11 Weeks!

A short update before bed...

Emma had another big day today. She visited another one of Mommy's facilities, and met a LOT of the staff and some of the residents. For the most part, it was a great visit -- she smiled at people, only fussed a little, and captured the hearts of everyone.

After changing her and feeding her there, she fell asleep... so I went and picked up Daddy, and we had lunch at the park and walked around with the stroller for a while. It was 60 degrees and sunny out! I think it helped all of us tremendously. Mommy & Emma also had a nap when we got home, which helped even more.

As I get closer to going back to work, it's very likely I won't be able to do daily posts but I will try to keep updates and pictures going for everyone. I'll definitely do the milestone posts!

Here we are yesterday, on our 11 week birthday, watching the fan (again!). She's a fan fan!

Another "Good" Day

Mommy feels like today was another fairly successful day, just in terms of feeling confident! We had a rough night, but during the day things were ok. Mommy & Emma went to a local park while the weather was good and we walked 3 miles! Then we ran to go do a quick shopping errand, and came home. Mommy did 2 loads of laundry (diapers and Emma's clothes), and even "cooked" supper (I say cooked because I just boiled spaghetti and heated up sauce). Dishes aren't done but that's totally ok. :)

We have figured out some of her patterns.... at 6pm, 10pm and 6am, she has her "fussy" times where she'll cry and it's difficult to console her. I'm not sure if has anything to do with feeding or diapers, but rather just a time where she needs to get some excess energy out. If Joe and I can figure out how to manage ourselves during those times, I think we'll be ok!

I've got to capture some video of tummy time to share, and Daddy finally downloaded a ton of pictures, so hopefully more of those to share too.

Better Day

Quick post while I have both hands!

HUGE thank you to everyone on here who gave me some great suggestions and support. Emily & Jess, I've been drinking more and the headache is gone! Feeling much better. We tried the miracle blanket and re-tried the wrap, and she's doing better. I've also been eating better, which has helped.

To my friend Mary in Cincy -- we finally watched "The Happiest Baby" DVD you sent us and THANK YOU! OMG, seriously? Totally worked. I mean, we were already doing the "shushing" and swaddling part, but the other stuff was amazing. We bypassed most of the 10:30 screaming fit she usually has. Mommy actually got about 5 hours of sleep (all together) last night.

We went for a walk today! Yes, Mommy has *finally* figured out the stroller. So we put on the little hat and mittens that Mims sent us, got bundled up, and Mommy & Emma went for a walk. The sun is kind of shining and it's not horribly cold (36 degrees). We walked for 30 minutes and came home for her lunch. It felt SO good to get fresh air and be outside, and Mommy's mood is muchly improved!

We toured one daycare yesterday, and hopefully will have another one to tour tomorrow when I can get that scheduled. It wasn't as bad as I was thinking in my head, so even though it's costly, Mommy thinks it'll be ok. AND they had openings. *whew*

Ok.... someone wants to walk around (she's in the wrap against my chest right now), so I'm going to do that. But again... thank you, everyone! I can't tell you how much it helps to hear the experienced Mommy advice!

OB appointment and misc

We had our surgery follow-up appointment today. Have I mentioned how much I love my OB? She is so compassionate and even though she was heading out to a birth at the hospital, she made sure she came in to see me and talk to me about how my surgery went. I had no indication that she was in any hurry at all.

Apparently what was stuck in there was a lobe of placenta. Not uncommon, but not common either (both Daddy and I were wondering if that was what had caused my bleeding at week 9??). And apparently it smelled quite bad and was very infected. They got some other, smaller pieces of placenta out but this piece was large. About the size of a mayo jar lid, according to what she demonstrated. It's scary to think how close I was to being septic and possibly getting very, very ill. She asked me to monitor my bleeding, and put me on another antibiotic for a week since things are still not quite ok. She also re-drew a CBC today.

So I'm on Keflex (generic) 4x/day for 7 days... it's safe to take while breastfeeding (have I mentioned how pro-BF my OB is?), and she asked me to call if anything changed.

After the OB appointment, we went home and had lunch, and then decided to head over to the mall so Mommy could get some exercise in. We made one loop around the top floor, and one full loop around the bottom floor before I got worn out. Emma did great the entire time, and it was fun to push her stroller around -- I felt like a REAL Mom! We checked out the family bathroom so we knew where we could change her and feed her if we needed, and we even did some shopping at JC Penny's, where Uncle Dean got her a gift card for Christmas. We got the most adorable stuff, and still have some of the card leftover! Thank you Uncle Dean!! Pictures will be coming when she's wearing everything (one thing is a onsie that says "Here Comes Trouble" -- too precious).

Mommy is exhausted, and Daddy has class tomorrow, so we're all going to bed early. We're also supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow, so Daddy wants to get up early to get a head start down to campus. I'm hoping he'll have time to download the pictures from Aunt Ann's visit so I can edit those and put those online.

We just finished reading a few pages of her book and now she's asleep in my arms. She's too adorable. She has been sleeping a lot today, between all the trips everywhere she's worn out. Hopefully this doesn't mean she'll be up all night! :)