Tag Archives: Emma

Emma Grace: 11 Months

7 Mar

It seems unreal to me that Emma is turning 1 year old in a month! That means we’ve survived almost an entire year of parenthood. 😉

No, but Emma is truly a delight. I think this is the most fun age yet. So what is Little Baby Emma up to?

IMG_5429Size

Emma is still wearing her 12-month size clothes. She has a few freakishly large outfits that are 6-9 months and still fit. She is now wearing Size 4 diapers. And I think we’re going to have to buy her bigger socks. She won’t have another pediatrician appointment until 12 months. I tried to schedule it before we move on March 22 but they wouldn’t let me. So that means I’m going to have to find a pediatrician where we’re moving sooner than later!

IMG_5482Eating

Emma didn’t get any new teeth this month, though she had several rough nights that made me sure she was teething. But alas, no new teeth.

Her eating habits this month have gotten pickier. She has started refusing to eat chunks of fruits and vegetables in favor of purees. One time, I tried to trick her by putting a chunk of carrot on a spoon with some puree but she ate the puree and spit out the carrot. She has also started refusing to eat things by sticking her tongue out and not opening her mouth. She’s still a good eater overall though so I’m hoping this is just a phase. Her favorite foods are yogurt, quesadillas, toast, strawberry oatmeal with banana, clementines, and puffs. She also tried tator tots with ketchup and really liked them (who wouldn’t?).

20140208_132411I’m officially done with nursing and pumping during the day. I nurse Emma when she wakes up in the morning, she gets 2 bottles during the day (though she hasn’t been drinking much of the bottles we give her either!), then drinks a bottle + nurses before bed, and nurses when she wakes up in the middle of the night – still about once on average. I tell ya, this little one is a moving target. She is never predictable!

In the next couple of months, we’re going to start weaning Emma from a bottle to a sippy cup. I bought some that aren’t the no-spill kind in the hope that being easier to drink out of will help her understand what to do with them. We’ll see how that goes! We also need to get better at brushing Emma’s teeth. I’ve been totally slacking on that so far.

IMG_5502Sleep

Emma’s sleeping habits haven’t changed much from last month, but her ‘going down’ habits have. She is stuck between not wanting to be held to go to sleep and not wanting to be put down. Every nap and bedtime is a guessing game of what Emma wants. If I had to guess what happens most often, I’d divide it up like this:

60% Emma cries for a few minutes and falls asleep

35% Emma screams her head off and gets rocked/nursed to sleep

5% Emma goes to sleep quietly on her own

IMG_5467I think the reason why it’s such a battle is because Emma has a hard time winding down. She doesn’t like reading books, singing songs, being rocked, being held. Even after a bath and getting pajamas on in a dim room, she’s ready to play. So many times, we do our bedtime routine and try to give her a bottle and she’s too wired to even drink it. She’s bouncing around her crib, squawking, wanting to sit up, crawl around, peek over the edge of the chair, play with the bottle nipple. Ugh, it’s maddening sometimes! But the other night I realized, maybe that’s the way Emma calms down. Maybe instead of the things I think she “should” do to wind down, she just needs to play around in her room with me for a while, doing her own thing, until she’s settled down enough to drink a bottle and nurse. So I think that’s what we’ll start trying.

I’d like to re-read all the sleep books I read when Emma was first born, now that I know her better, and maybe start keeping a diary of when she ate, fell asleep, woke up, etc. again. Because now that she will be home with me full time, I need her to nap better so that I can get stuff done! For us with Emma, sleep is definitely the most challenging part of parenthood.

IMG_5468It doesn’t help that Emma has been perpetually sick since November. Poor little girl. She gets a cold with a stuffy nose for about a week and then it turns into this hacking cough that lasts what seems like forever (but in reality is only 2-3 weeks). Sometimes she coughs so much that she gags and pukes. But according to our pediatrician, that’s pretty normal for kids her age. We give her the Hyland’s cough syrup and have a warm vaporizer going in her room every night, both of which seem to help. I also bought a cart cover to hopefully prevent her from picking up bugs while we’re shopping. 

Development

A few days after she turned 10 months, Emma figured out how to crawl forward!

IMG_5460

20140301_170120And about the middle of last week, she figured out how to pull up on things. It is so cute to go into her room in the morning now and she’s standing there holding on to the side of her crib, talking to herself. It works against us too though because now when she’s upset in her crib, she makes herself even more upset by sitting or standing up.

So far in her newly mobile life, Emma’s favorite toys are the door stop in the living room, the dog dishes (especially the one with water in it!), shoes, a basket in the office and anything with a cord. We let her play with cords when they’re unplugged and she’s supervised. She completely destroyed my phone charger with her slobber. Her favorite rooms are the kitchen and the bathroom. She’s also started paying more attention to the dogs, which they are not completely thrilled about but they’ve been great with her so far. We’ll just have to teach Emma to not touch the dog dishes while they’re eating!

biscuit with dog dishes

One absolutely hilarious thing that Emma has started doing now that she’s crawling is ‘carrying’ stuff in her mouth like a dog. If she’s playing with a toy and wants to move to another spot without putting the toy down, she’ll put it in her mouth and crawl away! I’ve tried to take a picture but she always takes it out of her mouth too quickly.

