Accidental abandonment

I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, but I didn't realize my last blog post was on January 20!  Since there's a lot to catch up on, I'll try to keep it short.

Emma's lower back incision did open up a little, but we were able to stop/prevent any serious infection.  Dr. Troup took a couple looks at it, and he felt comfortable with it.  We still didn't take Emma to therapy, school, or church for a while.  After her January 10 surgery, her first day back at therapy was February 4, and her first day back at church was February 9.  Emma will have a follow-up MRI in a couple months to see how things look then.  As far as any relief from Emma's symptoms, we think her choking might be less severe, and we haven't seen her gag a single time.  It's really early to tell how these surgeries may have helped her, but we're hopeful!

As far as how she actually FEELS, Emma has become quite a pill.  We believe it's a combination of things: being waited on hand and foot for about a month, vegging on the couch and not having to crawl/roll around, and being cooped up in our house for a month.  A brand new, big attitude isn't exactly what we need to be dealing with as we face a new little one coming in late March!

I haven't taken many pictures of Emma lately because they would all be pictures of one of three things: (1) Emma crying; (2) Emma recovering from crying; and/or (3) Emma doing a puzzle or a craft while also doing (1) or (2).  I was able to snag this video, though, of us having fun at Old Time Pottery one night.  It was a part-time glimpse of our sweet girl who we hope returns full-time soon!

We also had a winter storm this week, and it was actually too windy to take Emma out on the best snow day of the storm.  She hates being dirty and wet, so trust me when I say that neither she nor we really missed anything by not playing in the snow.  Instead, we took her out on the first thaw day to pull her in her "sled."  Because Emma's balance is pretty terrible, our laundry basket was unbelievably perfect.  Complete redneck sledding.  She had a grin on her face the whole time she was riding (until she tipped over in slow motion and face planted in the snow - don't worry, it wasn't on the slushy road snow, it was clean yard snow).  Here she is all bundled up and then on her slushy sled ride...

On the next blog post, baby news...