We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with Greg's family & had a very nice time! Emma enjoyed getting dressed up on Thanksgiving day and had a wonderful time hanging out with her Pa Pa (Greg's Dad) all weekend! :) 
Emma was protesting against sleeping in her crib & it had gotten to the point where she was falling asleep in our bed and then we were moving her into the crib once she was asleep.
We had to wait 1 week before the bedroom set could be delivered. During that time we talked up the new bed and Emma was thrilled when it finally arrived! She still refers to it not as her "bed" BUT as her "new bed". :) The day that it was delivered she played by herself in her room for 40 minutes!
From the very first night Emma has slept in her bed with very few issues. She LOVES her new bed and LIKES to go to sleep in it! However, nap times are basically over as you can see by the picture posted! : ( Last week I heard wild giggling in her room; I went to investigate what was going on with the camera in my hand and I found out what REALLY was going on behind closed doors at naptime!
On November 9th Emma had surgery. After eight ear infections (YES-8!) in 20 months we made the unanimous decision to have tubes put into both of Emma's ears. Emma was such a GOOD GIRL, I think that only our daughter would actually ENJOY being at the hospital! (For the most part anyway...). Emma was friendly with all of the nurses who helped check us in and she loved having her own room to wait in before surgery. It was a very nice room with a play station and anything that a child could want. (No, I did not let Greg play video games)! ; ) Emma happily sat in bed and watched a couple of cartoons. About 1/2 hour before we had to go downstairs for surgery the nurse brought in a little drink to help Emma relax, it was suppose to take effect in 5 minutes-however it took about 25 minutes! Just in time for another nurse to arrive with Emma's gurney. I told Emma that she was going to take a "ride" and that was ALL that Emma had to hear, she very willingly climbed on with Daddy's help. :) The picture posted was taken in the Post Op Room-as you can see Emma was feeling a bit loopy by that time. I have to say that ALL of the nurses and the anesthesiologist LOVED Emma! They were gushing over her pajamas and her doll ("Baby") that she brought with her. They were arguing over who was going to carry Emma into the OR, although as it turned out Emma preferred to ride on the gurney instead of being carried. We were told that Emma was quite the hit in the OR as well...she tends to leave an impression where ever she goes! : ) Emma surgery took 5 minutes and she was only out of our sight for 1/2 hour. Her surgeon, Dr. Bulger explained that he removed quite a bit of fluid out of both her ears before putting in the tubes. All went well and we were relived Dr. Bulger guided both of us into the recovery room. Unfortunately Emma had woken up before we were able to get there and she was very upset. We were able to calm her down after a little while and after the nurse checked her vital signs & etc, then we took another "ride" back up to Emma's room. Emma enjoyed riding in the wheelchair with Mommy almost as much as the gurney & she was mad when we arrived at her room and we had to get up! : ) Emma was SO HAPPY to eat snacks out of her diaper bag & drink, of course she had not had anything to eat or drink since about 9 PM the night before! We stayed at the hospital about another hour before Emma was discharged.
By that evening Greg and I noticed that Emma was talking more and pronouncing words much more clearly than before! I later learned at her post op appointment the following week that the fluid in Emma's ears was muffling everything that she was hearing. If you put your fingers over both of your ears and speak-that is exactly how everything had sounded to Emma BEFORE surgery! :( Emma is doing VERY WELL now and as my friend Sarah said: "Emma has New Ears"!!!
Emma had a wonderful Halloween this year! :) It was fun for all three of us because Emma caught onto the concept of it much more clearly than she did last year. Her Daddy came home from work early to take her out Trick or Treating. As you can see in the pictures posted Emma practiced Trick or Treating with Jack & Mikey (the dogs) before she went out herself. She was amused that they were locked up for the evening & that Jack kept poking his head between the spindles. :) 
her if she was finished Emma replied "NO HOME"!!! As he was telling me this I could hear Emma's soft voice in the back round shouting "NO HOME"!!! Emma walked (slowly) the entire way and they continued to Trick or Treat for 50 more minutes! Emma & I practiced saying "Trick or Treat" before she headed out. Greg told me that he made her say "Trick or Treat & Thank You" at every house. Emma carried her little bucket & Greg carried a larger bag. Greg told me that they had a system down; once Emma received a piece of candy in her bucket she would take it out and put it into the big bag. :) 
h Bar and a Licorice stick-then she said "Want More". I told her no and she ran to the counter where all of her candy from both trick or treating & school was. She cried "Piece of Candy"!! Again I told her no and tried to explain that eating too much candy would give her a tummy ache. I promised her that she could have more tomorrow. My answer did not go over well and a BIG "candy meltdown" followed; that was our cue to take her upstairs and get Emma ready for bed! ; ) I wised up after that and hid the candy in the laundry room where it can be secretly rationed out. 
