Leaving on a Jet Plane-

Hey all, We are packed and ready to take our big trip. I hope to post while I am gone but if I don't get a chance I will post when I get back. I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Packin' up and ready to go!!!

So we are packing up for our big trip to Texas and Tennessee to see family. I am very excited to see everyone. I am totally stressed trying to pack and get ready. The dogs are being pills because they know something is up. I don't blame them but it makes things even more difficult. At least the have helped keep Eme a little entertained while I work. Anyway, I better go get more things done before we leave.

Vet Fiasco

I really have a love hate relationship with the Army vet clinics. I have had nothing but difficulties with them. The only reason I continue to use them is that they are so cheap compared to the civilian clinics. I do not understand why it costs $150 per dog to have three little shots and a heart worm test. The Army is able to do this for $84 for both dogs. Hmmm, $300 vs $84. I guess the fiasco's will continue to save us money but give me the biggest headache ever. This visit has us standing in the rain for a hour just to get into see the techs to get shots. It would have been three or four to see the Dr and get the health certificate that i needed to board the dogs. I decided that I was not going to hang out in the rain with Eme and the dogs for a piece of paper up an hour from our house. I did stop at the clinic that was closer to our house that only sees animals by appointment that you have to make like two months in advance. They were very nice and were able to fit us in to see a vet to get the stupid health cert. I guess I could have been proactive and made an appointment a few months ago but really I don't do much in advance. Besides, I did start a week in advance of my trip so I tried to plan ahead a little bit. Rain and headache aside, Eme did really well and loved seeing all the dogs. She kept saying Da and squealing when she saw a dog.

Cool!!!

Someone at blogger must have heard my plea for a non orange nav bar. Anyway, I found a not so ugly nav bar to use. Yeah!!!

I am off to the army vet to get the girls their annual shots and health cert for their boarding. I need a shower too so while Eme is down for her nap I am going to hop in the shower! Now that everyone knows that, I am off to do it.

More later when I get back from the vet.

Silly me and a sign

So I posted a fix to take the nav bar off my blog because is was ugly and had orange in it. For those of you who don't know I really dislike the color orange. No it is not because I am an Aggie, I just don't like the color orange. Anyway, the point was that I thought the nav bar was ugly and I removed it. Well, I did not think that one through very much as I just tried to update the blog and I could not figure out how to log in without using the nav bar. I finally figured out a way but it took way to long so I put the ugly bar back on. Ughhh, whatever.

So I had a doosey of a day on Saturday. I got up and ready to go in the car by 9 am, which for me was a huge accomplishment. So I loaded Eme in to the car and realized that I had taken the car paci into the house the last time we were in the car and did not bring it out this time. So I went back into the house to get one, got it and locked the house up and was walking back to the car when all of a sudden I was on the ground in pain. I ate it big time on the sidewalk. Luckily no one saw but I was now gushing blood from my knee. So I got Eme out of the car, went back into the house and cleaned my leg up, while chasing Eme down since I was not watching her. She can crawl really fast when she wants to. Anyway, I did actually take pictures of my banged up knee but I will spare you the goriness. I am sporting the latest in Band Aid fashion, a huge 2x2 bandage. Well, it hurt like heck but I sucked it up and limped back out to the car to load little bit in her car seat so we could head off on our day of shopping. I did get everything that I needed so tasks were accomplished.

So I think this was a sign of what is to come in the very near future. I am convinced that I needed to go through a skinned knee to help Eme get through hers. She is getting braver and more daring with her cruising. She is pulling up onto everything and will be walking very soon. That being said, I am sure that scraps and bruises are to come any day now. I guess I needed a reminder of how to take care of them so I was tested. Now I know that it hurts like heck and is a pain in the neck too, as I can't get down on the ground very easily without bending my knee.

I gave a friend a baby shower on Sunday, hence the shopping trip on Saturday, which was a lot of fun. Eme got to play with new friends, Ava, who is almost 2 and donates many clothes to Eme, and Skylar, who is 4. I loved watching her interact with the big girls. I have to get her into a day care with other kiddos in March so that she can learn social skills and make friends.

Today, I had Physical Therapy, aka Pain and Torture. Nothing much else going on. Oh, the PT was not for my little fall but for my back that has been giving me lots of pain recently.

This week will be filled with preparations to see the grandparents and family.

So here is a picture from New Year's Day. I need a thought bubble above her head most of the time just to see what is going through her mind. The caption for this would probably go something like this - 'What - I sure did not make this mess with the Cheerios. By no means, did I reach into my diaper bag, pull the baggie out, and chew on it to create a hole to let the Cheerios out all over the floor. But since they are on the floor, I guess I can help clean them up by eating them. Maybe the doggies would like a snack, too. '

Have a great Tuesday!

Here's Eme!!!

So here are some pictures that I took today. I just changed over Eme's clothes to her 12 month stash so we have a bunch of new clothes to show off. We also just received a lot of hand me downs from some friends here on the island. I can't believe that she is 10 1/2 months old. She has grown like a weed.
I missed her perfect smile because I cut her head off. Okay so photographer is not my calling. It is hard getting her to smile just right.

She was not too sure about being on the coffee table but she managed to give me a few cute shots.

Here is my cheese ball shot. She gives me this smile all the time. I am glad I captured it on film, well digi film.

Look at all those teeth!!! She has 8, 4 on top and 4 on bottom.

I am too cute and I know it!!

Cheese!!! Hey mom put that camera up - here is the case, enough with the pictures.

