The witching hour

We are definitely open to having visitors to come meet Baby Emma, but here's the catch: she is an amazingly happy baby...in the morning. Any mom will tell you that babies have a "witching hour." It's that time of day (usually in the evenings) that babies get cranky and fussy. Emma's is definitely in the evening. Visitors obviously come in the evenings. So her visitors get to see a cranky baby who doesn't want to be held sometimes, and if she IS held, she demands that you walk, stand, and/or bounce her. If you don't do those things, she'll let you know EXACTLY what she thinks about your childcare ability. So if you want to come visit a happy baby who won't make you pace around our den, please come visit sometime between the hours of 7 am and 11 am. Here's a happy baby Emma snuggling with her dad first thing in the morning and also laying down easily and peacefully to have her diaper changed:





I'm not going to post a picture of her screaming...who wants to see pictures of a screaming baby???

Please note that Russell chooses to hold her when she's being sweet and fun. Just kidding, Russell - you're a great dad. Love you.

Our wonderful church, Earle Street Baptist Church, does a 4th of July celebration every year. It's located in the beautiful historic Earle Street neighborhood at the north end of downtown Greenville. They have a parade down Earle Street with kids, dogs, etc. on their bikes, followed by a cookout at the church and patriotic music. It's really fun every year to hang out with our church family, and you can either watch the downtown fireworks from the church parking lot or make the quick drive downtown to see them. This year the church is graciously donating the proceeds of this event to our family to help with our medical expenses...Miss Emma is turning out to be an expensive baby! On one hand, I am so honored by our church's generosity that I feel that I have to mention it here in the blog and to invite any of you out there who want to attend...on the other hand, I'm so flattered and overwhelmed with emotion that I don't actually know the words to fully express what I'm feeling. The parade starts at 7 pm, and dinner is at 7:30 (for $5: hamburger, hot dog, or brat plus beans, cole slaw, chips, cookie, and drink). Downtown Greenville fireworks start at 9. Oh, and bring a lawn chair or camping chair. Here's a map to the church:


View Larger Map

I really hope a lot of you can come, and not because it's a benefit for our family; we're not looking for a handout. I want the whole world to know how incredible our church is - and we knew this long before Emma came along. Emma's presence in our lives has confirmed what we already knew about our church.
Side note: back to the witching hour...yep, same time as the 4th of July celebration. I apologize in advance to those of you who will meet Emma that night...let's all start praying now that she's sweet. Otherwise, the church may change its mind about donating the proceeds.

Emma had a pretty rough day today. In the last couple of weeks, she has started spitting up A LOT when she chokes and burps. Our best guess is that her abdominal muscles are stronger now and contract stronger, making her puke. I hope this stops soon...anyway, she has choked a lot today, and some of them have been pretty bad. I'm so afraid that she's actually going to choke on the vomit, too. I cried yesterday and today for the first time in a long time. My emotions are getting the best of me again, and I don't know why exactly. Tonight it was because her choking spells were so bad, so frequent, and so upsetting to HER. It kills me when they scare her. How many times can I watch my child turn blue and wait for her to take that first sacred breath? God is teaching me more and more every day what it means to really trust Him - trust that He will take care of her when she chokes in her sleep and we don't hear it; trust that He will protect her lungs from being damaged by any saliva or spit-up that she aspirates; trust that He won't let her annhilate by way of vomit anything that's not washable.

Here's another really funny picture of our fat, fat baby. We can't quite put our finger on the animal impersonation she's making...frog? Catfish? It's really not a cute, flattering picture of her, but I just think it's hilarious.