Big news around our house! Emily got her first tooth. It popped through Wednesday and you can barely see it but it's there!! She never really seemed fussier than normal. Maybe I just wrote it off as sleepiness or hunger or something but teething hasn't been a huge source of anguish for either of my girls so far. *knock on wood*

Emily also has eczema. I finally took her to the doc to make sure that's what it was. I had called them twice but finally just wanted the good doc to lay eyes on it and tell me what to do. I got a script for some steroid cream and had to buy some crazy expensive moisturizer at Walgreen's. That girl is getting lotioned up every time I change a diaper in her room. Since she's a two-nap-a-day girl, that's quite often.

My trip to Walgreen's on Saturday was quite expensive too since the whole damn family is sick. I bought Walgreen's brand "Advil Cold and Sinus" because it rocks. I also bought a big box of Mucinex. Since I'm not pregnant this time I won't worry about it kick-starting labor. ha ha ha! Megan is sick too. Hasn't had a fever over 99.5 but is snotty and has a mean cough so I bought some more Rescon GG. That stuff ROCKS for her!! I hate giving her medicine but without it she simply can't breathe. When do kids learn to blow their noses? I can't convince her to blow through her nose and I'm sure it would help!

The little booger didn't take a nap today either. We went to the park in the morning because it was BEEEYOOOOTIFUL. We didn't want to go to Mass ... the whole family sniffling and coughing would have gotten us more than a couple dirty looks ... so we spread our germs on the playground instead. Megan was fearless climbing up things and going down big slides. I almost had more than a couple heart attacks watching her. Then we had an early lunch followed by trying to put the girls down for a nap. Emily went without a fight. Megan, on the other hand, made it sound like we were hanging her upside down by her toes! After two trips upstairs and about 45 minutes (she never does that) I finally brought her back downstairs. Needless to say, it was early to bed tonight. I'm not sure why I'm still awake. Oh right ... I have laundry and dishes to do ... and a beer to finish.

James took Friday off a couple weeks ago and we went to the Dallas World Aquarium. It was AWESOME. I recommend it. Adult admission is kinda expensive but our girls were free (under 3). Megan LOVES animals so she had a great time going from exhibit to exhibit. You're so close to them too. Her favorite were the otters. We happened upon the otter exhibit at feeding time, which was kind of gross, but Megan loved watching them swim around. Here are a couple of pics for your enjoyment!

Sitting in the shark tunnel enjoying some goldfish!!

It was kind of creepy watching sharks swim behind my little girl.

Fishies all around!

Emily enjoyed this exhibit because their were fish above us.

This is right when you walk in. It's really pretty!

And air conditioned. Perfect for August!

Another up close look at some fishies!

Megan thought Emily needed the hat. It's Megan's sunhat but it looks like a giant sombrero on little Emily!

Emily had way too much fun at the splash park today. She loves sitting up and won't let me recline the stroller seat so this is how she slept!

Megan was making friends! She's the one in the blue daisy suit! The free plastic cups that restaurants all seem to give away now are the best splash park toys. I think we've left a few there this summer. Seriously, I have enough and I'm sure we'll get more!!

We had fun going to the splash park two days in a row this week. We went yesterday with grandma and today with a couple friends. Megan really enjoys the water but not until she gets wet. When she's still dry she really avoids the sprays so I filled the bucket of water and dumped it on her right when we got there. I'm surprised some other nosey mom didn't call the cops on me. :) We made it home in time for lunch and about 30 minutes of play time before nap time, which is right now. ahhhhhh silence. oops ... until the washer beeps. Back to work!

I don't know why I do it but I just can't stop for some reason. I read blogs about other families and my heart breaks for them. Families I don't even know!! I still keep up with Emily's old pod-mate quads from Presby through their blog. They are all doing wonderful and are getting so big. They linked another blog on theirs to a family that delivered their sextuplets at 23 weeks in the Houston area. They have lost 3 of their babies in the past two weeks. They were just too early, too small, and too sick to survive. Their three surviving little girls have such a battle ahead of them. It all makes me think how absolutely blessed we are that Emily is a thriving 7 month old. She left the NICU at 7 weeks old (37 weeks gestation) and really hasn't looked back. I just think about the incredible journey she had so early in her life as I watch her army crawling around on the floor (that's right people, she's on the move) and it is so hard to believe she is the same baby that arrived 10 weeks early and weighed less than 4 pounds. She is truly amazing and life does just get better every day. I don't think I'll ever forget the way I felt when Dr. P told me I had to have a c-section that night. I doubt I'll soon forget how foggy I felt the next morning when I woke up and couldn't see my baby until the epidural came out. Even then, I had to wait to be wheeled down there and I couldn't hold her. Parents of preemies are an unlucky group that share something that nobody else can possibly understand. I was lucky (well, if you want to call it "luck") to have someone to talk to via email when I needed her. Phone and face-to-face conversations were very difficult and emails were often sent in the middle of the night. She was a lifesaver for me (and my husband too) and I love hearing that her daughter is a thriving (and very cute!!) almost 2 year old (?) now. I may not have told you lately but I still really appreciate all the support you offered during that time, Tracy.

It's kind of odd thinking of Emily as a preemie and us as 'preemie parents' because of who she is now. She had a few setbacks during her time in the NICU but not nearly as many as some other children experience. It just boggles my mind that this child started out at 3 pounds 9 ounces:

She is 7 and a half months old. She is SO close to crawling. She laughs, squeals, babbles, eats her veggies (and fruits and cereal too), and loves playing with those feet. She finds her paci in her bed and gets it in her mouth all by herself (so we now keep 2+ in the crib for her) so I think she's going to be one of those 4 year olds that runs around with a pacifier. :-) She is starting to sit up a little but can't last long. She absolutely loves standing up, with help of course. She sleeps through the night, except when she wets through her diaper which happens a LOT. She seems to be doing a lot of stuff just about when Megan was doing it, maybe a month behind, but considering she is technically only 5 months old, I think she's doing stupendous (that's a fancy word for great)!

The best part about my girls' lives right now? They nap at the same time in the afternoon. I get some peace and quiet almost every day. Apparently that means I'll have time to read heartbreaking blogs and reflect on this year and make sappy blog posts ... so I'm off to do laundry and dishes before they wake up and all Hell breaks loose again!

More Pictures - More FUN!

Check me out! The girls are napping and I'm facebooking and blogging and saving pics to the external drive and burning CDs ... Who CARES that the house is an absolute wreck and I haven't showered today and the trees need to be watered?! Priorities people, priorities. I'm finally getting mine figured out. right.

First, here's my big 7 Month Old!!

I had her sitting up straight in the chair but she fell over forward and face-planted on the floor so I had to make her 'lounge' and look all lazy to keep her in the chair.

Emily is actually a very happy baby. She has her moments but this is what I see when I get her up in the morning. She hears the door open and starts looking around for me.

Emily likes to play on the floor with all the toys Megan puts down for her!

Meanwhile, Megan plays with the curtains!

Our friends had their daughter's 5th Birthday Party at a horse park on Saturday. It was definitely something different and Megan had a lot of fun!!! Too bad we can't do this place for her birthday since it's in the winter. The activities are mainly outdoors and we have been known to freeze around Thanksgiving. I can just imagine everyone out in their Uggs, traipsing through horse and goat poop and the kids all bundled up in their heavy coats for a pony ride. No, I think this will have to be an "unbirthday party" for the girls some summer.

They had a baby horse, less than a week old!

I think Megan likes her Cherry Capri Sun.

Megan got to feed apples to the horses with Daddy!

She thought this was so neat and just laughed!!

Daddy thought it was dirty and wanted to wipe her hands ... constantly.

The pony ride!!

I think James is ready to buy her a pony.

I want a pony. Where's mine?

Later we ventured into the "petting zoo"

- which is a fancy word for goat pen.

Megan loved the goats.

I think she thought they were dogs.

She wasn't even scared of the big ones!

Too much fun for Megan!!

Today, we took Grandma with us to swim lessons so we could get some pictures. Megan wasn't really into the swimming today. I think she's scared I'm going to dunk her under water ... and she's right ... but only for a second and she doesn't go deep. She still loves the water but wants nothing to do with kicking, scooping, or blowing bubbles. Forget about floating on her back! She just wants to splash mommy in the face and play on the step. That's OK. I never thought I was raising an Olympic swimmer and I never expected my not-quite-2-year-old to figure it out in her first week in a pool.

kick kick kick Megan

Holding on tight, which is what she does most of the time.


Finally a smile while mommy blows bubbles!!

Other than that, we don't have much going on. Emily is sleeping really well, usually. She woke up at 4:30 am Sunday morning for the first time in a few weeks so we were surprised. I think it was because she went to bed early. She is a hungry little girl and seems to always be eating. She has finally figured out the spoon and loves her fruit. She hasn't worked through everything yet but seems to be OK with her veggies too. She really wants to GO and is getting up on all-fours sometimes. She'll probably be crawling before she's sitting up but that's OK. She really can move around on her tummy already and hardly stays on the blanket ... which isn't a great thing since she's such a spitter and is now eating orange veggies ... ewwww!

I'll leave you with this pic of the two of them in their matchy-matchy "big sister" and "little sister" shirts. Pay no attention to the chocolate chip cookie all over Megan's face.

Update

I have added more July pictures to our Shutterfly page if you want to check them out. Many are the same as what I have already posted on the blog but there are some new ones too. Just wanted to let you know. It will definitely be a work in progress for a while ... and I'll probably completely forget about doing it for another month or two. That's just the way it is around here!! :-)

Busy July

Emily turned 6 months old!

Emily started on Rice Cereal!

Yucky Mommy!

Emily got to ride in the swing!!

Emily tried Green Beans too!

She has since had oatmeal, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and her new favorite, bananas!!

Emily is working on holding her own bottle.

Megan learned how to put raspberries on her fingers.



Megan is now brave enough to go down the slide all by herself!


Megan has learned what FUN it is to throw a toy for the dog.
Unfortunately, the dog isn't convinced this is fun!



I broke my poor little pinkie toe!!
Damn furniture just jumps out and attacks!



Megan turned 20 Months Old!!

I hope to update my pics page soon. I just loaded all of July onto the computer so I just need to back those up on the external drive and/or CDs and put them on the Shutterfly page. I'll let you know when they're online.

Megan and I started our "mommy and me" swim lessons this week. The first day was an absolute nightmare. My mild mannered perfect little child threw her first public tantrum. She was so excited to be there that she didn't understand the need to wait and listen to instructions. She loved the water but hated the fact that mommy had to hold on tight and she couldn't do whatever she wanted. We ended up leaving early because she just wanted to run around. That's just not acceptable around a pool. Sorry kiddo! She has gotten better. She was so excited this morning when I got her suit out I think she'll be upset that we're not going tomorrow. Maybe we'll have to hit the neighborhood pool this weekend and Emily can swim too! It's funny because the instructor is trying to teach these little kids how to swim and they don't have a clue or the desire to "kick kick kick" with their feet or "scoop scoop scoop" with their hands. They just want to play. I am enjoying some one-on-one time with Megan though and the pool feels so good since it's already 90* outside for our 10:00 am class!

Emily is finally catching on to this whole "eating with a spoon" thing. She wasn't wild about the idea at first but is really enjoying it now. And right now she would like to enjoy a bottle so I guess I need to go! :-)