The difference of one week...

One week ago - Emmy was laying in a hospital bed, not talking, or showing any recognition for Keith or I, let alone any reaction to the activity surrounding her in the ER. Not a peep. Not a cry. Not a complaint/grunt/groan when the nurses stuck her with needles. The only reaction she had was her facial expression.

One week ago....I was so scared I was going to lose my baby girl as we drove to the hospital with her seizing on my lap.

I took this video tonight of Keith and Em playing.

I'd say she's feeling better, wouldn't you?


Publish Post

Em's hospital stay - part 3

Emmy had a barrage of tests in the 3 days she was in the hospital. Makes me pretty thankful for our health-care system as when we were discharged, the only paper I got was Emmy's discharge instructions. I think we take our Universal Health Care system for granted at times as many are not as fortunate. I constantly felt every nurse and doctor treated Emmy as if she was their own. She had blood & urine tests x2, tox screens to check for any ingested causes of the seizure, chest xray,the afore-mentioned spinal tap, an ekg, an attempted eeg (wasn't able to be completed as Emmy refused to sleep- but will be attempted again). All tests came back normal. The eeg will tell us if this seizure was, in fact, caused by the fever rather than epilepsy or a brain lesion. Obviously, I am hoping for the cause to be the fever, and that does seem the most likely at this point.

We were originally going to be discharged on Monday, but that was delayed as Emmy would not stand on her own without complaining of pain. She would stand, hunched over, like a 90 year old. As she had the spinal tap, this caused some more concern with the Pediatrician. She showed no further signs of seizure activity, which was great, but now there was the concern about her back. Overall, Emmy's mood was good, a little whinier than normal, and she was far more lethargic than normal.

Tuesday morning, it was like someone flipped a switch with Emmy. She was 110% her old self. She ran from activity to activity in the playroom, ran down the hall to her 'fishies' (a fish tank on the Ped unit) and would comment if she heard a baby cry down the hall, 'baby cry' she would say matter-of-factly) They found that she grew Strep G on her throat swab, which can grow normally in infants, but the Pediatrician felt that was the cause of her fever. Again, it sounds to me like this was a febrile seizure rather than a more serious cause, but we won't be able to officially say that until after the eeg.

We came home Tuesday, and boy it has been nice to be home with Emmy. I was off this week anyhow, so I have had the chance to be over-protective and ensure my daughter was fine. I bought two (yes two) thermometers, and I have taken Em's temp probably 20 times in the past 3 days. Am I a freak? Probably, but I guarantee you would do the same (or at least have the urge to). Emmy has been herself, and is fully taking advantage of my happiness of having her home by asking for 'nummy treats' often.

A little side note. Emmy would say prior to this episode, 'tummy hurts' and would ask for a nummy treat. She would say her tummy hurt in the hospital, but I could not say for sure if her tummy actually hurt or whether she was looking for a treat. lol

Emmy's Hospital Stay -spinal tap

Emmy was given a spinal tap somewhere between 1-2 am on Sunday. I was planning to be in the room as they did the procedure, but Keith was having a breakdown of his own at that point, so I went to support him. Emmy was not conscious for the procedure and it went well by all accounts. It was probably better I wasn't in the room - I know how nervous I get when people watch me, and these people were sticking a needle into my baby's back. Best not to distract them.

Once done, the Pediatrician indicated that she was happy with the spinal fluid - as it was clear. I watched as 4 vials were sent down to the lab. Emmy was still sedated. A nurse came in to ask us 4 pages of questions about Emmy, and our family medical history. The most insane question? Are you staying the night? Where the hell else would I be? My 28 month old child has just had a seizure and is unconscious after a spinal tap...I am not only spending the night, you will be positively sick of me! Of course I just meekly said yes. I sat in the chair beside the crib, and just watched Emmy sleep. Keith crawled into bed (there was a queen sized bed in the room) and tried to get some sleep.

After the 4 am vitals check, I went to try to get some sleep. I couldn't shut off my mind, so no sleep was had by me at that time. I went back to the chair beside the crib and just listened to Keith snore and Emmy breathe.

At 6 am, the nurses returned for a vitals check. Emmy woke up this time and immediately called out for both Keith and I. That was the sweetest thing I have every heard as she had not said a word since the seizure and had not shown recognition for either of us. I quickly sat up so she could see me, and she smiled. Then, she went to work on trying to get out of her crib and pulling the cords off her body. She especially did not enjoy her IV, hence why her hand is so taped up in the picture on the previous post. Anything to keep it in.

