Now with more Emily-ness.

If nothing else, I am a man of my word. 

I deviated from the original course by posting about our brief excursion to the Windy City. The reaction was swift and ruthlessly negative. 

"Nobody cares!"

"Your team sucks!"

"Show us the kid, you narcissistic hack!"

And so on. 

Therefore, in an effort to pander to my worldwide audience, (look at the chart on the right...the stats don't lie!) I bring you news of the child. 

Ooh, didn't that sound dramatic? Well, get over it because I actually don't have too much. We met with Dr. DeLuca this past Monday so he could take a gander at her new shoe lift. We've been putting her in it about once a day to give her a chance to get familiar with the feel. Because she's mostly crawling and doing some cruising along couches and coffee tables, the shoe isn't terribly helpful just yet. At least, according to our humble and non-orthopedic opinions. 

However, we were interested as to what DeLuca was going to say regarding the size of the lift. If you'll think back to this post, we had a budding doctor-to-doctor controversy as Dr. Paley felt the shoe lift should be twice as big as it is. Well, DeLuca looked at it and was clearly on the same train. He didn't want to say definitively, but he felt some more time would be necessary before we made any adjustments. "Give me a call in a month or so and we'll take another look," he said. 

It's worth noting that, in exactly one month's time, we'll be returning from our visit with Dr. Paley. Funny how that works out, right? If I was a high-profile athlete, I would point to the heavens right now. And maybe pound my chest a couple times. And probably pay someone else to write this. Right. Moving on.

Other fun from this past week includes Emily figuring out how to clap...while with her grandparents. That's a fun phone call. 

"Hey, does Emily know how to clap?" 

"Um...no." 

"Well, she does now."

Apparently, she took a look at her right hand...gazed at her left hand...and smacked them together which both surprised and amazed her. She's been enjoying it ever since. There are now constant ovations in the house. Super for the self-esteem. 

Finally, in what will be a string of firsts for Team Tredwell, we will all be headed down to Texas this Tuesday to visit with Emily's Uncle Pete, Aunt Kathy, cousin Caroline and cousin Allison. This will be the first trip to the Lone Star State for all three of us, as well as Emily's first plane ride. As excited as I am to see my only brother and his family, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous for this flight. Emily has been the most wonderful baby...mellow, engaging, and cute enough to make a bishop kick out a stained-glass window...but she's still an 11-month old. An 11-month old that's trapped in a pressurized metal tube for over three hours. You get the idea. Say a prayer for us. I'll take all the help I can get. 

That's it for now. Perhaps I'll delve into the world of road-blogging this week. Live from Texas! It's The Gray Area! Oh, the excitement...