Who does Emma look like?

Daddy?








Mommy?

Emma's 1st Christmas

I've neglected my blog lately. We've had a few things going on. Emma had a great Christmas, especially since she could sit up for it! I kept saying that I hoped she could sit up by Christmas. The weekend before she could only fall over, and then all of a sudden, she sat up. She was able to attempt to open some presents (mostly hitting and grabbing at the paper). She got way too much stuff, from toys to books to clothes. The clothes were not her favorite, but she has outgrown all the 9 month things we had for her, so she was in desperate need of 12 month clothes. I've posted a few pics. Considering how thrown off her schedule was the week of Christmas, I'd say she did pretty great. We got some good pictures too.

I've for some reason had the urge to totally clean house. It's like I'm nesting...7 months late. The garage and attic are packed full of stuff, but the house if pretty much cleaned out. I don't know if I'm trying to prepare for the crawling or what, but I cleaned out everything. I reorganized drawers, bookshelves and closets...now we just have to keep them clean. The hardest part. But now that I'm finished, I'm bored! I've already started thinking about Emma's 1st birthday in May, so I guess that's next. I did find some fun treats I'd like to try to make (snow pops and rainbow cake). I've also been trying to catch up on Emma's photo albums and scrapbooks. I'm a little behind.

We had to switch Emma to Nexium, which is harder to giver her than Prevacid. Our insurance also does not pay for it. We are not big fans of our insurance coverage. Fortunately in a couple of days, we can start using our FSA card again, which will help a little. So far, it's only been a week, so we'll have to wait a little longer to see how it works. I also gave her green beans for the first time yesterday! That's exciting to me, because I love green beans. She ate them all without making a face or gagging, so that's a good thing. After the pea debacle, I thought I'd have to buy grean beans, but I made my own and they worked very well. We're out of summer squash, so next up is butternut squash. I think she'll like it. I also have peaches and mango still to try.

Nick and I have been seriously discussing getting a new (to us) vehicle. We can't keep trying to shove everything into my car (you should see us driving down the road with a baby, all her junk and the two dogs crowded in). We're hoping to get an SUV, but the dreaded minivan is also a possibility. Nick always said he'd NEVER own a minivan...until he started looking at prices. So that will make for an interesting next few months. Nick is very indecisive, while I like to make decisions pretty quickly. Also, we're having a bit of a hard time deciding which vehicle to trade in. Considering how stubborn we both are, it's bound to be fun times! I'm sure that NO arguing will take place. Definitely not. But we both agree that now that Christmas is over, we really need to get back hardcore on our budget and start throwing some money to savings. After cleaning out so much junk from the house, I don't think we really need to buy anything else anyway. Why do we collect so much stuff we don't need? It's ridiculous.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a merry Christmas. It's hard to believe that 2010 is only 2 days away. Nick and I have a few resolutions, which I doubt we'll stick with. Usually I am able to keep at least one, so we'll see how that goes. Happy New Year!

Doctors

Emma had her Upper GI yesterday at Vandy Children's Hospital. She did great, considering she couldn't eat for 4 hours before. Her test was at 10:10 and she usually eats at 8. I did wake her up a little before 6 to eat, so she wasn't starving. She got a little scared during the x-ray part, but she calmed down. She hated the barium so they had to give it to her in a syringe. I tried to tell them she wouldn't drink it...she is very picky about what she takes from a bottle. Only her formula. But they got enough in her to do the test. Fortunately, everything is where it should be and working normally. She actually refluxed during the test, so even though it can't technically diagnose Reflux, we came away with a pretty good indication that that's what she has. We're relieved that it's not anything more serious, and that for now we're managing it as well as we can. Emma was a super baby, and fell asleep right away in the car afterwards. We were able to eat at Olive Garden (and actually enjoy a semi-peaceful meal). Visiting the children's hospital is a very humbling experience. We are really really blessed to have a baby who is more or less perfectly healthy.

Yesterday afternoon we had Emma's 6 month well visit. She got a great report, and her height and weight are now measuring around the 50th percentile. We started off at the 25th, so she's growing. Her head circumference is still between the 90-95th. The doctor said that we are doing a great job, which is nice to hear, since we for the most part don't know what we're doing usually. Emma has eaten bananas for 3 days in a row now and seems to like them, with no reaction. It's fun introducing foods to her. Today we're starting sweet peas. I tried her on homemade ones a while back, and it didn't go well. I bought some and am hoping they work better. I couldn't get enough of the skin off...at least, I'm hoping that was the problem.

Nick and I couldn't ask for a better baby. She is so happy almost all the time, and she's fun to be around. Nick took off yesterday, so he had a 3 day weekend to hang out with her. I think he saw why I love being home with her. She loves to laugh and play. We love her so much.

