2012 - the year of one's and two's

This year is going to jam-packed with milestones, and I can't wait! Emily Bean is growing and developing by the minute and my New Year's resolution is to keep this blog updated at least once a month (please kick my ass if I do not stick to this!).


As for the one's and two's, this year is going to be full of them (forgive me while I indulge one of my great joys, LIST MAKING):


One's:

• I have to start this list with the most important one, Emily's First Birthday!
• Following on this, her first Birthday party - Aunty Jeannie is already busy with the planning (I still feel she has missed her calling as a party planner, but that is a list for another time...)
• First teeth (we think this will be any day now, if finger-in-mouth-time is anything to go by)
• First crawling (as soon as Madame concedes to more tummy time - our ongoing reflux related battle)
• And following the above, first walking - if her other development is anything to go by, there won't be much time between crawling and walking!
• First words - and then no conversion will not include her input, she is, afterall, my daughter...
• First swimming (I made the mistake of 'plonking' her into a baby splash pool the other day, won't do that again... I think even the neighbours of the house we were at understood her dislike at that harsh introduction).
• And the one I am truly excited about (First Birthday notwithstanding) - drum roll please - FRIST NORMAL BOTTLE DRINKING! Emily's palate op is scheduled for the 2nd of Feb, and although this joy is slightly overshadowed by the 'trauma' of the op for now, our lives will not be the same once this is over and her mouth is all healed.  She has already (only just this week) had her first sippy cup drink, and now loves gulping down a few swigs of rooibos mixed with juice whenever she can.

Two's:

• Second operation - as you gathered from above, her palate closing op is coming up.  This involves stitching closed her soft and hard palates.  I will keep you updated as this day approaches and on the day - apparently, we are looking at a 2 and half hour procedure, so there will be plenty of time to make a blog entry... any distraction at that point will be welcomed!
• Holidays - these include Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Christmas.  And while these will be her seconds, it will be the first time she can participate as little person as opposed to a baby cradled in mom's arms (not that those times weren't super special too - any time that she is included is super special!).
• Second bedroom (and house) - our house is on the market (HINT), and hopefully, if all goes well, she will soon have her second bedroom.
• Um...

Okay, have run out of seconds, so will just continue with news.  Emily's Dad and I had three glorious weeks of leave to spend with Emily over the Festive Season, and what a joy they were.  This has been our first proper time with her as a more interactive baby and we relished every moment (of which we had plenty, seeing has how she decided that 4.30am was a good time to wake up while we were on leave...).  Having said that, though, the time flew by, and before we knew it, it was back to work for Grant and I and back to Aunty Jeannie for the Bean (not that either her or Aunty Jeannie minded).  Our first week apart was a rather trying one.  Other than the obvious sadness at seeing her less, Emily also had two days of fever and loss of appetite, and general ill-at-easedness (look that one up in an Oxford dictionary, if you dare!) which we think was caused by her teething.  Aunty Jeannie and Nurse Netts took excellent care of her and kept her temperature under control nicely. And, thankfully, by Firday, she was all smiles again.


More than that, Emily continues to grow beautifully.  She fits nicely into her 6-12 month clothes and is starting to fill them up nicely too.  She laughs at the strangest things!  If you bend down, it's like you have just told the funniest joke, and she almost cries she laughs so much.  She also likes loud noises (as long as she is not tired!) and loves when I shout at the dogs for being naughty... like I said, strangest things.  All of these nuances continue to make every moment with her ama-zing (and every moment apart less than ideal...).
I am the luckiest mom in the world (wait, apart from my mom... hahahaha).

Here is the latest batch of craziness: