Back to reality!

Well, Russell and are back in the real world, and we hit the ground running.  The instant I set foot in the airport in Charlotte, I thought to myself, Oh, I have to call and cancel therapy for tomorrow because Emma has her nine-month checkup.  It was also kind of sobering to go back to the REAL real world of therapy, doctors, choking, and surgery.  But of course, the moment we saw that first smile from Emma, all that nasty reality faded into the background of our blessed reality.

Emma is now drifting towards the average in terms of her weight and height: 27 inches long (45th percentile) and 20 lbs, 2 oz (71st percentile).  Still a little short and fat, but cuter than ever!

We got a phone call last week that Emma's glasses were in, but when we went to pick them up at JERVEY EYE GROUP (you'll see why I'm plugging them in a second), the frames just seemed too big for her face.  The sweet optician (is this the word I'm looking for?) decided that she just couldn't send our sweet Emma home with those glasses when she thought she could do better.  So they're ordering her another pair.  They could have easily sent us home with that pair, but they just didn't quite fit right.   I have to say that I got kind of upset when I saw Emma with her glasses.  I know I'm biased, but my daughter is beautiful.  Pictures just don't do her justice.  Her eyes are big and blue, and her long eyelashes make women jealous.  But when I saw her in those glasses, I didn't see HER anymore - I saw the glasses.  I didn't think something so trivial as glasses would upset me, but with all of Emma's health problems, I could at least look at her and say, "And she's still so beautiful."  Maybe that's vain of me, but I'm telling you right now: there isn't a mother of a child with special needs out there who doesn't want SOMETHING about their child to be average...normal...run-of-the-mill.  For me, that was Emma's beauty (and perfect eyesight - oh, the things we take for granted!).  The glasses just seem to detract from her natural beauty, and now I know that strangers' comments will no longer be, "Oh, how beautiful...her eyes are gorgeous!...I would die for those eyelashes!" - they will be, "Oh, her glasses are so cute!...I didn't know they made them that small!...How do they know her prescription?"  Yes, she will still be beautiful, but now there's one more thing that's different and stands out.  Again, I know it's vain of me to feel this way, but after all we've been through, it's been such a comfort to know that Emma at least APPEARS to be a regular little girl.

Ok, moving on!  While Russell and I were in New York, my parents kept Emma for 2 nights, and Russell's parents kept her for 3 nights.  Yes, there were days, too, but it's the nights that are important here - out of those 5 nights, Emma slept in the bed with a grandmother for 4 of them.  So we're now having a bit of an issue with sleeping in her crib.  I have just recently won a battle of the wills in the last couple of hours - Emma couldn't even finish her bottle, she was so sleepy, but she cried and cried and cried and cried and cried and cried the second that her body hit the crib mattress.  The more she fought, the more determined I became to get her back into napping and sleeping through the night in her crib.  (Notice that I'm making this statement on only my first full day back from vacation - we'll see where I stand in about 10 days.)

While we were in New York, Emma visited Santa, and I shoplifted this picture from my mother-in-law's camera:

And here are the joys of trying to take a picture with 3-year-old and 9-month-old grandchildren.

Ok, this has nothing to do with Emma, but if you want to be entertained, please share our front row seats with the talented ladies who play The BIG Piano at FAO Schwarz (yes, the one in BIG with Tom Hanks).

And some anonymous New York pics:

A great, great woman

I have some sad news to share - Russell's sweet, precious Grandma died Sunday morning around 3 am.  She had been suffering from Alzheimer's for a few years, but it had not gotten severe.  She was diagnosed with lymphoma in the early fall of 2010, and she began chemo treatments.  At that point, she largely stopped eating, even after they stopped the chemo.  Between the cancer, chemo, and Alzheimer's, she just couldn't do it anymore.  Even when she had to be reminded that she had cancer, she took it with dignity and pleasantness.  Grandma was one of the kindest, most precious people I have ever met.  One of my grandmothers passed away when I was in 5th grade, and the other one has had dementia for over a decade...so Russell's Grandma became my Grandma, too.  And what a blessing that has been.

Russell's grandfather, who we call Papa, is having a very difficult time, so please keep him in your prayers.  The wonderful thing about the timing of Grandma's passing is that she finally got herself a little girl.  As I've mentioned in this blog sometime before, Grandma had 2 sons, 5 grandsons, and 1 great-grandson...until Emma arrived.  For a while there, Emma even had strawberry blonde hair, and the only person in our family with red hair was Grandma.  Grandma was very much aware that she finally had a little girl, and she was also aware that they shared that red hair, even if for only a little while.  You should all know that our earthly world has lost a treasure, but heaven was just made more glorious with her arrival there.

If you're wondering what bedhead looks like...

This is it:

A two-for-one deal

Isn't that what we're bombarded by this holiday season?  Deals?  Well, you're in luck - two blogs for the price of one.

Russell and I are celebrating our 5th anniversary next Friday night, December 17th.  We had discussed going on a big trip for our 5th, but we didn't want to lock ourselves into plane tickets when Emma's health has been so up-in-the-air.  So we settled on Savannah.  I've really been looking forward to going there at Christmastime.  The plan was for us to leave next Wednesday morning, the 15th.  I was done with the blog tonight when Russell walked in and said, "I have some bad news.  It looks like I'm going to have to work a few hours next Wednesday morning, so we won't be able to leave for Savannah right when we planned.  Hopefully this will make up for it."  He laid this down in front of me:

I said, "It's an apple," thinking, "If you think that's going to make up for working on our vacation, you've got another thing coming."  His reply was, "It's big."

WE'RE GOING TO NEW YORK!

You should know that New York City is my favorite place ever.  (Boston is a close 2nd, but NYC holds my heart.)  You should also know that Christmas is my favorite time of year - I can't get enough.  Combine the 2, and what do you get?  My 4th trip to New York at Christmastime.  There is absolutely nothing like NYC at Christmas, and there's REALLY nothing like New York with Russell.

I have the best husband ever.

Something tells me she won't be a doctor

So the other day I was very sneezy and blowing my nose a lot in the morning, as I am and do every morning. I was doing all this in front of Emma, who was sitting in her Bumbo seat. She thought it was so hilarious that she almost choked herself laughing so hard. I started faking the sneezes and blowing my nose, and this is how Emma responded to someone suffering from allergies (or something resembling allergies):

Back to this allergies thing - I've never in my life had seasonal allergies or been allergic to anything else. But for the first half of each and every day, I waste a ridiculous amount of time sneezing and blowing my nose. The only explanation I can come up with is that a baby changes everything.  The allergy thing was finally verified by a bookkeeper today - she also began having allergy problems after children.  Oh, the things we do for our kids...

A quick update on some things that people still ask me about from time to time - Emma's incision has totally healed.  She has a pretty large scar on her back, and most people tell me it looks better than they thought it would.  I think they're just being nice when they say that because I personally think the scar is pretty big, but I appreciate people being nice.  Emma's diaper rash is gone now, thank the LORD.  We had some very bad days with a raw hiney.  Her shunt is functioning normally, and people tell me she's got a lot of hair for a baby, so you don't really see the valve on her head at all.

Emma's sweet Aunt Ally sent her some Christmas longjohns, and here's her first appearance in them:

Merry Christmas, and may God bless you this season.  Just don't forget His original Christmas blessing all those years ago...

Happy Holidays!

Let's get one thing straight: Christmas is about Christ, so I don't replace "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays;" however, since I haven't blogged since before Thanksgiving, "Happy Holidays" is in order!

Thanksgiving with our families was great. Emma loved on everyone, and everyone loved on her. She thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with my sister - the two of them really bonded. And of course, Anissa brought Emma a special little early Christmas gift:



Emma enjoyed sorting through the Black Friday sale papers with Mama Jane:



She also is looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays in all her Christmas clothes. I'm pretty sure she has enough holiday-wear for every day until Christmas. This is her mini-Santa outfit for starters:





My mom, my sister, and I went to the Gaffney outlets on Thursday night and shopped all night. It wasn't NEARLY as busy as last year. Emma and her daddy had some great quality time together Thursday night and Friday. I was naturally exhausted on Friday, and, lucky for me, the only time that Russell wasn't home was during Emma's long nap. So I shopped all night and morning and napped with Emma during the afternoon - beautiful.

Emma has been sleeping much better at night and has started babbling a little, too. Instead of long, drawn-out, monotone sounds, she's moving her mouth and tongue and varying the pitch of her voice. It's the sweetest thing I've ever heard.

Our little girl went for her third ophthalmologist visit this week, and the doctor informed us that Emma is still farsighted...and it still has nothing to do with spina bifida. The time has now come for glasses - her eyes still cross sometimes, usually just one eye at a time, and the glasses will eventually help that. We had to order them this week, and, unfortunately, they're kinda plain. I was interested in thinner, metal frames but had hoped to at least get them in pink or purple...no luck - it was either bronze or silver. Silver it is, and they'll be here by Christmas. Emma tried on the floor models, but I use the word "tried" loosely. They were barely on her face for 5 seconds before she was pulling on them. Insurance will only cover the kind that has side pieces that wrap around her ears. I know that sounds weird, but it doesn't look bad. One problem, though, is the frames will be a tad bit long on the sides, but she can't go smaller because of the lens size she needs. We'll just see how all this works out.

One very interesting thing the doctor told us is that nearsightedness never goes away; however, children actually CAN grow out of farsightedness. Can, NOT will...so we'll pray for these glasses to correct Emma's farsightedness. You may be wondering how the doctor knows how to prescribe Emma's glasses. He explained it to us like this: at a shoe store, the salespeople have instruments to measure feet; the pediatric ophthalmologist has instruments to measure how light is refracted through infants' eyes. Easy enough, if you're a pediatric ophthalmologist.

Yesterday Emma spent all day (and I mean, ALL DAY) shopping at the Holiday Fair here in Greenville with Nan, Mama Jan, and Aunt Eva (my mom and 2 of her neighbors). Apparently, Emma had the time of her life. From what I understand, Emma wasn't as interested in the people as she was in the "stuff" and the environment. So she is being trained early for a career as a buyer/personal shopper or an interior designer. Fine with me, as long as she's happy. And boy was she happy yesterday. During Emma's whole day of shopping, she only napped for about 10 minutes.

I didn't get a single present wrapped over the Thanksgiving holiday, but my husband has really stepped up to the plate this year with decorating. I was wondering how I would get it all accomplished with a child who is slightly more needy and cranky in the evening when I actually have time to decorate, but Russell morphed into the holiday version of Superman. So now I CAN focus on wrapping gifts and giving Emma lots of scrap paper to play with (see Black Friday ad pictures above again).

A welcome change

It's been a bit of a roller coaster week with Emma. She really hasn't slept well, and we just can't figure it out. We finally did the hardest thing of all and just let her cry it out. I think it's even harder for us to do now because this summer we COULDN'T let her cry it out...her throat would close up, and she'd stop breathing. As difficult as it was and continues to be, Emma does go back to sleep after about 5 minutes of crying. We still don't know why she wakes up so upset, but I hope it ends soon!

The welcome change I'm speaking of in the title of this blog entry started with something we've been dreading and been on the lookout for, something that plagues many kids with spina bifida: constipation. Gross, I know, but birth defects aren't pretty. We had thought that we were escaping this awful side effect, but this week taught us differently. My mom had to take some rather unpleasant measures to help Miss Emma out; in the meantime, I looked up a recipe for homemade prune baby food. Here's where the welcome change comes in - YOWZA, do the prunes work! So this week kinda of knocked me down a bit, but I was blessed to find that the food I made helped out my little girl.

Emma is getting into things now, and she's always looking for something to grab while she's in her Bumbo seat. This makes it extremely difficult to feed her - it's like trying to feed Ray Charles with all that swaying from side to side. A lot of parents dread the day that their kids starting grabbing for everything in sight - we love it! Get into anything and everything you want to, sweet girl - we're thankful for your vivacious personality! That vivacious personality is what will drive you to succeed. We thank God for you every day, and the thanksgiving holiday has never meant so much.

My sister is coming into town tonight, very late. It's been a long time since Anissa has seen Emma, and I just know we're all going to have a fantastic time this week and weekend. My mom, my sister, and I have a long-standing tradition of Black Friday shopping...long before anybody ever started calling it Black Friday. Last year we stayed up all night in Gaffney at the outlets for the first time and THEN hit the mall in Greenville. This year I'm not sure what we'll do - I'm waaaaay ahead on my Christmas shopping - HOORAY! I'm going to try extra hard to get my house decorated for Christmas during the morning hours - that's when Emma's in the best mood and tolerates being in her swing, Bumbo, Exersaucer, etc. for extended periods of time. Emma loves loud, crumply paper - which means easy gift-wrapping. Emma will be entertained with wrapping paper scraps for hours this year, let me assure you.

Ok, time for bed - no work until Monday! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and please remember to be thankful for the little things in your lives. We have learned about (and grieved over) the things Emma can't do, and we hope that others are thankful for those abilities...but at the same time, we are also thankful for the things that Emma CAN do that some parents still don't get to experience: the beautiful smiles, grabbing at anything in a 1-foot radius, and pulling my and Lola's hair! Now on to praying for an uninterrupted night of sleep...

Lots to tell

Last week Emma had a very important visit - she went to the First Presbyterian Healing Service to meet, in person, another one of her "families." After we learned of Emma's diagnosis last year, we began visiting the Healing Service at the invitation of some friends of ours who are members at First Pres. Over the following months, these prayer ministers prayed and loved and loved and prayed over our baby girl! So we finally had an opportunity to bring Emma to meet these loved ones. But first...

We were getting Emma dressed to go, and Russell was putting Emma's tights on her. He got this far



and said, "I just can't do this to her." Men. Please. Welcome to our world.

Anyway, when we did make it to the Healing Service, Emma really enjoyed meeting everyone after the service was over. She was a little hyper, which was just funny. So it was hard to get a good picture of her at the front of the chapel, especially since her mouth falls open in amazement as soon as a camera goes up.





We have no idea why, but Emma has started holding her arms up in the air when she eats. Imagine if we all did some sort of arm workout as we ate (besides the act of bringing food to our mouths!).



Emma had a few tests done on Thursday at the Shriner's Hospital and at the regular hospital to check on her bladder and kidneys. Her bladder is just a little small, but there's really no change since the last time they did this test. Her kidneys look fine, too. They're culturing her urine to make sure that her bladder infection is gone - hopefully it is, but even if it's totally gone, we'll still give her an antibiotic every day in case her bladder doesn't fully empty on its own. If it doesn't empty, it can allow bacteria to grow. As far as what to do about this later...we'll worry about it later. In the meantime, all we can do is give her an antibiotic, and that's what we're doing. Done with that topic.

Our nephew, Mason, turned the big 3 on Friday, and his birthday party was Saturday afternoon. He really enjoyed his tractor party, and Emma tried to enjoy it. She slept on the way there and on the way back but never REALLY got a good nap in. So she spent all of Mason's party wavering between sleepy and happy. Being outside generally makes her happy...so it also kept her awake. As a result, she slept for 12 glorious hours Saturday night. Here are a few shots of her loving on her sweet ZeeZee:







And here is a pitiful, stop-taking-pictures-of-me-and-let-me-sleep look Emma was giving me in the car on the way home before we both fell asleep.



After sleeping so well on Saturday night, Emma didn't sleep so well last night. She was very upset for a while Sunday evening, and she woke up a couple times during the night crying, almost like she was in pain. A new tooth perhaps? She drools all the time anyway, so that's not a good gauge...she was chewing on her burp cloths pretty intensely yesterday...I hope that's all it is.

You know what really annoys me?

Those parents who put those ridiculous hats on their kids' heads.

Our poor little sick one

I mentioned on my last post that Emma had the beginnings of a cold and that it wasn't bad yet. How quickly that changed. I stayed home from work on Wednesday to take care of her and take her to the doctor. The doctor confirmed that it's just a cold and that there are no signs of infection anywhere. That's really important because a bad infection could really harm my mom, who has severe asthma. So Emma had a few bad nights of trying to sleep, but bless her heart, she just couldn't breathe. Having her binky in her mouth is what really puts her to sleep, but she couldn't breathe through her nose, so she'd spit the binky out, and then she'd cry, and we'd put the binky back on...and you can see how this vicious cycle can last for hours at night. All in all, though, Emma really did the best you could expect. She was in a great mood during the day all week, even though she had some of the worst choking/coughing fits I've ever heard. She just never could catch her breath and would choke continuously for 5 to 10 minutes.

Today we could tell a big difference in Emma's cold recovery - she didn't choke nearly as much. We had such a nice, relaxing Sunday, and I couldn't have asked for a better day with my family!

Emma has been REALLY into trying to sit up. The problem is that her trunk control isn't the best because her head is technically still pretty big for her age. So you still have to semi-support her and make sure she doesn't just tip over. And sometimes she gets FURIOUS if she can't sit up exactly how she wants to. A slight recline isn't good enough. So one night this week she helped me fold laundry - she got to sit up AND play in the clothes.




PS - Buy our house!

We'll make this one short and sweet...

...because the chicken's in the oven and Emma's taking a much-needed nap.

Here's the short: Emma has a cold. It's not terrible...yet. She has slept pretty well at night in spite of it.

We had a delightful visit with my cousin and her daughter...who would be my cousin, too....actually, they're like fourth cousins, 3 times removed or some crazy relationship that I could never actually figure out how to label. Anyway, Jones just turned one year old, and she and her wonderful mommy, Alison, were sweet enough to come over since it was Election Day and I had the day off. And we somehow didn't take any pictures...Alison, what were we thinking?

Here's the sweet:



Laughing at Daddy




Happy to be a Tiger (before they lost to Boston College)


Being goofy with Daddy and sucking on her binky backwards

Welp, nap's over. That was a short 45 minutes!

Happy Halloween!

Sweet Emma was a Sweet Pea for Halloween tonight, and we made a few stops to visit our friends and family.





She was very tired, so we didn't get many smiles out of her. In fact, she was ADORABLE dressed up in her little outfit, asleep in the car.

Emma had a pretty good week this week. Her choking episodes were not as bad from day to day...well, a few were very severe, but she's not doing it quite as often as she has been for the past few weeks. We guess that her bladder infection is getting better now that she's been on antibiotics for a few days. She slept really well Thursday and Friday night - 11 hours straight, no cranky wake-ups! Last night was just ok. I'm hoping that the bladder infection was making her uncomfortable at night and that she will start sleeping like her old self again.

Emma got to spend Thursday night with Mama Jane and Granddaddy because I had a wicked cold at the end of this week, and we were trying to protect Emma. So she was spoiled rotten by them Thursday night and all day Friday. Larry helped us out by doing a few little handyman tasks around our house. They were even sweet enough to keep her Friday night for us while we went to our Sunday School class's Halloween party. I was a cowboy, and Russell was an Indian. We were also joined at the party by the cast of Jersey Shore, Flo the Progressive Insurance rep, the World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World, Taylor Swift, a Chilean miner, Kate and Jon Goslin, a stewardess and pilot with Awesome Airlines (tagline: We'll take you anywhere you want to go...as long as it's Disney World), a hunter and his buck, a banana, NCIS forensic specialist Abby, 2 smart asses (donkeys), Rachel and Finn from Glee, High School Zack, and an anonymous conglomeration of household items.

Some unexpected bad news

Today I received a phone call from the wonderful spina bifida nurse at the Shriner's Hospital. We visited Shriner's 2 weeks ago, and they tested Emma's urine as part of her appointment with the urologist. Emma had a bladder infection this summer, and it was all cleared up in August. But then I got a phone call this morning that the bladder infection is back again. No one wants a bladder infection, but we REALLY don't want one for one main reason: if Emma's bladder isn't fully emptying, bacteria could be growing, and we will have to start cathing (slang/short for catheterizing) her. I just can't even go into all that is involved with that (not that you'd wanna know all the details). I guess I didn't think we'd have to cath her this soon.

They believed the last bladder infection was caused by all the loose baby poo in her diaper; however, all that has changed since Emma started eating baby food. Now it's not as gross as it used to be. In case you're eating a snack while you read this, I'll try to keep it clean. There are some things going on with her poop that could possibly be attributed to teething, and these things could, conceivably, result in a UTI. The nurse pointed out that the last UTI was clear at the end of August, but that was still a couple weeks before Emma started baby food. So there's a chance that it could have come back in that end-of-August to middle-of-September time period...which makes me feel like a horrible mom because that means that my child has had a UTI for over a month, and I've done nothing about it. Then I thought that if she's had a UTI for that long, wouldn't she have developed a fever by now? Nurses, any answer? (I didn't have this thought while I was talking to Jean, of course.)

So the plan for now is to put Emma on a twice daily antibiotic for a week and then have her on a lower dose once a day inevitably. She goes back for a renal ultrasound and some other test in November, so they'll test her then to make sure the bacteria is gone. I'm pretty sure we won't see the urologist that day. But then they won't make a final decision about the daily antibiotic vs. beginning to cath until she sees the urologist again. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure how they'll make that decision, nor when we're seeing the urologist again. One visit at a time - November is what I need to worry about next.

Perhaps this is the reason that Emma has been a little cranky lately, ESPECIALLY at nighttime. We've also even said that her fussiness isn't always that long, drawn-out whine (moms, you know what I'm talking about); sometimes, it's a very sudden, loud scream like something really hurts. Yes, I want Emma to feel better, without a doubt. I just pray that it's a routine UTI and nothing more at this point.

I have to remember that God is good and that He is looking out for our little girl. Some days are harder than others to feel this in my heart. I think as long as I have that notion in my head, I'll be ok - let's be honest: some days it's harder to believe in our hearts that God is good. I'm not ashamed to admit it because I know that ultimately God's GOOD will will be done; some days it's harder to accept the path that we're on in fully receiving His will. I've gotten myself all worked up over this phone call, and it could just turn out to be a small hurdle that really wasn't a big deal. Then again, in my world, my child is a big deal.

Tonight we went to the Young Life banquet. If you're not familiar with Young Life, you need to be. It's an incredible outreach organization to mainly high school kids, but middle schoolers, too. Although I grew up going to church, I completely attribute my personal relationship with Christ to Young Life. I became involved in Young Life in high school and then became a high school leader when I was at Furman. Now my best friend Holly works for Young Life here in Greenville, and I'm happy to stay tied to the ministry in some way. Russell and I have hosted a table at the annual banquet for the last several years. This year we needed someone to watch Emma, and that someone was first her beloved Aunt Ally and then Mama Jane and Granddaddy. In other words, Emma was completely spoiled rotten today.

How do people do it?!

I just don't know how moms can work and have more than one child. I can barely make it with one child! I know that it's been an awfully long time since I've last blogged, and I have many, many excusesImeanreasons why, but I won't bore you with the details of my life as a working mother and wife during football season.

Not a whole lot has happened medically since I last blogged. Emma had her first monthly round of Synagis shots last Monday. Synagis is a medicine designed to increase a child's resistance to RSV, a very dangerous winter-time virus. It's usually only kids with respiratory issues who get these shots. Although Emma doesn't have trouble breathing like kids with asthma do, a severe virus could still send her to the hospital because it would cause even more throat issues. Emma has had several vaccination shots in her thighs and hardly flinched. But Monday, the nurse warned my mom that these shots can be pretty bad, and she was absolutely correct. My poor little girl was in quite a lot of pain with those shots, and we think her legs were sore for the next couple of days, too. I think we've moved past the effects of those shots, but something else isn't quite right with Emma.

I was out of town Monday night and Tuesday night, and Emma really gave Russell fits. We have certainly been through our share of heartache, but please don't think that Russell and I have lost sight of one very big blessing - we slept so well for the first seven weeks of Emma's life. She was cared for by some loving NICU nurses while we snoozed, uninterrupted, in our cozy bed. Praise Jesus. Well now Emma has started crying in the middle of the night, ranging from one to two times a night to every hour. A 3rd tooth? Maybe. Uncomfortable? Maybe. Bad dream? Perhaps. Whatever it is, putting her binky back in fixes it. But still - what happened to our good sleeper? She still is only REALLY ready to wake up for good around 7 am, and we are still quite grateful for that.

As I mentioned, I was out of town for a few days this past week. Russell was the perfect husband while I was gone - he emptied the dishwasher, steam-cleaned the bedroom carpet, did 2 loads of clothes, and took care of Emma AND Lola. He got some help from my mom, but I couldn't have asked for a more helfpful husband while I was away.

Emma was dedicated in our church last weekend, and it was a delightful ceremony. Emma did pretty well - she was very vocal. Not cranky, just talkative. She really enjoyed walking around with Stephen, our pastor, and from what I could tell, she stared at the congregation with her mouth hanging open. Lovely. Stephen mentioned the struggles that Emma and our family have faced, and I definitely got a little teary-eyed. What I didn't know until later was that a lot of other people got emotional as well. Our church has been so loving and supportive, and it meant so much for us to present Emma to God in front of her biggest supporters. And I'm so flattered and grateful that it was meaningful to our church, too. Don't think I'm a bad mommy, but I didn't take any pictures of Emma that day. I was a little busy. But I know my family took a lot, so I'll try to get some of those and post them on the blog. The really tragic part is that my dad has some great video, but I can't get the files converted to allow me to edit the content down. I'm not too bad with technology, but I think I've reached my limit there. I'm sure I could manage with a few hours of research, etc., etc....I love you all, but my time is more valuable than that.

Oh, and buy our house!

PS - Diaper rash update: Clean as a whistle. Thank you, solid food. Thank you.

Taking advantage of the blog...

...but it's not entirely selfish! I'm going to do some advertising here: we've decided to sell our house. Who wants to buy it?!

