One Year Ago Today....part 2

Dear E,

One Year Ago Today

One year ago today you made your entrance into this world and changed Mommy and Daddy's lives completely in a totally wonderful way.  One year ago today I held you in my arms and you seemed so fragile and tiny, tonight when I rocked you to sleep (the first time) you seemed so strong and big and I know you will only get bigger and stronger as you continue to grow.

You are amazing, in just one short year you have learned to do so much, most of which is well documented on this blog.  And each day you teach us so much, you teach us joy, patience, sacrifice and love.

One year ago today you had a scary episode in the hospital where you choked on some phlegm, turned purple and stopped breathing for a few seconds and mommy didn't think she would ever sleep again out of fear.  Now, Mommy still checks to make sure you are breathing sometimes, and she is still waiting for you to sleep through the night.  But when I creep into your room to check on you and hear you breathing it soothes my soul.  It is Mommy's lullaby, the sound of your breath - yes, even when you are congested - snores never sounded quite so sweet.  And sometimes you still stop breathing for a few seconds and turn a little purple....usually because you are upset and screaming. Sometimes it's because you've fallen and gotten a little hurt or a lot scared, and sometimes it's because you are just so mad that Mommy or Daddy told you "no" or took away the object you weren't supposed to be playing with.  It still scares Mommy, but not as much as it did one year ago...and not enough to make Mommy change her mind about saying "no" or taking away the toy...you can keep trying though.

One year ago today you met your Auntie April and your Oma.  Today you were surrounded by friends and family all ready to share your special day with you.   And how you loved it!  You loved playing with your friends.  Your inflatable animals and your activity cube were a big hit with the other kids.

This is awesome!

One year ago today you ate your first breast milk  Today you had your first bottle of whole milk and you ate....everything in sight.  You loved being fed by all your aunts and uncles.  Despite just having had a bottle you wandered from person to person, pointing out which morsel of food you wanted from each person's plate and grinning happily when they gave it to you, or protesting indignantly if they didn't.  I'm fairly certain you ate half your weight in hot dogs, grapes, hamburgers, strawberries and watermelon.  You also loved eating,  smashing, and throwing your cake on the floor while everyone watched. Including your Auntie Krista in Baltimore and your Oma in California.  You had all 3 coasts tuning in for your birthday.  And you either didn't notice or didn't care that everyone else's cake looked different from yours. Mommy made you a cake with only fruit to sweeten it and apple juice cream cheese icing...but everyone else got frosted cupcakes and ice cream.  Soon enough you will learn the joys of real sugar but Mommy didn't want to have to peel you off the walls from a sugar high.

spoiled

One year ago today you received your first presents: flowers from the Conaways and from Grandma and Grandaddy.  Today  you were spoiled rotten by your friends and family (with more to come!).  You loved ripping up the paper off the gifts (mommy attributes this to your time spent practicing on any scrap of paper left on the floor).  You were very good about playing with each toy for a few moments before turning to the next present, with only mild coercion from Mommy.  And you seem to love all of your new toys and clothes.

spoiled rotten...but still cute

You especially liked it when your friend G played with your new toys, you chased him all over the house and once he put a toy down you pounced on it like a cat on a mouse.  You also gave both your new stuffed llama and rocking giraffe a very sweet hug as soon as you took them out of their respective bags, which melted everyone's heart.

So much awesome in
one little person...
and yes I'm bias

One year ago today you came into this world and changed Mommy and Daddy's lives forever.  Today we are so thankful for you and all the changes you have brought with you.

Here's to many more years of change, joy, patience, sacrifice and love. We love you E.  Happy 1st Birthday!

Love,

Mommy

One Year Ago Today....part 1

One year ago today I went to work at my school.
I was very tired, excited to be starting my maternity leave, disappointed you hadn't been born on the 12th, anxious about when you would be born, and nervous about leaving my students behind for a few months.

One year ago today in a town far away lots of other teachers went to school.  Lots of other kids too.

One year ago today I walked out of school early, missing out on professional development because I thought my water might be leaking, an exciting sign of your impending arrival.

One year ago today six teachers and 20 students never got to walk out of their school.

One year ago today I went to the hospital anxious and excited, figuring that they would send me back home.

One year ago today 28 people went to the hospital and never got to go home.

One year ago today I was informed that you were going to be born.

One year ago today 27 families and countless friends mourned the death of their loved ones.

In science there is something called the conservation of energy - it means that all the energy in a system is conserved, it changes from one form to another but it can't be created or destroyed, it can never get less and it can never get more.  It's a bit more complicated than that but for an almost 1 year old we'll stick to that.

The reason I mention it here is because one year ago today the energy of 28 people was released into the system.  Most definitely more than that but those 28 were very significant one year ago today.

I believe that you are part of the conservation of their energy.  Their energy cycles around, as do all peoples', and through those of us living their energy continues, never created or destroyed.

One year ago today I was preparing for the most joyous event of my life.

One year ago today there was so much sadness in the world.

One year ago today I remember thinking that I didn't want you to be born on the 14th, I didn't want your birthday to be linked to the sadness of the day.  You didn't listen to me when I asked you to be born on the 12th.  You didn't listen to me when I asked you to wait for Oma to get to Texas.  But in this ask, you listened.  You waited until the 15th to be born.

And so now, one year later, looking at the strong, curious, intelligent, wonderful, beautiful, amazing almost one year old that I have; and thinking of those 27 families who no longer have their loved one I ask you something else....

...make a positive difference in this world that goes further than those immediately around you.

I know that's a lot to ask of an almost one year old and I don't expect you to make the difference anytime soon, but sometime in your lifetime.

Because in you lives the energy of all the people who came before you, in you is the greatness of all of them, and all people have greatness in them, including you.    Take that greatness, theirs and the part that is uniquely yours, and use it to do something positive for all those who weren't able to finish their journey, who made the wrong choices along their journey, or who never got the chance.  Especially for Charlotte, Daniel, Rachel, Olivia, Josephine, Ana, Dylan, Dawn, Madeline, Catherine, Chase, Jesse, James, Grace, Anne, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Avielle, Lauren, Mary, Victoria, Benjamin, Allison, Nancy and yes, even Adam. 

One year ago today you were ready to enter this world and before you leave it (in many,  many, many more years, long after my energy is cycling around again) I know you will change it for the better.

