Toby Has a New Tooth!

Finally! One of the four "dog teeth" has emerged! It's one of the top ones. I think the other top one will be coming out soon...of course I've been thinking that about all of them for the past two months!

Until later,

Emily

As I Feared...

Toby hasn't been sleeping well lately, in fact he has woken up in the middle of the night for the past 7 out of 8 nights. And, when he wakes up he is irritated and restless and has seemed uncomfortable, tossing all around and crying. He has also had loss of appetite and diarrhea and a couple fevered days. He is still working on getting all four of his "dog teeth" (it's been two months now!), so I knew this could all be chalked up to teething but thought we better get his ears checked, especially since we're flying back to Germany this weekend and I hated the thought of his ears hurting any more than I think they did when we flew here! So, I got him in to see a doctor and sure enough, both ears are red and irritated looking. He's on antibiotics now...doc said they should help by then but that they might hurt some while flying. Ooh, I can't wait....

Until later,

Emily

The Dark Knight

Last night, James and I and almost all the other adult members of his family went to see The Dark Knight at an Imax theater. I loved it! James liked the first one better and I liked the second one better. I had heard it was dark, which it is, but for me it wasn't as dark as I had imagined. It wasn't as gory as I thought it would be. Except for Two-Face, which his image is still haunting me...totally gross! The story line was a lot more emotional than I thought it would be and yes...Heath Ledger was amazing!

Until later,

Emily

Anniversary Bling!

Well, today I went into town to continue my quest for anniversary bling once I picked up my repaired wedding ring. I don't know if James will ever let me shop for fine jewelry by myself or say the words "get what you like" again but at least his present is bought almost a month in advance! I ended up looking at three different jewelers, it would have been four but I found out that one of the places I was planning on checking out went out of business recently...so it was only three places, which I might add--some of the shopping was done on foot due to a flat tire (I got it fixed but had some time to kill before I could get it fixed so I walked to one of the places in near 100 degree weather--flat tires never happen at a convenient time!) So, I had it narrowed down to three different anniversary bands, one at Needham's and the other two at Morgan's and then the salesman at Morgan's (by this time it was my second time there) brought out "something new that we didn't have on Monday". I can't wait to pick it up on Tuesday (it has to be sized down)!

Until later,

Emily

What's Another Year?

Well, it's official. James turned in his answer today at his office. We're going to extend the extra year...actually, we're hoping to come home after an 11-month extension, which will be around the middle of July 2010. It was not an easy black & white decision...lots of pros and cons to both coming home next year or extending, but obviously a few more pros to staying.

Until later,

Emily

I Feel Naked!

Our 10th wedding anniversary is coming up next month. I informed James that I would quite like some "bling" to go with my wedding ring, i.e. an anniversary band. With a lot to do in the week+ that he'll have out here, he suggested that I go out and "look" on my own. Today, I did just that. Unfortunately, after a quick inspection of my wedding ring, it was determined that all six of my prongs are so thin that they could go any day. I had no idea! I always inspect it, but I guess because I don't have "trained" eyes, I couldn't tell that they are thin, only that they were not broken! The girl told me that prongs generally have to be repaired every 7-10 years, so I'm right on track! So, the ring had to come off and get repaired. I can pick it up on Wednesday, but boy do I feel naked! And self-conscious! Not only am I on an extended vacation without my husband, but now I'm not wearing a ring! Scandalous!

Until later,

Emily

Studio Pics

Last week, I took the kids to get their pictures "done". Thomas is now a "ham" when it comes to taking pictures and he took half a dozen cute pictures in the matter of only a minute or two. Toby, on the other hand, was interested in the studio, but not really in getting his picture taken. When we could get him to stay in the same place for a second or two, he wasn't about to crack a smile, except in the close-up shot, which I ended up ordering a close-up of each of my boys just for myself, but as far as the ones that I will give away, I wanted the more traditional torso shot.

Until later,

Emily

Toby and his "Serious Face"

I was serious when I said Toby looks very serious a lot of the times. This is a classic Toby face, taken today, in fact!

Until later,

Emily

My Cute Kids!

(This picture of Thomas was taken on May 24, 2008 in Nurenburg, Germany)

(This picture was taken on June 12, 2008 in my mom & dad's back yard)

Until later,

Emily

Happy 18-Month Birthday Toby!

(This is an extremely rare picture of him smiling!)

Today, Toby turned 18 months. If we were back in Germany, this Sunday would be his first Sunday in Nursery at church. But, since we're not, I don't think it's fair to make someone else in another ward deal with him during his first few weeks...(I'm hoping it will only be weeks, but who knows?).

Toby, oh Toby, he is quite the character! He's cute and really knows how to work his puppy-dog eyes. He is also a very serious child. Most of the time he looks like he's deep in thought and can be really quite challenging to get a smile from. However, he looks like he's a sweet, innocent boy when really he's not! He's a little dare-devil child that loves to get dirty and is absolutely fearless! My mom keeps saying, "Oh, Emily, you're in for it with him!" Boy, don't I know it, don't I know it!

Until later,

Emily

Newport Beach Family Pic 2008

I don't know how to edit pictures on my mom's computer. If I did, I'd crop it out a bit, as I realize it is a bit off-centered.

(However, I'm just relieved that it's OK with her that I put my pictures on her computer for a while since I was getting nervous having all my pictures on my card without any backup!)

