Emily

Emily had her 6 month appointment today. She's 6 months and two weeks now. A little sad, because it's our last appointment with our pediatrician. She's been wonderful and Ava adores her. So much in fact, that she pretends to be sick and asks to go see Dr. Kemi.



Emily is doing great besides a little head cold that's keeping her up at night and making her a little miserable. She weighs 19 lb. 1 oz. and is now 25 3/4". She got a couple of shots today, but took them in stride. She cried for a second, then made some angry noises in the direction of the nurse and then it was back to her signature megawatt smile.



Developmentally, she sits up unsupported, and I've actually watched her trying to pull up a couple of times this week. She's not quite strong enough yet, but I'm sure she'll be there soon enough. I guess when we assemble the crib at the new house, we'll be dropping the mattress down. She loves playing with her toys and her special talents include arranging herself so that she has the best view of Ava, no matter where she is in the room. She LOVES her big sis. She's doing pretty good with all of the baby food. I did give her a chicken and veggies yesterday and it must have tasted so bad that she gagged and threw up right on the spot. Sweet potatoes and cereal are still her fav, but we're trying new things. She's really starting to perfect her pincher grasp. Instead of shoving those Gerber puffs by fistfuls into the vicinity of her mouth in the hope that one falls in, she actually pinches them between her fingers and pops em' right in.

Oh, and she jabbers up a storm, so she might have also inherited the "gift of gab" that I passed on to Ava.



That's the latest on Miss Emily. Here are a couple of pics that I took yesterday.

Heart

That's what Ava calls her fishy. Let me explain how "Heart" came to live at our house. Soon after Emily was born, it was Mike's turn to put Ava in bed. Sometimes this task is extremely challenging. After a drink of water, 2 stories, back rub, another story about when you were little, a dramatic and well planned need to go potty even though she just went, suddenly she can't find Snow White (her favorite doll), and so on.........you can find yourself getting very frustrated. At this point I usually lay down the law and become pretty stern. If Ava doesn't stay in bed and quiet down, I start taking away privileges. Daddy, on the other hand, starts making promises. Somehow on this night he must have been pretty desperate to get Ava to sleep because he promised her a trip to the pet store. I'm not sure if a fish was part of the promise, but once they were at the store they decided to get a fish. Well....they couldn't just get a little fish in a bowl. It turned into a 3 day project, complete with getting an aquarium, rocks, plants, decorations, fish, etc. and then setting the whole thing up. I hesitantly gave my blessing (not that anyone asked) to this project because it was a good father-daughter bonding experience and because I do feel a little (very little) guilty that Ava does not have a dog, cat, bunny, whatever. I was hesitant because I just knew that I'd end up being in charge of the cleaning and care of the aquarium and fish. Yuck. Well, the fishies were Heart and Flower. Ava specifically picked them out and named em'. Flower has perished, but Heart lives on, no matter how neglected he, excuse me SHE is. In the background of the first 2 pictures you can see the scummy aquarium that I need to clean and take apart for the move. I had thought about giving Heart away to a neighbor with an aquarium or even (gasp!) a little flushy flushy on our way out the door. But as you can see from these pictures, I'm pretty sure that she needs to make the move with us. She is Ava's pet. This morning Ava was watching Noggin and the topic was pets. The character on the show asked, "Do you have a dog or a cat?" Ava yells back at the TV, "NO! A fishy. My Heart." Yep, the fishy will be riding shotgun.