Warning:

This is a super-long-overcompensating-for-lost-time-one-million-pictures post!

Yeah, I know. I haven't blogged in forever, but I have good reasons for being absent. Besides, pretty much everyone else has been slacking in the blogging department so I think everyone will just overlook each others negligence (and update their blogs as well!) !

Emilie and I flew to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving and visit for a few weeks. We decided to go last minute because my Grandmother was going to be there and I never get to see her (she lives in Utah and who would want to visit anyone in Utah? Just kidding!)

My bouncy baby on the plane, sooo ready to get off and run around!

Making pie with Michael, the best helper ever (unless another niece or nephew happens to be reading this, then the best helper would be you of course.).

Emilie with Aunt Jenny at "The Lights Before Christmas" at the Toledo Zoo. Em was all bundled up like the kid on A Christmas Story. I really don't think she could move because she just sat like this the whole night. She stayed warm though!

I love the bond that Emilie has with her cousins. She adores them, and they love her so much too. I can't wait for her to meet her other cousins in Alaska this summer!

I love this picture because that is not Emilie's pacifier (or bump-bump as they are known to Michael Ben and now Emilie.) nor is that Benjamin's. They had this thing about trading and it was really funny. And gross.

Emilie was glad to be home, mainly because she loves her Daddy sooooo much (me too!)

I love this dress!
We got home 12 days before Christmas and had to get EVERYTHING ready for Christmas including all the shopping and all the give-away baking, which I don't think I will ever do by myself again. Too stressful!!!

Also we had all the decorating to do including the tree. This was the first year we had our very own tree with only our decorations (Nathan's Mom has like 7 trees so we just borrowed one because we were too cheap.) The funny thing is we only paid $20 for the tree (excluding lights) and most of the decorations have been gifts so it didn't cost much at all. This was our sixth Christmas together (fifth married Christmas) and we just now bought a tree. Anyway, I love to give and get ornaments for Christmas and love our hodge-podge tree because I remember who gave each ornament and I love the memories they bring. To me, that is what made our tree beautiful.

Emilie pulled down the tree once, but I was able to save all the sentimental ornaments. We put unbreakable stuff on the bottom for Em, so if the tree looks a bit divided that's because it is.

Emilie must have been really good this year. Santa brought her so many fun toys!

Ooohhh! She was so excited!

Helping Dad

She loves her trike. We almost can't get her off it

Oh the doll stroller. Em has developed a love hate relationship with this darn thing. She loves the doll stroller she got, however she thinks it is for her to sit in. It is really funny because she is obviously too big for it but insists we push her around. If you put her dolls in it she gets mad and throws them out and cries until you put her in it and push her. She also tries to climb in herself and ends up tipping it over and getting hurt. We are probably just going save everyone the frustration and put it away for a bit.

The aftermath mess!

Her Christmas dress. Sadly this is the best picture we have so far, but are having professional photos taken soon and will hopefully get a smile.

I am really proud of my ham. I don't like pork so I never cook with it and was nervous to bake a ham for company. I made up my own glaze and it turned out really good, thankfully!

Nathan really will sleep anywhere...

We got to spend the day after Christmas in the ER! Emilie pulled the lampshade off our table lamp and it fell over and she got burned by the bulb. She had a few spots of second degree burns so we had to take her to get treated . We waited three hours to be seen, but the cream they gave for the burns is so incredible (Silvadene) it was totally worth it. This was two days post incident and it already looked so much better. We saw her pediatrician today and he said she won't have any scars so long as we keep using her cream and lots of sunblock for a few months. Luckily she hasn't seemed bothered at all by it except when it first happened. I am so thankful she isn't in pain and it was just a minor accident!

She is so prissy sometimes and loves to prance around with purses. I think mine is a bit too big and heavy though.

I left her playing in her room the other day and this is where I found her when I came back. She thinks it is so funny to crawl under her crib.

Love this baby! (And these bows, thanks Tracy!)

Dear Santa,

This is NOT what I want for Christmas.