She’s still as smiley and talkative as ever, and still loves her Baby Einstein table, jumperoo, being twirled around in her highchair and held upside down. She is not a fan of being held up high or thrown into the air though. She has grown more ticklish so it’s easier to get her to laugh and giggle. A couple of times when we’ve been played on the floor, I was laying on my side and would ‘bounce’ my foot over slowly to Emma saying “It’s going to get you!” and then I’d poke her with my toe and she’d laugh her head off. It even got to the point where she’d start laughing before I touched her. So cute!

20140304_180348This month, I also took Emma swimming for the first time. I forgot my camera, so no pictures. ::fail:: But Emma really enjoyed it. My friend Charlotte let her use a floaty ring, so I had Emma in there for part of the time and also held her part of the time. I also took Emma to the mall to ride the merry-go-round/carousel. She did what she usually does during new experiences – showed no emotion.

20140228_153649Anyway, I have to start planning Emma’s birthday party! We’re just going to do something small with family – a luxury that we’ll finally have, being back in Minnesota!

IMG_5475

Tags: , , ,

Emma Grace: 10 Months

7 Feb

I’ve been pretty MIA on this blog lately because getting our house ready to sell has taken over our lives! Poor Emma has had to entertain herself many hours (with supervision of course) while we pack, clean, paint, fix and decorate.

20140127_085413 20140127_085232Finally, this week I took pity on her and we did some fun stuff – we went to the zoo on Monday and to the pool today for the first time! She really enjoyed it – but I forgot my phone so no pictures. *fail*

So Miss Emma is 10 months old today! Here’s what she’s up to:

Size

Emma is wearing almost all 12-month clothing now, though a few of her longer 9-month things still fit. She’s still wearing size 3 diapers, but I bought some 4s to see if they fit better. And that’s all I know since she doesn’t go back to the doctor until 12 months.

Eating

Emma got one new tooth this month – looking at her, it’s the one to the left of her 2 big teeth on top. It’s just a mini me! I think she might be in the process of getting a few more too, but we’ll see. We started giving her Motrin instead of Tylenol for the teething pain because our pediatrician said that Motrin lasts longer and isn’t hard on the liver like Tylenol is. We also put a little teething gel on the sore spots if she needs it. It’s not recommended due to swallowing issues, but I just nurse Emma afterward and figure if she’s fine then, she’ll be fine later.

Even though I’m not ready to wean Emma, I think I’m going to have to. After every feeding now, I offer her a bottle and she always drinks at least 4 oz. A normal feeding is 6 oz so she’s obviously not getting very much from me. And if I’m having to deal with bottles anyway, I might as well just go all in. The price and hassle won’t be that much more than it is now. But I’ve also thought about holding out because it brings her so much comfort at night – and since we’re moving soon, it might be nice to have that tool in my arsenal. Such a hard decision!

IMG_5364 (Large)Last month, I mentioned starting to give Emma more finger and table foods, which we’ve done. She’s had broccoli, taco-seasoned ground antelope, cottage cheese, pancake, quesadilla, pineapple, clementine and toast with jelly. She enjoys feeding herself but I tell ya, making her food is a lot more work than feeding purees. Emma has eaten all of the purees I made during that massive cooking day and I don’t want to make more since she’s supposed to be transitioning to table food anyway. But with everything we have going on, I finally broke down and bought a bunch of organic purees to send with Emma to daycare so that the guess work was taken out. If we’re still here when Emma is close to a year, I’ll probably ask our babysitter to feed her lunch for a little extra money.

That being said, Emma nurses/drinks a bottle 4 times a day, still nurses once at night and eats 3 meals of solid foods – usually a fruit/veggie and a protein.

IMG_5374 (Large)Sleep

Emma’s sleep has gotten back to normal since the craziness that went down over Christmas. But she still wakes up once a night, usually after sleeping 6-7 hours straight. I haven’t really tried to wean her off that since I’ve been nursing and need that feeding for my meager milk supply. If we do wean, I’ll probably try harder to get her to sleep through the night.

I’ll admit that I don’t hold out very long on Emma’s crying anymore if she’s really upset. For a while, it was because she was sick and teething and I didn’t want to make her suffer by herself. But now, it’s just because I can’t handle her screaming. That maybe is why she still cries before almost every nap and bedtime. Or maybe that’s just the way Emma is. Anyone else had experience with that?

Overall though, I can’t complain about Emma’s sleeping habits. She still wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30, takes 2 naps (after 3 hours of awake time), and goes to bed anywhere between 6 and 8 – if we try to put her to bed sooner than 3.5 hours after her last nap, she’s just wild! She won’t take a bottle and just wants to roll around. When that happens, I put her in her crib with her music projector thing and let her do her thing until she’s ready to fall asleep. Then I feed her and put her back down.

20140113_113119Development

Emma still isn’t officially crawling, but she has definitely learned how to get around with a mixture of scooting backward and rolling. Almost every time I go in and get her when she wakes up, she’s on her hands and knees. She wants to crawl so badly! She can also get from sitting to crawling, and back again.  She’s pulled herself up a couple times, but it’s definitely not a normal occurrence. 

Emma has never really been content to just sit, but now she doesn’t even like being held for very long! She wants to be where she can roll around. She’s also started throwing tantrums when getting put in her carseat (though it really depends on her mood). 

IMG_5371 (Large)Emma loves the music activity table we got for her at Christmas, and I enjoy it too because it has 3 language settings – English, Spanish and French. So I’ve been learning numbers and colors in French. Un, Duex, Trois, Quatre, Cing. So fun! I majored in Spanish in college, so that has been more just review for me.

Emma is starting to get the hang of drinking out of a sippy cup – though only when laying down. She still doesn’t get the concept of tipping it up to drink while sitting.

A fun thing to do with Emma is hold her in front of a mirror. She understands it’s her, so she’ll lean forward and put her nose on the mirror over and over again, to see her reflection do the same thing. It’s adorable!

Also this month, Emma got dressed up to cheer on the Broncos in the Super Bowl. We won’t talk about the actual game.

20140202_072230 20140202_182719

Tags: , ,

To Wean or Not to Wean

28 Jan

I honestly thought that I’d have no problem weaning Emma once she got close to a year old. I mean, think of the freedom! No longer would I have to be the one getting up at 5:30 am to feed Emma. Or staying up until she goes to bed. Or missing out on time with friends because I have to go nurse her in a different room (the nursing cover was given up on a LONG time ago). Or interrupting my work day to go pump in a room with as many as 6 other women (yes.).

I could start wearing regular bras again.

I wouldn’t have to tailor my wardrobe to what’s easiest to nurse in.

Oh and did I mention not having to pump anymore?

I’ve been thinking fairly seriously about weaning because I don’t really produce that much milk anymore. I pump twice a day at work and get 2-3 ounces each time. I’m guessing that Emma gets maybe 3-4 ounces when she nurses. I hate the thought of nursing and giving a bottle for each feeding, so I’ve just been nursing her on a 3-hour schedule still, plus 3 meals of solid foods a day. Before bedtime, I give Emma a 4-5 ounce bottle of formula, and then nurse her.

Emma seems content and is growing well, so I guess what we’re doing works. But then I think it would be so much easier and simpler to just be done with nursing. My goal was only to make it to a year anyway, because then Emma can have cow’s milk and not need expensive formula.

Faced with the actual reality of not nursing anymore, though, I realized that I’m not ready to give it up. I can’t put my finger on why but I just can’t get myself to pull the trigger. Part of it is that bottles are a lot more work – to make, clean, store, warm. Nursing is convenient. Emma has also stopped pulling off as much to look around and inspect things, so it’s less frustrating.

But I think most of it is that nursing is my bonding time with Emma. She’s never been a cuddler – these days, she barely wants to be held at all. She’s on the move! So nursing is a special thing.

Side note: The other night, Emma woke up and had a bad cough. She didn’t want to lay in my arms like usual, so I held her upright against me and she leaned her head on my chest – she hasn’t done that since she learned to hold her head up! It was 2 a.m. but I was in HEAVEN.

A day will come, though, when Emma no longer needs – or wants – to nurse. Then it will be on to the next stage in our relationship.

But that day is not today.

 

Tags: , , , ,

9 Months Postpartum

22 Jan

Every month, I feel more in the groove of being a mother. In the past 3 months, I’ve started to once again make dinner, exercise, have date nights with Travis and read. We’re also in the thick of learning how to do house projects with a baby. We couldn’t do them this quickly, though, without a bunch of awesome friends who are willing to help us out. Thanks friends!

So here’s life at 9 months (almost 10 months…) postpartum:

Physical Recovery

Obviously I’m long since recovered from actually giving birth, but my body is still not the same. Most noticeably, I can’t sleep on my left side for very long because it ends up hurting my stomach. ?!?!? And I can still tell that my joints are achier/weaker. But maybe that’s just me getting old and/or out of shape…

I still have a linea negra on my belly, though it’s *almost* gone. And I still haven’t gotten my monthly visitor back, which I thank breastfeeding for.

I would also like to note here that my body has mostly adjusted to chronic sleep deprivation. Even on days when I feel like a zombie in the morning, I can usually turn things around after several cups of coffee and be fairly productive/interactive. But to maintain that, I have to go to bed between 8 and 9 every night. Emma is an early riser!

Body Weight / Image

3and6monthspostpartum

9monthspostpartum

I am down to my pre-pregnancy weight, but as I mentioned in my 6-month update, I was in marathon shape and very muscular then, so being the same weight doesn’t mean I’m the same as I was then. The 2 main differences that I notice about my body now vs. pre-pregnancy are 1) my stomach is squishier and 2) my butt is flatter – not necessarily a good thing. I’m sure things will start firming back up, though, now that I’m actually working out again. I’m planning to start training soon for a 15K in April. It’ll feel good to have a goal again. Until then, I’m just getting back into the groove of running with some 2 and 3 mile runs.

I’ve also been doing some strength training at home, and last week, I checked out a bunch of workout DVDs from the library. The only workout DVDs I currently have are either too long to do during naptime, or too intense for my poor joints, so I’m looking to add some to my collection. I haven’t been going to the gym for workout classes and stuff as much as I thought I would – usually because it’s either Emma’s naptime, or will be soon, and she is known for having meltdowns when she’s tired and not with mom. But I don’t want to use that as an excuse to not work out at all – hence the DVDs. In our new (bigger) house, I’m hoping to have an exercise room where I can have my bike set up on the trainer, an elliptical (my birthday present from my parents last year! We just don’t have it at our house because it’s too small), a TV for workout DVDs, free weights, exercise ball, etc.

Since the new year, I’ve also been eating healthier. Most notably, I’ve been eating a fruit or veggie with (almost) every meal or snack, cut WAY back on my sweets and wine intake, and cooking something for dinner besides a frozen pizza. Planning is key. If I fail to plan, I fall to pizza. Anyway, eating better and exercising more has helped me start feeling more like my old self, and not so much of a blob. It’s nice.

Emotional

I still have my moments, but overall, I am really enjoying being a mom right now. Emma is such a delight and even when she’s screaming, I can’t help but smile and say “Oh, she’s so cute! I could just eat her up!” I love the noises and faces she makes. I enjoy seeing her little personality emerge. I love when she giggles, and how she loves being held upside down and spun around in chairs. Crazy little girl!

During one of Travis’ recent work trips, I realized that I’m not scared to be alone with Emma at night anymore. I’m not scared of her waking up, or her screaming bloody murder for no reason. Because I’ve done it all and survived! But really, I think it’s because I know Emma so much better now. There are still times when I have no clue what’s wrong, but for the most part, I know what’s up and can remedy it. It does help to know, though, that the world won’t stop spinning if I don’t get much sleep one night. I just look forward to Travis coming home so that I can have a nap!

It’s hard to believe that Emma will be 1 year old in just a few months. It’s gone fast, and yet so much has happened during that time. I’m probably the only one, but I honestly do not feel like time is going too quickly. I don’t want Emma to remain forever young. I want to know her personality, to find out what she’s interested in and talented at, to experience the world with her. That means she has to grow up. And I welcome it! Maybe someday I will miss the baby days, but right now, I’m enjoying the baby days but excited for all that the coming months and years have in store.

Tags: , , , , ,

Emma Grace: 9 Months

7 Jan

Emma has learned a lot of new things in the past couple of weeks. Here’s what she’s up to at 9 months:

Size

Emma had her 9-month pediatrician appointment yesterday and she is now 19 lbs, 10.5 oz (74th percentile) and 28 inches long (66th percentile). She’s wearing 9- and 12-month size clothes.

I’ve been on a mission to find a pair of shoes that fit Emma’s feet and don’t constantly fall off. She has really small feet and every pair of shoes I’ve gotten her are either still too big or fall off after 5 seconds. After seeing a friend’s baby wearing them, I finally bought Emma a pair of Ministar Designs at Target. They stay on!

IMG_5307 (Large)Eating

Emma got 3 new teeth this month! The 2 middle teeth on the top and the one to the right of them.

IMG_5339 (Large)When she got her bottom teeth, she had 1 bad week of sleep and then was done. But these teeth have taken forever to come in – about 3 weeks. At the same time, Emma also had a bad cold with lots of congestion – she coughed a lot and sometimes, coughed so hard that she gagged and even threw up. Poor girl. She’s been pulling on her ears a lot too, and actually cut them up a bit with her nails, but the pediatrician said that her ears look fine. That’s good but I wish I had an explanation for why Emma still seems crabbier than normal.

I’m pretty sure Emma also went through a growth spurt recently, as she went from eating 1 container of baby food 3x a day to 2 containers for lunch and dinner. I think this means that we need to start feeding her more substantial foods, instead of just fruit and vegetable purees with some yogurt here and there. Emma has tried cheese, turkey and chicken, and likes them, but it takes forever for her to chew them. But she has gotten really good at feeding herself Cheerios and puffs so I think we’re really to start doing more finger foods.

IMG_5306 (Large)Emma has also started indicating when she wants to nurse by pulling at my shirt, leaning her head down and sometimes biting! She has only bit me while nursing once (thank goodness) but she has bitten me randomly a few times. Those little teeth are sharp!

20131220_105214

Sleep

With the teething, cold and growth spurt that Emma has been going through, plus being away from home for 2 weeks, her sleep for the past 2-3 weeks has been pretty terrible. She woke up 1-3 times per night while we were with my family for Christmas, and then 3-5 times a night when we were with Travis’ family. It was really nice having grandmas and grandpas to watch Emma in the morning while Travis and I got some more sleep.

Nursing comforts Emma in the middle of the night better and faster than anything else, so I’ve been nursing her almost every time she wakes up. I’ve probably created a monster now, so once I’m a little bit more caught up on sleep after going without it for an entire night on our drive home, I’ll start weaning Emma off her middle-of-the-night feedings again.

Other than that, sleep is pretty much what it was at 8 months.

20131215_083957Development

Talking and rolling is where I feel Emma has grown the most in the past couple of weeks. Right around 8 months, Emma started rolling over to play on her tummy all on her own, and she has continued this. She’ll even stay on her hands and knees and rock a bit, but we have to put her there. She’s rolling enough now, though, to require much more attention on our part – and faster diaper changes!

20140106_140045She also loves standing and has started to pull herself up on things. I’m pretty sure she’s been practicing this skill in the crib because every time I go in there, she’s crammed all the way in the corner, and one morning, her sleep sack was busted open. (So we are retiring the sleep sack.) At church the other day, she was standing up holding on to the couch in the nursing mothers’ room and discovered a new game – lean back, let go to stand all by yourself and mommy catches you before you fall over!

As far as talking goes, Emma loves the ‘buh’ sound. Maybe because we call her Biscuit and say “Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-biscuit” to her all the time? She also says “ma ma ma”, “da da da”, “yah yah yah”, “blah”, and my favorite, when she’s going to bed, “aye aye aye”. It’s so freaking cute! I’ve tried to record her but she stops talking every time I get my phone out.

20140106_140107Emma loved being pushing around fast in the walker at grandma’s house. Their kitchen has an island that was perfect for cruising around. She’s a pretty good sport about most things, but if she’s not in the right mood, even things that she usually enjoys and giggles at can make her cry – like getting her neck blown on.

Emma has started to raise her arms to be picked up, and lean toward me to be held when being held by someone else.

Loves:

  • Standing
  • Grape Tylenol and Hyland’s tablets
  • Playing with kitchen utensils and small toys that have good spots for chewing
  • Being held upside down, and being held on one hand in the air (these are daddy’s tricks)
  • Spinning around in her high chair
  • Eating, especially feeding herself
  • Singing The Wheels on the Bus (we help her do the motions)

Doesn’t Like:

  • Being thrown up in the air
  • Her carseat
  • Being alone or not getting attention
  • Being licked in the face by dogs a lot
  • Getting her winter coat put on
  • Wearing things on her head

20131215_083716

Tags: , ,

Christmas & New Years 2013

5 Jan

This year for Christmas, we road-tripped to Minnesota. It is 13 hours to my parents’ house and 16 to Travis’, but we ended up encountering snowy roads on both the way there and back, so it took us about 15.5 to get to my parents’ and 17 to get back from Travis’ parents. Brutal!

1511162_676430672387258_369919521_nSomewhere in Iowa, 5 am

20131222_075017Emma did pretty well though. We drove overnight, leaving around 6 pm on our way out and 1:30 pm on the way back. The way there, Emma fell asleep right away and slept the whole time, only waking up when we stopped for gas. I nursed her a couple of times but she was really easy until the morning. We were supposed to get to Rochester by 8 am CT, but we didn’t end up arriving until 9:30. Once Emma woke up around 7 am, she wanted out of her carseat. I did a few smiles out of her though…

20131222_093044The same thing happened on the way back, except her fussy period was on the front end. We left at her nap time, she slept for 1.5 hours, then was awake for about 3 hours, and fell back asleep around 8 pm. During her awake time, she was somewhat fussy. We stopped to eat dinner and took her out of her carseat, partly to feed her dinner and partly to give the distinction between her nap and bedtime. After she fell asleep for the night, she slept almost straight through until 5 am. She was a little fussy then too until we got home around 7 am. But I was fussy after being in the car that long, so I can’t blame her! We were very relieved to get home. I said what I always say after that trip: “I never want to do that again.”

Other than the drive, our trip to Minnesota was very enjoyable. We spent the week of Christmas with my family, since that’s when my siblings would be in town. Because of my mom’s health, our time in Rochester was very lowkey – we mostly just hung out at home, eating, playing games (Yahtzee and Rummikub), playing with Emma and my nephew Jensen, watching movies and talking.

1531680_10101193921359232_124572735_nJensen saw us putting stuff on Emma’s head as a game, and he decided it looked like fun!

1468708_10101193921194562_1566288813_nEmma did a lot better with sleep than I was expecting, considering she was teething and congested. We did have to bounce her to sleep for the majority of her naps and bedtime, but at least she wasn’t screaming like she did the last time we were in Rochester. She also slept pretty well at night, waking up only a few times and going right back to sleep after I nursed her. Even so, I’m sure that God gave me LOTS of patience. Travis and I also switched off getting up early with Emma, so that one of us could get a little more sleep.

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve morning, since that was the only time we’d all be together. We opened gifts first – Emma didn’t quite get the whole unwrapping thing but she liked all the toys she received! She got a cute outfit from her aunt and uncle and this alligator push toy from grandma and grandpa. I got a couple of new scarves and nail polish.

IMG_5173 (Large) 996674_10101193933839222_392390835_n

IMG_5190 (Large)

1508542_10101193934632632_10367976_n

1525556_10101193933230442_450127836_n

IMG_5182 (Large)After opening gifts, we ate brunch. Then my brother, his fiancee and my sister-in-law left and the rest of us hung out until it was time to go to the Christmas Eve service at 4:30. After church, we ate chili for dinner and played some Yahtzee.

IMG_5210 (Large)

On Thursday, it warmed up enough that we braved the outdoors. It was Emma’s first experience in the snow. She seemed to enjoy it overall, but was not a fan of her hand in the snow!

IMG_5214 (Large)

IMG_5222 (Large)IMG_5227 (Large)Travis also went sledding down the steps of the deck.

IMG_5216 (Large)

IMG_5218 (Large)On Friday morning, Travis and I packed up our stuff and hit the road. We had planned to leave for Emma’s first nap, but she hadn’t slept well the night before, I wanted to shower and we had a crapton of stuff to pack up. So we ended up leaving for her second nap of the day instead. It worked out well. She slept most of the 4.5 hour drive to Nevis. 

Our time there was a lot more lowkey than it normally is, because it was so cold outside. It was hardly above zero the whole time we were there. The day after we arrived, though, it was 30 degrees so we took advantage of the ‘warm’ weather and took Emma sledding down the driveway.

IMG_5252 (Large) IMG_5250 (Large)Another night, Travis, Emma and I ‘went to town’ to have dinner with some friends. But other than that, Emma and I didn’t go outside at all. (Well, I did walk from one side of the house to the other when it was 20 below just to remember what it was like.)  

We opened Christmas presents on Saturday night, so that Emma could play with all of her fun new toys. I’m pretty sure her toy collection doubled on this trip. She got Stack n Roll cups, a xylophone, Rock a Stack rings, a musical book, and several cute new outfits, among other small things.

IMG_5267 (Large) IMG_5266 (Large)The rest of our time we spent eating (of course), playing games (Pictionary and MarioKart on the Wii, Pub Trivia, Catch Phrase and Bananagrams), playing with all of Emma’s new toys, and doing a lot of crossword puzzles and Sudoku. We also watched some movies, though I didn’t stay up for most of the them because Emma was sleeping pretty poorly. I think she went through a growth spurt in addition to teething and the congestion. It was a doozy! Fortunately, grandma was willing to watch Emma in the mornings so that both Travis and I could sleep in until 8 or 9. 

1508513_10201283314429703_1340272208_nOn Wednesday, Travis’ aunt and uncle, aunt, cousin and his girlfriend came up for New Years Day. We ate a late lunch, played some Pub Trivia, opened gifts and then they drove the 3 hours back to the Cities. We got more cute outfits and books for Emma, a calendar, office supplies and I got nice running gloves. 

Emma learned how to use a walker on this trip at both houses. Can I just ask, why can’t they make a walker the right size for a 9 month old? Both walkers had to be adjusted down so that Emma could touch the ground. But we made it work and she really enjoyed standing up and moving around. She could mostly only go backward, but toward the end of our trip, she could go forward slightly too.

IMG_5296 (Large) IMG_5298 (Large)Emma also got to use a Johnny Jumpup for the first time in Nevis. She really enjoyed that too – I think, as much as a normal jumperoo. Definitely a good thing to have on vacation (or at grandma’s house). 

IMG_5260 (Large)She’s also starting talking a lot more, and rolling over a ton, but I will talk more about those things in her 9-month update on Tuesday!

Tags: , , , , , ,

Christmas Festivities + House Projects

18 Dec

Things have been pretty busy over here, but life is good!

Wednesday night, we had our Christmas celebration with our care group. We ate dinner together as usual and then played a huge group game of Apples to Apples. It was a lot of fun! Travis and I both won a round.

Thursday night, we went out to dinner with Travis’ company at The Fort in Morrison. It’s a small company (4 men + Travis) so we all had fun chatting and laughing about the crazy stuff that happens on the road.

Friday, I had lunch with a friend and then went to the church to set my table up for the women’s Christmas tea on Saturday.

20131213_141239 20131213_141246 20131213_141253Saturday, Travis worked on the soffet and fascia while I ran errands and frantically baked some Bagel Bites right before leaving for the Christmas tea. The tea was a lot of fun though, and I got to chat with some new faces. Right when the tea ended, I packed up my table quickly, drove home to nurse Emma and then turned around to take her to the babysitters for our date night. We went out to eat at Rock Bottom Brewery and then to Avs vs. Wild game. It was a pretty tame game – the teams were so evenly matched that not many surprise plays happened. But the game ended up going into overtime and a shoot out, where the Wild won!

Sunday, Travis did some more work on the soffet and fascia while Emma napped and I cleaned our house for the first time in way too long (oops). I also picked some friends up from the airport.

Monday, it was in the upper 50s, so we had Charlotte watch Emma while Travis and I painted the soffet and fascia. We got it scraped, washed and painted in about 6 hours!

20131216_115114This shows all the scraping we did.

Tuesday, I took a half day off from work to help Travis put a second coat of paint on. Painting is done! We went from white to a dark brown based on our realtor’s suggestion. I never would’ve thought to paint it dark brown but we think it looks nice! My neck is so tired from looking up for that long.

housepainting1 housepainting2We’re not quite ready for the gutters to be installed – Travis has to add a piece of wood for them to hang the gutters on – but we’re very close!

So that’s what we’ve been up to around here! Next up is packing for our trip to Minnesota. So excited!

Tags: , , , , ,

A Chilly Weekend

10 Dec

This past weekend was a busy and chilly one! On Thursday, I ducked out of work early to get my hair cut! I chopped off 4-5 inches.

haircutI really like it BUT I haven’t had my hair this short for several years, so it’s taking some time to get used to it. It’s too short for a ponytail now, but still long enough to get in my face so exercising and brushing my teeth are interesting. It also requires a lot more work to look presentable – with long hair, I often blowdried it halfway and then put it up in a messy bun. Not anymore!

