Day tripper

Sometimes things that seem bad can be wonderful opportunities. This week Scott does not have work, so we are having an impromptu vacation! We get to have breakfast lunch and dinner together, as well as having family time.

Yesterday we headed to the local landmark where Scott proposed to me. We haven't been there since our first anniversary so it was a nice proposition, and so close to our third anniversary. The weather was perfect, sunny with a breeze. I was surprised at how many people were out and about, though mainly pensioners and mothers with strollers!







We were home shortly after lunchtime, and Scott got back to work in the yard! Emma and I had occupational therapy with Melissa in the front yard...

Mother's Day #2

There is exactly two months between my birthday and Scott's. In those two months we have Mother's Day, our wedding anniversary and Father's Day. After my 30th birthday party Scott was understandably without ideas for Mother's Day. so when he asked me what I wanted to do I said I would just like the day off! (The other requests were added later!)

Today is Mother's Day (US), my second as Emma's mum, and I was very much looking forward to my day off. To clarify, I didn't want a day by myself, no, I just wanted a whole day without all of my usual responsibilities!! Those of you who work might understand, but since you have weekends and evenings off not quite!! When I get to enjoy spending time with Emma and Scott and not worry about the details I have so much more fun.

After sleeping in until 8am (Scott got up to let the nurse go and get Emma up) I got the breakfast I requested. An egg-bacon-cheese sandwich and two small choc-chip pancakes with strawberries and squirty cream. (Yes, I was that specific!) And it was delicious.

I didn't eat it in bed though, I came down to the living room and ate there while Scott kept Emma out of my hair - priceless!!

I was able to take a long shower and get ready for church without trying to stop Emma falling off my bed. Unfortunately the pleasure was marred by a recent significant weight gain that will prevent me posting a picture of myself for a while. (The breakfast above was after the weight gain and a one-time deal - I read your mind!)

Shaking that off, we headed to church.

I'm not sure if it was the change in her primary caregiver for the day, but Emma was very keen to stay with me and fell asleep on my shoulder during the music at church. She stayed there through laughter and clapping. When I did adjust her to stop my arm dying I saw she was wide awake, and just cuddling! (One of those moments that wipes out stress.) Once she did get restless I put her in her booster seat.

We decided a few weeks ago to try and have Emma sit alone through church. She did so well today and we were both able to stay in service. In fact, when everyone was praying Emma too folded her hands and bowed her head. When she got bored we would remind her we were praying and she'd resume the position!

As always our schedule was way-off today and Emma didn't go down for a nap until 1.30pm. And that was when my extra treat came about.

You see, I know it's wrong, maybe even a sin but I have a problem with garden-envy. As i drive around I look at the well-manicured lawns and varieties of shrubs and plants and I wish to have a more beautiful garden. We have not had time to do much in our yard since we moved in 2 1/2 years ago and it looks, well, sad!

This week Scott had the great idea that today he could do some work in the yard, and I could sit in a lawn chair and watch. Sounds great, but I want to get involved too - I come from a long line of gardeners, surely it must have rubbed off! After making some drawings of the finished yard yesterday, some 4 or 5 phases of work no less, we tooled-up and headed outside.

The 70 degree weather with a strong breeze was perfect. I started pulling weeds and Scott started digging. We had no idea what we were doing! After a brief chat we started to work together at one end of the house, moving toward the other. We got much more done and had a great time.

At 4.30pm when I hadn't heard a peep from Emma in 2 hours I had to go and check on her. She was out cold.

She woke up soon after, thankfully.

Though because of her late nap we couldn't put her to bed until closer to 9pm. I'll deal with that when I'm back at work tomorrow!!

I LOVE Mother's Day!!!

Fun, fun, fun!

Last night Emma was really unhappy about going to bed. It took her quite a long time to fall asleep. I'm pretty sure that the reason was all the fun she'd been having with Daddy! Scott was home by 4pm and spent the next few hours playing with her, and Daddy has much better ideas than Mummy...

That's her toy basket!!

What was I doing between videos? Getting dinner of course! Quite the housewife, me!!

Here Emma tried to get her sock back on, with one hand! She had no idea the camera was right there!!

