The World According to Emily

Ok, so tonight Sophie has been whisked away by her adoring handlers and entourage (aka Aunt Pat and Caely) to have a big girl sleepover out with them. Which means that when Jim and I came home from work tonight there was only Emily in the house. And MAN was it ever quiet...

So I have been inspired to do a post that is all about Emily. Unfortunately Emily was teething and tired so we didn't get to lavish her with our undivided attention for very long tonight before she was ready to throw in the towel but man, Emily is one stinking cute and totally unique happy little creature. She is so very different from her big sister in so many ways. She wakes up happy and saying "Hi" in the sweetest, cutest voice ever. (Sophie, if you didn't, often know woke up typically fairly grumpy or even downright miserable within minutes of waking most of the time.) Emily can entertain herself and often does. Emily is messy and a walking petri dish. She picks her nose and throws her food. Sophie NEVER EEEVER did anything so beneath her as to get mussy or pick her nose. Emily rolls in sand. Emily eats fistfulls of sand. Sophie was afraid of grass touching her legs at Em's age. They are oh so different and yet both so amazing and wonderful in their own ways.

Emily's current lexicon includes:
Dada, Mama, Nana, Pop Pop, cup, car, Elmo (but she says "Elwo"), Bottle ("Ba Ba"), Stinky ("Tinky"), shoes, and I'm sure a few others I'm forgetting.

She gives kisses. She likes to hug. She adores the Wiggles. She is lactose intolerant. She is probably getting three of her molars at this very moment.

Boy do we ever love her. She is just the most incredible little being you ever will meet. We are so tickled by her joy of life and can't wait to see how Em grows and changes over the course of the coming year.

Just some pix

Just a few pix from the past week or two...

Ocean City NJ Vacation

We are back from a pretty amazing two weeks down the shore! We had a fantastic time frolicking by the surf, jumping waves, building sandcastastles and tidal pools, exploring sea life, and eating yummy shore food! It was pretty awesome. And even better we got got to spend half of it with our friends from Ohio, the GodSnedikers!! Sophia is completely smitten with her godbrother, Adam. In fact, I had to stop counting the number of times she said "Where's Adam?" because it just was a regularly uttered phrase for the last week. Plus, she voluntarily would say "Mom, I REALLY love Adam" or (even better), "Adam, I LOVE you.." It was just so heartfelt and so darn cute. And, speaking of cute... Emily learned to give full body hugs (you know, the kind where she wraps her arms around the other person's body and stands there hugging). It was just the most adorable thing you ever saw. We were also lucky enough to have two visits from the Pottstown crew - Aunt Pat and "Tan" came down one day and then Caely and Paul came down another day. Yay for visits from adoring Aunts and cousins. And we even got to hang out with some other Oxenford cousins, Zachary and Nathan and their folks Cristina and Todd, who just happened to be down the same week we were. We got to play in their pool and enjoy several dinners - yay for hanging out with fun cousins!!

Here's a few select photos of our two weeks. We are so lucky we got to spend that much time in such a fun and happy place. And, we're especially lucky that our beloved Sneds made the trip out from Ohio to join us!

Oxenford Girls Health Update

I'm not sure where to begin this post... Do I start with the post-birthday recap or the double ear infection that landed us in the ER or the broken elbow and purple cast that landed us back in the ER? Or. do I just start with the pink eye??? Hmmm... decisions decisions.

Well, let's start with the cast.... This past Saturday night Jim and I were thrilled to be getting a date night when DeeRee offered to come over and watch the girls for us. We had a lovely dinner and were on our way home (well, actually I was on the front porch about to walk in the door) when we got the phone call. It was a slightly panicked call that Sophie had fallen and was holding her arm and seemed to be in a lot of pain. We finally got her to sleep but she had a horrible night waking up a lot until I could get some more advil in her. When she did wake up the next morning, she went downhill fast and by 8:30am we were headed to the ER. So apparently she had fallen trying to get out of bed to go to the potty. And when she fell, she landed on her elbow. Hard. Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, where my awesome step-sister Maria works, and is right down the street from us, was so amazing!! They took her back right away and everyone was so good and so sweet. They helped her calm down immensely and once the Xrays were over, Sophie was almost back to her old self. Then we went down to CHOP on Monday and the docs there decided it would be best if shegot a cast. So, a purple cast was put on our sweet girl and she handled it all so well. Well, except for the part where we had to take her band aid off before they put the cast on. That, THAT, was apparently the last straw for her. We are hopeful that she'll get the cast off early and thankful that she wasn't in much pain or discomfort once the splint and the cast were on and protecting that sweet little elbow.

Now, back track a few days to Wednesday night and Emmy and I in that very same hospital. Poor Em was fighting a bad cold with lots of really icky looking snot (sorry) coming out of her nose and I remember thinking, this is going to turn into an ear infection. But she was acting mostly fine all day and perked up with a little advil and distraction of playing with her sister. However, when we went to lay her down for the night she was in agony and was screaming her head off. Just like last time. SO, a phone call to my amazing step-sister later and the wheels were in motion to get us into Mercy Fitzgerald so a doc could just take a quick look at her and maybe get her a script for an antibiotic. It was truly amazing how quickly we were in and out of that hospital. All I can say is my step sister Maria is truly loved because we got the royal treatment there not once but twice last week! So, thank you Maria!!

