9 Months Old!

We are nine months old today!!! Emory is getting so big. She is now started to laugh at everything. The other night she would just laugh at every little thing she was doing, it was so cute. You can't help but just to laugh with her. Sometimes we will be watching her and she will be playing and the next thing you know she is just laughing and smiling away. She is still trying to cut a tooth. I just wish that it would poke on through. I think it is playing peek-a-boo with us. Sometimes we will see a white spot and then the next time you look it doesn't even look like there is anything. We will go and see Dr. Shrum on Thursday and we will have current weight and heighth measurements for you. I know she is getting taller and heavier all the time. At therapy today, Ms. Laura said that she just keeps on improving, everytime she sees her she says. That is such a blessing too because she is behind on some of the milestones, but it is such a blessing to see her come along with everything. Because I know before too long she will be up and running before Dan and I realize it and we will not be able to keep up with her.

Emory has a ticklish spot right under her chin and on her chest. We can tickle her right under the chin or right on the chest right around her underarms and she just grins and giggles. It is the sweetest thing you have ever heard. It melts my heart everytime we do that to her and she grins and giggles. I really can't imagine my life with out her. She has changed me completely. I love her dearly.

On Sunday, we had our Keys' Family Cookout for the birthday's in August (HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLIN!!!!!) and a small wedding shower for Jason and Brittany (who are getting married August 31st). Afterwards we went back over to Dan's mom and dad's house before we left to come home, I found Emory like this:

This is her surprise look.

Last week Madalyn was up here to stay with Dan's mom and dad for a week while her parents went to Florida. She had loads of fun helping Daphna keep Emory. She would help assist with the eatings and the diaper changes and help keep Emory entertained. Madalyn is going to have a baby brother in November and I hope that this last week with Emory really helped her in some ways, so her mom, Damitra, will get some help out of her when baby brother gets here. She really wanted a baby sister. Madalyn went with her mom and dad to see the ultrasound and the doctor turned to her and said that she was going to have a baby brother and she no I am going to have a baby sister. But I think now she is more up to the idea of having a baby brother. She just loves Emory. Everytime I see Madalyn with Emory, she just keep saying aww how cute and everytime Emory would get upset she would be like what's wrong Emory, what's wrong. I just love the picture of the two of them together up above. They both have this "What" face on them. Like oh no not another picture please. Madalyn's last night with Daphna and Jimmy, they needed to go to WalMart so we told them that they could leave Madalyn with us for a little while and Emory justed loved it. Emory would try and find her when Madalyn was talking. I just cannot get over everytime I see Madalyn how big she is getting. I remember they day she was born, or the night rather. She was just a tiny thing and now she is getting so big.

Update and Vickie's Baby Shower

Well first off, I want to report about Emory's procedure she had on the 30th of July... We went down to Children's on Monday for the opthamologist to dilate her eyes and to check the pressure on her eyes and for the audiologist to do a hearing screening on her ears. They had to sedate her for both of the screenings because they wanted her to be still. Well, Dr. Lowery, the opthamologist, started right at 8 and was finished at 8:10, I was shocked at how fast his was. He came out and talked to me about what he say, he say no glacoma (sp?) and there was a little bit of scar tissue on the left eye from removing the cateracts but he said that he could see in so that meant that she could see out and that she shouldn't have any trouble seeing. He also told me that he was wanting to remove the bifocial part of her glasses, so he wrote a new prescription so whenever I can get a chance to go by the eye doctors office here and drop off the script for them to fill we will have new lenses put in with no bifocials. Then they did the hearing screening, which I knew that it would take about an hour and Dr. Stroud, love her she is so nice, came and talked to about what the hearing screening said. Emory's hearing in the right ear has improved and the left stayed about the same. So that was awesome news!!! So they have decided to switch her from wearing the hearing aides to wearing a "BAHA" (Bone Anchored Hearing Aid) which can be premant or she can wear it on a head band. Right now we are going to be wearing as a head band. As long as it has good contact with bone, it will stimulate both of her ears, which will be a blessing, because we could only get one of the hearing aids in anyways. So we were all really excited about the news that we got that day. Also, for her physical therapy that she has been going to all summer long, the OT therapist said that she has been really improving and she said that there is an order of certain things that babys learn to do, like weight bear on their forearm and then weight bear on the hand, well Emory would bypass weight bearing on the forearm and go staright to the weight bearing on the hand and Ms. Laura said that she has been doing great. Her muscle tone changes almost everytime she sees Emory and that Emory is really lifting her head up good. So all good things to report. Emory, last time we had her weighed, weighed 9lbs. 7ozs. and she is finally 20 inches long!!! We are really growing.

Saturday we had my sisters baby shower, she is due September 18th and we all had so much fun. Vickie got a ton of stuff, big stuff too. She got a baby swing, I am jealous, she got one of those activity centers where you put them in and they stand up, got a diaper genie II, baby moniters, baby bottles, creames, lotions, wash, you name she got it. Some one even made her a diaper cake, which was really cute.


Vickie opening mine and Dan's gift, which was 3 sleep-n-plays, one with hammers and tools all over it saying Daddy's little helper, one with a bear and something about sweet baby (I think) and a halloween one with "BOO" on the backside, which was very cute.

Vickie opeing Emory's gift to her Cousin Riley. The gift contain baby wash, lotion, and powder, a bottle, gas medicine, a pack of gowns, a pack of onsies, and "What to Expect the First Years."

Emory was so excited about the shower she just couldn't wait to give Aunt Vickie her present for Cousin Riley. Emory just can't wait for Cousin Riley to get here so she will have a playmate. "Hurry up, Cousin Riley, I want to play with you!!"

We all had such a great time at Vickie's shower. Hope you enjoyed, Vickie???
That is me, Vickie (holding Emory), Emory, and our mom, Mary (in the back)

Just hanging out

"Oh, Mommy, I don't want my picture taken!!!"

"Mommy, I said I don't want my picture taken!!"

"Oh, alright, you can take my picture."

"Just playing with my dragonfly..."

"Let me give you a kiss..."

"Awww, shucks, that was so sweet..."

" I just love to have my burp clothes over my face. They are so soft and smooth feeling on my face. I just can't help myself but to put them on my face or wear them like a hat...."

4th of July

"Don't I look cute?"

We had a great 4th of July. We went down to Daniel's mom and dad's, they always have a cookout and then we have our own little fireworks show. It was great. We had some really good food and some really great fireworks. Emory had a big day. I found this itty bitty bathing suit on sale a babygap.com and I couldn't resist buying for Emory (they had it in her size). It is the cutest thing. So it got here in time for the 4th and we took the swimsuit with us down to Daniel's mom and dad's so we could put her in the swimming pool at his aunt and uncle's house. She looked so cute in her bathing suit. She however did not like the water very much. Daniel said that it was kind of cold getting in and when he held Emory he slowly dip her toes in and she didn't mind that too much, well then he started to lower her back in and she started to cry. I guess it was too cold for her.

"I am ready to go swimming!!!!!"

"Okay Daddy, I am ready to get in!!!"

"This feels like my bathwater but it is really cold. I think I like this, but then again..... I really don't... it is TOO cold!!!! Daddy I don't like the swimming pool! Get me out, please?"

"Now, Mom, this is more like it. I like just laying around in nothing. That pool water was just too cold for me to like just yet but I bet next year I will be ready to splash around in that pool water. I really like my swimsuit though!!!"

"Okay, Daddy, we are ready for the fireworks. I hope that I don't get to scared. I sure hope that they are pretty, like mom says they will be."

Playing Hard & update

Okay, so apparently I am not very good at updating my blog anymore. I keep trying to make a promise to myself that I will try everynight to start getting on the computer and update the blog whether it be with just pictures or with pictures and stuff that has been happening, but apparently I break my promise every week. So anyways, last week we went down to the Rock (aka Little Rock) for Emory's appointments on Monday and Tuesday. We went down the night before to stay at my dad's house with him and my step-mom Deb and we had a really good stay with them. Monday we met someone in the speech department at Children's and we just went over how important it is to have Emory's hearing aides in at all times and no matter what to always leave them in and turned on even if she is throwing a screaming fit. And we also discussed just things that she is doing right now with her hearing and speech (the lack thereof) but her cooing and aahing and stuff like that. We also went over information about when Emory does goes to school. The lady that we met asked me what her plans where for school and she said that we probably had not even thought that far ahead and I was thinking NO!!!!!! she is only 7 months old and I just can't imagine that time when she does go to school. I thought that that is so far away but she said that with public schools that they have to acomodote Emory no matter what so that was good to know. Also on Monday we met with the Orthopedic doctors to check out Emory's arms, hands, legs, and feet. They also wanted to do some X-Rays of Emory since she has not had any since her stay in the NICU. So Daniel and I thought okay they could probably get her whole body on one film and they would only do about 5 X-Rays at the most. No, when the nurse called us back to the room for the X-Rays, she said that I could go back out to the waiting area since they were 20 (yup, TWENTY) X-rays, my jaw dropped. I couldn't get over that they wanted so many of her. It just blew my mind. Well needless to say, I thought that we would have gotten out of there that day by at least 3 maybe 3:30 no get got out of there at 5! And then the next day was to check out her kidneys (which are still doing fine, no change since the last check-up since March) and we were there at that appointment from 2 - 5. I was never so glad to get home. So all in all the appointments went really well and all of the doctors kept saying come back in 4 months so October will be a busy month for us.

Early while I was on the computer checking the email and Ethan Powell's website (http://www.ethanpowell.com/ (PRAYER WORKS!!!!)) I could hear Emory just playing away in the living room and then all of sudden, silence so I went in there to check on her and I found her like this:

She was just playing so hard that she fell asleep right there amongst her toys. I just couldn't help myself and I took a couple pictures of her while she was sleeping.

I love you, Mr. Frugs

These are some of my all time favorites of Emory. She has started to hug her small stuffed animals while she is playing with them. It is so cute. She is starting to get more and more active when she is playing. June 7th she turned 7 months old and I know she is behind on some stuff, but is starting to really pick up her smaller toys and she is focusing more with and without her glasses it seems like. She has the fold and go gym things and they have toys that hang down and of course we have to make them hang down a little longer than what they oringal do and she just loves it. She loves to be outdoors as well. When we are a one of Dan's ballgames or just outside in general and the breeze is blowing, she will grin from ear to ear when it hits her face. It is just the most precious thing to see her do that. It melts my heart everytime.

**As most of you know, earlier I had blogged that Emory had rolled over. Well that was with the help of me and my mom. This last Wednesday, my mom got to keep Emory for the day and Mom laid her down on the floor on her tummy and mom left her alone and just sat there on the couch. Well low and behold, Emory rolled over on HER OWN!!!! I just couldn't believe that I missed one of her firsts. Oh well at least my mom got it on video. Now if I just knew how to get the video on here for all you to see it. I will work on it.**

Softball Game

Last night we went to watch Daniel play for our Church play softball. This was Emory's second game to go to. Last game was kind of rainy so we didn't get pictures of her first softball game. Emory will be getting her own jersey. It will have the same color lettering as of the adults and it will have her name on the back and her number will 1/2. I cannot wait to see the shirt. They are not quiet ready yet. Emory had so much fun last night. Granny and Papa (Daniel's mom and dad) were there as well. There was a slight breeze down at the ball field and every time that the breeze would hit Emory, she would just smile really big. Our team lost the first game but we won the second game 14-4 or something like that. We had some many players show up this year that they had to divide everybody for some to play the first game and then the other half to play the second game.

"Go Daddy!!!!! Hit me a home run!!!"

"Daddy, you are the best player out there (in my book)!!!!"

"OH Papa, your are tickling my belly! Stop!.... no not really it makes me laugh!!!!"

The other night when I got finished updating our blog, I went into the living room and found

Daniel and Emory just playing in the floor. Emory loves to swing her right arm back and forth and when I walked in there on the two of them, she was just a swingin' her arm back and forth and everytime her hand would get to Dan, he would kiss her hand. I wish now that I had gotten it on video because it was just soooo cute!!!