Happy New Year!

Emma's arrival in March has to be my highlight of 2008. She is an amazing, happy, healthy little girl and we are so blessed! We hope everyone has a safe celebration to usher in the New Year and a wonderful 2009.

Odds and Ends

On Friday, we took Emma to the pediatrician for a follow up to her Wednesday ER visit. The pediatrician agreed with the ER doctor that Emma was fine and that the eye lid droop was most likely localized swelling. The attitude seems to be that as long as it doesn't happen again and she doesn't have other symptoms, then she is okay.
After we got home on Friday, Dave started the effort to get Emma's MANY new toys out of their boxes. It seriously looked like Santa's workshop had exploded in our living room. But, Emma is VERY happy with all of her new toys. She's even starting to figure some of them out. It's really neat to watch her do something for the first time then try to repeat it. We really are lucky to have such a wonderful little girl.

Christmas Eve and the ER

Yesterday started out with a lot more adventure than Dave and I wanted. We had gotten up and were starting breakfast when Emma woke up. Dave went to go get her and when they came down, the first thing I noticed was that Emma's right eyelid was a little droopy.
She ate her breakfast really well and was acting like herself, but we still worried. So, after a phone call to the pediatrician we were getting dressed and headed to the ER. By the time we saw the doctor, Emma's eye looked fine. He checked her out and said that she looked fine to him and was acting like any 9 month old should- responding to us, not liking him looking in her ears, following the light he shined in her eyes, etc. His theory was that there was some localized swelling around the eye, but that it wasn't something to worry about. Our pediatrician wants to see us tomorrow just to make sure.
After we got home, Emma took a nice nap and was then introduced to the joys of present opening. We spent part of the morning enjoying opening the gifts from family far away and are so grateful for every ones generosity.
Then it was time to get dressed to go to Grandma Breese's house. After yummy appetizers and dinner, the kids were opening more presents and it seemed like they got everything they wanted. Then the adults got there turn. There were a few surprises, but everyone did get what they asked for.
Santa Claus came while all the kids were asleep and Emma seemed to have fun with her rocking elephant. Now, everyone is resting and getting ready for the extended family party at 2.
We are truly blessed to have such wonderful, generous family!!

9 months and looking forward to Christmas

Our little girl was exactly 9 months old on Friday. I am still amazed at how much she changes and grows almost daily. On Friday, I was showing her a picture of her with my Mom and Dad. I asked her where her Poppy was and she put her little hand on my Dad. When I asked her where Gigi was, she moved her hand over to my Mom. I really thought it might have been a fluke, but we tried again on Saturday and she did it again!
Emma seems to have a little understanding about the Christmas presents under the tree and is VERY interested in pulling the bows off of all the packages. One thing is for sure, Emma's first Christmas will be a white one because it KEEPS snowing.

Big girl

Emma had a big day yesterday, she got to move from her infant carrier to her big girl car seat. She seems MUCH happier and doens't cry when we put her in it.

Emma's world

Our house is definitely ruled by it's youngest member... and her world continues to expand. Emma doesn't like the fact that we TRY to keep her in one part of the family room (and AWAY from the currently still unsecured bookcase), so she keeps figuring out ways to defeat the barriers. There is VERY little multitasking for Mommy when we are downstairs because of either playing with or chasing Emma.
The world of foods continues to change as well with the introduction of meats this week. Emma tried pureed turkey for the first time today and she gobbled it up!
Emma LOVES the Christmas tree and her bear that reads "Twas the night before Christmas." She really loves pulling the snowflake ornaments off of the tree and gets excited when she sees the wrapped packages.

Go Emma Go

Emma has picked up yet another new skill....... She now "cruises." She pulls her self into a standing position of the couch or coffee table and then "walks" from one end to the other while holding on. It probably won't be long before she is walking.
She is also working on getting her first top two teeth. One tooth has cut through already and the other isn't far behind.

We're back.....