Our Week

This week has been interesting, to say the least. We finally had our long awaited appointment with the Pediatric Gastroenterologist yesterday. Emma picked this week to be sick and also be teething. I have never seen her so fussy. The bottle apparently hurts her gums, so she's not been wanting to eat her formula. She'll eat solids, but she's really hungry, and she needs more than just solids. I tried Baby Anbesol this morning, and she ate her bottle, but it usually gets worse as the day goes. I heard a lot of good things about Hyland's Teething Tablets, so we tried those. She broke out in a rash, so we're going to hold off on those for a while. I tried Humphrey's, which are the same as Hyland's but without the lactose, and she woke up with a rash this morning. For now, we'll just have to stick to the anbesol. The teething has been really hard for all of us. She's still been sleeping pretty well, but when she's awake, she's a holy terror. It's not her fault, but oh man.

I came away from our visit with the specialist a little disappointed. They're going to perform an Upper GI on Emma Monday, just to make sure she doesn't have any other problem. The nurse we saw was pretty confident that it was reflux though. She said that some babies grow out of it by their first birthday, but some severe cases remain until the child is 2. She gave us a new medicine to try instead of the Prevacid, which makes me a little nervous. There will be a period when the Prevacid is out of her system and before the Nexium begins to work, and she will get worse for a while. Also, she gave us some samples of Alimentum, a new formula for us to try. Pretty much though, there isn't anything they can do for the actual spitting up. Which is reassuring, but also frustrating. So we'll go Monday and assuming they don't find anything, we'll follow up with the nurse in a few months. The Upper GI is not an invasive procedure, which is good. But it's not until 10am, and we can't feed her that morning. She will one unhappy girl...and if her gums are still hurting, we will have one fun morning, for sure.

March of Dimes

We were fortunate in that Emma was born healthy and relatively on time (38 weeks, but not preterm). But I've been reading so many blogs of mothers and fathers whose children have been born way too early, most for reasons they don't know. Today is Prematurity Awareness Day. Report Cards were released, grading each of the states...and guess what? Kentucky scored an F on its Premature Birth Report Card. Here is a link to the report card. Overall, the US received a D. With all of our medical advances, shouldn't we be moving in a different direction?

Pictures

Finally, I'm posting pictures from Halloween. Also pics from the homecoming parade at WKU, and some random pictures.

Football

Emma will not grow up watching Coach Elson. It's a sad day for me (I might be the only one). I have good memories of him from 2002...I'm nothing if not loyal. Also, Brandy, Beth and I thought he was pretty cute in college. Obviously, cute is not enough to cut it as a football coach. This is a picture of Emma watching the press conference today. As you can tell, she was paying close attention to Dr. Selig. She has had to sit though several losing efforts this season, and was frustrated like the rest of us.

I have many pictures still on my camera that I need to post. Emma got to walk in the Homecoming Parade on Friday night. We got lots of compliments, and she behaved. Fortunately she was feeling better by Friday. She had either a cold or allergies for a few days last week. No fever, but since it only lasted a couple of days, I'm thinking it was probably a cold. She's back to her old self now. I introduced pears to her today. She seemed to really like them, but we'll see how her body reacts after a day or two. We've also been able to feed her some of the frozen breastmilk I stored, which I'm pretty happy about. She's still spitting up, but she doesn't seem to be in much pain or discomfort. Her gas has improved a lot! I don't know if the gripe water has anything to do with it, but we're definitely going to keep using it. She's closing in on 15 pounds, and will be 6 months old in 11 days. I've read that babies should double their birth weight by their 6 month birthday, and she has already passed that, so she's doing well. Tomorrow we are planning to take her to her first basketball game at WKU, so we'll see how that goes. I'm hoping to get a good pic of her with Big Red sometime this season!

Finally an Appointment

Emma finally has an appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist. It's not until December, but at least she has an appointment scheduled. This is where she will be going. In the meantime, we are going to have to figure out some things to try and help her feel better. I inclined her crib today with some books, and am going to start using gripe water again. I need to go ahead and reintroduce some solid foods, so I'm going to have to do some research on that. Green foods are definitely out for now. Other than the reflux and her gas, she's good. We've been working on the "b" sound today, which she thinks is funny. Yesterday she also made an "m" sound. She's getting closer to sitting up on her own. I helped her sit up for a good 5 minutes earlier, and she just looked around at everything with her eyes wide. It's a different perspective for her. She also has finally gotten to where she almost seems to enjoy her tummy time. Now she can scoot around enough to get to toys. We've been having fun hanging out together.

Waiting another day

I was supposed to hear from the doctor's office today about Emma's appointment with the pediatric gastroenterologist. When I didn't get a call, I called them. Apparently there is only one person there who can make referrals and she was out today. So it will be "first thing" tomorrow. I bet. I am, needless to say, a little upset. Emma is having terrible gas lately. Seriously, she burps up huge air bubbles. It's causing her to spit up even more, and scream after every feeding. It's also causing her to take up during every nap, so I know she's tired too. I burp her frequently, which in itself makes her spit up, and I'm trying to put her on her tummy more. That seems to help her get the gas out also. I am really ready to see this new doctor and figure out how to help her.