But, here we are...the whole family!

Note-Worthy News (to Me Anyway!)

Most of you know that we conceived Toby through IVF, actually on our third round of IVF, we conceived him. From our first IVF cycle, we were able to freeze one embryo and also from the third cycle we froze another embryo. Thus, we have two frozen embryos that one day, quite a ways down the road, we plan on going through one "frozen cycle", using them both and seeing what happens.

I don't do a very good job at keeping up with the news, James, on the other hand, does, so every once in a while he emails me a news article that he thinks I might want to read. He does this even when we are living in the same house together and I think it's quite nice. Well, anyway, yesterday he sent me this article:

Frozen Embryos Better than Fresh, Study Shows
By Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent, in Barcelona

Using frozen instead of fresh embryos produces healthier babies, a new study shows.

Infants born from embryos which were frozen and then thawed before being implanted into a woman had a higher birth weight and were less likely to suffer abnormalities.

Fewer of the children were also twins or triplets. Multiple births are known to increase the risk of complications as well as the danger to the mother.

More than 1,200 children born between 1995 and 2006 after frozen embryo replacement (FER) were studied and compared to 17,857 children born from "fresh" embryos.

Freezing embryos allows couples to have several In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment cycles from the same egg collection, reducing the number of times that the ovaries are stimulated. The eggs are placed in the womb three to five days after ovulation in exactly the same way as fresh embryos.

Multiple births accounted for 27.3 per cent of children born from fresh embryos, compared with 14.2 per cent when frozen embryos were used. Babies from frozen embryos were on average 200 grams heavier on birth than those from fresh embryos, the findings presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Eshre) in Barcelona. The proportion of low birth weight and pre-term FER children was significantly lower.

Dr Anja Pinborg, from the Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, who led the study, said: "Most encouragingly, we found no increased risk of congenital malformations in the FER group; the rate in this group was 7.1 per cent compared to 8.8 per cent where fresh embryos had been used. "We think the reason for the differences is probably positive selection of the embryos for frozen embryo replacement.

"Only the very top quality embryos survive the freezing and thawing process.

"And you only get pregnancies in patients with lots of good embryos to freeze."

Until later,

Emily

Happy Birthday to My Mom!

Today is/was my mom's 55th birthday. I hope she had a good day. Sometimes, birthdays can be such a let down or really, and all-around horrible day...I think it's because of all the hype and attention we get as kids.

Kate prepared a picnic and we went to a nearby park and ate it and let the kids play for a bit. My mom mentioned that she had her whole family there except her two sons-in-laws, we also had CieAra, our cousin with us, which was a treat!

My mom really is an amazing, loving, kind, hard-working woman! Such an example to all and we all love her so much!

Happy Birthday to My Mom (and until later),

Emily

And...We're Back!

The boys and I made it back safely from Newport Beach, CA yesterday. James flew back to Germany and arrived home in the middle of the night...but he is also home safely and trying his hardest to not sleep at all today so that his body can adjust to the time as quickly as possible.

This trip to Newport was a blast! I think it was my favorite year...and it was our eighth year there so I have a lot of years to compare it to! First of all, the weather was really, really nice. In fact, all but one day was probably a little warmer than usual which made it perfect for all the swimming and sitting in the sun that we did. Unfortunately, my back got sunburned the first day at the pool, which was a complete accident because I went to get my back sprayed and then got distracted and apparently never thought about it again, so I'm peeling already there but the rest of me is nicely tanned as are James, Thomas and Toby (and Toby's hair is SO blonde!).

I have been thinking a lot about why this year seemed so fantastic. There are a few reasons, like it was nice to spend time with James again, and we have a new appreciation for the US and how wonderfully convenient it can be (and we recognized this over and over again while we were being tourists in CA), and that we didn't try to cram a lot in each day, rather we hung out a lot at the pool and let our kids "just be kids" and play with their cousins, and everyone got along really, really well... but the more I have been thinking about it, the more I am convinced that it boils down to one big reason: Thomas' fear of the water and ocean/beach has greatly subsided! In fact, he loves the ocean and the waves now. He didn't want to get in the ocean too far, but loved chasing the waves and having them "chase" him. We spent two days at the beach, and walked around the beach one evening and each time we had to drag him away!

Toby, however, didn't love the ocean, but he also wasn't terrified of it...he much preferred the sand, which was OK with us. Thomas also once hated the sand because it got him dirty...Toby threw it on himself and dumped it over his head and also ate it...a much different child he is from Thomas...this is becoming clearer each passing day!

Thomas also became more comfortable in the swimming pool, which, as I mentioned, is where we spent most of our days. He still wears a life jacket but at least got rid of the wings. Also, he no longer insisted that James or I stay in the pool with him at all times (with his life jacket, and wings on and us holding onto him while he screeched). So, he "swam" around with all of his cousins and it was absolutely a relief to see that fear diminish in him! One day he'll give up the life jacket...but again, this is a child that was 1000% terrified of the water...so it is major progress. In fact, on the very last day, during the last hour and a half of swimming, he finally dared to jump in and "go all the way under", of course, he loved it when he did it and then proceeded to jump in over and over again, at least 100 times, and that is not exaggerating. I was sad to have to go in, he was having such a blast!

We truly had a wonderful time--(thanks Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Sherry)!

Until later,

Emily