Jun 30, 2012

{Friday Phone Dump}

on Saturday. Oops. This girl keeps me busy.

Nick insisted I call it "Saturday Shutter Bomb" haha what? 
Either way... here are the latest pictures from my phone.
 {Smiles all day long -- Can't get enough of her}

 {Emmy being Emmy -- Staring deep in to your soul -- Seriously she has been this way since the day she was born}

 {Couldn't stop staring at the tables at Firehouse Subs}

 {Don't be fooled -- This is only a half smile -- The other half is telling me she is pooping}

{Already a good girl loving her vegetables}

{Already a naughty girl livin on the edge -- Seriously she scoots herself to the edge of the crib every nap -- Drives me nuts}

{Waking up after 30 minute naps all the time now -- At least she wakes up happy}

 {Showing off her tricks -- Strong girl}

{Will she have blue eyes or brown? We will see -- I'm betting brown}

 {Paying bills with daddy}

 {Always on my lap or in my arms -- Always}

 {Or in her crib -- Obviously, since almost every picture I post is of her laying in her crib}

{Nick was trying to coax her into taking a nap with him -- If only it was that easy}

Jun 22, 2012

Emmy Lately


Emmy started her week off with her two month doctor's appointment. I had been dreading this day. The thought of watching her get poked with needles just made me want to cry. I made Nick come to the appointment with me for moral support. Our appointment was during Emmy’s usual nap time, and when she doesn’t get her sleep she is not a happy baby. When the doctor came to examine her she was balling. He told us at least we knew she had a healthy pair of lungs. We had a long list of questions for him -- most of which were probably ridiculous. The answer to almost every question we had was basically “your baby is normal”. He did prescribe Emmy some medicine for acid reflux though.
Its strange giving your little baby medicine. You almost feel like a bad parent for “medicating” your child, but at the same time you want what is best for them. If I can give her something that is going to make her feel more comfortable I want to.
After the doctor came in it was time to wait for the nurse. We had gotten Emmy to calm down and she was about to fall asleep on Nick’s shoulder when the nurse came in and slammed the door -- which scared Emmy and got her screaming again. We laid her down and I held onto her while she got her shots. We were amazed how quickly they gave the shots.  It was 3 shots in a matter of seconds. While Emmy certainly didn’t enjoy them, she didn’t scream any worse than she does when she is taken out of a bath. The whole thing wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought. Although we couldn’t help but feel bad for her every time we saw the pink bandages on her legs. The entire experience wore her out and she slept a lot the rest of the day.


She is in the .56 percentile in weight for length. I need to fatten this girl up. I want a little ham running around soon.

Emmy is starting to really snort. Since the day she was born she has had a little bit of a snort when she cried and I just assumed it would go away with time but it’s actually just getting worse. Now anytime after she has been upset she will just snort for a minute or so afterwards. We’re going to use it to our advantage -- think how impressed people will be when I ask my two month old baby what a piggy says and she begins snorting.

She is starting to become very smiley in the mornings and after every nap. Its the cutest thing. She will just open her eyes and give a big smile when Nick or I go to pick her up.

Emmy doesn’t seem to care much about momentum. She will have a really good day and we will think that maybe the time has come for things to get a little easier. That is never the case. It seems that every good day is followed by a bad day.

Somehow any night there is something that we are excited to watch on TV she will have a complete breakdown. Thank goodness for TiVo. I’d hate to miss my guilty pleasure Bachelorette night.

Have you ever seen a child hate walks? Neither had I. But mine sure does. HATES them. But I still try. Every day. And she screams and screams. Every time.

Grandma came to visit. Emmy did pretty good the whole time she was here and I was so glad. We miss her lots and can’t wait till she comes again.

Emmy is a pretty good sleeper at night. She wakes up a few times and needs some help falling back asleep sometimes but for the most part she is really starting to understand the difference between day and night and I am so grateful. She usually goes to bed at 8:00. We dream feed her at 10:00 and then she usually doesn’t need to eat again until about 4:00. Then most of the time she will sleep again until at least 6:00... sometimes 7:00 and a few happy mornings she slept until 8:00! I can already tell though that this girl is going to be an early riser and that’s ok with me.

{Friday Phone Dump}

{Sure love that bum sticking straight up}

{She finally fell asleep somewhere else besides in my arms or in her crib on her belly}

{Nevermind}

{Wakey wakey}

{Emmy loves when her cousin Taryn comes to visit}

{He's obsessed -- Always has been -- Now he has an excuse}

{Play time -- Not her favorite thing}

{Startin her young -- Future tennis star}

{Testing out the new Moby wrap -- I think its a hit}

{Sleeping smiling beauty}
 
{I sure love this girl -- Funny shaped head and all}

Jun 18, 2012

Last night we were reading about how babies begin to mimic facial expressions in the first few months of life.  This afternoon we decided to try it out and see what happened. Ashlee was holding Emmy and stuck her tongue out at her. I don't think we were really expecting a response but Emmy stuck her tongue out right away. We grabbed the video camera right after and she did it a few more times for us. This may not be impressive to anyone, but as first time parents we thought it was about the cutest thing we had ever seen. The end of the video is just random smiling that we couldn't bring ourselves to cut out.

Jun 15, 2012

{Friday Phone Dump}


{My little Giraffe}
 
 {Loving our night time walks that are now ruined by a baby who hates them}

 {Silly girl hates to sleep during the day}

 {Bedtime routine}
 {I about died when she did this -- Cutest thing ever}

 {Before & after of part of our yard -- There are more flowers now though}

 {Outside cuddle time -- I know I shouldn't need a blanket over me in June -- I miss St. George}

 {Preparation for my favorite holiday}

 {Quincy came to visit -- He grew up so fast}

 {Tired girl after getting her shots -- She was so tough -- More on that to come}

 {Big smiles for daddy}

 {This is how she looks when she wakes up from her naps lately}

{This is how she looks fifteen minutes later}

{I guess Nick is determined to make her love Giraffes}

Jun 12, 2012

2 Months

June 11, 2012

 Happy 2 Months to our sweet Emmy Lou.

Her favorite place to be is on her changing table. The biggest smiles come when the diapers come off. She can go from a screeching cry to being completely content just by placing her on her changing table. She loves it so much we just have dubbed it naked time. We just let her sit there kicking and cooing with her clothes off.

She LOVES bath time. Loves it so much that she HATES getting out. Nick and I just dread giving her a bath because we know the second we pull her out of that water she will begin screaming and won’t stop until she turns blue. We are in such a hurry to get her dressed afterwards that we look like a Nascar pit crew. We both hover over her and throw her diaper and clothes on fast as we possibly can.

She loved her car seat long enough for me to get one trip down to St. George. Now she wants nothing to do with it and cries anytime we are in the car... especially at a red light. This is a trend for her second month of life. She hates everything she used to love and now loves everything she used to hate. So while she will no longer go peacefully into her carseat we can at least get her to use the swing she wanted nothing to do with a month earlier.

She sleeps on her tummy. Yes, I know that is a big no no. But she is miserable on her back. She grunts and groans and has bad gas and basically just doesn't sleep (neither do I.) So to make myself a little less paranoid about SIDS we moved the crib into our room cause we figured the bassinet is too soft and too small. And we bought some fancy monitors that have a motion sensor under her mattress that set off an alarm if there is no breathing/movement. Paranoid much? Why yes I am and I blame my mother.

Emmy is a total mamas girl. She smiles a lot easier for me than she does Nick. Nick says he has to exhaust himself in order to get so much as a half grin. I cuddle with her every morning when she wakes up and she is always good for me. She just lays next to me sucking on her binky staring at me. It gives me the boost I need to start another day.

Nick complains that his only duty is to serve as her personal toilet. For whatever reason it seems that is where most of her bowel movements occur. She will sit on his lap and look at him square in the eye and just begin grunting away. At first we thought it was funny, but now we really think she may truly be associating the two things. Nick says although she won’t smile for him he is glad she will at least do something for him.

She is still a little confused about kisses. Every time we give her a kiss on the cheek her eyes go wide and she shakes her head back and forth and gives a look of complete confusion. We aren’t sure if she enjoys them at all but we can’t help but to keep giving them to her.

She is eating really well. She eats every two to three hours. One problem we have with her is that she will never act full. If she is offered food she will never refuse it.

She is also excellent at stretching. Anytime we pick her up after she has been sleeping or has been in her car seat she does the biggest stretch. She just sticks her bum so far out that it somehow almost touches her head and throws her hands straight out into the air. It can be a little scary when we pick her up and she does this because it almost feels like she is going to fly out of our arms.

We have started walking every night. She only lets us take her if we swaddle her up, but she seems to really enjoy it then. We initially started taking small walks, but they have slowly gotten longer and longer thanks to Emmy’s sleeping habits. The routine basically goes like this -- We start walking hoping Emmy will fall asleep on the walk. During the first part of our walk she really seems to enjoy it (As long as she swaddled -- otherwise she won’t let us go ten feet). Then after a few minutes she begins to get really sleepy and we can’t concentrate on anything other than watching her in hopes we see her eyes closed shut. Emmy then fights off sleep for about twenty minutes and becomes fussy at which point we decide we are giving up and will just walk home. Then when we are about to make it back home she finally falls asleep. We are convinced that if we stop walking she will wake up so we then proceed to walk for an hour just to keep her sleeping. Our nightly walks is the current highlight of the day. I love summer nights -- and hate small dogs that bark at sleeping babies.

One of the more memorable moments of her second month of life was the dramatic fashion in which she celebrated her sixth week of life. Upon hitting the six week mark she literally cried anytime she was awake for about two days. Then on the third day she was back to a happy baby and slept better than she ever had. It served as a reminder that we had no chance of figuring out this girl.

The second month was filled with a whole lot of frustration and love. There were so many hard days that got us really discouraged. I think about once a week we made the proclamation that we were done having children, but then even during the hardest days she would do something to make us fall in love with her even more. Whether it was a smile, a goofy face, or just watching her sleep our love for her grew even stronger. 



 

A month of our Baby Girl

in pictures.


{After this I'm all caught up. Promise. 
And I'll stay caught up. Promise.}