Weekend Fun

Minus all the gross sickness that we've had (bronchitis for the two adults, cold/snot for both kids, fever on and off for Aaron, and I'm still fighting off this ear infection), we had a nice weekend. I made a reversible cape for Emma so she could pretend she was a super hero.

They are adorable together. We got matching PJ's for the two of them, but Emma spilled OJ on hers and Aaron puked on his, so we'll have to do that picture at a later time. 

My Growing Baby

I put this cloth diaper on her today and realized how big she's gotten.... here's a comparison!

At 9 days old...



At 9 weeks, 6 days old!


I just noticed that we put the diaper on her BACKWARDS in the first photo-- OOPS! No wonder it didn't fit well, LOL. :)

Super-Mom?

This morning I feel like Super Mom. Emma had a terrible night last night (she didn't get a good afternoon nap, so she was amazingly fussy and was quite gassy -- so apparently Mommy's experiment with dairy didn't work and I get to go off of dairy again), but after she got to bed, she did ok. She got up at 5:30am with a large poo that Daddy changed, and then was WIDE awake. So I stayed awake with her, fed her around 6:30, and then rocked her back to sleep. I put her down in her crib so we wouldn't bother Joe and he could sleep (usually I wake him up to watch her when I'm pumping), and she stayed asleep with the help of Mr. Bear. So I pumped and now am getting ready to grade papers for my online class.

Not to mention that I pumped almost 12 oz between the two today, and since I started pumping on Feb 16th, I have frozen 93 ounces of breastmilk! I don't think I'm really going to have problems with getting enough milk for the first day of work (knock on wood).

Strange feeling, being the only one awake in the house -- and the one who got the least amount of sleep! :)

Emma "Dancing"

Joe had a friend who brought back a CD from Dubai for him of a musician in the Middle East. Georges Wassouf is a Syrian singer, and apparently his music is quite popular with the teenagers in Syria! The family that Joe stayed with in Damascus had a teenage son that would blast this music at all times day and night.

The song she is "dancing" to (e.g., just randomly swinging her arms around, but I swear it looks like she's in time with the music) is called "Patience is A Virtue" (roughly translated... also could be "Endurance is Good").

Our "One Thing" for This Weekend

This weekend we're going to work on (1) getting her to nap in her crib, instead of on Mommy, and (2) drink from a bottle of breastmilk. I've already pumped for the morning (10oz!) and saved one back to experiment with today. We tried it but she wasn't very interested -- is it wrong for me to be proud of her for spitting out the bottle nipple?! :) At the moment she is napping in her crib and has been long enough that I could shower, download some pictures, and do this post. We'll see how long it lasts.

Today's pictures!

Emma's outfit today! T-shirt is courtesy of Grandma Snoopingmother, and pants courtesy of Ms. Beth.



Emma's snuggle blanket, thank you Mary from Cincy! It's absolutely gorgeous and adorable.



Oh -- and she's slowing down on the poo. Yesterday she had two big ones in the morning and a small one mid-morning, and nothing else the rest of the day. So far today she had a BIG one at 6:30 this morning and that's it. Hopefully this is an indication of a maturing GI tract and not an indication of the vaccinations moving through her system and then she goes back to 5-6 poos a day later.

Emma's Discovery

We have found our fist!

As an aside, Joe and I went and toured two more daycares today, because we really want a place that will take our cloth diapers. We found one we *absolutely* love. It is head and shoulders above the other places. Unfortunately, they won't have an opening until summer. So for the short term, we'll stay at the first place part-time (Monday - Wednesday) and suffer with the disposables, and then as soon as an opening occurs, we'll transfer full-time to the place we love. The first place is very near our house, which is convenient -- the place we love is about 20 minutes away, but totally worth the drive.

Video Time!

This morning Emma & I were playing, and she was giving me these adorable open-mouth "kisses." But as soon as I pulled out the camera, she got shy again! The best I got was her sticking out her tongue. :) Eventually I'll get the cuteness on video!

2 Month Appointment

It went as well as could be expected. My little girl is up to 10 lb 10 1/2 oz!! I'm so thrilled, she gained 9 oz from last Thursday. She's 22 1/2 inches long, and head circumference is 15 inches. She's at the 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference -- the pediatrician said that's unusual to be at the same percentile for everything. :) My little over-achiever!

