Silly Girl

The other day Emma was putting Josiah's clothes on.  They are size 6 months.  I couldn't believe that she could get into them.  It looks like she is wearing capris.

31 for 21: Emma's Birthday Party

 Emma LOVES the VeggieTales movie Sweetpea Beauty.  So, we had a Sweetpea birthday party for her.  We got her and Abby Sweetpea t-shirts.

 She got a Sweetpea doll.

 After the kids open a present they have to go tell the person thank you and give them a hug before they can open the next gift.  She gave her little friend Bruin a hug after she opened her gift from him. I think this picture is so cute.

I made gluten-free cupcakes for everyone.  Her party was completely gluten-free, which is so nice to not have to worry about her getting sick.  At most birthday parties I spend my time watching her and making sure there is no food lying around that she can pick up and eat.  It's not very relaxing, but this time it was.

 She thought they were yummy.

 My uncle made this picnic table for his grandkids and once they out grew it he gave it go my parents.  They brought it up for the kids since they don't get to use it very often at their house.  It came in handy today!

It was a good day.  I think Emma had a great time.  She got spoiled by family and friends.  Thanks everyone for lovin' on my girl!

31 for 21: Randomness

So, I have some random things I want to blog about.....

Last night, I chased and killed the most ginormous centipede in the world, in my living room.  OK, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but he was pretty big.  Here's what happened.  I put the girls to bed and went downstairs to feed Josiah.  I turned on the light and walked to the couch when I sat down I saw Mr. Biggie creeping down the path I was just walking.  Bwahhh, yuck!  So, I put Josiah down and grabbed my shoe and tried to smoosh him, but he was reseilent and ran around the living room, but I finally got him.  I left him on the floor until Dave got home, a little welcome home gift!  I just couldn't bring myself to pick it up and I wanted Dave to see his monster size.  Dave took a picture of it with my phone, but I can't email so I can text it to you if you'd like to see it, but it's a camera phone so it's kinda blurry.

A few months ago I found an almost dead scorpion in the living room.  Yeah, I'm ready to leave the desert.  I was a little squeamish so I got a big jug and put it on top of him, with a shoe on top.  He was on his back and looked dead, but when Dave got home he was upright and trying to find a way out.  His way out was into the toilet!  Oh, I can't handle these critters.   

My friend just told me that aside from it being National Down Syndrome Awareness Month it is also Celiac Disease Awareness Month, and it's Emma's birthday month.  It's a big month for Emma!  Well, in case you don't know Emma has Celiac which means she can't eat wheat/gluten.  If she eats it or her food touches anything wheat she gets the nastiest diarrhea and will become lethargic and just lay around, poor thing.  Randomly she'll get 'contaminated' and get diarrhea a few times, but she seems ok otherwise.  Back around Easter she got super sick all over again and was sick for about 2 weeks.  This was right when I went on bed rest, crazy times, anywho...  The hard thing was that I had no idea what she ate that made her so sick. 

On Tuesday night, Emma got into my purse, found a mini granola bar (which contains wheat), opened the wrapper (I didn't know she could open them), and just started eating it.  I was feeding Josiah and she comes walking in my room eating it.  I wanted to cry.  Immediately Abby and I put our hands on her and started praying that she wouldn't get sick.  I was so sad because she doesn't understand that when she eats certain foods they make her sick.  I kept praying God would give her grace.  He is good! He has totally answered that prayer.  She hasn't had diarrhea once since then.  It's just amazing.  One of the reasons I was so sad was because I've seen her in so much pain and so much diarrhea because of her Celiac and how long it takes her to recover.  I was thinking she would probably still be sick on her birthday.  Praise the Lord for his mercy on us.  Emma is her spunky, silly, happy, singing, and dancing self!

31 for 21: Dancing Queen

I was looking on my Flip today and I found this old clip of Emma dancing!  This is from back in March, just a month or so after she started walking.  She has come so far in the past few months.  I'm so proud of her.  I love to see her dancing so I thought I'd share it with you too!

31 for 21: Times Are Changing

Things are changing around here...too fast in my opinion :)  Emma is going to school next month. (sniff, sniff)  Right now all of her therapists come to our house to work with her.  Once she turns 3 she goes to the school district for the early childhood program.  Today was her last day with Mrs. Rebecca, her Occupational Therapist.  She has been a wonderful therapist, and has given us great ideas to help Emma in her development.  We will miss her greatly.

Thankfulness Day #13

Today I'm so happy and super thankful for a day without diarrhea! It's the first day in almost 2 months with no yucky diapers. Emma hasn't been eating wheat for 11 days and she is finally starting to feel better. Yay! She's playing more and trying to climb up the stairs when I'm not looking!! I couldn't be happier to chase her up the stairs. Thank you, Lord, for showing us what's been making her sick.

Side note/Update: Tomorrow she's going in for an upper endoscopy. They put her out with gas, give her an IV, and then put a little scope down her throat so they can have a look in her tummy and intestine. They do a biopsy to confirm that she does have Celiac. It will take her intestines 4-6 months to heal. We're praying for a quick healing.

BTW: Our new baby is 15 weeks today! Soon we'll know if it's a 'he' or 'she'!

Update on Emma #2

Yesterday I talked to Emma's doctor about the rest of the results of her blood work and we finally have an answer about why she's been having diarrhea.....she is allergic to wheat/gluten (aka Celiac Disease) It's nice to know what we're up against so now we can get her healthy again. I'm sad for her because of all the food she won't be able to eat. However, I'm glad that this developed while she is so young, which should help her adapt a little easier. I also have a friend that has it so she's offered to go shopping with me and show me what's good and what's not. This allergy has become more common so now there are a lot of options out there. Please pray that her body heals quickly.

Update on Emma

We got the preliminary blood results back and we are happy to report that it isn't looking like something super serious. So far it's looking like she has an infection in her intestines, which is why she's had diarrhea for a month. We'll know more by Friday. Our doctor has also referred us to another gastroenterologist. (I have no idea how to spell that!) Hopefully he'll be able to get things figured out. We appreciate all of you who keep praying for her. The Lord continues to be faithful with this little one.

Keepin' Us On Our Toes

Little Emma is keeping us on our toes in regards to prayer. She hasn't been feeling well for the past month, but has gotten significantly worse the past two days. We took her to the doc today to find out that on the outside they can't find anything wrong. Which means something is wrong on the inside (I know, a no-brainer.) Any who, so she is not herself at all. She's usually is so happy and playful, but right now she is very lethargic and not eating much. This is definitely cause for worry.

Thank the Lord that we have a really good pediatrician that has experience with Downs patients. He's very thorough, without freaking out. That is one of the reasons Dave and I really like him. We took her in for blood work today and should have the results of the tests tomorrow. He's testing her for lots of stuff, some of the things he's testing for are pretty serious which is why we're worried. Please pray for her and us. I'll keep you posted.