Dealing

So I think now I'm setting myself up for a huge letdown. It's really a double edged sword because now I know that we can conceive in a 'normal' amount of time, but I'm going to be even more disappointed if I don't conceive again this month, or next month, or the next month etc. I've hardly taken any pictures over the last few weeks, so obviously, something's up!

Update on the sickness. Last Wed-Thurs I was sick in bed again. Same thing as last time, so Tony worked from home on Wed to watch Embry. Although he had to leave that night which left me to watch Embry in our room from the bed. I felt so bad because I had to throw up again while I was watching her and of course she came with me and starting crying when she saw I was sick. :( Poor baby.

I took Embry in for her 15 month check up yesterday. She's 31.5" tall and weighs 21lbs 6oz. That puts her about 80% for height and 35% for weight. I also saw the dr for my stomach issues while I was in there and he thinks it's my reflux. I find it hard to believe that reflux can have that sort of effect, but we'll see. So he's just increasing my prilosec. Bleh, I hope this helps.

Roller Coaster

Thurs, Feb 11, 2010. Period Due. 4am pregnancy test.

Thurs, Feb 11, 2010. 2pm digital pregnancy test.

Thurs, Feb 11, 2010. 4:30 pm.

Friday, Feb 12, 2010. 2pm. Family of 4 picture in the snow.

Friday, Feb 12, 2010. 3:30pm. Started spotting.

Saturday, Feb 13, 2010. 4am digital pregnancy test.

Dear Baby,
I loved you from the moment I saw that faint pink line. I wish we could have spent more time together, I know we would have had so much fun. You would have made Embry a big sister and me a mommy again. I will love you forever and I can't wait to meet you in heaven. You are my special angel.
---Mommy

Being Sick

Warning: this might be a little much if you have an aversion to puke stories.

So before I had Embry I had this fear that I was going to neglect my child because I would be too sick myself to take care of her properly. That's proven to be an unsubstantiated fear because as it turns out, when you're a mom, you just do what you have to do. Luckily for me, my lupus got a lot better through my pregnancy and since having Embry it hasn't returned to the horribleness that it was prior to my pregnancy. Praise Jesus.

Last week I took Embry to the dr because she had a cold, so he checked her out and said she had an ear infection. Her first one. I had a horrible sore throat so they swabbed me and said I did not have strep. We then went up to Phoenix last weekend since it was tony's sister's 18th birthday and my dad's 82nd birthday (my parents live down here, but go up to Wickenburg every year to visit friends for my dad's birthday). She seemed to be getting better over the weekend with her antibiotics and my sore throat was going away, so all was well.

Sat night we went over to my friend Jamie's house to spend the night and then go to church with her and her family at Tony's old church in Surprise. Everything was fine until about 11:30pm when I suddenly got very hot and went to the bathroom where I proceeded to throw up...then I was fine. Honestly, I don't get this. This happens about once a month with virtually no warning whatsoever then once it's done, then I'm totally fine. This is however the first time it's happened while I wasn't at home (well with the exception of Tony and my first date, you know a guy likes you when he sticks around after you vomit in front of him and hundreds of other people) and it was quite embarrassing. So then Sunday was great and we even went to Culvers after church (which is extremely greasy and delicious) and I was fine.

Then we get back here Sunday night and everything's fine. Mon I start to feel a little worse, but just nasal and chest congestion, nothing too bad. Although it was disappointing since I thought my cold was on it's way out. Tues same thing. Wed same thing until maybe 3pm. I started feeling achy and so I imagined I had a fever. Once Tony got home I took my temp, a low 100.3, and then the chills/sweats started. I took a bath to warm up and went to bed (around 7). Oddly, I couldn't sleep but was incredibly tired. Ended up watching tv and eating an apple with peanut butter and took some naproxen and tylenol for the fever. Then the aching got excruciatingly bad. It was mostly in my lower back and chest. I couldn't lay down, sit down, or stand up without doubling over in pain. I tore apart the bathroom medicine boxes to try and find something to help, ended up taking some naproxen liquid gels (that I now see expired in 2008) and went downstairs to try some other positions before heading to the ER.

