So first of all, who in the world left last Friday off the calendar? I mean, I certainly missed it. Surely you did too. Otherwise, that would mean I forgot Fashion Friday, or worse yet, neglected to fulfill my blogging responsibilities. And of course, that certainly could NOT be the case. Even if I was sick…

Maybe I’ll make up for the universe’s mistake with TWO outfits this week. Maybe…

Anyway, as you current or former toddler moms know, A LOT can change in a week. First of all, the bottle is gone. As in the nipples have been thrown away, and Emma has no idea it ever existed. She is still on small amounts of formula, but only via sippy cup. She was starting to ask for her “dottle” after a meal so I decided it was now or never. For the most part, it went pretty well. A few hungry/tired moments made it a little harder, but once she realized the sippy cup could hold more than just water, she was open to change. Well done, sweetie!

Of course, one step forward usually means a step back, right? Well it does around here. We are officially back on two naps. Yep, you read right. Miss Emma has decided that between being sick and the time change (another dumb universe mistake), she’d rather have her old schedule back.

Based on my post of a few weeks ago, you’d think I’d be jumping for joy, but I’m honestly a little bummed. I kinda liked having her around more, and it was nice to have a little more freedom. But hey, if a girl needs her beauty rest, you give it to her. At least you better give it to this little girl. TRUST ME on this one…

So that’s where we are at for now — drinking fine, sleeping more than usual, and on the road to health. Hey, that sounds pretty good doesn’t it??? Come to think of it, I say this calls for a Starbucks trip. Emma and I could really use a day out of the House of Snot!

I am sorry to have to say goodbye to you, my dear friend. I have grown very fond of you over the last year, and it hasn’t been easy letting you go.

Our relationship has always come easy, requiring almost no effort on my behalf. You just naturally entered our lives, like you had been there all along.

And you were always there when I needed you. If I needed to get some work done or spend some time alone, you gave me my space. If I needed to rest, you provided. Sometimes you just let me cry, and other times you encouraged me to get my butt off the couch and take a shower. There were some days I honestly wouldn’t have made it without you.

But now the time has come to bid farewell. I realize now you were trying to say goodbye weeks ago, but I was in denial. I didn’t want to see you leave so soon. I thought I would have you for at least a few more months.

Still, we both knew from the beginning this couldn’t last. Time goes by and people change. And in this case, I know it’s for the better. Saying goodbye only means healthy growth and development, and for that, I thank you. You have done a good job.

I have truly enjoyed our relationship and will never forget all you did for me.

Goodbye, morning nap, goodbye. You will be missed.

Our 13-month milestone: The princess has her first ear infection. And in true Emma style, it’s a double infection. Nothing in moderation with this girl.

It started on Monday morning with a fever. She woke up with one, which is never a good sign, but I was optimistic that it was another tooth. By 10am it was 102.6 degrees, a clear indication this was no tooth issue. Tylenol attempted to save the day, but managed to only get the temp down to 100.5. Still, no major boogies or otherwise obvious problems. Just one crabby, crabby baby who wanted to be held ALL.DAY.LONG. My first instinct was ear infection, but she wasn’t pulling on her ears and was eating and drinking just fine. Naps went okay. So I was hopeful.

Then came nighttime. She went down an hour early, but I had to wake her up around 7pm to give her Motrin. I’m not a big meds person, but when temps go above 102, I get a little nervous. Little did I know that I was about to hear from Miss Emma every hour, on the hour ALL.NIGHT.LONG.

The saddest part of it all was that she started to have minor “convulsions” around 9pm that didn’t go away for around 3 hours. So while she’s crying on my shoulder, trying desperately to find a way to sleep comfortably, her body was jerking for no reason. My poor, poor baby — it totally broke my heart and scared me to death. After some late-night (early-morning?) reading, I concluded the jerking was from the fever and decided to skip work and bring her in to the doctor first thing in the morning. I’m glad I did.

The doc confirmed the ear infections and said they were “just starting,” so it was good that we caught them now. He also said the convulsions were from the fever and not to worry about them. Fine with me. I’m all about putting those completely out of my mind.

So Emma is officially on her first dose of antibiotics. I’m not crazy about this, but she’s exhausted and in pain, so that’s a no-brainer for me — I’m not messing with her ears. I just can’t wait for the meds to kick in. Today was another crabby, clingy day, but with lots more crying. So far tonight, she’s been awake about 3 times. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long, long night… say a prayer for us?!

*UPDATE: Funny how I am constantly saying, “I’m not a meds person,” yet I mention three in this post AND the girl is on Prevacid. Maybe I’m more of a meds person than I thought. Although, I guess that’s another post all together…*

**UPDATE #2: Emma did okay last night, but still struggled with pain. She still woke up every hour, but did sleep a 3-hour stretch, which gave me and Dada some sleep. The good news is she was MUCH happier this morning and is napping now, so we’ll see how the day goes. Thanks for your concern. Blogging friends rock!**

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!