Alive!

That would be how we describe it. Alive. These days the day is a success if everyone is alive. Bonus: If the house is tidy. 

I'd say we are finally, finally getting a little "routine" going. The days are long. Hard, sweaty, full of poop, frustrating. Long. But oh so much fun. I couldn't imagine doing anything else. And what do they say? The days are long but the years are short. 

Little E will be 5 months on Thursday. Woo hoo! Each month is more fun than the last. 

I'm so sorry for the lack of life and completely neglecting this little old blog. I will be better (I hope)! 

Let's see:

:: She's rolled over a few times. Still not loving tummy time, but hangs out on her belly for a good while every day. 

:: Emma loves her beauty sleep. She's still waking up once a night for a quick nurse. I don't even think she's really awake..she just stirs. 

:: She loves playing! She can grab all her toys and she puts them in her mouth immediately. 

:: No teeth yet! Our pedi recommended starting solids/Baby Led Weaning at 6 months AND when she can sit up on our own. She turns 6 months on Easter Sunday. Ham, anyone? ;)

I'm going to try to be better about posting. Have a great day, y'all! xO

Emma Jane-- 2 Months

Holy macaroni how is our girl 2 months old? We have had so much fun these past two months. Lots of snuggles, baby smiles, and sleepless nights. 

Emma had her 2 month appointment last Friday. She got 3 shots and an oral vaccine for Polio. Emma did pretty good for getting that many shots! Screamed her head off but stopped after Mama bounced her around the room and fed her. :) 

She was also diagnosed with Torticollis. We were sent home with 6,000 pages of information on it and told to stretch her neck out when we can. Emma will see her Pedi again in February and they will tell us if we need to go to physical therapy. 

Height: 22 1/2 inches

Weight: 11.44 pounds (11 lbs, 7 oz)

Clothing size: Some newborn, o-3 months, and 3 months. 

Diaper size: She wears disposables at night and she wears a size 1.

Milestones: Sleeping so well for mama! Emma loves smiling. She smiles every time her daddy walks in the room. 

Sleep: Emma is sleeping pretty good! We start settling her down around 10-- put her in her sleeper and a swaddler, sound machine and humidifier on, TV on, lights off, and put her down around 10:30. She'll get me up around 4/4:30 and will sleep until 9ish. 

She loves napping on her side in her bouncer

Typical day: She gets up around 9 and we'll do tummy/play time, read, count, etc for about an hour. Around 10/10:30 she usually takes a nap until lunch time. She'll eat again then I'll put her on quilt with some "toys" or in her bouncer for an hour or so. She'll usually take another long afternoon nap and wake up pretty hungry. We'll have another play time around 6PM and from then on she'll doze off and on until bed time. I feed her on demand so we have no set schedule. It seems to work best for us! 

Favorites: Mama's milk, her pacifier, watching TV or her Daddy, the bouncer, zip up sleepers, and getting ready for bath time. 

Least favorites: The snot sucker and getting her diaper changed when she's asleep.

This month we really started taking Little E out! She went to the mall and saw Santa, has been out to dinner a few times, and loves Target like her mama. 

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! xO

Emma's Birth Story

I wish so badly I had 600 pictures of Emma's labor and delivery. But the truth is, we showed up and I was 9 cm dilated. There was no time for pictures, no time for me to put my cute cozy socks on, and no time for my husband to call our family (actually while I was pushing he said "Can I call your dad and my mom?" NO YOU JERK WAD). 

Seriously. 

Okay, so this story begins 1 day before my due date and 2 days before Emma's birthday-- Friday, October 18. 

I had an appointment that morning. They usually don't check me but I asked to be checked since I felt like she had dropped a bit. Wrong. 0 station, 0 cm dilated, nothing exciting. 

After our appointment we went to the mall and had Panera, found me some sweat pants to wear home from the hospital, and grabbed some groceries at Harris Teeter. 

I ran my husband to work immediately after our errands, came home and cleaned up the house. I made lots of work calls and was a little bit crampy. I thought I was on my feet too much. That night I ran to the mall to get my rings inspected and my nails done (nobody wants an ugly mama!). I walked the length of the entire mall and even got a cinnamon Auntie Anne's pretzel. :) 

All throughout my pedicure I was having "cramps". Nothing painful, just annoying. I texted my husband and he started to get nervous. 

Picked up hubby from work and of course had to run to Target. I wanted something to help me sleep because I was up the night before and I was still having "cramps". (Looking back, these cramps were timeable and about 6-7 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds). I couldn't take anything so we went home empty handed. 

Friday night I slept pretty crappy..a little bit crampy and just annoyed that I couldn't sleep. 

Saturday, October 19th (my due date) I felt a bit better-- had some breakfast, walked the neighbor's dog, hung out with my husband, and got some stuff done around the house. Still crampy, but manageable (Looking back I was in total denial). My husband had to work so I watched a few Lifetime movies and texted my friends throughout the day. 

Keeping myself busy on my due date.

My husband came home Saturday night and wanted to watch Scandal. I kind of felt bad so I agreed. I ate a handful of yogurt covered raisins and couldn't make it through 10 minutes of Scandal. I was tired and wanted to go to bed now. 

Woke up around 2 with really bad cramps. I let my husband sleep and hopped in the bathtub. By now I had gotten the "Full Term" app and was timing my cramps. They were 5-6 minutes apart and lasting about 45 seconds to 1 minute. 

Again, I honestly thought these were just stupid cramps! They were not that painful, just a bit annoying. Our plan was that we would call our families when we knew we were in "real" labor, so we just waited this out. 

The bath actually helped a lot. I felt OK. I knew Emma wasn't going to come for a long time so I was excited I could go back to bed and get some sleep. 

Ha!

I managed to get out of the tub but I couldn't walk to get my clothes comfortably. I got my husband and said "I think we're going to have a baby today". By now it was 3ish. He helped me get dressed and I laid in bed for a bit. By now my contractions were getting painful and I had to breathe deeply through them. I could still talk through them but I was uncomfortable. They were coming every 5 minutes and lasting a minute. 

To be honest I don't remember what happened next. My husband called the nurses and they said not to rush-- that I could come in if I felt I needed to or I could labor at home for a bit. I wanted to stay at home for a bit longer. My husband helped me tidy up the house and I straightened my hair. By this point I had to stop, lean over, and groan through each contraction. 

By 6AM I was feeling nauseated and threw up a few times. This is when I knew I was in "transition" (basically heading to the end point of labor) and my husband started to panic. He threw me in the car around 7:30 and off we went. 

I wish I could say we drove quickly and got there in record time. Wrong. Wasn't there a 10 mile run that day and roads were closed? I was in the back seat praying out loud and my husband was in the front seat cursing and throwing our GPS (we still can't find it).. GAH. 

We finally arrived around 8:15. I yacked in the parking lot (awkward) and all my husband could say was that I looked pretty. Poor guy. 

What happened next is such a blur..basically we walked in and literally had a baby. It was so perfect/fast/fun/exciting/crazy.  All I really remember was asking to be checked and she said "Oh sweetie, you're 9 centimeters!". 

After Emma was born I was so out of it. It felt good to be done but I was just staring into space. They had to say "HOLD YOUR BABY!" because I think they were afraid she was just going to slide off my chest. My husband took her for a while and once I got some water I felt much more coherent, LOL. 

Looking back, Emma's birthday was the best day of our lives. I wouldn't have it any other way! We are so blessed and thankful to God for her. 

Heading to first Dr. appt

Emma Jane-- One Week

It's been one week since we welcomed little miss Emma Jane. We are just so blessed to have her! God is so good. 

She didn't mind her carseat on the way home. Okay, I lied-- she slept the entire way home. The doggies greeted her and she didn't seem to mind one bit. Emma is very easy going..super chill like her Daddy.

Every time we wake up in the middle of the night we say how beautiful she is, how we can't believe she's ours, and how much we love her. We are so in love and can't believe God has blessed us with her! 

Emma eats like a champ, doesn't love getting her diaper changed, and loves having her fingers in her mouth. She found her thumb and she sucks it a lot. She was doing that at her 12 week NT scan! Amazing how that works. :)

My dad picked out this sweet little sleeper for her (above) when he was out getting us a diaper genie. Being only 6 pounds, none of her cloth diapers fit yet! I'm so excited to put her in her first fluff. 

Everyone keeps asking if we're getting any sleep...what do you think? She eats every 2-3 hours (mostly 2 and a bit) so we set an alarm to get us up. Pedi said we've got to wake her. It's not bad at all and my husband and I actually have fun changing her, talking, and feeding her. We usually have Roseanne or Everybody Loves Raymond on TV..depending on what time it is. 

My husband is a major saint and since I do the feeding/pumping, he usually gets up and will burp her. One night he came in with her wearing the above outfit! So funny. We have tons of adorable matchy-matchy jammies and Emma comes in wearing that. She looked as cute as a button, though! :)

The past week has been so much fun! I know I keep saying it but we're so blessed. God is so good. 

Thank you again for all the sweet comments, emails, and well wishes! xO