How is she so darn cute??? She is going to be hard to stay straight faced in her naughty times!!!

Where have I been???

Well, after almost a year of motherhood I am finally finding my groove to get back into the swing of things. Where did I go? Well, I have this lovely black hole that I retreat to some times and that is where I have been. Things got really overwhelming and I just could only deal with certain things and everything else went by the way side. Blogging was one of those that was easy to push away. I did not really have anything positive to say so I did not say anything.

2009 is a new year. Yeah, yeah, new years resolutions smosions. No, really, I have figured some things out for my self with the help of some professionals and I have a groove that I am really liking. So I am trying to emerge and join society again.

Eme is doing great. The dr's and I have found a great solution to her discomfort and pain so she is a very happy baby now. It was very rough trying to figure things out but we finally have things under control. She has acid reflux and delayed gastric emptying, with possibly a milk allergy. Really long story so I won't go into it but it is really under control.

Huge mistake in parenting, letting my emotions and the need to help my baby get the better of me when it comes to sleeping. I spent the last 9 months of my life on the couch with Eme in the swing, on my chest or propped up on a pillow at the foot of the couch while she was sleeping at night and during the day for nap time. I also let her dictate her bed time. Why is it that I let a child of less than a year dictate her sleep times and mine??? How is it that I could crate train both of my dogs but I could not train myself to put my child in her crib??? So at the end of Dec, I did sleep training with her all by myself. It took 2 days for her to get on schedule and she only cried for about an hour each night. Nap times took a week but she is totally on a schedule now. She still cries when I put her in her crib but by the time I come downstairs and get the monitor she is out. I really wish I had done this a few months ago but hind sight is always 20/20. Anyway, I have found several hours that I did not think I had and I have regained some Lauren time, which has really helped emerge from the blackness.

So, my goals for this blogging thing? I hope to keep up to date at least once a week. If I don't achieve this I won't beat myself up about it, I will just pick up where I am at that moment. I have this thing about needing to catch up which tends to get overwhelming and then the black hole starts looking really good. So if I disappear, bear with me I will emerge sooner than this latest episode.

I do want to update and let my readers see Eme's first year in retrospect. I have even figured out how to upload video too so I have pictures and video from the past year for you too see. The catch, you have to wait for me to get around to posting them. Remember the overwhelming thing, this is very huge task so I will get there just have patience with me.

So, I am making this a permanent post at the top for the next month so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Keep checking back for updates or you can subscribe by signing up with your email on the right. It will send you an email when I post something new.

Sorry for the absence and thanks for your patience with me. Thanks for your support too. I appreciate it.

What a terrible mommy!!!

So I blogged that my child was born on March 3rd which so is not true!!! She was born on the 9th of March. Kind of funny that Dad did not catch that slip up when he proof read my entry. Just goes to show how exhaustion will zap your brain!!! Thank you to a friend who pointed this out to us.

Kind of on a side note, our family birthdays all have a 9 in them.
Brad - 09/07/78
Lauren - 11/09/78
Emelia - 03/09/08

We are also 30 years older than our child. My father is 30 years younger than his mother and 30 years older than his youngest daughter(my sister).

Pretty neat, huh!! Oh, baby's crying got to run!!

Emelia Makana Foster is Here!!

She is finally here. Actually she is about 8 days old now. I have been trying to work on this post in my head since she arrived and have literally had my hands full. Sorry for the delay in the details.

Emelia Makana Foster made her arrival on Sunday March 3rd at 4:33pm. She weighed 7lbs 4.6ozs and was 19 1/4 inches long. The delivery went pretty well. Once I got my Magic Juice (epidural) I was great. Things kind of flew by as I look back on it now. Everyone always tells you it will all be worth it once your child is looking back at you, and they are all right. It was all worth the pain. So life begins a new chapter in the Foster Household.

Here is Dad minutes after Eme came out. What a proud Dad he is!! He was an awesome coach and very supportive partner in this whole process. Wow, this is me after the delivery. Man, I look rough. It was all kind of surreal.Check out our little ham!! Howdy world, I am Eme and I am here to stay.

Here is a much better picture of me and Eme. I had time to get showered and cleaned up after the whole process.

So, Brad's Mom was here for the birth after her flight was canceled on Sunday by the airlines. She left Monday, while we were still at the hospital. We had one day at home by ourselves before my parents came into town. They have been here since the 12th and will be leaving to go back home on the 31st. They actually are on their way to the Big Island of Hawaii for a few days to sight see and give Brad and I some time alone as a family with Eme while he is still off work.

I will try to post some more pictures soon. I have to figure out how to juggle all the things in our lives now so bear with us. Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you!

Her room is getting pretty!!

So I finally got her crib cleared out and put her bedding set up. The pattern that we picked out is Lambs and Ivy "Sweet as a Daisy". It is pretty purple and green with butterflies, lady bugs, and daisies. Here is her crib with the mobile attached. I don't have the sheets on yet because I still have to wash them. I also have to tie on the bumper and fluff the bed skirt but I will do that once we take the mattress out of the plastic. Here is the mobile. The pink blanket in the background was a gift from Susan, who is the wife of Brad's XO on the boat. She is a fabulous quilter; she made the blanket out of a pretty Hawaiian fabric and fuzzy purple fur. The dogs love it so it has their seal of approval. Now I just have to make sure that they know this is a baby blanket and not a puppy blanket. Here is a close up of the comforter. This is the side of the crib showing the bumper on top, then the mattress in the plastic, then the crib skirt.
More to come later...