One week left...

This time next week, we will be celebrating Emma's 1st birthday. I can hardly believe it! In the past few weeks, Emma's walking skills have really taken off. She is all over the place now. He favorite places to walk to are, of course, the most dangerous places in the house. She lives the wood stove and the entertainment center. She thinks it's hysterical when I scold or warn her, but she is starting to catch on to the concept of boundaries. Emma still refuses to use her words, but I'm not at all worried. She knows what we are talking about when we stay things like eat, stop, drink, mommy, daddy and dog. That's good enough for us!

The weather is getting warmer now, so we've been spending more time outside. We've been to the Grand Canyon Caverns, and we hiked for 7 hours through snow to finally see Sycamore Falls. Emma and the dogs are really enjoying the fresh air. We are hoping to take Emma to Oatman sometime in the next few weeks. Paul has never been there, and I think him and Emma will get a kick out of it. Maybe around that same time we will take a day trip down to Fossil Creek since it is getting so warm down there.

Emma is sleeping through the night like a champ now. She goes to bed around 8pm and sleeps until about 6am. She is almost completely off a bottle. We just have a straw sippy with milk and another with water, and she knows to drink from them when she's hungry. We think a couple more bottom teeth will be popping through soon. So far Emma has two bottom teeth and four top teeth. Her smile is a nice toothy grin now. It will be interesting at her one-year appointment to see how tall she's gotten and how much she weighs. She is still skinny enough for her 6-9 month pants to be baggy, but she seems to be getting quite tall.

We now have internet at home, so I will be updating more often. I imagine my next blog will be about Emma's birthday and Easter Egg hunt!

A long month

We started out February with Emma taking her first steps, but it quickly went downhill from there. Emma got a cold that turned out to be RSV. We had to take her to the ER on Valentine's Day, because she was lethargic and had spiked a fever of 101 while taking ibuprofen. We got her perked up, and we were sent home. The following Friday, Emma's ear started oozing green nastiness. Off to the ER again. Paul made the executive decision, because the doctor's office didn't have any openings, and he didn't want to have to wait for her to be seen. It ended up being a good call, because they would have to have admitted her anyway. She was still running a fever, she had an outer ear infection and her oxygen saturation level was dipping as low as 77 while she was napping. The culture from our RSV test had just come in as positive, so Emma had a chest x-ray and received a breathing treatment. We were warned that the breathing treatment might make her irritable. It ended up having the opposite effect. She was sitting in her bed waving at everyone who came by. She was babbling and clapping and making everyone in the hospital fall in love with her. Her oxygen levels picked back up after her breathing treatment, so they let us take Emma home. There weren't any rooms available in the hospital anyway, so we were glad we didn't have to camp out in the ER. Apparently there is a particularly nasty strain of RSV going around this year. We were just lucky that Emma is a healthy baby to start out with. After a couple of days of breathing treatments, Emma was almost back to her old self!

Somewhere along the way, Emma also cut another tooth. She's averaging about a tooth every two weeks, poor kid! Emma also got over her stranger anxiety for the most part. She loves to flirt and dance for everyone, and it is the cutest thing we have ever seen. Emma was very weak after being sick for three weeks, so she really wasn't wanting to walk a whole lot. She is getting much better and stronger and loves to hold one of my hands and walk all over. Emma is still a mama's girl, but I'm not complaining! She has also developed a nasty temper and can throw tantrum with the best of them. I swear she could shatter crystal! I will admit that it's pretty comical. I just try not to laugh when she can see me. She doesn't throw fits very often. It's mostly when she's tired and we are trying to clean her nose or ears.

Emma is starting to hold long conversations with her toys, and it's really fun to listen to. She will babble and laugh and babble some more. Whatever she is saying, clearly cracks her up. I am absolutely amazed at how quickly the past 11 months have gone by. It's amazing watching Emma grow up so perfectly!

We finally closed on our house in Colorado, so it is no longer our burden. That has been a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. Things are going well between Paul and me. The nicer weather, happier baby and less financial worries have all collaborated to lift our spirits. We are very much looking forward to camping season, which is just around the corner. We are also looking forward to Emma's first birthday. I can't wait to take her Easter egg hunting as well. We have a lot of fun planned for this Spring and Summer!