Almost 1!!!

Thanks everyone for all of the wonderful words of wisdom regarding Emerson's sleep issues. A few days after I last posted Emerson slept through the night so I took that as my sign that we would run with this and if she woke up I would let her cry it out. The 1st night was okay, she woke up once and cried for about 45 minutes and then slept the rest of the night. The 2nd night she slept through the night. Great, except that she woke up the next morning with 103 degree fever!! I took her to the doctor and she once again has an ear infection. We will be seeing an ENT in a few weeks because she is having chronic ear infections and never gets rid of the fluid in her ears when she is healthy. This week both my girls developed horrible colds and coughs. So needless to say that was the end of our crying it out. Thank God she slept through the night when she woke up with a fever because how awful would I have felt if I let her cry the night before. So here we are, me and my sick girls. What do you think? Are we getting enough sleep at night!! Oh well, I'm optimistic and when she is healthy we will give it a go again.

Emerson has been doing a little more babbling which is music to my ears. She has such a low voice that when she grunts she sounds mad all the time. Now her babbling is softer and a little higher pitched and just so dang cute!! She is also still so close to crawling, but I know I have been saying that for 3 months and may be saying it for 3 more months. It seems like she wants to, but get frustrated. She also really lacks confidence which I knows is strange to say at 11 months of age, but its true. If she falters at all she acts really scared and it can set off crying.

Emerson is going to be 1 year old on Saturday!! I can't believe it. Her first year has been the longest, fastest year. I know that makes no sense, but I don't know how else to describe it. We have come such a long way from the dark days of her non-stop crying. I also can't believe that a year ago I was still pregnant. There was recent discussion on the listserve about how many of the pregnancies of kids with WS were so similar. My pregnancy with Emerson was not pleasant. I had a heck of a time complete with heart palpatations, sickness, varicose veins, and a general unease. I couldn't gain weight even though I went to bed nightly with a huge bowl of nestle pre-made cookies and ice cream. I started to be followed by a Perinatologist at about 32 weeks because I kept measuring so small. He was a real gem.
I remember once I told him that I could not lay on my back because it made me nauseous. He told me to just lay back and if I puked make sure I did it not towards him!! Anyway, at 38 weeks after he did an ultrasound he called my OB and told her to do an emergent C-section that day because of lack of fetal growth and low fluid levels. Being my optimistic self, I was nervous but really not very worried. I just figured everything would be fine. It was for the time being. We delivered a healthy 5lb1oz baby girl. She was tiny and perfect. We had no idea what was to come. Anyway, here are some early pictures of Emerson. I love the one where the Soothie looks almost as big as her head!! She actually is actually almost 1 month old in that picture