Saturday morning with Nana

Emily had a fun Saturday morning with her Nana. As you can see, Nana lets her break all the rules and sit on the table and eat chips out of the bag. Just kidding, Nana is great and loved having Emily all to herself. And Emily loved showing her nana how independent and fun she can be. Oh, Emily LOVES to feed other people. It is her new favorite thing.

I thought this was so funny, so I took a picture. She was eating a snack and wanted to look at the new Pottery Barn Kids catalog. This made me laugh because I can just imagine her as a teenager flipping through a magazine. Speaking of which, I don't think I will survive the teenage years. I have always thought Emily was a very passive and easy going kid, but the physical therapist commented today that Emily was very strong willed. Andy thinks I spoil Emily now and am setting myself for a hard road years to come.
I think the hard years are going to come, regardless!

Music Videos

Emily loves getting into the kitchen and bathroom cabinents and making quite a mess. She found some instruments and made some lovely music. It is not the prettiest music, so make sure your speakers aren't too loud.

She is also quite the dancer. However since she won't stand up, she just dances on her knees. It is a little dark, but I think you can still see her moves.

The cutest thing was that I showed her these videos on the laptop and she LOVED watching herself and was giggling at how silly she is.

Waiting for the Snow...

Those in Raleigh know that last Saturday was a major disappointment. They were predicting a big snow storm ( 1 - 3 inches is big for NC), however we just got a little dusting. Emily and Simon were waiting patiently all day. They are so cute to watch and they get so excited when they see each other.

And since this is NC, church was cancelled because of the dusting, so we had a relaxing family day on Sunday. I was actually looking forward to the snow and taking Emily out in it. However the snowfall started too late for us to go out there. I guess we still have a few weeks left of winter, so we won't give up hope.

Recovering

We have some sad news to share... I found out this week that I have had a miscarriage. I was about 10 weeks pregnant and we went in for our first doctor's appointment on Thursday. We had gone through about an hour long appointment just talking to the nurse and doctor and getting some blood work done. After all that, we had an actual exam and ultrasound. Initially Andy and I were so excited to see the baby on the ultrasound. But then the doctor told us there was no heartbeat. I was devastated. The baby was measuring at about 8 weeks, so something obviously happened two weeks ago.

Our doctor was very sweet and understanding. He suggested we go ahead and do the the D & C that afternoon. So we went home and after Emily's nap, we took her over to our neighbor's and headed to the hospital. We had to wait awhile because our doctor had an emergency procedure to handle. The actual procedure didn't take long and I didn't feel a thing, thanks to some nice medicine.

During the procedure, the doctor realized I had a uterine septum, which is a wall that didn't dissolve when my uterus was forming. It is down the middle of my uterus and does not have much blood flow. Therefore if the baby attached to that wall and not an outside wall, it wouldn't survive because of the lack of blood. The doctors are going to do an ultrasound of my uterus next month and then we will decide how to proceed. It sounds like it would be a relatively simple procedure to cut the wall, they just need to see where it is and how thick it is. They are pretty impressed that I was able to get pregnant with Emily so quickly and did not have her prematurely.

Overall, I am doing fairly well today, considering I was an emotional wreck yesterday. I am trying to think of all of the positive things about this situation. And I also know that everything is in Heavenly Father's hands. He knows what is best for me and my family and it just wasn't time for us. Andy has been AWESOME and took off work today too and has taken care of Emily. I am still in some pain from the D& C, so he carries Emily everywhere for me and is even changing all her diapers. (I am not sure I can get him to continue this for much longer. )

Maybe this isn't something I should share with the whole blogging world, but writing about it helps give me some closure. It is amazing how many women have gone through this same thing, sometimes multiple times. I admire their strength as I try to learn and grow from all this.

15 Month Check Up

Emily went in for her 15 month check up yesterday. She weighed in at 17 lbs 12 oz.... I know, she is tiny! The doctor is not overly concerned about her low weight since her height (29 1/2 inches) and head circumference are normal (15th percentile). And even though she is not on the growth chart for her weight, her weigh is still following a curve and not leveling out. She just advised we feed her all day long and give her lots of cheese and bread with butter. I am a little annoyed that I have to keep her facing backwards in the car seat still. I think we are a long ways away from 20 lbs.

The physical therapist is still coming over once a week to work with Emily. We are still just working with her to get her legs stronger so she feels more secure putting weight on them. She has been walking a little using her push toy, so that is good. Occasionally, I can get her to stand without holding anything, but it only last 2 seconds and then she freaks out and sits down. I just keep reminding myself that I didn't walk until 16 months and my older sister was 18 months when she walked... and we turned out OK... right?

Her favorite things are... playing with her new baby doll, pulling everything out of the cabinets, rolling the ball with mommy and daddy, talking on her cell phone, pulling all her books off her bookshelf, clapping and dancing to music, getting tickled by mommy and daddy, putting all her toys in (and then out) of her basket, playing with her neighbor Katelyn and learning new words ("hey", "cheese", and "thank you").

Pigtails and a trunk

I tried a new hairstyle on Emily -- pigtails! I think they are so cute. They make her look like such a big girl. Of course, her stick straight hair makes them look a little funny.

We got a new trunk/toy box yesterday for the den. Andy was not dealing well with all the Christmas toys not having "a place to go." He is doing much better now, especially since it was free thanks to my Christmas bonus (Target gift card) from my generous boss. However he is now trying to convince me to buy an ipod with the remaining amount on the card. I am reminding him this is MY gift card, not his! Emily isn't sure how she feels about the trunk. It is pretty deep, so she can't reach anything at the bottom. She likes to throw toys in the basket, then come get us to get the toys she threw in. It is NOT a fun game.

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008!

Happy New Year!

We celebrated the new year with our friends, Jonathan, Jennifer and Simon. We had some yummy treats and actually stayed up until midnight watching a movie. Emily celebrated with her first co-ed bath with Simon. They were so cute in the tub and playing together all night. Obviously, Emily went to bed before 12, but she was ready to pary when we woke her up to go home.

2007 was a geat year for us. It has been so much fun watching Emily grow into a cute little girl. We feel so blessed to have such a happy and healthy little girl in our lives. We look forward to this next year as she continues to grow and discover the world around her.

However, I must say 2008 is starting out pretty cold. I hate cold weather... and weather in the 20's and 30's is way too cold for me. Kat- I am thinking Emily and I might come visit you out in Arizona because I can't take this!

Teeth!!!!

Here are two pictures of Emily's new teeth! She has been working on these all month. She is getting in two on the bottom and one on the top. She also has this new funny face she does when she smiles. She scrunches up her nose and smiles really big. I love it!

She was enjoying a messy spaghetti dinner in the second picture. It was very, very messy!

Her hair is getting longer too. The front is getting pretty long, but I don't want to cut it, so I just pull it back. I can't wait for her hair to resemble a girl's haircut rather than a boy.