11 months - late seems to be the fashion

I seem to have made posting the monthly updates late a tradition...but there's only one more after this one!  After that who knows when I'll actually update.  I will try to post at least once a month for all the E fans out there, and of course for my own record keeping.

Baby bears eat wood chips...
right?

The 11th month has been packed full of fun adventures!  E LOVES adventures.  She is fearless, which is a wonderful, terrible thing.  it is wonderful because she is so willing to try new things.  She will eat new food, greet new people, try new stunts at gym class, shimmy off the couch backward, climb stairs, climb all the little kid playground equipment at our local park.  And she will also put anything and everything into her mouth - including the screw on top to daddy's sporran, which she pulled off the couch, unscrewed and then proceeded to crawl around with it in her mouth.  She will try to go off the edge of anything, usually face first.  She can actually get down small sets of stairs this way, anything else makes mommy jump and grab her when she's heading for the edge. She's had a second ear infection, in her opposite ear.


Some of our adventures this month have been:

Adventures in getting what we want:

I like pumpkins!

E has started pointing.....at everything!  She loves her new found ability to make the adults look at what she wants.  She loves to point out cars and airplanes.  She can spot things that I often overlook, especially binkies.  If there is a binky within eyesight and she doesn't currently have one in her mouth, she will point at it.  it doesn't matter if it's half-buried under a blanket or on a shelf with a million other objects, she can spot it!

One of the main things she pointed at this month was her Halloween card from her grandma and granddaddy.  It was a fairly spooky card, with a photo of a bunch of jack-o-lanterns.  they had LED lights in their mouths and eyes and said "Happy Halloween" in various spooky voices when you push a button.  E LOVED the card.  So much that she would point at like it was a binky.  We had several dinners set to the soundtrack of "Happy Halloween".  One night she continued to insist that we play the card but mom and dad were ready to put E to bed.  E went nuclear.  She screamed through her bath, diaper, teeth brushing, all the way to the bottle.  The whole time pointing and whining.

She has also learned to put her blocks into her activity center.  This is a fascinating game now that she can do
it herself.  We are talking MINUTES of entertainment.  Blocks go in, push the lever and blocks fall out.  It makes me a little nostalgic.  when she first started playing with the cube all she could do was spin the little spinners and now she's able to do all the activities on her center.

peek-a-boo!

She has also learned to look into, over, under and through things which has led to playing hide and seek with her musical elephant.  Mommy puts the elephant in a hiding spot and turns the music on.  E searches her out.  She has the hardest time finding the elephant if it is up on something but she has rescued it from under the couch, in a backpack, out of her activity center, under blankets, etc, and every time she finds the elephant she gives it a big hug.

She has also shown her early engineer genes by figuring out how to pop open the baby locks on the cabinets and figure out light switches.  She loves to turn the lights on and off.  But she has also shown the first signs of fear.  She is afraid of the dark, but only if she's not being held.  If she's being held she's fine, if she's sitting on the floor and the lights go out she starts crying.

11 months also came with the adventure of Halloween! E went as an Ewok, and I must say she made the cutest little ewok ever!  She won her first costume contest by tying for best overall costume with a little boy dressed as Chef Boyarde.  She went trick-or-treating at a few houses in our neighborhood, though we didn't let her eat any of the candy.  poor kid.

And the other big adventure for 11 months was Renfest!  Mommy and daddy got married at renfest and go and celebrate their anniversary there every year.  This was E's first trip and she loved it!  She just loved people watching.  She got to watch the elephants, go to the petting zoo, and ride the big swing with Oma and Mommy.  She didn't win, but she still liked picking the duckies out of the water.  She also got to ride a llama (almost) all by herself.  She held on pretty well, but mommy had her hands ready to catch her just in case.

E loved staying home with Oma and getting to play with her all day.  They went to the playground almost every day!  E was not very happy about returning to daycare but after a few days she was back in her happy groove.  Thankfully they are finally spending most of the day in the Wobbler room.  E does not like being in the infant room now, she cries less and sleeps more in the Wobbler room than she does in the infant room.

E's second highland games!

At 11 months E likes:
all green foods.  She loves them.  lets hope this persists into toddlerhood
...okay actually it should say all foods.  but she does like to devour the green ones in particular.

her elephant.  It was the first stuffed toy she ever gave a hug to, and she still hugs it, pretty much every time she sees it

Her walking train.  She's not walking yet, she's taken a few un-assisted steps.  Her teacher Mrs. Bush says it's because she wants to make sure she's doing it right and not making any mistakes before she shows off for everyone.

Being outside.  She loves, loves, loves the playground, the back yard, the driveway anywhere outside.

Dancing and music.

Brushing her teeth - she has her first real toothbrush with bristles, her other one had little silicon nubs for gums.

books!  she loves her little chunky books.  She will play with them, opening them, turning the pages and chewing on them.

At 11 months E does not like:
diaper changes
clothes changes
socks
being strapped into her car seat or stroller - though once it's moving she's fine
being told "no"

oh so very fussy

The family went to Austin for the Saledo Highland games this weekend.  Ken took second place in his division and won weight over bar in his division! Elora spent the day clinging to mommy.

It may be that the trip coincided with her developing another ear infection, or perhaps that she is possibly cutting more teeth, or she was out of her routine and had some anxiety... or some combination of all of the above.

On the road there E cried for 90% of the drive.

She did not want to eat anything, not milk, not food at the restaurant, nothing.

She did not want to sleep, especially because she could see/hear mommy and daddy despite our best effort to hang a blanket to block her view.

The night before the games she got up and at 11, 1, 3, 4,5 (after that mommy took her to the hotel lobby to play so daddy could sleep)

At the games she was good for most of the time, still didn't eat much. Loved playing in the grass, trying to eat it, and watching two Great Danes that were there.

At dinner that night she refused to sit in her high chair. She ate about 1\3 of what she normally eats.

She woke up at 11(diaper) 12:30, 1, 130, 2
Mom and dad took turns holding her and sitting in the arm chair. She wild be dead sleep in your arms and then pop wide awake the moment you set her in her crib.
At 2 holding her I didn't stop the crying, figuring her ear was bothering her mommy took her to the bathroom and lay her on a towel on the floor to give her Tylenol... And she passed out. So mommy ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor with the baby... Who still woke up every hour or so, but would go back to sleep once she had her binky back.

Thankfully she slept the whole way home (do did mommy).

We are back home now and she has still been more fussy than normal, but thankfully she ate well and she has been alseep since 8 with only the occasional cough. I hope this lasts until morning!