Emmy put up such a fuss about the crib, they ended up bringing in a hospital bed for her to sleep in. That appeased her. Satisfied my baby was stable, Keith stayed with her as I got 2 hours sleep. Although she was still running a fever, it was under control, Emmy was talking, and acting somewhat normal. This was the first in a serious of good steps to her recovery.

The one where Emmy went to the hospital

It's not likely I will forget the incidents of July 5th, 2008 anytime soon.

It started as a normal, but busy Saturday morning. I had a dentist appointment at 7 am, and I returned with some breakfast for Keith and Emmy. Emmy ate normally, and all seemed well. Keith went off to work.

Em and I hung out. I was really tired from my early morning appointment and Emmy seemed drained as well. She napped twice, both longer than usual, and was whiny when awake. Very unlike her. I put it down to her coming down with something as she felt warm. I tried dosing her with some Motrin and she refused. I didn't push it as she was drinking well.

Keith came home around 5:30 and I shared my concerns with him. She was still warm, so I asked him to try to give her the Motrin. Again, she refused. I tried again, and she just spit it out. All very unlike her. Emmy laid on the couch, eating freezies and watching Dora. I was telling Keith my concerns and thought we should take her to the walk-in clinic at least as my 'Mommy radar' was telling me something wasn't right. He didn't think it was necessary, which caused a bit of bickering between us. I went to the kitchen to cook some pasta, and Keith sat on the floor beside Em, and interacted with her.

A few moments later, Keith said, "Jan, we need to go, NOW." I came out from the kitchen and Emmy was standing by the sofa with glassy eyes and was not 'there'. She was unresponsive and you could tell something was seriously wrong. I grabbed her, and we went quickly to the car to go to the ER.

Once on the way, Emmy started having a seizure. She was foaming at the mouth, and gasping/choking. It was horrible to watch and I was as scared as I have ever been. I attempted to make sure she didn't choke on her tongue, but other than that, there was nothing at I could do but watch. (We have now learned proper seizure first aid - so if you are yelling at the monitor, we won't be repeating those mistakes again - we were motivated by fear) I was absolutely fearful that I was going to lose my child. We shaved a good 5 minutes off a 10 minute trip, but it still felt like far too long as my child fought to breathe. We got to the hospital, Keith grabbed Emmy, who now was limply laying in my arms, and took her in to the ER. I parked the car, although I still don't know how I managed to plug the meter as my hands were shaking.

I ran into the ER and the nurse asked if I was the mother. I indicated yes, and gave her Em's care card. (They had asked Keith for it and he indicated I was following with it) She asked me to describe the events of the evening, and I just looked at her as all I could think about was my daughter and what was going on. I gave her a brief run down, and they lead me into the room where a team of doctors/nurses were working on my child.

My first thought when I walking into the room was how small was on that big bed. Keith and I stood off to the back, but the nurse told me I could come up and hold her hand if I wanted. Like she needed to ask that. I stood beside Emmy, who had her eyes closed, but she gripped my hand like no tomorrow. The pediatrician on-call was paged, and everyone was asking questions about our day. Did she vomit? What did she eat today? Did she eat/get into anything she should not have? Are there any drugs in the house? Any alcohol? Do either of you smoke? When did you notice something was wrong? When did she start seizing? How long did it take you to drive here?

It was scary and frantic. The doctor stated that her working diagnosis was that Emmy had a febrile seizure and they were timing her recovery time. With febrile seizures, a child should be drowsy but alert 20 minutes from onset. Emmy was not. Once she did open her eyes, she also would not turn her head to the left. She also showed no recognition for either Keith nor I. She would look through you. It was a horrible, horrible feeling.

The Pediatrician arrived and we were moved to the Pediatric ward as there was a trauma coming into the ER. I signed a release to do a spinal tap as they needed to rule out Meningitis and Encephalitis.

Emmy was given sedative (she just fricken woke up, people!) so they could complete the spinal tap and was put into a crib, with all sorts of wires and monitors on her. The nurses came in with every little blip and did vitals every 2 hours. At this point - all we had to go on was that it it was *possibly* a febrile seizure, but they were doing further testing to rule out other diseases. My baby - although under serious supervision - was stable. Although not a perfect scenario, was better than just a few hours prior.

Next post - more about her hospital stay...

Visit to the park

As today was my EDO from work (meaning Earned Day Off), Em and I went to the park this afternoon. Although I think I will be crossing this park off our frequently visited list due to the lack of small kids activities & the sheer amount of cigarette butts in the sand. Although, one could say that was an activity in itself as Emmy spent at least 30 minutes digging them out, even to my protests and attempts to distract her.

