Last Saturday night Emma came down with her first cold. I don't know if it was caused by the holy water that was dripped on her head during her baptism which also managed to stream down her eyes and mouth when we lifted her (she was fifth in line you know). Or the fact that we had broken protocol and not insist that everyone wash their hands before holding her at her party. Or perhaps it was something she picked up at Gymboree. Regardless of the cause, the result was torturous. Poor little Emma was super congested and stuffy and could not breathe. She woke me up several times throughout the night (I am on call during the weekend so that Elena can get a break and try to catch up on the sleep she misses all week). It totally broke my heart that she had taken ill. It was something Elena and I had worked so hard to defer for as long as possible. Unfortunately it came sooner than we would have liked. Emma's symptoms continued to get worse throughout the week with a slight cough, periodic sneezing, and diminished appetite. We took her to the Pediatrician on Monday where she was prescribed XiraHist to relieve her symptoms. Thankfully her cold was only in her nose and not in her chest/lungs. We were told to bring her back if she established a fever or started to have thick green or yellow mucus. It's been a week now and her appetite has returned and she appears to be more alert. She is still congested but as we all know, that part of the cold always takes the longest to recover from.

When your child is sick you will do anything to take it away from them. You pray to God and ask him to take the sickness from your child and give it to you. This week our prayers were answered when I got a throat infection of my own. I was prescribed antibiotics to clear my infection which I am continuing to take. Elena has also been experiencing a soreness in her throat but does not like to take medicine in general, especially now that she is breastfeeding Emma.

Slowly but surely we are recovering from Hurricane Wilma (that was the storm that hit 3 days after Emma was born). We had our roof repaired in December ($1,900), and now this week we had it pressure cleaned ($195). I can't believe how nice our house looks now that the roof has been cleaned. We really had let that go for too long. As I write this the screened-in enclosure is being repaired ($1,300). Florida doesn't have a State tax but I beg to differ. I think the cost of repairs is the hidden Florida State tax because you know that as soon as I complete my repairs it's hurricane season again.

Silence is a virtue in our home. The only time Elena or I can get anything done around here is when Emma is at rest. As a result it is paramount that Emma not be disturbed when she sleeps or naps. To that end I have implemented sound cutting measures to assure that she sleeps like a baby (as she should). The first step in this endeavor was to disable the chirps and alarms of our microwave oven. All digital microwaves have this ability, you just have to look for the proper key code to enter to disable it.

Next problem was the phone. It seems as though every time we put Emma to sleep the phone rings. Since it can take as long as 45 minutes to get her to sleep, you can imagine the frustration that is caused when the phone rings. Last week I ordered some gadgetry that resolved this issue for us. The brand is called SonicAlert and the modules I purchased allow you to plug your phone line into the transmitting device as well as a nearby lamp. I got one of these and three receivers (two strobe and one lamp based) and strategically placed them in and around our house. The receivers plug into an outlet and a nearby lamp is plugged into them. When a phone call comes in, the signal is broadcast from the transmitter to all receivers where they spring into action and begin to flash. The strobe receivers do not require a lamp to work and flash on their own when the phone rings. I video taped these little doohickeys in action so you can get a better understanding as to how they work. Note, that sound was recorded in the video but you won't hear any when the lights flash because that is the whole point. I can't tell you how helpful this has been for us. Prior to this we had all our ringers off with the exception of one at the opposite end of the house and at an extremely low volume. We missed a lot of calls that way. Now when we miss calls it won't be because we didn't receive notification.

The SonicAlert devices don't come cheap at around $53 a pop, but I searched the internet and got them for around $39 each at Maxiaids. The components I ordered were as follows:

1 x Sonic Alert Sonic Link Deluxe Remote Receiver @ $36.95

2 x Sonic Blink @ $38.95

1 x Sonic Ring Elite Phone Signaler by Sonic Alert @ $38.95

The Sonic Blink's are good if you don't have a lamp in the area that you would like to receive an indication in, however the relay inside of them is quite loud and makes a strobed clicking sound when it flashes. The other lamp-based indicators make a soft click sound which is a lot less noticeable. Anyway, that is the geek tip of the week.

Developmentally:

Emma can now raise her head and tries to sit up on her own. With help (providing our fingers for her to grasp) Emma can lift herself with some effort. Emma is now 25 inches long and weighs 16 lbs 13 oz.

Finally, it has been taking me an average of 4 hours per week to do an update on EmmasWebPage. Since I don't have many hours during the weekend 4 hours is a substantial amount of time. During the course of a year that is 208 hours or 8.6 full twenty four hour days. As much as I enjoy doing it and will continue to do it so that Emma has a nice log to reflect upon when she is older, I am going to cut the amount of time I spend updating her website in half by only doing updates every other week going forward. I would rather spend my weekend playing with my Emmalicious. I don't want to miss out on our time together. I am already troubled when I hold her and think about her getting bigger, turning 18 or 21, and moving out, getting married, etc. I want to treasure every day with her and Elena.