Mommy, I'm Neeked!

This week Emery unzipped her pajamas and ran around the living room saying...Momma, I'm Neeked! And giggled the whole time. Now while quite funny in the house, I can only imagine what it would be like out in public?! Praying we never find out. We are currently planning all of Emery's 2nd Birthday parties. Can you believe it's been 2 years that this little miracle has been in my arms? I mean after more than 2 years of waiting, wanting, praying and hoping we finally have her and now she's already almost 2. I am just in awe thinking of how blessed we are to have her in our life. In planning 3 parties, a Mom can totally lose her mind. I have a closet full of supplies and presents trapped away. And I still think I need more STUFF. It cannot be this hard every year right? And yes I did say she is having 3 parties AGAIN! You have the party back in Louisiana, the party for her playgroup friends and the party for our close friends here in Texas. Oh wait I didn't even realize that we will also have a celebration on her birthday with just the Mr., me and Emery (oh and Sammy too). She sure is a spoiled little Princess! I cannot wait for the days when I can tell her the how she came to be story and all about her birth. I really need to just put it all down in a book and that way she can have the story forever and always. This year's birthday theme is Alice in Wonderland. The one "Princess" we did NOT meet in Disney world. We were able to see her on a float but never got the chance to meet her. Sad really, since she is Emery's favorite Disney character. We have seen the movie so many times that I can actually recite all the words and sing the songs now. Emery can point out an Alice character from a mile away, including the White Rabbit...and his "clock"! Gymnastics went very well this week. Still not any closer to jumping or hopping, but she is getting better at sitting still and listening. I do not understand though where her "scared"ness has come from...she use to love to be held upside down and spun around. Now anything remotely high or upside down, she clings on for dear life and starts to do this "un un, oh oh, mm, mm" gibberish. Then she will say "I scared" and scratch the living daylights out of whoever is holding her. I really hope this goes away as quickly as it came on! I am getting the house ready for the parties, keeping it clean as possible and also preparing the list for packing for our trip back to New Orleans. You know, I haven't really counted how many flights Emery has taken since she was born. I should do that one day. I am positive once she is no longer a lap child and we have to pay for her tickets to fly, that she will have free round trips and be an A list status member in less than a year! Eating is still a challenge. It is rare she will try something new and if she does it takes everything we have to get her to try it and say she likes it. And even if she does like it, she won't go back to eating it again. She was up a full pound and then came down with a little something and went back down to the weight she was at the last GI appointment. I really am hoping they will send us to a feeding therapy or something. I am going to try to make smoothies this week and she if she will drink those. I hate giving her Pediasure because of all the processed crap in it, but I want her to have adequate nutrition and healthy weight gain. Sometimes the eating and weight issue is so overwhelming that I lose my mind and have to go have a good cry alone. I worry of course that because of the low weight and lack of calories, that maybe that's a reason she doesn't have good muscle tone and a total lack of coordination. She is still not jumping or hopping and falls even when standing still. But of course we can't make that leap until we know if there is really anything wrong with her. Which so far no Doctor thinks there is anything wrong. just that she is small and has a little belly! So I am off...Emery is waking from her beauty nap!

23 months

Emery has developed quite the vocabulary in the past few weeks. Words that include NO, MINE and I WANT...and now they have turned into sentences. Most recently I was told, "Mom, I need ELMO. Turn it on." Ok I get it; the terrible twos are starting, a bit early. However I don't think I was ready for pre-teen attitude along with the temper tantrums. We started time out a few months ago, which included stints of time out even in Disney World, and they really seem to help. But it sure doesn't help when it comes to eating. STILL! I don't get how a kid can't tell if she's hungry or not. Look I know that Toddlers have food jags and food aversions. I even understand when they have I don't want to eat times. But when you are constantly asking "did she eat today", there certainly has to be a problem. Back to the GI we go this month and so far she has gained 1 pound in the last 3 months, but most recently lost 1/2 pound. Was she sick? Well yes and no...it was some weird sickness that lasted 3 days and included many sinus type of symptoms instead of sickness ones. Is she getting teeth? Not that I can tell. Do NOT stick your fingers in a Toddler's mouth at this stage...the bruise on my finger from checking still hurts. Is she growing? Well I doubt it, because wouldn't that make you hungry? I mean if you were still growing. So we shall see what the GI has to say and hopefully it doesn't or maybe hopefully it does involve eating therapy or something. Emery started gymnastics in hopes of getting her more coordinated and better at following directions. I've found most recently that while her grasp of language is above most her age, that her physical development is showing signs of being behind most kids her age. And while I don't want to compare her to anyone, I do worry with her eating and size issue if it is more from the lack of nutrition and calories, verses a developmental stalling. So of course I worry about that. Anyway gymnastics is slowly doing well. It's been two weeks and she seems to enjoy it. I really hope she can learn to follow directions and participate more, because man I'm getting a work out! It's a Mommy and me class and I feel like I am working out more than Emery! Potty training will be starting this summer. After being told when she "poo poos" more times than none, I really feel it’s getting close to the time of, hey you, sit on the pot and go. Plus diapers are gross. I've seen and cleaned enough poop in the last two years. So we got Emery a potty and a potty seat and will be starting her soon. I am thinking a week of panties and going to the potty every 30 mins will be a good jumping point!

Disney and Growing up

Christmas came and went like a flash of lighting. We were in a rush to get home and pack up for Disney world. Emery this year was really good with Santa Clause and took some great pictures. She still didn't really understand opening presents but gave her precious Surprise face with every gift she received. Her kitchen was a hit and the Mr. and I spent several nights putting it together. I can understand why parents stay up on Christmas Eve doing things like that. I can't figure out where you would hide big gifts until that night! Then came Disney. Our flight was great there and everything went wonderfully, for the most part! The first day Emery didn't want to be near the characters but by the second day she opened up and even kissed a few! There are some amazing pictures! Day 1 we just arrived, checked in and went to Downtown Disney to eat dinner. There was a musician playing and Emery was dancing and even got a guitar pic from him. Day 2 we started at Hollywood Studios, it was a slow morning and we just let her watch everything and really get into Disney. We saw the Little Mermaid show and she really liked that, then we saw Jake standing around and she was like hum...Jake! We sang the Jake and the Neverland pirates themesong for a while. Then off to the Honey I shrunk the kids play ground. Mr and Emery played around and then she found some water to splash around in, she didn't like some of the noises like the dogs nose sniffing around. Day 2 afternoon. After HS we headed to Epcot. By far my favorite park of Disney World. As we were walking around thinking about going back to hotel for naps, bam Emery fell asleep in her stroller. Disney is a magical wonderland! Never has this happened before. So the Mr. and I just walked around and found a few drinks! Once she woke up we took her on several rides and watched artists playing music. Day 3 AM Epcot Man it's been so long I don't remember everything we did. Emery loves watching the girl drummers in China and the marching band in America. Day 4 AM Magic Kingdom Ok this place is the insane part of Disney world. It's where everyone goes, all day and everyday. People are everywhere and kids are having melt downs. But we took it slow and just went away from the crowds. We basically went with the flow and had no melt downs or stress. Day 5 Epcot and HS Dinner at Downtown Disney at Planet Hollywood. We LOVE Epcot. In fact, if we could go everyday we would. Planet Hollywood is alright for food but the atmosphere is just WOW. People, music, dancing and artifacts of past movies and celebrities in a big huge dome. Day 6 AM running around trying to find my Dad while he was running the marathon. Finally caught up to him at Epcot. Go Dad! A half marathon and then a whole one the next day. Yep that's right my Dad did it! He certianly is GOOFY! We ended up staying at Epcot again. Gee go figure! Day 7 Haircut and Magic Kingdom. Emery had a wonderful 1st haircut that did not include crying or trying to escape. She earned her ears and was rewarded with getting to play with Grampy for most of the morning, which included a small possible breakin of the castle.We ended day in HS to see Fantasmic, which if you go to Disney this is a must do in Hollywood studios! Water, characters, sitting and fireworks. Day 8 Check out and loss of Ipod. So upon checking out of our hotel, somehow..someone forgot to get Emery's Ipod off the bed. Of course upon realizing we called and it's still under investigation. But no luck in finding it. UGH! All in all we LOVED Disney World and would do it again in a heartbeat. Emery enjoyed it and we loved our time there. I cannot wait to go back in the Spring before Emery starts Kindergarten.

Time flies...