But oh did she ever look cute in her
Highland dress!

the importance of accuracy

In my class I always started the year off talking about accuracy and precision in measurements. After today I feel like some thermometer companies would benefit from the same lesson.

E had a fever and had to go home from daycare yesterday. When I checked it in the morning, because she felt hot, the lovely, germ free, temporal thermometer that E knows how to sit still for and doesn't complain at all when I take her temperature, read 99.1. A little high, but still OK to go to daycare.

Then she screamed through her entire gym class. Normally, she's the only baby who never cries. One of the other mom's actually rematked on it..."wow, this is the first time I have ever seen her cry.". And she didn't want to be put down, and she didn't want to participate... all very strange for E.

Fast forward to 2 and daycare calls... 102! E needs to go home. I pick her up and she is acting fine. Happy, snuggly, bouncy, wriggly, normal; though she does feel hot.  Take her home and take her temp, which she even rested her head on my chest to do... 99.5. I figure it's teeth, but make an appointment to get her checked out the next day.

Get her up and check her temp... 100.6. Poor baby. Check throughout the day, it always ranges between 102 at most and 99 at least.  Nothing serious, no need for needs.  Go into the doc and the nurse takes her temp... 103.8!!!!!  That's high enough to warrant medication... And almost high enough to warrant a trip to the er!  The doc offers fever reducer immediately, yikes!  Decline the in office meds. Doc diagnoses an ear infection and prescribes agumentin.  Go home and before giving the fever reducer try the trusty temporal thermometer again... 100.6...

My trusty little thermometer shows it's true colors... It's accuracy stinks. E was probably too febrile to go to daycare from the start. Thankfully ear infections aren't contagious, but seriously a 3 degree difference?!?!? That means she had a fever of 105! When I was getting readings of 102. Accuracy for crap.  You missed the bulls eye in an unacceptable fashion.

Needless

to say we went to get a new thermometer.  All types, shapes and for all orifices were available and all claimed to be apart accurate,  pediatrician recommended and the best value.  I bought the one that looks like the one they use at the doc's. It is an aural thermometer, and E hates it.  She doesn't want that thing anywhere near her ear. If she sees it she starts whining. But the first reading it gave me when I got it home was 103.5. Much more accurate. Braun, you pass the lab practical on accurate  measurement. Here is your gold star. Thank you for your dedication to correct science... Not to mention mother's peace of mind.

10 months - a lot late...and very random

Poor neglected blog.  I had to make myself sit down and tonight. it's 13 days past her turning 10 months and I haven't written about the adventures of month 10....a lot of that is because month 10 has been BUSY!  E has become such a busy, busy, busy girl.  She is into EVERYTHING!  If it's within her reach, she has it, if it's within her eye sight, she wants it and she will let you know she wants it!
So to combat the lag, I made myself sit down and write this post before I'm allowed to go to bed tonight....there is not a good theme, or a cute wrap it all up...it's mostly stream of consciousness fueled by the list of things I wanted to blog about this month that I wrote 13 days ago...please forgive.

10 months of growing and growing and growing! Her hair is starting to lay flat, it is still crazy and is still the most frequently commented on part of her appearance but it's losing it's Don Kingesqe style.  I'm a little saddened by this.

A few of E's firsts this month were:
Her first corn dog!  E traveled to Grandma and Grandaddy's house and we all went to the State Fair of Texas!  She got a little bored in the car on the way to the grandparents but once we got there she was in hog (pun intended) heaven.

She LOVED the fair, especially the petting zoo.  She was fascinated watching the kangaroo and petting any animal that came close enough.  She also tried to eat the animal feed.  She didn't get to eat most of the fair food since it's totally unhealthy, but she was allowed a little snibble of a corny dog.  Verdict - MOAR CORNY DOG!!!!

She also had her first antibiotics....20 days worth of them.  For most of her 10th month she had to choke down the pink stuff.  She didn't mind the amoxicillin, but it wasn't strong enough to wipe out the bacteria in her ear.  The only symptom she ever showed was pulling on her ear, which she also does when she's tired. So the doctor went up a strength in antibiotic for the second round.  I don't remember the name it was also pink but E detested that medicine.  She would spit out the sticky solution at every opportunity...coating everything in a sticky slime.  Sometimes mommy had to lay her down and hold her still in order to get the medicine down her throat.  But, thankfully, the second round worked and E was clear of all ear infection at her 20 day check!

Much to Daddy's chagrin, she held hands with a boy for the first time.  At Daddy's work they had a field day competition for the workers.  E and mommy went to cheer Daddy's team on  (they came in 2nd of 26 teams)  While watching Daddy, E got to hang out with V and AJ from daycare.  V is one of her best friends and she was excited to see him.  At one point She and V were sitting on a low wall next to each other and V grabbed E's hand and they just sat there like that for a few moments.  Such a sweet little moment.  V's daddy and grandma were there and they kept encouraging him to hold her hand again after the moment passed.  V was much more interested in smashing his cereal bar in her hair by that point though.

Some milestones this month were:
new teeth!  E is now the proud owner of 8, that's right 8 teeth!  She popped the bottom incisors on the 11th.  Hopefully we are done with teething for a little while, she popped 4 teeth in about 4 weeks!  And speaking of teeth, E is obsessed with them!  She loves to stick her fingers into people's mouths and touch their teeth.  It's very awkward but kind of cute.  She has also started to enjoy brushing her teeth.  She gets excited when she sees her toothbrush and wants to be allowed to brush them herself, though she mostly just sucks on the brush.
She is also obsessed with eyes.  She likes to poke the eyes of her stuffed animals and the characters in her books.  About 70% of the time if you ask here where her stuffed animals' eyes are she points to them.  She doesn't understand that she has eyes yet though.  If you ask her where her eyes are, she stares at you blankly.

The other body part she's been a little obsessed with lately is her nose.  She has figured out how to stick her finger up it.  I'm trying really hard to not laugh when she does it.  But she's so nonchalant about it!  We give her a firm "no, fingers" and move her hand, and then if she goes for it again we get out the nasal aspirator and use it on her.  Of course we always thank her for letting us know she needed it....and of course she hates it, so we are hoping that will curb the nose picking.

She's also started looking into/under objects.  She likes to explore boxes, tunnels, cubbies, anything that she can take objects out of, she hasn't found the joy in putting objects in yet....mommy's really hoping that happens soon.

