Thanksgiving

We stayed around town for Thanksgiving and had a nice relaxing day. I actually just made a pot of chili for the three of us. We wanted something quick & easy. We got a few things done around the house and then left on Friday afternoon to celebrate Christmas/Thanksgiving with Brad's grandparents in St. James, MN. They are leaving for Arizona in a week and will be there until next spring.

We played games and ate until our bellies couldn't hold anymore food this weekend.

I didn't do any of the Black Friday shopping this year. I dislike crowds and long lines so decided to skip it this year.

We put up our Christmas Tree last night. We started hanging bulbs and then Emmy reached inside the box and grabbed a bulb and placed it on the tree and then ran back to the box and grabbed another bulb. She's was a little helper! It was so darn cute!

No More Zofran

Last week my doctor said that I should be weaning myself off of the morning sickness medication. Up until last week I had been taking one pill every other day. The bottle says to take one pill three times a day. I have never taken three in one day.

This week I've been trying to quit taking them all together. I haven't had one for three days now. I didn't feel so hot this morning and ended up running to the bathroom. I hate getting sick. I still have not taken one and I feel like I'm hungover. Hopefully I can be strong & get through the rest of the day without taking anything.

Zofran is used to prevent nausea and vomiting that may be caused by surgery or by medicine to treat cancer (chemotherapy or radiation).

Zofran was tested 10 years ago on pregnant women and they found that it helped with severe cases of morning sickness.

New Kid On The Blog

Yesterday was my ultrasound appointment downtown Minneapolis. It was really neat to finally see our little peanut. This baby sure is a mover...wow! It kept moving and moving and moving. However, the ultrasound technician seemed to get all of her scans despite how much of a mover we have. She was really great at pointing out all of the body parts & organs. We got to see the baby yawn and actually watched it swallowing the amniotic fluid. That was really cool! It's amazing how much you can see on the screen...all the organs and body parts are there and it's a tiny little baby formed right in front of you. Right now I'm 20 weeks and the baby is probably only 1 lb and roughly 10 inches long.

We decided not to find out the sex of the baby. We thought that when we got in the ultrasound room we might change our minds...but I just want to have that moment at the end when it comes out. There is no other experience like it.

I am generally a planner, but this is one moment in life that cannot be replaced. Plus, we have a bunch of neutral things from when Emmy was born so we should be just fine.

Wow!!!

Emmy's new word is "Wow!" She really tries to copy everything that we do right now. Yesterday, Brad's parents came to our place for a visit. Emmy loves to play music so her and grandma were dancing in the kitchen. Grandma was moving her feet and Emmy was trying to copy her...it was pretty cute.

When we say "Fast Feet," Emmy will move her feet really fast and she has learned to be quite the jumper already!

Lately Emmy has been waking up during the night. She screams pretty loud like something really bad happened. When we go get her, she hugs us really tight and doesn't want to let go. I'm not sure if she had a nightmare or what is going on?? She had us up at 5:00 this morning. Someone put about $2 worth in her this morning. She was ready to play.

She loves to go bye bye. She runs to get her coat and shoes and thinks we are going outside all the time.

She is experiencing major frustration when a toy gets stuck and she can't get it out.

She knows how to point to her nose, eyes, ears & belly button when we ask her. She loves to tease daddy by poking her belly button. Daddy hates belly buttons!

New Living

We finally received our new furniture and it looks really, really nice!! It really filled the main living room in completely. We got a couch, love seat, comfy chair & ottoman, and a few tables. That night when I got home from work, Brad was itching to go get a new tv. He wanted a flat screen to go on the wall. I told him that we could go look at them, but we weren't going to buy anything. He actually listened for once. I told him to wait until the day after Thanksgiving because there would be tons of sales on tvs.

Well, I couldn't hold him off any longer when he found the Target flyer from the Sunday paper. He's been searching all of the electronic stores in our neighborhood. He went to Best Buy, Ultimate Electronics & Target and found a 42" that he liked at Target. We got it home and he set it up, but didn't like the sound coming out of the speakers. Also, he found out that his coworker can get a discount because his wife is employed by Target Corp. Brad's coworker came over last night, they packed up the tv, brought it back to Target, and got a different one with a discount. This tv is a 40" Sony. It's better and with the discount, was about the same price as the other one. It was discounted $150 & then he got another employee discount on top of that. What a nice friend to give us his discount!

The tv looks nice but Brad still has a little work to do to get it up on the wall. Please pray that my husband doesn't knock the whole wall down during this project!

I Am Lion, Hear Me Roar!!!

Last weekend we went back to Monte to take in the Halloween festivities around town. My mom was hosting a Halloween party for the little kids at the American Legion. The ladies put on a nice party for the kids and had fun games & prizes for all ages. Emmy wasn't quite sure what was going on, but loved to see all the kids running around.

We dressed Emmy up as a lion and she was in character making her loud roar sound all day long.

After the Legion party we scooted across the highway to Luther Haven to visit the folks at the nursing home. We visited with a few people and Emmy filled up her bucket with candy real fast. She doesn't even know about it yet. I'm actually hiding it from her because I know she will get into it if it's left out. She loves chocolate.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Emmy has an ear infection. Well, on Saturday morning as I was grabbing something out of the diaper bag, I noticed that Emmy's whole bottle of medication had leaked out into the bag. I called her clinic in Minneapolis right away to have them send in a refill to the Wal-Mart pharmacy in Monte. When we went up to get the prescription, we were told that our insurance company would not give us the refill due to loss, damaged or spilled medication and the fact that it was too soon of a refill. This makes me so mad. Ugh!! We ended up going back to my mom's house and tried to get enough of the medication out of the bottle to give her one more dose until we could get back to Minneapolis and get her a new prescription. The pharmacist at Wal-Mart suggested that we take her to urgent care in the cities the next day (Sunday). I ended up giving her Dimatap which was recommended by a nurse friend of mine. I called Emmy's doctor on Monday morning and told them the situation. They gave us a totally different prescription, Augmentin...which last time Emmy got really sick on. However, she seems to be doing well this time. She will be on Augmentin for another 10 days. By then, I will take her back in to the clinic to get her ears rechecked.

Teva Marie

I would need volumes to describe the joys of the 15 years with Teva.

I brought her home during my first year of college in St. Cloud. I lived by myself at the time and wanted a cat so I answered an ad for a free cat at Petco. I went to pick up this petite, gentle grey & white tabby at an apartment in St. Cloud and learned from the lady that she was giving Teva away because her brother, the owner, was abusing the cat. She wanted to give the cat a better life and give her to a family that would take care of her and give her the life that she deserved. Teva was full grown when I got her and I was never really told what her age was. I just assumed that she was around a year old.

She was the most loveable cat & cuddled with me every night. She loved every chance to scoot outdoors and wander the neighborhood.

When we moved to our new house in Maple Grove, she didn't get to go outdoors as much because we let her outside one day and she got lost. She was gone for one month. Brad and I went out several days/nights to search for her and placed flyers in the neighborhood. After receiving several calls from the same area, we went out at midnight and found her about a mile away from our house. It was a total miracle that we found her. She came running to me and jumped in my arms!!

Teva has gotten me though so many rough patches in my life. It sounds corny to say that a cat can get you through something, but she sure did. She was really like my own child at the time...she was my family, my best friend.

About four years ago, Brad and I were getting ready to go back to Montevideo for the weekend. We had an appointment to get our engagement pictures taken. Brad wanted to fluff up his shirt that he was going to wear for the pictures - so he threw it in the dryer not knowing that Teva was asleep inside. I was in the shower at the time and kept hearing this loud noise. I hurried in the shower, got dressed and ran out to see what the noise was. I opened the dryer door and Teva ran out. She was severly burned and had lost a lot of oxygen. We rushed her to the vet and the vet told us that it didn't look good. She mentioned that this is a common occurrence and that she has never seen a cat survive a dryer accident. About an hour later our phone rang and it was the vet telling us that Teva was doing well and eating out of her hand. We were shocked beyond belief.

She was alive but had kidney & liver damage. We had to give her medication and put cream on her ears and paws.

Through the next four years she saw the vet a few more times. The last few times the vet told us that Teva had a heart murmur and had hyperthyroidism. She was getting old and since I really didn't know her true age I just had to guess that she was around 15 years old. Her eyes were starting to get glossy and she stopped using her litter box.

I had to say goodbye to my dear friend Teva of 15 years. Last Friday was by far the hardest day of my life. It was hard to make the decision to end her life even though I knew that there was no hope. I arranged to pay the bill before going into the backroom with her. I didn't want to have to deal with finances afterward. The staff at TLC Cat Clinic were so amazing and caring.

I was right next to Teva telling her how much I loved her as they put her to sleep. She went limp and was gone within a few seconds. I stroked her lifeless body and whispered in her ear, told her how much I was going to miss her, and thanked her for the last 15 years.

My brother Scott made a box for her and we buried her at my grandma's farm.

I love & miss you Teva Marie! You were the best cat ever!!

15 Month Check Up

Brad took Emmy to her doctor appointment last week. She weighs 22 lbs & is 29 3/4". She remains in the 25-50% category and her head is 47.2 cm = 75-90%. She's a little top heavy. :)

We had the doctor check her ears again because we were noticing that Emmy was sticking her finger in her ears. Sure enough...a double ear infection. She had a cold two weeks ago so usually that leads to an ear infection. She is on Omnicef for 10 days.

She also got three shots, but hasn't received the H1N1 shot yet because it's not available to children yet.

These are some of the things that Emmy has learned and loves to do:

• Running & climbing up on everything.
• Scribbles with a crayon...although she loves to try and eat them as well.
• She is feeding herself with a spoon & fork.
• She loves to say ball and if we say kick the ball, she will kick it across the floor.
• Daddy taught her to whistle. She walks around the house and whistles all the time.
• She loves to jabber and loves to hear her voice echo in the garage or small rooms.
• Loves when daddy pushes the fire alarms.
• She points at everything and shakes her arms and says Wsat, wsat, wsat really fast.
• Tickle, Tickle, Tickle is one of her favorite things to say.
• The best thing to come home to is a little girl who runs into your arms, gives you a hug & pats your back...this just makes my day!
• She loves to repeat sounds & actions (i.e. fart/burp) to make us laugh.
• The tantrums have started and she will throw a fit & arch her back when she doesn't get her way.
• We have noticed that she has started organizing everything. She picks up things one by one and arranges them just so.
• She really likes to talk on the phone and calls grandpa Gort all the time.
• She imitates us and likes to wipe the table with a cloth.
• Stacking blocks are fun!