18 Months Old!

Yay, my sweet girl! You made it to eighteen months! What a big girl you are.

Playing in the Georgia snow. I totally doubted the weather man, but we got a few inches, at least!

Emma Kate is officially eighteen months old today. She's such a joy in our lives and she's learning more every day. It is so fun to watch her just live life. I am so thankful for the blessing of her and don't take one day with her for granted. Thank you, God, for our precious, happy, funny, beautiful, THRIVING Emma Kate!

Let me first say that this child does not stop. She is on the go from the time she wakes up in the morning until she goes to bed at night. She will not sit still for a movie or even a book. She's got things to do! Lately I feel like EK's vocabulary has taken a big leap. She's saying lots of little words and imitating pretty much everything her big sister says and does. Right now, The Little Mermaid is a pretty popular movie/character at our house for Anna Brooke, so I hear a lot of Part of Your World being sung by both girls. EK doesn't know all of the words to the song, but it is so precious to hear her say some words like, "world," "sea," and "Ariel." 

She absolutely adores babies and baby dolls. In the girls' playroom, we have a big bin full of baby dolls which EK will go over to, pick one out and "wock" (rock), "huck" (hug), and put to "sweep" (sleep). It warms my heart when I see her loving on her dolls. She is such a loving little girl, and I know she's going to be a wonderful big sister! I can't wait to teach her how to love her little brother or sister. Whenever we are out somewhere and she hears a baby crying or sees a child, she gets so excited and says, "bay-bee!!" 

Emma Kate can point to and say most of her body parts, especially ones on her face. Like, nose, eyes, ears, hair, mouth, teeth. Speaking of teeth, she's finally getting some in. For the longest time she's only had her two bottom front teeth. Right now, she is getting in about eight teeth, from what I can see. Poor thing. I am happy for her, though, since these teeth will make it a lot easier for her to chew up food. 

We have finally weaned EK from the bottle. I was just giving it to her at night and sometimes before her afternoon nap, and it was really the only way that she would drink milk. For that reason, I was really hesitant to take it away from her. However, she has done awesome since I took it away for good. The first few times I didn't give her a bottle before bed, I'd sit down to rock her, give her the paci and I'd hear, "bob-ble?" It broke my heart. It took her a bit longer to fall asleep those nights, too. I have found that giving her a snack before bed helps her a lot. She's also drinking milk from a cup now, too. Most of the time, I try to add some Instant Breakfast powder to it. She could still use the extra calories. She won't take Pediasure at all, so I have found that this is a good alternative. 

Right now, EK weighs about 18 pound, 12 ounces. She's still small, but she is gaining weight. That is all I am concerned with. She has a ton of energy during the day, so I know she's getting enough calories. Right now she's receiving Synagis once a month, I think March will be her last injection for the season. We have a home care nurse come to the house to give her the shots, which is nice. She gets one in each leg and I am sure they are painful. But so far, she hasn't had any major illnesses, so I am thankful that they seem to be working.

EK's next cardiology appointment isn't until March 16th. She's being seen every three months and every six months she has an echo done. At our last appointment back in December, Dr. Cardis informed us that her heart looked really good. Her heart function is great! In fact, he said that Emma Kate is "what we want our HLHS patients to look like" and that "she is best case scenario." That was a good feeling. We have every reason to hope for her!