Once I was downstairs, it got worse. I looked for my heating pad, but couldn't find it. Took some more Zicam flu medicine (I'm sure that was also expired) and googled my symptoms. Most things said to go to the ER and that it could be a heart attack. I can't imagine a heart attack lasting for hours, but I can imagine that's what it might feel like. So I quickly popped some aspirin (thanks Aunt Terri for sending that down last year because I never buy any) and then I went to lay down. Finally after about 1.5 hours the pain started to subside and I ended up falling asleep for about 45 minutes.

When I woke up, it was because I was extremely hot (same as at Jamie's house), so I went to the bathroom and you guessed it, threw up again. Let me tell you that if you think you might get sick, don't eat an apple before hand...the chunks are very hard to get up. Yes, I can find humor in the situation now, but believe me, last night I was not laughing. Boom, then I felt better, went upstairs and slept until 9:30am.

Now I feel pretty much like I have the last couple of days except my fever just started coming back a few hours ago. Hopefully I'll be able to ward off another episode like last night by being more proactive and taking meds before anything gets too far.

On another note, I think God might be protecting me from realizing my fear by allowing me only to get sick at night...when I don't have to be tending to Embry. With the exception of one time, the only times I've gotten sick since having Embry were at night. Even though it terribly inhibits my sleep, I can only be grateful that it doesn't happen at a much more inopportune time.

Doors

so Embry learned how to open doors on 2/2/10 and this is what she loves to do in her free time (ie any time she's not eating or sleeping)...

New Teeth

Embry has 2 new teeth just barely poking through. One on her upper right (the 4th one over) and one on her lower left. Neither are molars, but I'm glad to see she's getting more toofs cuz that girl needs to learn how to chew her food better! I'm tired of seeing her start to choke and then throw up all over, plus the smell of vomit really grosses me out.

She's saying some new words like:
-outside
-Mamie (for Jamie)
-tootie (for cookie)
-up
-booby (yep we're real proud of that one)
-toes
-eye
-ear
-mouth (more like mouf, and I may have mentioned that one before)
-nose
-no (and she shakes her head no)

Her favorite word is 'hi' and she says it to anyone who will listen and hopefully they respond because she loves the attention.

A Decade in Review

Yep, I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon and do this too! Let's see if I can even remember what I was doing for the past 10 years, it's going to be a challenge.

2000: This was my sophomore-junior year of high school. I think I started working at Target this year. I remember wishing I was old enough to vote because a fantastically interesting election took place that year. I started dating Phil.

2001: Junior-senior year of high school. 9/11 happened and I was sitting in my photography class on the computer when the teacher came in and said that the towers had been hit by airplanes. I remember thinking, 'wow, that's not a funny joke.' Then I realized, he wasn't joking. I stopped dating Phil and started dating Dave.

2002: Stopped dating Dave. Graduated high school. Moved to Ventura, CA 2 weeks later. I moved into a condo with a guy roomate named Brian who wasn't particularly nice. Transferred to a Target out there. Quit working at Target and started working at Petsmart. Dave moved to CA, started dating Dave again. Moved to Oxnard, CA.

2003: Quit Petsmart and started working at an animal hospital as a receptionist. Got fired for not 'liking my job enough.' Got diagnosed with systemic lupus in March. Stopped dating Dave who moved back to WI. Moved to Santa Barbara, CA. Started working at another animal hospital as a vet tech/receptionist. Got super sick from the lupus meds and moved back to WI in July. Started college at UW Waukesha.

2004: Finished freshman year in WI. Moved with my parents to Tucson in the summer. Took a road trip to CA for 2 weeks to visit friends. Came back to Tucson and started dating Mir. Started Sophomore year at the University of Arizona. Stopped dating Mir. Got involved with College Republicans where I met Tony. Started dating Tony in November. Went up to Phoenix for 2 weeks over Christmas vacation to stay with Tony and his family.

2005: Got engaged to Tony in February. Had eye muscle surgery in March. Got married to Tony in May. Went to rocky point, Mex for our 'honeymoon' where we both got sick. Moved into an apt with Tony. Went to Santa Barbara with College Republicans for the west coast leadership conference.

2006: Became historian of college republicans. Started the management program at Eller. Met some great friends Anna and Kim. My life was pretty much consumed with school work.

