It's her party and she'll cry if she wants to..

We ended up having to cancel Emma's birthday party. :( She started getting a fever late Wednesday night and was pretty miserable, hot and achey all day Thursday. It was the first time her fever wouldn't break from ibprofin or tylenol. Poor thing. I stayed home from work and pretty much held her all day. She didn't really eat anything- but would drink fluids. She was doing a lot better on Friday and thought we'd still do the party but then she got a low-grade fever Friday evening. That last fever was probably not really from the illness, but probably teething, because it went away with ibprofin right away and she was feeling happy and running around having a great time. She was getting her canines (all four of them just poked through about the same time..) so that made everything worse. We are still not sure what she was sick with, but didn't want her to still be contagious and make the whole nursery from church get sick.

Nancy and Kenny still came to Albuquerque on Saturday to trade cars with Ganes on Sunday and have a little family birthday party with us for Emma Jane. It ended up being a really busy weekend... and Emma was feeling a little cooped up and spoiled from all her special treatment so she threw several big fits.. it's her party and she'll cry if she wants to..thankfully I think that is all out of her system now! (and don't forget all the canines just poked though!)

Here are some things I got done before the weekend though..

My apron! It has some detailed pleats and I love the contrasting fabric.. but don't love the fit.. but I think it's because I'm hugely pregnant. (I'm somewhat worried about how much bigger I'm going to get in the next three months!!)

Our garden! I planted all the transplants last Tuesday (lots of chili peppers!!) and John and I tried to quickly build the fences around the boxes to keep Emma out. She has been digging in them for the past year and knew she would quickly destroy the garden otherwise. (we did get her a turtle sand box from a friend with lots of sand toys that she loves)

Speaking of gardens.. I signed up to get a harvest box from Los Poblanos Organics every other Tuesday. It is a huge box of delicious organic produce for 33$ (including shipping). Here's Emma enjoying her first bites out of the box.. (notice the chocolate yogurt all over her face)

I also made this little crayon holder for one of Emma's birthday presents. She loves to color and this is so much more fun than a plastic crayon tote.. that she just empties out completely right away anyways.. I love the monstor fabric.. I made it out of flannel because of the monstor fabric. Emma loves it.

Julie Tew brought over this cutest dress and jacket for her Saturday morning. She helped me decorate the cake while wearing it and then played in some water and the sand box and with Truman outside.. So it's already broken in! She was soo happy to see Julie's son Heath (or "Heaths", as she calls him). She really likes him and was really really needing some little kid interaction so I'm glad she stopped by..even for a few minutes.

Now we party! Because Saturday became so busy and we went to a graduation dinner at Quarters Saturday night we had her party kind of late .. but I guess that's not too suprising for us. Here's Emma around all the presents she openend that night. This awesome pink chair is from Nancy. It has a little shelf on the bottom for books. We LOVE it. The present she is holding is a little basket ball. Ganes had a big/little basketball hoop sent to our house. She didn't see it until Sunday night when Ganes was there.. she loved it and we all played some hoops with her for a while Sunday night. She was running around and it was really hard to get any pictures of her face.. but here are some valiant efforts..

This is the crayon holder..

I got this baby doll at a recommendation for the "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day" book. I haven't finished the book or started the training yet.. soon though. This baby pees and poops. I'm curious about the pooping part. She loves baby dolls.. but would play with this.. then throw her to the ground when she was all done.. she's not ready to hold any new infants yet!

Here is her cake! I became a lot more casual and sloppy while decorating it when we decided to cancel the party, but it has these little fun fondant shapes I made. I actually made the fondant! This was my first time working with it.. and only the second cake I've ever really decorated.. but the fondant was really not as bad or scary as I thought it would be. I found this marshmallow fondant recipe, and it actually doesn't taste too bad. I frosted the whole thing with delicious buttercream frosting, but I think I'll try to make a whole fondant frosted cake next... it's so beautiful!

Singing Happy Birthday to her and letting her blow out the candles was by far the highlight of her day. She LOVED it. "Happy to me!" She loved it so much, we did it about 5 times, and about 5 times the next day, and will for sure do it again this Saturday, the 22nd, when it's her real birthday! (and we'll be at the cabin.. horray!!!!!)

On Sunday we left Nancy and Kenny for a while so she could get some work done and we went out the the Tamaya in Bernallilo to see Ursula. We spent the whole time swimming with Emma. She LOVES the water! She did so great! She took swimming lessons last summer and did good but she is so brave now. She loves to jump in the pool and had her arm floaties on.. after about 45-60 minutes she was floating and spinning around in the water by herself! (and her floaties). She did not want to get out.. but when she finally did, she was starving and exausted. It was great. We're going to do swimming lessons again this Summer. We're going to do the second evening session at Montgomery Pool.. the Mom and Tot class. Anyone want to join us?

