An Emma Grace Update...

Timmy and Emma before church

2 weeks out from surgery

I haven't updated in awhile. Things have been so busy around here! Emma is doing well. Her lip is healing nicely, although we had a few hiccups to deal with in the last few weeks. She had her surgery on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Everything was looking great and 2 days out from surgery she didn't need pain medicine anymore. Wednesday I went back to work and my mom watched her. At some point during the day, the stitches in Emma's nose popped out, so now we are back to a flat nostril. I wasn't that upset about it because the big issue is the lip... as long as that stayed together, I was fine. Then, Thursday night I was putting laundry away and Rick was on kid duty. I hear a thud and screams and I knew it was Emma. Rick immediately tells me that she hit her head, but her lip is fine. He brings her into the room and she has a mouth full of blood. My response (while yelling...) was "YES SHE DID HIT HER LIP!!!!" I was so upset. Just above her lip split open a little bit and was bleeding and the bottom of her lip (the part the rests on the bottom lip) was bleeding and appeared to be split. We called the doctor, which was stupid because he couldn't do anything. He told us to bring her in the next day, so we did just that. He looked at her on Friday and basically told us not to worry. He is doing her palate in March and he said that if he needed to clean it up a little then, he would. He also said that he almost always has to adjust the lip a year later, so that one way or another it would be fine. So, for now we let it heal. The docs comment to me, "Don't worry, we make faces look better here." HAHA! Now that the scab is gone it doesn't look as bad. It will not heal in that perfect line that was there before the accident, but I guess we can't complain. We have been putting vitamin E oil on it to help with the healing/scarring.

We had another scary incident happen with our little Emma, and it was before the lip accident. On Monday I noticed that she was wheezing while she was breathing. I didn't think anything of it, but I kept wondering if I should take her to the doctor to have them look at her. By late afternoon it got worse and by the time I put her in the bath that night, she was almost squeaking while breathing. When I took her clothes off I noticed that her chest was going up and down really hard and fast and I knew that wasn't normal- she was working way too hard to breathe. She has a repaired VSD (heart condition) and I was worried that it could be something with her heart. Rick got home from work and agreed that we needed to do something. I called our pediatrician and she could hear her breathing over the phone and told us to take her to Kosair (children's hospital). Rick took her and I stayed home with the other kids. They had to give her 2 breathing treatments and suck her lungs out and finally let her go home. They feel that it could be asthma, but said she is too young to diagnose asthma. We now have the breathing treatments at home if that ever happens again. Poor little girl- she had a rough week!!!

Emma Grace is adjusting so well with us. It feels like she has been here forever! The first few weeks she was beat up pretty badly by Timmy, who would smack her in the face and take her toys. Well, the joke is now on Timmy because she learns things fast. Now she is the one doing the smacking and taking the toys. She is so rotten. She takes things from him and then holds it in front of his face to tease him. When he reaches for it, she yanks it away before he can get it. It is her new favorite game.

Here are some things to mention about Emma:

*She can throw a ball harder than any toddler I have ever met... it is fast and hard, so look out if you are in her path. She will play fast pitch softball, I am certain of it.

*She will give her baby kisses

*She loves to eat food and drink her bottle.

*She can do "SO BIG" (raises her hands in the air) when we say "how big is Emma?"

*If we say "where is Emma?" she covers her eyes to play peek-a-boo

*She responds to her name Emma just about all the time

* She is so observant and picks up on things SO FAST!

*When she sees us in the morning or when we get home from work, she starts bouncing up and down and claps her hands

*She hates wearing bows in her hair

*She has 3 brothers that love her dearly!

*She pulls up on toys and the couch ALL THE TIME with very little effort (woohoo- big improvement in her one month home!)

*We have a firetruck toddler bed and she can actually climb into the bed! (this is how the lip boo-boo happened, she fell out of the bed after she climbed in it)

*She was evaluated this week and will begin physical and occupational therapy in the next few weeks. She will receive speech therapy after her palate is repaired in March.

We are completely in love with this little girl!