Getting stronger!

Sorry that we can't write every day.  Emmy is busier than ever, so it is hard to find a minute to even open the computer sometimes.  That's not to say that exciting stuff does not happen every day though.  Here is a list of what Emmy is up to right now:

1. WALKING.  Emerson loves to and insists on walking almost all the time.  When she gets picked up, she throws her arms towards the ground because she wants to walk.  She prefers when someone holds both hands above her head and walks behinds her but does well when you just hold one hand and go for a walk with her.  We walk around the Pediatric wing and say hi to our friend Grace across the hall.  A couple times a day though, we take a walk out of the Pediatric wing and walk to the elevator and back.  Emmy especially likes this change in environment.
2.  SMILING.  Emmy gets excited and pats me or bounces and makes noise and smiles when we change rooms.  Sometimes it is just a change in position that can warrant a smile.  We can't make her smile as easily as before- I don't think she has her sense of humor (or self for that matter) back yet- but she smiles and gets excited more and more every day.
3.  MMMmmmming.  Emerson was obsessed with the Mmmmm sound today.  Sometimes she would walk around like a funny looking old lady without her dentures and just make an MMMmmm sound.  Other times she babbled momma or momomo (for more).
4.  BABBLING.  Emerson began making noise at the end of last weekend and it is evolving into babbling again.  We got a dada today and even a Ga.
5.  Waving.  Most of the time, we can get Emmy to wave bye when she is walking- just like she used to. Sometimes, she will even wave hi.
6.  SAYING NO NO.  Emerson has been beginning to shake her head no when she doesn't want something and today Elizabeth, her speech therapist, pushed her to actually SAY no when she kept rolling Emmy the ball.  Emerson kept hitting it away and finally became aggravated and SAID no.  She is getting sooo much better at letting us know her limits.  These are good communication skills :)
7.  CRYING.  This may sound sad, but it is good that Emerson can express herself and produce tears.  She cried yesterday morning when I dressed her instead of feeding her right away, and she cried today when she was still tired when she woke up and I changed her.  She also whimpers A LOT during OT and PT when Tina and Haley make her do things she doesn't want to like crawl (which she is doing a little more of) and stand on her own (which she did for 10 seconds today!)
8.  EATING.  Emerson is still not getting her caloric needs and she is losing weight because she is more active.  This is to be expected, but still concerning.  Nonetheless, the kid is almost always asking for food (she signs for it, which we never taught her, but she does anyway) and eating almost 50% of her caloric needs now.  She has not had emesis (the nice word for vomiting) for 1 week now, and she has been tolerating her medicines with her foods really well.
9.  HYDRATING.  Emerson is tolerating a thickened Pedialyte with her meals, so she is getting hydrated a lot better, but it will be easier when she can tolerate liquids.  The other day she reached for my water container to drink my water out of a straw, but I was afraid to let her.  I told Elizabeth who tried a straw with her today and Emmy could only suck up liquid to a point before getting frustrated by the lack of immediate satisfaction.  We think she is close to being able to get liquids, but she has a swallow study tomorrow to help us know how close she really is.
10.  CUDDLING.  Yesterday and today were the first days that she really seemed to want to snuggle or cuddle with me.  She would almost hug me sometimes and pat my back and when tired turned to me to snuggle with her.  I think she finally associates me with comfort again.  Maybe she even remembers me. I hope so.  She does say mama when with me, so I think that is a good indicator.

I am not as good about taking and downloading videos as Brian.  He is back to work full time this week, so we may be lacking in videos for a while, but I will try.

We are getting close to discharge.  I will update later this week on the date- it is being worked out- but it will be soon.  We are very excited to get home with Emmy for the holidays.