Last Saturday, Emma and I flew to Houston for Thanksgiving. Dave joined us on Tuesday and we all had a great time. Emma even got to meet her Great-Grandmother (Grammy) Davis for the first time!
It was a busy, fun week, and we got to see pretty much everyone and Emma did great with all the new faces. While we were in Houston, Emma did several new things. She figured out how to lower herself back down to the ground after standing up instead of just plopping down. She also tried Cheerios for the first time and really liked them. Emma even held her own bottle and drank from it with a little help from the highchair. I was surprised about her liking the Cheerios because I had offered her Gerber puffs several times and she was never too interested.
Since we've been home, we have offered Emma the Gerber puffs again and NOW she likes them. She has also continued to like Cheerios and tried Apple juice for the first time. We have continued to try and have Emma hold her own bottle. It seems to work best when she is in the high chair and we tilt it back so that the milk or juice fills the nipple of the bottle. She knows exactly what to do! She grabs the bottle with both hands and brings it to her mouth to drink. It's amazing how fast kids change!
We all came home on Saturday and we were glad to be back before the snow started on Sunday.

Up she goes

Emma surprised us on Tuesday night. Dave had brought her down to the family room and had come back up to the kitchen to get his plate for dinner. Emma decided to follow him! So, Dave stood at the top of the stairs and watched her. When she got to the stairs, we expected her to stop, but she just kept crawling and crawled up all 6 stairs into the kitchen! It's a good thing we have those baby gates!

Tooth #3

It's been almost 2 months since Emma's first two teeth came in and it looks like the top teeth might be on their way in. On Sunday morning, we noticed that her top gums were swollen and when we looked more closely, we could see the tiny little corner starting to show through.
Dave's work on the garage continued on Saturday. He and his Dad worked and got all of the walls primed and Dave got one of the walls painted.
This coming Saturday, Emma and I are going to be hoping on a Southwest flight and heading for Houston. Dave will be joining us on Tuesday and we will be staying until the following Saturday. We are all looking forward to the trip and spending the Thanksgiving with Gigi and Poppy.
We show Emma pictures of her Gigi and Poppy everyday, so we will see if that works and if she remembers them.

Baby Proof

We started our baby proofing efforts in the kitchen over the weekend. The cabinets now have latches and we keep forgetting about them, so it take two tries to open anything! Emma kept trying to "help" by checking out her Daddy's drill and drill bits. We almost had to baby proof the baby proofing!
Work on the house continues with current efforts focused on making the garage a more comfortable place. Dave and his Dad removed the yucky old cabinets that were in there in early October. Since then, Dave has done a lot of clean up and rearranging to take better advantage of the space. Today, the garage is being drywalled. After that, Dave will be able to start thinking about building his work bench and getting nice storage in there that won't attract the local rodent and insect populations.
I think my damage nerve is continuing to heal. For the last week or two, I've had a lot of muscle twitches. So far, there doesn't appear to be any difference in my face, but I'm hoping the twitches mean the nerve is repairing itself and reestablishing contact with the muscles.

Big Weekend

We had a big weekend around here!
Friday kicked things off with Emma's first Halloween. She didn't dress up this year, but she did help us hand out candy and had her very own pumpkin.
On Saturday we celebrated Dave's birthday. Emma really liked helping her Daddy open his cards and packages. She didn't have the greatest day though, she wasn't her normal happy self. We think it might have been a little bit of a tummy ache combined with teething. We were also very excited when we got to watch the Texas Tech vs Texas football game on Saturday night. It really looked like Texas might win, but my Red Raiders pulled it off. The win caused them to jump to the number 2 spot in the BCS and AP polls. I can't believe they have managed a 9-0 record so far, but they aren't done yet. We have to keep our fingers crossed that they can survive Oklahoma State and Oklahoma in the next couple of weeks.
Dave's Bears pulled off a win on Sunday and Emma has been practicing her standing skills. She is getting to the point where she doesn't want to sit down. She ALWAYS wants to stand up!!