And let's see... today Sophie woke up with full blown pink eye and her entire right eye shut. We had gotten drops last night she was already one half day into some medicine for it and with any luck it won't get too bad on us.

Other than that, things are completely normal. Emily is talking and communicating more and more. She now says Stinky ("gin-ky") and is starting to be heard saying lots of other words, too. She walks up to you and points and screams for things like Cheetos and water. Thanks again, Daddy for introducing our girls to that beloved snack food, Cheetos.

We hope you all are doing well. We are wishing we could go to cousin Ben's wedding in California soon and see the rest of the MacDougall and Schrank clan but air travel with the girls is just not in our cards this summer. Congratulations Ben and Pam!!

Birthday recap

Hello Family and Friends!

If you are reading this, it means that you successfully were added to the access list and logged on to the site in it's new "safer" mode. After a recent potentially strange comment from someone I didn't know I decided to go ahead and restrict access to this blog from now on for the safety of our girls. I hope you all understand. If you have friends or colleagues who you would like to give access so you can do some virtual bragging, please just go ahead and send me their emails and I'll be more than happy to add them to the access list, ok?

Anyway, on to happier topics... Emily's 1st Birthday BlowOut was an amazing success. Aside from the disappointment that Grandnma and Grandpa MacDougall weren't able to make the trip up for it as they had originally hoped, it was a great time had by all - especially Miss Emily Anne "Birthday Girl" herself. Check out this grin:



We had a massive birthday bash complete with catered delicious BBQ from Famous Dave's. We had a moonbounce for the big kids (and especially big sister, Sophie), we had friends and family, we had beautiful (though slightly hot and sticky) weather after literally an entire week of monsoon-like conditions. It was grand! And of course, Emily had her first taste of cake (chocolate cake no less!) and LOVED IT!

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate our sweet little Emily Anne's milestone 1st birthday with us!! We love you! xoxo

Happy 1 Year Birthday Sweet Emily Anne

One year ago on this day, our hearts swelled yet again, opened wide and filled with love for little Emily Anne.

She was born very early in the morning and very quickly. We barely made it to the birth center in time. The mid wife seemed to be caught off guard when she saw how far along Jen was. Only twenty minutes after we arrived, Emily was born.

Jen, as usual, did an amazing job. I felt slightly more capable helping her then I did when Sophie was born.

Like Emily's birth, her first year has felt as equally speedy. It only seems like yesterday when she was a newborn. She's now toddling around the house. Learning to talk and gesture and generally just enjoying her world.

She is one of the funniest babies I've ever known. She frequently tries to make people laugh by making funny nosies or moving her body in some silly way.

She's got a fiery temper and a strong will too. She balances it out with a genuine sweetness that will melt your heart. If she gives you a hug, you'll know what I mean.

I am convinced that Emily is my father born again. She looks like him and so far, their personalities seem to be almost identical. When Jen was still breast-feeding Emily she said it was it was like she was breastfeeding a tiny version of her father in law.

We've already decided that Em will be our last child. Em's first birthday is intensely bittersweet because of this. She is the last 1 year old I will Father. Her nightly feedings are that much more precious now. Nurturing her as baby, providing for her and comforting her, helping her ease into a night’s sleep (hopefully). Before we know it, she won't need us to feed her, hold her and be close with her at bedtime. She probably doesn’t need it even now, yet we do it.

Jen and I have been incredibly lucky. We've be blessed to given the opportunity to raise two smart, sweet girls. I cannot imagine our life any different than it is now. Nor would I want to. My heart pours love for my girls and my wife. Our little family feels just right.

Emily, I am so proud and grateful to be your Daddy. I hope I can do right by you. My only words of advice are the following:

Stay sweet, stay fiery, stay funny, stay curious. Make mistakes. Apologize when feelings are hurt. Treat everyone as you would want to be treated. Explore the world. Listen to lots of different music. Enjoy art. Eat your dinner. Plant a garden. Brush your teeth. Thank people profusely. Say “please” frequently. Stand up for yourself and others. Work hard at what you love. Hug your big sister. Never take love, family or friends for granted.

I love you little Emily Anne. Have a wonderful first birthday.

Love,
Daddy - xoxo

Catching up

Ok, so yes... the family blog is suffering a bit, isn't it? Between me being back at work for two days a week and all the activities of Easter and Mother's Day and all the sickness with Daddy checking himself into the hospital on the night before Easter (he's fine thank goodness) and GGMom giving us all a scare (she was in the hospital for almost a week from Easter Sunday till the following Saturday) and then Emily getting the head cold and then Sophie getting the stomach bug, there just hasn't been a lot of time for blog updates, I will admit. But in honor of Emily's upcoming first birthday I'm going to really try and be better about updates, ok? I promise!!

So here goes: the whirlwind re-cap in photos of the last few weeks: