Growing Up!

Hi everyone!

Things have been VERY busy the last few weeks! Sorry for the lack of posts but I've been keeping the albums flowing and I know that's what you're here for anyway! :)

Emily is growing so much every day. She is showing her personality so much more and it seems like she will be very strong-willed (read: stubborn). She is very vocal now, and will get very fussy if no one is paying attention, or occasionally if Mommy goes out of sight (thank God we don't have too many of those days!) She can blow raspberries and has started babbling. Perhaps my biggest thrill came two nights ago- Paul and I were playing on the floor with her and Paul kept saying, "Mama, Mama, Mama" to her. Em looked at us and said right back, "MMMMMMMMMMMMMama!" Of course Paul and I both started laughing, screaming, crying (ok, I was the only one crying) and then she said it again! Now I know, I know...it didn't have anything to do with me and she wasn't calling me by my name, but STILL! It was the most precious thing ever.

She is getting mobile and has also discovered her feet! I help her "practice" crawling each day by putting toys out of reach and putting her on her belly. It takes some time but she gets herself to the other side of the blanket and gets to the toys! She is also SO close to sitting independently. Cross your fingers that she is doing it before her 6 month pictures (hey, a Mommy's got to set goals, right?!) :) She is also rolling both directions but has yet to roll front to back to front or vice versa...in time, I'm sure!

We have introduced foods as well. So far the winners are (in order of preference):
sweet potatoes
squash
carrots
rice cereal
The rice cereal should probably not even be on the list because she hates it so much. She will take a little and eventually ends up blowing a raspberry with it on her tongue, which sends it flying. Nice! We have been doing one new food per week and she has yet to experience any sort of reaction or sensitivity (knock on wood). She is very funny about the food and gets quite angry if we take too long in loading the spoon. She wants it all, and she wants it yesterday! My plan is to finish sweet potatoes this week and move to peas, green beans, and mixtures of veggies (like peas and carrots, sweet potatoes and green beans, squash and peas....yuck!) before we go to sweet things like fruits. I have a very hard time fighting my sweet tooth and I want her to experience all different types of tastes before we get to the sweets, just in case she inherited that!

Thanks for checking in on our girl. We will be busy with the move for the next 2 weeks or so but I will keep the albums updated...rest assured! :)

5 Months Old!

Emily is five months old today- how time flies! She had a very eventful last week- we drove to North Carolina and picked out our new house, then traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to see Uncle Bill and Aunt Belinda and the kids (and grandkid!) Emily really enjoyed meeting little Addalynn and "teaching" her how to use the jumperoo. They were hilarious together!


Emily also visited the ocean for the first time, although it's very hard to take it all in when you're cuddled up in a baby carrier and sound asleep! We know she would never remember it, but it was so funny that we were so excited for her to see the ocean and then she was completely out of it by the time we got there!

Probably her favorite part of the trip was getting to go barefoot (it was 70-75 degrees every day- so nice!) Since she's always kicking off her socks and shoes it was a nice break for Paul and me too-- we weren't constantly pulling up her socks or looking around for where they had fallen off.

Emily tried yellow squash for the first time on 3/20/08. She LOVED it! We think her reluctance to eat rice cereal must stem from the fact that there's almost no taste. At any rate, the squash is a huge hit and she actually got angry with me when I took time to wipe her face-- she wanted the food much faster! It was so funny. We didn't get any pictures but we did take a video.

Tonight she practiced sitting up- she can do it for 5-10 seconds before falling over, but she much prefers to stand up instead. She loooooves standing! She is getting slightly better on her belly and is tolerating more time there, although she still gets very mad. We are starting to wonder whether she will be one of those kids who goes straight to walking and doesn't crawl...I really don't know when she'll practice crawling because she hates to be on her tummy so much!



Thanks for checking on our little princess. We are loving our time with her and getting to experience all the new things she does every day!

The Greatest Trick of All!

I am hesitant to write this and perhaps "jinx" us, but Emily has slept through the night the past two nights! Paul is working with a physician who specializes in behavior and development in pediatric patients. Paul asked the doctor how we could get Emily to sleep through the night (even after the transition to formula at 4 months she was still getting up at 3am and taking a bottle, and sometimes more often). Now, don't get me wrong-- getting up once was a certain improvement over the 2-3 times per night while we were still nursing, but she is almost 5 months old and had never slept longer than 5 hours in a row.

The physician suggested that we begin to cut back her 3a bottle-- from 5 oz to 4, then 3, then 2, and then stop it all together. He said we could give her her paci if she woke up but not to hold her, rock her, or give her the bottle. I started the cutting back earlier this week and Friday night we attempted to go without the 3a feeding. I gave her her last bottle at 11p like I always do (she sleeps through this feeding but takes it all the same) and expected her to be up at 3. She woke me up at 5am and I was SURE she wouldn't go back down without a meal, especially since she was already overdue. I gave her the paci and went back to bed. I could hear her in there, "talking" and doing another new trick-- she lifts her legs up in the air and SLAMS them onto the bed, making this great thump sound of which she is SOOO proud. She didn't get me up again, though, and I woke up at 7:30 to Paul putting her in the bed with us. He had awakened at 7 and rushed to make her a bottle before she woke up and figured out that she was the hungriest she's ever been.

Last night, I nervously drifted off to sleep after feeding her at 11. Imagine my complete shock and amazement when Paul nudged me and asked how she'd done during the night (he never hears her). One glance around the room, noticing the sunlight pouring in, told me she'd slept much longer this time. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the clock read 7am!

I feel terrific today- this is the first time I've slept for 8 hours uninterrupted since long before she was born (she put so much pressure on my bladder that I was up at least twice every night from about 30 weeks on). I only hope our luck continues and this sleeping through the night becomes a normal routine.

We leave this coming Friday (3/15) to drive to NC and house hunt. We are so excited to find our new home and to visit Bill and Belinda in Charleston, SC as well. I'll be sure to post pics once we're under contract.

4 Months Old!

Happy 4 month birthday, Emily!

We celebrated Em's 4 month birthday with her first meal- yummy rice cereal! We spent some time at Target today picking out a special bowl and plate (the plate is a little premature but they matched so I got both. They're super cute- ladybugs!!) and little Take and Toss spoons from Gerber. Then, we had a Family Date in the kitchen and Em wore her special "food bib" (all plastic for easy wiping off!) and had her first rice cereal experience. She kept spitting it out at first but towards the end was actually eating!

She is still oh-so-close to rolling over, but continues to hold out on us. She has also discovered her voice- we will post a video of this too. She makes this very loud, very shrill "pterodactyl" shriek that can be heard all over the house!

Perhaps the most exciting (for me, anyway) development is new trick of sleeping from 11pm (when I feed her while she's sleeping) till 4:30am! I feel like I am rejoining the human race again when I get to sleep for 5.5 uninterrupted hours!

New Camera!

Paul and I bought a digital SLR camera so we can take better pics of Emily (well, and other things too, but mostly just Emmy). It is amazing and we love it already. All the pics from now on will most likely be with this camera...see if you can tell a difference!

The Pterodactyl....

Here is the pterodactyl scream, in all it's glory!

She Comes By It Honestly....

Newsflash: Emily is a thumbsucker!! As much as Paul and I wish she wouldn't suck her thumb, she is doing it! I keep replacing it with her paci (after all, you can take away a paci but you can't take away a thumb!) but she spits out the paci, makes a "hitch hiker hand" and shoves that thumb right in her mouth. Paul and I both sucked our thumbs, so who can blame her?!