She is also walking with more confidence with her train.  She will spend forever walking around the house behind her train.  She can only go in straight lines, she hasn't figured out turns, but when the train gets stuck she has a series of actions that are quite amusing.  She will push on it once or twice, then look at the nearest available adult, then look back at the train, then look back at the adult and give a demanding "aa-AA!".  If the adult moves the train so she can continue to walk all is good until she gets stuck again, but if the train remains stuck.....the crying begins.  Thankfully the crying ends as soon as the train is once again mobile



She knows who mamma and dadda are, though she still just babbles mamamamam and dadadaa..  we are hoping she starts using them correctly soon.  But she loves to watch both of us and mimic what we do.  This has been great for several reasons.

1) it helps teach her things...like how to properly eat corn on the cob
2) it has lead to her reaching out to us when she wants attention, which is heart meltingly cute
3) It has also lead to her using more baby sign!  E pretty consistently signs for her water now.  her version of the sign is not quite correct...she sticks her finger in the corner of her mouth, rather than tapping her three fingers against her mouth but she does it!  If she's whining at the table and mommy or daddy ask her if she wants water and uses the sign, she will sign her version back and is swiftly rewarded with her water cup.  So far that's the only sign she uses consistently.  She's used more a few times but gets it confused with clapping her hands we are hoping she'll figure more out soon, along with all the other signs she needs to help us understand what she wants.

She's also developing a sense of humor.  When she finds something funny she will laugh and laugh and laugh,  Mommy and daddy like to make goofy laughing noises and E thinks it's hilarious.  She will laugh along.  She also gets an impish little grin on her face when she is amused by something..usually when she's been told "no" and is going to try to do it anyway.

Hopefully we will be just as busy in month 11, but better a documenting all the fun.

Keep growing baby girl.

rhythm!

I started working part time this school year, it was a strange adjustment. Some mornings I would feel like the time was just me waiting to go to work. Others it felt like going to work was a punishment because I had to leave the good time I was having with E.

Now, we have fallen into our rhythm. We get up and E has a bottle. Daddy gets up and we all eat breakfast together. Daddy gets some baby time while mommy takes care of biological needs. Then mommy takes over baby play time. Daddy leaves for work and mommy and E have some play time. Most of the time this consists of e running (crawling) around the house and playing with toys. Sometimes we finger paint, sometimes we go to the park. Around 8 E starts to get sleepy so she goes down for a nap. While E sleeps mommy had some down time. Blogging, watching netflix, doing housework, taking a nap, etc. E gets up around 9-930 has a bottle and playtime resumes until 1045ish when we leave for daycare. And through it ask we have Pandora blasting. Occasionally i will play my music to expose E to good music like Ani Difranco, Flogging Molly, Ben Harper, Journey, etc. But most of the time I play kids music. We started out with a Raffi inspired station. Lots of classic kids songs. You would be amazed at the number of remixes of 5 Little Monkeys there are. It was good, but just didn't have the right rhythm for us. And the songs for stuck in my head in a totally annoying way. I think i was singing We Are Going To The Zoo for a week.

Recently, I switched to a They Might Be Giants inspired station. it's a little more rock beat and not the classic songs. It's perfect, upbeat, happy, usually educational, and if the songs get stuck in my head, I don't mind that much.  E likes the beat of this station more, i can tell because she had spontaneous dance parties!

Sometimes while she is playing and the music is on,E will start bouncing, clapping, or penguin flapping and ... she has rhythm!

I can't wait for her to start singing! It will fit right into the rhythm of our day!

9 month check up- now with graphs!

E is progressing marvelously. She has her first ear infection, but it is very mild and we caught it early. Baby's first ammoxicillin! Bleh!
Here are her growth charts for your amusement; (pardon the standard units, the docs office doesn't use metric)

Weight - 75%ile 19 lbs 14.5 oz

Head size 90%ile 18 in in circumference

Height - 8%ile - 26.25 inches.  Shorty!

High mass, low volume= dense baby!

Dense, short and big headed.
9 months of AWESOMENESS right here

9 months - hitting every milestone in the road!

Don King wanna be

mini piggies, the cuteness
goes to 11!

E is now 9 months old!  Everything about her is growing and growing.  Her hair cracks me up in her picture above.  It cracks me up every day.  It comes in about 7 million different lengths all of which point in different directions!  I know I will miss her crazy hair when it is long enough to lay flat.  I enjoy spiking it up or pushing it into a mow hawk when it's wet.  It's too crazy for the topknot/fountain single bow.  The bow just looks lost in a sea of unruly hair.  However, it is now long enough to do tiny pig-tails and top them each with a bow, resulting in the cutest set of mini-piggies I have ever seen.  (not that I'm bias or anything)

She has been hitting milestones like crazy, some of them are age appropriate and others are a bit advanced for her.  She's still a bit behind on her vocalizations, sometimes.  She'll babble and talk and go crazy sometimes, others you can talk and talk and talk to her and she never responds!  But she has an array of vowel sounds and several consonants as well.  including being able to say "Muma" and "Dada".  She says "Dada" more often and she doesn't associate either word with the correct person but it makes my heart leap every time she says "Mum"!  (though it's usually when she's crying)

Her motor skill milestones have kicked into high gear both gross and fine motor skills!  She has always loved her food and loves feeding herself but now she can grab her food in a pincer grasp, no more squished handfuls of broccoli.  Sadly no more sucking on her hand trying to get to the food inside, this always amused me in earlier months.  Now she can shovel food into her face as fast as she can, with both hands pincering away like little crabs.  And she eats, oh man does she eat!  She has polished off half a can of green beans plus chicken, berries and cheerios in one sitting.  She loves her solid food.  Her formula she loves as well...but only at night and only from mom or dad.  At daycare she will scarf down any and all solid foods they offer her, but given a bottle she drinks between 1-2 ounces or just flat out refuses to drink at all.  But at home with Mama or Daddy she will routinely drain 4-6 oz bottles, sometimes more.  Especially at night.  She will however drink water from her training cup.  She's liked cups forever and now she has her very own.  She still manages to pour a good bit of water down her chest, despite the no drip lid....it drips out her mouth, not out of the cup!

She can also feed herself with a spoon somewhat.  She loves being given the spoon with food on it and navigating the spoon to her mouth.  Most of the time she hits the target, though sometimes she still resorts to her younger self and flings the spoon about wildly, resulting in the contents of the spoon being strewn on the floor, the wall, E, Mamma, daddy pretty much anywhere but E's mouth.  She can even use the spoon to get food from a container with some skill.