She did have fun on the swings, but she may be traumatized by the slide experience. I had been picking her up and putting her 1/2 way down the slide when Monkey Emmy decided she wanted to go to the top of the slide and slide down. She climbed up fine, sat down to slide, and got scared. She stood up, and attempted to get down, but couldn't figure it out, so she did the next best thing, she started wailing.

I climbed up to attempt to rectify the situation. Two things were quickly apparent, 1. The slide was far higher than I remember them being, and 2. There was no way my fat ass was making it around those turns.

After concluding my only option was to carry Emmy down myself, I did just that, silently praying the whole way down. It went smoothly, with no fumbles or falls.

Here are the pictures and even a video...

"Yucky, Poopie!"

said Emmy this morning when she walked in on Daddy. peeing. She looked at him, pointed at his man-part and stated that. I am still giggling about that and it has provoked a few jokes this morning as well.

Ahhh....kids.

Paaaarrrrty!

Today, Emmy and I attended our very first birthday party for Emmy's friend from daycare. I met her friend's mom and Emmy and I had a fun time. It was a 'Dora, Diego and Dinosaur' Adventure party, and although Emmy was a bit young to truly grasp the concept of the adventure part of it (we went through various 'lands' set up in the back yard) she still had fun. Each child had a handmade backpack just like Dora's, with all the necessary tools to complete the adventure (bubbles, binoculars, whistle, a map, and some other stuff that is now strewn across my living room. Dora, Diego and Swiper also made an appearance which made Emmy pretty darn excited.

We only had tears once, when the older boys were running around roaring like dinosaur's and scared her a bit when they did it close to her. She growls all the time, but I guess it's different. She also was about the only kid who didn't attempt to pillage a gift, or take back the one they brought the Birthday girl, which was my big fear.

Funny thing happened later on in the evening, I had left to run to the store and Keith was home with Emmy. Apparently, she stuck her hand out and said, "Pleased to meet you," to Keith, no doubt copying me from earlier in the day at the party. Isn't it funny what they pick up?

Some photos:

Emmy blowing her 'whistle' which thankfully disappeared somewhere between the party and home. She couldn't quite get it to blow at full sound, but I knew it was just a matter of time.


Emmy being a 'big girl' and successfully drinking out of a lid-less plastic cup with no spills! I cannot believe how quickly they change from being babies to being children.


Emmy playing in the play castle in the backyard


Being extremely cute. (Okay, I am biased)


Emmy, watching Dora, and demanded her backpack from the party. Could my kid get any closer to the screen???

More pictures...

Redneck baby

1. She is wearing a baseball hat, backwards, which doesn't really make her a redneck baby, however the fact it is a DUDE BEER hat kinda does! LOL Good thing she is cute...LOL

Happy Father's Day :-)

It was a good run

Of being puke-free, that is. 2 years, 3 months, and 19 days to be exact.

Emmy woke up this morning, seemingly normal in spirits. I could tell she had a poopy diaper, so I went to change that. I quickly realized that this was no ordinary diaper change. This was they worst diaper change I have faced. I chose to spray my child down and then bathe her it was so nasty. Emmy started telling me in the bath that her "tummy hurts" (which was the first time she ever indicated that), but I figured she was just hungry as she hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

30 minutes and a yogurt later, she was still telling me that her tummy hurt. I got her some applesauce and some juice and tried to lay down with her, but she was having no part of that. She played pretty normally for the most part.

It became obvious a while later when she had the second nasty diaper that she was having some tummy issues today. A brilliant mom may have picked up on that when her child tells her that her tummy hurts, but I am heavily in the first-time-mom role here. We had an uneventful morning after that, and I finally got her to nap around 2 (late for her).

Not even 15 minutes into her nap, she begun coughing. She was napping on the couch, so I looked over at her and I saw her sit up in her sleep, and then puke all over her hands. She looked at me with this amazed and scared look, having no clue what just happened. She puked twice more, and then I took her upstairs for her second bath of the day.

She seems to be in good spirits, but hasn't slept since. She followed me around as I cleaned up the puke and did laundry. Hopefully that will be the end of it.

For the record, Keith has been at work all day and has missed every exciting adventure. Baby's first puke, I am sure he will be devastated. :-)

Random Emmy Pictures

And we are back...

Due to a nasty broken arm (me) and the inability to type effectively one-handed, I haven't updated the blog since...well, too long.

So quick recap for you...
One afternoon, about 2 1/2 weeks ago, I came home with Emmy after work and proceeded to go into the house. Well I tried, Em choose to run down the driveway and into our road. I chased, I tripped, I fell and I broke. Yet again.

I went to work the next day and then went to the ER to get it X-rayed. I waited in hopes the pain and inability to straighten my arm really were good things. Turned out they weren't. Who knew.