Standing Up

Emma gave me a shock yesterday!! I went upstairs to drop a few things off and peeked into her room to see if she was still asleep. Not only was she awake, she was standing up in her crib!
I thought maybe it was a fluke, but she did the same thing today. Her crib didn't spend much time at the middle setting, it's headed for the lowest setting soon!

Crawling

When we said it wouldn't be long before Emma started to crawl, we were right. She started crawling on Wednesday! She's not always consistent. Sometimes she'll crawl part of the way, then scoot on her belly or roll to finish getting where she's trying to go.
Emma adventure with solid food continues as well. She's almost done trying the stage 1 foods and so far has liked everything she's tried. By this time next week, she'll probably be on to the stage two foods. When you consider that she starting eating solids a month and a half after a lot of her peers, she seems to be catching up quickly.

Go Emma Go

At 7 months, Emma just keeps growing and getting more independent on us. Today was a big day because we had to lower the crib mattress one level. We had been talking about making that change for a few days because we caught her sitting up in bed and noticed that her head was level with the top of the crib rails. Then today, we went to get her from a nap and saw her on her knees and that put her head ABOVE the side of the crib. That did it and down the mattress went.
Emma also got to try drinking from a sippy cup today, but she didn't really know what to do. She got the cup into her mouth the right way, but chewed on it instead of drinking from it. It's a little early yet, but it can't hurt for Emma to start practicing... she'll get the hang of it.
Our rolly poly girl has also learned how to scoot on her belly. She uses her arms to pull her forward while she pushes with one foot to get where she wants to go. It won't be long now before she starts to crawl, so baby proofing efforts are going to be starting in earnest this week.

All by herself

In just a few short days, Emma went from sitting up if we helped her get there to being able to sit up all by herself. She'll be rolling around on the floor playing and the next thing we know, she's sitting up. It's really neat to watch her go.
Susie also seems to find Emma fascinating and REALLY wants to play with her. Last night Susie kept bringing Emma her rope toy hoping that Emma would throw it, but Emma doesn't understand yet. They are cute to watch together, except that Susie insists on licking Emma all the time.

Go Baby Go

Emma continues to amaze us! It seems like she is doing something new almost everyday. She is getting better and better at sitting up, she still can't get there by herself, but once she's there she can hold herself up for a long time.
The new thing this week is that she appears to be getting close to crawling. She gets herself up on her hands and knees and rocks herself back and forth. Considering how mobile she is with rolling, I'm going to have my work cutout when she starts crawling.
Emma also continues to explore the world of solid food. She loves her cereals and is showing a liking for veggies. She gets to try her first fruit this week, so we're hoping she'll like those too.

Check Up

Emma had her 6 month check up this morning. She is now 28 inches tall and weighs 19 lb 7 oz. That puts her in the 95th percentile for height and in the 90th percentile for weight. The doctor said that Emma looked great and that she is meeting all of her developmental milestones too.

Sweet Peas for the Sweet Pea

Emma had her taste of vegetables at lunch today. She seemed to really like the Gerber Sweet Peas... when she'd see the spoon coming toward her, she'd open her mouth and lean forward. But, she's very clear about when she's done eating. She sees the spoon coming toward her and spits.
Dave and I have been very lucky - Emma has been a wonderful baby and seems to transition from one thing to the next very well.

Balloons and Baby Laugh

We went to visit Dave's Mom last night and took her a Get Well balloon. Later in the evening, Jack and Kyle were playing with the balloon and that made Emma crack up laughing. They were big belly laughs that had everyone else in the room cracking up. I'm actually surprised the nurses didn't come tell us to keep it down!!
Dave and I are going to have to start getting balloons for Emma when we go places.