More fine motor skills she's working on are playing with her toys.  She LOVES to bang her toys together.  Blocks, balls, dolls, her toothbrush, the magazine she stole off the counter....it all gets banged together and the louder and crazier the resulting sound the more she loves it.  She will dig through her toy bin and pull out toys just to bang them together.  She will pull every block out of the container so she can then bang the blocks on the container.  She's my little Bam-Bam.  In true E style she crushed yet another milestone on her 9 month birthday. Not only can she bang objects together, but she can Clap!  Oh how proud she is of herself when she claps.

gymnast in training

Month 9 also saw E starting her Little Gym classes....and oh how she LOVES little gym.  Most of the other kids there have some fussy times or fussy days but E is just happy, happy, happy there.  She loves being able to crawl everywhere and practice walking.  She loves doing flips with mama and hanging from the bars or walking on the balance beam (with mom's help).  She loves it all and it has helped with her gross motor skills.  E can now cruise fairly confidently.  She can squat down and stand back up while holding onto something.  She can walk and kind of run while holding onto mama.  She can even stand unassisted for about a second or two.  She can play with a ball, she's pretty great at catching it (you know, for a 9 month old) and can roll it around, sometimes she even gets it to roll to whoever she's playing catch with...though she has no aim whatsoever, so this is purely accidental.

climb baby climb!

And....she can hold onto the rock wall.  This is huge.  Daddy was first interested in Mommy because they both liked to rock climb, so the fact that E has displayed the basics for climbing....huge.

Sometimes all these new skills result in her getting into situations she can't get out of.  Like the one pictured here....E crawled under her exersaucer, and then stood up to try to play with the toys.  Oh the crying and frustration.  She couldn't figure out that all she had to do was sit down to get out.  Eventually (after a few pictures and a quick video) mama helped her get free.

no hat!

She is still throwing temper tantrums, and they are getting worse.  When something happens that she doesn't like, she scrunches her face up, sends her body rigid and wails.  Mama and Daddy don't like it, but just calmly tell her "no, ma'am" and "that is not they way we ask for things in this house"  it seems funny to do these with a 9 month old, but I'm not going to give in because I'm a firm believer that what we do now is setting the standard for the terrible 2s.    Things that routinely cause a tantrum: not letting her crawl into the kitchen, changing clothes, diaper changes, going into the car seat, taking away any object that she's not supposed to have (paper, dead bugs, mama's keys), and not letting her have the tablet or computer if you are working on them.  She is SO obsessed with technology....oh, and putting a hat on her sometimes causes massive melt down.

She has also finally cut her top two teeth.  It took months but they are finally through her gums.  We have started including brushing her teeth in the bedtime routine.  She doesn't like it but is more accepting of it when we let her hold the tooth brush and we guide her hand.  She has also attempted to brush Daddy's teeth once or twice with her tooth brush.   It's very cute.

All these major milestones and teeth have come at a price.  E doesn't like to sleep anymore.  She's not slept through the night more than once or twice her entire life but recently E has been getting up every 1.5 to 2 hours at night.  And fussing or coughing while sleeping.  She'll eat like a champion when she gets up the firs time.  Then she'll just fuss and want to be held and rocked.  Oh the sleep deprivation.  E has an uncanny knack for knowing right when mommy's head hits the pillow and mommy's eyes close.  The moment that happens, she cries.  To make sure that Daddy can function mommy takes the night shift during the work week and Daddy takes it on the weekends.  Oh the sleep deprivation. While on shift we sleep in the guest bedroom next to E's room so that the baby monitor doesn't wake the other person.  We used to sleep in her room and do away with the monitor but if she sees you when she wakes up there is NO chance she will go back to bed, so we sleep next door.  Very tired parents.  Hopefully now that her top teeth have cut through the sleeping will get better.  We've been letting her cry a little bit during the night, to hopefully teach her to self sooth.  One of the biggest culprits that cause her to wake up is when she loses her pacifier.  So now daddy and mommy give E a few minutes to find her paci herself or sooth herself in some other manner.  Currently we are up to 2 minutes.  At 2 am, with a crying baby next door, 2 minutes seems like an eternity.  But it's getting to the point that more often than not she will calm herself and go back to sleep within the 2 minutes.

Despite the lack of sleep I have really loved this month.  E is becoming such a little person.  She interacts more, she smiles, she laughs, she plays games.  She just seems to be getting more and more awesome as time goes by.  I can't wait to see what month 10 brings (hopefully it will bring more sleep along!)  Keep growing super-girl!

Friends!

One of my favorite parts about E going to day care is that she gets to socialize with other babies close to her age.  While it is a struggle because she brings home stomach bugs, colds, and just kind of has a constant runny nose, it is so, so worth it.  She is such a social baby.  She LOVES other kids.

At daycare she has two good friends.  She has been friends with one of them since the start.  He's about two months older than her and we'll call him V.  The first time I went to pick E up she and V were laying next to each other on boppy pillows.  I picked E up and V started wailing.  I laid E back down and V smiled and cooed.

V is one of the oldest babies in the young infant room, and he does things a few months ahead of E.  I think this motivates her more than most of the activities I do at home.  She wants to keep up with V.  V started crawling and E was suddenly able to sit up.  V started cruising and E could crawl.  Now I realize some of this is just age, but I will hold to the fact that its also because she wants to be able to keep up with V.

Over the summer E was out of daycare for about a month and V became friends with H.  H is about a month older than E but they are meeting milestones at pretty much the same time now.  So now at day care it's E, V and H and they are the "big kids" in the young infant room.

I took E in later in the afternoon last Friday and right as I arrived daycare was doing their fire drill.  The babies came rolling out the door in their emergency cribs.  H and V riding in the same crib along with a few others.  Since I couldn't go in, and there was no sense in sitting in the car, I walked over to the meeting place with E and stood next to the younger infant crib.   Upon seeing E, V immediately sat up in the crib and reached his hand up to her.  She leaned down over my arm and reached her hand down to him, and gave his hand an attempted pat, pat, pat.

