along -- Emma just has a sensitive stomach.

So where are we now? Well, Emma has officially been off her reflux medication for one week and all seems well. BUT she has had an ear infection, so who knows. We'll see what the future holds.

We also started soy milk. At first, Emma didn't seem to notice that I was mixing it in with her formula, but then suddenly she wouldn't go near it. This was all around the time of her ear infection, so I don't know if it was the soy or the sucking (she wasn't drinking much of anything). Our pediatrician suggested we go back to the formula until her ear infection clears up. Then we'll try soy again.

I do have a feeling soy may have caused the ear infection because she never had a fever with this one, and it's strange that it took her 13 months to get the first ear infection and only 2 months to get the second. She also broke out in a horrible diaper rash while on the soy, and now it's gone. We're considering rice or goat milk, but our pediatrician isn't convinced soy is the issue. We're discussing it at our follow-up appt. next week.

Emma's diet is still fairly large, but I have also been trying to incorporate more fat into her diet. Because I make all of her food fresh, I wasn't always good about adding fat. I didn't do it intentionally. I just never thought to add it. I even let her eat her first cookie! Since I've been doing this, she seems to be less intense/hungry. I've also been trying to give her more snacks in between meals. Our 15-mo well baby appt. also put her weight at almost the 50th percentile, so maybe it is all balancing out.

All that I can say is that Jeff and I feel more blessed than ever to have Emma. When I was sitting in the waiting room a few weeks ago during Emma's tests, I saw a lot of sick children, and I realized food restrictions really weren't that big of a deal. I would love Emma no matter what, but her sake, I am happy she is healthy.

Fashion Friday: Flashback II

So, we have yet another ear infection and a VERY gooey left eye, so I went to the vault and resurrected another fashionable moment from Emma's "younger years."

To get us in the Christmas spirit, I chose her first official Christmas dress, which she decided to eat every second she got. The proof was certainly evident in her diapers, which were decorated with digested white fur. Yep, that's right. Now go get yourself a snack! ;)