11 Month Old Tiny Dancer

Our Emily is 11 months old and is changing and growing faster than we could have ever imagined.  She is becoming a delightful handful and a little show stopper with all her new developments and abilities.  Emily loves to dance and has started to not only bounce up and down but also shake her hips side to side.  Anytime she hears music she dances and when she hears a song she especially loves she not only bounces and shakes her booty but moves her hands to the beat as well.  It is the funniest thing every time!  Daddy's going to have to watch out for his little dancer, she gets the love of dancing from him.

Emily is mimicing more and more and has become a little problem-solver, or tries to be.  She watches very closely on how you do things and then tries to do them herself.  She has learned that her blocks not only go in the bucket but that each one has a place to fall through on top.  Her stack toys are no longer just rings to pull off and throw but can actually go back on the ring.  She doesn't know the sequence of which they have to go on but nonetheless it's a step in the right direction.  All of this observing is great for her development, but it also leads to curiosity that leads to fingers getting caught in drawers and mommy pulling out objects from her mouth that shouldn't be there.  I have to always make sure there aren't any small items that have fallen on the floor because she will always find them, even the tiniest bit of plastic looks tempting.  The good news is that she listens when you ask her to give you something she has in her hand or mouth.  The only time she does this is when she realizes that you have a serious tone in your voice.  Any other time it is hard to get her pay attention to your command.  She has selective hearing when it comes to getting her to put things down or stop pulling on cords.  Emily has a stubborn side and she laughs at you when you try to get upset at her.  Mommy and daddy are teaching her discipline, but with Emily, she learns only on her own terms.

Along with dancing and mimicing, Emily now has two more teeth that are growing alongside her upper incisors.  We never had to deal with teething problems before, Emily fussed a little now and then, but this time it is a whole different story.  Teething is now creating sleep problems for her and she constantly has her fingers in her mouth, which bothers me because she is crawling everywhere.  Along with the sleep problems she has also become inreasingly whiny and seems to cry at nothing at times.  Tylenol and Orajel are mommy's best friends at the moment.

Baby sister Avery is now in Emily's life and it has been a big transition for her.  At first she didn't like that mommy was holding a new baby, she would try and climb all over me as if the baby wasn't even in my arms, but as the days go on she becomes better at waiting her turn.  The only time she throws a fit is when she is really tired and needs a nap or is ready for sleep, then she wants to be mommy's one and only.  It is going to be hard but I'm sure Emily will grow to love her sister and may always want her around.  For now she enjoys giving baby Avery kisses on top of her head.  So precious! 

Avery's Birth Story

It all started late at night on August 14th, when I experienced a small water leak.  Earlier during the week I was 4cm dilated and 70% effaced so Brian and I knew we were very close to meeting Avery.  I had never experienced my water rupturing when I went into labor with Emily so I called my mother-in-law to seek her opinion on the matter.  The liquid was clear and had no urine-like smell so both of us were pretty sure I was leaking amniotic fluid and that I was going into labor.  I called the doctor and told her I was coming in to the hospital.

Brian and I were so excited that labor was finally happening, we settled in at the triage room and answered all the questions asked of us for admittance.  My parents and sisters were already in the waiting room and Emily was with Brian's parents who were waiting by the phone for news of the arrival.  I wasn't experiencing any contractions at this point but was expecting them to come soon, especially after the painful pelvic check from the nurse.  To our surprise the nurse came back with news that the fluid was urine from a bladder leakage and that I was not in labor.  I couldn't understand how that was possible since I could still feel small amounts of fluid leaking, but her explanation sounded logical so we all went home.

Ten minutes after arriving home I started to feel slight cramping, which I attributed to the checkup from the nurse at the hospital.  Then the cramping turned into very strong contractions, much stronger than I had with Emily.  Brian and I started timing them and they were two minutes apart and approximately 40 seconds long.  We called the doctor and headed to the hospital going 90 mph with our hazards on the whole way.  I tried to focus on the pain and kept my eyes closed the whole way while Brian ate half a bag of gummy bears to keep calm.  I just kept thinking how long it was going to take to re-admit back into the hospital, get me in a room, hook me up to IV's and then get an epidural.  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get through the pain while waiting for the nurses to do what they needed to get done.

Brian dropped me off at the emergency room while he went to park.  I walked in and looked at the security guard and just pointed at the labor and delivery sign.  I was unable to really speak at that point as I was trying to breath through the contractions which seemed to be coming closer together.  He went to get me a wheel chair while the people in the waiting room offered me their own chairs.  I think I was freaking them out, they must have thought I was going to have the baby right there in front of them.  Brian wheeled me up to the second floor and got me in the triage room again where the nurse hooked me up to a fetal monitor and gave me a pelvis check.  When she said I was already fully dilated, all I could ask was if I was going to be able to have an epidural.  She said she was going to try and get me set up as fast as possible then called to the other nurses that she had a rim.  At that point I knew I wasn't going to be able to get the epidural I wanted and that my worst fears were happening.  Having natural labor with no medication was not in my birth plan but it was going to happen whether I liked it or not. 

They wheeled my bed into a delivery room and started to get everything together for the birth.  Being in a sit down position was the best way I could deal with the contractions.  I had a nurse on one side of me trying to hook the monitors on and another nurse on the opposite side trying to insert an IV in my hand.  The nurse asked me to lay back so she could get the baby's heart beat to come up on the monitor.  All of a sudden I felt a major contraction that made me yell ouch, ouch, ouch and then a pressure so intense I had the sudden urge to push.  I yelled out, I have to push...and the nurse told me, don't push.  I pushed a little and then felt another urge at which I yelled, I have to push...and the nurse tried to hold my legs together and told me not to push.  There was no holding back, as much as I tried to stop my body from pushing it rejected my commands and did as it wanted.  I unintentionally pushed one last time and the baby came out and landed on the bed.  The nurse yelled, "We have a baby!" 

Avery Michelle was born at 3:12am on August 15, 2010 weighing in at 6 lbs. 3 oz. and measuring 19 in. long.  She was born without the doctor in the room and no one to catch her, but was perfect.  Her screams were so tiny and sounded so beautiful.  Brian saw the whole thing happen and I will never in my life forget the look of shock on his face when Avery came out.  It was such a relief after I had her but I couldn't help but worry about not being hooked up to antibiotics for Group B Strep, which I had tested positive for earlier in my pregnancy.  Group B Strep is a bacteria that is normal in women but can be fatal for vaginally delivered babies when the mother is not treated during labor.  After being examined and tested, Avery came back with a clean bill of health and a high apgars score of 9.  Emily came by the next day and welcomed her little sister into the world with an excited shriek.  Mommy and daddy are going to have our hands full with two baby girls, but we couldn't be happier to have them both.

Baby Sister is Coming

We are at the tail end of this pregnancy and I am really close to giving Emily a new baby sister.  As of 37 weeks, I am 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced, which means labor and delivery could happen at any moment now.  It's a little frightening to think we will be dealing with two babies very soon, but I have no doubt that we are going to have a crazy but enjoyable roller coaster ride.

Summer Days

I Love Books

Emily loves to be read to and enjoys looking at books.  I hope she keeps this great attribute all her life and becomes a book worm just like her mom.



Oops!  Upside down



Emily loves big bright pictures



Tired of mom flashing lights in her face.  Read to me already!





Emily also loves yogurt bites.  See my pearly whites?





Trying to take the camera away from mom.



Riding my Pony

Emily still loves her Pony..excuse the scratch on her forehead.

She scratched herself in her sleep.  Mom's gotta cut those nails.



Kissing her pony





Petting her pony



10 Months Old

Emily, not diggin' her bow so much

My very active 10 month old is learning how to climb.  Emily is already crawling everywhere and testing mommy and daddy with how much she can do and get into.  It isn't surprising that she is now trying to climb on objects.  I was emptying the dishwasher and she climbed on the door, it isn't that far off the ground, but she was on top of it before I could blink my eyes.  My angel used to be so great at chuch, and she still is, but now she wants to climb all over the pews and kneelers as well as crawl all over the floor, which I don't think the priest likes very much so we have to try and keep her as occupied as possible.  It is very hard to accomplish this task with toys that do not make noise.

She hasn't started walking yet, although her Ama did buy her some walking shoes, but she is getting better at stading by herself.  Once she figures out that she isn't holding on to something she sits down, she hasn't gained confidence in her ability to stand quite yet. 

Emily has four teeth and has now started to bite harder because of them.  I wouldn't call her a biter just yet, but she does try to test them out on fingers if they get close enough to her mouth.  This is partially my fault since I would place my finger in her mouth when checking the status of her teeth.  She hated for me to check her gums so I made it into a game where I would say "Ouch!" whenever she bit down.  At that time it wasn't such a hard clamp, now you really have to watch out or get teeth marks where you don't want them.  Despite the occasional bite, Emily can now eat soft chunky foods, so we have decided to try her out on other foods beside the baby type.  She loves rice, pasta, potatoes and soft breads, and also loves to feed it to herself.  Emy likes the texture of her new foods and doesn't get bored so fast when at the dinner table, which means mom can take a little more time eating her meal.

Baby Girl #2 is on her way...we have three more weeks until her due date, but I don't see me going that long.  At my last appointment I was dilated 2cm and 50% effaced.  Baby was also weighing in at approximately 5lbs.  I think Emily can feel the change coming as well, she has become ever so clingy to me lately.  Sometimes I'm the only one who can calm her down if she is crying.  It is getting harder to pick her up with this belly, but soon that will change and mommy will have two babies in her arms.




Emily has a bruise on her forehead from crawling around and climbing. 




She's learning to sit still when mommy says "Cheese".  Soon she'll learn it means to smile, I hope.