When I brought E in yesterday H and V were playing on the other side of the room.  While I took E into the food prep/storage area to put away her supplies for the day H and V scrambled across the room.  When I came out of the storage area they were sitting, waiting for E.  I put E down and she promptly took a set of teething beads from H and gave them a nibble.  Then V took them from E and gave them a nibble and eventually they ended up back with H. (until baby M, who is 5 days younger than E, and on the periphery of the HEV clique, came up and took them away from all of them)

I love that she has friends.  I love that they make efforts to go see her when she gets there.  Especially now that she's only in daycare for half days.  The connection between H,E,and V is so obvious and so cute.  Of course it makes a tiny part of my brain worry too...I couldn't help but imagine H, E and V as teenagers passing around a knife to become "blood brothers" or worse passing around other substances.  Friends are so awesome, they bring so many many wonderful things.  And they bring germs, and drugs, and problems I see every day in my students.

Friends mean fun, and companionship, and...responsibility on mom and dad's part.  Very soon we will talk to E about washing her hands, covering her cough and not sharing spit to avoid bringing home the germs.   Then a few years down the road we will talk about setting her personal rules and boundaries and not letting any one go past them.  About the dangers of illegal substances.  And yes, even about sex.  E....H and V are the start of a long road full of fun, jokes, tears, laughing so hard your sides hurt, quite comfortable moments and heartache and mom and dad will be there for you through the whole trip.  Even though you might not like it at times.

A funny game I don't want to forget

After feeding E I was playing a silly game where she would touch my nose and I would shout "mama!" at the top of my lungs and rock backward.  It made her laugh like crazy.  It made me laugh too because she would respond when I shouted...most of the time it was just non-sense babbling but every so often I would shout "mama!" and she would shout back "dada!"

so not the point of the game!  I have a feeling Dada is going to be her first word she puts meaning to.

8 months!

Apologies for the late update.  on E's 8th month birthday my computer was stolen out of a church school parking lot while in a bag embroidered with "Work Hard, Be Nice"...real class to do all that.  

Back to the matter at hand....E!

E made leaps and bounds (almost literally) in gross motor milestones in her 8th month of life.  She had barely take a few tentative crawls on her 7 month day but by the 8th month day she was crawling up a storm and even starting to pull up on....everything.

In a dazzling display of object permanence E has been routinely going to her car seat and retrieving her binky.  She does it on a near daily basis.  The problem being, the binky is on a leash, so she can't get very far from the car seat without it pulling free of her mouth.   This leads to a hilarious chain of events that usually ends up either a) E crying, mommy laughing and getting her a different binky or b) E contentedly sitting next to her car seat.

This also shows with her separation anxiety.  She cries a lot less often when mom leaves the room.  This may be due to grasping object permanence but is probably also due to mommy, daddy and day care getting a lot better at making sure E is distracted before mommy leaves the room.

She is also eating a lot more table food.  According to the million and a half websites I've checked the common saying is "food before one is just for fun"  but E doesn't agree with that statement.  She eats everything, we have yet to find anything she doesn't like and she eats A LOT of it.  She has reduced the number of bottles she takes significantly.  It makes mommy fret, but she's still growing and still producing adequate poopy and wet diapers, so mommy has to just keep feeding her and stop fretting.   E even eats lunch at daycare with the 'big kid's (the kids over 1 year).  All the caregivers at day care are amazed at how well she eats with so few teeth (still just 2!) and she's one of the neatest eaters in the bunch!  

And her hair has fully grown in...at least to some extent.  What started out as a full head of dark hair changed to a top knot and back fringe of hair.  Finally the sides and front have filled in, though her hair is all different lengths all over so it sticks up crazy like.  The very top of the back of her head never fell out so it is about 3 inches longer than all the rest of her hair...on a good day it stands up like Alph-Alpha's.  

There were so many firsts this month but I feel like the month has been pretty well documented.  (that's what vacation is for right?)  But here is a non-comprehensive list of things that come to mind about E at 8 months....

At 8 months E can...

crawl

learning to drink from a cup!

pull up

take steps while holding mommy or daddy's hands

pincer grasp food with both hands

hold her bottle(mostly)

bite food into smaller chunks (saw this at daycare when they gave her a piece of chicken i thought for sure she'd choke on)

Stand while holding/leaning on an object

say "dada" though she says it to many things so it doesn't have meaning yet...though Dada wants to count it.

Let her opinion be known...aka throw a temper tantrum.  They are brief but oh so angry and usually ended by distraction.

Turn pages in her board books

At 8 moths E likes....

books

her exersaucer

watching bigger kids and trying to emulate them

paper...oh the fun of crunching and tearing paper

eating...everything but especially prunes, broccoli and chicken

water.  She loves drinking water from her cup or from a straw(though she cant suck through the straw yet)

Ms. Bush - one of her daycare teachers, E has liked her all along but now she's really expressive about it, getting all wiggly excited, penguin flappy when she sees her.

At 8 months E does not like....

changing clothes

going to bed....not...tired....

napping at day care (her record is one 5 minute nap all day)

having toys taken away from her

being in her car seat if the car isn't moving

Hot baby!

E had her first fever. She has been sick before but never spiked a fever.

All day long on the 9th E had a nasty runny nose, like the kind Hollywood makes fun of.    Boogers, everywhere. E, like all babies in my experience, hates having her nose wiped, and she has a strong aversion to anything aspirator related, be it manual or electric (and mommy has an aversion to actually sticking the snot out herself, so no, i have no desire to try a nosefrida.)

Early morning on the 10th I woke too E's cry, this is normal, she usually gets up around then to eat. So, I went to check on E. What I found was a living hot water bottle in a crib. Now, up until this point, I was admittedly a but neurotic about taking E's temperature.  If I thought she had a fever I would take it 5-10 times in a very short time span. Up until the 10th she'd never gone above 99.  My human hit water bottle register 101.7, the first time I took her temperature, and was miserable. And hot. Everywhere. Hot hands, hot feet, hot face, hot tummy, just plain hot baby.

 Cue mildly panicked call to the nurse helpline.   (My thoughts to the information i was given are in parenthesis) The very nice woman who helped me reassured me that fevers are a normal part of the immune defense (I knew that) and that 101.7 is only a very mild fever (what? Mild? My child is burning up!) That there was no reason for a doctor appointment. (No need? Didn't you hear me? She is burning up!) That fevers up to 102 don't require any treatment other than pushing chilly fluids, and up to 104 only require cool baths and Tylenol. (104!!!!!?!?! Are you $&$**$! Kidding me? If she's at 104 I am driving to the emergency room in a panic! And how on earth do you push fluids on a 7 month old who only drinks warm formula and warm breast milk?) And then asked me if I wanted to schedule a Dr apt anyway. (Of course I do! Neurotic mom on the line. I have taken her temperature 7 time in the course of this phone call!)

