New Year, New Firsts, New Info

So here it is, New Year’s Eve 2012. Can you believe tomorrow will mark the start of 2013!?!? A big deal considering the Mayan calendar has ended completely (well, the original one anyway). Yes, I did have a fear that it meant something… I know, I’m silly. I took off work just in case. Hahaha.

So, as I look back at the last year, the only thing I see, of course, is Emma. No, I still cannot believe I had her. I.Had.A.Baby. Crazy! Best thing that I ever did.

Anyway, this post isn’t really about the year in a recap – mainly because if it was it would consist of a big blank spot for January 1 through July 11, and then it would begin on July 12^th starting with this:

My sweet baby girl.

I must go on… this post is for Emma’s recent firsts.

 I’m not nostalgic. I’m bad about remembering to fill in the blanks of Emma’s baby book. Heck, I even forget her little book of shots and stuff when we go to her doctor’s office. I need to get better at all of that. I’m going to blame it on the fact that I spend all of my time loving her that I just don’t have the time for anything else. J

So, here goes:

-          Emma’s first Christmas consisted of playing for over an hour with all of her new toys. She got a baby basketball hoop that teaches numbers 1-5, a push cart (or pull wagon for later years) that does all kinds of fun stuff, a little tv remote control that makes tons of noises, a frog that you pull on a string, one of those things at the doctor’s office that you push a wooden bauble down a metal loopy thing (omg, really?!?), a hammer peg set… okay, due to my headache and lack of sleep last night I can’t remember the rest. After play time we went and opened gifts at my Parents’ house, where Emma got more toys, then a trip to my Aunt’s house for family Christmas time, and then it was back home to play some more. Needless to say that Emma was wore out and slept all night (unlike last night, to throw that out there).

 -          Going backwards, Christmas Eve, Emma met Santa (who was a dear friend Tony Lococo) and his elves. As most of you already know, we don’t “do” Santa. It was the annual Lococo Christmas Party and all of the kiddos were gathering around Santa, and my Mom felt the need to include Emma. She even sat on his lap and tugged at his beard. Seeing her enjoy this time made me devise a plan of action for Santa that I think might allow her to enjoy the merriment without hindering the reason for the season. I plan on explaining to her that Santa is a fictional character from the get-go. He is a key figure in the Christmas season for media and economic purposes (like Valentine’s Day). He is fun, and we can take part in the fun, as long as we understand that he is not real and Jesus is. When it gets closer I can iron out more details and actually have a specific plan, but for now, that’s the gist. Getting her to not tell all the other kids will be the hardest part I think.

-          Christmas night Emma sat on her own. Not the leaning-forward-pushing-out-vomit sitting up like she had done before, but the sitting-straight-up-playing-with-toys kind of sitting up. It was so magical! It lasted for about 5 minutes, and then she fell to her side (I caught her of course). She sits all the time now, but with Momma’s legs to the side of her in case she goes either way. Only one time did she topple forward onto her face… my bad. She has always been so independent that it doesn’t surprise me that she insists on sitting on her own. She’s even walked across the room while holding onto our fingers before, but it was very wobbly so I don’t count it as the real thing.

-          Emma got her first cold this month. The first day was December 17^th. I asked Gene if he wanted to take her in to see the doctor on the 18^th and he said that she seemed better so we didn’t. Well, the night of the 18^th was a rough one! She couldn’t breathe. I ended up sleeping on the couch with her so that she could be reclined to breathe. I called the doctor the next morning and they said that there was no reason to bring her in if it was just a cold (which I knew that much), and their suggestion was this: Nose sucker for snot, q-tips to get boogies, humidifier NEXT to bed at night and saline drops/spray (fyi- we use a holistic doctor… meaning no meds unless absolutely necessary, so no Vicks). Well, Emma didn’t seem to like any of it except the humidifier, which I don’t even think it helped. On day 9 of her cold I called again and they said the same thing. They said that if she went past 14 days that we need to bring her in. Well low and behold day 14 was her last! She still sneezes and coughs off and on, but stuffy and runny nose is gone! Oh, did I mention that I caught her cold too? I was able to shake mine at 11 days. My first cold in YEARS! And let me tell you, catching a cold from a baby is the worst cold to catch! They seem to last forever.

-          Emma will have her first tooth at any moment! On Christmas morning we woke to a little tooth corner sticking through Em’s gums. By the next day it was gone because her gums swelled up from her teeth pushing through, but there’s now a nasty looking spot where it’s going to push through any second. I tried to take a picture, but in the photo it just looks like normal gums. Weird. She seems to be handling it all pretty well too! She gnaws on everything right now, and drools a lot! Occasionally she will bite down and it will hurt a bit so she makes a face like she ate a bug or something. Lol. And the stuff that she likes to chew on is nothing that was made for chewing on. Lol. So much for teething rings and keys. Maybe those come into play later.

-          Emma’s first party was a Christmas party on the 22^nd with quite a few people on my Dad’s side of the family. We met at Helen Fitzgerald’s in South County for dinner and then did a “rob your neighbor” type game and had fun afterwards. Emma got passed around like crazy. She slept good that night. J

-          Emma’s first cake icing was on Christmas morning. As usual we did the birthday cake for Jesus. Well my Dad, being the nutcase he is, says we all have to eat some since it’s Jesus’ cake and it therefore is a blessing to eat it. Then he says Emma has to have some. I was not for that at all! I gave in though and gave her the teeniest, tiniest bit of icing. She probably couldn’t even taste it. But, it pleased my Dad. *He just goes nuts with things. He didn’t want her to sit on Santa’s lap because then she wouldn’t be a blessed baby. Ugh. I get annoyed with all of that crap. I better not get started though. I’m sure that Emma will love Jesus (and God of course) just as much as her Momma does. I hope she confides in them growing up just as I did, and still do.

-          Lastly, Emma’s first boo-boo came on December 30^th. She was playing in her jumperoo. She had some close calls before with it, but we raised it up a bit so she wasn’t able to lean over as far anymore. Well, I had put her in there and she started playing away. I went and made hot chocolate, sat down to take my first sip, and then a horrible scream started. I ran over right away knowing what happened and picked her up but I couldn’t see where she was hurt. I tried to check her eyes but she was just crying and crying. I held her and kissed her and kept looking her over, but nothing, and she wouldn’t calm down. After what felt like an hour (probably one minute in reality) the scream went to just a cry and her face wasn’t so red anymore. Once the flush started to fade I saw this spot right next to her left eye. It was quickly swelling. I gave that spot tons of kisses and grabbed her frozen teething keys to put ice on it. After about 5 whole minutes I got her to take the binky. Then she laid in my arms for almost ten minutes breathing heavy and staring into the distance. She was traumatized! I cried. My poor baby girl got hurt. Her Daddy came home and I told him what happened. He gave her some kisses and then took her to eat dinner in the kitchen (I was scarred a bit from the whole thing I think). She sat in her chair and babbled on and on and on to him. I think she was telling him what happened. It wasn’t like her normal talk either… it was like traumatized talk. The knot next to her eye was still there this morning. L I hope that is the worst injury she will ever have because even something so small is heart-breaking.

I’m sure I’m missing lots of firsts. Like her first glitter in the eye, rolling back to belly, and first boogie sucked, lol.

So, this January 12^th makes a 6 month old Emma. She will have her next check-up and round of shots on the 14^th. Yes, we are doing shots. Having a holistic doctor does not mean that they don’t care about vaccinations.

I can’t remember if I’ve discussed vaccinations on here before. Gene and I don’t have serious conversations much. We give our opinions on things and then argue our side if they don’t match. We never have an educated debate about anything. It works for us as we think alike. When it came to vaccinations we both agreed to get Emma her shots.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the whole shots thing terrifies me. Gene has never raised any concerns with it, but this whole autism thing creeps me out… not autism itself, but how a shot could be the culprit. I’ve read tons of articles that argue both sides, and honestly, they both seem correct! I mean, there is science proving both! Go figure. Then I read something from Benjamin Franklin…

In 1736, I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the smallpox…I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it, my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.

So, from that moment on I decided that if I didn’t get her vaccinated, and something did happen, I would never forgive myself. So, I’m choosing the path that was recommended to me by her doctor. I find him to be a very wise man, and he works side-by-side with my pediatrician who I saw from birth to 18. I am putting my trust in them.

Dr. Murphy did explain to me that while there is no smallpox right now, it doesn’t mean it will not return. Fewer and fewer people get vaccinated each year. Once the amount vaccinated gets lower than 80% we are at a higher risk of putting a disease out there in full force.

On that note though, Gene and I don’t get flu shots and might not ever allow Emma to get them. I guess it’s contradicting, huh? We have mixed emotions about flu shots. We might change our tunes though once we get the flu. L

Have you seen the movie Contagion? If you haven’t, add it to your rental list!

Okay, that’s all I have for now. Until another day. J

Jenni