Beach Trip 2011

We are home from our summer vacation at the beach! We convened at Topsail Beach with SuSu, Big Daddy, Aunt Mer, and Aunt Mer's roommate, "Uncle" Josh.  A good time was had by all. Emmy loved the ocean and building sand castles. And of course she loved getting extra attention.

The best part: she slept great. Because I know you're all dying to know, we're finally back into a good sleeping rhythm.  It finally took going back to crying it out (and more vomit). It stunk, but we knew in our hearts it's what she needed, and within 24 hours she was crying less than 10 minutes, and by the next day less than 3 min or not at all. By the fourth night, no tears, and she went to bed perfectly for the baby-sitter (we'd gone out to see Harry Potter and celebrate Mary Ann's birthday).  This continued at the beach.  We have a slightly extended nighttime routine that involves us setting a timer for 5 minutes of rocking/snuggling and then 3-5 minutes of her alone in her bed settling down while we sit in the chair.  (Thank you Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child for the suggestion).  She also has music playing softly and a fancy new nightlight that projects fish onto the ceiling.  No tears, she sleeps through the night, and we're all better rested. Our happy, rested girl has returned.  And, she loves her big girl bed. I think that if we'd just moved to a big girl bed, that would have been fairly smooth, it was the whole anxiety/falling asleep alone thing we had to work through again. Woohoo!

So, back to the beach where we all slept well, it was a lovely week! Hot, humid, relaxing. We walked,  picked up sharks teeth, shells, and rocks, built sand castles, read, slept, and ate. A lot. That's about it. Oh, we did visit the Sea Turtle Hospital which was very cool.

Here are a few pictures. Many more posted in Picasa.

Sleeping issues...resolved?

Here's how you get a child to sleep who won't go to sleep suddenly after months (well over a year) of going to sleep just fine each night after a story, prayers, and a couple minutes of rocking:

1. Spend several days and nights trying everything you can think of: bargaining, arguing, listening to her cry, cleaning up puke, and more until you know she is finally exhausted.

2. Decide maybe it's time to switch to a big girl bed! Spend the afternoon talking about it as if it is the most amazing event EVER! Offer to buy a special new toy for getting a big girl bed! Let her pick out new sheets and help you buy rails for the bed!

3. Clean up more puke as soon as you turn the light out. (Turns out that isn't from crying/gagging...it's either on purpose or some serious anxiety)

4. Finally tell her that you'll be right back, leave the door open, and let her dog sleep with her. When you return, she'll be asleep. 

In all seriousness, the last week has been rough.  She's always gone to bed so well. There were many weeks last summer when she would tell us she was ready for bed at 6:30 and not even let us read a story, just to straight to sleep! I don't say that to brag, just to say that this huge shift has left us dumbfounded.  We can only assume it is some sort of fear/anxiety that came up in her travels last week and it something that will pass. Tomorrow night bedtime will be bumped up significantly. I think part of the problem may be that as the days have grown longer we've let bedtime shift more towards 8 or 8:30 and away from 7:30, 8 at the latest and we need to get back to our roots, if you will.  I think the open door may be the key so we will see what happens tomorrow night. I'd really prefer there to be no puke. She had nice new yellow sheets she picked out (as you can see from the pillowcase she is sleeping on) but those are in the wash, along with her beloved rainbow blanket that she has not slept with in probably 4 days because every time she gets it back, it winds up with barf on it.  Poor rainbow blanket.  Fortunately, we have 2 bunnies so we can swap out, although she's definitely catching on since on bunny looks significantly more loved than the other. She'll say "other bunny" whenever she notices the switch, but it never seems to bother her. 

Her new toy, Larry the Cucumber (of famed Veggie Tales videos) escaped from being vomited on his first day in the house.  He was also removed from her possesion for the rest of the night because he was for being a big girl and going to sleep on her own in her new bed.  If she stays in bed all night, she gets to have him back in the morning.  It is a little sad - I was hoping getting to sleep in her big girl bed for the first time would be so exciting and not part of a rather dramatic/traumatizing week.  But it is a significant milestone all the same. I don't think transitioning in the middle of all of this was good or bad, it just was so at least when she gets back on track, it will be in the new bed.

And yes, as you can see from the photo, she still sleeps with a pacifier.  She is only allowed to have it at night and occasionally on long car trips when it should be nap time.  We don't think she'll go to college with it so we're not overly worried since our pediatrician isn't overly worried. Yes, it's causing a bit of an overbite;I sucked my thumb til I was 10 so I'm very familiar with those.  I'm more concerned with the sleeping issues at this point and potty training, so the paci can stay...for now. But I hear the Paci Fairy is planning a visit later on this year. Who knows what fun toy he/she will bring if Emmy can give up those pacis! :)

Update - finally!

I'm finally biting the bullet and updating the blog. I'm so sorry we've been absent and I've heard lots of complaints. Okay, not true, I've heard probably 8 or 9 complaints, so at least there are 8 or 9 of you reading. Ha!  There's just so much to update that it's overwhelming to know where to start and so I just haven't sat down to get started.  Also, our computer was out of commission for a few weeks and Charles has been taking it with him to class many nights so in fairness, I have been unable to do much on the computer at all!  But here we are, back again!

So, since Easter/the end of April Charles and I sang with Mack Wilberg (director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), Emmy turned two, Joanna got married, Will turned two, Emmy and Stella got to hang out in Spartanburg where we also saw Caitlin graduate from Wofford, Lucas, Lisa and Will came for Memorial Day, Aunt Sarah and her sister Bethany stopped by for supper, I taught crafts for Bible School, we went to Blackshear to the farm (where Charles' dad grew up), we've gone to the lake a few times (including for the 4th of July), Charles finished up his spring semester and started the summer semester with class 4 nights a week (yuck!), Emmy finished her first year of "school" and has had several weeks of CMO Camp, Charles has gutted the master bathroom to the studs and subfloor, Cathy and Rafal came to help start putting the bathroom back together, and oh, yeah, we've had two trees fall from the neighbors property onto ours (okay the 2nd one wasn't the whole tree, just a part of a tree, but it did damage to our house). Also, and I quit my job, effective Aug. 31st.  It's been a fun start to the summer, but busy!  The stuff with trees and house and neighbors has been very stressful and it still not resolved. I'm ready for the carnage to be removed, the holes to be fixed, the foundation to be repaired, etc. but for now, we wait.  Needless to say, we're not a fan of storms around here and since a 3rd tree is still leaning over our house, I get nervous each time one blows in.

Emmy spent last week with SuSu and Big Daddy and we missed her a lot! I think she grew while she was gone and she's talking even better it seems to us.  She got to see lots of friends and family during her week at "Camp SuSu-Big Daddy."  Charles had lots of class and we were getting ready for Cathy and Rafal's visit so we didn't do anything exciting while she was gone, but it was a quiet week at home.

Here are a few funny Emmyisms from the last few weeks. More to come soon!

- Watermelon sounds sort of like "money-money"
- Banana peels for a while were called banana covers
-Orange juice is called apple juice. Not sure why, but she asks for apple juice when she sees the orange juice in the fridge, and it must be drunk from one of our little juice cups, not a sippy. She's doing well drinking from a regular cup, we just can't let her tote it around the house.
- She has started singing a lot, which we love, love. Her repertoire includes: Rock-a-bye Baby, Row, Row, Row Your Boat (probably her favorite), ABCs, The Hokey Pokey, the Caterpillar Song (taught to her by SuSu's friend Mrs. Payne), and several Kindermusik songs.  She's really into her Kindermusik CD from the summer session she attended and she will do some of the motions.   She has an electric keyboard she received from our neighbors, Ms. Betty and Mr. Frank, for her birthday.  It plays several songs with words, and several songs without words. The other day she started singing/saying something and we finally realized she'd stopped on the tune of "The Hokey Pokey" and she was singing "you put your right foot in" while wagging her right foot around.  I didn't know she'd recognize just the tune!  It was hilarious.
- She loves her baby and the poor baby must have some sort of gastrointestinal disease because we change a LOT of diapers. Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Joel kept her a couple of weeks ago while Mama was in Atlanta for work and Daddy had class. Aunt Mary Ann said she changed about 7,000 stinky diapers and suggested we get that baby checked out! Haha.  She will put on a "clean" diaper, then immediately say "ohh, shoo-whee, stinky diapey" and proceed to change her again. She prefers her babies naked and will hug, kiss, and rock them very sweetly.
- A hug/kiss to a baby, Rags, etc. is usually followed by her uttering "Aww, so sweet" so we must say that a lot when she gives hugs.
- Everyone must have a hug and a kiss, and often a pat on both shoulders.  When we left her in the church nursery last week, she cried until she could give us both a hug, kiss, pat, "other shoulder".  Then she was fine!
- Unfortuantely she is in a bit more clingy stage and hasn't been overly fond of baby-sitters or being left with anyone, even people she knows and even if we just walk to another room. I know that it is a phase that will pass, but ugh. Upset crying for Emmy often leads to puking, and I'm really tired of puke.
-We think that she's close to ready to transition to a big girl bed, but sleeping is way messed up from a week away last week. She refused to sleep in her pea pod so SuSu put her in the big bed and would stay with her to go to sleep since there were no side rails and she thought that was great, so she now does not want to go to bed easily like she has for months and months. We are not sure what to do...try to get back into the regular routine with her crib and then transition to the big bed at home, or go ahead and go to the big bed here. So frustrating!
-She's doing some better eating veggies. She likes roasted red peppers and sometimes she'll eat cooked onions, celery, or other things out of soups/casseroles. She loves mushrooms (I mean LOVES mushrooms) and her love of pickles, olives, yogurt, and most any fruit continues. She's really into humus these days so that's a good snack or protein at mealtime. She loves boiled peanuts and at Joanna and Justin's rehearsal dinner proceeded to hand anyone near her a peanut to open for her. If she liked the way you opened it, she'd hand you another one. She ate a lot of peanuts that night!  Overall for her age, we're pleased with her eating habits and we hope the more we expose her to things the more varied her palate will be!
 -She likes to spin around and hang upside down.  Daddy is a really fun playmate.
-She loves to swim and will ask to go to the lake or go swimming in Ms. Betty and Mr. Frank's pool. Fortunately Ms. Betty and Mr. Frank love Emmy and love us to come swimming, so that's win win for all of us!  Their grandkids live in NC and Emmy's grandparents of course are not in town, so it's nice for everyone that we have each other next door.
-We're spending the summer  wearing tons of bug spray so we can play outside, swing, slide (April/May activities also included a good pressure washing and sprucing up of the playset that's been here since long before we bought the house), pick tomatoes in the garden, water flowers, and pick flowers at least for a little while each day.  It has been so hot! 


