8 months

WOW!!! Emma is now 8 months old and it is hard to believe how fast our baby girl is growing up. These days things change with Emma from day to day and sometimes even hour to hour. We just love watching her change with these bear pictures and can't wait to see all 12 of them when all is said and done. This month she seemed scared of the bear and kept her arm bent so she wouldn't have to touch it. In the world of Emma the bottle is still a battle(she is fighting Daddy with all her guts as I type), she is still on stage 2 baby food and prefers the ones that are more of a watery cosistency, she did try big people food over Thanksgiving. Her speech therapist had suggested starting to give her little things her and there she had mashed potatoes - gagged, sweet potatoes- loved, corn casserole - liked, biscuit/roll - loved, and pumpkin pie - ABSOLUTELY LOVED. Now these were all VERY small amounts, but she enjoyed feeling like a big girl. She is still getting up on her knees and rocking, but still no crawling other than her mastered Army Low Crawl. She is becoming more "talkative" these days. We will be putting up the Christmas tree with Cloey this weekend so we will see what type of trouble she gets into with it up. While I am sure there are a ton of other things I could write about I am headed to check and how she is eating for her Daddy. She continues to be our miracle and blessing(along with her wonderful big sister) and we thank God every day that we have such wonderful girls to call our daughters.
1 month

8 months - if you look close you can see her bottom teeth

A couple of the not so good ones for a good laugh
This thing again?

Not touching it

At this point she had had it with the pictures

Thankful

This year it was hard to put into words how thankful I am. I look at Emma and realize every single day that I am thankful that she is alive. The night she was born I filled the birth certificate information out before we could leave the hospital to head to UVA. While I filled that out I couldn't quit playing over in over in my mind the simple fact that the doctors had said the situation was grim and that she might not live long at all. My baby was in such a fragile state, but after lots of ups and downs she fought through and lived!!!! If I had to say one thing I was thankful for this year it would be my baby girl our little fighter.
I am also very thankful for my family and friends who have offered a tremendous amount of support this year as we went through everything with Emma.

Thanksgiving Break in a Nutshell

First I would like to say that Thanksgiving Break went by entirely to fast, and second it was no fun being sick all break. I did make sure that even though I was sick I enjoyed my time off with family and friends.
*Tuesday - Had a great inservice at work. That night throat started feeling scratchy.
*Wednesday - We had to take Emma for a newborn blood screening today. To make a long story short it should have been done 8 weeks after her blood transfusion(so in June), but there was some miscommunication somewhere in Emma's fill and it didn't get done. Daddy and I were not pleased with the people taking the blood, but hopefully everything turns out just fine. After the screening we met up with Dad for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. We had a yummy lunch and enjoyed visiting with Dad. We made a quick stop at the cheap grocery store and then headed home. That evening we went and had dinner with Jason's parents. My throat got worse!!!
*Thursday - Got up and still wasn't feeling 100%. Jason, Emma, and I watched the Thanksgiving Day parade and then headed over to have dinner with some great friends. After dinner we headed up to Mom and Dad's house to spend the night. Once I got there I went through the Black Friday ads to check out what was on sale. Mom and I took a quick nap. Emma came down with her first cold and was miserable. Poor thing didn't know what to do with herself and scared Mommy since she was sick. I continued to feel worse.
*Friday - Mom and I headed out to Black Friday shop at midnight and returned home at 7am. I scored a lot of great deals and Mom and I had fun being out and about shopping. Slept for a bit when we got home, Dad made some pancakes and bacon, and then we headed home. The rest of the day was spent resting and trying to feel better. Emma started feeling better by the evening - Mommy was still down for the count.
*Saturday - We got up and around to have Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad's with Jason's parents and our good friends. We enjoyed a yummy dinner and great time with family and friends. Emma was to nosy to fall asleep and was so miserable. We decided to head home knowing she would sleep in the car. She now felt better just tired, but Mommy felt the worse she has all week.
*Sunday - Nobody slept well between sore throats and runny noses. Jason came down with the nasty crud in the middle of the night. After the restless night we all woke up around 10am. We did some house work and then relaxed a bit. Mom and Dad came down to pick Emma up to stay the night with them and brought dinner. Jason and I still feel miserable, but are hoping at 10pm when we take our second round of NyQuil that it knocks us out.
While I felt miserable the whole break it was so wonderful to have extra time with both Emma and Jason. We also spent a lot of time with our family and good friends.

Finally Field Hockey Pictures

I finally was able to upload the pictures from Angela's field hockey game when MSU played UVA. Enjoy!!!
Cloey and Angela in their MSU field hockey jerseys. On the way home Cloey asked if she could get this picture framed and keep it by her bed. She just adores Angela and we are thankful for how special Angela makes her feel when she is around Cloey.

The Mazingo Family in our MSU gear

Angela is number 17

My Dollie and Me

One of Cloey's birthday presents was a matching outfit for her and Kit. She just loves to dress up like Kit. She was very excited that she got a leggings set for her and kit since she is obsessed with leggings right now.
She actually has been saving money up and ordered another American Girl Doll last night. This time she picked out the You American Girl Doll. She is excited to have a friend for Kit in which she has named Cloey. This American Girl Doll can also be brought to life on the computer. She has now decided that she will be saving up again for our trip to the American Girl Store this summer.
Cloey and Kit

Cloey wanted to take a picture of Emma and Kit together. She was afraid Emma would feel left out.

Sisterly Love

These pictures just capture what love and affection Cloey and Emma have for each other. Although they are nearly 8 years apart their love for each other is present all the time. Cloey just loves being a big sister and frequently acts as a "little mommy". Today she picked Emma up and consoled her when she was upset about playing on the floor. These two girls are our pride and joy and they know that we love them to the moon and back - forever and ever!
We just love how happy they are together.

Too Cute!!!

Emma finding Cloey funny

Emma's favorite thing to do - pulling Sissy's hair.

Turning 8

I continue to be behind in posts, but Emma is headed to stay the night with my parents and Jason is on his way back from dropping Cloey of in NC so I am going to catch up now.
Last Saturday afternoon we had Cloey's 8th birthday party. Her actually birthday is the beginning of December, but with all the Christmas hustle and bustle it made it easier to celebrate earlier. This year Cloey decided on a Sponge Bob Theme for her party. We had family and some close friends attend the party and tried to keep it pretty low key. Cloey got some great gifts and some money to add to her American Girl Doll Fund(which she actually ordered last night). It was nice to spend time with family and friends to celebrate such a wonderful little girl. On a side note you can see how much Cloey loves and adores Angela the jersey she is wearing in all the pictures is Angela's field hockey jersey. Cloey had worn it to the game and did not want to take it off.
The birthday girl and her cake

Opening Gifts

Make a Wish!!!

Busy Weekend

I know I am way behind in blogging when I brother starts asking when I am going to update the blog. We have been very busy people and I will give you a brief run down of our lives lately followed by a couple of separate posts. Best of all there will be lots of PICTURES!
*Friday - Jason headed to NC to pick up Cloey for the weekend, I had a cake walk at school, Grammy, Pop Pop, and Grandma Swersky watched Emma till I got home. We were so excited that Grandma Swersky was in for the weekend. It was great to see her and catch up with her.
*Saturday(the day that we were on the go, go, go) - We woke up early and headed to Angela's(my brothers girlfriend) field hockey game. It happened to be that Michigan State was playing the University of Virginia and with it being so close we were able to go. Cloey thinks the world of Angela and was excited to watch her play(we have only been able to watch her on tv up until this point). She wore her number 17 MSU jersey proud and was cheering her on the whole time. Sadly MSU lost, but it was still great to watch her last game. My mom got a great picture of them together and I will have to upload it and post it.
Next stop for the Mazingo family was rushing back home to get ready for Cloey's 8th birthday party. We decided to have her party early this year to avoid all the Christmas commitments people have in December which cause party problems. More on the party in a separate post.
Post party we headed to bed early because by this time we were beat.
*Sunday - It has become a tradition on Cloey weekends to have cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast on Sundays. We had a yummy breakfast, Cloey played with some of her new presents, Grammy and Grandma Swersky came down for a bit and then it was time for Jason to head back to drop Cloey off in NC. Emma and I headed back to Grammy and Pop Pop's house to spend more time with Grandma Swersky and be closer for the appointment at UVA on Monday morning.
*Monday - Emma had her follow up Neonatal appointment at Kluge. The appointment was short and we are thinking it is because Emma is already receiving speech and physical therapy right now. The doctor said she had some low tone in her legs and he wants to see her back in March to check her low tone and feeding issues out. Hopefully after that we will no longer be going back there and that will be one less follow up visit.
*This week has flown by I have been busy at work and Jason has been busy working on finishing his 30 page paper. Cloey is coming again this weekend and we are planning on laying low. It seems like a great weekend to hang out at home watch a movie and pop some popcorn.

Weekly Updates

I am starting to see that blogging during the school year usually amounts to just a weekly update on Sundays. With that in mind here is the update for this week.
*We have been busy worrying and visiting with Jason's dad this past week. He was admitted to UVA with bloodclots that were in a very large amount in both his legs. The doctors commented that he was lucky to even be alive with as many clots as he had in his legs. He undwent 3 procedure which were all very long and has another one in the morning. We are hoping after tomorrow he will be able to head home shortly thereafter. Please keep him in your prayers!
*Emma is OBSESSED with puffs(which are like a small piece of cereal that easily disolve). If she runs out of them on her tray she will bang on it till she gets more. We also have to make sure the container is put away when she eats her solids or she just bangs and tries to reach for the container. We are trying to explain to her that puffs can't be a staple part of her diet.
*We are gearing up for Cloey's birthday party. We have decided to have it early this year to allow for different people to be able to attend. She has gone with a Spongebob theme and I decided to keep it very laid back and low key this year. It already feels 100 times less stressful already.
*I continue to be busy at work with meetings and teaching. Some days I get overwelmed with my job, but then the kids will make me realize how important I am in their lives. The field of special education is a challenge, but I can't imagine doing anything else.

Belly Laughs

Emma absolutely LOVES our dogs and these belly laughs are what we get from her everytime they are in her sight. You can't help but laugh when she finds the littlest thing as the dogs run by her so funny.