Milestone "Update"

I know Emily's fan club has been worried about her inability to clap, but I am proud to say she has finally given us a few rounds of applause this week.  And to show off, she stood up on her own yesterday, twice, and even took a baby step before falling!

Sleeping beauty -

Checking out her first lunchbox - 

Oooohing the flowers -

Bear crawling through the grass  - 

For anyone who was worried about raising a baby with a rottweiler in the house, no need.  Gerda is gentle and patient with Emily.  Emily is even learning to throw G's tennis ball...

"Oh, okay, I'll get up and go get it..."

I'm going to call today the calm before the storm... tomorrow the landscapers come to help us finish our yard.  Next week, Emily has a developmental evaluation through the Idaho Infant Toddler Program to see if she still qualifies.  Faryn, the dog, will have her cataract surgery.  And we'll get to attend the NICU graduate picnic... word has it our favorite nurses will be in attendance and we're hoping to get to see some roommates and neighbors.  The winter graduate get together was cancelled due to a swine flu outbreak, so I'm excited for the chance to see all of our favorites in one place...

Ah, mom, what's with the childproofing?

Such an innocent...

angelic...

do-no-wrong face, don't ya think?

Reunion #2

Yesterday was a great day.  Emily and I drove to a park in Boise to meet up with Lonnie and Liz and their adorable kids.

If Kara was extraordinary at ultrasounds, then Liz (in the middle) is the queen of antepartum.  She is just that kind of nurse, and person, that brought in sunshine when I was on bed rest last summer.  I can't say anything bad about any St. Luke's employees, but there are just certain ones, like Liz, that make you so thankful they came into your life.

And Lonnie, on the left, should know.  She made it an amazing 11 weeks on bed rest before baby Kean came into the world.  I met Lonnie in the NICU when her boy was in the next room.  Another person I'm now lucky to call friend since she has been there through the last year to help me keep my sanity.

So, while Liz's two boys and Lonnie's three girls splashed in the water and raced around the park, the "babies", Kean and Emily, watched as the three of us were able to have adult talk - bliss.  It will be fun when Emily is able to run around the park with them.

Look at those teeth!!!

Clapping practice - why should I clap, when I can make Dad do it for me???

Kara, Ultrasound Tech Extraordinaire

Today Emily and I were able to meet up with Kara, the ultrasound tech I saw almost weekly in Boise while I was pregnant, and her family.  Kara is awesome at ultrasounds, she could figure out each girl and get their measurements done, and had the best bedside manner to boot.  Here she is with her youngest, Bennett -

and Emily wearing Stella's, Kara's oldest, hat while she was off playing at the park with her dad.

More photos to come, since Kara had a new camera that she was playing around with... I let her take most of the photos...

And, who couldn't love this face in the morning?

Waiting for Dad to come home

When Aaron comes home from work, Emily squeals with delight.  He has a hard time getting in the door since both dogs and Emily are all trying to get to him at the same time.

The Park

Loving the swing...

Boise Bound

Yesterday we were off to Boise again for an appointment, but for Faryn, our lab, this time.  We met with a canine opthamologist to see what can be done about the cataracts causing her blindness.  We scheduled surgery for early August and she should get most of her vision back.

Emily was a champ, driving 2 and a half hours there, sitting through an hour and a half appointment, and then the ride home again.  She was a hit with the staff, too!

Hughstons Go Unplugged

No phone, no T.V., no laptops - we took the RV out to Baker Creek and spent the night.
Emily watched the dogs play in the creek and stuck her toes in the water.

`

Played in the motorhome and didn't have to sit in a high chair for dinner (without much of a mess).  

Even watched Aaron beat Kelly at cribbage, despite it being his first time playing.
In the morning, she played in the dirt and tried to eat rocks.

So, mom had to sit a bit closer with watchful eyes...

While the dogs happily played in the great Idaho outdoors. Pretty girls!

10 months adjusted

Yesterday marked Emily hitting the 10 month adjusted mark.  Last night we went out for dinner and were approached by a couple, out on date night, inquiring how old Emily was.  The wife guessed 10 months, the husband a year.  Little did they know they were both correct, it just depends if you want to go by adjusted or chronological age...

