Eight Months

8 months old and only a little over a week late posting her pic...

Mallory the Monkey seems to be stealing the attention here...

This was actually my little shirt when I was a baby. It's small on Em - because she's bigger and because her tummy is sticking out big time! This is be cause of some bathroom issues at this point.

Last week at the doctor Emersen weighed 21 lbs. We took her in for the rash on her bum. She was also having some constipation type issues. Yesterday we took her back and she was down to 20lbs 11 oz - if that tells you anything about the size of her issues!

Emersen is so close to crawling. She has the form down, for the most part, but the propelling forward part is escaping her. But we never thought she'd get up on all fours and is doing that so in time, we won't be able to catch her. We've already had a finger going towards an electrical outlet. She spins on her belly, pushes herself backwards and rolls around. And "swims" or "flies" on her belly and laughs!

If you've been around us lately, you will have heard about Emersen's pooping and rashes. Sorry, it's the life of a parent! We recently had the privilege of supporting in Emersen's performance of her bodily functions for company! Em has had a pretty bad "diaper rash" (at the time, this is all we knew it to be). We were letting her air out. So we laid out her blanket downstairs and put her on the floor in the nude. Our friend Dave was visiting, and he's a pediatrician and then the other couple we are pretty close to and we made sure we weren't offending anyone. At that time, we weren't...

Em almost immediately peed on the blanket. We just folded that corner over so she could continue playing. We stood her up so she could hold on to our ottoman. She was facing Troy and Lindsey, laughing and smiling at them. Suddenly, she started whining and fussing. For no reason it seemed. EXCEPT that because of her sore bottom, it hurt her to poop and she had been fussing about it each time. So I said "oh I bet she has to poop" or "she's trying to poop" and before we could do anything I hear Dave say "Oh here comes poop!" In the NICK of time, Wes dives down behind her bottom and catches her little turd (I'm laughing just thinking about this...). I scoop her up horizontally so nothing else can fall. She had some poop on her leg.

I think we might have scarred Troy for life. He no longer though of Emersen as cute I don't think. Wes and I were laughing and glad that she was going with more ease! These are the things we celebrate these days. Our company said, "We're going to go, it looks like you have your hands full." No pun intended. Wes washed his hands. I was still carrying Emersen as we said goodbye and walked them to the door. Then Wes and I continued laughing, and went to clean up Emersen and diaper her. Oh the things that just aren't a big deal anymore! I've enjoyed sharing the story with other parents because they just laugh. We all have those stories I suppose. And it could have been worse. Much worse.

Our pediatrician friend recommended she be seen with how red it was and the skin was basically gone in some spots. So, currently we're treating Em for a yeast infection with Nystatin and a steroidal ointment because it healed up some, then got worse again. They said yeast infection. With a follow up appointment with the doctor, she has referred us to an allergist. She said based on Emersen's horrible eczema (which we laughed at because it used to be so much worse) and the prolonged rash, she thinks she definitely should be tested for some food allergies. We don't know what it might be as we haven't introduced anything new into her diet prior to the severe rash.

High maintenance baby if I ever saw one! But again, love her to pieces. Thanks for sharing in our adventures. I only hope to lighten your mood, or relate in some way since all of us are going through something, usually, at any given point in time.