Potty Traing and a busy weekend

Emma continues to work on learning how to use the potty. She did great Saturday afternoon and only had one accident. Go EMMA!

We also had a busy weekend. Emma got to go see Grandma and PawPaw Saturday while Dave and I went to a Halloween party. We all had a lot of fun! Sunday started with a trip to Morton Arboretum for the fall festival and Trick or Trees. Emma and our nephew, Jack, seemed to have fun. They even painted a small pumpkin to bring back to Kyle who's fever kept him from going with us. Dave and I were a little disappointed in the Trick or Trees aspect of the outing and have decided that next year we will go on a different weekend and just enjoy the Fall Festival. We went to Dave's parent's house after the Arboretum for chili and to watch the Bear's game. Emma had so much fun playing with her cousins and the chili was great, but the football game was embarrassing. The Bear's should be ashamed of themselves!

Being busy and out and about all day meant that Emma took a break from potty training on Sunday. We were a little worried that would set her back, bust she did great yesterday! She had two accidents, but both were because I was just too slow in getting her to the potty. The first accident happened as I was on my way to get her to go and the second happened not long after she had dinner. I had just gotten to her and was trying to convince her to go try and the accident happened. Considering that we are still in the early stages of training, I am very proud of how Emma is doing.

Potty Training Day 2 + 3

Our second day of the journey called Potty Training went significantly better than Day 1. We still had lots of accidents.... carpets and hardwood floors alike took punishment yesterday. But, we had significant success yesterday as well. Emma went #2 on the potty twice yesterday and we made it to the potty in time to pee twice as well. The first time she made it, it was me deciding it had been awhile since she'd gone and we'd try. We got in there and magic happened almost right away. The second time, Emma asked to go by getting a little fussy. Again, she went almost as soon as we got into the bathroom.

Today seems to be a repeat of the early stages of yesterday afternoon... Emma is already on her third pair of trainers, but we are going to keep trying!

Potty Training Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of our journey to get Emma potty trained. The morning went great and we didn't have any accidents, but we didn't have any huge success either. It seems Emma doesn't have to go much in the morning.

Between lunch and afternoon nap time, things didn't go so well. We went through several pairs of training pants because Emma didn't tell me she needed to go. Every time I put her on the potty, there wasn't any action and then 5 minutes later, we'd have wet trainers.

Dave stopped at Target on his way home and picked up more training pants so that laundry maybe only has to get done once a day until Emma gets the hang of things. Our evening went a little better with only one accident and one success. Emma went pee on the potty right before her bath... after a day of trying without any success, this felt like a major victory.

It was only day one, so we are trying not to get discouraged and will keep trying.

Hello Fall

I know we are past the halfway point in October, but this weekend was the start of our fall house and yard work as we begin to prepare for winter. We were blessed with beautiful weather all weekend and did our best to take advantage of it.

Saturday was mow the lawn/pick of leaves day for me.... I was counting my blessings for the Toro mulching mower!!! I started with the front yard and by the time I was done with the back yard (with a break in the middle to get Emma up from her nap, fed, and tucked into her stroller outside) the front was covered in leaves again. Mother Nature has a good sense of humor! Dave put our new storage unit to good use and packed away the patio chairs and Emma's wagon for the next several months. He then moved on to the house heating and cooling systems; he got the air conditioner covered and the humidifier maintenance done. We were very productive!!

The beautiful weather has continued and we have taken advantage of it. Emma had a grand time yesterday afternoon when we went outside after lunch. She thought playing with and chasing the leaves was fabulous. Today, we took a walk in town after her park district class to get a few errands run. I really enjoy our little downtown area. It's so easy to drive in and then walk to get everything done.

Bell's Palsy Update

Earlier this year (January), my face was going nuts with twitches, spasms, etc. The neurologist I had been seeing ordered a MRI and more blood work. When those came back fine, she pretty much gave up and sent me to an ENT. The ENT confirmed that I have Bell's and sent me to Dr. Choi at the Eye and Facial Clinic. Dr. Choi has a ridiculously long title..... When I saw him in March, he was the FIRST doctor who told me that he could see all of the involuntary things my face was doing. He also explained some of the facial movements I was doing that were making the bad connections between nerves and muscles worse. The biggest peice of his treatment was a series of Botox injections in my forehead.

This treatment worked! With the help of the Botox, I have learned to control some of the facial movements so that I don't do them unconsciously anymore... at least not as much. That change has caused all of the involuntary ticks and twitches to stop... at least to the point where they are no longer visible on the surface. For SIX whole months, it seemed like the Bell's had quieted down and we had reached a status quo to live with.

In mid September, I had my first "Bell's headache" in a long time (where the headache is contained to the left side and my face is very sore/tired at the same time). I also started to experience more muscle tiredness and fatigue on the left side and a few random eyebrow twitches on the right side. All things that made me nervous! So, I finally gave in and called Dr. Choi.

I had my appointment with him last night and the news was good and not so good.

The good news:

Involuntary ticks and twitches on the left side are NOT visible! The right side eyebrow twitch is a random thing that happens to everyone and not something to worry about.

The not so good news:

The time period for nerve healing is pretty much 12 months, so what I have in terms of recovery is probably all I'm going to get. The muscle tiredness and fatigue I feel sometimes are just the way things are now. The headache issue is more of a tension issue that the Bell's just makes the left side more susceptible to.

The plan:

As of now..... Do Nothing. I do have another appointment with Dr. Choi on December 1. If things stay the way they are, I will probably cancel the appointment. If things decline, I will keep the appointment and we may redo the forehead Botox treatment. He said at this point that the Botox would not hurt anything, but that he wasn't sure it would help me at all. The bad nerve muscle connections are still there (my mouth moves if I raise my eyebrows and my eye moves if I pucker my lips), but these are now conscious movements, so the chances of the nerve firing random signals are slimmer.

Thanks to everyone for all of the prayers and positive thoughts during the ordeal that has been Bell's Palsy.... They have been very appreciated and helpful!

Emma and Susie

We had a pretty big day yesterday... We made the drive up to Sawyer, MI to meet up with Dave's family for the day and had a lot of fun picking apples and getting pumpkins. Emma and Susie were both real troopers! Emma was pretty much in her car seat or the stroller most of the day. I think one of the reasons she did so well all day was having her cousins (Jack and Kyle) to keep her company most of the day. Susie definitely earned herself an extra milk bone by being very tolerant of the amount of time she spent in her pet carrier.

We've been taking it easy today and got to see one of the cutest things... Emma found the dog leash this morning and kept trying to attach it to Susie's collar. Dave helped get that part done and then Susie (very dutifully) let Emma "walk" her in a loop through the kitchen, living, and dining rooms. Emma's grip on the leash wasn't tight at all and Susie could have easily walked off if she wanted to, but Susie was a great sport and let Emma have her fun.

Before Emma was born, we were a little worried about how Susie (being an older dog) would adapt to the new addition. It's been a relief to see the two of them become friends and get along.

Emma Stories

I realized after I made my last entry that I left out the funniest part of Emma's check up. During the physical exam, Emma was sitting in my lap and the doctor was looking in her mouth and Emma says "I no want," basically telling the doctor to get the tongue depressor out of her mouth.

Tuesday was our weekly Tot Rock class. Emma seems to be enjoying it and is learning a lot, even how to put toys away after playing with them. The kids in class have to take the toys used back to the teacher several times and that has translated into Emma helping clean up at home. We have to be pretty specific about what we want her to do, but she does help out. In this weeks class, a little boy actually tried to flirt with Emma by trying to hold her hand... It was pretty cute.

We had a little bit of a scare on Tuesday night... Emma was playing and we noticed that the light in our family room was moving. As we started to correct Emma by telling her not to play with the lamp, it started to tilt and eventually crashed to the ground. Thankfully, Emma was behind where the lamp fell so she wasn't hurt. Unfortunately, the globe of the lamp crashed into a million pieces and we had to go get another lamp. I really think our family room lamp situation is cursed. Dave had the first lamp we used for years before it finally died and now we are on our second lamp in 6 weeks and neither of the newer lamps works as well for the room as the first one.

18 Month Update

Emma had her 18 month check up this morning and she did great! She now weighs 24 lbs 12 oz and is 33 1/2 inches tall. That puts her in the 75th and 95th percentiles respectively, so she is staying on the curve where she's been for the last several check ups.
The doctor gave Emma a general thumbs up and said that she's right where she should be developmentally... maybe even a little ahead of the curve. Go EMMA!
We've been so lucky with our little pumpkin. She seems to catch on to things quickly and loves trying new things, so she is always doing something new.