Thankfully she slept until 6.45am today so she shouldn't be too tired. It's so wonderful to see her growing up, as you can see here she is now able to get in her chair for feeding.


She just hasn't figured out how to turn around yet!!

Sleeping in

Last night Scott and I had a meeting, so Emma did not get to bed until 9pm. Of course she fell asleep right away, but she is usually tired the next day because of less sleep.

It was a great surprise, and delight this morning though when Emma slept until 8.30am!! Not only did she sleep in later than she has for many months, but she also got over 11 hours of sleep.

Early night

Yesterday Scott and I went out for an early dinner to celebrate the good news at the ultrasound. We got home about 6pm and Emma had been having a great time playing with Grandma.

When Emma tried to climb the stairs around 6.30pm I asked her if she wanted to go to bed and she signed "please." Scott said she didn't know what she was saying so we both got down on the floor to play with her. as you can see she wasn't much interested in us...

Just in case she changed her mind, Scott was keeping himself amused...

This evening Emma was pretty fussy most of the afternoon, so at 6.30pm when I wanted to make dinner and she was clingy and whiny i asked her if she wanted to go to bed. She signed "please", so I put her to bed! She went right to sleep!!! We'll have to see how early she gets up in the morning.

Earlier in the day she and I were hanging out in the guest bedroom. She'll be moving in there in a couple of months so I want her to get used to being in there. She has been playing with the sun hat I got for my summer vacation and was playing with it. She made me laugh, and I'm sure you too...

Its a boy!

We think! That's right, we had our ultrasound today and the technician told us she thought it was a boy. The doctor who reviewed the pictures said she couldn't see, but the technician does ultrasounds all day long so she was probably right! As you might expect, we already have a name picked out for the baby and if it is a boy, he will be called Toby.

That's the important stuff out the way! As for everything else, the baby looks healthy and all the bits and pieces look like they are in place. Unfortunately there is just no way to know whether he might have Moebius Syndrome. I don't believe there is any greater chance than with any other pregnancy, but then lightning can strike twice!

The due date was pretty much right, though the computer put it at September 24th.

What I am excited about is the balance of having a girl and a boy.

We got some great picks of the little person... unfortunately my scanner doesn't pick them up well! One is 3D and he is giving a thumbs up in front of his face!

Minnie Mouse

You may recall a while ago I explained that Emma seemed to have an extreme fear of all stuffed animals and real ones! That is except for Minnie Mouse (and ones that are smaller than my hand!). As you can see here Emma has become quite attached to this furry mouse in a dress.


Today she was being especially cuddly and Minnie got extra loving! We wanted to capture it as simply too cute!

In case you were wondering, Minnie was given to Emma by our next door neighbor who picked it up for her on a trip to Florida last year!

Weekly progress

It has been a pretty routine week so far. I was able to go up to church on Tueday morning and today to work on some things, thanks to Grandma Ellen! Other than that Emma and I have been home, with occupational therapy on Tuesday afternoon as usual, and physical therapy later today.

This has meant I have been able to keep Emma on the schedule I initiated last week. She had a couple later nights on Friday and Saturday, but since Sunday has been in bed by 7.30pm every night. She now falls asleep in less than 5 minutes, I might even say 2 minutes! The real beauty is that she has not been getting up before 6.30am each day!! In fact today I stayed in bed until 7am.

As for naps, she goes down between 12 and 12.30pm every day, and is asleep very quickly. I do not get her up for at least 2 hours. One day she was in bed until 3.30pm! Today though I haven't checked in on her once and it's been over two hours.

Her daily cumulative sleep is between 12-14 hours. Beautiful!! I am sure there will be times we have to deviate from the routine, but this schedule is working great for all of us.

As for me, I'm almost 20 weeks pregnant, that's halfway if you didn't know! In general I feel fine physically and I feel #2 moving around periodically. Thankfully the heartburn has not kicked in to high gear, yet! I am also anticipating the arrival of my cankles (ankles that are the same size as my calves, or small cattle!!) Last pregnancy they resembled flesh colored putty, and had the same molding properties! I'll show you pictures when they swell up.

Emotionally I'm okay (I think, you'll have to ask Scott to confirm!!). I have always had a pretty negative body image though, and the early stages of pregnancy wreak havoc on my self-esteem. As I put it to one friend my 'bump' has spread to my bum and thighs!! Oh where, oh where are the floaty summer clothes?!!

Scott reminds me that I had the same feelings last time, only much earlier, so I guess I should feel good that I've only gained 15lbs so far.

Those of you in the know will be wondering when my ultrasound is. No, I haven't had it yet! I'll post the results in a couple of weeks, but I'm not being specific about when it is. I'll worry plenty for you all!

And now for an amusing story! In the past 30 years I developed a strong need for cleanliness in the house (bordering on obsession), so every day when Scott comes in from work, covered in dust and debris, I unconsciously comment on how dirty he is and won't let him do anything until he's cleaned up. Apparently it's not gone unnoticed. Yesterday Emma took one look at him and signed "Daddy dirty!" Ooops. I really don't want her to be as neurotic as me so I'll have to watch it!

Here are some visuals from Sunday for you...

with baby Aaron

Emma slept from 7.15 pm to 6.30am!! YES!!

Sleep saga - Episode 6

Yesterday Emma has a brief nap in the morning and slept on Scott for an hour at lunchtime, so by 7pm she was so ready for bed! After a quick bath, to clean off the sunscreen, she fell asleep while Scott dressed her for bed!

This morning Emma slept until 6.45am! It's been months since she slept that late. I didn't know what to do with myself. When she did wake up she was still sleepy and I started to worry that maybe she was sick!

Despite that we headed to the park for a swing at 10am, before it got too hot - though it was pretty hot already! I could tell that Emma was getting sleepy by the time we got home, so I fed her and planned to put her down at noon.

She wasn't happy as usual, but once she fell asleep she slept on and off for 2.5 hours! When I did get her up it was because I heard her moving around, but there was no crying and she was not clingy when I picked her up.

Is the saga over? Only time will tell, but I'm definitely feeling optimistic!!

Happy Birthday to me!

So, I'm now 30 years old. I'd say I don't feel 30, but for all I know I could be feeling 40!! I do know that I feel pretty good and I don't have any regrets about where I am in my life, in fact I would say I've exceeded all of my greatest expectations. And that feels great!

As last weekend was my big birthday celebration today was more like a normal Sunday. I did however invoke birthday privileges to get breakfast in bed! Scott got off lightly - a bowl of Coco Krispies (Coco Pops in the UK) is hardly a big breakfast!

Emma joined us in bed at 5.45am, although I think she was up much earlier than that. (She later fell asleep during church!) Here you can see how we amuse her while we try and wake up (or try not to wake up!)


We were teaching the youth group today, so we had a relaxed morning as I taught them about the beginnings of the Church. A meeting of the church leadership team right after service included a pizza lunch (nice!) and a round of "Happy Birthday!!"

Then home for some rest before we have a nice barbecue for dinner. Did I mention it is 91 degrees today? Never get weather like that on my birthday in England for sure!!

And so it begins, my thirties! I can only pray that they are as full and exciting as the past few years have been.

Birthday Blog

I turn 30 tomorrow!! Despite all the twists and turns of the past ten years I still don't really feel like I should be 30!!

Here's a brief (phew!) retrospective of the last 10 years...

20 - Still living at home with my parents, working as an Editorial Secretary and spending most of my money on clothes and going out with friends! My car was my baby - a black Toyota Paseo, sporty and sexy!!

21 - I embark on a one year sabbatical placement to my company's Philadelphia Office. It turned out to be a life changing experience and though I missed the UK I ended up wanting to stay! It was not to be and I came home when my visa expired.

22 - Not quite able to adjust to life with my parents (they had a hard time too!), I bought my sisters house from her and move out on my own. I get my car/baby back and start a new career in advertising sales within the same company. Pretty much back in the old routine.

23 - More of the same.

24 - An unquenchable drive leads me to take a position back in the Philadelphia office. This time indefinitely. I sell the house (ch-ching) and my car (sob!) and schlep all my stuff across the Atlantic for a third time!

Once in Philly it takes a few months to decide which direction to go in. After a few months of partying hard I reconnect with a friend from my last stay who helps me connect with the suburban church she had taken me too once or twice.