So, at "10 months" Emily has said mama and dada and a lot of things that sound like words...
She's wearing 12 month clothing.
Can hold her own bottle, but prefers not to and sees the sippy cup as something that pours out liquids.
Crawls, dashes up stairs, and will walk when you hold her hands.  Stands briefly by herself, but no steps yet.
Loves songs and music, especially London Bridge and I'm a Little Teapot.
Bananas, watermelon, and yogurt are favorite foods, not a big fan of meat.
Loves to crawl under and through anything in her way and knock things over that are stacked.
Looks at a lot of books.
Loves the water.
3 top reactions by people - her eyes, her teeth (8 of them still), and her happiness

Squishy

I thought I would explain Emily's nickname, since it seems like she gets called that more than she does by her birth name.  When Emily was in the NICU, she was called lots of things.  Miss Em is what Nurse Molly called her during the week, Emmers by Nurse Merri on the weekends.  Nurse Chris settled on Em, and to most others she was Peanut.  Aaron and I went through a string of different nuts because in the world of babies, she just wasn't big enough to be a Peanut.  So on a daily basis it would change from pine nut to cashew to almond... My favorite was always hazel nut, which I think I could love the name Hazel if Hazel Hughston didn't sound so much like a comic strip character.  However, Aaron always preferred beer nut (I'm glad that one didn't stick).  The one that did by the time we left the NICU was Pistachio, and that's what she was for a long time.  Eventually, Pistachio was shortened to Stach... and from there it has somehow evolved into Squishy or Squishmo.  I hadn't given it much thought until a friend recently asked what nickname she had earned... Squishy probably isn't going to think Squishy is such a cool name in her teenage years, but who knows what name she'll have by then.

More swimming photos

Emily is quite content in the pool, although in my opinion the last two days have been quite cold!  For 30 minutes, the moms and dads hold our kids as we bob up and down, show how to blow bubbles, and the older tots get to kick and splash.  Emily loves to watch and she chews on the rubber ducky.  Hmmm, hope the chorine is killing the germs...

Swim School

Starting to hold her own bottle - finally!

Lots of outdoor play this weekend, too.  We got Emily a water table, but the best part was eating the toys that came with it.

And Aaron picked out a tunnel for her since she's always crawling under and through things in the house.  

Notice how she'll let go of the table and stand.  She's doing that more and more these days, but I don't think she's realizing it...


Today we have our first swimming lesson.  

Watermelon

Enjoying watermelon with dinner -


Big day for Emily. We headed to Twin Falls and started with her therapist, who was impressed with Emily the nine monther, therapy nazi for Emily the year old toddler. We departed with a long list of goals to work on and the suggestion that we leave it up to the pediatrician as to whether we stick with a monthly schedule or go to every three months (get to that in a second). Emily was a lot more willing to play and explore than she was compared to the last two sessions where she spent most of it fussing and crying. Our homework for the month -
1) work on side stepping between toys and furniture
2) work on symmetrical crawling and climbing (Emily prefers to go with her right leg first)
3) dumping objects and putting them back in
4) balancing exercises
5) use walking toys

Then we were off to run some errands, and Emily was a trooper through the stores and getting in and out of the car quite a few times. At one of our stops, we bumped into the mother of one Emily's roommates in the NICU, the little girl that sadly passed away from NEC... As a sign that life goes on, she's expecting again. Ironically due on the day of her daughter's angelversary.

We ended our day in Twin with Emily's 12 month baby well check and three shots. The doctor is pretty pleased with Emily, but we didn't get the three month pass at the therapist. Those two together are like drill sergeants, they won't slow down until Emily is ahead of the game. She weighed 19 pounds, 5 ounces (20th percentile), was almost 28 inches long (5th percentile), and an 18 inch head circumference (75th percentile). Food wise we get to introduce yogurt and cheese and in September we wean her off of breastmilk and formula and introduce whole milk before our October appointment so we can report how she handles it. And we're also supposed to master the sippy cup so that we can be completely off the bottle by then. It's quite the to do list...

Good Mornin'

Friends

Last night we met up with some California friends, making some new friends along the way. Here's Emily meeting Baby D., who, by the way, is 4 months and the same size as her! With 10 kids at the party, Emily was very entertained and in a great mood even though she was awake way past bedtime. She was amused by the antics of kids and grown ups alike...

including the party favors handed out for the two birthday celebrations!

Celebrating the 4th of July

We all attended the Hailey parade this morning and browsed the antique fairs. Emily's favorite part was the bands. The kid loves music.

Saturday

Saturday was such a nice day, we played outside for quite awhile. Emily zoomed around in her pink car, crawled around in the grass (notice her concentration on standing!), and tossed the ball for the dog.

Scootin' right along...

I took Emily to the local clinic this morning to see if she had an ear infection... for once, I overreacted and it was nothing! We do go on the 8th to her pediatrician for her 12 month well check as well as her monthly physical therapy appointment. Her weight - 19 pounds and 11 ounces.