Week 44

44 Weeks Old on 9/18/09

Last weekend we went camping with my friend Anna and her family at Lake Patagonia. It was so much fun! Normally I hate camping. I realized that I always like the first day. I like hanging out and being outside and playing games and eating. Then I sleep on an air mattress and wake up at the crack of dawn, so the second day is pretty much ruined due to the exhaustion and pain. This time however the second day got off to a rough start (next time I'm bringing ear plugs) but then quickly picked up after I won skipbo and had some delicious eggs and bacon for breakfast. The best part of the whole trip though was swimming in the lake!!!!!! I absolutely LOVE swimming outside in a natural (ok I know it's a man made lake, but you know what I mean) body of water! To make it ever more enjoyable, Embry loves lakes too! She did a much better job of not eating the sand this time and she just had the time of her life playing in the water. It's interesting to me that once you have a child, your life revolves around doing whatever it is that makes your child happy. Anyhow, we also took a paddle boat out on the lake. I tried to explain to Tony that paddle boat does not equal fun, but he thought it would be easier to take Embry on than a canoe. So, yes, the paddling was painful and very difficult as always and Embry had a meltdown about halfway though, so we fed her some cheerios and she fell asleep sitting between us on the boat. This is where she got a slight sunburn on one half of her face, woops. I'm sure it will be the first of many. Overall, I'd say the camping was a huge success! I'd like to take Embry back on Sunday for the day to hang out at the beach and have a picnic, but Tony has yardwork he needs to do, so I might be going it alone.

Embry turned 10 months old on Monday! Only 2 more months and she'll be a year old, that's ridiculous! Where did the time go? I'm trying to think of what I'd like to do for her birthday party (Keep Nov 14 open!). The napkins etc that I purchased are a princess kind of theme, but I'd really like her to have a hello kitty smash cake...not sure if those things really go together. Although if I did an all out princess theme, I do happen to have a princess halloween costume that she could wear to her party. That would be super cute! :) I have this nagging fear that nobody will show up though. My mom has always hated parties for that very reason and apparently I also harbor that fear. The other conundrum is that I was thinking of having it at Purple Heart Park in order to have playground equipment for the older kids to play on, but then I took Embry to Agua Caliente park again on Wed morning and she loves watching the ducks and playing on the grass etc, so I think she might have more fun at a place like that. The problem there (which we had to deal with for our wedding too) is that you need to get a special permit to have a gathering there and they only allow up to 25 people. I was also told that people might not come because it's too far, but I don't think it's very far at all. So anyhow, that's what I've been thinking about.

On Monday I took Embry out to my parent's house. She played with Colter and laughed up a storm. She thought he was so funny! She really likes playing with other kids. Naturally she pulls their hair and tries to knock them onto the ground so she can laugh at them, but she has a lot of fun. I figure if nobody is crying then there's no problem. :) Embry is very rough and tumble, but if I try to set her down for 3 seconds or shut the bathroom door you would think she was dying. Such a drama queen.

Lately we've been having teething troubles. Embry is just generally grumpy and I'm going to attribute it to teething. After getting her 4 top front teeth last week, this week she is getting the tooth to the right of her 2 bottom teeth (if that makes any sense). I'm not sure if 1 little tooth coming in can cause all the moodiness of my baby, but that's the only thing I can think of. She has been super clingy too. Oh. My. Goodness. I attempted to make orange chicken in the crock pot on Thursday and she insisted on clinging to my leg while crying as I tried to shuffle around the kitchen breading the chicken. I ended up stopping midway and leaving my thawed chicken on the counter while I fed her for the millionth time that morning and finally she went down for a nap. Surprisingly we didn't get salmonella.

Embry can kind of give you a kiss now, but only when she wants! She was doing it really well mid-week, but now it's kind of hit or miss. You go up to her and say "Embry, can I have a kiss?" and then pucker your lips and if she's in the mood she'll lean her head into your face. However she doesn't understand that most people kiss babies with their mouths closed, so you end up giving the inside of her mouth a peck. Tony has taken to calling her 'Baby-Suck-Face.'

Onto other news (read at your own risk), my cycle started up again on Thursday, FINALLY. So now I'm contemplating whether I should break out the clear blue easy fertility monitor (cbefm) and basal body temp (bbt) thermometer and get crackin on baby #2 or if I should just continue to not prevent and see what happens. On days like Thursday when I want to sit and cry from utter confusion and helplessness, I can't even fathom having more than one child. Then in the rare few moments when Embry will rest her head on my chest, I feel like I won't be satisfied until I have a hundred more sweet precious babies. In all seriousness, it's for certain we will have another child (God willing), but the issue is how to get there. Do I stress because I'm not tracking and not on top of everything or do I stress because I know every detail and can't figure out why I'm not getting pregnant? Either way, I will stress because it is in my nature. I guess the lesser stress would come from being in control (at least of the things I can control) and hoping that we will be blessed with another little one sooner than we were last time. God knows what he's doing, so I will leave it up to him, but it wouldn't hurt to keep myself informed and do all I can on my end to help the process along. Maybe I'll be the next Michelle Duggar and have 19 kids...