6 States in 6 Months

On Saturday we took a day trip to Michigan to pick apples. We went with Dave's parents, sister, and her family as a last hurrah before Dave's mom has her knee surgery tomorrow. We realized on our way up there that Emma has been to or through 6 states in her 6 months:
Illinois
Texas (to see Gigi and Poppy)
Missouri
Arkansas (as part of our Branson trip)
Indiana (on the way to MI)
Michigan. Emma is definitely a well traveled baby!
We came home with lots of yummy apples and I spent a good chuck of Sunday afternoon making applesauce with apples that didn't fit in the drawer of the refrigerator.

Emma continues to explore the world of solid foods. She tired baby oatmeal for the first time tonight and really seemed to like it. She's getting good at opening her mouth for the spoon. She is also having fun practicing her "sitting" skills. We still have to help her sit up, but once she's there, she had hold herself up for about a minute.

Dave is very excited about his Cubbies clinching a playoff berth for a second year in a row. The hope is that they can do better this year and make it past the first round!

Emma's Big Night

Emma will be 6 months old tomorrow and she had a big night tonight!
First, she ate a whole bowl of rice cereal from a spoon sitting in her high chair. She's made a lot of progress with the high chair and spoon in just a few days. Then, while playing with her Daddy, Emma sat up by herself!! Dave had to help her into the sitting position and he had to help steady her, but when he let go, she stayed sitting. The longest she was able to hold herself up was about 30 seconds, but that's a long time for someone who has never sat up by themselves before!

New Camera

Dave and I have been talking about getting a new camera for several months and have periodically been doing research as to what camera we wanted. Well, our old camera forced the issue over the weekend when Dave tried to take pictures of Emma and I playing and the camera wouldn't work. It has been "freezing" up for a while and this was the last straw. Our new Canon power shot arrived yesterday and it's cool! Dave and I have both been amazed at how well the new camera works and it takes normal batteries!

Emma had cereal in her bottle for the first time last week and really seemed to like it. So, last night we tried something new. Emma sat in her high chair and got her rice cereal from a spoon. She did really well for the first few bites...she knew to open her mouth for the spoon, but she didn't seem to like the texture of the cereal in her mouth. Four or five tries was all Emma had the patience for, so she got to finish her cereal from a bottle. I was proud of her for trying and we'll try again every night until we get the hang of it.

Hurricane Ike and Rain in Chicago

The weather made a big impact this weekend.
Hurricane Ike came ashore at Galveston in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Thankfully, our family members are okay. As of Sunday evening, my parents has power. The lights are still out at Uncle Bill's in Friendswood, Rhonda's in League City, and at Grandmommy's in Deer Park.
The weather in Chicago seemed to be sympathetic with the Houston area because it rained ALL weekend. We started hearing our sump pump run on Friday night and heard it going off and on all weekend, but thankfully we have a dry crawl space. As we were out and about over the weekend, we saw lots of places with flooding and came across streets closed due to water on the pavement.

Emma's Big Week........ Part 2

Emma continues to have a big week. Monday night she got to have cereal for the first time and today I discovered that she has a tooth starting to come in.
It looks like she might actually have her bottom TWO front teeth coming in. They are just barely breaking through the gums, but those sharp little points are there. I was amazed when I felt the first tooth because Emma hasn't really been extra fussy lately. There have been times when she's fussier than normal, but there have always been other things going on at the same time.

Cereal.......... At Last

Emma just keeps growing and growing on us........ Last night she got to have Rice cereal for the first time. And after three nights of waking up in the middle of the night, she slept through again. Yippee!!!!!!!!

We had wanted to wait to introduce cereal until Emma was 6 months old to, hopefully, reduce the chances of her having food allergies. We didn't make it to 6 months, but we made it pretty close........ within 11 days. The cereal opens up a whole new world for her, soon she'll be trying baby food and all kinds of other good stuff.

Had us fooled......

Right after Emma was born, we could take her ANYWHERE and she was perfect. She'd fall asleep wherever we were and just relax. I think we got spoiled!
Recently, we've discovered that Emma doesn't do as well when we are out and about for too long. She still does okay on car rides and will fall asleep, but I can't string too many errands together or she starts to lose her patience with me. This is especially true on physical therapy days when she's had to hang out with me for a hour while I make funny faces.
On Sunday, we met up with Dave's family for a Labor Day BBQ. Emma had been home most of the day before we left about 3:30 and had taken a couple of shorter naps, but she missed her long afternoon nap because of when we needed to leave. She did great at first and had fun playing with Jack and visiting with everyone there. But, about 8 PM, she became very angry and started crying and screaming. As soon as the car started going, Emma was fast asleep. Our little girl was exhausted!!!
What we figured out later, was that Emma didn't really nap much while we were gone and that really contributed to her being so tired. We need to find a way to get Emma comfortable falling asleep anywhere again!

Trip to Chicago and other news........

Emma and I hopped on the train this morning and headed into the city. It was Emma's second time to ride the train, but it was the first time I had to do it without Dave's help. We made it Downtown without any problems and had a nice day visiting with the gang at USG.
Everyone we ran into was glad to see us, but I thought it was funny how many people didn't realize that I had left the company when they had the latest workforce reduction.

Emma was a perfect angel the whole time we were gone; She was fascinated by all the people and sites. She did get a little fussy on the train ride home, but she'd been so good up to that point that I couldn't blame her.

On another front, I have started a second round of physical therapy to hopefully reverse the few lingering effects of the Bell's Palsy. The first round helped so much that I am really hopeful about the current round.

Emma and Susie

One of the things we were worried about before Emma was born was how Susie would handle having a baby in the house. At first Susie, wasn't all that interested in Emma. She also seemed to understand that if Emma was on the couch, then she couldn't be up there too.
Now that Emma is starting to be more mobile, grabbing for things, and starting to show her personality the dog is definitely more interested. So far, the two girls seem to be getting along and Susie has had a lot of patience for Emma's efforts to "pet" her.
Emma gets excited when she sees Susie and screeches, almost like she's asking Susie to come see her. And Susie seems to like the attention because she will go sit by Emma even though she repeatedly gets hit by flailing arms and legs that Emma is still learning how to control. Some of Susie's patience might have to do with the liver treats she gets after being "abused" by the baby.
We still keep a very close eye on the two when they are together, but so far we've been very proud of how Susie has made the adjustment

5 months

Today Emma is 5 months old and she's growing like a weed!! She seems to have mastered rolling over. She can go from her back to her belly, hold herself up to look around and reach for things, and then flip herself back over to her back for a different view of the world. Being on the floor and rolling around is now a favorite past time.
Emma has also discovered that she can use her hands to put things in her mouth, so EVERYTHING goes in there! She knows how to take the pacifier out and knows how to take it back to her mouth, but struggles with making sure it's facing the right direction.
The Exersaucer has also become an essential in Emma's day. She loves to practice sitting up and all the cool things she gets to play with. All in all, I think we have a pretty happy little girl.

First Fever

When Emma went for her last two "well baby" visits, her doctor hasn't had the HIB vaccine. After a lot of daily phone calls, they finally had the vaccine (which protects from meningitis). Emma was a real trooper and hardly even cried when I took her for the shot yesterday, but by bedtime last night the poor little girl was running a fever.
After a dose of baby Tylenol and sponging her off, the fever broke during the night. Other than being tired and a little fussier than normal, she seems to be okay today. I called the pediatrician this morning and they basically said that this is normal, that we did the right things, and to keep an eye on her.

Roll, Roll, and Roll some more

Emma has spent the past month practicing rolling over and she's gotten REALLY good at it. So good, in fact, that I caught her going from her back to her belly and BACK today. Sometimes when she rolls over, her left arm gets caught under her and it's easy for her to push herself back over.

It's really fun to watch her practice her new "skills" and Dave thinks it's funny that I call and tell him about the new things that Emma is doing.

4 month Check Up

Emma had her check up with the pediatrician today....... She is 27 inches long and weighed in at 15 lbs 15 oz. That translates to being above the 95th percentile for height and the 95th percentile for weight. The doctor said she looked great and Emma did good with her shots. We don't have to go back again until October 2.

Back from Vacation

Well, we made it to Branson, MO and back in one piece! Emma did great in the car (530 miles each way) and we were able to get out and do a lot while we were in Branson.

Mom had made arrangements for all of us to stay at Thousand Hills in a lovely 3 bed/3 bath condo and that really made the trip nice. It was a true luxury to have a kitchen, dishwasher, washer, and dryer available. The accommodations made taking care of Emma much easier too!

We made it to several shows and Emma did great in all of them, usually sleeping through at least half the show. I think my favorite shows were the Presley Country Jubilee, The Kirby VanBurch Magic show, and the 12 Irish Tenors. Emma even watched some of the magic show, I think she was intrigued by the lights and music. Monday was spent at Silver Dollar City and Emma rode her first theme park ride, the Shootout at the Flooded Mine. It was a slow moving ride and Emma rode in her Daddy's lap. She and I rode the Carousel at Celebration City when we were there Thursday night.

I think the best part of the trip, especially for Emma, was that she got to spend a lot of quality time with her Gigi, Poppy, Aunt Rhonda, Uncle Chris, and her cousins (Hannah and Drew). She will get to see all of them again when we go to Houston for Thanksgiving.

Another Exciting Week

We've had another exciting week in the Breese household.
I finished my physical therapy for the Bell's..... i wouldn't say that my face is 100% of what it used to be, but we are probably 80% there. I've gotten a smile back, even if it's not my smile. I think I'm to a point where I'd be okay if it didn't get any better, but of course, I'd really like things to continue improving.

Emma figured out that she has feet this week and that has been really neat to watch. She also figured out how to squeal and screech and seems to be enjoying testing her new found skills.

We are about to head to Branson to meet up with Mom, Dad, Rhonda, Chris, and the kids.

4th of July

Friday was Emma's first 4th of July... Poor little girl was so tired by the time we went to the fireworks, that she slept through them!

Emma did something new....

Our little pumpkin rolled over for the first time today! She's been trying to roll over since we were in Houston in early June and she finally was able to do it.

June 29, 2008

This past Sunday, we made a trip to Gurnee to visit with Dave's Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins. We tried taking family pictures (see photo at right). I didn't concentrate as much as I should have, so my smile still looks lopsided, but I think it's getting better. Emma on the other hand has a beautiful smile :)

Test Results

The glucose test results came in....
The diabetes is GONE! YIPPEE!!!!!!!

Updates

During the past week Emma has started grabbing for things and actually holding on. She's still not sure what her hands "do" and we caught her just staring at them with a look of concentration on her face. It's very cute.

I had my follow up glucose test on Friday and will know the results on Wednesday. I have also been going to physical therapy for the Bell's Palsy and am seeing some results. One exciting thing happened last night.... While doing my exercises, I was able to make the tip of my tongue into a "u" shape. This is something that I could do before the palsy, but couldn't do last Wednesday. It's a small step, but it's a tangible one to me, not just the therapist saying things look better.

Milestones

Our little girl is growing up fast on us! She laughed for the first time on June 4.... For her Daddy. And she has been sleeping in her crib since we got back from Houston and has continued to sleep through the night. We've been so lucky with Emma, she has just been the best baby!

Plane Ride

Emma had a lot of firsts on our trip to Houston June 6 - 11. She took her first (and second) airplane ride and did great both times. Thank goodness for pacifiers on take off and landing!
Emma also went to her first wedding and got to meet lots of family for the first time. She especially enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with her Gigi and Poppy during our visit and big cousin Hannah was a huge help keeping Emma entertained in the car.