2007: Started TTC in Feb. Got involved in a Young Married's group at our new church. Graduated from Eller with a business management bachelors (minor in spanish) in May. Tony and I moved in with my parents and he started an internship at IBM. Went to WI for my friend Kristy's wedding in May.

2008: Got pregnant in March. Bought a house in April. Had family out for Tony's college graduation in May. Tony started working full time at IBM in July after we went to WI for 2 weeks. Had little baby Embry on Nov 14. Flew to MD for Christmas.

2009: Watched Embry grow up. Went to WI for a week in July for my friend Missy's wedding. Started to TTC #2 in Sept. Embry turned 1 in Nov.

I'm sure I'm probably forgetting a million important things, but oh well, it's late and I'm going to bed!

Christmas

Embry's second Christmas was a good one! We went to my friend Kim's house for a Christmas party the weekend before Christmas and I got my new favorite picture of my little princess.Oh my goodness, if I could eat her face, I would. She's such a little ham and my absolute favorite baby girly. Oh yes, and she's wearing the Christmas tutu, onesie, and hair bows that I made for her. :)

Then Embry saw Santa at my mom's group Christmas party. She wasn't quite sure what to think of him, but didn't seem to dislike the experience. He gave her a key that you're supposed to leave out for Santa so he doesn't have to go down the chimney. I think she liked that better than Santa. Oh but bonus is now she will say 'santa' and 'ho ho ho.' Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. She'll try to repeat people all the time. Uncle Stefan taught her to say 'dude' (which she says all the time now) and to stick her finger in her nose (and sometimes other people's noses, how fun). She also recently learned: up, no, nose, me, and milk. Her favorite word is definitely 'hi'.

Then we went over to James's new house to eat a fantastic dinner cooked by his girlfriend Ilse and go see the lights in Winterhaven. It was freakin fantastic. Last time we went we did the wagon ride and this time we walked...much better. I think Embry really liked it too.
Then we went up to Phoenix from Tues the 22- Thurs the 24. The drive up there was quite bad because there was a huge dust storm with virtually zero visibility. Then (I'm assuming from the dust storm) on the other side of the freeway there was a huge pile up which killed 4 people and that had traffic on our side backed up for an extra hour or so. Going past an accident like that makes you thank God that he protected you from that kind of pain. Whenever I pass an accident I make it a point to pray for the people involved and their families, that really has no relevance on the story, just thought I'd throw it in there. Anyhow, what is normally a 2 hour drive was a 4 hour drive and we had a crankster in the backseat. Eventually we made it to Tony's mom's and turns out that Embry LOVES her piano. She would stand there and cry until someone put her on the bench and turned it on for her. Yep, she's got us wrapped around her little finger.
Tony, Embry, and I went to the Phoenix zoo lights that night. For $9/each (Embry was free), I was not impressed. I was actually rather disappointed. However I might have been happier if the dancing trees were running, but they weren't. What was lit up was great, but they only did like 1/8 of the zoo, I guess I just expected more. Anyhow, we got a couple of cute pics and I got a call from a friend with some freaking fantastic news while we were there, so it is an especially fond memory. :)
We then picked up Tony's mom and sis and went to downtown Glendale to see the lights. Embry was very impressed with a big cement ball and the horse drawn carriage.

On Wed we met up with my friend Jamie to eat at Culvers. Then Tony's mom, sis, myself, and Embry went to the outlets in Anthem for a couple hours of shopping. I got some really adorable clothes for Embry. A pair of khaki's, a tank top, and perfume for me. A pair of jeans and a pair of khakis for Tony. Then a Christmas present for Stefan. All on clearance of course. That night we went over to Tony's aunt Teri (the one who made me the hospital gown) and Uncle Ron's house to visit and his cousin Charronda came over too. We haven't seen them in quite some time, so that was fun and Embry loved their dog.

Thurs was Christmas eve and we ate breakfast, then went to Ikea where we got 4 wall shelves and 2 bookcases. One bookcase for the living room and one for Embry's room since her books were overtaking every bookcase we 0wned. Now there's room for plenty more and good thing too since after Christmas I went a little nutso and got Embry 1 Christmas book to open for everyday of December next year...who can pass up 1/2 off Christmas books?! Obviously, not me! The ride back to Tucson was much more enjoyable than the ride up to Phoenix. When we got home and had to quick sew the D-rings onto the aprons that I had made for Tony's mom and my mom for Christmas and wrap up some last minute items before Tony's family got there that night. It was a little hectic, but somehow, it all got done in time. Tony also went that night to pick up his dad from the halfway house because he got a 48 hour visitation pass to come over and spend Christmas with us.

The next day was Christmas morning. We opened presents and Embry got the most by far. She got lots of books, clothes, a cabbage patch doll, shoes, bath toys, and a rocking pony. Then my parents, brother, and my neice came over around 1pm to eat. We made a ham and Tony's grandma's lasagna recipe. Then all of us (except my parents, who babysat Embry) went to see 'Avatar' in 3D. I originally wasn't going to go because I can't see 3D anyway, but then I decided to so I could spend time with everyone. Luckily while wearing the 3D glasses made the blurriness go away, so all was not lost. Everyone really liked the movie including myself. And that's pretty much it for Christmas. It was lots of fun and we all had a great time!

First Sewing Attempts

So, Tony's grandparents, aunt, and uncle bought me a sewing machine for Christmas! I've been wanting to learn how to sew and was super excited to get some fabric and make something. I decided that since I was in desperate need of an apron (and it seemed simple enough) I would try that first. I downloaded a pattern from Martha Stewart, got some fabric and thread, and got to work. Tony told me I wasn't allowed to open the sewing machine until Christmas, but I couldn't resist. Luckily he wasn't angry when he got home and I said, "I made an apron today!" I really had pretty much no clue what I was doing, but it seemed to turn out ok anyhow. Let me tell you, using a sewing machine is a thousand times easier than trying to sew by hand! It took me about 4 hours to sew my apron. Then tonight I thought, 'well how hard could it be to make a mini apron for Embry?' So at 9pm I decided to try it out. It took about 2 hours and is cute as can be, but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if it actually fits her. I'm hoping it will fit her for a few years since at the moment she's not much of a help in the kitchen...unless you count hanging onto my leg and having me drag her across the floor while she cries...I don't. Here are some photos for your enjoyment:

Christmas Survey

A Christmas survey


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? - Wrapping paper, I hate gifts in bags, it's like the person giving it doesn't care enough to actually wrap it.

2. Real tree or artificial? - This is the first year we have a real tree and I absolutely love it!

3. When do you put up the tree? - Right after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? - I wait as long as possible. I love Christmas.

5. Do you like eggnog? - no I do not, but I can make some good (according to other ppl) eggnog

6. What about Fruitcake? - I don't think I've ever actually had it, but it looks gross to me.

7. Favorite gift received as a child? - This is easy, a New Kids on the Block tape.

8. Do you have a nativity scene? - yes we have a precious moments one and a hallmark one.

9. Hardest person to buy for? - my mom and dad. They never want anything and so I have to guess what I should get.

10. Easiest person to buy for? - Tony, he wants a lot of things.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? - hmm, I can't really think of anything that was bad. There were a couple of things that I didn't particularly like, but the worst part about that is feeling so incredibly bad for not being as grateful as I should be to receive a gift in the first place.

12. Mail or email Christmas cards? - Mail and it's getting darn expensive with the cost of stamps and pictures and I'm fairly certain that hardly anyone even cares.

13. Favorite Christmas movie? - The Holiday (I also really like Christmas Vacation and Elf)

14. When do you start shopping for Christmas? - all year long when I find something I know someone would like and it's on clearance.

15. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? - Christmas, no, except for white elephant gifts. Other presents yes, I've given a giftcard that I got from someone to someone else.

16. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? - I love food. I love turkey in particular. I also enjoy sparkling grape juice and hot apple cider.

17. Clear lights or colored on the tree? - Colored, I do not like white lights for Christmas.

18. Favorite Christmas song? - Carol of the Bells is #1, but I'm also fond of Baby It's Cold Outside and Last Christmas

19. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? - I like being home. I like having family over. I like watching Christmas movies and snuggling under blankets. That's more of an answer than anyone needed.

20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? - Yes I believe I can.

21. Angel on the tree top or a star? - We have an angel, it's beautiful, but quite heavy. We had a colored light star when I was growing up.

22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? - We always opened them on Christmas Eve because it is my brother's birthday. Now we do Christmas Day.