Love,

Emilie

Poor, Poor Little Emilie :(

I knew today was going to be rough for Emilie because she had her one year well check and had to get immunizations. What I didn't know was just how rough rough would be. It started this morning. I put Em in the shower with me since she woke up before I could get ready for the day. She was having fun until she knocked down the plastic soap dish holder (it connects to a built in thing in the wall, kinda hotel like if that makes sense) and then sat on it and bruised and cut her little bum (not bad, but she was really sad.) Then we went for her well check and she was so sad the entire time. Normally she doesn't mind doctor's visits (except the getting dressed and undressed part) but today she just cried the whole time the doctor was in the room. Then came the shots. I hate when she has to get shots. She is always so happy and playful right before and then they poke her little chubby legs and she looks at me as if to say "What did you just do?" as she cries the saddest cry ever. I know they don't remember it and a few minutes later she was playing and fine, but I feel bad about it anyway. THEN we had to go to the lab to get her blood drawn for her lead levels and anemia (just routine one year lab work.) I was already feeling terrible for her after the shots and was about to skip the lab, but listened to the "good mom" on my shoulder and went ahead like I was supposed to. So, onto the lab where I find out it isn't just a heel prick, but a vein puncture in her arm. As much as I wanted to just walk away at that point I kept hushing the bad/overprotective part of me and said OK. Then, the girl drawing Em's blood couldn't find a good vein and went to get someone else who was supposedly great at poking babies. At this point I am worried and start having flashbacks of my very sick, dehydrated and jaundiced four day old baby being poked over and over and had bruises all over from it. I sit there and try to have confidence in this kid knowing he had little experience with babies (it was on base, where they usually do blood work for perfectly healthy grown men.) So he pokes my babe and digs around and around in her tiny arm for probably a full minute while she is screaming and crying big tears and he never finds the vein. He said to bring her back tomorrow to try again, with no confidence at all. I cried as we walked to the car because I felt so guilty that I even let them try when I knew they didn't really know what they were doing and weren't going to be able to get the sample. I will NEVER take her to the lab on base again. So, we go home and I call the pediatrician's office and tell them what happened and that I want to take her somewhere else. Now they tell me to just bring her back to the office tomorrow because the pediatric nurses there are great at drawing babies blood. SERIOUSLY!!! Why didn't they just do it there in the office in the first place? Sometimes I really hate military health care and how it make everything harder than it needs to be. Anyhow, Emilie recovered from her morning trauma and had a good rest of the day... until she ate a Christmas light off the tree. Well, that didn't seem to bug her but it gave me a good scare when she threw up a broken piece of a glass bulb. I called the nurse advice line and they said she should be okay, just make sure she doesn't vomit or poo any blood and that I have to dig through her diapers to make sure she passes the rest of it. I am so glad to see this day end. I'm not sure what else the day had in store, but I really don't want to find out cause my poor babe really didn't need any more owies. Okay, I'm done ranting and complaining, and am happy to be going to bed!

Happy Happy Birthday Emilie Dear!

Today is my little pinkie-pie's very first birthday! It seems like just yesterday I held her for the very first time and at the same time it feels like forever ago too. As much as I miss that tiny newborn, it has been so much fun to watch her grow (and grow!) and learn. What an amazing year! Happy birthday my little love!

She has ALWAYS hated getting dressed and I think she always will. Oh, how I miss that little new baby cry!

For Julianne

It may seem a bit strange for me to post pregnancy pictures when I am no longer pregnant, but there is a reason. My best friend Julianne is pregnant and has almost the same due date I had last year (because we are twinners in our own way!) Since she lives in Switzerland and I lived in California/Ohio she never got to see me superly huge pregnant. I never emailed pictures at the end because I had preeclampsia and was either hospitalized or on bed rest (when I wasn't at the doctor already, since you pretty much live at their office at the end of pregnancy anyway!) So here's a few pics to hope help her feel less ginormous, or at least not alone. I may look miserable, but I was actually pretty comfortable at the end. Well, that or I was so afraid of childbirth I convinced myself I was okay to stay pregnant forever! Hang in there Schoolie and sleep while you can :)

Right before Em received her "eviction" notice. I had to be induced thanks to preeclampsia :(


About a week before Emilie was born (37 weeks?)

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!

Cardiologist Visit

When Emilie was one month old, we discovered that her heart had a few mild abnormalities. She saw a pediatric cardiologist in Ohio when she was two months old and he said that everything would hopefully resolve itself by her first birthday. Today we finally had her one year visit with her cardiologist here in Tucson and, drum roll please... after 10 long months of waiting, I am so happy to say her heart is perfectly normal! I was pretty sure that everything was okay but it is incredibly comforting to know she is just fine. I am so glad to just have a normal baby! No more reflux, no torticollis, no PFO, no VSD, no RVH, no LVH (the last four are heart terms). Just a normal, very healthy beautiful child! I'm so happy I don't even care that the house is a wreck and I haven't started dinner yet or even who won the presidential election. Today is just a great day :)

Em's Last First Holiday

Aaahh! I get so irritated when blogger won't let me move my pictures around! Anyway, I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween and scored lots of candy! Emilie had a great time trick-or-treating, contrary to how she looks in the pictures. She got her second ear infection and was so miserable at the start of the night I thought we were just going to go to bed. Luckily she perked up thanks to some motrin and sudafed (which helps take pressure off of the ear drum for all the lucky parents of ear infection prone kids) and ended up having so much fun. It was really nice to trick-or-treat on the base, they had sooo many people out on patrol plus the guards at the gate. Also, I love to pass out candy and we had a TON of trick-or-treaters. Ah, I am so glad to be done sewing, but sad that Halloween is over :( That's okay, we have Em's first birthday and the Holidays to look forward to!

Emmie Lou Who in Her Tutu

Who knew 7 yards of tulle could be so fun! She really liked the tutu AND the sunglasses. So cute! If anyone wants a tutu, I sell them (custom made!) for $25. Great for Christmas, just so you know!