First "solid" food!

Emily has been acting hungrier than normal lately, and since she's so advanced in her development, her doctor recommended introducing "solid" foods to her diet. So, today we tried rice cereal! Obviously it was VERY watered down with formula... so it was VERY messy!

At first, Emily wasn't too sure what to do. But four to five spoon-feeds in, she was getting the hang of it. Then she started looking forward to it. I'd take the spoon away to fill it up again, and she'd turn towards the bowl like saying "Hey... I want more!" It was very cute! She even tried to grab the spoon!

Here are some pix. Video to follow.

The Diagnosis

As I said in the previous post, Emily has been holding her head funny... tilting to the right.

We took her to see her pediatrician this afternoon, and...

Emily has Acute Torticollis, which is basically just stiffening of the neck muscles. It is a very common condition, and some people are born with it. However, Emily wasn't. The doctor think it's from her cold... torticollis can come from a virus or infection. Or she may have just bent or twisted her neck too far. So the good news is that's this is common and not something to worry about.

The bad news is Emily needs physical therapy. Thankfully we don't have to take her somewhere to get it though. I just have to go to a class, then I can give her the PT... just basic neck stretches, etc.

Emily isn't in pain from this... but she doesn't enjoy it when I try to turn her head and do the excercises. Poor thing.

Here are some pictures of her tilted head:

Emily's First Cold

There is nothing more pathetic than a sick 3-month-old!

Emily has a cold right now... very congested and has a slight fever. She really doesn't like being congested, and will have periods of bad crying. Which makes it worse, because she REALLY can't breath when she cries so bad. Feeding her soothes her, but then she struggles to breath through her nose while she's eating. Poor little thing.

The doctor recommended Little Noses nasal spray to break up the congestion. I don't know what 'genius' thought that spraying something up a baby's nose would be an easy process!

On top of it, we think she pulled a muscle in her neck. How? I have no idea. She has a doctor appointment this afternoon to see what's going on. She's holding her head to the right, sort of tilted. And she won't even let us bend it to the left. She doesn't seem in pain... and she doesn't cry when I move her head around. But it's odd that she's tilting to one side. We shall see...

3 Months Old!

Emily's a quarter of a year old already! My how time flies! It's hard to believe that 3 months ago we were welcoming this little one into our life... I was excited, scared, happy, nervous, anxious... the followed by exhausted, stressed out, overwhelmed.

Now everything's great! Routines are starting to form... she's eating at pretty much the same times every day... she's sleeping all night... which means Mommy & Daddy are sleeping all night! She's eating great... she's always smiling and chatting away. She's a very happy and easy going baby! We're so lucky and happy to have such a great little girl in our life!

And she's changing more and more every day. Over the past few days, she's started transferring things from one hand to the other... mainly her keys, that she never puts down! I think she's trying to tell us that she wants a car.

She's chatting all the time... as a matter of fact, about 30 minutes ago, she was chatting up a storm... talking her to her stuffed elephant that she was playing with. Toby had gone to bed, but had to come down to see what all the commotion was about... he could hear her all the way upstairs in the bedroom!

She's smiling ALL THE TIME... we call her Smiley Simpson.

She's been sleeping all night the past few nights... anywhere from 8 to 10 hours at a time!

She's getting really strong and loves to do push ups.

She's a great eater... but we think we'll have to start feeding her rice soon. She's starting to act hungrier... and STARES at us while we're eating. Toby's anxious to feed her vegetables from the garden!

Here are a couple pix from the weekend.

In a great little number from Grandma Tricia.

Relaxing in the pool. (I LOVE THIS PICTURE!)

GRIN!

We went to the Wisconsin State Fair on Friday... and everyone tried the new fad... chocolate covered bacon on a stick.

Emily didn't want any.

(It was gross!)

Passport Time!

We are going to visit the family (and Father Christmas) in England for Christmas, so Emily needs a passport. Yes, a 3-month-old needs a passport. What's crazier is that this passport will be good until she's five! She'll looking NOTHING like her photo when she's five!! But whatever.


So I filled out all the paperwork, made necessary copies of identification, etc. Mom brought Emily up to meet me at the Post Office on Wednesday to get her photos taken. I go up to the counter, pull out everything, only to find I forgot to get something notarized! Toby couldn't be present, so he had to fill out a "Statement of Consent" allowing me to get a passport for Emily w/o him there... just in case I plan on smuggling her out of the country, I guess.


So, we had to go back yesterday once I had it notarized. So mom came back up yesterday and met me at the Post Office. We had Emily's pictures taken and mom went ahead and left with Emily... only to find out the pictures didn't develop!!

So we had to go BACK AGAIN this morning. Thankfully, after FOUR TRIES, the pictures worked! One of them turned out blank, one was a keeper and these are the other two... she's so cute!




So everything is in the mail and hopefully we have her passport in the next few weeks! Then I can smuggle her out of the country...


IN OTHER NEWS...

Emily slept for 9 hours and 45 minutes last night! WOO HOO!

12 Weeks Old and Swimming!

Friday was the mark of Emily's 12 week birthday... she's almsot 3 months old!

And this weekend was the first time this summer that we had to use our air conditioning! It was in the 90's and humid! So, what better time to introduce Emily to swimming!

We took her across the lake to our friends, Bill and Sandy's house... they have an in-ground pool. It may have been hot outside, but the pool was still a crisp 76 degrees! Eek! It felt good to me, but I think it was a little cold for Emily... she's used to bath water!

Here are a couple pictures from today.

And here's a video of Emily's first time in a pool!!!

And some more pictures... of a very tired baby.

Her own little language...

Emily's talking! Well, in her own little language, that is.

Here's a video of her talking... well, at least a little bit. I realize I'm talking WAY to much in it... but at least you'll get a feel for her chatting, smiling and other cute Emily-isms!

Enjoy!