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.

Picture Perfect

I....Love....this....girl! Grandpa Fischer got Em her own chair - this is her participation in our garage sale last week. Considering the weather, we made some bucks we didn't have before and unloaded some larger items to give us some more space in the garage.

Grandpa Fischer gave Em this as well - painted it for her himself. She liked sitting in the little box part. She's like a dog - she gets distracted by cars going by.

Grandma Fischer yard-saled from the Jenkin's for this darling little dress - thanks Bella Kate and Claire!

Grandma keeps Em styling with all her cute shoes.

Then Em's parents take uncivilized pictures of our child in suitcases and pickle buckets...

Silly girl - she was immediately interested in zippers and tags. She LOVES tags and will chew them and play with them delicately on everything. Also note her cute little PJ's also courtesy of Grandma Fischer. Wes loves these pj's on her.

Just wanted to give thank you's to those who have spoiled Emersen along the way. We appreciate all the outfits, shoes, diapers, toys etc that definitely help with the whole providing for your child thing. We are so grateful!

Sorry, still delayed in getting 8 month pic up. I have them, just gotta post. Will have an update on Em's weight and other antics of late. To be continued....

The best thing about babies...

The best thing about babies is when they laugh. There is simply no better noise than a baby giggling. Even better when it's at you. Wes makes Em laugh more than anybody. It's really never the same thing twice, but he usually can get her going. The only thing that is no fail at this point is holding a pillow in the air over Emersen. She convulses with giggles. Weird baby...

And in true baby form, Em tries to eat the toy in the following clip. She will grab anything and put anything in her mouth. Or she'll lean forward to suck on it - like she did her toy table and the wall of the bathtub. She has started smacking her lips, blowing raspberries, clucking her tongue and so forth. I've mentioned how loud she is when she "talks" too. Love her.

Sorry, this one is crooked - but more laughing anyway. Still haven't taken her 8 month picture but FYI - we're going to have to buy some 12m onesies (we have hand me downs but they're all purple). Sheesh.

Shoogy, Puppy Dog, & Stinky Butt

Emersen takes on many names in our household. Often Wes uses a different one every day, depending on his mood I suppose. We both call her "lady" all the time. And Em. But no other variations of her name yet. Based on her bathroom habits, I call her stinky butt a lot. If you have kids, you know that pooping is a common topic - if you don't have kids, then you might want to read on... Em has taken to pooping several times a day, very small amounts at a time. Not constipated like, but still, it hurts a bum a bit. I'll take any suggestions for regulating this!

Speaking of silly names...we usually try not to participate in "baby" talk to much. We talk in a higher pitch voice with her a lot of times, but that's proven to be something that gets baby's attention and something they prefer. But making things rhyme and changing the way things are pronounced, we don't really do. I may have offended someone once when they asked "What do you call a pacifier?" I answered, "a pacifier..." That or "her sucker" and we "plug her up" with it. Her carseat is her "bucket" - I think that was thanks to Jerry Cooper. I ask her sometimes if she "poo poo'd." Yes, I talk to her like I expect her to answer. I think that's all our slang thus far. I'm not really down with "booty wooty" and stuff.

Silly silly girl. She's hilarious. Lately she's been "talking" so loud. When we lay her down at night to go to sleep, even if she was just rubbing her eyes and wallering us, she will "sing" at a very loud octave for awhile. Or talk to herself. Whatever you want to call it. I can't wait to find out what she's talking about. Everyone says "just wait until she can talk" - which, if you know me, you might know how I feel about "just wait." But, I really can't wait to hear her thoughts and in her tiny little voice.

Look, she's already practicing to talk on the phone. She does hold it up to her ear. That's my childhood toy, by the way. She can almost fit the whole earpiece in her mouth.

I think she's "singing" or just making her ridiculous noises here. I LOVE the pj's she has on. Hand-me-downs from my cousin. Already tight on her and I think it's size 12m. Just depends on the brand I suppose. Speaking of hand-me-downs from my cousin...my cousin and wife saved a ton of stuff from when they had twins about 5 years ago and gave it to us before Em was born. SO much wonderful stuff. SO much that I forgot about a whole double stroller in our garage. It was like Christmas to get it out! It's like a Lazy-Boy on wheels for Emersen, she loves it.

More to come - have videos to post of "walking" and laughing. And yesterday was 8 months, so that pic will follow.

Good or Bad?

We can't tell if Emersen's new facial expression is supposed to be a mean face or funny face. If it's a mean one, it's not working because I cried for laughing so hard at her. Sorry if the camera was shaking, because I was laughing so hard. What was funniest for us was that she was mimicking Wes, or doing it on command. You can even see her tiny little two bottom teeth at times. My mom and I were just dying laughing! Babies are hilarious!