It's been over a month and I guess a half since I posted and so much has happened with Miss Priss. So let me start my rambling and tell you all about it. As in you, I mean the two people who read this blog...me and my brother in law! Emery's weight challenge. After a few months of basically force feeding her we have decided to adapt a go with the flow attitude. She has not gained a huge amount when we force or not force. Her GI has said he is pretty sure there is nothing wrong with her and she is just small like the rest of us. Gee go figure, you think? So after more money and time we are back to just trying to get a Toddler to eat! As if that's not hard enough, try adding in extra calories on a tiny Toddler too??!!! Her Toddler jags have included; grapes, bread, applesauce, watermelon and crackers. I am and have been hoping for beef, chicken or some sort of real food soon! Currently she is eating a napkin, that can't be healthy?! In the past few weeks her vocabulary has exploded. She still has words she can't put together so she babbles, but for the most part she is saying most words, repeating words we say (oh yeah totally can't curse!) and putting together 2 and 3 word sentences. She has also started singing along to her TV show theme songs and is now doing the Hot Dog dance with Mickey (and her favorite all of a sudden, Goofy!). Emery loves baby dolls and plays with them mostly. The blocks that I got her sit in a bag and go unoticed most days. I think it's about time to pack away even more toys soon since Christmas is on the way! Speaking of weight (um yeah, up in the second paragraph), Emery has surpassed the 20lb limit the state requires to turn her seat around. However since I throughly am trusting the new guidelines we are going to wait till at least 2 before we turn it. But last week we put the one in Daddy's car forward facing to see the lights in our local square. And she loves it. I can see pretty soon us being asked to turn her around. I'm holding out for age 2! School is going great. The last 3 times she has gone without crying and the last time she just waved later to me and walked in...my baby is growing up! The teachers say she has a great vocabulary and is very independent. And while she is gaining weight and height, her hair is lacking. Barely enough to pull into a teeny tiny pair of pig tails! Let's get real, the child looks like she has a mullet. And we are getting her 1st hair cut in Disney World in January! WHAT? No hair to cut! OMG! We also have major attitude. If Emery doesn't get her way, doesn't want something or is told to do something she doesn't want to do, then we have the throwing and crying fits. We recently implemented Time Out and it seems to be working for now. Just have to be consistent and willing to do it no matter what and where! Well that's all for now folks! Happy Holidays!

Little Weight Gain

Miss Priss has not gained "signficant" weight so says the Dietician. But that's ok since she grew nearly 2 INCHES. Yeah you heard me, 29 days and nearly 2 full inches in height!! I don't care she only gained 1/2 a pound. She's growing and that's all that matters to us. I am so close to just telling all these doctors to bite me and stop going. I believe in my heart Emery is growing just fine. Yes she small, but shoot she talks more than most kids her age, she is trying to say her ABC's, she tries to count and seriously she is only 19 months old! And no she isn't eating a ton and still not eating much meat products. But it's ok...right? Of course you never want to do anything to potentionaly hurt your child. You don't want to stop going to Doctors if they say you need to go. But geeze, can't they look at the whole picture and not just her weight? Anyway. It's Halloween and Emery has costumes coming out the wazoo! So far she has been 3 different Disney characters and has worn her Halloween PJs. WHAT? She's freaking cute! I love to dress her up! Plus it's dress up. What little girl doesn't like dress up clothes?! Tomorrow night is Trick or Treating. We cannot wait. For the last month we have tried to get her to say "Trick or Treat"...it comes out more like "tickrteet".

Eating just not so healthy!

Since our visit to the GI we were sent off to a Dietician to find out what to do so we can help Emery with weight gain. We are shooting for 800-900 calories a day to help her gain weight and catch up. Slowly she is getting better with eating. It's not an easy job as a parent to watch your child not eat and then have no idea on how to fix the situation. Emery is now allowing us to put food into her mouth but still refuses a lot of meats and mixed foods. Textures and complex flavors are not her favorite. She does not just eat because she is hungry. You have to constantly remind her to eat or put it in her mouth. However we have been supplementing with caloric drinks and fast food. Yes icky fast food. But if I can get in the calories I am doing whatever I can. Today I tried ice cream mixed with Oreos. She took a few bites but didn't want more, however she wanted to eat french fries...so I let her! I never realized how hard some things would be with having a child. I know I am not the only one that feels like there is just never enough time to spend with them, you cannot teach them enough and that you can love all you want but you still want to give more of yourself to them, then you even have to offer. Emery is slowly starting to put two and three words together. She says things like "I stuck" "Daddy work" "Sammy no, get" and she realizes that things need to be cleaned up and that flowers can be picked and sniffed! She loves to play "side" outside as often as possible and still doesn't like school when I drop her off. Though I am getting more and more use to her being away for the day. She is learning her colors and her letters and numbers too. While they aren't all in order she is learning that there are songs and how to count things. We are anticipating our upcoming trips back home to Louisiana to see our family and then the holidays! And after that we are taking our Princess home to her Castle at Disney! I sure hope things with Emery's eating get better soon and that she catches up to her growth curve. I think even I am tired of worrying about her weight and what she puts in her mouth!

GI Dr and Silly Baby

We took Miss Priss to the GI doctor today. He feels like she doesn't need a battery of tests to figure out that nothing is really wrong with her. He would like for her to see a Dietitian for her lack of caloric intake and possibly see if they can help with what she is eating and learning to eat new and more foods. GI feels she is probably just a small baby. Whew. The weird things were the Pedi had her at 18lbs 13 oz yesterday and today the GI has her at 19lbs 4oz. The Pedi has her at below the 1% for weight the GI has her at 10% for weight. Makes me wonder if my Pedi is up to date on things and how badly their scale is off! (I would rather it be that far under for my weight not my childs!) Emery played with the GI Drs wood sticks (you know the kind they stick down your throat to check you out) and was running around his office almost naked (diaper only) then freaked out when he tried to touch her with his scope! So tomorrow I will call the Dietitian and get set up with them and then back to the GI in 3 months to recheck weight and make sure she is still hitting milestones. GI will call the Pedi to discuss the differences in weight and charts. Can't wait to hear from the Pedi...um yeah, my scale is off! Have I mentioned Emery is in LOVE with Alice in Wonderland? She will watch the cartoon version over and over again...but get this, she also likes the Tim Burton version too! Which I think is slightly freaky...but hey if it makes her happy! Ok off to cook dinner, I wonder if I can get Prissy to eat shrimp?

Nearly 18 months

Emery is very close to 18 months old...just a few days shy of it in fact. And today was her 18 month Doctor visit. After months of being told we were borderline with her being under weight we were officially diagnosed Failure to Thrive today. Emery is 30 1/4 inches tall and 18 lbs 13 oz for weight. She has fallen to below the 1% for weight and 17% for height. And yes I know we are small people and she comes from small families however the Pediatrician feels she can no longer ignore her being small and now Emery must go to a GI specialist to verify everything. I feel like a Failure as a parent. Trying my best to have her eat healthy and not rely on junk food for filling up. But maybe I should have been concentrating on getting empty calories into her rather than focusing on her eating healthy? Maybe I should have given her more sugar filled fruit juices and junk food than offering Organic foods and milks and making sure she enjoyed water more than soda! What else could I have done? Also last weekend before I did any research on the subject (which is so not like me) I sprayed her with Insect Spray that contains DEET. And of course while trying to avoid West Nile by spraying her down with horrible insect repellant Emery turned and I sprayed her in her eye! I ran with her to the bathroom and dumped water in her eye while screaming for the Mr. and trying to call poison control on my cell phone. Mr. researched it on the internet and poison control reassured me it was nothing major. Just rinse it out and let her cry. But geeze...Worst Mom in the World award goes to this Mom right here. So after a week of calling poison control, trying to force her to eat, tears and fights and 2 shots I am already ready to call this week a failure!

A whole month?

I am terrible blogger. I must get better at this! Let's see what's up in Emery's world... We joined a Mom & Me play group and we are doing lots of play dates. So far we have taken Mommy and me photos.

Gone to the indoor playgym and learned that Emery can now climb and slide on her own...and also that she likes to escape and hates to be told no! We went to the Inflatable jump gym and found out that she doesn't have much fear of heights!

And summer is coming to an end and so did Emery's swimming lessons. She really doesn't have fear of water, more the fear of having to get out! LOL! She will walk into a pool on her own so you have to watch every move she makes. She also learned to lay on her back, a friend of her's taught her how to do it. And she go go goes!

Em is running, jumping and sliding...she is swimming and laughing and crying. She is growing in leaps and bounds and talking with words here and there. Her little attitude is fierce and headstrong, but she can be sweet and loving at the sametime. On other fronts, I am cooking up a storm. Learning to use new ingredients and making my own breads and desserts. Now if Emery would just learn to like food. She doesn't eat a whole lot and no meat! We have a Dr. apt for her 18 month check up in a few days and we are hoping she makes weight! Just keep trying and that's what we do. That's all for now...Emery's PK1 starts next week, so I am sure I will have much more to say when that happens!

School, attitude and Tantrums

I've realized upon reading back over Emery's first few months that she has always been demanding. But only recently I have come to the conclusion that she is strong willed and head strong (is that the samething?) Her tantrums are super dramatic. She throws things, rams her head into whatever is close and cries with a passion. She will hit, bite and kick. She pushes things away and says "noh, noh, noh". Can you say Drama Queen? Yep that's mine! And we never know when it's going to happen and sometimes we have no idea even why it happens. If this is any indication of what she will be like as a teen we are totally done for already! On other news fronts...Emery will be starting "school" in Sept. She will be going to a program that is 1 day a week. I really think she needs to be around other people for longer periods of time. I mean we do play dates, swim class, activities and story time..but it's just not enough for her to get use to other people. As I was talking about earlier, I am positive Drama Queen will have serious meltdown the first couple of times I leave her. I am also positive I will also have serious meltdowns when I leave her too! Swim lessons are progressing slowly. Emery still won't let go of me and cries when she is taken away to go under. However she does go under and kicks and stays there for 5 seconds. She enjoys the water, just not the being not able to pinch me the whole class or flash everyone by pulling down my top. Also Monster, Inc has become her favorite thing to watch. In fact she sort of looks like "boo" the little girl in the movie. She also adores Mickey and Minnie Mouse and plays with her stuffies often. She has also started to play with a doll and I am thinking it is time to get her a good doll that has bottles and stuff.