Doctor's Appointment

Today we took Emma to see the Dr. She has been a lot less fussy the last couple of days, and today seemed very happy and talkative. She seems to talk less when her reflux flares up, which worries me. The dr. reassured us that she still looks good (she's somewhat small, but very healthy) and that he believes she just has bad reflux. But he is going to get her in to see a pediatric gastroenterologist in Nashville. I think Nick and I will both be relieved to have her seen by someone who specializes in reflux and other similar issues. We are praying that the dr. will be able to change her meds or formula, so she won't have to undergo any invasive testing. I am still eager to get her on solids, as she is always hungry now and I know she's ready for solids. Unfortunately, her system doesn't seem to handle them too well right now. So until we get in to see the dr, I will be researching pediatric gi's, possible tests and procedures, medications, and creating a document of questions and her history to take with us. This is when my journal of all her activities will pay off (Nick has been asking me for months now when we could stop recording every last poop). Hopefully this new dr. will be able to get Emma all straightened out. Other than the reflux (and the really terrible gas she's been having, which I'm assuming is related), she's an awesome little girl. We've finally managed to drop the swaddle, and she seems to love having both of her hands out. I'm finished with her Christmas shopping, although I keep finding cute things. We bought her the Charlie Monkey book (there's a link on the right side of my blog), and she absolutely loves it. I'm ordering a few more like it from Amazon. I'm really hoping she will take after me and love to read. We read to her every day and she'll grow up seeing me read. We think she might be a little Tom Glavine (a lefty), but obviously it's too young to tell. Overall, we are having a blast with her. Tonight after we got back from the doctor's, we all laid in the floor and played, even the dogs. She babbled on and on. This is such a fun age, and she's so close to sitting up on her own. Today we got some mother-daughter cuddle time, which we don't do enough of. We just stared at each other, and she stuck her hands in my mouth. She's all about sticking everything in her mouth. Please pray for her as she goes to see the specialist. We know how blessed we are that she is more or less a perfectly healthy girl, but we hate to see her suffer in any way. And of course I feel guilty. Could something I did or my genes have contributed to it? Is there something more I could be doing now? Probably not, but apparently as a mother, I'm required to worry and feel guilty...it's a rule.

Baby Dedication

Emma did so great yesterday at church. It was the Family & Baby Dedication, and she looked super cute. And best of all, she only spit up once and didn't cry. We were so proud of her. This is what our pastor posted on the church's blog about the dedication:

Yesterday morning we celebrated our Family Dedication service. On the surface this is a ceremony of wonder, of hope, of delight as we see these young families and adore the precious babies on the platform. However, below the surface lies a greater call.

Our commitment to Family Dedication is founded on the Biblical principles of both Psalm 78 and Deuteronomy 6. Both passages clearly define the utmost responsibility of the parents to remember the words of Scripture and to teach them to their children. God makes parents responsible for passing on the truths of their faith within every afforded opportunity. In addition, the community of faith was held accountable to bring support. This is why we have “raised the bar” so to speak by requiring membership of one parent and attendance at a “parenting class” by both parents prior to our Family dedication Sunday. These prerequisites strengthen the lines of accountability.

Deeper still is our realization of the power and sovereignty of God in the lives of our children. This is why it is always stated that “this ceremony is not one of guarantee, but rather intent”. This serves as a reminder that we are fully dependent on God. We are called to obedience; we are called to treasure God’s Word; we are called to obey the commands of God; we are called to live in the light of His glory and persevere as witnesses for the Gospel. The results of our obedience rest in God alone. Every act of salvation is a miracle of God and if we were going to stake our lives on the “probable” we would all come up short. Instead, we stake our lives on the power of God, His unwavering attributes, and the truth of His Word. God is the one who changes hearts and saves us from sin. This is why the Family Dedication service and the covenant expressed there is so vital to the health of our community of faith. It is because we are coming together and committing ourselves to connection, accountability, fervent prayer, and clear teaching with the hope that our children will come to know Christ as Savior and will continue in the faith as powerful witnesses.

Join me in commitment to guardianship – guarding our hearts and minds so that we treasure God alone and communicate and live that lifestyle in our homes, in our faith community, in our world, and thereby show the next generation the glory of God through our lives.

Sometimes the responsibility I feel is overwhelming. We pray with her every day, read to her from her storybook Bible and I do my Bible reading out loud to her when she's eating. We try to talk to her about Jesus. But ultimately we can't make her love God and live her life for Him. As much as I'd love to control her life (and maybe lock her in her room for the next 18 years), I can't. That's scary. So we'll do the best we can and know that God has equipped us to raise out pretty little girl better than anyone else could.

We made an appointment with her doctor for tomorrow. Something has to happen...not sure what, but we're tired of not being taken seriously. She's acted like she's feeling better, but I'm not willing to wait it out until she hopefully grows out of it, letting her suffer along the way. Hopefully our appt tomorrow will go well and he'll finally listen to our concerns and do something about it.

Spit-Up

Because spit-up is such an important part of my vocabulary now, I looked it up in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. As a verb, it's two words - spit up - and as a noun, it's hyphenated. I always kind of wondered that when I was recording in Emma's notebook. Now I know. Lately her reflux has been much worse...again. It's not just more spit-up...she screams during and after her feedings, and before she spits up. I can handle spit-up...but I'm not going to let her live in pain every day. She's been eating some solids for a couple of weeks now, but if anything, introducing new foods has made it worse. Green veggies are definitely out. So far, sweet potatoes have been the only thing she can tolerate. I've decided to not really listen to the dr (because honestly, he's been less than helpful) and go a different direction with the order of foods. Next week, I'm going to try avocado. I've heard that it's a good first food, especially for babies with reflux. After that, pears, which are supposed to be the best fruit for reflux babies (not very acidic). And then bananas, which have gotten mixed reviews. I talked to a nurse at our doctor's office again, and she said that there's nothing else we can do. She's on the max amount of Prevacid (I know kids who take more, but I don't really want to just keep upping the meds either) and there's no better formula to try. She did say to give the Prevacid a month to work...lady, she's been on Prevacid almost her entire life. She's been on this particular dosage since August 4th...which makes 2 1/2 months. They keep awesome charts there. Oh, but she did give me some advice...keep her elevated when she eats and for 30 minutes afterward. No way, that's profound. She said it sounds hard to do. Well, she eats in a highchair and we keep her up for longer than 30 minutes. It's very frustrating. I think we are going to have to see a specialist or switch doctors. I'm really fed up with his office right now.

On a happier note, I've started my Christmas shopping. I'm almost finished with Emma. I'm excited for her first Christmas. I'm ready to put the tree up soon, but Nick refuses to until after Thanksgiving. I have presents wrapped and everything. I love Christmas.

Basketball!

So, I'm a terrible mother and kept Emma out way too late last night. We went to Hilltopper Hysteria, which was supposed to be over at 10pm and actually lasted until 10:45. She got to bed at 11:24pm. She did good though. She loved all the people, and especially the video board. Fortunately when we start taking her to games, we'll get home much earlier than that. I'm ready for basketball season to be here. Emma still has yet to meet Big Red...so far, she's been asleep every time he's come around. She loves her little stuffed Big Red, but the real deal might be scary.

She's still doing good. The sweet potatoes have been a big success, so I hope the green veggie (beans or peas, I haven't decided yet) goes over as well next week. Her weight gain has slowed a little bit, but she still eats anything and everything she can. The baby dedication at church is next week; I found a cute hairbow to match her dress, so she'll be cute as long as she doesn't spit up all over herself. I have this vision of her spitting up all over the stage, and some poor dad carrying a baby tripping in it.

Videos

I took a couple of videos on my iPhone of Emma trying sweet potatoes and of her trying to talk like a pirate.

Nick's Birthday

Sunday was Nick's 27th birthday. After church, we left Emma with my mom (the longest we had been away from her, which was so weird...and a little terrifying) and headed to Nashville. We got to eat at Olive Garden, and then went to Babies 'R Us. I'm sure shopping for Emma wasn't Nick's idea of a fun time, but we got tons of awesome stuff. We finally got a pack & play, a gate to keep the dogs out of her room, some baby food (I can't make her homemade carrots until she's at least 7 months old, so we have to buy them for now), and lots of other stuff. She should be set for winter clothes for a while, and I found a cute little dress and sweater for the baby dedication at church. Now I just need a silver hairbow to match. After that, we went downtown to try to park for the game. I got Nick tickets to the Titans/Colts game for this birthday. We've always talked about going to a Titans game, but never done it. We had a great time! It's funny...when we go to cities, we really feel out of place. I never felt like that until I married Nick. I still love big cities, but know now that I could never live in one. It's funny how God knows what you need even when you don't. There was this homeless, drunk man stumbling around the streets. He grabbed a girl's arm, and I practically ran to the other side of the street. I used to love that stuff. Amanda and I went to New York City by ourselves when we were 17. I can't wait to show Nick New York and DC and Chicago and Baltimore...and hopefully go to Boston, and lots of other cities. Anyway, that's all off-topic. The game was fun. We had terrible seats, but the good things was we could see the whole field. The Titans, of course, lost to the Colts, but Vince Young did come in in the 4th quarter, so that was cool. I'm not a big Vince Young fan, but they need to do something. It was nice to have a night by ourselves. Next up is an NBA game...hopefully to see Courtney.