The two shots went... well, as well as possible. She cried, Mommy's heart broke, but then I nursed her and everything was right in the world again. She's asleep on my chest again, and I promised her that we would just cuddle all evening. She's also going to get a warm bath as a way to help her little thighs feel better.

We don't have to go back until 4 months, which is lovely! I'm going to just relax and not weigh her again until we get to 3 months (and maybe not even then).

Once I can reach the camera, I'll download the video for today. :)

Big Day!

This is going to be a big day for Emma. We go for our 2-month appointment at 1:45 this afternoon, and she's getting her first set of vaccinations. I'm already sad, thinking about that big needle going into her (twice), but hopefully it will protect her in the long run.

We've had a couple of new things that I haven't blogged about yet. We started using sign language with Emma this week. We've shown her "kiss," "milk," "pee," "poop," "diaper," and "thank you." I think she recognizes "kiss" with the word and the action, but not the rest yet.

Also, today Mommy showered without Daddy home! Yup -- I rocked her to sleep, then sloooooowly transferred her to the bouncer in the bathroom, and had our little bear set to the "rain" sound. Then I turned on the shower and watched to make sure she stayed asleep, and got to shower. I made it all the way through the shower, clean clothes on, and even brushed my teeth before she got restless and woke up. Yay! That's a BIG move, to sleep somewhere other than on Mommy or Daddy for more than a few minutes at a time.

Depending on how upset she is when we get home, I'll update about the pediatrician appointment and try to get a video uploaded that I took this morning.

Poop (Not Again?!)

Well, actually all I want to post about poop is that since I re-introduced some dairy into my diet (pizza the one night, cheese tortellini the next night and sour cream yesterday), Emma's poo has actually been starting to look more like "normal" beastfed baby poo. Intriguing, yes? It's definitely got a LOT more curds in it than before, and although it is still green, it is a lighter shade of green. She's not having as much as as she was initially, so I think as long as I don't over-do it, I can have the occasional glass of milk or cheese. We'll see -- we're still giving it a trial run.

And so this isn't just a post about poop, here are the pictures I took yesterday and one from this morning.

On our way out yesterday! This was after she fell asleep in the car seat... what a peaceful face.



With Ms. Jeannie at the office -- what a big smile!



And with Ms. Sally, looking around and getting the scoop on things at the office.



This morning's outfit! T-shirt courtesy of Grandma Maurine and pants courtesy of Ms. Beth, who generously gave us her daughter's outgrown clothing -- 2+ years' worth!

Trial and Error

This weekend, I decided that I would try and re-introduce some dairy into my diet and see how it affects Emma. In support of my efforts, Daddy talked me into ordering "good" pizza last night (instead of just heating up what we had in the freezer) and adding extra cheese. We figured that we might as well make it worth it!

Well, so far so good. She hasn't been extra gassy or extra fussy today, and her bottom looks ok. I'm sure that one meal of dairy isn't going to give us a long-term understanding of how it affects her, so we'll do something with cheese or milk again today and see how that goes.

We did have somewhat of a rough night, only because our Kawaii Baby One-Size diapers leaked. Emma likes to sleep on her side against Mommy, and either we're not putting them on correctly or her thighs aren't big enough, because while nursing, she peed and got her nightie, the bed, and Mommy wet. And that happened twice. We double-stuff the diapers because single stuffing seemed like there was too much room around the leg gussets, and still it did this. I'm not sure what we're doing wrong but we love those diapers otherwise.

In any case, she had to have a clothing change TWICE, and that woke her up and it took a bit for her to get to sleep. Then this morning, instead of her normal 2-hour nap, she had two mini-naps of 45 minutes each... just not enough. We were a bit cranky! After some nursing and rocking, and our bear that makes noise, she finally went down for a good nap -- in fact, she was so tired, she let me put her down in the pack-n-play! That's where she is right now, going on 45 minutes of sleep and appears to be still quite out.

Uh-oh.... the bear turned off and we woke up! Better post these quickly...

Playing with Daddy last night


Hanging out this morning! Love the outfit...