Chasing boys already :o)

The other day Emma and I were waiting for Tuan to finish his dentist appointment. She was playing with toys in the waiting room when a young boy (about 1 1/2 - 2yrs) came wandering out. They played for a few minutes and then he went back to get his mom. Emma saw him leave and started to run after him! But he wasn't interested in being caught and ran faster! It was so cute especially since Emma is really pretty shy. But she loves to be around and play with other kids.

Emma is walking!

I have been denying it for a few weeks - oh she's just toddling a few steps, she doesn't let go of my hand. But I finally have to admit that Emma is cruising around on her own two feet now!

We actually had a real tree this year! (long story, maybe I'll blog it later) We decorated it with popcorn and cranberries, colored and white lights and lots of ornaments. Unfortunately it wasn't the best quality of tree and it was really (I mean REALLY) prickly! Fortunately, Emma never really got pricked and never showed much interest in playing with it or the presents underneath!

And she's off! There was a better pic of her walking with it, but I chose this one. She wasn't wearing a diaper at the time and her onesie was, shall we say, riding up. :-)

I'm gonna getcha!

A new way to burn energy

Emma has a found a new way to entertain us and we have found a new way to wear her out! When we left Arizona after Thanksgiving, Cindy had loaded us down with great Christmas presents for Emma. One was a walker. She tried it out first at Cindy and Casey's place and it was a blast watching her realize that she needed to take steps to keep up with her new toy. I stood her up behind it and she saw Tuan and started after him. What she didn't account for was that this new contraption had a mind of its own! about half way to Tuan, the walker started to vear away and she frantically watched him get farther away as the contraption took her where she didn't want to go. The look on her face was priceless! Needless to say she's getting a bit better and taking it where she wants to go. Now Tuan and I will sit on opposite sides of the room and watch her go back and forth between us - it really does keep her entertained for, well, 15 min at least!

Emma is crawling!

Ok, I realize that this is coming about 2 months after she started crawling. Tuan, Emma and I got to spend Thanksgiving in Arizona with Cindy and Sarah and their families, Dad and Grandma Great. Uncle Norm and Aunt Marlynn even showed up. Cindy and Sarah were so surprised to see Emma crawling and they chastised me for not blogging the event! :) So, here it is: Emma is crawling!! She's a regular little speed demon. If she doesn't want to get dressed she will 'run' away from us - plus she plays tag (sort of) :) She will let us 'chase' her and then she will chase us back. She gets lots of giggles out of it.

The day after the walk-around we went to the annual homecoming parade. A very nice man handed Emma her very own flag and she loved it. Seriously, she enjoyed the parade so much it was pretty much impossible to get her to look away for a pic!

At the OSU Homecoming Walk-around. Oklahoma State University has the largest homecoming celebration in the country. Every year sorority and frat houses team up to create enormous 'house decs'. The house decorations get very elaborate - it's amazing what can be done with metal frames, chicken wire and tissue paper! It was chilly, so Emma stayed curled up in the fleece carrier. It's too bad that you can't see her OSU outfit!

Emma having a ball at the playgroup Halloween party.

"Best in Show"

Ward Trunk or Treat

For our ward's trunk or treat party (indoors since our Stake center was demolished!) each family brought a decorated 'box' (trunk) for kids to trick or treat at. Since Emma was dressed as a ladybug, I decided to decorate our box with a garden theme. I feel bad that we didn't get a better picture of the box, it actually turned out pretty cute. We actually won a prize for the "Most Creative"! Emma was the real star though!

I fount it! The perfect pumpkin! Now, how do I get it out of here?!

The pumpkin patch

Tuan, Emma and I took our first trip ever to a pumpkin patch a week or so ago. It was loads of fun. The patch was huge and it was really pretty to look out and see little orange spots all over the ground. It was hard to find the right pumpkin because the next one you looked at was always better than the one in your hand! I took the opportunity to get some cute fall pics of Emma. There are way too many cute ones, but I decided to spare you guys from having to look at all of them! We are going to carve our pumpkin tonite with a couple of friends.

Well, at least I can carry this one out of the patch!

My week from hell:

Friday: Emma had been teething for the previous two days. This means that she was incredibly clingy and in lots of pain. I woke up with a headache and felt very weak. I was also chilled and couldn’t seem to get warm - even though our thermometer read 76 degrees. I decided to nap when Emma did so that I would have enough energy to host my book club that evening. However, Emma couldn’t stay asleep for longer than 30 – 40 minutes because she was in so much pain. So I finally called my sister who suggested some different medicines (orajel just wasn’t cutting it) and let me vent to her for over an hour! All week, everything I cooked seemed to turn out off – just not very good or flavorful. For some silly reason, I continued with my plans to make a light dessert for the book group. Even sillier was the fact that it was something I had never made before – cream puffs. The pastry shells went together nicely and I got them into the oven. However, when the timer went off, I pulled out very burnt shells. I was pretty beat because the guests were arriving in about 15 - 20 minutes. So I just scraped of the burnt bottom, filled them with filling and lit a blueberry muffin scented candle to disguise the smell of burnt food. Somehow I made it through the evening without dozing off! We gave Emma some Ibuprofin and hoped it would help her sleep. Tuan tucked me in with two blankets as I had gotten chilled again. Unfortunately, the night took an unexpected cold turn and Emma, who was only in a onesie got cold. Unfortunately, Emma also hates to have blankets over her. So the night was spent with Tuan and I taking turns getting her to sleep cuddled with us for extra warmth (not easy when your baby doesn’t like to sleep cuddled!) It was exhausting especially because Tuan had to work overtime the next morning.
Saturday: I was still very weak, and the long night had not helped anything. Tuan picked up another kind of medicine on his way home from work and we were able to help Emma feel better. It was a long day, but I thought if I could just get some sleep, I would be better.
Sunday: Diarrhea! Yep, I’ve never had it quite so bad before, but on Sunday I had diarrhea with some pretty unpleasant gas pains. As the day progressed, I started to spot and realized that I was beginning to cycle again. I called another sister and she told me I could get some over-the-counter diarrhea medicine. I figured I would wait until morning.
Monday: Day 4 of feeling like crap! Tuan had been pulling double duty around the house for four days now. I went into town and got some medicine. I took it, and felt better for about two hours. Then things started to get worse. About halfway through the day I was seriously contemplating calling Tuan and asking him to come home from work! I finally realized that I was experiencing extreme cramping and decided to see my gynecologist first thing in the morning. I started taking 3 ibuprofen every 4 hours. I really didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night – it was that bad.
Tuesday: I dropped Tuan off at work and went straight to the doctor’s office. A nurse saw me right away and her diagnosis was: really bad cramps from my first cycle in over a year. And let me tell you that made me feel like a wimp. But she got an appointment with a doctor and I went back in the afternoon. I was still taking medicine every four hours even though it felt like it had worn off after three hours. Let me tell you, I felt like I should have had another baby by now – it felt almost exactly like being in labor. The doctor told me the same thing but let me know that I could take medicine about every 2 hrs by alternating tylenol with ibuprofen. So I upped my medicine intake – sorry liver!
Wednesday: I was much better than Monday and Tuesday, but still not up to 100%. I think what made the day hardest was seeing how far I had let the house go in a week. I really wanted to clean it up, but didn’t have any energy to even do much with Emma. It was a very long day.
Thursday: I lost a whole week due to exhaustion, diarrhea and simply being a woman. How bizarre was it that all three things hit me at once? After re-reading this, it sounds like one big complaint. But being in the thick of it was really awful. I’ve never experienced anything as bad. I mostly wanted to put this together so that people who knew I wasn’t feeling well would know that I’m better now! Thanks for reading and sticking around for the end of the story! I guess it is a happy ending after all - Emma got a new tooth out of it! :o}

Mommy's new haircut - I think she really likes it!