Today I introduced Emma to sweet potatoes. I started baking sweet potatoes in August for her, so we've got a few bag-fulls. We had tried the rice cereal the week before last, and again last week. She hated it. She fussed the whole time, spit up, and it gave her terrible gas. I talked to a nurse at the dr's office, but sometimes they're not so helpful. So I decided to move to sweet potatoes. There's no reason she has to start with cereal. Well, she loved the sweet potatoes. Loved! We had the best time. She opened her mouth for the spoon, reached for the bowl when she wanted more (we're working on signing that word, but that will be a while), and laughed when I put the spoon to her mouth. I'm so happy she liked them so much. It makes me feel good that I can fix at least most of her food myself. Baby food is expensive, and even if they throw an "Organic" label on there, I don't know what's in it. I will have to buy some, like carrots and green veggies. I haven't figured out how to make homemade green vegetables yet. I can buy frozen and use that, but then I can't refreeze it once it's pureed. Jenny, if you read this, do you make your own peas and green beans? The plan is to give her sweet potatoes at one meal this week, and to introduce carrots next week, while still giving sweet potatoes at a second meal. Hopefully that will help to curb her hunger...she's a little pig. Solid foods are exciting to me (shows you how boring my life is, I suppose)! I can't wait to try bananas, applesauce, peaches, pears, and avocado. I also have squash and zucchini ready. The dr. also said to wait for fruits until her 6 month visit, but oh well.

Solids

So we tried the rice cereal...yuck. It made Emma very gassy and fussy. We have decided to bypass cereal and start next week with vegetables, assuming she's back to her normal self by then. I know she's ready for solids, because she's hungry all the time. We feed her as much formula as we can, and she just wants more. She's had so much gas that she's been waking up from all her naps screaming. So now we have to get her back into her routine. Thankfully it hasn't affected her nighttime sleep. Last weekend we had a yard sale and went to Jackson's Orchard. It was a perfect day and she loved being outside. She can now roll over from her tummy to her back both ways, although she's still not too sure if she likes it. She stayed with my parents Friday night (we left their house at 9:30 and were coming back at 5am for the yard sale, so it didn't make sense to wake her up and take her with us), and I couldn't sleep all night. I don't think she'll be spending anymore nights away from us for a while. I worried nonstop.

Rolling Over & the Braves!

Today has been an awesome day. Yard sale stuff is finally finished. Other than importing about 40 cd's to my computer before I sell them. Emma rolled over today. I put her down on her stomach and went to fix lunch. I could still hear her but couldn't see her over the counter. When I came back, she was on her back. I flipped her back over and she did it again. Unfortunately I got so excited that I spilled cherry kool-aid all over the carpet and myself. That stuff does not come up. By the time I had changed clothes, tossed my jeans in the washing machine and attempted to clean the carpet, Emma was way past hungry. I like to do the rice cereal before the bottle, but she was throwing a fit, so she had her bottle first. After that, she wasn't too interested in the cereal. But we're making progress. Seriously, I can't believe she can roll over. She'll be sitting up before we know it. I feel like she's 4 months going on 40. She needs to stop growing up!


Also, what the heck is up with the Braves?! I cannot believe they're the same crappy team I saw. How exciting is it to be in a playoff race again? Personally I always preferred to be up 15 games by this point, but this is better than being 15 games back. I would love to go to a playoff game next month...it's been a while. Let's go Braves!

Yard Sale

http://bgky.craigslist.org/gms/1396477388.html

Nick and I are having a yard sale at my parent's house this Saturday. We had one at Stuart and Jenny's a couple of weeks ago and did pretty well. We still have a couple big items we'd like to sell, and I found several more small things too. It's nice to clean out some cabinets and closets. I finally had enough room to make Emma her own shelf (actually 2) in a cabinet, so her stuff isn't overtaking the counter anymore. I tried rice cereal last week, but didn't have much luck. Today I started again. I know she's ready for solids, but it's going to take her a little while to get use to the spoon and her tongue. I also let her use a sippy cup for the first time today. She seemed to like it ok, although most of the water that went in her mouth came right back out. I can't believe she's big enough for solid food and sippy cups. We already cut the pacifier, which is a relief to me. Cindy came down to our room yesterday at church asking if we had an extra pacifier. Sorry! It's not always convenient, but I got so tired of replacing it every time she dropped it. And she's doing good without it. Today we're working on dropping the swaddle. She's had her legs out for a couple of weeks, so I tried both arms out this morning. That didn't go so well, so this nap she has one arm swaddled. We'll see if it's better. She's so funny. Nick and I are really enjoying this time with her. She's smiling and laughing and usually not too fussy, so we're having a lot of fun. It's so awesome to see how well she lifts her head up now. She's so close to rolling onto her back from her tummy...she pushes up with one arm and one leg. She was such a big girl at the doctor. She's close to the 40th percentile in height and weight; she was in the 25th at her 2 month appt. Her head circumference percentile is still about 80th, but maybe the rest of her is catching up to her head. She cried for about 30 seconds after her shots and then she slept the whole way home. I'm so glad that it's finally nice outside...not hot and not raining. We get to take her for walks and get outside with her. Hopefully soon we'll get to Jackson's Orchard to pick out a pumpkin for her first Halloween. I haven't decided yet if we'll go trick or treating...she does have a cute little costume. I don't want to leave the dogs out though; usually they dress up too and we take pictures. So far, Emma has seemed to enjoy her first football games. She got on the video board last time. It would be nice if they could actually win a game, but oh well. I can't wait for basketball season, and for her to meet Big Red.