23. What is the one present you want most this year? - Hmm, well I got an awesome sewing machine, although with a toddler who hates to be in the office I don't know when I'm going to learn how to use it. Otherwise, I'd like to get pregnant...I think.

24. Most annoying thing about this time of year? - the most annoying thing for me is wanting to buy a bunch of stuff for people but not having enough money to do so and then waiting to see their disappointement when they open the gifts I got them. Oh and stores being out of stuff, like mod podge.

25. What I love most about Christmas? - Well, I love to shop and it gives me an excuse to do that. I love pretty much everything about Christmas. I love the idea that God came to Earth as a mere human and grew up just like the rest of us in order to be more connected with us. I also love Christmas lights and the tree and the food and the movies and just the general feeling of happiness and warmth that I feel this time of year. I wish it could last all year long.

Christmas Tree

I finally got a real tree!!!

We had a few when I was growing up, but mostly fake ones and I have longed to have a real tree every year. Since being married it just hasn't seemed economical to buy a real tree when we own a perfectly good fake one. Plus being in AZ they're darn expensive. Now that we have a house (and a high ceiling) I really wanted a huge tree. I'd have liked one that went all the way to the ceiling (so probably 15 ft tall), but I can't even find one that tall. The tallest was 9-10 ft and at Lowes that was $99 which is insane. I saw trees at Frys (a grocery store) and they had 9-10 ft Douglass Firs for $39...so I got one!

My friend Danielle and I took our kiddos while our husbands were at work and got our Christmas trees. We strapped them to the top of her jeep and she helped me drag mine into my living room and set it in the stand. That thing is freaking heavy! So I only tightened the top 4 screws and then put Embry down for a nap and went to finish writing the Christmas letter. I came back downstairs about an hour later to find the tree sprawled across the living room floor. Yep, it fell over. I picked it back up (no easy task) and tried to straighted in out. When Tony got home we put lights and ornaments on it, then the next day it still seemed to be leaning forward and to the right, so we tied it to the wall. It still looks like it's leaning, but it's definitely not going to go anywhere.

Thanksgiving and Stuff

Tony and I with the oven bird (and mac and cheese to the right)

The whole gang after the meal
From l to r (back row): me, Embry, Tony, Stefan, Allison, Donny
(front row): Dorothea, my mom (JoAnn), my dad (Don)

We had a very good Thanksgiving this year! Tony's family came down and it was nice to see Stefan since I haven't seen him in quite a while. He also brought along a combined bday present for Tony and me...'Star Trek'! We watched that on Thanksgiving, I was the only one who hadn't seen it yet, it was quite good. :) Tony's family got here around 11:30 on Thanksgiving and helped us get some side dishes ready. Then my parents and brother got here around 1:30 and we ate at 2:15ish. Tony's smoked turkey turned out great and the one in the oven was delicious too. We made bacon green beans (thanks for that recipe Sarah, everyone loves it), fall to your knees mac and cheese (another big hit at about 5000 calories a bite), stuffing with hot sausage, stuffing without sausage, marshmallow sweet potatoes, rosemary roasted butternut squash (another popular dish), and my mom brought over mashed potatoes, for dessert I made apple pie, and cheesecake with an array of toppings. Let's just say we pretty much gorged ourselves on delicious food. It was fantastic!

Tony's mom, sister, brother, and Tony all went to see Vince (Tony's dad). Apparently they only allow 4 visitors for one person at one time, so I stayed home with Embry since she was taking a nap anyhow. They stayed for a long time, like 2.5 hours. It was the first time Stefan had seen his dad since he was incarcerated like 7 years ago. I only got bits and pieces of what they talked about, but turns out that Vince started smoking again. He knows he can't smoke when he moves in here and he said it wouldn't be a problem to stop again when he has to move in with us. He told Tony's mom that he thinks having an occasional drink would be fine. I asked Tony if he said anything to him about that and he said that he didn't say anything because his mom was already yelling at his dad about it. I think it might mean a lot more coming from his child than his ex-wife. They also found out that Vince is eligible for an early home release, meaning he would move in here before his release date in march and wear an ankle monitor to be on house arrest. We tried to go visit him on Saturday night to find out more about this, but apparently when he first got to the halfway house they had him do a urine drug test but only let him have 1 cup of water and a time limit of 2 hours to complete the test. Needless to say he could not complete it under those circumstances, so they put him on a 'restriction' which means he can't have visitors for 2 weeks. He said he'd call us if he found out anything else. The only thing we'd need to do is get a landline phone so they can call anytime and make sure he's at the house.

So then Friday morning Allison and I got up at 4am to hit to stores for black Friday shopping! It was lots of fun and luckily most people were very pleasant. I am totally bummed that they were out of the $35 office chair at Walmart because I need an office chair very badly. We went to Target first where I got a new set of pots and pans, a new coffee pot, a mini crock pot, Wii Sports Resort, and Allison bought some Christmas presents. Then we went to Walmart and I got Christmas/birthday presents and for us 'The Dark Knight' on bluray, 'He's Just not that Into You', 'Hellboy 2', 'The Princess Bride', a cordless drill, and a wratchet set thingy. Then to Toys R Us which pretty much sucked. I only got baby food and my parents bought Embry this pink rocking pony for Christmas which she LOVES! Then we stopped at Best buy where we got a few more presents and 'Wolverine' on bluray. Allison and I got home around 10am. We opened up some of our new stuff and tried out the new Wii game...pretty fun. Some ppl took naps etc and then we watched 'Wolverine' and we waited till Embry went to sleep to use our new fire pit. It was awesome! We roasted hot dogs and then made smores, it was so fun, I'm really glad we got it.

Saturday morning Tony and I made Crepes and Eggs for breakfast, which was delic. Then Tony's family packed up while Tony, Allison, and I played Skip-bo and they left after getting some goodbye kisses from little Embry. She's getting very good at giving out kisses and sometimes she'll even close her mouth!

Embry's vocabulary has really expanded recently. Here are the words that she has said or says regularly:

-duck
-hi
-bye
-die
-poopy
-diapie
-sit
-mouth
-cat
-mama
-dada
-baaa
-meow
-doggie
-is it (meaning 'what is it')
-grandma
-elephant
-mmmm
-aww
-baby
-piggy
-dirty
-uhoh

After Tony's family left on Saturday, I watched Christmas movies with Embry and cleaned up while Tony strung the Christmas lights outside. I have to say it looks pretty good besides the fact that the 3 packs of walkway candle markers I got last year only go halfway down our driveway when they should go all the way to the sidewalk. Last year I thought we had too many multicolored lights going on all over, so this year the tree trunk is still in white lights, then the two big branches are in red lights, and the pillars in front of the front door are in green lights. Then we have the issue of the Christmas tree. I love real trees...being the Christmas Nazi that I am, it would only make sense that I get a real tree. So I had decided that this year I was going to splurge and buy the tallest real tree I could find. Besides the fact that getting it home would be impossible with 2 compact cars I then went to Lowes to look at trees. The tallest they have is 9-10 ft (not very tall in my opinion) and it's $100. Holy freaking cow, that's expensive. I just can't bring myself to waste that much money on a stupid tree. So the options are now either a) buy a $15 park pass and drive a million miles to go chop down our own tree (we also don't know how to use a chainsaw and still have the problem of fitting it on the top of our car) or b) use our same fake tree this year with the promise that after Christmas I can buy the largest fake tree I can find to use for the years to come. Option b would obviously be easier, but I will forever be disappointed that we don't have a real tree. Who knew this could be so complicated?

We weaned Embry from her bottle to her sippy cup. It was way easier than I thought. Now we put her milk in regular sippy cups and water in the straw sippy cups. She's also eating a lot more baby food and regular people food (or as we call it 'human food').

Embry can now point to her nose and ears and your nose and ears. She can also sit down on command. She's a cutie!

In other news I'm hosting a friend's baby shower this weekend and I'm getting excited. I got a bunch of the supplies yesterday and I think it will be lots of fun. In store for this week: prepping and cleaning!

