6 months old

This is Emerson's new favorite pose...she has either her finger or thumb in her mouth....I guess she is teething, although I don't see any teeth nubs yet. Emerson turned 6 months on May 16. On Nov. 16, 2006, that seemed like an ETERNITY away. Emerson is such a sweet girl. She has a happy disposition and only seems to cry when she is REALLY tired or REALLY hungry, which I don't think is unreasonable (I often feel the same way :)). She loves to play and explore everything with her hands. And the babbling has started, as well as the squeals and raspberries. This is what we wake up to every morning...hearing Emerson having a conversation with her blanket, the mobile, the ceiling fan and the room in general. She greets us with BIG smiles in the morning with arms reaching up and little legs going as fast as they can. She is almost an unsupported sitter and is still eating like a trooper.

6 month stats
Wt: 13.12
Ht: 25
All 10-25th percentile

This was a little worrisome to me, but the pediatrician said that as long as she is proportionate, it's nothing to worry about. Emerson is just petite. Emerson is going to be starting some physical therapy soon for her neck. She has always liked to have her head to the left and now has a flat spot on her head from always sleeping in that position (if we try to reposition her head, she always moves it back to the left). We have added Zyrtec to her medication regime for her "allergies". Both her father and I have the typical bad south Texas allergies and poor Emerson seems to have inherited them, which the pediatrician said is common. So it's Zyrtec, Prevacid (for the existing reflux), Pulmicort neb and Xopenex neb treatments with Margo Moo. All conditions which she is supposed to "grow out of" in time.

Emerson loves to play in her exersaucer. She is just now tall enough to reach the bottom and has the best time with all the toys attached, especially the buttons that make animal sounds. When I need 20 minutes to do some laundry or get dinner going, the exersaucer can be counted on to babysit, I mean entertain Emerson long enough for me to get that done.

We both are sooooo in love and feel so lucky and blessed to have our daughter.
Happy 6 month Birthday, baby girl.

Say hello to my (six) little friend(s)

4 loose diamonds + giving birth to Emerson = NEW RING!

My wonderful husband had ring guards made for my engagement ring as a gift. I had 4 diamonds that had originally been in my Grandmother's eternity ring. After she died, my mother split up the diamonds from the ring and we all got some. My grandparents were married for 58 years and I have always wanted to incorporate the diamonds into my wedding rings somehow--maybe some of that long lived marriage luck will rub off on me--but didn't want to alter my engagement ring. So we went to a local jewelery store and they helped me design ring guards that would accomodate my engagment ring and my grandmother's diamonds. We had to buy 2 more diamonds (OH WELL!) for the design. I am VERY HAPPY with the results. There are very few things in life that are not improved with diamonds.
Thank you Dood! My left arm is getting STRONG!

My First Mother's Day

This little bag is so sweet, it's my first Mother's Day gift. Emerson made it at baby school and it had a little marigold kit inside. She had pink paint in between her toes when she came home from school that day. I love the little bag and will keep it forever.

To celebrate Mother's Day and my in-laws 25th wedding anniversary, we went to Boudro's on the Riverwalk to eat. We had a great time, the food was fabulous (of course) and my prickly pear margarita was the bomb! Emerson liked it too :).

Emerson wore a little sailor dress that one of the physicians that Rico works with gave Emerson when she was a little baby. She looked so cute in it and it went well with her very first pair of jelly sandals. The little hair bow I am wearing in my hair originally started out in Emerson's hair, but kept falling out.

PUKE Update

Well, the puke strikes again. Emerson's devoted Grandma, who takes care of her a few days a week so her mother can earn some money to pay for this palace, came over on her regular Tuesday to watch Emerson to find all of us laying on the cool, soothing bathroom floor. She took good care of Emerson while The Dood and I showered and slept. And her reward for a job well done? The pukes and the other thing. Lesson? STAY AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE! HORRORS WILL BEFALL YOU! GET SOME PURELL!

PUKE......it's whats for dinner.

I know, that's gross. But really, that's all (well, almost all) that happened for about 36 hours at this house. We ALL came down with some sort of stomach bug that knocked the adults for a loop and landed our asses on the cool soothing bathroom floor. Emerson had a few "loose poops" and a few "large spit-ups" this past weekend, but otherwise was her normal happy self. Monday, I ran into the house as soon as I got home from work to puke. This continued every hour or so for the next 12. At about 1am, I heard The Dood "laughing". As I raised my sweat-soaked head off the bathmat to tell him to shut-up so he wouldn't wake Emerson, I realized that HE was puking in the other bathroom and it really wasn't a laughing matter. Poor Rico and I lay around on the bed and the couches and discussed how awful we felt in between pukes. All the while my baby slept blissfully unaware, thank god, as I wasn't sure how any parenting would get done when both her parents were puking like it was our 2nd full time job. When Rico felt strong enough to drive, he combed the city in the wee dark hours of the morning for a single sleeve of saltines, some 7-Up, and little individual packs of Alka Seltzer. It was some time before these would stay down. And as if puking over and over and over wasn't bad enough, well, you can guess what else was going on. Lets just say we did a load of laundry the next day that we washed in hot water. Twice.

When we inquired at baby school if anyone had a stomach bug, we were told "yes and it's hitting the parents worse than the babies". REALLY?! You don't say?! If we'd of known that, we might have actually used the Purell!