What you missed

Finally, I got the camera cord and have been able to upload the pictures from the past 2 1/2 weeks...Here you go...

Riding on the Gator with Grandmom and Granddad at the river ranch

Smiling at Aunt Missy

Happy Fourth of July

Family portrait
Daddy's girl
All smiles
Emy's best friend: Our cat Bailey
Standing tall and trying to get the remotes

Loving pool time Emerson just pulled up for the first time
Trying out the new jumperoo that sweet Sarah let us borrow

Love,

Sabrina

The almost sleep-less day

Today was crazy. Like Twighlight Zone crazy. Emerson woke up at 5:30 a.m. I was able to get her to fall back asleep for about 45 more minutes. I know she didn't really sleep that entire time though because I kept hearing her talking and playing in her crib off and on. At 6:25 she was finished playing/sleeping and ready to get up. Unlike the other days this week, she was not as crabby this morning. This was a welcome change.

She played and played until she literally fell asleep on my bed (we were in our room playing itsy-bitsy spider). At that point I carried her to her room for her 9am naptime. Normally I let her sleep 2-2.25 hours and then have to go in a wake her up. So, at 10:15 when she woke up and re-fused to go back to sleep, I knew it was going to be a long day.

We had a playdate with Rylie and Kari today, so I was hoping that Emy would at least take a nap in the car on the way to their house. We got to Kari's at 11:30 after Emy played for the 45-40 minute drive instead of napped. I was seriously worried at this point. We were going to be at someone elses house, with a playful little girl and we were running way below our sleep quota for the day. I was certain that it was going to get ugly...it was just a matter of when.

To make the rest of the story short, Emerson played with Rylie for 2 hours without any sleepy breakdowns. She was smiley, chatty, giggly, squirmy and genuinely happy to be playing with her older friend Rylie. She took a 20 minute power nap on the way home and a short hour nap later in the afternoon. So, in comparison to a normal day when she wakes up two hours later and gets 4 hours of naptime, today she only got about 2-2.5 hours of naptime AND woke up way too early AND was thrown into a couple different social situations. For those of you who have young children, you know this is AMAZING. The most amazing thing about the entire day was that Emerson was delightful and had no major breakdowns. I just don't understand. The math does not make sense.

I don't know how she did it, but I am proud. I do hope for my sake though that she wakes up later than 5:30 am tomorrow...and that this is not a new pattern. Selfishly, I like having two 2-hour windows of time in the day to get things done.

Here are some pics from today's playdate. These are courtesy of Kari since my camera cord has not arrived yet. (It should be here tomorrow and I promise the pictures will have been worth the wait).

Love,

Sabrina

Urgent- Please Pray for the Stocco Family

Hi everyone,

Please pray for the Stocco family. Matt Stocco (the father), works at my old employer. Last night his two children wandered into the swimming pool. He pulled them both out and performed CPR. The son died last night and the daughter this morning...Please lift them up in prayer during this tragic situation.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-coppelldrown_09met.ART.State.Edition2.4d59c9e.html

Sabrina

What is happening?

Since we have gotten back from the river, these things have been happening:

1. Emerson has decided to start her days at 6:30 a.m. instead of the usual 7:45. In the past, if she woke up early, we would put her in the swing in her room and she would fall back asleep. She is not playing that game anymore. The only good thing to this is that she is still napping well and basically on schedule.

2. Emerson wakes up super sensitive and crabby. This is very abnormal for my happy baby who used to love waking up and was all smiles and giggles in the morning. Not now. She has been waking up fussy, crying and clingy. So bad that when Steve leaves for work in the morning she has a major breakdown.

3. Emerson is starving all the time. Monday morning she started screaming after I fed her breakfast. I mean really screaming, there were tears streaming down her face. After a quick check that the food had not been too hot, her mouth did not have any cuts inside and I could not feel any new teeth coming in, I ran to get a jar of fruit out of the pantry and fed it to her from the jar. She ate almost the entire thing. Since Monday, we now have an extra side of fruit with breakfast.

4. Emerson is really trying to crawl and pull up on things. She has been successful in pulling up a few times- it just depends on what she is trying to pull up on...her play table=yes, a pillow leaned against the wall=no. She is no longer content sitting still and playing on her own. After a couple minutes she starts leaning on one side or the other in an attempting-to-crawl position. She stays pretty focused for a while...really sticking with it. She will change positions, grab things to help propel herself and even sit up and start over again. It inevitably leads to more fussing though because her attempts are unsuccessful.

So, my questions are these: Are these things all related? Will the sleeping and attitude go back once she has figured out how to get around???? Any advice is welcome- please send me a comment or shoot me an email!

Love,
Sabrina

We are back!

Well, we made it. Turns out that Emerson only had allergies. As soon as we got to the river, the air must have been different because she cleared right up. Praise the Lord, she slept good the entire time (well, except for one breakdown) and was on her best behavior. We didn't even have any issues with her waking up because of the loud fireworks right outside her window- literally.

It was wonderful to get to be with family and relax for several days. We all needed it. Steve's younger brother is in town from China so it was especially great to see him and get to spend some quality time together. He is in town for 6 weeks, so hopefully we will get to see him at least one more time before he goes back.

So, that is the good news...the bad news is that I left my camera cord at the river, so I can't upload pics until I get it back. Hopefully I will receive it in the mail by this weekend. I know I am already a week behind, but oh well. Next time pics are up, there will be a surplus of them:)

Hoep everyone had a great fourth of July. We certainly did. Happy Monday!

Love,
Sabrina

Randomness

Well, Emerson is still sick or has allergies or something...I went in to check on her early this morning and there is snot everywhere. Is it bad that I let her continue sleeping in it? She was comfortable so I did not want to wake her...

We are leaving in 6-8 hours. I got up early this morning to finish laundry and start packing. What am I doing instead? Blogging and playing on our computer...Why? Becuse we got a new one on Sunday! I am such a techie nerd and LOVE new stuff like this. We really don't have any money to being doing such frivolous shopping, but our old computer died. I mean really died, as in would not even turn on. So, we did what any family today would do and ran right out to buy a new one. It is super fun, fast and fancy...some early morning alliteration for you:)

Have I mentioned that 4th of July is Steve's 2nd favorite holiday (2nd to Thanksgiving)? It is so funny, he is sooo pumped to go on this trip because of the combination of the holiday and getting to see his family. Too cute.

Anyways, we are still going on our trip with Emy. We are going under the stipulation that if she does not do well we will come home early- it is only a 3 hour drive. So, fingers crossed that she does fine so we can all enjoy our much needed vacation.

Bye Bye

I may or may not be online while we are gone...let's be honest though, with a computer nerd like me I probably will...regardless have a great weekend and a super 4th of July.

Love,

Sabrina

It would happen today....

This morning, the day before we are to leave to go out of town, Emerson woke up either sick or with serious allergies. Oh Lord, what now? We can't miss this trip, but I don't know how she will do having to sleep in a strange place...Say some prayers for us.

Also, in case I don't get a post in tomorrow before we leave- we are out of town until Sunday, so
Happy 4th of July to you all (all 3 of you readers) and we will see you when we get back.

Love,
Sabrina