Before long I become a Christian. That means, to coin a phrase: You get your past forgiven, you get a purpose for livin', and you get a home in heaven.

In the October of that year a stranger (friend of a friend) agrees to transport me to a bible study, which becomes a regular arrangement. The weekly car ride becomes a great conversational environment and we become friends.

I also changed roles with my company to a permanent job back with my boss from my first trip, and proceed to get a green card. No getting rid of me now!!

25 - I start dating this guy, Scott and it's good, but not great. And then we head to Africa on a missions trip. After I've moved out to the suburbs to be closer to my friends and church, could this relationship go bad and spoil everything? As it turns out, no! Africa proves to be the 'make' of a make or break trip!!

26 - Two days before my 26th birthday, and one day after meeting my parents for the first time on their visit to the US, Scott proposes! Oh, and I'm still working with the same company, doing well.

As time goes on I get more involved in church life. I became a youth leader at some point before now, and worked with Scott on renovating a building to house a new church nearby.

27 - This was a busy year! We got married in May, bought a house in December and got pregnant in March! Somehow in there I had time to work, serve and have fun.

28 - Dominated by a growing belly and proportionately swollen ankles (I'm not even kidding, ask anyone!) the first half of my 28th year was tense as we learned that our daughter faced some medical problems. The second half was frankly tougher as we learned exactly what Emma, and we would face. Yet despite the trials we faced, we experienced the greatest joy of becoming parents, and a faith that was reassuringly strong, and well placed.

29 - After leaving my job before my 29th birthday, this was the first year in 13 years that I have not had any kind of job. However, I have never been so occupied in my life!! Becoming a stay-home mother has changed so much and I am still learning about my strengths and weaknesses. Thankfully God never gives up on helping us grow, and I look forward to seeing just how else my life can be enriched.

Each day offers a new challenge, joy or discovery. On the best days all three!!

Thank you for being a part of my journey. There is not much I would have ever imagined about my life now, especially the good stuff! Writing this blog has been a source of great joy and comfort. I look forward to sharing the future ups and downs!!

Sleep saga - Episode 5

Today began at 3.45am when I heard a knock on my bedroom door. Not quite sure if I heard anything Scott confirmed it! I opened up to find the nurse in her coat ready to leave! Something about her neighbors garage burning down.

I didn't question it to much, I just wanted to get the baby monitor and get back to bed! Unfortunately I was not able to go back to sleep really. I had to get up to disconnect the feed pump at 4.30am and at 4.45am I heard the air flow change from the CPAP. A check confirmed the prongs had come out of her nose - I wouldn't have heard it if I'd been really asleep.

When Emma started crying at 5.25am I asked Scott to go and get her back to sleep - he has to get up anyway! He did, so I tried to rest some more. After he went downstairs she started again and I popped in to give her pacifier back, but she saw me!

And so we got up at 5.45am. Awesome!

Around 8.30am I did something I've never done before - I put Emma in her crib so I could take a shower! I've always put her in her exersaucer before as I couldn't stand to hear the crying, but I'm used to it now!! And she even fell asleep for 10 minutes!

After that we went out on some errands. We popped in to the mall for the first time (lots of firsts today!!) and I picked Emma up some big girl sunglasses - she always takes our and tries to put them on!! Here they are...



After lunch I put her down for her nap and she was out cold in less than 5 minutes. It was the same last night! However, as always, she woke up after 30 minutes! She cried and fell asleep again for less than 30 minutes before crying incessantly for an hour.

We really have no problem with her falling asleep, she just won't sleep as long as 'they' say she should! I'm starting to wonder if she just doesn't need more sleep. Here's Emma watching Baby Signing Time after her 'nap' - strapped in to her chair. Does this look like a girl who didn't get enough sleep? She was so excited the whole time!

The sleep techniques are all about getting children to fall asleep, but none of them say what to do if they wake up too early!!

I'll stick to our schedule and leave her in there for a couple of hours, but if after another week she still only sleeps for an hour, I'll get her up after that.

A little nothing!

As much as I love to do things with Emma, sometimes I just watch her and enjoy wondering what she is thinking. This video is what I was watching her do for about 10 minutes! I wanted to capture it as one of those quiet moments you forget.

