August is right around the corner

August is just a few days away. We have had a nice summer. Emmaleigh learned to swim like a big girl !! We went tubing and camping ... Let's just say that was an adventure. We are planning her 4th Birthday Party. She is very excited about her Dora Birthday ! She says My dora !! She has a Dora Dress and Bathing suit for her Party along with Dora earnings and a Dora cup.I have made her invited done her 4 yr birthday shoot. I still have a lot of work ahead since I'm going to try and make her decorations, but First some her first day of school and she will still be 3 !! I can't believe it just thinking about it makes me want to cry. I remerber 4 years old being big and pregnant and picking out the most beautiful name I could come up with Emmaleigh .... It went so well with Isabella. I loved the way I spelled it so unique yet not weird. Everyone gave me a hard time about her name and how I spelled but she was born and strangers tell me how beautiful it is. I was told how hard she would have it in school. I disagreed and new I had a very long time before that day would come and now it just days away !!! What will I do ?? Emma is so excited !!! She was helping me sort out all the school supplies, but instead of helping she wanted to take it all put it in her school bag. We bought her uniform, but first we had to try it on..... She wanted to keep it on I had to explain to her we were buying it. She is only going Monday, Wednesday, & Friday for half days so I will treasure my time with her.

Emmaleigh's night

what a night Emma had. I put her to bed around 9. Around 12 I was already in bed laying down. Emma got up screaming ran to the living like she was running from something. Darin got to her first he thought maybe a bug or something was on her it wasn't. She was scared of something wouldn't let us put her down for sometime. She was trembling. I got to the point where I could put her down in my bed to use the bathroom. I slowly tried to get her to get on the floor and walk around but she was still scared out of her mind. The cat jump up on the bed and she screamed and freaked out all over again. I think she just didn't see her coming. Our cats are the best the little ones pick them up all the time run with them do all kinds of things to them and the most they will do is meow for a big person to come help them. They have never snapped or anything at any of the kids we had them since they were 7 weeks old. Even when one had babies she still allowed the kids to do things to her and her babies they are great ! So when the cat freaked Emmaleigh out we were like WTH ?! I tried to get her to go back into her room she wouldn't hear of it ! I brought her in there she was crying looking over her shoulder but more of a whinny cry. I reached to pull her shirt down and she freaked out she was terrified that something grabbed her ! I tried to asked her what it was however her speech isn't great ! It sounded like she blame the cat but then i started naming random things like my mom dog she says yeah ... i said was it the birdie yeah was it gran (my mom ) yeah ....was it bella she said no was it zack she didn't answer. got her in her room a 2nd time she was screaming but i got her there started asking her to show up what was bad in there she started looking under the covers on side the bed still checking to make sure I was standing there. As soon as I walked out of sight the screaming and shaking returned and she bolted out of that room and would not go back in. I brought her in my bed she was looking tho my covers too btu wouldn't put them on her freaked out ! she finally just passed out sitting up and slept holding on to me all night. this morning she would up normal ! She hasn't gone deep into her room but she went and grab her dora blankey. I'm guessing it was a nightmare. Someone said sounded like a night terror. I thought what zack did was night terrors he would be asleep and he would just start screaming and crying in his bed and I would have to rub his back and say its okay ! something he would scream no mine ! or leave me alone stuff like that but he was asleep the whole time. I felt so bad for her. I wonder if anyone else ever been thought anything like this I mean it seemed like classic nightmare but seriously she is 3 !We did just take her tubing and there were a few party where we all freaked out like oh no keep me away from the edge and i would freak she would freak but the night after when we camped she was fine...

here is a video I took the 2nd time we made it into her room

Emmaleigh's July 4th 2011

Emmaleigh had a great July 4th holiday. We did our July 4th photo shoot. Went to firework show on the north shore Bday party and July 4th show on the south shore than Camping and tubing on the 4th and home on the 5th. Tubing was interesting. I was a bit freaked at certain parts and she got freaked out right along with mama ! Camping went great aside from forgetting Dora cup and blanket but she was happy to nurse glad to have that back up still.

Swimming

Emma is doing even better with swimming. I have been teaching her and Zack together. She is swimming longer distance and is even jumping in and turning around and going to the wall with no problem. I'm so proud of her !

Emmaleigh Can swim !

I have been working with Emmaleigh with swimming since she was tiny. Every summer in the water going under getting use to swimming. I felt she could do it if she wanted to last summer, but she was too scared hated the water in her face. This week I've been working with her hold one hand as she would swim around me in a circle. yesterday I started letting go about 1-2 seconds before she would reach the side. I was being very careful with her as she would tend to get upset and cling and now want to even try. Today I got a whole new Emmaleigh leaping toward me swimming like a little fish pulling herself up for air whipping the water out of her face and leaping right back to the wall and again and again. She is doing so wonderful for being only 3!!