Friday, my work had our holiday party at a bowling alley, and I took Emma along. She was a hit! I was able to have one of my co-workers hold her while I was bowling and she was happy and content for almost 2 full games. I didn’t take any pictures though… *fail*

After the party, I went over to my friend Charlotte’s house to watch her 2 kids while she and her husband (also named Travis) went to his work Christmas party. They’re going to watch Emma this Thursday night while we go to (my) Travis’ work party. It was really fun watching her kids. They’re 4 and almost 2, and they were very obedient and fun! Emma was having a rough night though because she is very congested right now, and I think she’s getting her top 2 teeth. Poor baby.

On Saturday, Travis and I got up at 4 am to help out with our friend D’s Fa La La race. I took Emma up to my friend Carrie’s house, who graciously agreed to watch Emma at 6 am even though she isn’t a morning person! Fortunately, Emma was very happy and easy all day – and majorly cute.

emmatripleThe race went well, and even though it was only about 1 degree out, I stayed warm in my many layers as long as I was moving around. After the race, I picked Emma up and we went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings with some of the race staff – our post-race tradition.

Once we were done eating, it was already 4 pm! Emma took a little nap on the way home, and stayed asleep long enough for me to get all our race stuff put away, which felt good to get done.

Sunday, Travis and I were on projection and lights so we had to get to church an hour early. I also forgot our gifts for the foster children that our church ‘adopts’ at Christmas so in the middle of church (when Emma was fussy because she needed a nap), I ran home to get them and Emma napped in the car. After church, we went straight home, ate lunch and then I took a 3 hour nap! I got up a little over halfway through to check on Travis and Emma, and Emma was still sleeping too! She slept for 2.5 hours, which happens fairly often on Sundays, but not any other day. Apparently, church is exhausting!

Even though I enjoy the chilly weather because the snow doesn’t melt, I do miss being able to be outside. I’m glad it’s finally warming up around here.

Tags: , , , , ,

Emma Grace: 8 Months

7 Dec

Back when Emma was born, her first Christmas seemed like an eternity away. And here it is, in just a few weeks! Craziness.

Emma8Month 037 (Large)SIZE

Emma is getting so big! She’s wearing almost all 9-month clothes, and some 12-month. We’ve decided that she has a really long torso, because she outgrows the shirt of an outfit before the pants even fit (length-wise)! She also wears dresses in at least one size bigger than normal, otherwise her bum is hanging out all the time.

20131204_114922Her feet finally fit into shoes!

SLEEP

Emma is down to 2 naps a day. She can go 2 – 2.5 hours between naps now, and go 3.5-4 hours between her last nap and bedtime. Every once in a while, she needs 3 naps, but I try to not let that happen because then she stays up too late. It’d be ok if she slept in, but she still gets up at the same time as ever, usually between 5:30 and 6. Aye. So she and I both get less sleep than if she just went to bed earlier. Her ideal bedtime is between 6 and 7.

Emma had gotten back into the groove of sleeping at least 8 hours straight after her first teething episode, but then the past week, she started waking up 2-4 times a night again. I thought maybe she was teething but nothing’s happened there, so who knows?

20131117_073037-MIXEATING

Emma has gotten in the groove of eating 3 meals of solid foods a day. So far, they’ve all been purees but we’re going to start trying finger foods. The few times we’ve tried little hunks of cheese or Cheerios, Emma couldn’t get them to her mouth, but we’ll keep trying! Her favorite food so far is yogurt. She also likes bananas, applesauce, butternut squash and spinach mixed with banana.

She did have her first little bout of constipation this past month, but a couple days of eating pureed prunes and peaches, and she was back to normal. Man, are solid food poops messy though!

Little by little, my milk is dwindling. I think that’s one reason why Emma takes shorter naps at home than at daycare – she drinks more in a bottle at daycare than she does in a nursing session at home. Since she stays awake longer now too, I’ve started nursing her before her naps so that she’ll sleep longer.

I started pumping only twice at work, instead of 3 times, and usually get about 3-4 oz each, which is only enough for about 1 bottle. It is what it is. Emma just drinks more formula. I’ve been giving her at least 2 oz of formula before bed, in addition to nursing. One night, I nursed Emma and she fell asleep but she woke up about an hour later, and seemed hungry. I gave her a bottle and she chugged 8 oz! Girlfriend was hungry.

Emma8Month 031 (Large)DEVELOPMENT

Just in the past couple of days, Emma has started rolling over to her belly voluntarily to play with toys. And she’ll stay there for a little while before rolling back. Yay Emma! I’m glad to see that she’s no longer a tummy hater. But I’ve noticed this with a few things – if I put her on her tummy, she doesn’t like it. If she chooses to roll over, she’s fine. Little Miss Independent.

Emma still falls over quite a bit sitting up, but I think this will get better once she starts to crawl/move around on her own. She stills loves to stand up and has gotten a lot more steady on her feet. She can hold herself up on furniture briefly. We bought her this Baby Einstein activity table for Christmas so that she had something to play with while standing up. We’ve let her play with it early, since we’ll be in Minnesota for Christmas, but she’s not a huge fan. I think it might be sensory overload. Hopefully that gets better as she gets older. We also bought her this shape sorter for Christmas, which we’ll bring to MN with us.

Emma8Month 026 (Large)Emma has started giggling a lot more this past month – she’ll giggle at a bunch of stuff that you wouldn’t even think was funny. Like the knife set on our counter. Our Christmas tree. The bunny on the shelf in her room. The dogs. A squeezy spoon. (Seriously, watch that video – it’s so funny!) And she’s still squawking and smiling up a storm – she is almost always making noise. She’s such a happy little girl.

The best way to describe her favorite noise to make right now, though, is gurgling. She does it in the back of her throat. It’s so cute. But a little difficult to do while eating.

Emma8Month 034 (Large)Emma likes to flap her arms up and down, and when laying down, she slams her feet on the ground. (It’s hard to describe baby movements, but those of you with babies probably know what I’m talking about!) She also gets so excited when I pick her up that she does a little jumping motion in my arms.

I think Emma might be starting to develop some attachment issues because she hardly ever lets anyone else hold her, especially if I’m in the room. She’d rather be sitting next to me than being held by someone else, and has started reaching for me if someone else is holding her. But she is still doing great at daycare and still likes Daddy, so that’s good!

20131204_075349I mentioned this in a previous post, but we’ve started swapping date nights with some friends whose daughter is about 3 weeks younger than Emma. Emma has enjoyed it so much! It’s been so cute to watch Emma look at her friend, reach out to touch her, and try to interact with her. Emma also loves my friend’s 4-year-old boy at daycare – apparently, he cracks her up all the time!

Emma8Month-candycane

Emma is such a joy! I am blessed to be her mother.

Tags: , , ,

Thanksgiving Weekend 2013

3 Dec

It was nice staying in town for Thanksgiving this year. On Wednesday night, I went with some of our small group from church to volunteer for Operation Christmas Child while Travis stayed home with Emma. We’ve done this for the past 4-5 years and it is always rewarding and enjoyable. I didn’t go last year because I was pregnant, so I’m glad I got to go this year! We prepared boxes that were going to Guayana and Togo.

On Thursday (Thanksgiving Day), we ran the Turkey Chase 5K that benefitted the Denver Rescue Mission with our friends D and Doug. It was Emma’s first race! She did really well – she slept through the first half and was content hanging out for the rest. While I think the Denver Rescue Mission is a great organization, I was a little frustrated with the race. One, the first half mile was on gravel – while that’s nice for running, it’s a little bumpy for a stroller! So Travis and I ended up mostly walking that portion for Emma’s sake. Two, the course ended up being 3.5 miles instead of 3.1. And three, it was an out and back course on a greenway, meaning not much room to get by slower people. Travis and I had quite a time of weaving around walkers and other strollers. But really, those things are just frustrations as a runner with a stroller. If we hadn’t had a stroller, it would’ve been fine, except for the course length.

We had a pretty good race anyway though. Here are our mile splits:

turkey trot splitsWe were cruising for Mile 3! A little too much, because I had to have Travis take over pushing the stroller. I pushed it for the first mile or so, he pushed for the second mile, I pushed it again for about 5 minutes, and then he pushed it the rest of the way. 😉 That was nice. We finished in 38:42, average pace of 11:08/mile.

20131128_100045

After the race, we went home, showered while Emma took a nap and then went over to our friends’ house for the feast. We brought pumpkin pie with whipped cream and green bean casserole (which I made for the first time, and I thought it was meh). But the rest of the food was delicious!

1486723_10202757468642641_1227915238_nEmma thought so too – she mostly had her own butternut squash puree, but she tried mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. She loved the pie!

20131128_145135After stuffing ourselves, the guys went downstairs to watch football and the ladies talked and looked through Black Friday ads. It was nice and lowkey, but it certainly wasn’t as relaxing as in past years, with a baby to take care of!

On Friday, Travis went fly fishing with a couple of friends, including my friend Cathy’s husband, so Emma and I went over and hung out at her house most of the day (after I took a much-needed nap during Emma’s naptime!). We drank coffee, talked and watched Miracle on 34th Street – I had never seen it before. I enjoyed it.

Saturday, Travis woke up sick. Major bummer because that’s when we were supposed to have our date night/birthday celebration! I had bought tickets to the Avalanche vs. Wild hockey game, but we ended up selling them. Instead, we just hung out at home watching Monsters University while Emma was at our friends’ house. We have another date night scheduled in a couple weeks, so hopefully that’ll turn out more like we hope. It was a nice night anyway.  And we didn’t have to worry about the volume being too loud! (Emma’s room is right next to our living room – sooo looking forward to a bigger house!)

On Sunday, Emma and I went to church while Travis stayed home. I checked her into the nursery for the sermon, but she lasted only about 5 minutes. When I came back to get her, her face was bright red and she had snot running down her face from crying so hard. Poor baby! She just wanted mommy though because she was perfectly happy with me. The rest of the day, we just bummed at home because I was beat.

Monday was a marathon shopping day for me and Emma. I realized that every weekend until we leave for Minnesota is crazy busy so I needed to get some Christmas shopping done ASAP! We went to Office Max, the post office, Sports Authority, Walmart and the grocery store. Emma was a trouper though! The only noise she made in the stores was a lot of loud squawking at Walmart.

Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!

 

 

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →