"I said I wanted brownies!"

Sorry, I had to change the template again. I didn't really like the other one but have been too lazy to look through my options again.

Emma cracked me up tonight. She was sitting in her bouncy chair and I was feeding her some veggies. About half way through, she put her hand up to her mouth and spit a big bite out; then she threw it at me. She didn't mean to throw it at me, or at least I hope not. It was just so funny because she seemed so deliberate and then laughed about it. I'm sure I won't think it's as funny when she's throwing plates off her high chair and flinging spoons across the room. Maybe she just didn't like Beech Nut Vegetable Medley...

Great News!!!!

The cat is out of the bag! I can officially announce that I'm going to be an Auntie!!! Kevin's sister, Mae and her husband Ian are expecting a baby in October. We are so super excited to welcome baby Villanueva!!!! Please send up some prayers that the pregnancy continues to be healthy and Mae gets over morning-sickness!

Everything's good on the homefront. I'll post more later when I have time. I'll leave you with a cute pic of Emma.

Play Date

Emma had a play date with her BFF Erin tonight. (Actually, Mommy and Daddy had a playdate with Erin's mommy and daddy, Carrie and David.) Carrie had Erin almost 6 months before Emma was born. Throughout our pregnancies, we joked that Erin and Emma would be BFFs.

They were so cute tonight! David grilled us some awesome steak and asparagus at their house. Emma thought Erin was so cool; she laughed and giggled hysterically just watching Erin run around and play. By the end of the night, Erin was patting Emma on the back and giving her hugs. We had a great time.

"Please, no autographs; I can't read yet"

This is kinda long, but bear with me.

So, I know it's cliche when people always say, "I know I'm probably bias but my baby is the cutest baby in the whole world." I'm beginning to think Emma really is the fairest baby in all the land.

People are constantly telling Kevin and I how gorgeous Emma is, how long her eyelashes are, how blue her eyes are, what a pretty smile she has, blah blah blah. I truly feel burdened by it sometimes. I hate it. Now before you start thinking I have nothing to complain about and I should be thankful, let me explain a few things. Lets go back to when I was pregnant....

**Imagine Wayne and Garth wiggling their fingers and saying "Dodudo, dodudo, dodudo"**

Kev and I teased each other constantly that we were probably going to have an ugly baby but hopefully she'd have a great personality to make up for it. Our "joking" escalated to the point that I was actually afraid we really might have an unattractive baby which would lead to no one liking her, she'd never get picked for dodge ball, no date for prom, no college scholarship, etc. (You can see I easily let things snowball in my mind). Anyway, I had a dream one night that totally changed my fears. I dreamed that I had just had the baby and was still in the hospital with her. I was holding her swaddled in my arms just staring at her. I was overcome with this sense of joy and pride and peace. I look up at my friend and say, "Wow, what a beautiful baby." "Yeah," my friend says, "you hardly even notice she only has one eye." What!?!?! In my dream, my baby was a Cyclops. The thing is, she was mine so in my eyes she was flawless; I truly didn't even notice that she only had one eye! I realized that, as a mom, I'm never going to look at Emma and worry about whether or not she's pretty nor will it matter to me.

Ok, now fast-forward to today. Emma's daycare sends little "report cards" home telling us about her day. Today's note said, "I should be in a fashion show with my pretty purple outfit and gorgeous blue eyes!" Now I know that they are just trying to give a compliment. Or, maybe they couldn't think of anything productive from the afternoon so they were making something up. The point is, I fear that she will continue to be so beautiful, that's all people will notice. Again, I know, I know, I'm snowballing. I know that beauty is from God and beauty can be part of God's plan (just ask Esther). I just pray that Emma will have a heart for Christ a and soul as beautiful as her dimples. I pray that people notice her for her character not just her cuteness.

I know I'm just on a rant. (Thanks for listening). And please, don't stop telling me Emma is cute. I always love to tell mommas how precious their baby is, too. Maybe I've had too much coffee today...

Knock on Wood...

...but I think everyone in my house is healthy now. Kev's bug only lasted about 12 hours and Emma's was pretty much gone by yesterday. I had a little bit of stomach flu several weeks ago and it is miserable! I felt so bad for both of them; it stinks when you can't do anything to make it feel better!

Things have been pretty busy in our world. Kevin is trying to finish last-minute projects that need to be completed before graduation. My new position at work has been a little stressful and Emma is growing and changing every day. She wants so badly to crawl. I think it's still going to be several weeks before we see any creeping but she has her eye on the prize. She will stretch and reach and grunt trying to get a toy. She high-centers on her belly with her hands and feet in the air; she almost looks like Superman!

Today was Emma's first day at a new daycare. Ugh, that's not fun. We got a call a few weeks back from Cox's daycare (local hospital where Kev works) saying that our name had come up on the waiting list (we were put on when I was 6 months pregnant.) At first we totally dismissed it, thinking, "We already have daycare." But then, we started weighing the pros and cons of our current vs. potential situation. We don't have any real gripes with the lady who had been watching her, (well, a few but not worth the details) but we felt like Emma could benefit from a little more structure and curriculum. It's more expensive but the hours are more flexible, it's closer to home, they provide more supplies, and most importantly: they make a true effort to work with the kids to meet goals and develop skills. Even 6 month old Emma has goals they will consciously work on with her. She's starting to sit without support, drink from a sippy-cup, and is wanting to crawl.

She had a bit of a rough day. Apparently she cried a bit and wouldn't let the photographer take her picture (today was school picture day). When I called to check on her at lunch, she was in the middle of a melt down! Apparently, she had a dirty diaper shortly after that and was in a much better mood :)

Kevin's at a Cards game tonight with his brother David. He just texted me to say they were losing. Bummer. I'm going to a game tomorrow afternoon with my work. I heard it might rain. Bummer. Oh, well.

Poor hubby

Emma has passed the torch on to Daddy. Today was the first day she hasn't thrown up...and the first day Kevin has. Poor guy. Hopefully Kevin's will be shorter lived than Emma's and I won't catch it!

Poor baby: part deux

Last night, she had another vomit/heaving spell around midnight. After that, though, she slept through the night until about 7:30 this morning. I went to work while Kevin stayed home with her. He introduced liquids a little at a time and she seemed to be doing better. I came home for lunch to check on her and decided I'd feel better if we had her looked at (just in case.)

Even though she had managed to keep everything down this morning, she was kinda listless and her eyes were a little gunky. She also had a low grade temp and a little diarrhea. So we loaded her up and headed for my work to see the doctor. Something told me to sit in the back with her on the way there and am I glad I did! She started vomiting everywhere! We were almost there when this started so I told Kev to not stop, just get there. Then I realized that we hadn't packed a change of clothes. Nice. I ususally have some random clothes/blankets in my car but not today. Nope, that would have been convenient. There was puke ALL over her, her carseat and her blanket. Yeah, good times. Luckily, my work stocks packages from Newborns In Need, so we borrowed one of those when we got there.

After her exam, the NP said it's probably just a viral bug that's got her. One of her lymph nodes was a little swollen so we started her on an antibiotic just in case it's bacterial. Sweet girl, she's decided that amoxicillin tastes fabulous and takes it like a big girl. She and I took a nice long nap when we got home and she seems to be doing better. She just took some Pedialyte and some diluted formula. Cross your fingers that it stays down!! I'm hoping she'll be fine tonight and able to return to daycare tomorrow- she only has two days left at her current babysitter. Oh, did I forget to mention? We're switching daycares. More on that later...

Poor baby

My poor baby is sick. Projectile-vomit-high-fever sick. Turns out, two kids at her daycare went home puking today and she has started with it tonight. We called the on-call doctor because I was worried; she's never been sick before and her temp was 102.9! He wasn't too concerned and said it was probably a virus. Kev's going to stay home with her tomorrow and keep an eye on things. We set the pack-n-play up in our room so we can keep her near us tonight. I had put her to bed in her crib earlier, but she woke up after about 30 minutes from puking everywhere. I had to give her another bath. Say a little prayer for my poor baby. I'll update you tomorrow.