Emmaleigh update

It's been almost 2 years since I have updated about Emmaleigh. I will try to be better. I guess I give you an overview of her life even before her life started. She was conceived on New years eve 2006. I had a due date of September 29th which my midwife kept, the OB had a due date of October 9th. I liked the September due date better. I was hoping with all my heart she would come in September . Alex was 5 weeks early. Cameron was 3 weeks early. Isabella was 2 weeks early and Zackariah was only 4 days early but after he was born midwife think He was more than that. Maybe about 2 weeks. I had hoped even with the October due date I could have a September baby ! October 10th Birthday and October 6th was enough along with the long list of cousins and in laws birthday's we wanted to avoid. I had this weird feeling she would be born right in the middle of Zack and Emma. I had thoughts I would pair her up with Bella if she was a girl or Zack if she had turned out to be a boy and put the left over (that sounds bad LOL) October baby at a different time in October since triple birthday was out of the question double is hard enough. As I was getting closer to finding out what I was having I was having weird dreams. Isabella's birth was awesome went exactly how I planned it ! All natural water birth once I got a taste of a natural birth that is all I wanted to do. Zackariah was going to be a repeat of Isabella, but that didn't work out hurricane Katrina ruined that and I felt my world turned upside down even though his birth turned out to be better than I imagine. I got a homebirth not in my home but still it was awesome. I had planned a home birth in my home and I was worried something would ruin my plans again I followed the hurricane predictions and then I started having dreams about having a premature baby and pumping orange juice for HER !! It my dreams it was always a girl ! That was what i wanted but at this point I knew something would ruin my plans. I just thought it was due to Zackariah birth it was just a dream just my fears. I was day dreaming of the awsoem birth I would have. I order my birth kit which had a homebirth tshirt was planning what hospital to take her to for pictures. I couldn't wait. I found out at 20 weeks I was in deed having a little girl ! I had her name picked out I was now 32 weeks and all was left to do was wait. I didn't want to wait any more well either did she ! 32 weeks from my October due date my little girl was almost 2 months premature on August 19th 2007. I didn't have my homebirth my midwife was with me at the hospital and I had her with out drugs like I wanted but believe it or not giving birth was the easy part. The next 8 days she was in the NICU I was turned away due to hospital rules time and time again to see her I was sent home a week before she was. I was fighting with everything I had to make sure nursing worked out with her. I took her home at 8 days I had my gallbladder removed when she was 12 days and the stones at 3 months. The nursing went well, but when I got home with her it was surreal something didn't feel right as I looked at the place I planned to her still ready for the birth of a baby. The birth kit still there I finally donated it to my midwife. I will alway be sad and mourn her birth that didn't happen. I have struggled with these feelings for 3 1/2 yrs now. Many don't understand how grateful I am to have my baby cause we did learn she could have died had I allowed the doctors to hold her off to Monday like they wanted. If i knew now what I didn't know then I would have had her at home cause following the sign of my body was what was best for her. With that said no one but me understands that we lost part of that bond that way when my baby was born and taken from me with barley a kiss allowed and I was treated as if I had to earn the right to see her and she wasn't my baby due to hospital rules. I have 4 other kids and I've been there mother. I choose when and where they go and what and what not is done to them and who is in there life. Yet her at the hospital I had to okay it with the hospital if it was okay to see my baby to feed my baby or even hold her. I can;t explain how happy I am to have this wonderful little girl in my life yet something died that day a part of me and who I had worked so hard to become. Any how Her first year was a struggle. I weighted her all the time she had struggles which she got PT, & OT for and speech came in after she was a year. She has issues with her ears which she got tubes at 6 months. After her 1st birthday we moved across the lake and OT, PT, & speech picked up over here. around 17 months she started to walk and PT stopped and we dropped OT for special instruction. Once she turned 3 she was transfer to the school system where she got 30 mins 2 x a week at the school and PEI teacher who met her for 3 mins 2 times a week. We learned Emma is highly allergic to poison ivy and we also learned this year she has 2 birth defects on her spine. One was it just didn't full develop due to her being born premature, but it causes no issues just looks different on an xray had a held her for the full 40 weeks it would have finished developing, how ever the 2nd one was the start of spina bifida and had I held her any longer the spina bifida may have gotten bad and she may not been able to walk, run swim, ect. So with all we lost that day It was a reason she was born early and I'm trying to take peace and comfort with that. When Emma was 8 months old we sign up with the march of dimes walk to walk in her name and know how lucky we are to have her and hopes we are helping them so that families like ours don't have to deal with birth defects and premature birth one day. Emmaleigh is doing wonderful she is looking forward to her 4th birthday she loves Dora !!! She is having a Dora swimming party ! She will also go to school three half days next yr ! It's bitter sweet I'm sad but happy to watch her grow and learn ! She could go 5 full days but everyone things the 3 half days is better for her since she missed a whole year. She should be home with me all this year and going to Pre-K the next yr but due to this coming early she jumped a whole year ahead. She isn't ready for that yet. We will see where she is come Christmas for now we having fun learning to swim and looking forward to her birthday and the start of school and all the fun stuff we will do this summer !