Dr appointment booked, cold breast milk given. Lots of hugs and snuggles, and temperature checks.  Doctor checked her over and declared she had... A cold and then told me exactly what the advice nurse told me. Never the less, it was totally reassuring hearing it from a professional who could see, hear, feel my living hot water bottle ( though her fever had come down a lot by the time the doctor checked her).

By bedtime she was normal temperature, and only a bit of a cough.  So we put her to sleep in her bouncy chair to keep her upright. This results in a lot less coughing, but a lot more lost Binky incidences. So mommy was on Binky retrieval duty.

Cue 3 am. Mommy thinks it's a Binky cry or a hunger cry. Nope. The human hot water bottle is back, and this time she clocks in at 103.3. Tylenol, cold formula to drink, strip her to her diaper. Lots of cuddles and temperature checks. Up all night again.

Once the medicine kicks in she's fine. Eventually she's a sweaty mess, so the fever is broken. Still has a cough though, so mommy and daddy still aren't sleeping much. But at least she is back to being normal temperature baby.  I know we haven't seen the last of hot baby, but hopefully we are better prepared for the next time she shows up... and will feel confident enough to treat her at home until the 104+.... maybe.

Mobile baby!

E is crawling up a storm. We had to buy a baby play yard to fence her in ( though she mostly sits in it and cross, we are working on it). She usually crawls a foot or so and then stood, but there are some things that motivate her to cross rooms. They are, in no particular order, phones, tablets, computers, cats, mommy, daddy, shoes, Anything she is not supposed to have. And the vacuum... Though she is ambivalent to it.  When it is far away from her, she crawls toward it, but when it comes near her, she cries.

If these items say anything about the adult she will become she will be a highly technological, loving, shoe obsessed, cat lady who want things to be clean but doesn't like to actually clean them....

So many firsts...a super long vacation up date!

We are back from our first vacation with E!  The vacation was a total success.  So filled with firsts and wonderful experiences.  Of course there was a ton of fretting leading up to it all.

Baby's first boarding pass

One of the biggest fretting points was the flight.  I was terrified that E would be that baby.  The one on the plane who earns crusty looks from fellow travelers for screaming her head off the entire flight.  My nightmare was 4 hours of screaming baby and angry travelers.  I was also worried about getting all my baby stuff (milk, formula, diapers, rash cream, snacks, etc) through security.  Oh and checking all the baby gear (crib, car seat, car seat base, stroller)  or taking it on the flight. Not to mention checking all the camping gear.  So much to fret over.

baby's first airplane

We got to the airport 2 hours before the flight and checked in at the desk.  The woman there was very nice and helped us get all of our camping gear checked and helped us with the baby gear. 
Security took us a long time to get baby out, everything disassembled, shoes off, computer out, liquids out, and through the scanner.  Milk bottles had to be tested and everything re-assembled on the other side.  Plus the confiscated Daddy's razor.

Baby's first nap at cruising altitude

Finally through security, one less thing to fret over.  And then we had over an hour to chill at the gate.  The gate attendants were awesome and took us through the process.  I am now officially in love with Virgin American Airlines.  They got our stroller and car seat tagged early, they explained everything to us nicely and patiently and, since the plane wasn't full, they moved stuff around so that we could have our own row, even though we'd only purchased 2 tickets.

We boarded with the early group and got settled.  Got E in her own seat (a window seat!) and Daddy and I got settled in. Toys out, bottle ready, plus things for Mommy and Daddy to do just in case E fell alseep during the flight.  I gave E her bottle when the pilot told the flight attendants to prep for take off....but E had finished her bottle before the plane started moving.  Fret, fret, fret, fret.  I got fooled by the pilot and gave the bottle too early.  The plane finally started moving.  E had her Binky and was sleeping in her car seat in happy milk coma.  The plane lifted off.  I held my breath as the plane increased in altitude, worried E would awake screaming from the ear pressure....but nothing.  She slept right through take off.  She slept for most of the flight.  She got a bit squirrely and fussy so I spent some time at the back of the plane with the flight attendants and a fussy baby.  About halfway through the flight E decided it was time to unload.  So I got to use the changing table that I never even knew existed in the airplane restroom to change a diaper at cruising altitude.  Thankfully there was no turbulence.  Eventually she fell back asleep in my arms and refused to be put back in her car seat.   She slept right through landing as well.  Happiness.


Bad Oma and Auntie!
Baby's first candy.

 The next morning we packed up the car.  Went to breakfast with Auntie Sarah and then headed up to the mountains!  E was happily entertained by Oma and Auntie Krista.  The drive went without incident and we arrived at Yosemite!   Everyone was pretty ready to get out of the car.  Daddy went to get campsites and the rest of us took walk and stretch break.  Then we all went and took the obligatory national park entry sign photo.


Baby's first national park!

We had a reservation for Crane Flat so we headed there to set up camp.  It was Auntie Krista and E's firs time in Yosemite and it was Oma and E's first time to tent camp!  We got the campground all set up and had dinner.  Got E into her notsupercoldbutcolderthanshe'sused to outfit and managed to put her to bed while it was still light out.  The portable crib we found is awesome.  It only weighs 7 pounds, but it's a playpen and it takes up a lot of space in the tent.  Daddy and I were pretty squished to the sides but the peace of mind that we would not roll over onto the baby or smother the baby with sleeping bags was worth the cramped space.  Though we may invest in a larger tent for future adventures.  The 2 am bottle was a bit rough.  The original plan was for me to be nursing which would make the 2 am feed really easy.  But plans changed.  So Daddy and I had to get up, go to the bear locker, heat water (we'd bought a thermos but it didn't keep the water warm enough) mix formula and then feed baby.  All the while trying to keep the baby from waking up the entire campground (fret, fret, fret, fret.  I didn't want her to be that baby either)


Baby's first camp morning

 The next morning we got up and Daddy went to get a first come first serve site.  A few people commented on hearing her crying but it was all said with smiles but I still felt really bad about it.