Birthday Par-tay

So it's taken me so long to get this post done because #1 my sister was in town from MT and #2 I was trying to edit some good pictures from the party to post, but I pretty much don't have any good ones. I'm kind of upset about this lack of good pictures from my baby's first birthday party. Basically, I felt really rushed during the party because I didn't want it to take 12 hours and make everyone stand around in the cold because they felt obligated to stay. Soo, that left the picture taking to take a back seat to everything else. Anyhow, I'd say the party was mainly a success besides the picture thing and it being oddly cold that day (like 65, which is darn cold for here). I got everything ready in time, with the help of Tony, his mom, his sis, and my friend Jamie and her bf Matt. Tony got up at midnight the night before to start smoking the 3 pork butts on the grill and let me tell you, it was freaking delicious! We also made german potato salad, deviled eggs, pasta salad, 2 cakes, chip dip, cottage cheese jello salad (aka pink stuff), carameled apples, and my mom brought over her delicious baked beans.

So we ate, then let Embry play with her smash cake. Basically she petted it for a while and wasn't really interested in smashing it so I helped her out and stood her up in it. Then we cleaned her up and put her clothes on and everyone had cake and icecream. Then Embry opened her presents. She got lots of neat stuff, mostly toys, and a few clothing items. She didn't care to actually partake in opening the presents, but I had a good time opening them. :) That was pretty much it! I took her over to the swings afterwards while other people cleaned up (thanks to whoever did that!) and she had a good time swinging. I didn't get any pictures of her in her princess outfit, which makes me very sad. :(

Embry had her 1 year check up on Friday (11/20), here are her stats:
Weight: 20 lbs 1 oz, 50th Percentile
Height: 29.5", about 60th Percentile
Head: 45 cm, 50th Percentile

Luckily while at the dr's office he told us that they happen to have some H1N1 shots in, so Embry got her first dose of that and I got one as well. This was the first time she's gotten shots in her arms so I was supposed to bear hug her while she was facing me and try to keep her arms down. Haha, yeh that didn't work. I ended up just grabbing whichever arm they were poking with both of my hands to hold it still while she screamed and wriggled. She was very upset.

On Saturday Tony was sitting on the couch with her and she accidentally flipped off forward and hit her forehead on the coffee table. Now she's got a purple bruise above her right eye. Then we took her to the nursery at church on Sunday night and they paged me saying that she had fallen down and hit the back of her head but she has like a rug burn above and below her left eye and on the eyelid. It doesn't seem to be bothering her at all, but it looks pretty bad.

Thanksgiving is coming up and we're hosting. Tony's mom, sis, and bro are coming down from Phx and my parents and bro are coming over too. Tony's smoking a turkey on the grill and we're also making one in the oven. Of course we're making a bagillion sides and a couple of desserts too. Somehow I think we're going to have a ton of leftovers. Good thing I LOVE turkey!

1 Year Old!

I don't even know what to say. This year has flown by so quickly! My little baby girl was just entering the world at this time one year ago. Boy, we had no clue what we were in for! Sure there were lots of hard times, I won't lie, but it has been so very worth every moment. I'm sitting here trying to think of words to describe how I feel about my little girly, but it's really impossible to put it into words at all. I love her. I guess that's all that needs to be said.

Embry is going to get a very good birthday present today... she'll be seeing all 4 of her grandparents in the same day! We're going over to my parent's house to eat because my sister is visiting from Montana. Tony's dad was transferred to a halfway house in Tucson yesterday, so we'll be going to visit him at 6:30pm. Then Tony's mom and sister are coming down from Phoenix to spend the night before Embry's party on Sunday.

There's still lots to do for the party. Mainly making the food and finishing the cakes. I got the fondant on the castle cake so it still needs the candy accents and then I need to make Embry's smash cake tomorrow. I guess that means I'll be getting up early, so I should get to bed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMBRY!

Week 51

So I was kinda hoping in the back of my mind to get Embry's scrapbook done in time to display it at her first birthday party, but that's not going to happen seeing as I haven't even started it yet. The farthest I've gotten is making a pile of the pictures I want to put in it and setting it next to my computer so I can go through all my picture files and date the photos so they can be put in chronological order. I haven't even finished my pregnancy scrapbook yet. I think I'm on week 34 of that one. Bleh. It's hard to keep Embry entertained in the office and the bonus is that she opens every single cabinet and drawer and ends up playing with a bunch of pens, markers, notecards, pictures, etc...anything she can get her hands on. I've been super tired lately too, so when she naps I either lounge or take a nap too. Tony seems to think that I'm so tired because I've been getting too much sleep but I keep telling him that I don't think it's possible for someone with lupus to get too much sleep. I've been trying to get to bed shortly after Embry goes to bed (so this means 8pm, I know, I'm a loser) and sleeping till she wakes up around 8:30am. Seeing as before I was pregnant I was sleeping between 14-16 hours a day, this still doesn't qualify as enough sleep.

This brings me to my next point, I'm not sure if I really want another kid. I asked Tony about it, he definitely wants more, but he can't actually give me a reason why. Although I think it's hard to qualify why you want something like another child. Anyhow, if I am this tired with one then how will it be with 2? Bleh, I just don't know. I guess whatever God wants is what's going to happen so I might as well not analyze it to death. There's also the thought that I love Embry so terribly much I don't feel that same sort of longing for another child as I did to have her. Then I guess I'm also scared that the next kid could be a rotten egg, you know, a bad apple. Embry's such a good baby and so much fun, I guess we've been spoiled into thinking all kids are like her, but in reality they're not.

Halloween was pretty great. I had taken back the candy I had bought because I thought we were going to be in Phoenix for trick-or-treating, so I went and bought a bunch before the sun went down. Then we put Embry in her turkey outfit and took her to about 5 houses right around here. She walked the whole way and looked like such a big girl. Of course everyone thought she was a boy, but they don't make turkey outfits with big bows on the top. Then we came back and tried handing out candy from inside the house but everytime I would open the door Embry would quick go outside and then throw a fit when I took her back in. I decided it would be easier to sit outside and strap her into her swing while I handed out candy. I was quite disappointed that some parents and older teens were trick or treating without even bothering to put on costumes. That's just ridiculous! After I ran out of candy about halfway through I rummaged through our snack cabinet and found a big bag of blowpops, so I handed those out along with some individually wrapped mints. I also took a sucker for myself and realized that the gum in the middle was rock hard...woops! Luckily those kids will have no idea who gave them the stale lollipops. :)

Here's a pic of Embry in her turkey costume:

Week 50

Sorry, but out of the 2 pics I got of Embry for this week, this is actually the better one. In the other she is halfway rolled over, although she is making a better face. Anyhow, 2 more weeks and she'll be one, eeek.

So this week Embry's had a cold. I think she's pretty much over it now, but she's still got the occasional cough and slightly runny nose. Therefore we had my parents babysit last night while Tony and I went to the Young Married's Halloween party. We were mr and mrs pacman and Embry was one of the white dots that they eat in the game. Here's a photo...
But Embry didn't come with us, so I just tied the white dot to my arm. So since she's still ill, we're not going up to Phoenix tomorrow for Tony's mom's friend's party either, which I was really excited about. :( I guess that means we're going trick or treating here and handing out candy, but I already returned the candy I had bought to hand out because we weren't going to be here. Bleh. I'm thinking I'll dress her up in her Turkey outfit...she can't just be a white dot by herself.

I guess we were pretty boring this week, didn't really do much.

Week 49

I can't believe that Embry is almost a year old! I'm getting excited/nervous about her birthday party. I am excited because it will be fun and she'll have a good time, but I am nervous because I always feel like people need to be entertained and I'm just not very entertaining. Tony is going to smoke some pork butts for pulled pork sandwiches (which are amazingly delicious) and I got the pork this week, but it's bone-in. I guess that just means it will be more work to pull apart.

I'm going to call the Dr to see if it's ok to switch her over to whole milk before she's 1 (it's 2 weeks early, I don't see how that could be a problem) because I'm down to about half a can of formula. So far I've only used the samples that I got for free in the mail and I really don't want to have to buy any cuz it's darn expensive. She's still being nursed in the morning and at night and I put her back to the football hold on the right side to alleviate pain. Yes, it's awkward with such a large child, but it works, so I don't care how silly it looks.

Embry came down with what I believe to be a cold. She's got a lot of snot and is coughing a bunch...it's icky. Tonight she kept wanting to give me kisses, not a good time for that, but it was hard to say no since I love her kisses so much. She's adorable. She pretty much only walks now, no more crawling at all. It's so cute to see her walking because she's so small, but she's turning into a little person right before my eyes. I love her.