Nick's birthday is coming up and we're going to see the Titans play the Colts. I'm probably more excited than he is, although the Titans also suck this year. The Braves are only 2 1/2 back in the Wild Card race though...how awesome would that be. If they hadn't played so terrible all season they'd be way up. Anyway, I just thought I should update, since it's been a while. Things are going well. Emma's growing way too fast, so we're trying to enjoy each day with her.

Atlanta!

We had a great long weekend. We got to see Chipper, and I didn't hyperventilate or pass out or anything! Emma went to her first Braves game and got to do the tomahawk chop in her cute little Chipper shirt. It didn't work and they lost, but what else is new. We went to the aquarium, which was huge and packed with people. Emma slept through most of it, although she did watch the whole imax show. She really liked the swimming pool this time. It was indoor and heated. She tried to kick her legs, and she made a little friend. All in all, she was really great! She only fussed a little when she got tired, and she slept well at night. Nick and I were able to have a date night. We went to Ikea and ate at the Varsity. I'm glad that Emma adapted so well. I can't wait to take her on a real vacation, but it will probably be next year for that.

Labor Day Weekend

We're going to Atlanta this weekend. It will be Emma's first Braves game (and her first time seeing Chipper...hopefully not her last). We're also going to the aquarium. I'm looking forward to getting out of town, but a little anxious about getting Emma off her schedule for 4 days. She'll be up past her bedtime and missing naps, so I hope we don't have a fussy baby all weekend. She also doesn't do too well in her car seat for extended periods of time. Bu, she has changed so much lately, so maybe she'll handle it better. She's a totally different baby now than she was even a couple of weeks ago. Shes lots of fun now. I can put her down for tummy time and she doesn't scream the whole time anymore...she's almost rolling over. I don't think it will be long now. She's doing a whole lot better with holding her head up too. We put a mirror beside her, and she loves talking to the other baby in it. We're getting close to the end of the swaddle I think. She gets out of it a lot, and she's outgrowing the ones we have. Right now her arms still wake her up, but hopefully within a month we can stop using it. I'm reading up on starting solid foods. I'm still not sure we'll start at 4 months...that seems a little young. We'll see if she's ready then or not. I have lots of food frozen, and yesterday I made some peaches and pears. They were super easy and smelled really good. I think I might try some carrots next week. I will be glad when we can cut out her 10pm dreamfeed. Right now she needs it to get in all her formula for the day, but when she starts solids hopefully we can gradually cut it out.

3 month pictures and a video

Emma laughed for the first time yesterday. She tried anyway. Close enough. We got to take a lot of 3 month pics yesterday too...she was tired by the end but she did good!

Nothing much new

I just put Emma down for a nap, so I have a few minutes to relax. She woke up around 5:00 this morning. While that's probably still considered sleeping through the night, we're still working on extending that time. But she's only 13 weeks old (tomorrow!), so we're lucky to be sleeping that long this early. The past week or so has been pretty great. She is so much fun now. We always heard that the 3 month mark is kind of like magic, and she really does seem different. We can sit her down alone and she's entertained by toys, her mobile or just the ceiling fan. She loves to put her hands in her mouth and blow bubbles. She smiles at us all the time. She just seems so happy and healthy finally. We still struggle with spitting up, but she just passed the 11 pound mark, so she keeps growing. I never knew I would love changing diapers so much...she just lays there smiling up at me. We are so very blessed to have her, even if we do get grumpy when her cries wake us up at 5am. Luckily that is becoming less common. I think she is on the brink of getting this sleep thing down. She took a 2 hour 20 minute nap this morning without waking up at all. I am really enjoying being home with her.

I went to MOPS last night at church. It's always hard for me to go alone somewhere where I don't really know many people. Making conversation with strangers is not my strength. I'm usually very reserved unless I know people (the people that do know me well probably wish I would shut up sometimes). I think it will be good for me though...an opportunity to get out once a month and get to know other women who have gone or are going through the same things I am. And it will push me out of my comfort zone (I hate that cliche phrase). I have gotten involved in a lot of things at church with Nick, but I think it's time to step out on my own a little. Sometimes it still surprises me just how large our church is. We've met a lot of couples, but I didn't know many of the women last night. After 15 (or something like that) years at LHBC, you'd think I would at least recognize everyone. I love that about our church. You have to make an effort to meet people, but when you do it's so rewarding. I would not fit in well at a small church. I was raised and baptized in one, but I'm so happy Emma will grow up at Living Hope. But I also tend to overextend myself. I want to make sure I have enough time to just enjoy this part of my life. Before Emma was born, it seems like we were always running around to some activity. I'm afraid I'll miss out on something great I guess, but watching my daughter grow up is the something great right now.

One thing that I am struggling with is expressing my appreciation to my husband. I think all the time that I'm truly lucky to be married to him, but I have a hard time actually telling him. He works so hard to provide for us, to lead us, and to also make time to be with us. I know he's also trying to make time for his relationships with family and friends as well. I don't know how he does it. I will admit that I am a demanding wife...there's always something I want us to be doing. Quality time is my love language, after all. I forget that sometimes he just needs to rest and relax (even if I'm dying to talk to another adult). It's just another adjustment we are making. I have talked to some women who are married to (sorry to sound harsh) lazy men. What a blessing to never have to worry about that, although sometimes I probably view it more as a curse. He commutes and works 40+ hours without complaining, mows yards on the side, takes great care of our home and vehicles (and saves us a lot of money!), is a very involved parent (he volunteered to get up every other night with Emma, which he still does), surprises me with nice things every week, still takes me out on dates (even if they are to Walmart instead of the movies now), and helps me take care of and play with the doggies. We are all fortunate to have him in our lives. What a great role model he will be for Emma...she is going to totally be a daddy's girl.

3 months old

I have not been good about updating lately. Emma will be 3 months old on Thursday. She's getting so big. Our schedule is getting better. She still usually wakes up during naps after about 45 minutes, but she can go back to sleep again after a few minutes. Except for the 3rd and last nap, and so I figure short nap is all she wants. That's close to bedtime anyway. She has slept through the night the past 2 nights, so we are very hopeful it will continue. We put her down by 7pm, and she sleeps until close to 7am, with a 10pm feeding. This morning we had to wake her up to get ready for church. It's awesome to not wake up in the middle of the night (although so far I still wake up on my own...hopefully that will only be temporary). Today was her first day to stay in the nursery for more than an hour. We took her to big church, and then started teaching our Sunday School class. We have 3 years old this year, which will be an adjustment. Apparently they're not all potty trained yet...something we hadn't thought about. But I'm excited about it...it seems like our class will be smaller this year, which will be nice. We're hoping to have Emma's 3 month photo shoot later this week, so I should have some pics to post later. We'll see how she cooperates. We're just doing it ourselves, so they might not turn out so great. Everything else is going well. Nick and I were able to go out by ourselves last night. We had a nice meal at Red Lobster, and went to Sam's Club, Lowe's & Walmart. I never would have thought that going to the grocery alone would be a date. But it's hard to shop with a baby.

NAPS!

We are having a hard time with naps this week. Emma won't go down without some fussing. Which is fine, sometimes she needs to cry or whimper herself to sleep. But she cannot make it past the 45 minute mark. Once she starts transitioning, she wakes up every time and is unable to put herself back to sleep. Part of it is probably the pacifier, which I think has become a sleep prop. She has a really strong sucking reflex, so if you don't let her have it, she lays there reaching for something to suck on until she wakes herself up. However, if it pops out of her mouth, she generally will wake up (unless she's in deep sleep, in which case she doesn't notice). We can't leave one hand out of the swaddle yet, since she'd still wake herself up and also hasn't found her mouth with her fingers consistently yet. I've read the books and websites about Cry It Out and No Cry and all the other methods of sleep training and soothing to sleep. Now I am just frustrated. She is so tired and needs to nap, but she fights it. I'm hoping it is temporary. She's gaining a lot more control of her neck and limbs so maybe that's part of it...she'd much rather be moving them around than be swaddled. She had been doing farely well with naps...she'd take at least one that was 2 to 2 1/2 hours, and the other 2 naps were for about 1 1/2 hours. Now she takes about 30 minutes to fall asleep, stays asleep for 45 minutes, and sleeps fitfully for just a few minutes after that. I need help!

Schedule

It's really amazing how much of a difference Emma's schedule makes. This weekend we got a bit off of it (and I admit I'm much too controlling with it, but I'm the one left dealing with the fussy, hungry, tired baby), and it was not good. She's so much happier when she knows when she's going to be eating and sleeping and playing. Hopefully we'll be able to keep her on the schedule this week and get her back into her routine. We have a couple of weekend trips coming up soon, so those will be a challenge. Also, she's been back on the Prevacid for a couple days now, so hopefully the reflux is done flaring up. We bought a steamer at Walmart this weekend, along with several ice cube trays, so I'm going to try to cook and freeze the squash today for Emma's baby food. We will hopefully have some sweet potatoes and green beans also in by the time she's ready for solids. I'm excited about preparing her food myself. I feel a bit guilty still that I couldn't breastfeed her for long, so at least I know this will be healthier than buying store bought, processed foods. And it will give us a chance to go to the Farmer's Market, which is fun! Fortunately we have a deep freezer on loan. I am hopefully getting a new iPhone soon and selling my current one, so I can take videos of Emma with it. We have a video camera, but it's so much easier and faster to use my phone for pics and video. I never knew how hard it would be to take pictures of a baby...it's like she sees the camera and refuses to cooperate. Seriously...that's how smart and stubborn my child is already!

Update

Yes, I'm up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning while Emma is snoozing away. I've actually been up since 4:00am thinking (never good)...I'm sure I will regret that later. Emma's 2 month check-up was Thursday. She did awesome! She had her first shots, which I think were more traumatic for me than her. We had her favorite toy to distract her, and dipper her pacifier in sugar water...don't know if any of that helped, but I wanted to do anything I could. She cried pretty hard for about 2 minutes, and then she was fine. I cried for about that long also. So far, she hasn't had any fever or bruising from the shots. The nurse said she had good thigh muscles...good for shots maybe, but she'll hate her mama for the big thighs someday...sorry Emma! Unless she plays soccer, and then they're useful. Dr. Fraser said she looked perfect. She weighed 9 lbs 7.5 ounces (25th %), was 21.5 inches long (also 25th %), and her head circumference was 40 cm (close to 80th %). We attempted to stop the Prevacid, in the hopes that her earlier issues were more feeding related as opposed to reflux. That did not work...we barely made it 2 days before she started spitting up A LOT more again. Poor girl. Yesterday she was pretty fussy, especially when and after eating, so she's going to have to stay on the Prevacid for awhile longer. I hate to keep her drugged up (I feel like we're constantly giving her something...the Prevacid, laxative, gas drops, gripe water...), but she has been doing really well. The beginning of this week was particularly bad, especially Tuesday. Nick was mowing, and I just had to go outside and get him to come in. I needed a break....she cried almost all day. Nothing would calm her down (except her Daddy of course). She also was not napping well and woke up twice that night to eat instead of only once. But I consulted my Babywise book and website, and I believe it was a growth spurt. She was hungrier than normal, so I pushed her back to a 3 1/2 hour schedule (probably where we should have been anyway, so I'm sticking with it for awhile). Now she's fine. I'm thankful it didn't last long, because I was going out of my mind. Being a mom is hard! But she is too funny...she smiles a lot now, and actually focuses on and tries to play with her toys. She makes lots of funny noises, and she's getting so much more coordinated with her limbs.

I watched 16 and Pregnant on MTV this season, and the season finale for some reason really affected me. The couple decided to give up their baby for adoption, and the agency they went through happened to be the same one that just opened an office here in BG. http://www.bethany.org
The rest of the teenagers on that show were spoiled, immature brats (but so was I at 16...and still am at 27 I suppose), but Catelynn and her boyfriend seemed like the only ones who cared about their baby. On a sidenote, one of the girls on the show, Macie, had a boyfriend who was an absolute idiot. She went back to school and was working part time, and at night she asked him to help with the baby, but he was too tired. So he laid the screaming baby on the bed with all the pillows and blankets, crawled in on the other side, rolled over, pulled the covers over his head, turned out the lights and went to sleep. Isn't that child abuse or something? Anyway...after I saw it, I went to the website. They apparently do international adoptions also, which is awesome. I know I have a 2 month old, and TRUST ME, no more kids for awhile, but I've always thought I'd like to adopt from another country. My sister is from Romania, which no longer allows out of country adoptions. For some reason, I've been thinking about China. Obviously I don't know much about the process at this point, and I do know that it can be very expensive. But I'm glad we have an agency like that here in town now. I know my parents had to use one located in Louisville (I think), which makes things like meetings and home visits more difficult. They're having an informational meeting next week, so I'm hoping to go. I'm not sure how Nick really feels about adoption at this point, so I'd love him to go with me. And even if we decide adoption isn't right for us, you can sponsor a child through the agency. I've often thought of sponsoring a child, but I've never been sure if I could trust those companies you see on tv. And if nothing else, I signed up to be a prayer warrior...they send me updates with specific children to pray for. I can definitely pray for kids!

Nick and I are taking Emma to Ohio County today, to hopefully get her in a real pool for the first time. Maybe the rain will hold off. My parents got free tickets to the Hot Rods game tonight, so we might take her to her first baseball game too. Although that will interfere with her bedtime. Ideally we'll put her in the carrier and she'll sleep the whole time...right.

2 months old

Emma is 2 months old today. This weekend we took her to Jackson's Orchard for the first time. It was so nice this weekend, and it wasn't crowded at all. Usually we go in October and there are people everywhere, so this was much more fun. She also got to take a trip to the dog park with Isabelle and Sydney. We had a fun weekend. I wish it wouldn't get hot again...the weather was so nice. We're going to try to take Emma swimming next weekend at Nick's parents' house. She hated the tiny pool, so I doubt she'll like the big one. She is approximately 22 inches long now, and is 1 ounce away from weighing 9 pounds. It's still pretty small for her age, but compared to where she started, she's doing great. One problem we have been having is with her naps. She's having some trouble with her 2 afternoon naps. Sometimes she just takes a long time to fall asleep, others she wakes up crying several times. Sometimes I don't even think she's awake, just crying in her sleep. Usually she does well with the morning nap, so we're going to have to figure out what the problem is. I try to put her down when I see her sleepy signals, but I don't know if she's too alert still or too tired. It's frustrating.