The story of awesomeness known as Emily

So, my niece Emily was born on December 2nd, 2009. She is obviously cute (as evidenced here):



But, she had to spend a lot of time in the hospital to gain weight, and heal from a surgery, and adjust her medications. They found out when she was a few days old that she has Cystic Fibrosis. She had some blockage in her intestine, they went to clear it out and they ran some tests and it came back with that diagnosis.
The GOOD news is she has a wonderful team of doctors, and with Paul being in the Army she has access to some of the best Cystic Fibrosis specialists around. They took special care with her while she was in the hospital, and prepared Malisa as best as they could.

Malisa is doing very well with everything too. She is so organized and on top of her medications. She is a fantastic mom. We went up on the day she got out of the hospital, and it was her first time in her home, with mom, by herself.

We all washed our hands (a must for babies with CF due to their ability to get sick easily) and held her.

Grandma and Emily (12/30/09)

Aunt Ashlee and Emily (12/30/09)

Aunt Annie and Emily (12/30/09)

Emily got to have her first slumber party while we were up there. She is a very quiet and happy baby. She'd just look at you, and listen to you while you talk. She was rarely fussy, and a really good sleeper (she takes after her aunt like that).

Also, she got to meet her big brother Zacky. He was very curious about the bundle we all kept holding, so finally we introduced him to her.

Zacky, Grandma and Emily (12/30/09)

And he took to his big brother duties immediately. He protects her, sits below her when she is in her bouncy chair, and just watches over her.

She has a special picture of her dad in her crib, and she falls asleep looking at it.


And she let her grandma dress her up in silly clothes and 100 year old booties (that belonged to my grandmother when she was a baby).

Emily (1/1/10)

And then more dress up for family photos:

Zacky, Malisa, Emily and a photo of Paul (1/1/10)

So, we had a good visit. We all got lots of time with Emily, holding her and talking to her. I won points because when we went to the grocery store I was able to calm her down when she got upset with my awesome aunt skills. Emily is a very special baby, and we're lucky to have her with us. Paul got to come home yesterday and see her, and I know he is just thrilled to be able to hold her and talk to her.

Grandma, Emily and Malisa (1/1/10)

Oh, and I was able to send off one of the blankets I'm making for her. It's just plain baby yarn, pale pink, in the same pattern as the blanket I made for Maxine.




Hopefully it will keep her warm while she is still little. I'm almost done with the other blanket I started a long time ago, and I can't wait to put up pictures of the long long process of making it.

So that is the story of Emily. She's absolutely precious and we couldn't ask for a better baby. And she is very lucky to have Malisa and Paul as her parents.