We have a 3-story townhome in Greenville that we LOVE. We really, truly do. But we knew that we wouldn't stay there forever, especially now that we know that Emma will have some challenges with walking. Interest rates keep going down, and Russell and I have found a one-story home that we really like. So we decided to go ahead and bite the bullet to list our house for sale by owner. We are listing through an organization called Greater Greenville For Sale By Owner.

If you know of anyone who would be interested in our townhome, please send them to the link I listed above. We have delightful neighbors (including my best friend across the street!), a cozy little street, and a beautiful, well-maintained home. It's right in the middle of Greenville, and we've gotten spoiled by the location - the house we want to buy is only about a mile away! It's amazing how our neighborhood and neighboring communities can be so welcoming and quiet, yet the bustle of everything you could possibly need in Greenville is minutes away. These townhomes are also great rental properties. Russell and I considered renting it, but it would really be too much work with a special needs child and both of us working full-time jobs. Sometimes you just have to let go. You can see details on the property website, but here are the high points:
- 3 bedrooms
- 3.5 baths
- 2nd story deck
- laundry room on 2nd floor
- garden tub and walk-in closet in master bedroom
- privacy fence in back (great for dog-owners!)

This seemingly shameless use of our daughter's blog really is for her own good - the house we have found is wonderful. It's one story, with a level back yard and a deck that could easily have a small ramp put on it if necessary. The streets nearby are level, which would allow us to walk with her through the neighborhood eventually.

Please, someone buy our home!!

Let me tell you a little something about Russell...

...he's not lazy, but if he can find somebody to help him do some manual labor, he'll sign 'em up. Even if they're 2 years old. This past weekend we visited Russell's parents' house. Russell, his dad, and his brother were covering their pool for the winter, and Russell enlisted our 2-month-old nephew, Mason's, help. You can hear Russell say, "Pull, boy!" and then he says, "Pull it that way, pull it that way." In the meantime, Allison, my sister-in-law, and I were sitting in the shade with Emma, cracking up at Russell's instructions and at how well little Mason was helping. Of course, Mama Jane rescued Mason from his manual labor. And don't worry, we had 6 sets of eyes watching him to make sure he didn't get too close to the pool.




Allison was holding Emma in her lap while we sat outside. Being outside is some sort of natural sedation for Emma. She immediately gets this relaxed, comatose look on her face.



As time went by, she started to get hot. We started with clothes on:



and ended up with our fat rolls hanging out.



Emma also put on her Tigers cheerleading uniform, only to watch them lose :(





Touchdown!

She might be tailgating with us this weekend, so we'll give that little outfit another shot against Maryland.

Emma went to see Dr. Troup on Monday for a follow-up visit. Dr. Troup is going to hold off on doing Emma's decompression surgery until the springtime at the very earliest. Because Emma has respiratory and throat issues, it's not wise to intubate her for an MRI or surgery, especially during the wintertime with all the colds, bugs, flus, etc. If Emma does catch some sort of bug that she just can't get through by herself, she may have to go back to the hospital this winter...with the possibility of being intubated. So we're going to pray that God blesses her with health this winter! Emma is still choking on her saliva between 10 and 20 times per day, and we will also continue to pray that God will work in her body and heal our baby girl's throat and brain stem.

We also went to the Shriner's hospital today to see the urologist, Dr. Teague. He is simply wonderful. The whole time he spoke with us he let Emma hold his finger. He didn't really say much about Emma, except to give us a plan. The way that the spinal cord works is that the very, very bottom of it controls the bowels and bladder. So even if a child with spina bifida can walk, etc., they are still almost always guaranteed to have bowel and bladder issues. These problems vary in severity and type. So far, Emma doesn't have many immediate issues, but this can change...and quickly. For that reason, Emma has to have renal ultrasounds and one other test every 6 to 8 months. This can detect any problems that need to be treated so that her kidneys and bladder don't end up damaged. It's good for us to know what the future holds, but at the end of the day, God has blessed us with today. Today Emma smiled a lot and figured out how to play with the toys attached to her swing. Today Lola gave Emma her nasty chewy toy. Today Emma enjoyed her naps in Nan and Daddy's arms. Today Emma choked about 15 times. Today Emma threw up in her car seat. These are the blessings and the worries of today, and God is in control of both.

Well hello there!

Tada! Tooth number two! We had no idea Emma was THAT close to getting her second tooth in, but I got a phone call this morning from my mom saying that it broke the skin overnight, and you can actually feel it now. We knew it was on its way, but wow...this one came on fast.

God has certainly blessed us again - a child who doesn't mind teething (so far)! After all she went through in the hospital, I think her threshold for pain is really high. She loves to throw her arms all over the place, and she keeps scratching her face. Emma has a HUGE scratch between her eyes that she didn't make a peep about when she did it, and she hasn't cried once about a shot. That's our tough little girl.

Emma's choking has gotten better in the last couple of days - we're back down to about 10 times per day again. Please pray that it continues to get better and one day, eventually, go away altogether!

Emma visited one of my mom's former schools today and thoroughly enjoyed herself. They stayed for quite a while, and I hope our sweet baby girl stole a few more hearts today.

No news is good news

I know that it's been a while (a LONG while) since I've blogged. I can't really say that nothing has been going on...rather, TOO MUCH has been going on! Life just gets so busy. But as far as Emma's news goes, it's all pretty good.

She went to the pediatrician 2 weeks ago, and she weighed 18 pounds, 4 ounces (85th percentile). She was 25 3/4 long, which was in the 47th percentile. Once again, all that rice cereal we have to give her packs on the pounds, but the pediatrician isn't worried about it, at least not at this point. Emma is enjoying her baby food, but we can't get a great read on how she feels about green beans. Sometimes she makes the funniest this-stuff-is-disgusting face, but other times she eats it fine. So far, Emma has had applesauce, carrots, bananas, and green beans, and applesauce is by far her favorite. Here's a great video of several things: (1) Emma's love for her applesauce while simultaneously being suspicious of and fascinated by the video camera; (2) one of her new favorite pasttimes - sucking on her bottom lip; and (3) a brief glimpse of a smile.



We've just discovered that Emma's second tooth is going to be making an appearance soon! You can barely, barely feel it, and when you look down in her mouth while she's smiling, you can definitely see it starting to come in. Any day now! Luckily, Emma wasn't too fussy with the first one, so hopefully this second one will only bring us a night or two of brief crying as well.

Emma had a CT a week ago, and Dr. Troup will look at it and give us his thoughts on it next Monday. I think the CT is really only going to show how her ventricles are doing, to make sure that the fluid is draining off of them well and that her shunt is really doing its job. Emma was so good for the CT. They basically taped her head down and wedged it between rolled up sheets and THEN wrapped her up in one of those heavy iron aprons. I had to hold her chin in place to try to keep her from moving her head too much, and she did pretty well with it. Of course, she wanted to move her head all around to check things out, but I believe they got the pictures they were looking for. Here's a quick one I snapped with my phone (therefore, the poor quality) right before she took the big ride into the machine.



Emma has done really well at therapy lately. She uses her left arm ALL THE TIME, and they want her to get used to using her right arm. Emma has to sleep on her side, and whatever arm she's not lying on goes flying back behind her...so now she sleeps on her right arm so that it's pushed forward. We asked for it. Her infant carrier rattles are all on the right side, and she constantly plays with them with her right hand now. I think this is just the beginning of parenthood with toys that make noise. Emma hates to be on her tummy, so it might take a while for her to crawl for that simple reason. Most babies with spina bifida either don't crawl at all or they're delayed because of their limited mobility, but Emma actually does really well pulling her legs up. She's making great strides with her cognitive development, especially considering she lost so much time laid up in the hospital (11 of her first 12 weeks).

As far as Emma's choking goes, it's been pretty bad the last few days. She has scared a few people by it, but Emma doesn't get very upset. In fact, during one of the worst episodes she's ever had last week, she looked up at me and my mom and smiled in the midst of trying desperately to catch her breath. It was so cute and sweet yet pitiful at the same time. It almost seemed like she was saying to us, Don't worry, I'll be ok...just give me a minute.

I tried desperately to get a good picture of Emma smiling in her pumpkin outfit, sitting with Lola in her ghost costume. The problems with this photo op are as follows: (1) Emma is too fascinated by the shiny camera I'm holding in front of her to smile at it; (2) Emma was cranky; (3) Lola's costume is cuter on her back, but you wanna see her precious face, too! and (4) getting the two of them to sit still. This is the best I could do:

Miss Emma has had a good few days. Her new tooth hasn't bothered her too much since it really came through on Thursday. We had a great, semi-relaxing weekend, and Emma got to see a lot of people! She went to a cookout, a picnic, church, and hung out with some friends at our house for the Auburn/Clemson game. Of course, a lot of these events on her social calendar happened during the late afternoon and evening - Emma's prime fussy hours. That being said, she did pretty well. A little cranky, but she gave our friends some great smiles!

Emma visited our Sunday School class and behaved herself. She really wished that our friend Zack would have paid more attention to her, though - she stared and smiled at him constantly, even when he wasn't even looking at her. Then at our church's Sunday night picnic, Emma wasn't really smiling at anyone until she saw our friends' son, Wells...and Emma's face lit up. More proof that she loves men.

Today Emma had 2 big appointments - she went to speech therapy first this morning and ate carrots. She loved them. I may eat my words (ba doom chhh), but I think she's going to like most foods. She enjoyed Zantac in the hospital, which most babies hate apparently. Here's a little shot of her sitting in her Bumbo seat (which Russell affectionately calls The Bimbo) waiting patiently for her applesauce.



Her other big appointment was her 6-month well child visit. She weighs 18 pounds, 4 ounces and is 26 inches long. Her length is average, and her weight is in the 85th percentile because of all that rice cereal with which we have to thicken her formula. The doctor isn't worried, though, because that's very common for babies. However, the mathematician in me thinks, well if that's very "common," then she wouldn't be in such a high percentile...whatever. If her doctor gets concerned, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I don't know what's "out" right now because I don't have seasonal allergies. Ever. In my life. But I think something's getting to me here lately. I know ragweed is kinda high right now, but it's never affected me before...ANYWAY, I was so excited to come home and get on some comfy clothes and just hang out with my Emma. She was excited about it, too. She was happy to snuggle next to me on the couch to play with one of her toys while I started the blog. And this is what we ended up with:



Her busy day really wore her out!

I'm getting a little sad that Emma is getting older - I am now constantly taking clothes out of her dresser and her closet that no longer fit her. I know that this is inevitable. Actually, it's not that she's getting older and bigger that makes me sad...it's that her clothes are so stinkin' cute that I hate that she can't wear them anymore!

Many of you know that we banked Emma's umbilical cord blood (UCB). Her UCB contains stem cells that can serve sooo many purposes. Stem cell research is really controversial right now because the general public basically assumes that stem cell research uses aborted fetuses - that is NOT what stem cell research is about! Stem cells are smart cells that take on the properties of other cells and replicate them. The most common and significant uses of the cells that I've heard of so far are to cure cerebral palsy (you heard me, CURE it - at Duke) and to cure cancer. Yes. Cure CANCER. UCB specifically has great success at replicating nerve cells, which is why we banked Emma's cord blood. This was not cheap, but we just felt that God was leading us to do this. (There's a long spiritual story that accompanies this decision that gives me chills - there are no coincidences, only God. You just can't deny that God is present sometimes. I won't go into it here, unless somebody wants me to.) Anyway, I've recently found out that there may be some treatment (closer than China, which is the only place doing it right now) that is treating SB kids with UCB stem cells. It still hasn't been done yet, but I believe it will be very, very soon. So I ask...beg...plead for your prayers - that this stem cell research will work and that SB children on this side of the world will have a chance at walking! Before we would consider getting into any of that with Emma, we have to get her throat issues (swallowing, eating, choking, aspirating) under control. Perhaps this research will lead to something that will help Emma in that area, too.

It's here!

The day we've been anticipating for a very long time - Emma's first tooth came in yesterday (Wednesday). While Emma was pitching a fit on Tuesday, for obvious reasons, I could see the ridge of one of her bottom middle teeth. I couldn't feel it, but I could see it. Overnight on Wednesday it popped out! So now Emma keeps running her tongue over it - hilarious. All this teething talk makes my gums hurt because I'm vividly remembering what it felt like to get my braces on and how sore my gums were every time the orthodontist tightened them.

Emma is still loving her applesauce, and she starts on carrots on Monday during speech therapy. She has combined physical therapy and occupational therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that has been going well. She's now going to a smaller facility that is just WONDERFUL. I think the only downfall is that they work Emma to death. They love on her a lot, but if/when she starts crying, they still keep pushing on with the therapy. After they figure out that she's not going to stop crying, they'll stop the therapy, but I'm wondering when they will realize that Emma either cries and doesn't stop or doesn't cry at all. Once she gets started, just throw your plans out the window.

Emma is now a bobblehead by choice. In the last couple of weeks, she has discovered that she can swing her head back and forth, and she enjoys this fun, new motion. For some reason, she was really enjoying doing it after being tickled.



That's it for now - not a lot of quantity, but really good quality - FIRST TOOTH! YAY!

Our little Tiger's growing up

Miss Emma had a big day today - she ate baby food for the first time! Because of her swallowing issues, her speech therapist wanted her to start eating baby food in a therapy setting to make sure everything goes ok. If you've ever seen Emma, you can tell she has NO problem with enjoying her food...physically being able to swallow it is the problem! But today she really enjoyed her applesauce and did well eating it, so she now gets a little applesauce every day. Next week, we try carrots.

Emma was all smiles today and laughed a lot. In our next home, we're going to have to have an atrium with indoor trees. She loved these at the hospital today before and after therapy - I'm pretty sure an atrium or a sunroom could become a great babysitter. Emma kept gazing at the trees with her mouth hanging open and was fascinated by the light coming through all those bright green leaves. Our little treehugger adores being outside, even if the outside is actually in.

Emma tailgated with us again this past weekend and was a real trooper. She had a blast and was such a good little girl. She flirted with all the men, especially our friend Brad. I blogged last Saturday that every time Emma smiled and I pulled out the camera, she stopped smiling. Well that all came to an end this past Saturday because she couldn't stop smiling at Brad, even though he pulled out his phone and snapped a good one of our chubby Tiger. Her first picture smiling - finally (and again, ONLY because she was flirting)



Here's another shot of her tailgating with her cousin Mason cracking her up. I'm not really sure exactly what he was doing or saying to make her giggle, but he really had her going. Mason is almost 3, and he is so good with "Baby Emma." He pats her on her head a lot and kisses her arms and legs. Precious.











Here's a little more tailgating fun!





Aunt Kathey and Emma



Z and Emma



Mason and Uncle Wuss - love this one. Could be Russell's son, I think - all those Young boys look alike, though, so no surprise there.

My parents just recently returned from Paris, so we were keeping their dogs at our house, with my friend Magee's help. Although they are small, it was a real zoo at our house with the 3 dogs, Emma, me, Russell, Magee, and the random assortment of friends and family who helped keep Emma. Normally, my parents' sweet, precious little Maggie isn't all that crazy about our dog Lola - Lola is a little wild and just bowls right over Maggie in order to get to toys, etc. Every once in a while, 3-pound Maggie snaps at Lola, and 14-pound Lola backs down big time. But last Sunday afternoon, everyone got a good nap: Emma cuddled up to her daddy, and Lola and Maggie put aside their differences to snuggle as well.