Emilie's First Day of Preschool!

How is this little lady growing up so quickly?!  She loves school and had a great first day!!  She's so excited to have Mrs. Naughton, who was one of Marin's first teachers as well.

Emilie's Big Girl Bed!

I'm behind again, because life is bonkers and frankly, I'm tired.  But also because I have officially taken so many pictures that our computer is out of storage, and the process of storing them permanently on an external hard drive, where I am most comfortable- more so than just on shutterfly- is so painstakingly ridiculously tedious and time consuming, I almost can't believe it's 2013.  There has to be a better way.  I am convinced that there is.

In any case, I am anxious to get some of these posts up before I get even further behind, and then I'll just have to post pictures later, when I can finally get them off my camera and onto the computer.  Here goes....

Emilie is sleeping in a big girl bed.  She has for about two months now.  In keeping with what has become the entire theme of her life, girl was ready to be just like her sister- and in this instance, sleep in a big girl bed.  She tells everyone that walks through the door, "Big girl bed.  I sleep all night!"  She sleeps like a champ in there, although, admittedly, she still isn't the sleeper that her sister is.

Natch, with her big girl bed, came a newly decorated room.  I still have a painted scalloped-thingy detail that I want to add to finish off her room, but otherwise, its done.  And since we kept her room hers, and moved the nursery, the extra detailed-not-sure-how-to-quite-do-it scalloped-thingy is going to have to take back burner to decorating the baby nursery.

We moved the baby furniture over to the new nursery, what once used to be the world's smallest master bedroom, pre-addition.  The room is painted anjou pear, and I promise it looked cool with adult furniture in there, but now, with a crib set up, it looks exactly like baby diarrhea.  It has to go.  Yesterday.  Plus, did you hear?!  IT'S A BOY, Y'ALL!!!!!!!!  WHAAAAAAAAAAAT???!!!!  Can't WAIT to decorate a boy nursery.  Stand by for more on the addition of testosterone to our estrogen palace.

So proud of big girl Emmie-cakes in her big girl bed.  Almost as proud as she is of herself.  She looks so cute and little snuggled in those big kid sheets.  But alas, she's growing up... 

Ahhh... school!

School is a mom's best friend.  Make that a mom and a little sister's best friend.

Don't get me wrong, I miss Marin almost immediately after drop off at school.  But boy oh boy- Emilie's getting so much attention!  I love that I am getting to do all of the things with Emilie that I did with Marin when she was little.  School is such a special time for Emilie and me.  We go on walks, play with sidewalk chalk, go to the park, play peek-a-boo, and sometimes just sit and giggle at each other.

And let's talk about how much easier it is to get stuff done with only one child in tow.  I had completely forgotten about that. 

Ahhh, school. 

Baby's Best Friend!

Emilie said her first word last week.  Well, first word other than Mama, Dada or Hi. 

She looked and Norah and pet her saying, "Awggie" (Doggie).   

Adorable. 

Since then she also says, "Uggie" for Huggie when she leans in to hug us. 

Ear Tubes for Emilie

Poor Emilie had five ear infections in one year, so her Pediatrician sent us to the ENT.  I went in with my dukes up, announcing that I didn't want her to have tubes.  To his credit he calmly told me that was 100% my choice, but advised a hearing test.  When it came back that she really couldn't hear at all (for a year she could only hear like hear under water), and that she had so much fluid in her ears that she was in pain, my decision was easy.  Give the poor girl some relief and let her hear.

June 18th was the day.  The process was short and relatively easy.  She did cry when they took her in, and she cried hard and was extremely irritable for a solid half hour when they wheeled her back to me, as the anesthesia wore off.  But after that, she was her old self again quickly.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy, and this summer has been a doozie.  Her right ear bled a lot.  So much so that it dried in the ear canal and blocked the tube.  She failed the hearing screen in that ear two weeks later at her post-opp appointment.  They extended the drops in that ear, and I think finally we have some relief.  She goes back on Monday the 9th for another look and hearing screen and hopefully this time she passes.

 n the meantime, she is sleeping better and making all kinds of new sounds.  And she has snazzy fitted plugs for swimming. 


I

Emilie Mae- Nine Months Old!

9 Month Stats

18 lbs. 3 oz.
28 inches long

Emilie turned nine months old on Valentine's Day. She remains a very happy baby with an enormous grin from ear to ear. She is pure joy.

Although Emilie still does not have a single tooth, this doesn't surprise us one bit, considering Marin didn't get her first tooth until her first birthday. However, like Marin, Emilie is learning to chew despite not having any teeth. We have recently started giving her some soft solid puffs, that she can grab and put in her mouth. She is a much better eater than she has been, and will eat almost everything that we give her. Although, when she is full, she is definitely done and she lets you know it!

Emilie isn't quite pulling herself to stand, but she does stand with aid, and walks when we hold her hands. She loves to stand!

Emilie loves animals! She loves to snuggle up with the dog, and sweet Norah just lets her crawl all over her and grab at the tags on her collar. Emilie also liked crawling after Jake's kitties last weekend, but they were so fast, and she didn't particularly like when they scampered away so quickly.

Emilie now waves bye-bye. With her tiny little hand, it's adorable. The first time I saw her do this was before Marin's birthday party, to Aunt Vee. I got all excited and announced, "She's waving! She just waved!!" And then Jason piped up in the kitchen, "Oh yeah, she did that yesterday." Poor second child.

Emilie is a good sleeper. She doesn't go for the paci like her sister did, so when she does occasionally wake up, it's a little tougher to get her soothed back to sleep, but she usually sleeps about 14 hours a day- 12 through the night and then a nap or two.

Emilie got moves like Jagger. Just kidding. Sorry, that was lame. But she's crawling all over the place and she moves quickly. Baby gates are definitely up. What is appealing to babies about the stairs that they will perch at the top of the them staring down a long set of wooden steps, and think, "Sure, why not. Let's try this out?" She gets so mad when we put the gates up. Like, "Oh man! I really wanted to try that today! I almost got away with it!"

Emilie says "da-da". I'll say, can you say "ma-ma?" And she just smiles and me and says, "da-da!" We'll keep working on it.

Emilie likes to read books, and then reach out and touch the pages and put it in her mouth. We have started a library class for her, and she loves it! We sing songs and read stories and she watches very intently, and bounces her legs for the stories. Marin goes along too, and tries to steal the show from all the babies. Oy vey.

Speaking of Marin, she is Emilie's favorite person on the planet. She absolutely lights up around her. When Marin acts goofy, Emilie just giggles and giggles. Marin is starting to play with Emilie a lot more now too. Emilie just goes with the flow and follows after her on all fours.

Life is good.

And speaking of Valentine's Day, we spent most of it in the doctor's office after Marin developed a nasty cough that was diagnosed as RSV. She's on the nebulizer and is feeling better, thank goodness! Here are some pictures of the happier points of the day!

Emilie is Crawling!

Emilie has been doing a lot of army crawling, but yesterday while we were all playing in the basement I looked over at Emilie and she was crawling across the (icky, cold, concrete) basement floor like she had done it all her life. It's a funny crawl- more on her forearms than hands, but her stomach is off the ground and she can really move!

Marin got really excited about it and grabbed her play camera to take a video of it too. Like mother like daughter. She kept telling her, "Good job 'lil sweetheart!"

Break out the baby gates and the running shoes. There are two babies and dog loose in our house!

What a difference a year makes!

A year ago today we found out I was pregnant with Emilie. What a difference a year makes!

Emilie's Baptismal Day!

Last Sunday was Emilie's first celebratory day dedicated only to her! It was her baptismal day; and it was gorgeous from start to finish.

Emilie was baptized at 4pm at Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago, where Marin was baptized, wearing the same gown. Old St. Pat's is a very special church to our family, and I was overjoyed that Emilie was able to be welcomed into our faith at this beautiful church, the oldest public building in Chicago. It was a lovely ceremony, where four other children (all boys) were also baptized. Emilie did very well, and didn't cry a peep when the water was poured over her head. And, when the priest anointed her with the oils, she beamed up at him with wide eyes.

Since the ceremony was later in the day, and downtown, we celebrated with an 11am brunch at our house preceding the ceremony. We put a large canopy in the backyard and decorated tables to sit underneath it in the shade. But, at over 90 degrees in the shade, many people chose to be indoors as well. I made cheddar-dill scones, carrot muffins with an orange zest frosting, banana crunch muffins and zucchini bread, as well as ham and asparagus strata, yogurt and granola parfaits, asparagus spears, and a fruit platter. I also made a watermelon, lime and mint drink to beat the heat, and no brunch would be complete without mimosas. Along with cake, we had my moms famous lemon squares for dessert, and, just as she did for Marin's baptism, my sweet, sweet grandmother, at 93, brought an array of her famous sugar cookie cutouts, frosted and decorated to perfection.

It was a special day, attended by so many special people in our lives; a wonderful way for Emilie to begin her faith journey. We asked our dear friend Mike, to be Emilie's godfather, and Jason's sister, Lindsay to be her godmother. We know that they will be wonderful examples to Emilie, in both faith and character. She is a very lucky little girl to be loved so much by so many people!

It was a special day I know I'll never forget!