Hello Birthday Party

We can hardly believe it's true,

Our little girl is turning two!

Come celebrate with us and Pooh.

Saturday, May 15th

11:00 am-1:00 pm

At the McCulloch's Howse deep in the Hundred Acre Wood

Come share the fun and food with us as we celebrate Emma Jane's birthday

4 down.. 18,687,263 to go.

Here are some of the things I've been up to..

Re-fashioning my purse. I have a love for dark brown, which is the color of my usual purse, but I have been wanting to pull out another purse that is such a nice spring color- ivory. After using for an hour I remembered why I put it away in my closet. It has these metal rings on the handles that are too loud and heavy and .. not me. I hate how they clank around and because the straps are too short, it falls off my shoulder.. so I decided to change the straps to my liking!

Before:

Mid-Way: (The purse is leather.. I could only find vinyl that I sewed to canvas for reinforcement)

After:

(The straps may still be a little too short. If it bugs me enough I will have a re-fashion part two.)

Yard Work. I re-seeded our lawn with some Tall Fescue so I've been dilligently keeping it wet. We have had success and have some cute little baby grass blades coming up.. meanwhile the older grass was getting VERY tall. Emma loves to play in our back yard and on her swing. "wing" I had her in there while I was mowing the lawn with our OLD- at least 20 years and LOUD LOUD electric lawn mower and would push her in the swing when she needed another push. I looked up to see if she needed a push.. but she really needed a NAP! (She has been on a growth spurt. She took a 4 hour 15 minute nap on Friday!)

Baking these yummy (and low-fat/calorie) chocolate cupcakes.Eating Avacados.. and now I will watch the pits grow some avacado trees!

Growing a baby. I will be 25 weeks tomorrow.. John and I had these great Wild Things shirts made at Christmas and the size I picked for mine was just way too big and wierd.. but I altered it at the neck and took in the sleeves and then did this ruching technique that took about two minutes... and now I have a really fun, custom-made maternity shirt!

Making to-do lists.

1. Finish my apron. I haven't worked on it in months.. I will finish it this week!

2. Plant the garden in our square foot gargen boxes we planted last year.

3. Buy a sander, and supplies to paint and repair our big swing-set we got from the neighbor.

4. Peruse Craiglist for a decent proprane grill and an arm's reach co-sleeper.

5. Build a modern farmhouse table

6. Hang the curtains in the office/Emma's sleeping room.

7. Take down the wallpaper in the bathroom and re-paint.

8. Take down the old ugly mirrors on the dining room wall and re-paint.

9. Plan a two-year old birthday party for Emma Jane.

10. Start making baby announcements and baby boy projects.. car seat cover, blankets..

11. Make Emma's Crayon holder craft and work on her quiet book.

12. Clean and organize and PURGE my house.

Pregnancy Update/ Ultrasound #4

Yesterday morning I had 3 OB appointments in a row.. (from 7-10). I always have my regular check-ups with Dr. Stuart at 7:15 on Fridays. I like to get in and out. Emma and John were able to come with me to these appointments because the ban of children has finally been lifted in the hospital. We talked to Dr Stuart about the Echogenic Focus, and like us she was not worried about it.. easy appointment.. my next one is five weeks away.
Next we went down a floor to the Perinatal Associate's office and met first with the genetic couseler. This was an appointment they told us we should make and honestly we didn't really learn anything new regarding our case but it was still a good idea. It was a good time to ask questions and be put even more at ease that we really don't need to be worried about anything. We ended up asking a lot of other questions about genetics in general and had a little fun picking her brain.. she did tell us that at their office there are a couple of doctors who wish patients would not even be told it exists because it means nothing to them.. and a couple of doctors who say.. well, we should talk to them about it because sometimes it is correlated with other problems.
Finally we went back for another ultrasound- the tech did the general biophysical profile and our baby got 8 out of 8 (meaning he's growing and moving and the blood flow is still good and the amniotic fluid level is within nornal limits).. Then Dr Albright came in and took a little closer look at the heart and other organs and said we are good to go and we'd only need to come back if we start having any other complications. When I started to ask a little about the echogenic focus we quickly learned that he is one of the doctors that doesn't like it and wish they wouldn't have to talk about it. He said there are a lot of other hard or stronger markers for genetic anomolies that they look for and this baby has none.
So, it seems like we really didn't learn anything new.. and that's why we wanted to do these appointments- to make sure we wouldn't learn anything new. Our little baby is growing healthy and strong and we are excited to meet him. It was fun to have Emma see him on the ultrasound.. but I still don't think she really knows why my belly is growing so big. (and it is! I'm huge!!!)
I think we have his name all picked out. I love it. We'll let you all know what it is in a little less than four months when he is born!

boo

I am 23 weeks and three days pregnant... so why did I throw up this morning? I am only 4 weeks away from the third trimester!! Sheesh!!

