So here's another video for you Emma Kate followers... for a few months now, Emma's been doing this sound, and Mommy has had fun getting her to imitate different voices... this one started out as Emma randomly saying "Doe-eye doe-eye doe-eye" and eventually this is what it turned into- she almost always does it when prompted, and it apparently requires her to scrunch her neck up to make it in this voice. It is just soooo funny, we had to document it just in case it doesn't last... :) Believe me, it's even better in person!

Just in case you need proof that Arnold did in fact exist, here is a video of Emma Kate meeting him for the first time... :D

So here's a little video footage of the hugs that were going down on the deck... it was just sooooo cute!

I should mention, for the record, that Emma Kate has officially gotten her first tattoo... when we were at the aquarium, they had a little station set up for kids to get temporary shark tattoos and there were about 5 or 6 designs to choose from. Gregory got one on his arm, and Emma Kate was adamant that she just wanted to hold hers. Of course she picked out the big huge shark face with it's mouth open and it's teeth all over the place. She watched Daddy put one on his forearm, but she wasn't convinced she wanted to wear hers. She played with the thing for a long time until she finally let Mommy put it on her! She wanted it on her knee, and as soon as it was transferred, she got very upset because she wanted it back on the paper again! It was pretty funny. She got over it fast and quickly decided it was a lot more fun to have it on her knee where she could show it off to other people and especially because she could see the teeth and point to them. I swear, there's something about a big mouth of sharp teeth that really gets her attention!!! I soooo wanted to get a picture of Emma Kate and Daddy wearing their shark tattoos, but unfortunately they dissolved the next time sunscreen was applied, before we got to take a picture. It was quite hilarious.

Ok, so here are the remaining beach pictures- Emma got all touchy-feely with Gregory this day- she was playing with his hat, putting it on his head and giggling...

And oh, man, all the hugs she was giving out!!! They were so cute!!
More hugs!!
And more hugs!! Glad they were well-received by Gregory- he even sometimes hugged her back, he's quite the affectionate little man too!
Our last attempt at the beach- unfortunately the last 2 of the 3 trips to the ocean beach didn't go near as lovely as the first- the waves were waaaay too rough to get in the water- they even had the "no swimming" signs up. Man, what I would have given to have another nice calm ocean day with that wonderful tidal pool!!! It was just so perfect! Here's our new flag for the cabana, Rachel and Matt found it for us- a great improvement over the little blue triangle that came with the cabana! :)
Emma did a great job staying occupied on the beach... she decided to slowly but surely burry Daddy in the sand... she didn't get too far before getting sidetracked fortunately... :)
On our last day in OBX, Mimi and PopPop came down. We went out with Auntie Kimberly and Uncle Chris to the Avalon pier- they have a huge open-air game room with a bazillion old-school games, and Emma was fascinated by this dinosaur grabber. It had a lever to push/pull to make the red dino's mouth open and close to grab the rewards, and it would work even without paying money, it just didn't bend over into the rewards. She's got some fascination with big sharp teeth all of a sudden.
Emma Kate being silly
On the Avalon pier
This pier is one of few that have survived some significant weather, and when you walk down it, you can tell... it's totally wonky! It's a little unsettling to be on it so high up and so far out in the water, and there are huge spaces between the boards as you walk down it... I know it's an unreasonable fear, but I was constantly worried one of Emma Kate's feet would slip through...

Auntie Kimberly won a few tickets at the arcade and we picked out this little green army man for Emma Kate- we named him "Arnold" and she was immediately in love- it was hilarious! She not only loved the little green man, but she apparently thought the name Arnold was a riot! Here she is in the car just after getting him, and she was giving him lots of hugs!
Here you can see Arnold... unfortunately somewhere along the line of packing to come home Arnold must have gotten misplaced... or he may be in stealth mode in the car somewhere... luckily Emma Kate has not asked for him yet... Auntie Kimberly will just have to win her another little green man sometime soon! It was so fun having him- he was an awesome distraction!!! :)

Ok, so we had a few minutes to load some pictures of the beach trip so far-

Emma had quite the time playing with "new" toys that Annalisa and Gregory brought down. Here she was having fun with a doll in her highchair and decided she needed to give her food and drink!

Our first day on the ocean beach- great weather, calm waves, and a perfect tidal pool to play in at low tide! Tons of fun! Emma spent a long time slowly burying the boogie board in sand... she has some sort of odd attachment to it- she really likes the sharks on it showing their big teeth..

Hanging out in the shade with Mommy- Emma Kate really liked the kids size chair Annalisa had

Playing with Gregory's dash board- she loved that it honked and played music

One thing Emma learned from Gregory- stomping sand castles is fun!!!

