Merry Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone! Emily definitely had a great time and is in toy heaven. She is loving all of her new toys. My mom and Larry came over Christmas Eve and we had a nice dinner and a lively game of bingo (Andy won $30 in an all or nothing game). Nana and Larry spent the night and were here to open presents with Emily. When we brought her into the family room, she went straight to the presents and was ready to go!

Then we went down to South Carolina for Christmas with Andy's family. We had lots of fun, enjoyed a yummy steak dinner, and got more toys!

Then we came back home and had a fun playing with all our new toys. And as you can see in the picture, Andy really enjoyed MY foot spa.

Cheese!!!

Emily is learning how to sit still and smile for the camera. It is the cutest thing. It doesn't always work, sometimes she still reaches to poke the camera lens. Here are a few pictures of her cheesing it up...


She is also starting to cruise a little. Here is a video of her walking along the couch.



She is becoming such a big girl and we can't wait to share Christmas morning with her. It will be such a treat!

Chopsticks

Last night we went out with SECU's HR department for a Christmas dinner. Yes, they actually invited me even though I quit about a year ago. It actually makes me feel quite special to know they haven't forgotten about me yet. Anyways, we had a nice time and enjoyed catching up with everyone and seeing the other babies. Emily kept wanting to touch the babies. She loves pointing at everything these days, so she kept poking at Caleb's feet and getting excited. It was too cute. In the picture you can see that even though Emily hasn't mastered the spoon yet, she is very good at using the chopsticks.




Please ignore the fact that Emily is wearing the same red shirt in this and the past 2 posts. I think this shirt is so cute and very festive, so I put it on quite often. Andy usually doesn't pay much attention to what Emily wears, but today he said, "Is she really wearing that shirt again??" Don't worry.... I am washing in between wearings and it is just for the Christmas season.

Physical Therapy

I had Emily evaluated a few weeks ago with the Early Intervention program. They came to the house and used the Mullen Scales to evaulate her gross motor, fine motor, visual reception, receptive language and expressive language. Everything was normal except for the gross motor skills, in which she was significantly delayed. She is at the level of a 10 month old, which isn't too delayed in my opinion, but regardless they suggested physical therapy. They noted that she had low muscle tone, which is not surprising to anyone that has seen her bird legs.

Today was the first day of physical therapy. I really like it because they come out to the house. Today the therapist did a lot of playing just to get Emily warmed up to her. She showed me a few positions that will help stregthen her core muscles. She is pulling up on the couch and ottoman, but when she does she rests her body against the furniture and not really putting much weight on her feet. So we need to work on that. It was interesting to watch Emily during the therapy. Anytime she was not sure about something or frustrated, she would go for her favorite pink kitty and hold it. It has definitely become her security blanket. The therapist will be coming once a week and she thinks she will be walking by 18 months.

Saturday

Today was a very productive day for us. I got some Christmas shopping done with my neighbor while our husbands watched the girls. It was a nice treat to do some shopping without having to manage Emily or navigate a stroller through the mall. We also got to have a nice lunch.

Then we took our Christmas photo - which wasn't a total success. We will see if we can come up with anything better tomorrow.

Then Andy and I raked the leaves while Emily napped. By the way, what is the point of raking leaves when our yard will probably be just as covered tomorrow??? Here is a picture of Emily in the big leaf pile. She didn't stay in the pile long because she started to sink pretty far in and I think that might have traumatized her.

Then I finished hanging up the Christmas lights outside while Andy did some car maintenance. And here is a picture of our house glowing with Christmas lights. I added the garland and lights on the porch this year.

Layni Bug

Layni spent this past weekend with us. Emily had so much fun with her. Layni soon realized that she had to get down on all four to play with Emily. They were crawling around the whole house chasing each other and laughing. In the morning, I could hear some noise in their room and they were so cute talking to each other through the crib. Here are some videos of them having tons of fun.




Layni and I made some holiday shaped Jello jigglers while Emily was napping. Layni kept saying, "I think 'jelly' is my favorite food. " We miss you Layni!