More to come soon!

She is very advanced, you know

Last week was a busy week for Emmy! On Tuesday she had another check-up at the Developmental Clinic at the hospital where she was born. They offer this as a free service to preemies born at the hospital and they bring them back sometime after 6 months and then again sometime around 16-18 months. As it turns out Emmy was 18 months Monday so she was exactly 18 months for her evaluation this time around.

Again she met with an occupational, physical, and speech therapist and they evaluated her fine and gross motor skills, her social interaction, her speech, her eating, etc. She is 100% caught up to 18 months in ALL areas and in fact is ahead in most! Not that we were worried at all, but we were happy to hear it officially. And of course, now we can say "oh she's so advanced". Haha. The therapists were laughing at her faces she makes and impressed with how well she obeys/understands commands. They asked us if she had at least 20 words she could say, and we guessed yes, at least 20, but when we started counting later, we've gotten to at least 40 words that she can come up with on her own. Not that it matters, but it's funny to start going through the list. She's also very good at repeating, but not everything she repeats she remembers to say on her own.

Emmy went to school in the morning, as usual, and we picked her up about 11 for her 11:30 appointment. By the time she was actually "seen" (which involved playing with the therapists mostly) it was after 12, and by the time we left, she was falling asleep in her Daddy's arms. Imagine if she'd been more awake!

They did take note of our little tip-toe walker. She walked around on her tip-toes a lot when she was first starting to walk while holding onto us or the sofa, etc. Then when she started walking on her own, she walked more flat-footed, I'm sure for balance. Now that she is walking, and running, with confidence, the tip-toeing has returned. She WILL (and does) walk flat-footed, but she just doesn't like to, so the therapist told us just to make sure we stretch out the backs of her legs on occasion.

Then, on Wednesday was Emmy's 18 month check up with her pediatrician. Boy, she was not happy to see Dr. J, which is funny since she never does any of the "bad" stuff to Emmy (the nurses give the shots and prick the fingers!) . But she sure cried when Dr. J did the routine listening to her heart and lungs, looking in her eyes, etc. When she checked her ears, much to our surprise she found a bad ear infection in her left ear! We were so surprised. Her nose had been runny again since the weekend, but we hadn't noticed any other signs. She also had her flu shot and chicken pox vaccine. Not a fun visit! We left with an antibiotic prescription and we go back in a month for a recheck on her ear and a 2nd flu shot and one final vaccine.

Oh, I'm sure you want her stats...she is 29 1/2 inches tall and 19 lbs 6 oz. Yep, she's still under 20 lbs. But, she's grown taller and gained weight and she's following her own growth curve, just on the tiny end of things. Who cares?

The speech therapist did ask for Dr. J to check her upper frenulum as she thought it seemed attached. Dr. J confirmed that it is, but Emmy's isn't severe and she said most kids will fall and it will tear on it's own. To send her to a pediatric surgeon to have it clipped would require anesthesia, etc. and there's not much point since in all likelihood it will happen on it's own, bleed a lot, and feel better with a popsicle and a lot less risk, which was fine by us. My mom reminded me that it happened to me when I was 3 during a sandbox incident on the playground.

Needless to say, our very advanced child was a bit unpredictable the end of the week. I'm sure it's the combination of antibiotics and vaccines and maybe just general toddler cantankerousness, but she gave us quite a difficult time a couple of nights. Thursday night was the worst...we stayed up super late getting ready for a dinner party we were throwing for our friend Lizzie's 30th birthday (it's our thing...we stay up super late getting ready for things...we both work well late at night) and just as we were going to bed, Emmy woke up. And would not go back to sleep. Each of us maybe got 3-4 hours of sleep total...not good heading into another day of work and a dinner party for 12. But, the party was lots of fun and everything went well. And Emmy was in bed by 7 pm on Friday, but then back up at 6. Yuck.

So, we all spent Saturday being lazy in our jammies. Charles and I took turns letting each other sleep (he's also not feeling well...Emmy shared her runny nose with him). Man, we needed it. She was up a couple of times Saturday night, but thankfully last night we were back to our usual full night of sleep. Whew!