Almost 1 year

It has been awhile since I last posted. With work, building a house and planning a wedding... I have let the blog slip. But no more! I am forcing myself to blog at least once a week since this will be a way for Emersyn to read about her past.

Speaking of Emersyn. She is almost a year old. I cannot believe how quick this first year flew. I will be posting on Friday all about her birth (yes I know her bday is Saturday however she was born 19 min into the day so.... all the work happened on the 30th). We had her 1 year photos taken last weekend. Here are a few of my favorites. Be sure to stop back Friday for another post :-)

Two steps forward, Two steps back

About a month ago, I got very excited because Emersyn had slept through the night without crying out because she couldn’t find her binky. She has been “sleeping” 10 hours a night since she was 5 months old but she cries out 1-3 times a night because she needs her binky and it has fallen into an obscure corner of the crib. She finally figured out how to locate 1 of the two binkies in her crib and get it back in her mouth by herself and I was enjoying the extra sleep. Even though getting up to put in a binky is not as rough as middle of the night feedings, I am still getting interrupted sleep.

Well… about a week ago the streak of sleep has stopped. She is working on 3 teeth and has had a viral infection and all of this has driven her back into the world of “I can’t find my binky” cries in the middle of the night. So… once again I get up, walk down the hallway, locate a binky in a dark room, stick it back in her mouth, cover her up and go back to bed….. several times a night.

I am hoping this relapse is only temporary, however my gut is telling me not to give up on my weekend naps.

M-I-C... See ya real soon

14 weeks from today, I’m heading to Disneyland J I realize that may seem like an awfully long time but I have been looking forward to this since Emersyn was born. My mom and I have been going to Disneyland the week after Thanksgiving for years upon years upon years. It is our family tradition. Last year we missed it due to a new baby, but this year we are heading over. A little known secret and one that I am hopefully not ruining is…. That the week after Thanksgiving is the best time to go. The park is decorated for Christmas, the holiday snacks are in all the restaurants AND there is barely a crowd since everyone came the week before.

Some of you may be wondering why on earth we would want to take a 1 year old to Disney who is going to remember NOTHING of the trip. Well, because Disneyland is more than the rides and the food and the atmosphere. It is about spending time with your family and making memories. Alex and I will remember the memories from this trip and we will be together as a family.

This year instead of just my mom and me, Alex will obviously be coming. He stopped being a Disneyland virgin last March when we all went over spring break. I am excited to go on more rides with him this time since his first time was when I was 3 months pregnant and I skipped most the rides. Plus, my aunt is coming along. She hates most roller coasters so she is the perfect addition when we have a toddler that can’t go on them J Plus, we will be utilizing the stroller swap a lot. And of course, my princess will be first of many trips to the magic kingdom.

Now I will admit as a compulsive and neurotic planner, I have been researching online and reading articles about taking a 1 year old to Disney. Mine message in all of them- take it slower. Bathroom breaks will take longer, eating will take longer, and breaks will occur more. I am fine with that. This trip is not about the amount of rides we go on or the parades or the characters. This trip is about seeing her face light up when we walk through the gates and into the most magical place in the world!

Texture Smexture

I have finally decided to concede that my child is a picky eater. I have been lying to myself for months saying that it was just a phase and that she would finally get it, but alas… I have decided to concede… sort of. Emersyn will be 10 months old on Monday and as her 1^st birthday looms near, I have been trying to broaden her “stage 2” baby food.

Let me start by clarifying that she is not a picky eater when it comes to food; she is a picky eater when it comes to textures. As long as it comes in a “Stage 2” format, my kid will lick the bowl clean. However, when I try to mix in “Stage 3” or cottage cheese, she gags herself until she throws up. She is the first bulimic infant I have ever seen.  I am not a picky eater. I will eat almost everything. However, I do not like melon (any type watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, etc) because of the texture. I think it is gross. Apparently, my child sadly inherited from me her hate of textures…. As much as I would love to blame her father for this L

So what to do? I wouldn’t care what stage food she was on if a trip to Disneyland was not planned for 4 months from now and I refuse to lug baby food around the park. So… I have made the executive decision to skip “Stage 3” food in our house and move straight to table food because when she feeds herself, she is fine. She eats crackers, cheerios, pancakes and bananas, so I am just going to keep broadening her table food intake. I can’t keep cleaning up throw up or spending money on baby food that gets thrown away. Just pray that getting the table food down is an easier process than “Stage 3” for our house J  

Anniversary of the scare

On July 19^th, 2010, a year ago today, I had a pretty big scare in my pregnancy. I told very few people about it but since I have a happy and beautiful baby girl now… here is the story.

I woke up on the 19^th and it was just a normal Monday morning. I got ready and went in to work. I had to pee as soon as I got there (again pretty normal for a 7 month pregnant lady) but when I went, I noticed some spotting. I panicked but waited 5 min and then went to another bathroom (I didn’t want people to get suspicious about my bathroom activity) to check again. More spotting, so of course now I was really panicked. I had not had any spotting my entire pregnancy, so needless to say I was thinking the worst.

I called Alex and filled him in. I told him that I needed to wait until 7:45 to call the office when they open and then I would tell him what they said. I called the office the second the clock hit 7:45 and filled my Drs Medical assistant in with the issue. She told me that it probably was nothing to be concerned with and that at this point in the game things “down below” are filled with lots of extra blood and a jostle could have caused the spotting but that she would check with the Dr and get back to me.  

Ten min later, she called back to say the Dr had stated that I needed to go to OB triage at the hospital immediately. They would call ahead and fill the hospital in with the details. The reason, my uterus! Most women have an upside-down triangle shaped uterus. Mine is shaped like a heart, so Emersyn grew on mostly only the right side of my uterus. The Dr was concerned that due to my uterus shape that Emersyn had run out of room and my body was ready for labor. Now I was even more panicked. I called Alex and thanked God that we worked in the same office building as we both left and headed over to the hospital in his car. I called my mom and best friend and filled them in and told them I would call when I had news.

The drive although fast, seemed like it took forever. The entire time I was freaking out because I couldn’t remember the last time I felt her move or kick. Was she ok? Why wasn’t she moving? She is way too little to be born this early; I need her to stay inside. We got to the hospital, checked in and I was hooked up to lots of monitors. The heart rate monitor proved that Emersyn was still strong and since she hated any machine that was placed on my belly to monitor her, she started kicking and hitting at it. This relieved Alex and I and made us both laugh which we needed.

I went through a ton of tests. At this point I was starving and was being told I could only have ice chips. Ice chips do not make for a happy pregnant woman J But finally they told me all the tests had come back ok and I just needed to have an ultrasound done. I walked in my adorable hospital gown over to the X-Ray room and lay on the table. First they did an internal ultrasound to ensure that my cervix was not shortening (a dead giveaway that I was starting labor). Nope, cervix was perfect. So now to look at the baby…. this is where we discovered that my stubborn girl was breech. To her credit, she probably ran out of room in my smaller than normal uterus and just couldn’t flip anymore. And she stayed breech another 2 ½ months until she was born. The reason for the spotting they thought, overexertion on my part. I had literally been down on all fours cleaning the baseboards the Saturday before. So I was sentenced to take it easy for the rest of the pregnancy, something I actually found very hard. But thankfully, my angel was perfect and safe.

After over 5 hours of test and ONLY ice chips. Alex and I drove back to work to get my car and I made him stop at Culver’s (because the baby wanted it) to get me some fast food. At least the day ended on a good note.

Pillow Princess

Emersyn is obsessed with throw pillows at the moment. She crawls over to the couch, pulls them down one by one and creates a fort for herself. The smarty figured out that if the pillow is out of reach, she simply needs to pull on the slipcover for the couch and like magic.... they come towards her. This means that A) my couch always looks a wreck because the slipcover is half off almost constantly and B) all my throw pillows have spit up and drool all over them. However, watching her try to move a pillow that is as big as her is totally worth it. Once her pillow fort is built she takes her dolls and stuffed animals in to play. This night, Tigger was the lucky guest for the night.

Happy Birthday America

I have really been lacking in the mandatory parenting activities since Emersyn was born. We didn't go to see Santa Claus, we didn't go to see the Easter Bunny so.... I was determined to celebrate the 4th! We decided to celebrate the 4th on the 3rd though. Mostly because Emersyn is normally in bed when it is still light out and Tuesday we both have to work... meaning Emersyn has to get up at 6am (usually her normal time) for daycare so there would be no sleeping in if she stayed up late. Since there were no fireworks on the 3rd, we decided to have our own small celebration. After bath time, we went out to the patio to light sparklers. We were in luck that a monsoon had hit earlier so even though it was only 7:30 out, it was pretty dark with clouds. Alex and I fought over who got to light the sparklers while we took turns holding Emersyn. She, however, was less than impressed with our small light show. Regardless, I have pictures to show her when she has kids of her own of her first 4th (3rd) of July! :-) The last picture is my favorite, I got Alex smiling and Emersyn leaning on her favorite man!