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.