Need a laugh?

We found out today that Daisy has torn her ACL and best case scenario will be surgery. She will have xrays on Monday to determine the extent of the damage and whether she is even a candidate for surgery. Needless to say we are all a little worried and bummed here at the Riggs Residence. So here is my little comedian who is working on cheering mommy up!

Just an average morning

These are just a couple of pictures documenting our average, uneventful morning.  One thing that that was not average was Emma sleeping until 7:30am!!  I had to wake her up and usually it is the other way around!  

Wake up and stretch!

applesauce for breakfast

lobby of the early learning center (aka daycare)

Emma playing with her classmates and teacher

too many toys!

Cranial Band Re-bling

Emma's helmet was looking a little dated.  Since Valentine's Day is in the past, I decided to rip off the heart stickers and give her a new under-the-sea look.  Now I will NEVER be the mom who stays up all night sewing Halloween costumes, but I CAN do stickers and Hodge Podge!  After all, I was just recently referred to as Martha Stewart Jr. (thanks cousin Meredith)  Wink ;O)  In fact, these stickers all came from the scrap-booking isle at Target so I think I should get "craft" credit for even being in the isle!  

The front (the Hodge Podge still drying on her name)

Left side

Right side

The back

Now if only this would make Emma excited to wear her stinkin' (literally) helmet!

Getting better

At JUMPING! Wild child!
Jump up, Jump up, and get down! Jump. Jump. Jump.

E-M-M-A

Emma's wooden letters

Emma's doll house book shelf and storage bins

(thanks Grandma Riggs!)

Today Emma is 6 months old. Today we are STILL not done with Emma's room. BUT! We are making progress. A couple Saturdays ago Emma and I spent the day running errands so Dan could finish some school work. We ended up at hobby lobby, which I LOVE. I love that store like the wanna be crafty person I am. I found some cute wooden letters and spent the next few days painting them. We finally hung them up last night. Now on to the rest of it!

Contest Photo Entry (VOTE!)

I've decided to enter some pictures in a photo contest for Fit Magazine. The theme is the "special bond between mom and baby" also described as "mom's special moment."  Below are some of my favorites/contenders.  Unfortunately I'm usually behind the camera and not in the pics.  Plus because of the circumstance we didn't get any pictures of Emma's birth moment.  DARN!  Please vote on the poll (to the right) if you like for your favorite.  The prize is worth over $2,700 in freebies and it also benefits one of my new and fav organization The March of Dimes.

Pic 1:  cookin' with mom

Pic 2:  laundry with mom

Pic 3:  our bond is dad

Pic 4: pullin' mom's hair

Pic 5:  we survived (the first week, but barely)

Never posted pic (for good reason, look how tired I am!..but I think it fits

Wordless Wednesday

Emma's school

View of Emma's room as you first walk in

Right side of the room with cribs (Emma's is the farthest on the left)

This is the little buggy they take walks around the block in

(still not big enough for octomom)

A posting outside the door (check out that cutie in top pic!)

Emma in her fav excersaucer

I continue to rave about Emma's school.  It is amazing how she has developed and grown since starting.  Everyday the babies have a schedule including a tummy time, nap and arts&crafts. Emma has made a foil sculpture, footprints, a Valentine's day card and more.  She is always so happy to see all the other little babies.  Also, it seems that Emma's helmet has catapulted her into stardom at daycare.  When I first took her in with the helmet the room fell silent, all babies stopped what they were doing (including talking) and started crawling and walking over to her.  Silently they all stood around her in the excersaucer and started touching the helmet.  It was like she had the Holy Grail on her head!  She loved it!  Miss Popularity! This past Sunday while she was in the nursery at church one baby tried to help Emma escape from her helmet while another sweet boy kept rubbing her head saying "it's okay" to her.  Again, she loved being the center of attention.    

Best Friends Forever!

I can't keep these two apart!  Emma takes no offense to Daisy licking her butt at the end of the video!  Ha!

video

6 month check up!

Yesterday Emma had her 6 month check up complete with 5 shots and 1 oral vaccine! Poor girl! Emma weighed in at 17 pounds 14.5 ounces and is now 25 1/2 inches long.  She is currently in the 78th percentile for weight and 30th percentile for height.  

Emma's "real" 6 month milestone happens on Sunday!  I can't believe she is this old already. Time really does fly.  My favorite thing is to wake Emma up in the morning and see her stretch, open her eyes and give me that big gummy grin.  It's the best way to start the day! 

Emma's "likes"

1.  Daisy, Daisy and more Daisy.  The two of them have a serious love affair going on.  Emma cracks up at everything Daisy does and Daisy licks Emma's face everytime there is something on it..formula, milk, food, snot..she doesn't care.  Daisy also enjoying drinking Emma's bath water.

2.  Soap opera kissing the dog and everyone else 

3.  Her glowing Seahorse

4.  talking, yelling, and getting sassy with her parents    

5.  baths

Emma's "dislikes"

1.  Her stinkin' helmet!

2.  getting her nose wiped

3.  The nurse that gave her shots

4.  Squash

"Mom and her darn camera!"

"who is that I see?"

"come friend!"

"I love you too Daisy!, Now give me a Guiding Light smooch!"

Blingin' the Band

There has been some serious adjusting going on in the Riggs' Residence over the past 24 hours. We took Emma yesterday to be fitted for her Cranial Band (i.e., helmet). Emma had torticollis (stiff neck) when she was born as a result of how she was position in utero (with her chin on her right shoulder, this is also how she was born).  She developed a strong preference for looking to her right, including sleeping. This all resulted in flattening of her little head and thus the helmet.

Our pediatrician followed Emma's progress as we worked to stretch out and strengthen her neck. We had skull xrays (normal) and were referred to a plastic surgeon who then prescribed the cranial orthotic. If left untreated, it might not get any worse or it might. Worst case scenario, the bones continue to move and impeded on her hearing and development so we made the decision to go forward with the cranial band. Emma will wear her helmet for 23 hrs per day for 3 months. At that time she will be reevaluated to see if she needs to wear it longer. Emma seems to be handling it better than mom or dad. It makes her sweat and it will get stinky. I am already missing rubbing my cheek on the top of her head and kissing her fluffy hair.

So now we embark on our latest craft project "BLING EMMA's BAND!" We have started by painting her name and adding some stickers for Valentines day. We'd love to hear any ideas you might have! We love her so much and think she is just perfect as she is, but we don't want any blame thrown our way when she is 16 and can't get a date to prom because she has an egg shaped head :-) All I have to say is, girlfriend better at least have straight teeth!

Wordless Wednesday

*sigh*

Learning to jump!

Emma has recently figured out that her Jumperoo is for Jumping! She gets really excited and bounces away. The time has come where Emma is outlasting Daisy. You can see the poor pooch snoozing while Emma parties next to her. Never fear, that dog will jump in a nanosecond if you say her beloved word, "treat." It seems Emma is learning something new everyday! Dan and I are amazed by her developing little personality. I still pinch myself every so often just to make sure she is really here and really this perfect. We love her like Daisy loves treats, maybe more :)

A couple of favorites

YAYANANAMAMADADAYaYa!

Jabber mouth!!

Another smile, another picture

Man I love this girl! I can't get enough of her!!!

lucky, lucky mommy!

Part time groomer?

With a little baby burnin' through my bank account I'll be in need of a part time job here soon. Daisy let me practice my grooming skills on her Sunday. She had so many knots there was nothing I could do but cut. It's a little lop sided and definitely not the $80 cut and style she is used to getting, but it works! I don't think grooming is my calling though, so I'll keep looking. I think I would end up giving more refunds than fur cuts.

Still happy even after such abuse!

snow makes everything better!

Sunday Pics

"Hello!"

cute little piggies

"where's the flash?"

"oh I'm not THAT cute!...Go on!"

"Bumbo=potty surprise for you mommy!"

"Why does my mom say my dad acts like you after 7pm?"

"look what I found!! TOES!! (almost as good as fingers)"