Remembering Dudley Lee Proctor

Emma loves The Little Mermaid.. however she is simply called "Fish" not Ariel, Mermaid, Princess of even Barbie. I love it. She has to bring it with her everywhere. Here she is watching The Little Mermaid movie and laid down next to Fish and said it was time for a nap. So, I put the blanket over them and she thanked me. :)
You may wonder why this picture is fuzzy.. it is because Nina and I had to run and chase them around the aquarium the whole time... it's amazing the picture even turned out this good. Thanks for the workout girls!
Emma and I were able to make it to Panguitch for Great-Grandma Proctor's (Dudley Lee) funeral services. John needed to stay home for work and school. I was a little worried about the ten hour drive but bought a portable DVD player Monday night. What a miracle worker that little thing is! We made it all the way to Flagstaff without stopping. We were able to eat lunch at Niki's house and spend a little time with her and her sons. It was really good to see them. Part of the reason why I was willing to do the long drive was as long as someone road with me from Flagstaff. Luckily both Amber and Megan were able to get out of school and work so they rode from Flagstaff to Panguitch with me. We did that part of the trip without stopping also! Of course my butt was killing me.. but it was nice to get there at a decent hour. The funeral was on Wednesday the 14th. We had a two-hour viewing first. A lot of friends and family made it for that. Grandma looked SO beautiful and peaceful. Ann Proctor did her hair and make-up.. her real hair. Grandma always wore these big wigs until the last couple of years, but her natural hair was so beautiful and we were all so happy to see her looking so peaceful and happy. I also love that she was dressed in her temple clothes. I am so grateful for our eternal knowledge of thing. The funeral immediately followed the viewing. Grandpa (Clark) and Grandma (Gwen)Frandsen, her brother Jay, his wife Ann and my mom all spoke. It was great to see more what a positive and happy person she was. Several of her poems were read and we could really tell that the world through her eyes was such a beautiful place. Ben Proctor dedicated the grave. It was a beautiful prayer and blessing. Josh was a pall bearer. He did great. He is really growing up. Bob and John were both listed as honorary pall bearers. All of our cousins were able to make it except Bob, David and Dennis and J.C.. Here the pall bearers are placing their flowers on Grandma's beautiful casket. All of us, especially the girls took a flower or a few from the casket arrangement to press or dry.

It was a fast, quick trip but I am really glad I was able to go. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. It was also so good to see Grandpa Proctor. He is doing very well. Really the hardest part was watching him cry at her side before they closed the casket. How wonderful to be so in love for so long! (They will have been married 74 years this June).

It was so good to come home last night and spend time again with my loving and wonderful husband (of 4.5 years). We'll reach that 74 year mark as well someday! :)

This is a few weeks old... but it's a cute video of Emma doing the dishes.

A few days without John.. and a little white spot.

John is in Michigan at the annual American Nuclear Society student conference. He gave a presentation on some research he did (and had published) and did really well.. They give awards for good presentations and he'll find out tonight if he won. He did however recieve a "man purse" for place 3rd in a golf tournament...
lucky guy...
Meanwhile, Emma and I have been busy here at the house. I did a lot of work on the yard including overseeding our back lawn.. soon we'll have beautiful little green blades of grass poking through the black compost.. i LOVE Spring.
A couple of somewhat sad things have happened this week too. My great-grandmother Dudley Proctor passed away. She was 96 I think. She has had dementia and my great grandfather Jay and my grandmother Gwen have been taking care of her for months. She is such a sweet lady and was deeply loved. Her and Grandpa Proctor have been married for over 75 years! Can you imagine!?! My poor Grandpa Proctor stayed by her side to cry for several minutes. I hope John and I are still so in love and devoted to each other after so many years. I'm sure we will be. Hopefully I will be able to make it to the funeral in Panguitch on Wednesday..
Also I had a follow up ultrasound friday morning to get a better look at our baby's anatomy and they found a ECHOGENIC CARDIC FOCUS on his left ventrical. It is a little bright white spot on his heart. I was feeling pretty worried.. but am doing so much better today. It is one of the "soft markers" for Down Syndrome. I really think that he is fine however. He has no other signs that I know of yet. I did not do the blood test for genetic problems and will not do an amniocentosis. The uncertainty is the hardest part and I'm sure I will have a little worry spot tucked away in the back of my mind for the next four months... I have an appointment with a genetic counselor and the Perinatologist in two weeks. (Honestly I wasn't too worried until the told me I need an appointment with the genetic counselor.. but I would rather be overcautious than undercautious.) But honestly.. I'm not too worried.. so neither should any of you be!
Good news.. so far my blood pressure and protein leaking has all been within normal limits this pregnancy. Horray!
Has anyone else had a baby with the Echo Focus on their heart? One of my best friends who actually has a Downs baby just told me that he did NOT have the spot.. so who knows?