(If you don't sit through the whole thing,
make sure you catch the last 45 seconds!!)

What is she playing with? A drumstick and milk container! And yes, that's all drool on her shirt!! Love my girl!

Sleep saga - Episode 4

This morning Emma was up by 5.30am, so of course she got very grouchy after breakfast. Since Grandma was coming over at 9am I caved in and let her take a little power nap on me for a few minutes. Yes, I am weak and easily manipulated.

Trying to redeem myself I put Emma down for her nap at noon. She fell asleep pretty quick, but I don't think she slept for more than 15 minutes at one time all afternoon. I thought that after doing this for a couple of days she'd cry a few times and eventually fall in to a deep sleep for at least an hour.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong (my loud inner-critic is sure of that!), but she seems to be sleeping less and less each day! I'm not giving up - it's been great to have a couple of hours each day to myself, even with the nightmare soundtrack!

I just don't understand when I am supposed to let her get up! I always planned that when she woke up refreshed and not crying i would know she'd had enough sleep, like in the morning. That hasn't happened, so I've been going by her feed times, which are still every 4 hours. Though today, in between crying out she was babling a bit, so I let her get up at 3pm!

I'm thinking Scott was right about his stubborn child!!

Pregnancy blues

My second pregnancy is going really well. I'm 18.5 weeks along (4 months!) and we are well into the second trimester. My health is good, no real aches or pains and I'm a little tired, but nothing excessive.

Last week I really started to feel the baby move. It's not constant yet, still too small, but the occasional flutter reminds me why my belly is getting bigger!

And that brings me to my blues!! Since I stopped breastfeeding I've gained about 10lbs! That's over 15lbs total, about 50% more than I should have. I'm still smaller than I was at this stage with Emma, but none of my regular pants are fitting anymore. I think I'd convinced myself that I could avoid maternity pants if I just kept the weight gain to a minimum. But as big as my belly has become, it's not the only area to have grown!

Today I went through all my clothes, current and old maternity. I put the regular stuff in storage and put the maternity tops in the drawers. The trouble is that the maternity pants I kept are a little big, and like I said my regular pants are not fitting.

This weekend will be in the 80's but there are still a couple of months of chilly spring to go. I hate to spend money on short-term maternity pants, but I fear my sweatpants may fall apart if they don't get to rest! (Not to mention poor Scott having to see the 'casual' me all the time!!) I have ordered some things online since there is not much selection in local stores. We'll see if I get anything decent!

Unfortunately there is no way to diet and I really suck at eating healthy by myself!! I guess there is no point in worrying too much. I can't diet now, I'll just keep trying to do better. (If you have some constructive 'advice' - please don't worry! It's nothing I haven't told myself, and already ignored!!)

Oh, and I got heartburn today. Great!

It will all be worth it in the end!!

Sleep saga - Episode 3

Have you seen Disney's The Incredibles? There's a scene at the end where the baby Incredible is getting kidnapped and at first he turns into a ball of flames, then a little devil, attacking the kidnapper, and finally a ball of steel so he drops him. It's pretty funny, but when I saw it recently it was hilarious.

Emma does exactly that! When I take her into her room at nap or bed time her first reaction is to start screaming, which turns her into a red ball of heat! Then when you pick her up to put her in bed she clings and climbs all over me, like the little devil!! She doesn't turn into a ball of lead, but as she scrambles to stay on my shoulder she gets hard to hold on to!!

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Emma slept as well as on previous nights and was quick to fall asleep yesterday evening. It's such a blessing that I can relax from 7pm onwards! When Scott's finished all his overtime we'll have lots of time together.

Today turned out to be a free day. I'd been expecting Ema's speech therapist but got my days mixed up! I therefore was able to feed Emma lunch early, at 11am, when she started getting sleepy.

I put her down for her nap soon after the feed, before noon and opted to take a nap myself. For some reason I tried to put the CPAP on her and she seemed comfortable with that. Scott called soon after and the phone woke her up!

At 12.30pm I had to change her poopy diaper and of course the CPAP was off! I left it alone, not my priority right now!

She must have woken up every half hour or so, and I only went in on the occasions she was crying so much she was gagging herself! (She could actually choke on her own secretions so I had to check!)

After 3pm she sounded like she was sleeping well. At 3.30pm Scott called again!! This time she woke up again and I decided to let her up, after all it was time to eat again. She clung to me so tight and I think was ready to sleep on me!! Once she let go she seemed to be pretty happy, so maybe she's getting enough sleep, albeit broken. I feel quite refreshed!

Same thing tomorrow I guess!

Sleep saga - Episode 2

I thought today would be easier. I was wrong!

We followed through last night and put Emma to bed awake. I gave her a bath first to try and calm her down, but Scott came home right before bed, so she got all worked up again! That said, we put her down and left her. She fell asleep in a bout a half hour.

This morning her nurse did as I asked and did not attend to her when she first roused crying. She soon fell asleep again for another 30 minutes. When she did wake up at 5.45am she didn't cry at all, just started babbling. That is a sign she is well rested. Another sign is that she did not fall asleep after breakfast.

I took Emma out grocery shopping with me in the morning and she was great until the last 5 minute drive home when she fell fast asleep. It was only 11.30am and i had to feed her before she could nap so I did my best to wake her up. Turns out all I had to do was put her in her bed because she popped right up then! I let her play for a while after her lunch and put her down for a nap at 12.45pm.

She clearly gets the picture and was much less cooperative today. She cried on and off for an hour or so. After reading more about the technique, which calls for you to go in after 20 minutes I did that and she flipped out. She had pooped though, so I changed her diaper.

I decided to stay out completely from then on. However at about 2.45pm her pulse ox alarmed that it was getting no input. No input often happen when she is kicking her feet about or standing, but she was quiet! I bolted up the stairs and moved her. Of course she was fine and now awake!!

I changed the probe on her foot and tried to put her back down. She clung to me like a Koala!

Her occupational therapist is coming at 4pm and I hoped to feed her about 3.30pm, but she hasn't actually slept properly yet! I'm not sure how we will get this to work if we only have a 3 hour window to do it!

Sleep saga - Episode 1

As you may recall (if you've been keeping up with the program!) I vowed to start the 'cry it out' sleep method this Monday. I actually started a bit early by putting her down on Friday afternoon. On Friday she stopped crying within a half hour and woke a couple of times but I left her alone and she fell asleep again.

Emma is not on her CPAP for naps, I decided to take it one step at a time. So she just has the one wire on her foot and that is hooked up to her pulse-ox, so I would know if her SATS or heart rate drops. That little alarm makes it all easier!! (I think I'll use it on the new baby when Emma's not sleeping!!)

Saturday we skipped nap altogether!

Sunday she went down for an afternoon nap and fell asleep again. It took a little longer than Friday, but again I left her alone for at least 2 hours.

Then on Sunday night I realized we were still 'putting her to sleep' in the evening, either by rocking her or reading to her! That was clearly going to void any work done at naptime, so last night she cried herself to sleep as well. I think it was less than a half hour. Unfortunately she went to bed a little late, but we'll try and keep to 7pm during the week at least!

On Monday she was up early as usual and while I told the nurse (the most strict one) to keep away from her when she woke up, Emma convinced her to read to her! What's a mum to do?! Anyway, she was dog tired by 9am so I thought we'd have a morning nap too. She got about 30-40 minutes sleep after the crying. I also got a few minutes before I woke to her crying.

I got her up as I really wanted to make sure the afternoon nap was not too late. I put her down just after 1pm and she was silent by 1.30pm! However she woke periodically until about 3pm, which of course was when the lady arrived to fit her new CPAP mask!! At least I know now that those first couple of hours are just the beginning of the nap! Try again tomorrow.

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You may wonder what I will be doing with all this free time I should have (when not napping myself!). The answer is simple, playing games! My amazing husband got me a Nintendo DSi for my birthday and I got enough giftcards to buy a range of games! Which ones? I love quizzes and puzzles, so I will be honing my brain activity to a new level of sharpness! ;-)

Highs and lows of party life

On Saturday Emma went from Ikea to a party with only a brief car-ride nap in between, Yet you would not have known it as she was the life and soul of the party! she clearly loves to dance as much as her mum!

Of course everyone has to crash sometime and how she slept on Mrs. T. through a very loud "Shout" I will never know!!