Baby's first down

We went down into the valley and hiked the lower Yosemite falls.  Daddy and I were pretty tired from jet lag and getting up to feed baby.  So Oma and Auntie Krista scrambled up to the waterfall while Daddy, E and I took a nap at the photo spot.  We toured around the valley a bit and enjoyed the Disneyland of national parks.  So many people.  Everyone commented on how cute E was or her awesome backpack.  Several people on the hike asked Daddy to give them a ride.  We went to the campground Daddy had reserved and found another group of people set up there.  They moved with very little conversation, they knew they'd done wrong so they fixed it.  After dinner we made s'mores.  E tried them but wasn't all that impressed.  It was getting a lot colder than the previous night so I got to bust out E's pink marshmallow suit of supreme cuteness and snuggly warmth.


Baby's first 9K climb!

Baby's first nature lessons!

The next day we went up to the high sierra part of Yosemite to May Lake.  We'd originally planned on camping there but it was swarmed with youth groups and we figured it would be better to car camp with the baby.  But the day trip to May Lake was awesome.  it's a 1.3 mile hike with about 700 feet of vertical gain.  Fairly straightforward but a good climb for newbies especially since it's at 8-9K elevation.  We got up to the lake and spread out E's tarp so she could crawl around.  E and I took a nap on the tarp while Auntie Krista and Daddy went for a hike and Oma read her book.  Then Oma gave E some more nature lessons about trees and water.  We stayed at May Lake for a few hours wandering around, playing on the tarp, watching fat marmots scramble across the rocks looking for scraps.  Wonderful family time.  Then we stopped up to Tolumne Meadows and had ice cream at the cafe.  E had her first ice cream and couldn't get enough!  She was lunging from one side of my arms to the other to try to get to the ice cream.  We ate ice cream while listening to the drifter/camper band that was set up outside the store.  They weren't playing for tips.  They were just playing to have fun.  E's ice cream antics were the source of amusement for many other visitors around us. 


Baby's First Ice Cream!

We went back to the campground at White Wolf for the final night.  E was coughing a bit and resiting sleep so Daddy and I put her into her car seat to sleep a bit upright.  Around 3 am I woke up to find E covered in vomit.  She wasn't crying, she was actually asleep but covered.   Unfortunately the vomit had gotten onto my sleeping bag, all over her cute marshmallow suit, into her car seat, and into her crib.  And it was cold.  Like low 40s cold.  Daddy started washing everything while Mommy took care of the baby in the car to try to keep her warm.  E was out of sorts.  Lethargic.  Fussy.  Hot but not feverish.  We went to the cabin campground's cafe and asked if they could dry her car seat so we could drive down the mountain.  They were super nice and dried it out.  We got down the mountain quickly and E started feeling better.  (Mommy got a mad case of car sickness but thankfully nothing more than some nausea)



Baby's first horse!

Baby's first Pudgie Cat!

Once back at Oma's house we had lots of fun going out to eat and shopping. Daddy was supposed to go climb Mt. Shasta but his climbing buddy ended up couldn't come so he got to spend more time with us!  We went to visit my mentor/boss/friend/confidant/so much more Tori before she left for Hawaii.  We had a wonderful evening with her and her family.  Saturday we went to a family friend's 6th birthday party where E got to meet her first horse!  We ate a lot of good food. We also were able to go down to meet E's Auntie Oana and Uncle Kane'.  It was the first time E met Oana. They got along famously and we ate lots of super yummy food.

At Oma's house there are two animals.  Kea the white huskey and Pudgie the cat.  Oma was pretty worried about how the animals would react to E. (fret, fret, fret) Kea pretty much ignored her but Pudgie is in love with her.  Pudgie cat would seek out E when she was on the floor.  She would rub against her and was incredibly tolerant of E.  E would grab and squeeze Pudgie's fur.  At one point E was in Oma's lap with a toy in each hand and Pudgie jumped up onto Oma's lap as well.  E leaned straight down and "kissed" Pudgie on the ear. (E's kiss is an open mouthed thing that kind of looks like she's trying to eat you...) and Pudgie didn't do anything.  Pudgie did give E a lesson in cats though.  E kept grabbing Pudgie's paws and after the third time Pudgie gave E a warning tap on the hand, with claws.  E got a lesson and a scrach.  But she didn't learn.  She kept trying to grab Pudgie anyway.

Baby's first crown!

We went to the California Academy of Sciences and E got to continue her nature lessons with Oma.  

Baby's first lime!

She loved looking around the rainforest dome.  She was captivated by the butterflies and the animals behind glass.

The night before we left the friends of the family who'd loaned Oma the toys and stuff for E as well as some of the camping equipment we used came to visit.  I've known them since their children (who are now in 7th and 9th grade) were babies.  We had a great time playing with E and catching up.  I hope E grows up to be like them.

We flew to Vegas for my teacher conference and despite more fretting on my part the flight went well.  It was very short and E slept through most of it. 

Baby's first Wild and Crazy Cutinos!

E spent her first hotel night on the 45th floor of Vegas's newest hotel.  She also got to go to her first buffet with my school staff.  She was the star of dinner.  Demanding to try food off of my plate and eating a unbelievable amount of cheerios, hummus, babaganoosh, beans, and other tasty things.  She made a new friend in my co-worker Eric and generally made all the biological clocks at the table explode. 

The final flight was a United flight from Vegas to home.  I am NOT impressed with United.  They didn't have a bag for her car seat base.  They didn't let us board early.  They didn't tag the stroller and car seat until we were in line (thus making us hold up the line).  Walking down a full plane while carrying a baby did not help the fear of crusty looks and crying baby.  The one thing United did well was they got us our own row (after telling us the flight was full and that it wasn't possible).



Baby's first gecko!

Thankfully E was fairly well behaved.  She was awake for most of the  flight, though she did sleep during take off.  She played in my lap or in the middle seat and was generally a happy camper.

Baby's first bruise!

When we got back to Grandma and Grandaddy's house E had lots of fun celebrating Grandma's birthday.   We Skyped with Auntie Krista and Oma to help ease the "Vitamin E" withdrawals.   Hehe.  During Skype with Oma E fell face first into a drawer handle and started wailing.  Pudgie jumped up onto Oma's lap and tried to crawl into the computer to get to E.  Further proving that Pudige loves her baby E.  The fall resulted in the last first of the trip....E's first bruise!  It's on her cheek just below her eye.  It doesn't seem to bother her at all but I fret about it anyway.

One more week off before another first..my first time working part time!  More to fret over but more to enjoy!  And E will be going back to daycare part time next week to try to ease her back into the swing of things....she will probably throw a royal fit because she's been so spoiled with attention and holding during the trip, but hopefully she will enjoy seeing her friends again and if not, will adjust back to daycare quickly.  I hope....fret, fret, fret.....