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.