American Idol Prediction

I was wondering how many of you watch American Idol. For those of you who do, what are your predictions for who will win? This season there have definately been more contestants I disliked than liked, but I think it will come down to the Davids. Either could win (and will both have great careers ahead of them I'm sure), but I think David Cook will win in the end. I think David Archiletta has more training and more raw talent, but David Cook has more of a package deal to offer fans. The great thing is, assuming I'm right and these are the final two, I like them both and don't really care which one wins, so either way I'm happy. What do you think? Who do you think will win and whom would you like to win? Maybe it's the same answer for both questions.

A Morning Person?

When Emma wakes up in the morning, she comes out of her room, closes the door, and comes into my room, where I am usually still in bed, and says "time to get up!" She climbs onto the bed and starts messing with you if you don't get up right then. She's always very happy and cheerful and ready to be awake. You wouldn't know this to look at her though. Courtesy of my sister, here are a couple recent pictures of Emma taken right after she woke up.

Hee Hee Hee

Okay, first of all, Emma is completely better now. Before she was though, Eric and I both got sick with the same thing...on the same day. It was horrible. I've never felt so weak in my life. Poor Emma was just starting to get some energy back and she had two parents who could barely lift their heads. But we are all better now! Yeah!

After our move and trying to unpack and get settled and then everyone getting sick, I was feeling a little house-bound. I needed to do something fun, and what is more fun than Disneyland?!! Last Saturday my sister and I talked about possibly going to Disneyland this month, and then on Sunday evening at 5:00 pm we decided to leave early the next morning. So, we left early (and I mean early - I picked her up at 3:00 am) and we drove to Anaheim. We arrived and were in the park by 1:00 pm local time, and so we had most of the day there. We were there tuesday and wednesday as well, and on wednesday night we drove part way home. Thursday morning we went into Las Vegas to go to FAO Schwartz to get a toy for Emma that I wanted. Then we drove home. It was fast and very last minute, but it was a lot of fun. Thanks to Eric and Brad for being okay with us going. And thanks to Jill for wanting to come. Emma sure had fun with you there.

In case you didn't notice, Captain Hook isn't being very nice with his hook. He was a little miffed at Emma because she was wearing a Tinker Bell shirt.

In February when I was at Disneyland with Emma, the Carousel was closed. It was open this time and we went on it. Emma loved loved loved it. Did I mention that she loved it? Our first time on she picked the horse she wanted and so we put her on it. This guy comes by and asks me if it's a "special horse". I had no idea what he was talking about. I thought he was just being "funny" with Emma, saying that it must be a special horse because she picked it and all kids pick magical things etc. You know how people can get around kids. Anyway, he would't shut up about it, and it turns out that it was a special horse. Last week Julie Andrews was at Disneyland and they dedicated that horse to her. It has her initials on it as well as some other images depicting Mary Poppins. On the front it says "Honorary Ambassabor." I guess Mary Poppins is 50 years old because it also has the number 50 on it. Wow, what a lucky horse pick. I think the guy was jealous and wanted to ride it himself. Too bad! Maybe next time.

On the way home in the car Emma was clapping (and thrusting her hands forward) along to a song from Music and Lyrics. She was cute, and on the beat, so Jill filmed a little of it.

Emma Update

Emma is slowly starting to feel better. Her temperature is lingering at about 100 degrees, and she is started to eat minimal solids. She had some applesauce this morning and a little toast. She keeps asking for milk, which is her favorite thing, but of course she can't have any yet. Her little personality is kicking in again, and it's so wonderful to hear her laugh. Thank you to everyone who cares so much about her and for all your well wishes and prayers. It will still be several days at least before she is completely back to normal, but at least we're on our way.

My Sick Girl

On friday night at about 1:00 am Emma came into our room having thrown up (lovely). She caught some kind of stomach virus, and she continued to vomit every 10-15 minutes all through the night. The next day, after she continued to vomit and not be able to hold down any liquids, we took her to the doctor's office where they confirmed the stomach bug, but gave few suggestions for treatment that we weren't already trying. I love paying money to be told something I already know. With the assurance that this would go away in 24 - 48 hours we came home and continued to try to get teaspoons full of liquid to stay in Emma. She developed a fever which worsened that night. A bath seemed to help bring it down a little, but that was about all we could do at home - she still couldn't keep anyting down...including Motrin. After a long night with very little sleep, we decided this morning we needed to take her to the hospital. Her fever came back, and she still couldn't keep liquids down. We were worried that she was very dehydrated. At the hospital they hooked her up to an I.V. and got some fluids in her system. They also gave her some medicine to help with nausea, and then we gave her some Motrin, which helped to bring her fever down to almost normal. After we came home Emma slept for awhile, but then her fever came back. This accompanied by her horrible diahrea and subsequent diaper rash (the worst I've ever seen - she was bleeding a little from being so sore) made for a very pathetic and sad little girl. It's never easy to see someone you love in pain, and this was/is the hardest thing I've ever had to see her go through. I hope her fever brakes tonight, and that she can start to eat some solids again tomorrow, which should help her diahrea. At least she's been able to keep some liquids down for now. It's been a long couple of days. Hopefully she'll be on the path to recovery soon. I hope none of you get this virus that's going around. It's not fun. My advice is to just stay home forever so you don't get sick. Or do what I plan to do and move to a private island somewhere and live without politics, social politics, and sickness (I'm still working out how to keep all illness from the island). Once I'm settled in I'll send everyone a post card, which I'll be able to do because I'll have a post office there. And get this, there'll be no lines. Sorry if this all seems very random, I'm desperately sleep deprived right now, and possibly somewhat dillusional. =) Here is a peek at the most pathetically miserable (yet still so so cute) girl ever.

Bathing Beauty

Emma loves loves loves taking baths. She loves the bubbles and dumping water on her head and playing with her toys. It's always been a daddy thing. Eric has given her so many more baths than I have. She loves spending this time with him. She has never been a dirty enough kid to need a bath every day, but that will change the older and more active she gets. She loves coming out and telling me that she's all clean. A couple weeks ago Eric decided to wrap a towell on her head as well as her body. This was the result: