Memorial Day

I'm not sure whether "Happy Memorial Day" is really the sentiment for this day, as it is a day of remembering those who died in service to our country, but in either case, it's a day without daycare and I get a WHOLE day with my Emma. :) (who is napping at the moment) And it's a much better day than last year, when I was spending it on the couch, freaking out that I was losing my baby from all that bleeding.... and it's a billion times better than 2 years ago, when I was grieving so much.

Anyway... here's a brief video from this morning! My big girl wouldn't show her teeth for the camera though.

Exersaucer

Emma loves the one at daycare soooooooo much, we got her one for here at home. It also converts to an activity table for later.

Fun Pictures

Just for fun!

Emma last week in DC, hanging out in the boppy.



Yesterday we decided to dress up a little, Emma is wearing one of the dresses Mommy wore when she was a little girl! She looked so adorable.



And another one from bath night last Thursday. :)

5 Month, 1 Week Update

I know I've been terrible about keeping up with the blog, but honestly work has been swamping me and when I get home, all I want to do is spend time with Emma. When she goes to bed between 7-7:30, then the rest of the time is spent doing paperwork, doing dishes/cleaning, laundry, trying to get a few minutes with Joe, and then collapsing in bed.

Emma's left bottom incisor has made it through the skin, and the right one should be through by tomorrow. She's also sitting up unassisted for 1-2 minutes at a time before toppling over. She's VERY interested in what we're eating and drinking, but I'm trying to hold off giving her solids until that 6-month mark.

We're all very excited about the upcoming trip to Kansas to visit Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Rich and Uncle Chuck, and all of Emma's cousins and Aunts. I'm a little concerned about the lengthy car ride, but we'll find a way to make it through.

Just a few pictures for fun!

Emma decided Rattle Worm needed to have a diaper too (even though he has no butt.hole, as per our prior video evidence... lol). :)



Emma is now big enough that she can sit up for bath time, so we're washing her in the kitchen sink because it's safer and she can get a good view of everything. She has a *great* time in the bath now (and we put a few toys in there, which she loves).



Daddy took a bunch of great pictures during our bath tonight, hopefully he'll have a few minutes to upload those later. Next week he'll be out of town for 8 days, and it'll just be Mommy & Emma during that time. I'm anxious about doing it on my own, but I'm sure we'll be fine (and have fun, I hope!).

Teeth!

While we were in DC this weekend, Emma was super-duper fussy. Poor Joe -- he got nothing done on his paper (which he was planning to work on when she napped) because she demanded his whole attention. She napped for a grand total of an hour and 15 minutes on Friday, and an hour on Saturday. We figured out pretty quickly what was going on -- she's teething! Her bottom two incisors are coming in (and possibly a top canine, but I can't really get a good look at it).

My guess is that by tomorrow morning, the teeth will have fully broken free of the gums and she'll feel better. We stopped on the way home today and got some orajel, which helped tremendously. I'm just glad we brought the baby tylenol with us on the trip.

We're very happy to be home. She's out for the night after a bath, and hopefully will sleep better. I'm going to drag my very very very tired self around to get ready for work tomorrow and get her bottles ready for daycare, and then head to bed soon. Poor Daddy has to stay up and finish that paper.

We're all looking forward to the upcoming 3-day weekend!

It was a wonderful weekend for me though -- I am working as part of a task force at my national organization, and the motivation and energy in the room with that group is amazing. We got a lot of work done, and I really spent quality time being a professional. There were some disappointing parts, which I'll probably post about later, but right now I'm focusing on the positives. Plus, a wonderful colleague of mine from Cincinnati brought Emma some FABULOUS clothes! They are toooooo cute. I can't wait to get some pictures uploaded.

21 Weeks Old

My Emma is 21 weeks old today!

She's been sleeping 2-3 hours in her crib at night after we do our bedtime routine, which gives me time to do a few things like crochet and get paperwork done. I take her to our bed after that because I'm not ready to give up the co-sleeping yet, but it's nice to have the free time.

We got our first "uh-oh" call from daycare today. Apparently the primary caregiver grabbed another baby's bottle (they use the same type we do) and started feeding Emma from that bottle. Emma drank an ounce before the caregiver noticed, and apparently she freaked out. This happened at 11am, so they had to file a report, call the mom of the baby whose bottle they used (to ask her if she had any medical issues or diseases that I would need to be aware of -- she said none), and they finally called me at 2pm. (I also wonder if they knew I would be upset, so they delayed?)

In any case, it was breastmilk. I'm upset, of course, but I didn't freak out and the poor caregiver was so upset and crying because she knew I had been upset about feedings before and she knew I was off of all dairy because of Emma's sensitivity (and this mom is not). Ultimately, I told her that I would be more upset if it were formula! But since it was breastmilk, it really wasn't a big deal. Well... it is, but it's not. I don't know if that makes sense.

Dancing Emma

This morning we were listening to the "classic" rock station (the one that plays 80's music) and Daddy was having a good time with Emma. I think she was enjoying herself too! :)

Pictures!

We had a really nice day today. Emma went and visited one of my facilities again, and had a great time with the staff and residents. She got a little cranky at one point because she was hungry, so we went ahead and ate in the car, then ran our errands. We also stopped by the office to drop off my paperwork and she could show off to the gals there. She's amazing me every day with new things she does!

Here she is earlier this week in her high chair, thank you Aunt Dianne and Cousin Debbie!



And into the mouth the monkey goes! :)

At 20 Weeks...

*We're now using the high chair, and she loves being "on level" with us.

*She wants sooooo badly to drink from cups. She's learning to drink from her sippy cup.

*She wants to stand! And when we're holding her up, she tries to step forward.

*Daddy is our FAVORITE person right now. He always gets a huge smile.

I hope to get some pictures uploaded soon... she's growing fast!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day... to all the Mommies of living angels as well as angels in heaven.

I'm truly blessed this day. Woke up with my Emma next to me, and breakfast in bed (thank you Daddy!) as well as a 2 1/2-hour nap with my Emma! It's been a good day.

Here's a couple of videos I shot yesterday morning while all three of us were having fun. Emma loves to "fly" with Daddy, and she gets a kick out of seeing herself in the mirror!

Recent Pictures

Emma playing Peek-A-Boo with the burp cloth on Friday.


I snuck the camera up on Emma, since she won't pose for it anymore, and caught her and Daddy playing in the bedroom upstairs. I love the look on her face!


From this afternoon, Daddy & Emma studying Arabic together.

Yay!

Quick post as we're heading out the door, but Emma was 13 pounds, 10 oz at the pediatrician this morning! She gained almost 1 whole pound in two weeks... which tells me how sick she was before. The ear infection is completely gone, yay!

Plus, Momma is back down to the lowest weight she's been in a while -- I hit the low that I hit when I was pregnant and lost those 10 pounds.

We're a happy family. :)

Thankfulness

I'm very thankful to everyone's support through this daycare thing. I talked with the primary caregiver again, and had a much more productive conversation with her. I really feel like Emma doesn't want/like bottles and is just struggling with them at daycare, and she isn't fussy there like she is at home when she's hungry. Plus, she's now reverse-cycling, so for the last two nights she's eating 6-7 times in between when we've gone to bed and gotten up. It's a lot for me to be up that often, but it's worth it to make sure she's got enough to eat. I'll update tomorrow after the ped appointment with her weight.

Over the last few days, she's really been eyeballing the cups that Joe and I have been drinking from, and actually reaching for them a couple of times. I remember reading that it's easier for babies to drink from a cup than from a bottle, so today we put some freshly expressed breastmilk in a cup and gave her a little bit. She was SO happy. She sucked it right down. Took it much better than she would a bottle, and after two sips, she was done. I know I can't ask daycare to use a cup, but it's nice to know that Daddy has another option.

I'm also trying to remain thankful that I have a job and a home to come to after work. Things got slow at work again, and whenever my hours drop below a certain point, I begin to worry about making ends meet.... but what goes down, must come up at some point. I imagine I'll be worrying about being too busy next week, lol!

On a side note, although I didn't post yesterday, I didn't forget my second angel's EDD yesterday. She would have turned one year old, and I miss my little fighter that only made it 7w3d. I am thankful I've got her sister here with me, and that she's watching over us.

Daycare... Again

I feel so frustrated, and maybe I have no reason to be.

Emma took 2 bottles in the 9 hours she was at daycare today. Or rather, I should say they gave her 2 of the 4 bottles I took. The primary caregiver wrote a long note on the back of her daily sheet, stating that it was against state licensing rules for them to wake up Emma for a feeding (which I had asked them to do if she went longer than 3 hours), and also that she didn't seem interested in feeding when they offered.

So in 9 hours, she took 6 ounces of milk. She had four wet and two poopy diapers while she was there, so I'm not worried about that as much as her weight. Again. If she's eating like that there, is she *really* getting enough from me while she's home?

Thank goodness we have our follow-up appointment with the pediatrician on Friday. I'm going to ask about whether that's ok or not in terms of how long she is going (she went from 7:30 to 11:15 without food, and then from 11:15 to 3:45 without food again. I fed her when we got home at 6pm). If it's not, I'll have her write a physician's note, state licensing rules be darned.

I was going to take a picture of her in the cute little outfit that she wore to daycare and post it too, but apparently she had a blowout at daycare. Second day in a row! Have I mentioned how much a HATE disposable diapers?!?!

I love my little girl... I just want what's best for her. Hopefully I'm not being too over-protective.

Emma's Glow Worm

When Uncle Dean visited us in Washington, DC, he brought Emma a present -- RattleWorm's more self-assured cousin, GlowWorm! She really loves that GlowWorm, she'll smile and calm down when it plays (of course, she won't do it on camera, but I tried!).

Emma's Feet

Bad Day

For all of us, but especially Mommy & Emma. My cough/sore throat is getting worse, to the point where swallowing has become a chore. Emma's rash is worse, and she's been really cranky all day. She's only slept for 30-45 minute periods, and in between is very fussy. She's eating every hour, but only latching on well for about 4-5 minutes, and then she'll pull off, try to get back on, and this goes on for 1-2 minutes before Mommy's had enough since she's hurting me. Ironically enough, Daddy's finally feeling better. Who knows.

In any case, I caught a few cute moments to share. Happy May Day everyone!