10 Months

I am cheating and posting this one day early, but didn't know if it would fit in our schedule tomorrow night to get it posted.
Some 10 month stats on Emma
*You now have 4 teeth on the bottom, 1 that has broke through on the top, and 1 that is about to break through on the top.
*You continue with the baby food protest. You think baby food is for babies and you don't fit that category anymore. You are all about big people food. A few of your favorite things are cherries, pears, bananas, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, yogurt, pasta, toast, and oatmeal. You will pretty much eat anything that we are eating though.
*You have picked up the pace on your crawling. You quickly can get from one area to the other before we know it. We are thinking that it is about time to put the baby gates up to keep you in one area. You will push toys and the laundry basket around to walk behind them as well as walk along the furniture. We worry about the day you walk because you will be gone.
*Even though you have lots and lots of toys your favorite two things are the VCR and the DVDs. You can bet if you walked in our house on any given night you would find DVDs strung out on the floor.
*When someone tells you no firmly you stick out your lips and let out big tears.
*You can say Mama, Dada, and we think Doggie. You make a lot of other babbling noises and get really loud when you want someones attention. You seem to really like to be loud and "sing" in church.
*Your sister is still one of your favorite people. Each Friday when she walks through the door your face lights up. You constantly crawl to her and whatever she is doing. Sometimes she gets frustrated, but she loves you dearly.
*You are a constant reminder to all of us that miracles do happen every day. Each time you get one more month older we think about the start you had.
*We will know a more acurate weight after you go for your RSV shot on Friday. You have a check-up with Dr. Kane(peds surgeon) on February 11th. We are hoping that the x-ray shows that everything is where it needs to be and that your little lung looks great.
Emma 1 month

Emma 10 months

The funny ones. It sure is getting awfully hard to get a bear picture done of Emma these days. She is all over the place and the bear when you try and get a picture now. We all suffer through it for the memories.

What a Great Week!!!

We had a wonderful week around the Mazingo house thanks to Snow Days on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The only problem is we have now used all our built in days and must make up any more that we miss and it is only the end of January. The snow days were nice to be able to spend extra time with Emma. We spent the first snow day being really lazy. Actually all three of us took a 3 hour nap! The best part of these snow days were that we knew we didn't have school the night before. The other two days were a bit more productive. I took care of some stuff around the house and Jason worked on some stuff for student teaching.
Friday night Emma and I stayed at my parents house so Jason could get a nice night of sleep for his test Saturday morning. On Saturday Emma stayed with Pop Pop and Mom and I headed to C-Ville to do some shopping. I had Toys R Us Rewards money I had earned from Christmas so I cashed in on a gift for Cloey. They had all their clearance clothes marked down an additional 40% off. I was able to get Emma a ton of stuff for next Fall/Winter and a few things for now for great prices. We then headed to Sam's to pick up a big girl carseat for Emma. She still needs to be rear facing, but the carrier is getting heavy and awkward when we are out and about. We got a great deal on the one we had our eye on and had researched. She has to rear face until one year and 20 pounds, but with Emma it will probably be past a year because the 20 pounds might be hard to hit. The new seat takes up a bit more room, but she seems to like that she can see more out the window. We finished up at Old Navy where they had clearance items marked an additional 30% off. I got some great deals - one shirt ended up being 67 cents. We then headed back to Mom and Dad's neck of the woods and hit up K-Mart(again a bunch of great clearance deals) and the Cheap Grocery Store - my favorite store. It was then time to head home for the night.
Today we went to church, installed the new carseat, cleaned out cars, and a trip to Wal-Mart. After all that we came home and did some serious cleaning of the house. Now it is getting time to gear up for the next week ahead of us and start all over. Cloey got her new glasses this week and hopefully we will be able to post a picture of them after next weekend. She is staying busy at school and doing a great job. We are looking forward to her coming this weekend. Breakfast for dinner is on the menu for Saturday night and maybe we will play some Uno Attack. One thing I know is that it will be a relaxing weekend spent at home.
Emma's new big girl carseat.

Emma's new coat. It was originally $34.50 at Old Navy and I ended up getting it for $6.00

Our little dare devil decided to climb into her shoe basket this morning before church. When she can start climbing up on higher things I think we are in for it.

Sunday Update

We had yet again a busy weekend that came and went way too fast. We spent Saturday morning lounging around until Jason had to take off to Roanoke for one of his teacher tests. While he was gone the girls played and actually played together. Later in the afternoon Cloey, Grammy and Pop Pop went to see Yogi Bear at the movies while Mommy and Emma took a nap. Emma has gotten up and stayed up from 3:15 to about 6:30 the past 2 days. Once they got home and Daddy got home we had a yummy dinner and enjoyed some Wipeout. After Grammy and Pop Pop left we had a Food Network Marathon - we caught up on Worst Cooks in America and Cupcake Wars.
This morning we got up and had our usual cinamon rolls and bacon for breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning hanging out and playing Wii. It was nice to relax and spending time as a family. Before we knew it it was time for Jason to head back with Cloey. I headed and dropped Emma off at my parents for the night so Mom can watch her tomorrow. I ran a few errands and picked up some yummy sushi for dinner for Jason and I.
Now it is time to continue on with yet another week. Jason heads into his 4th week of student teaching and on top of that he will be working on corrections to his 30 page paper to get that under his belt. I have a parent workshop I am holding tomorrow for my students who will transition to middle school in the Fall and meetings this week. Jason has another test on Saturday(yuck two Saturdays in a row) and I think Emma and I might stay at Mom and Dad's house Friday night so we know he gets a good nights rest. There is talks of a winter storm headed our way in the middle of the week. I think a snow day is well deserved and am hoping the storm actually comes our way this time - we haven't been very lucky for delays or closing this year. We hope everyone has a blessed and wonderful week.
Cloey and Emma playing Zhu Zhu pets. Cloey had all 15 or so of them going and Emma played as the Monster Baby who destructed everything in her path.

Emma wanting to share Cloey's snack. This is her new talent - she qucikly races over if you have food and wants to have a bite.

Cloey and Tucker

The baby food protest continues!

Daddy has another Mazingo girl with beautiful, big, blue eyes.

Just Like Big Sis

Now that Emma is on the move she always wants whatever anyone else has or into whatever anyone else is doing. This weekend she was very intent on getting into Cloey's art stuff. We would get here off of Cloey, put her on the other side of the room with her own toy, but before we knew it Emma would be right back at Cloey's side. While Cloey got somewhat frustrated, we all know deep down that she felt pretty special that her little sister loves her so much!

Blankey Blanks

Here is one of our most beloved treasures at our house. We had all of Emma's NICU sleepers that we had decided to save. We didn't plan on ever letting another one of our kids(if it ends up happening one day) use them, we just wanted to keep them for their memories. These sleepers were the "outfits" that gave us some normalcy in the NICU. These are the "outfits" that allowed for wires and IVs to still reach our baby, but allowed for her to be "normal" for us. The sleepers were special - ones that Aunt Sandy and Uncle Kurt had mailed Emma and ones that Grammy rushed out and bought after finding out she could actually wear them. A favorite one I had eyed at Target, but wanted to wait till I saw how big she was before we bought it.
So as you can see these sleepers meant a lot to us. We had also put aside the receiving blankets that were on Emma's bed the day she headed to surgery. These also happen to be the blankets that Cloey had picked out and gave to me at one of my showers. The fact they went to surgery and she laid on them when she got back and while she was fighting during those critical after surgery hours. There was also a shirt that Grammy and Pop Pop had bought for Emma's 1st Easter that says Special Delivery UVA Medical Center.
With all of these items we knew we didn't want to just put them in a box until Emma got older. Cue in my amazing seamstress of a Grandma. I talked to Grandma Swersky about what I envisioned with the sleepers and blankets and she put together a special blanket - which is now named Blankey Blanks at our house - for Emma. It is the blanket I wrap her in each night when Daddy or I rock her to sleep, it is a blanket we can see being her special lovey down the road, but most of all it is a blanket that lets us remember how far we have come. Each square is part of a sleeper and then the blankets are used around the edge. The back is in a turquoise fabric which is the color for CDH Awareness. I love this special blanket and the memories it has for us and the story it will tell Emma.

Not too much

Well there really has not been a lot going on in the Mazingo household lately. The lull of things going on right now has been a nice break for all of us. There have been a few items and I will do a quick update with them. No video or pictures this week so I will be sure to get some of both this week/weekend.
*Jason is already into his 3rd week of student teaching. Before we know it he will be ready for graduation in May. He has a test this Saturday and next Saturday that are required for his teacher licensure.
*It is getting ready to be "that time" of year for me. I will be busily working on lots of IEPs of my kiddos who will be moving on to the middle school during the month of February. With that date coming up quickly I have a lot to do in order to prepare for the meetings.
*Cloey had LOTS of snow/ice days last week. They ended up going late on Thursday and all day Friday. The sad thing is they have to make the days up now so some of the long weekends Jason was going to have her are back to regular weekends.
*Emma had PT and her therapist is amazed at how well she is doing. She told us that she never thought she would be crawling already and that Emma is a unique case. That being that Emma does things how and when she wants to do things.
*Emma's newest thing is to walk behind one of her walking toys. I tried to get video tonight, but at that point she only wanted to get right up in the camera. I will keep trying it is so cute to see her little self walking around.
We are looking forward to a Cloey weekend. Not really much on the schedule at this point. I am sure there will be some visiting with the grandparents and I may try and take her to see Yogi Bear if it is still on at the movies on Saturday afternoon while Jason is taking his test. They are calling for yucky weather tonight, but no luck for a snow day for us it is a teacher workday again tomorrow. Take care everyone and sorry it is a day late. Promises for pictures with the post over the weekend.

Updates

Here we go for my Sunday night blogging with a few updates around the Mazingo house.
*Jason's first week of student teaching went well. We all had to adjust our routine and pretty much have it down - well that was prior to the weekend.
*Emma did real well adjusting to the babysitter. She gets dropped of at 6:30 and could really care less when we leave. She is usually pretty happy to see us when we get there to pick her up. Like we did with Wendy(my babysitter growing up) Emma will do things there, but not here. Like eat instant oatmeal and drink from a cup. She has enjoyed playing with the other babies and eating big people food.
*Emma's audiology appointment went very well. As of right now there are not any hearing concerns. She will go back again in 6 months for another checkup.
*Emma went for her 9 month check up on Friday. She weighs in at 14 pounds 10.5 ounces which puts her in the 3rd percentile. She is 27.5 inches long - I forget what percentile that is and her head is 16.5. So as you can see she is our little peanut and will probably always be. Dr. Bob said he is very pleased with her progress and how she looks. We are concerned about one side of her rib cage, and will follow up the question with her surgeon in February.
*We had a great weekend with Cloey. She got to try out her new loft bed and loved it. She thinks it is so cool that "my playroom is under my bed now." We need to pick out a paint color next time and start painting it. We spent time with both sets of grandparents. A big breakfast at one and a yummy dinner with the other. We also threw in a birthday party for a friend's little girl who I am sure Emma will be running around with one day.
Well I better get off here and get us ready for tomorrow. Jason and I have Family Math Night until 7:30 or 8. They are calling for a winter storm to come in on Monday night and Tuesday so we will see if we get a snow day in there somewhere.

9 months

Well we are at 9 months now and it is hard to believe. Here are some updates on Emma at 9 months:
- Sleep is a bad word. She no longer feels that her bed is where she needs to sleep. When we finally do get her in her bed after rocking her, she will whine throughout the night.
- Bottles still aren't going well, but have been better since switching to a stage 3 nipple(less work for Emma).
- Emma continues to LOVE puffs - she may end up eating them forever. If she doesn't get her daily dose of puffs in she will quickly let you know. She doesn't have a favorite flavor because she loves them all.
- We are working on giving Emma table food along with her baby food. She now thinks whenever someone is eating that she needs what they are eating off their plate.
- She will start going to the babysitter 3 days a week on Monday and spend the other two days between the grandparents. Daddy starts student teaching on Monday and we are all in for a change.
- She has officially gained the nickname "TT" around here which can be translated to Tiny Trouble. She is crawling around quickly these days and destructs anything in her path. She also now walks along the edge of furniture and can easily pull herself up in her crib.
- Marking 9 months on New Year's Eve reminded us of a resolution we should have for 2011 that she taught us when she was so sick in the NICU. We all shouldn't look at life as the glass half full or half empty, rather be thankful that we have something in the glass at all.
Before we know it we will be gearing up for her 1st Birthday - CDH Awareness Day - and (hopefully it all works out - we are praying it will) Emma's 1st Annual 5K Run/Walk to promote awareness and raise money for CDH medical research.
**Her 9 month check up is on Friday and I will update her stats then.**
Emma at 1 month

Emma at 9 months

Bloopers just to remember how hard it is to get a picture with her bear these days.
Talking to the bear

Giving the bear a high-kick

Like everything right now(other than a bottle) the bear goes into Emma's mouth.