So for the next two weeks, I wore an obnoxious neon pink cast on my left arm. It was casted in a way that my left hand was utterly useless for typing, but I could hit the shift key with my pointer finger. Have you ever tried to hit control-alt-delete with one hand? It is quite difficult and my first hurdle to logging onto my computer at work. That one task took me a few minutes every morning, let alone putting my headset on with one hand. My coworkers chuckled profusely at that one.

But I did it. Two weeks of hunt-and-pecking (as I was typing one handed) and I still managed to answer my fair share of calls. However, On Thursday, when the cast came off, I was happier than I was the last time. LOL

My arm is still sore, but I can type again and I am getting all healed.

Spring! FINALLY!

Bubbles!

Now, we have poop!

I cannot say that I have been so excited about poop before! Emmy went poopie on the potty without any prompting from Keith or I. In fact, I was at my computer and Keith was in the kitchen when the poopie-in-the-potty occurred. Emmy started yelling about poopie and when I got to her, she was pointing in her potty. Sure enough, there was some poop in there. That's one less yucky diaper we had to change!
Emmy seems to be getting the hang of this despite my absolute fear and pessimistic view that I could be successful in potty training Emmy.

Who am I kidding, our daycare lady is to thank for this more than us. LOL She's the pro!

We have pee-pee on the potty!

After 3 weekends of half-hearted potty training, we have actual progress! Emmy went pee on the potty today for the first time! She had pulled her own pants off and was sitting on the potty in her diaper. We removed the diaper and a few minutes later, we had progress! Yay Emmy!

Toddlerhood is fun...

99% of the time, that is. The other 1% Emmy seems to do everything she can to ensure Mommy goes bald.

Yesterday, Keith and I both had errands we needed to do. Both of us wanted to do them on our own as Emmy wouldn't enjoy them, or they could be done much faster without her. Since Child Protection frowns upon leaving your 2 year old home alone, a compromise was made. I would take Emmy with me for my errands, and Keith would take Emmy to visit Grandma so I could have some alone time. Sounds good, right?

Our first stop, the grocery store, went amazingly well. Em was pretty well behaved, and when she was bored of sitting in the cart, she walked either beside me, or helped me push the cart. She was downright cute at times, I would give her something to put in the cart, she would run to the back, put it in, run to the front of the cart and say "ready!" All in all, it was a good trip, she listened, and we got everything we needed.

Halfway home, I realized I forgot something, so we had to make a quick stop at the drug store. Emmy walked beside me and all seemed good. We went down the baby aisle. At the end of the baby aisle, Em discovered a bath toy in the shape of a frog. If you haven't been informed of this little toddler gem, Emmy calls frogs, "Fuc*" So, imagine if you will, my toddler yelling, in her not-so-quiet 2 year old voice, "Fuc*! Fuc*! Fuc*!" For the record, she LOVES frogs, so she's very excited about this bath toy.

As I quickly correct her, I look around to see who is in the general vicinity. There is an elderly gentleman who is looking quite amused at my child and 2 mom's with kids who are looking rather horrified. Maybe they were empaths and were channelling how I was feeling at that moment? Probably not. I quickly usher Emmy out of the aisle, get what I need and head for the checkout. Emmy wasn't happy about leaving her dear frog, and this was the beginning of the end of good behavoir.

We got to the lineup for the checkout. Twice Emmy veered towards the door, so I had to grab her. Twice, kindhearted people decided to take my place in line even though I was 2 steps away. Thanks.

Emmy darted once more, this time making it out past the security devices. She was carrying a box of Kleenex, which set off the alarm. Nice. Apparantly, there is a lot of Kleenex theft that they put sensors in them.

Now the alarm is going, I had dropped my purchases when she darted, so my pads and feminine hygiene products are all over the floor, I grab her by the hood of the coat (she was heading out the automatic doors), and try to grab her. She falls onto her back, and I go to pick her up. She is screaming and crying, and generally makes it sound like I am beating her instead of trying to pick her up. May I mention the alarm is still going. Hey, store clerks, I've tackled the would-be-shoplifter, you may turn it off now.

As I have Em on the floor in front of me, she bootkicks me in the face. Not hard, but enough. She was trying to get away and she did almost suceed with that ninja move. I get her up, I securely grab her hand and calmly pick up my soon-to-be purchases. The alarm is off now, my dignity is gone, and I don't dare to look around.

I get to the checkout, pay for my purchases, and Emmy and I leave the store.

We get home and Keith gives me this funny look. Apparantly, all over my cheek and chin were perfect replicas of Em's bootprint in dirt. Lovely.

Oh, and for the record, I didn't get my time alone. LOL

Emmy versus the toddler bed

As our lil monkey girl has been stressing me out with her climbing out of her playpen and falling to the ground, we introduced Emmy to her toddler bed on Sunday.

Day 1 - at 11 pm, she got out of bed, toddled into my room, and woke me up. She was up until nearly 4 am, with us alternating who was putting her back to bed.

Amount of sleep gotten by parents: 3 hours combined.

Verdict: FAIL

Day 2 - she slept until 3 am, when she awoke, and cried at the baby gate we used to keep her in her room.

Amount of sleep gotten by parents: 4 hours each


Verdict: Improvement

Day 3 -

I went to bed early in hopes to get more that a few hours sleep. Em cried a few times, but never got out of bed. I was so surprised I actually lifted the comforter off her to make sure she was there. This, of course, woke her up, as she promptly told me, "I wake up! I wake up!"

Amount of sleep had by parents: Pretty much a full night with a few wakeup's.

Verdict: Pass

Fingers crossed for tonight!

Monkey girl strikes again

My child is part monkey, I swear.
At a year she could climb out of her crib on the lowest setting, and she couldn't even walk yet!
She climbs everything, from her highchair to the couch where she takes great glee in crawling along the back of it. We don't tend to mind the highchair climbing as it is quite nice just to ask her to get in her highchair, and she does. However, she is responsible for a few of the grey hairs I 'Nice and Easy' away every 4-6 weeks.

This morning, as I was sleeping, quite contentedly I might add, Monkey girl managed to climb out of her playpen and come running into my room. One moment, I was in blissful dreamland, and the next, there was a toddler pinching my toes and saying 'Wakey Wakey, Mommy!' as she ran out of the room giggling.

At first I thought Keith must have let her out, but as I could hear him snoring away downstairs, I realized that she had once again shown off her skills at climbing.

Why I fear taking my 2 year old out...

1. Her new word is "Clock" but she can't say the "L" sound.

2. Complete strangers in grocery stores who happen to be wearing a baseball cap, blue jeans and a jean jacket(Keith's usual attire) are called "Daddy". Loudly. Repeatedly. Not Daddy, Emmy. We live in a mill-city, there's not so many suits at Save-On Friday nights.

3. The fits, oh the fits. For the record fellow shoppers, I AM doing everything I can to calm her, and NO glaring at me like I am doing something horrible to make my kid act this way is not HELPING. She's two, rational behavoir is not mandatory yet.
(Emmy is hit and miss shopping, Friday was bad so we made it quick, the Friday before, she was absolutely angelic the entire trip. There was nothing noticeably different in her behavoir before entering the store.)

***
On a completely different note, Emmy learned today that she is tall enough to reach the light switch on the stairway going upstairs, AND the one in our bedroom. Guess who spent a good hour today just turning the lights on and off, then giggling hysterically about it? Very cute to watch her discover this, but was not cute when I made her stop for a bit. LOL She had 2 baths today (oooh it was a nasty-diaper day AND I gave her Ravioli for lunch) so she ran to our bedroom after each of them.

Just say no

Keith and I often joke that Emmy won't be lured into any wrongdoing by friends since any question you ask her, she answers with no. This is not a new occurance, and I cannot blame this on her being 2, she has always done this since she learned to talk. It's like she just didn't know there was another answer besides no, as she says no even when she means yes.

However, our little girl has gone and changed on us again. She will now, on occasion, nod her head yes in answer to a question. This is a step in the right direction as my ego couldn't take too much more of the no's. Especially to the "Do you love Mommy, Emmy?" I got a nod today, so I'll take it.

However, this new development means she may be open for influence by the friends she hangs out with. Daycare kids - I am watching you! LOL

Em's Second 2nd Birthday

We went to visit Keith's family today for Emmy's second 2nd birthday celebration. Grandma, Auntie Lorna, Cousin Jenna and family friend Joan were there. Uncle Sheldon and Cousin Jamie were snowmobiling, so they weren't able to be there. Auntie Lorna made Emmy a cake (and it was very tasty!).

As I look at the pictures, I realize I didn't get any of the family with Emmy, or even alone for that matter. Sheesh. Well, you will just have to take my word for it that they were there.

Emmy was spoiled by everyone, but most importantly, she was surrounded by most of the people that love and care about her. I couldn't ask for a better birthday present for her.

Emmy's birthday Dance

Emmy's Second Birthday

The day Dora invaded our house Part II (Emmy's birthday)

Yesterday, my lil Emmy turned 2. I still can't believe it. I know I will be saying the same thing when she is 20, but let me dwell here.

It was a Dora themed birthday, completely by chance. We bought Emmy a Dora & Diego Aquadoodle, Keith, who ordered Em's cake on his own, chose a Dora cake, and my Aunt Trudy sent a gift for Emmy that was a Dora sit-and-spin. Add in Em's Dora couch, and my house has officially been taken over by the cheribic lil 'toon.

Did I mention Emmy is 2???

We had a small birthday with just the 3 of us, and on Sunday, we will celebrate with Keith's family. Last year, I wouldn't allow cake and this year she is getting 2...oh my! LOL

Here are some pictures of her birthday, she had so much fun with her new toys. Video's will be in a seperate post.

Have I mentioned my lil baby is 2???

Emmy versus personal responsibility

Morning-haired Emmy, complete with yogurt on her shirt.


My daughter, the cute child she is, has started dropping things on purpose and then saying, "Ut oh!" or "Ohhhhhhh nooooooooo!" in her little melodramatic toddler voice. The first 20-30 times, it was funny, but then I decided I should be the parent here and discuss this with her.

This morning, when she awoke, I went into her room to get her. She was playing with her "Quack Quack" (a stuffed duck that quacks - it's all about originality in this house, I tell you.) She stood up to allow me to pick her up out of her playpen, turned around, and dropped Quack Quack over the side, onto the floor. "Ut ohhhhhhh" said Emmy. "Sucks to be Quack Quack," I thought. I picked Emmy up and put her on the floor so she could pick Quack Quack up herself. She toddler-runs over to Quack Quack, picks him up, and promptly drops him, on purpose, onto the floor. She then says, "ooopsie" which was the first time she has said that. Darn you child for dropping a new word when I am trying to make a point!

So, after making a big deal about her new word, I sat her down and discussed how when she drops an object by accident, it would be appropriate to say, "Oopsie" or "Oh no" but when she drops things on purpose, well, it just isn't appropriate. We discussed the difference between 'on purpose' and 'accident' so she was clear on the meanings of both.

(I chose not to discuss copying my word when I drop something by accident, and it shatters all over the floor, like the applesauce yesterday. Emmy has heard that enough, and I am awaiting the day she adds 'Crap!" to her vocab-not to mention the occasional other spicy words that I try really hard not to say. No need to confuse the child.)

But, I digress. Emmy and I had a good conversation, and I was sure Emmy understood the issues at hand. We high-fived on it, and went on our merry way.

About 10 minutes later, Emmy was eating her yogurt in her high chair, said "Ut Oh!" and then proceeded to drop her yogurt over the side of the tray.

Hi square one, nice to see you. I think we'll be here for awhile.

I am such a nerd.

Keith bought me a Sirius satellite radio a few weeks ago. Hundreds of choices of stations, and what do I listen to? The 80's station. Yup, I'm pathetic.

I actually meandered off the station today to listen to some comedy. I heard the funniest line, then I had to turn it off 'cause I was laughing too hard and thought I would crash my car. The line? "Glitter is like the herpes of arts & craft supplies."

Yes, I know, I have to get out of the house more. LOL

Sour Grapes

When grocery shopping, I often see people 'taste-testing the produce. This annoys me as technically, it is stealing. They aren't paying for the grapes they are popping in their mouths.

However, maybe these people are just smarter at the world of fruit picking than I am. I bought grapes, without sneaking any, for a whopping $8. Price of fruit sucks in the winter here. I brought them home and they are absolutely inedible. They are sour, face-puckering so. Even Emmy, who LOVES grapes, took one, chewed it twice, and promptly took it out of her mouth and gave it back to me.

I bet the taste testers don't end up with 2 lbs of sour grapes! LOL

I miss you, my Mommy

New Words!!!

Whenever I seem to think Emmy isn't talking as much as she should be, she certainly goes out of her way to prove me wrong. New Emmy words and phrases (some on the video's I have shared): I have spelled then as she says them, so no mocking the spelling! LOL
Oj Juice (orange juice)
No (not new but VERY prevalent in Em's vocab these days! LOL
Mommies (sadly, this refers to both Keith and I, I think we goofed her up when I was immobile!
mys (mine)
Da-Dow (Dora and/or Diego - she refers to both by this name, kind of like the Mommies LOL.
Na-Night (Night Night) and she gives me a wave as she heads up the stairs to bed.
Feeshies (Fishies)
Ahhhh Man! (whenever she drops something...I say this all the time. lol)
Mys Mommies awwwwwww
I miss you (Can you break my heart a bit more Emmy??? LOL)

We still can't understand a lot of what she says, but we are slowly being assimilated into 'Emmy-ese".

"Da-dow" aka Dora

How quickly we forget...

Keith and I were chatting last night about how much Emmy has changed in the almost-two-years since she was born. Keith mentioned how he used to make Emmy giggle by swinging her back and forth in his arms. I replied, yes, back when she was in her brace. "Oh yeah," said Keith, "the brace! I totally forgot that she was in that!"

And that, my friends, is parenthood in a nutshell. It's not that Emmy's time in the brace was forgettable, it's just that it doesn't define her. Every moment of our time together, she gives us a new memory and eventually 'life in the brace', while overwhelming at the time, gets pushed away as these new memories and experiences fill our minds and hearts. Toddlerhood is SO full of change, some days, I feel like I am unable to keep up.

Remember Chucky???

Emmy found Keith's copy of the book of Child's Play. (By found I mean she climbed up her highchair and emptied the bookshelf that is hidden behind it of course)
She looked at Chucky on the cover (thankfully the least scary picture of him I have ever seen) and said, "Baby". That's one scary baby, Em.

For the record...

Still sick.
Still sound like a 15 year old boy whose voice is changing.

At work yesterday, I was the front counter person. Meaning I had to call #'s all day to call the clients to the front. Luckily, today they took pity on me and gave me a non-speaking role. LOL

I went to the medical clinic tonight and a nice doctor took pity on me and prescribed me an antibiotic. He is quite possibly my best friend EVER. lol

The one where Jan gets sick

Remember that Friend's episode when Phoebe caught a bad cold and got her 'sexy' voice? My life kinda resembles that episode right now. Well, except I don't sing in a coffee shop and I am not best friends with anyone named Monica, Chandler, Joey, Ross or Rachel. So it's not an exact match. LOL

My life resembles that episode because a) I have a bad cold ala Phoebe in that episode, and b) Keith keeps making me do my 'cute' laugh that I only apparently get when I am knockin' on death's door. Who knew feeling so crummy could actually UP my cuteness factor? Not me. Apparently, he's able to ignore the constant nose blowing, moaning and my hoarse whisper of a voice I have left. But, I do have a cute laugh apparently. I can assure you though, unlike Phoebe, I will not be trying to 're-catch' this cold once I am better.

For the record, all three of us are sick, so I shouldn't whine too much. Em got it first, then I got it, and Keith, who was holding out finally succumbed to it on Friday. I however, am the only one who lost her voice, so I can whine about that. Should make work interesting tommorow. Wonder how quick I can learn shorthand?

Happy New Year!

As I prepare myself to welcome in 2008, I can't say I am terribly sad to say goodbye to 2007. The past year has been the hardest year emotionally for me in my entire life, and not just because of Maddie, although she is obviously a big piece of it.

However, with the bad, came some good. Which is good, 'cause otherwise I would have been booked into the looney bin by now!

The Bad

• My father's addiction to gambling and where it has lead my parents
• Maddie's Pregnancy (by this I mean the blood pressure issues/Vertigo/sickness)
• My water breaking at 18 weeks
• Maddie dying at 18 weeks 1 day
• Delivering Maddie's body at 19 weeks 1 day, after a week of induction.
• Having my online friends fighting and a split of the baby board I was part of since I was preggo with Emmy
• Breaking my ankle, and being immobile for 8+ weeks

The Good

• The knowledge that my parent's are safe from their own demons for the time being
• Still being able to remember what Maddie's movements felt like. Little tip-taps.
• The fact I can remember Maddie's death and birth without crying, because it really is okay. Sure, I still get a twinge in my heart when I think about her, but my grief is not all-powerful and overwhelming like it was in the beginning. I will always miss her, but it's missing 'what could have been', not something I had any control over.
• Having such wonderful friends and family that stood by me when I was not the nicest person when dealing with my grief. They stuck through it, and are here today. I can't even begin to express how that makes me feel.
• Breaking my ankle so I had an excuse to quit a job that was absolutely life sucking. If I was mobile at the time, I would have jumped for joy!
• Getting my dream job a few weeks later
• Feeling like I am contributing, like I am a valued employee - it is such a confidence boost.
• That my lil family unit is happy, healthy and safe. We have a roof over our heads, lots of food to eat, and we are warm, comfortable and together.

There are more good than bad, and with my new job, I have felt so much positive energy run through me. These are the happiest days of my life (outside of when Emmy was born of course!)

I wish all of you a beautiful new year's, may you be happy, safe, and be surrounded by love. Thank you for reading my blog :-)

Distracted Emmy Dancing!

Dora Takes Over Christmas

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas, my friends

I wish each and every one of you the happiest of Christmases, and hopes for a joyous new year. Yes, even you, person who left the 'not so understanding comment' on my blog a few weeks back. For you, I wish you peace and love in your heart.

Take joy in those you love, and whom love you back this holiday season. I know I will be.

The Timbits made her do it...

Timbits:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Timbits is the brand name of bite-sized doughnut balls sold at the Canadian Tim Hortons restaurant chain. Timbits are sometimes referred to as "doughnut holes", as they are often assumed to be made from the part of a full doughnut that is "cut out" to make a doughnut's hole. Timbits are in fact made from separate balls of dough as many of the menu's doughnuts do not have holes. The treats were introduced in April 1976, shortly after Tim Horton's death in 1974, and are now available in a selection of varieties that differs from store to store. Some of the most popular flavours are chocolate, jelly-filled, honey dip, and apple fritter.

I love Timbits. I am Canadian, therefore Timbits are a part of life. I occasionally, (and I do mean occasionally) let Emmy have one or two as a treat. Take that, those people who say I am too strict with her diet. LOL

This evening, as I made my way home from shopping, I decided to bring a treat home for Keith and Emmy. So I stopped at Timmies, got two Iced Capp's and a 20 pack of Timbits.

Since Emmy is Canadian, she too loves the Timbit. In fact, the child knows the box they come in, even though she may have only seen it a time or two. So, imagine her excitement when she sees Mom with the box of holy goodness in her hand. She goes WILD. I do mean wild. It was like she was possessed, she was talking in her new 'funny voice' a gravelly version of her normally one which sounds slightly demonic. She chased me around wanting access to the box o'goodness. If I hadn't of given her one, I am not sure what would have happened. I might not be here today.

She got 2 in total, and I went to put the box away. She FREAKED. This was the beginning of an hour-long tantrum complete with throwing herself on the floor, and alternatively sucking up to either Keith or I, whomever she thought would give in to her first.

We stood strong, although hard to do when she is so upset, but I did not want to teach her that crying will get her everything.

And this is why there will no longer be any Timbits in this house. Wah.

Silent Night...

Emmy was so exhausted last night, she fell asleep before dinner, before bath, before diaper change. She slept through Keith taking her to bed upstairs, and slept through the night. She awoke at 8:15 this morning. She's been fighting a cold (still!) and teething again this week, poor kid.

Em's first tobbogan ride

The weather warmed up this week to a balmy -5, so we were able to take Em outside for some fun in the snow. It had been hovering around -20 and colder, so this was a welcome trip outside.
Keith took Em up and down our driveway in her toboggan. She was squealing and giggling, and Keith keeps talking about how we need to take her out tommorow (his day off). I think he had as much fun as she did. We didn't take her out in the snow at all last year since she was so

young. She's able to walk this year, which she finds facinating in the snow.

Grocery Shopping with a Toddler

I may attempt this again when Em is...umm...8? Then she won't be a toddler anymore and all will be good????? LOL One can hope.

Some examples of the trip: (most of which amused me, except when she was being baby with attitude lol)

"Oj!! Oj!!!" Everytime she saw a box of Mandarin oranges in someone's cart. It's Christmas time, everyone has oranges in their cart.

"Hi yooooou" to everyone she found interesting. She says it like Blue from Blue's room, since she apparently watched that show too much. It's quite adorable, but the kid wouldn't sit on Santa's lap without crying, but will talk to perfect strangers! LOL

Produce section was full of Em saying, "Nana Nana!" (banana's) which she wanted that moment. Of course, I couldn't give her one since you pay by the weight, so she kept trying to grab them in the cart.
Same as above when I bought Mandarin Oranges except of course, she said "Oj"
Same as above when she saw the apples "Abble! Abble!"

The cutest thing was when we were in breads, and another Mom parked her cart beside ours so her baby could say hi to Em. They were adorable together, although Em tried to climb out of our cart to go visit the new friend. lol

I should mention that these carts don't have seatbelts, so I am always wary of having her in them anyhow.

By the dairy aisle, off came her boots.
By the toilet paper aisle, off came her coat.
By the frozen food aisle, off came her socks.
By the bread aisle, attempts to remove her shirt which were blocked by me, much to her dismay.

Even with all this, it was fine till checkout. Then Em freaked out, started crying, wanting to be held (hard to do when you have to bag your own groceries) and generally being a snot. She whipped off most of the clothes that I had redressed her in, and constantly tried to climb out of the cart. I am guessing she was just overstimulated, as once we were out of the store, she was perfectly fine. That, or she devised a plan in her mind to stress Mom out in a hurry!

Bad Santa

Em visited Santa yesterday and promptly started crying. We are so mean. lol