Week 40

40 Weeks Old on 8/21/09

Tony and I took her to get her 9 month pics taken at the picture people on Friday. I definitely like how they turned out at her 6 month session better. I definitely think it makes a big difference which photographer you get. I painted her toenails beforehand, it was horrible. I don't think I'll be trying that again. The couch now has some lovely pink accents. I couldn't do it when she was sleeping because she tucks her legs up underneath her and she would have woken up if I pulled one out. Back to the photo session, it was also much easier to get her to smile when she was 6 mos old. Now she just stares at new people in bewilderment with her mouth hanging open. I made the mistake of not bringing along a comfortable pair of shoes to change into and bonus, I didn't even wear my shoes for any of the pictures. We got some cute shots though all in all. The photog had me sign a release saying she could use Embry's pics for her portfolio and as possible stock shots to use in the stores display frames. I think it would be fun to go into the mall and see my little girl's smiling face hanging up for all to see.
The first 5 are the ones that I bought:


And the others I liked but didn't buy:


Sunday we had a family bbq so Tony could use his new smoker. He made some fantastic pulled pork sandwiches! Jen (my sis), Jason, and Colter came over along with my parents and my brother was already here. We took some family pictures which turned out pretty cute. I put Embry's stuffed duck that quacks up by the camera while it was on self timer in order to get the kids to look at the camera. Embry and Colter got to play together which was really fun to watch. Colter didn't seem too interested in Embry, but very interested in her toys and Embry was so excited to play with Colter. She kept grinning at him from ear to ear. So cute! I got some really cute pictures of them together. Then we took them out in the driveway to play with sidewalk chalk. Embry really enjoyed eating hers and Colter tapped his on the pavement for a while. I, however, drew a beautiful butterfly.

I took Embry in for her 9 month check up on Monday. Here are her stats:
Weight: 18lbs 7oz (about 35th percentile)
Head Circ: 44cm (50th percentile)
Length: 29.5" (97th percentile!)
So basically she's long and lean with an average sized melon. While we were there she waved bye bye to the nurse which was amazing because up until that point she would almost always just sit and stare at your in wonderment as you tried to get her to wave on command. I was so proud. The dr said that he thinks she might have a heart murmur which he's sending her to a cardiologist for in order to have an echo cardiogram done. I'm not worried about that at all, kids can outgrow that and it seems like everyone has a heart murmur. I asked the dr about switching her from breast milk to whole milk when she turns 1 in order to ttc and he said it would be fine. Here's another thing which is kinda gross, but pertains to ttc so I'll go ahead and say it. You know how my big toenail and my pinky toenail on my right foot have been falling off forever? Well, I went to get a pedicure while they were in the process of coming off and ended up getting toenail fungus on both toenails from it. Eww. So, the dr said he can't give me the (oral) medicine to get rid of it until I stop breastfeeding. I asked him at the appt how long I have to take that stuff to get rid of the fungus and if we can ttc while I'm taking it. The answers were 3 months and no. So that puts a kink into things. I told him I thought that was retarded. Bleh, I'm already stressing about how long it will take us to get conceive again and now an extra 3 months is added on. Oh well. My dad swears that he got rid of toenail fungus by using vicks vapor rub on it. I might as well try it. The dr said none of those topical 'cures' you see on tv work at all, plus they're expensive, so I won't go that route. After stewing about it for a few days, I'm wondering if I should just use formula for the next 3 months, take the medicine, then be ready to ttc in Nov. If we want to have our kids 2 years apart, we'd have to conceive end of Feb which is highly unlikely in either scenario (stop bfing now or when Embry's 1). Anyone have any thoughts? Oh, to be able to get pregnant when you want, that would be the life! Anyhow, back to Embry...he said otherwise she's in good working order. :)

Last night I discovered that Embry is getting another tooth! It's the one on the top next to the front teeth on the right side. It's only poking through very slightly, enough to feel a little tooth through the gum when you run your finger over it. She's been doing this new 'smile' thing where she kind of hisses and throws her head back and shows all her upper gums. It's hilarious and when she does it, you can see all the little white teeth under her gums which is what prompted me to check again. This is what her new 'smile' looks like:

Other exciting developments this week are that Embry learned how to go up the stairs. I've let her get as far as about 6 stairs up. Now we really have to watch her when she's downstairs cuz she'll be halfway up the stairs in the blink of an eye. She can successfully wave (like I said before). She does the sign language for milk, which is super cute :) Now she can walk just holding onto one of your hands. She's very cautious and wobbly, but she's getting better.

Week 39

39 Weeks Old on 8/14/09

Embry is exactly 9 months old today! I have no idea where the time has gone and I often find myself yearning for a little newborn to snuggle. More on that later!

This past week Embry has gotten quite good and blowing raspberries and I'm continually feeling her little droplets of spit land directly on my face. Before I had a baby, that would have really grossed me out, now I think it's adorable. She getting pretty good at doing one handed cruising around the furniture, but still won't walk while you're only holding onto one of her hands, she immediately sits down.

Her hair is getting longer all around. The tuft in the front never fell out, so that's still the longest, but the rest of it is slowly catching up. I spend as much time as possible running my fingers through it. Mmm, I love her.

I think she might be getting some top teeth in fairly soon, but who knows, I've been wrong about that before.

Tony's turned 24 last Sunday. He made some delicious steaks on the grill and we went out to see GI Joe and to eat at Chili's while my parents came over and watched Embry. My mom got to see her lightning fast crawling first hand. It could tire out even the youngest person.

On Wed I babysat my friend Kim's daughter Haley. It was lots of fun to see her and Embry play together like little friends. It seemed that even with the seemingly endless supply of toys scattered across the floor, they were only interested in the exact toy the other one was playing with. I have to say it was much easier on me now that they are able to play together and entertain each other. They even took a nap at the same time. Of course Haley took about a 4 hour nap while Embry took her usual hour long nap. Why is it that she won't take long naps?! Anyhow, it was fun and I got a lot of cute pictures which makes me happy. :)

So, I've decided that as soon as I stop breast feeding (which I'm thinking will be when Embry's about a year old) we will hop back onto the TTC (trying to conceive) train once again. In all likelihood I would end up wanting another child and a sibling for Embry somewhere down the line and at that point I would have missed the opportunity to have my children close in age, so I figure I might as well start trying as soon as possible. I'd imagine it would still take us a while to conceive (if at all) and even though the torture of those first 2 months with a newborn is fresh in my mind, I will persevere because I know in the end it will be worth it. There are things I will do differently though. In the beginning I will ask for help. I will not suffer alone because I'm too proud to admit that I'm having trouble. I won't go through post-partum without a visit to the dr because I realize now that God already knows my faults and forgives me for my shortcomings before I even ask. I don't have to feel helpless and hopeless again because God is on my side and nothing else matters. So there you go, those are my thoughts on the topic. Plus, I have some freaking awesome baby names that I just have to use! :)

Week 38

38 Weeks old on 8/7/09

Embry started clapping last Friday. Tony was sitting down on the floor with her and she just started clapping. I've been trying to teach her how to clap for a while, but she'd never done it on her own before. Then she went crawling around the house stopping every few feet to sit and clap, she was so proud of herself. Now she claps just if you say the word 'clap' which is amazing to me that she comprehends a word.

Embry could probably stand up for a few seconds without holding onto something, but she won't let us let go in order to find out. Whenever we try to let go, she sits down. When she pulls herself up, she pretty much doesn't use her arms at all, but just holds onto things to feel safe. Oh and everytime we open the fridge, she crawls over real quick and grabs stuff off the bottom shelf in the door. To begin with she would always grab the Siriacha (hot sauce) but now she's moved onto the barbeque sauce. Needless to say, she's 'cruising' all over the place. She walks all around the coffee tables, couches, toys, people...pretty much anything she can grab onto. Even the inside rim of the toilet while I had my back turned, ew ew ew, but they say your toilet is cleaner than your sink right? :/ A new development is that she can sit down from a standing position (while she's holding onto something) which she wouldn't do before this week. She used to just stand there and whine until you would remove her from whatever she was holding onto and place her on the floor. Seems like she might be a bit on the cautious side, much like her mother.

Embry and I went over to my friend Jessica's house on Saturday for a BBQ. It was cute to see her girls play with Embry and I'm amazed to see how grown up her kids are already. It seems like they were just born a little while ago and already they are 3 & 1/2 and almost 2! We went swimming and ate and then I went to the Foothills mall. I wore a skirt I normally don't wear because it's got an uneven hem (on purpose) but it allows the skirt to almost take flight in a breeze. I had my swimming suit on underneath to begin with but changed out of that after it was wet. Unfortunately it was quite a windy day. Between trying to get all my stuff out of the car, transport Embry from the carseat to the stroller, and trying to catch the stroller before it rolled across the parking lot, I'm pretty sure I mooned about 10 innocent passerbys. Once I had all my stuff, I quickly high tailed it inside only to realize I forgot my 20% off coupon for Carter's in the car! I decided rather than brave the wind again and risk more embarrasement, I'd go to Carter's first and luckily there wasn't anything worth buying anyway.

So I ran a bunch of errands the other day with Embry and we went to Trader Joe's to get some curry sauce. To begin with as I was putting Embry in a cart some lady handed me a couple of those sanitizing wipes that they have at the front of grocery stores and said something like, 'we wouldn't want anything to happen to someone as precious as that.' Yes, I guess it's a nice gesture, but if I want to santize my cart then I will, if I don't, then I won't. Anyhow, I wiped my cart down and then went inside. As I'm almost done shopping Embry starts squealing her excited squeal (which I decided I wasn't going to let bother me anymore) and there are 2 guys stocking wine a couple feet away. One of them turns to the other and says, "doesn't that make you want to have a kid?" Of course said sarcastically like my child is throwing a tantrum or something. I swear I almost said, 'hello?! I can hear you!' but since I'm non-confrontational, I bit my tongue and kept perusing the juice and listening to them ramble on about how they don't want children. Ugh.