Emma helping to build an Incan temple- she would drop handfuls of sand on it and pat-pat-pat it
I'm not sure how much time was spent on this adventure- she would repetitively rinse her hands in the bucket, then grab a handful of sand, drop it in the bucket (splash), then rinse her hands again. She was so entertained by it!
Hanging out with Mommy in the sun, Mommy was so excited to dig a belly pit and lay face down for once! What a treat!
Playing ball with Daddy- Emma was having so much fun, giggling and smiling the whole time- she was actually pretty good at catching the ball!

Daddy's little girl!
Another Emma pastime- shaking out a blanket, then sitting, and lying down on it... then she would move on to the other blanket- some ladies sitting next to us told us they had been watching Emma and got the biggest kick out of her blanket cleaning techniques

Emma's hair is growing so long, but you'd never know it- it just piles up on top of her head!!!

We went to the aquarium and Emma Kate was really into it- she loved it!

Being silly with Daddy- so cute!!


So it's been a great trip so far- we've had tons of fun and got to visit with some great friends from school, got to see family, and we'll even get a quick visit with Mimi and PopPop this weekend! We'll post more pictures as we have them- hopefully we'll have another good day at the sound tomorrow!

Update on vacation doings

We spent today eating fresh bagels for breakfast and going for a walk. Then we went for a paddle boat trip. After lunch and a nap we went to the Wright Brothers Memorial and walked a *lot*. The wind was blowing hard throughout the walk and visit but Emma was a little trooper and did a lot of walking with her friend Gregory. Mommy will post the pictures later. She has been eating so well. One of the new ways we've found is feeding her on the sailboat while it is docked. As a side benefit, she can now identify the stern of the boat, the compass, and the ropes (rigging). Tomorrow, we'll try the ocean beach again and then Thursday we'll go to the aquarium. Pictures will come when we're home.

Hello from NC

Well we're down at the beach and Emma is doing awesome. She swam in the ocean (sort of) and didn't mind it. We went to the sound of course and she is playing with the kids that are visiting with us. She is also eating very well (fingers crossed) and mommy and daddy are thrilled. That is all for now.

Emma's apple

So, one of our neighbors has a bunch of great apple trees in her horse pasture, and she told us we were welcome to all of them- she told us the same thing last year but we never really got around to it. Tonight we went for a walk before dinner and Greg ran into the field to check if the apples were ripe- he picked a few and they are really good! He took a bite, I took a bite, then Emma asked for the apple. She continued to gnaw on the apple throughout the whole walk, she was just completely smitten with it. Here in this picture, she's almost done with it- this started out as a big, full-sized apple! We couldn't believe how much she ate! Needless to say, she had absolutely no interest in dinner when we got back... Greg went back and picked a bushel of apples and we got a small batch done tonight for applesauce- he's got 6 pints, and that's maybe 1/3 of the apples he picked! More to come in the next few days before too many apples get dropped on the ground!! We're thrilled!!! :D

Today has been an overcast, slightly drizzly, and cool day- a very welcome change for once!! We've had so much fun already despite the dreary weather- we all went into town for some errands and got to stop in at the "Virginia Techniques" gymnastics school in Christiansburg for their grand opening- Emma had a blast playing on the equipment and seeing all the kids there- it was a huge crowd! Emma had a big grin on her face just about the whole time! We were probably there for about 45 minutes when they cleared the floor for a demonstration- the girls were really good and we were impressed, but Emma didn't find watching as much fun as doing... it was a lot of fun overall, and we really think that Emma will have fun in some tumbling classes.

Emma Kate has been so extra-affectionate lately, giving lots of kisses out and hugs with her arms tight around our necks, it is soooo sweet! She's also starting to say more words, like high, orange, please, and a few others I can't think of right now... Still she wants to grunt a lot instead of opening her mouth, but it's exciting when she uses one of her "words" instead!

We're going to have to try to take more "internet safe" pool pictures to post- I went and reviewed all the ones I had previously taken and found them a little too risque to post... surely there will be plenty of backyard pool-time left in the summer to get some good pictures! :)

The big day!!

So today was the day we traveled down to Wake Forest to have Emma Kate evaluated by the pediatric ENT doctor. We got off to an early start to the day and even had time to let her play in her pool before we had to go! We stopped midway down at a county park to have lunch and let Emma play and had a nice time there. We finished off the trip with Emma falling asleep for her nap just in time to have a halfway decent amount of sleep! Got to the hospital with no problem and signed in. We did have to wait about 30 minutes after our appointment time, but once we got in, the doctor was very patient, thorough, and took his time with us. It was a really good experience, all things considered!

After getting a complete history on Emma and watching the two videos we had taken of her at her noisiest breathing times, Dr. Kirse examined the xrays we brought. He was quite happy with them (we had been led to believe that they supported the idea of a narrowed airway... hmmmm) and said that if he were presenting these images to his residents, he would say they were a good example of a normal airway! We decided to go ahead and allow him to examine her internally with the tiny scope like before, so he could see it with his own eyes and give his impressions. Certainly not pleasant, but again, Emma seemed to get over it within 5 or 10 mintues, and this time the scope was hooked up to a video monitor so we could see it, and it could be recorded for future reference. He felt like there was no significant evidence of subglottic stenosis, but did mention one area that looked "beefier" that it should look in a normal patient. Because of the limitations of the exam with Emma awake, this was about all we could get. He felt like there were 2 options for us at this point- either continue to monitor her and see if she grows out of it, or go ahead and pursue a more definitive diagnosis by anesthetizing her and examining her with the rigid scope to allow for better, more thorough identification. The latter is unlikely to do anything for us other than give us more information- he felt strongly that there's nothing there that would possibly require further attention like surgery, and really didn't push us in one direction or the other. This was all very reassuring! He feels that she does not have evidence of significant enough airway compromise that it could be affecting her growth, and we jointly decided to discontinue the Prevacid (yeah!!!!!), as it really hasn't changed anything.

After spending an hour with us, he assured us that we didn't have to make a decision right away, and that he would always be there if we were ever concerned about her and wanted to get her checked again or wanted to pursue further diagnostics. I was really impressed by his sincerity! We got home in time to get Emma a good bath and off to bed at a decent hour, which is a relief!

So anyhow, now fun stuff- Mommy and Emma Kate spent the weekend with Mimi and PopPop, as Mommy had a baby shower to go to back home. We had a nice, relaxing time, and a ton of fun at the shower! Emma got to play with Manning, a little boy just a couple months younger than her, and they did really well together! It was great to see her adjust to the environment so quickly. I left my camera behind, so I don't have much in the way of pictures yet, but hopefully will get more emailed to me soon! :) In the mean time, here are some recent pictures from home and the weekend:

Mommy and Emma Kate on Mimi's porch swing

Ripe, sweet grapes don't last long when this girl's around! At least not the ones lower down...

Mimi and Emma Kate on the swings
Emma Kate sharing her lounge swing with her dolly... I think she might have food in her mouth??
Man, these are all mixed up! Mommy with Emma Kate in the swing...
Emma Kate going down the slide! She did it all by herself with Mommy just catching her at the end! :)
More pictures to come soon!!

Beach bums

So we have just gotten back from our July trip to the beach- we had a wonderful time, and awesome weather! We spent just about every day out on the sound and Emma warmed up to it from the get-go! No more fear of the sand- she'll go anywhere in it now, thank goodness! :) Although it was nice to have her sort of confined to the blanket last time- not as much chasing around! She was willing to walk right into the water (I'm assuming because we've been to pools recently that have beach-entry too) and by the end of the trip, she would even walk in the water above her waist!

The first day out on the beach, she plopped herself right down at the edge of the water with Daddy and played in the sand

Hanging out in Mimi's bed, ready to head to the beach!
More playing in the sand/water- she was getting water in her toys...
and dumping it into the big puddle Daddy had dammed up for her
There was the perfect spot for footprints in the picnic shelter, such cute tiny little prints!
Grabbing a bite to eat on the beach- we were cutting off small pieces of apple for Emma to eat, but she wanted to eat it like a big girl!
Getting in the water with Mommy, it took her a little while to warm up to the idea, she mostly wanted to get back out in the sand and on the playground!!
Looking for boats out in the sound
Hey, Emma, where's Mommy's big fat belly button?
Just in case you missed it, show us again!
Emma was walking around with Daddy while Mommy rested on the beach. Mommy heard a loud *CRACK* and figured someone stepped on a branch and it broke. Then Emma started crying... turns out that crack was a hickory nut that just happened to fall and hit Emma right in the head!!! What are the chances?!?! She brought it back and demonstrated for Mommy once she got over it... we figure it was probably a jealous squirrel trying to do her in so he could steal her lunch... Where did it hit you???
And show us what it was!
Towards the end of the week, we were finally able to find a floaty toy similar to the one she had last year- once it was blown up, she actually would "request" that we all go in the water! We could hang out in the water for probably 30 minutes or so before she was ready to go back in. It was so much fun, she loved it!!

We did make one visit to the actual coast for a walk on the beach (there were lots of jelly fish washed up on the beach- no thanks!!) and Emma walked an amazingly long way on her own!

On the beach with Mimi
One of Emma's favorite past times- playing with paper... She found the stack of newspaper and was "sorting" through it when Mimi decided to make her a fabulous new hat!!
All the "kids" and their better halves... I just don't understand- how is it that we're all at the beach in the wind and the heat, and I'm the only one with a funky hairdo???

Having fun with Emma on the way home, trying to keep her entertained for the long trip- she was actually getting my sunglasses on the right way, then throwing her head back and grinning, it was so cute, but of course as soon as the camera came out, she wouldn't do it right any more, this was the best I could get!

Our sweet little girl- thankfully the trip home was good and seemed unusually short... we got home safely, and Emma was soooo happy to see all the animals and give them hundreds of kisses that were all very well-received!!!