Good, Bad, Happy and Sad

Good: We are all doing well. Emma is learning more and more words and phrases every day. My favorite phrase is "high bibe" (high five). Our little lady loves to give high fives! Emma is also getting pretty good at running and she eats at a big girl table now. We are just so proud of her every day. Our Itty Bitty One is doing very well. The 20 week ultrasound came perfect, and Baby and I are measuring right on track. My 2 week checks should be done soon, and everything is holding up as it should be. Paul and I are doing very well. He has been working overtime, but we spend time together when we can. I have been very busy at work, but it's nice learning so much and being able to prove myself.

Bad: We just had to spend the money we've been saving for my maternity leave to fix my car, and Paul still needs tires for his car. As far as bed goes, really that's about it.

Happy: We got a new puppy. His name is Gambel, and he's a little sweetheart. Trixie loves him, Alpine is getting better, and he annoys the hell out of poor Emma. The funny thing is that we got Gambel primarily for Emma. The are getting better with each other. Gambel just needs to learn his boundaries. When he's chasing Emma around, She screams and runs away. However... when I put Gambel outside, Emma calls to him and tries to get him to come back. I'm sure in a few weeks or so, they will be best friends. In the mean time, it's fun to watch them working it out. He nips at her a little, and she swats at him. All in all, it's like a little harmless sibling rivalry.

The sad... We lost Lexus on August 14. She was fine Friday evening. She ate her dinner and acted just fine when Paul went out to brush the others later that evening. We think she must have gotten up to go potty and just laid down and went to sleep on the back patio. Unfortunately, she didn't wake up. That morning Paul found her, and it was a horrible, heartbreaking way to start our day. The bright side is that she passed quietly on a nice summer evening. We didn't have to make the difficult decision of when to put her down. She was getting old and her body was deteriorating. It was obviously her time to go, but that doesn't make it any easier to let her go. There will always be a little piece of my heart missing, but that helps to remind me that she was a well loved companion who had a very happy life.

As always, our lives are nothing more or less than typical. It's not always sunshine and rainbows, but that's the way it goes. We are all healthy, and we are happy more often than not. We get sick. We get better. We fight. We make up. We get ahead. We get behind. I truly believe it's the trials that make us stronger and the hardships that make us appreciate everything else. Without the downs, how would we ever know how incredible the views are from up high?

A Mile A Minute

Where oh where to begin? I guess the first thing to share (now that the cat's out of the bag) is our happy news that Baby #2 in on the way. As of today, I am just over 14 weeks and officially in my second trimester! My Itty Bitty One is due to make his or her appearance on New Years Eve. What a fantastic Christmas present for us all!

Emma is more of a monster than ever and is all over the place all the time! For the first time in about a week, she finally slept through the night last night. Thank goodness! We moved out of our house in Williams and are now renting my parents' house. I think the move plus more teething (does it ever end) made for some long nights for my Pumpkin Pie. Not to mention, Emma HAS to be attached to my hip at all times. I guess she suddenly realized Mommy is just the most wonderful person ever! Things are starting to settle down a bit now, so hopefully Emma settles down a bit as well.

The one thing Emma really, really loves about her new house is her new giant bathtub. To conserve water (since we had to pay to have it hauled) we were still using Emma's baby tub at the Williams house. Now that we have community water, Emma gets to take a bath in not only a full size tub, but a giant jacuzzi tub! She splashes and squeals and has a fantastic time. She gets a bath every night, and it's really her happiest time, I think!

Emma also really likes having a little yard to play in. She like to dig in the rocks and put them in buckets. She also loves to share her rocks with me. We have a little patch of grass, but Emma prefers the rocks. Go figure. I'm trying to grow some flowers in a little flower bed, and Emma was great help with weeding. She wasn't very happy when I took her shovel, but I made amends when I offered her the weeds I was digging up. She put them all in a little bucket for me. When I have the sprinkler going, Emma likes to go out and stand in the water. And when puddles start to form, Emma is in heaven! Afterall, there's nothing better than splashing in puddles!

Over the long weekend, Emma and I went to Phoenix to spend time with my parents, Sam and Larry. Paul couldn't go, because he was working. Emma got to swim in a pool for the first time, and it did NOT go well at first. By day two, she was doing better, and by day three, you would think she was raised in a pool. She was floating in her life vest, jumping off the steps for us to catch her and I was even able to dunk her under without her freaking out. Progress indeed!

We had been watching Biko and Zoe for Mom and Dad, and Emma and I brought them to their new house over the weekend. It's kinda sad not having them around anymore. I've been begging Paul for a new puppy, and now I really, really want one!

Emma is a little talking machine now! She just turned 15 months, and it's like she finally discovered words! She'll try to mimic just about anything we say (which gets me in trouble from time to time), but there are several that she will say on a regular basis. Emma's all time favorite word (for how many months now?!) is still "uh oh!" She can say "mama" (sometimes "mi mi") and "dada" or "dad". She says "gook" (book) and "zeus" (shoes). She says "hi", and will even say it when you hand her the phone. She says "gog" (dog). Every couple of days there is something new to add, but those are her favorite words. She was saying "help" the other day when her arm go stuck in her shirt, but she has yet to say it again. However, she has yet to get stuck in her shirt again, too. Emma uses her "more" sign language sign when she is eating, and she has her own rendition of the "all done" sign. But it works for us, so I don't complain. She knows to shake her head "no", and she is just starting to nod, but I don't think she quite understands what it means yet. Emma is very good at following commands, like "give the book to Mommy", and she loves to help clean up her play room. If Emma takes toys out, she will usually put them away when she is done without even being told to. We still have our battles with the entertainment center and DVDs, but those are really small issues in my book. though I will admit it gets frustrating to have to pull her away over and over and over...

The funniest thing Emma does right now is chew people out. She will go out of her way to tell her Papa when she is not a happy camper. She will babble in a sassy little tone, swing her hands all around and shake her head. She's also done it to a few strangers while we were out and about. Emma's babbling is almost constant, and I would love to know what she is trying to say!

So basically things are just as busy as ever in Hancock house. Oh! I did have my first night away from Emma. It ended up being only one night instead of two. It went well on my end. I just stayed busy and went to bed early. I did have a hard time sleeping, but it went well for me overall. Emma gave her daddy a hard time at bath time, but she's never really been given a bath by anyone other than me, so that was to be expected. I feel more comfortable going out of town every now and then, and I'm even going to be staying over night for a meeting this coming Sunday night. I think Emma and Paul will appreciate being able to spend some time together without Mommy hovering overhead.

Emma and I both have appointments at the end of the week. I hope all goes well for both of us! I will post again when I get a chance.

Busy busy!

We have all been busy busy the past month. Emma has cut all but one of her molars. That doesn't include her two-year molars, though. It has been really rough on my poor pumpkin, but we are almost done with them. We went to Colorado for a wedding, and Emma got to spend some time with her friend, Will. They played together really well for the most part. Seeing our friends again was great, and staying with Seth and Charity was fantastic. Emma is running all around now, and she has discovered a love for dirt... unfortunately. She like to give the dogs treats, and she thinks it's great fun calling herself a "goo grrl", whether she is actually being a good girl or not. Emma is still not saying a bunch of words, but she understands most of what we say. She will say Mama / Mom, Dada / Dad, hi, goo grrl and uh oh on a regular basis. She has discovered a love for shoes and has an unprecedented skill for throwing over the top hissy fits. Kisses are a new thing right now, too. But you will only get a kiss from Emma if you give her a head butt first. If you just try to kiss her, Emma will either turn away or slap you in the face. We are trying to break Emma of slapping and throwing things when she gets frustrated. I'm sure it's just something she'll grow out of. Surprisingly enough, Emma is very good at sharing. If she has a toy or a snack that she is really enjoying, she will offer it to you. If it's a toy, she expects you to give it right back after you tell her how great it is, and if it's food, you are expected to eat it. Her teachers at school are very impressed with how willingly Emma shares everything.

Mom got her job in Phoenix, and Dad has been visiting since mid-May. Over the next few weeks, we are going to help get Mom moved to Phoenix, and we are going to be renting Mom and Dad's house. I am very much looking forward to cutting my commute in half! Dad and Emma have been spending a lot of time together, and Emma is very find of her Grammy and Papa. We even use Skype if it's been a few days since she's seen them. Horribly, we lost little Fredders. I am glad we all got a chance to have him in our lives, and we all miss him dearly. He was always very good with Emma, and Emma was getting to be very good at being gentle with him.

I don't have too many more updates to share right now. Paul and I are very busy at work, but we are both enjoying what we are doing. Next Friday will be my first overnight trip without Emma, but it will be fine. I will miss her dearly, but I think her and Paul will enjoy their time together. All in all, it's life as usual around here. Some days are better than others, but we love (almost) every minute of it!

Spring has sprung!

The weather is doing it's typical snow-today-sun-tomorrow routine. Along with that, has come the winds. On the upside, it means summer is just around the corner! We have been spending a lot of time outside, which is making us all perk up and get out of the winter gloom.

We officially have a walker! Emma is walking all over the place now. She's been walking for a while, but she now walks more than she crawls. Her favorite game is Hide and Seek. She could play that game all day! It it so much fun seeing her walk all around. She is getting so grown up. Her grandpa will be coming back from Saudi this week, and he hasn't seen her since September. He is going to be so surprised at how much she's grown.

Emma has decided there is no reason to have a melt down when I come to pick her up from school now, and that is a huge relief for me. Now, she laughs and smile when she sees me. She is also a bit of a flirt at school. She has a little group of boys she plays with all day.

Since her birthday, Emma has gotten two new teeth. I can see she's working on at least two more. She is really learning how to use them. She likes to nibble on her crackers and Honeycombs cereal... a nice improvement from just shoving them into her mouth whole!

I really don't have too much to share right now. Just wanted to give some quick updates. Hopefully I have more to share soon.

Emma's 1st Birthday

We started off Emma's big day by showing her the "big" gift we got for her. We walked her out of her room into the living room where her new castle was waiting for her. She "oooohed" and "aaaahed" and laughed, so needless to say she loved it!


After her morning nap, we went to the Williams Community Easter Hunt. Unfortunately (or not), we missed the hunt, but we still got a toy for Emma. There were hundreds of kids running all around, so we decided to head home and get ready for Emma's party.

Emma's party started at 2pm, so Emma took a little power nap before making her grand entrance in her party dress. We had tuna sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, turkey and cheese with crackers and fruit to snack on. Emma really liked the tuna, cheese and turkey. After she had her lunch, Emma opened all of her gifts. She got a bunch of new toys and some really cute outfits.

Emma was in a fantastic mood for her party and spent lots of time playing with her guests. Her only mildly unhappy moment was when we gave her her cake. Every time her hand would touch the frosting, Emma would make a horrible face and pull her hand away. We had to stick forks in the cake in order for Emma to even take any interest in it. All in all we had a pretty fantastic day, and Emma seemed to have a blast with her friends and family.

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!