(Photos are a bit blurry this time, but you get the point!)
Archives for 2006
Better Late than Never!
I’m a little behind on a few posts because I swear everything came at once in August — our vacation, Emma’s birthday letter, her party, etc. Lots of good material if you’re a daily blogger, but as you all know, I’m not quite that organized.
So I guess I’ll tell you about our vacation to Michigan now…over a month later. After all, it was our first official family vacation!
For many, many years, it has been Jeff’s family tradition to go to Holland, Michigan every summer for about a week. I’m not sure when it started, but in the 10 years I’ve been a part of the family, we’ve gone every year. We used to all squeeze into a condo Jeff’s parents rented, until we expanded and added another condo. Finally, we decided we needed a house to fit all of us, but even that got too small. So instead of renting an entire hotel, we opted to divide up this summer. Sad, yes, but we did get a weekend where all 11 of us were together. Jeff’s parents and sister stayed for one week and then we took the next week, with Brian, Alicia & their 3 kids. That way all the kids could be together.
And Emma totally loved it. Seeing her cousins every morning was so much fun for her. They truly love her so much. Even with a baby brother of their own, Livi and Jax gave Emma tons of attention. Evan was also very tolerant of Emma’s constant “loving,” which sometimes involved kisses and other times meant a bop on the head!
She napped surprisingly well all week and went to bed on time almost every night. My biggest accomplishment was letting her stay up until 9pm one night when we met some cousins for ice cream and a bonfire. It took major effort for me not to go into freak out mode about Emma not getting her rest, but I survived. And so did she. It was a good lesson in “letting go,” so I can officially check that off the list and quickly go back to my old over-protective, first-time mom ways.
Emma loved splashing around in the extremely cold lake water and really enjoyed playing (a.k.a. eating) the sand. That was probably the hardest part about this trip. She was old enough to want to experience everything, but not old enough to know when to just chill. Where do you put a baby when she wants to walk around and you’re surrounded by miles and miles of sand that she thinks belongs in her mouth, eyes, and hair? On a blanket? Um, sure, if you can get her to sit still…NOT happening. So, the beach was not so fun for mommy. And the house wasn’t exactly baby-proofed, which also made my usual bodyguard job that much more intensive. Still, it was nice for Emma to enjoy new surroundings and explore every nook and cranny. She also got some major lovin’ from her Auntie Sha and Uncle Bri, who are happy to give her whatever she wants!
In fact, our families got along so well that I could have stayed another week. We always have gotten along with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law — Jeff and his bro are truly each other’s best friends — but I expected some friction living in such close quarters with four kids. But there was none. It was true, Beaver Cleaver bliss in our little Michigan house. Too bad real life called and made us come back to stuff like work, laundry, and well, laundry.
Of course, my post wouldn’t be complete without a boatload of photos, so here ya go. I’ll keep ’em small since there are more than a few. Are you sick of all these photos yet? Man, someone take the camera away from this woman!
Flower Power
Emma checks out the flowers and other “pretties” in our new backyard.
Do these fit, Mom?
Emma gets her first pair of wooden shoes! And, yes, we got her ones that actually fit.
The kids!
Adorable… I know! (L to R: Evan, Jax, Livi and Emma)
Sand… yummy!!
Best photo of the trip… hands down!
I just wish it wasn’t so dark!
Family Photos
Us…
Them…Aren’t they gorgeous. Makes you want to puke, huh?! 🙂
Fashion Friday: Going Gaucho
Okay, so Emma and I jumped on the gaucho bandwagon F.A.S.T.!! They are the next best thing to draw-string jammie pants. Attractive? Who cares!?! They are comfy and in style, so we wear them happily — as fast as I can wash them. Hopefully they’ll still be around when God decides to give Emma a sibling!
On Location: Michigan
The Belly, Books, and The Baby
All is going pretty darn good in Emmaland these days. There were more than a few days the last 2 weeks when I thought the nap fairy was going to rob me of Emma’s morning snooze, but alas, it remains…at least for now. I ended up just moving her two naps up a half hour later, and we are now back on track.
Another factor may have been her medicine. At her 12-month well baby appointment (when she was actually sick, but that’s another story), we decided to finish up her Prevacid and take her off of it to see if that magic 1-year reflux button shut off. The first few days were promising, but then I started noticing the old signs I had started to forget ever existed — the “urping,” the random choking, the hiccups, the uncomfortable squirming when I try to put her down for a nap (and inability to fall asleep), and the whole binkie in and out of the mouth thing during soothing. Plus, she was very spastic, just like when she was a baby — her legs constantly swinging and her need to grab onto everything and anything that might provide comfort — including my skin.
It’s strange because she has never really cried about the reflux; she just always seems uncomfortable. It’s almost as if she doesn’t understand that it’s not normal to have acid burning her throat. That she has a right to be upset about it. And that she doesn’t have to tough it out. But she tries to deal with it, which just breaks my heart.
So Jeff and I made the executive decision to put her back on the medicine, but only once a day (instead of twice a day) It seems to be going well so far. We figure we’ll slowly get her body used to being without the medicine instead of just cutting it off cold turkey. And while I am NOT a medicine person, I can’t stand the thought of her hurting.
Once she was back on the medicine, her naps were suddenly back to “normal,” although this was also the same time I tried the whole 30 min later thing, so who knows. The other symptoms have diminished as well, so I feel good about our decision. Hopefully the reflux button will turn itself off soon so no meds are necessary, and she can finally eat some more yummy foods!
The doctor appt. also revealed that our peanut is about 25th percentile in weight and 75th in height. I’m okay with the weight thing because I KNOW this girl eats enough. I was concerned about protein, but we just added turkey to her diet and I plan to try eggs next week. That might add a few pounds in the next few months, but I have a feeling that our Emma is going to be on the small side because a.) she never stops moving; b.) she never stops moving, and c.) she never stops moving. I think she was just born with a fast metabolism.
As far as height, I think she’s more in the 50th percentile because I swear the measuring tactics they use are about as inaccurate as you can get. At her 9-mo, they said she was 31 inches, which put her in like the billionth percentile. Emma then decided to, uh, shrink down to 28.5 for her 12-mo measuring. Noticing something was wrong here, the doctor re-measured and Emma had managed to grow to 30 inches again in a matter of 20 minutes. Amazing, huh?! My guess is that she’s more like 29.5 inches, but hey, I’m just the mom.
We are sticking to her hypoallergenic formula until 15 months, and then we will try soy milk. The doctor suggested we wait until 2 years to introduce dairy, and I agree. We haven’t tried soy anything yet, but I’ll get there eventually. I’m just slowly expanding her diet. It took about 4 days to get her body used to turkey, so I’m not rushing into anything. If we get past eggs, I’ll be happy!
On a more fun note, Emma is really starting to become a little person. She loves to dance any time music comes on and has a few new dance moves. Her knee bouncing has now turned into head swaying, turning around in circles, and clasping her hands together and rapidly moving them up and down. Sometimes she does all three moves at once, and sometimes it’s just a simple head bop during lunch. As long as music is playing, she is always ready to rock.
She also just started to stack blocks, as opposed to just knocking them down. She brings me books constantly and plops on my lap so I can read them to her. The current fav is Five Little Ladybugs. Thanks to Grandma’s fun interpretation of this lovely story — which involves hand movements and silly voices to match — I now get to read the book 20 times a day. And refusal is just not an option. Distraction, perhaps, but refusal, forget it. I think this book might have to go into hiding in the next couple of days while mama regains a little sanity… :o)
Oh, and the Itty Bitty baby. She LOVES her baby to no end. I don’t know what’s normal for 1-year-olds, but she kisses and loves on that baby as if it was her own. She may be a busy, active little lady, but she has such a soft, sweet side to her that it makes my heart just melt. There is nothing more gratifying than watching your child express love. I know she will be a wonderful, caring sibling some day.
Now that the rain has finally stopped, Emma really enjoys playing outside in her new car and empty sand box. Yes, I said empty. We’re waiting until next year to add the sand — I guess I’m just not ready to add that to her diet yet… The house she received has yet to be put together because a certain Dada thinks we should wait until next year, while a certain Mama disagrees. Stay tuned for who wins that one…
I’ll close with a few pix of Emma with her baby and comfy Elmo couch, another favorite toy. And did I mention she was climbing???
“Wherever she goes, I go…”
Yes, I gave in and put in a Baby Einstein DVD so we could eat dinner in peace, but of course we just stared at her the whole time…she’s just too dang cute!
Busted!