1st Thanksgiving and 1st Christmas Pics

Emily has officially celebrated her first Turkey Day! Really, I don't think she could have cared less except she did have her first taste of mac and cheese, scalloped apples and mashed potatoes, much to her Daddy's dismay. I believe he thinks that giving her anything but formula will destroy her digestive system forever! Oh, well - at least he does think of such things!

I was looking at Emily's newborn pictures the other day and I just really cannot believe how much she has already grown. She is holding her head up very well now and she is still trying to roll over. She manages to get over onto her side, but just can't seem to get all the way over. We are pretty much in the same spot as we were a month ago in terms of sleeping. Ideally, I would like her to sleep at least until about 7am, but so far we have only managed to make it to 5am. Kerry had been waking her every night at around 11pm to give her a bottle in the hopes that she would sleep longer, but tonight I think we are going to try something different. We gave her a bath at 7pm and a bottle at 7:30pm and now she is sound asleep in her crib. I think we are going to skip the 11pm feeding and see how long she can make it. I know 7:30pm seems pretty early to put her to bed, but she is honestly so exhausted we can't keep her up much longer than that. Well, I guess we could but we would have one SERIOUSLY cranky baby on our hands! So, we'll see how it goes tonight. Besides, I read somewhere the other day that waking a baby to eat really disrupts their internal sleep schedules. I also read that around 3 months is a really good time to start trying to nail down a bedtime routine since babies are pretty flexible now and should fall into the routine pretty easily.

We took Emily to see Santa on Saturday and she sat on his lap like a little angel (see the pic) but she did spit-up on him. Oh, well. I guess he gets that all the time. We also went to get our family picture and her Christmas pics done on Sunday and she really decided to show her butt! She would only smile in one of them and kept trying to eat the bow on her dress in all the others. Even though it was a hassle, I am sure I will be glad to have all those memories when she is all grown up. Everyone tells you that they grow up so fast, but it is really hard to remember that when she is screaming bloody murder or crying for a bottle at 4am. But, I am trying to savor every moment with her. Sometimes I am still kind of in shock at the thought that I am someone's mother. I have this little human being that is totally dependant upon her Daddy and I to take care of all her needs. That thought is sometimes a little scary, but every night I just pray to the Lord to help make me the very best mother I can be.

1st Halloween

Well, Emily just celebrated her first Halloween. We didn't go trick-or-treating (still a little young for that) but she got dressed up in her black tights, glow-in-the-dark pumpkin onesie and 1st Halloween bib. She could have really cared less, but we had a blast taking pictures of her. I am still marveling at how fast she is growing. She is still working on her neck control (still a little wobbly) and she absolutely HATES tummy time, but believe it or not she is trying to sit up. If she is a 45 degree angle (like being propped against your knees while you lay on the couch) she usually succeeds! She is such a smart girl! We are doing pretty well with sleeping. Kerry usually gives her a bottle around 11pm and that holds her until about 5:45am - which is pretty awesome since I get up at 6am anyway. That extra 15 minutes just gives me a little more time to get her out the door, so I'm sure she had her Mama in mind when she was planning her wake up schedule ;) I am still adjusting to going back to work - it is sooooo hard to leave her, but I'm getting a little more used to it. Besides, I think she enjoys getting undivided attention from her two Grandmas! No more Dr appointments until December, so I won't have an update on her height and weight until then. But I just bet she has grown a bunch!

2 month check up

Wow! I can't believe our little princess is already two months old! She had her two month check up on 10/21/08. She weighed 12.5lbs and was 22 3/8 inches long! She is growing like a weed! She is still eating about 6 ounces every 5 to 6 hours, which the Doctor said is a lot, but I say go with what works! My poor baby got 4 shots! When they put the first one in, her eyes got REAL big and then she just started wailing and didn't stop until about 10 minutes after they were through. But, she didn't develop a fever our anything afterwards, so that was a blessing. Dr. Joe said he was really pleased at how well she was progressing and how alert she was. He said that her early alertness showed she was going to be smart baby. Well, duh! We already knew we had a little genius on our hands! :) Last night she really slept through the night for the first time - she slept from 8:30pm to 5:30am which was AWESOME! I know that breastmilk is best, but if formula can knock her out for that long, I'm all for it! I still feel a little guilty that I wasn't able to breastfeed her, but I keep telling myself that it is not like I didn't try. I tried exclusively for about 2 weeks, but the poor little thing was starving to death. The breast may be best, but I really think I made the best choice for us.
Emily started smiling a couple of weeks ago and now smiles at everything. She thinks having her diaper changed is soooo funny and I actually got a little chuckle out of her the other morning. She is such a happy baby - espescially in the mornings! Whenever I am a little agitated that I have to get out of my warm bed at 5am, one little grin from her just melts my heart... I am still surprised at how in just two months, I have come to love this little person more than I ever knew it was possible to love anyone and I am just so excited to be able to watch her grow up. I just love being a Mommy!!

One Month Check-Up

Emily had her one month check-up on September 21. She got her second round of the Hep B vaccine - ouchie! But she only cried for a second and then she was over it. Such a brave girl!! She weighed 10lbs even and was 21.25 inches long - I can't believe she has already grown an inch! Everyday it seems like she has gotten so much bigger!

We are adjusting to our new lives slowly. We are both seriously sleep deprived, but we are getting into more of a groove. I usually go to bed around 9pm during the week and Kerry takes care of the 11pm feeding (he has always stayed up this late - insane I say!) so I am able to get a few uninterupted hours of sleep before she is up and ready to eat again. On Friday and Saturday nights, Kerry usually gets up with her so I can have a break. You just never really understand the meaning of teamwork until you have a baby! But, even though it has been difficult, she has been worth every minute of it.

I was reminiscing the other night about the time we spent in the hospital and, oddly enough, the labor pains are not what I remember most. What I remember the most is how big and bright her eyes looked when she was brought to me in the middle of the night to be nursed. It was so quiet and peaceful and I guess you can say these were our first bonding moments. She would always be wide awake, but she never made a peep and she always smelled faintly of vanilla ( I know now that was from the soothie pacifier they were giving her in the nursery). Her little lips were always kind of pursed together and her skin was so soft and smooth and warm and she seemed so small all swaddled up. We had so many visitors at the hospital, that we didn't get a lot of alone time (not that I am complaining - I was glad to have so much help around!!) so I think it made those moments all the more sweet. Maybe someday I will be able to share these memories with her...

One Month Old Today!

Wow! I cannot believe it has already been a month since Emily was born. Everyone tells you that they grow up before you know it - now I know that is true! It is unbelievable how much she has already changed. She is so alert - the saying that newborns sleep all the time is definitely not true. At least it is not true when it comes to her. She is learning to hold her head up more all the time (she was trying the day she was born!) and I believe her vision is becoming more clear since she will turn her head to follow you around the room. We are still waiting to see if her eyes will stay blue like mine or turn brown like her Daddy's. I'm betting on the brown since she already has so many other of his characteristics. Unfortunately, she is not sleeping through the night. She usually only makes it about 3.5 hours between feedings. I guess that is to be expected, but I REALLY hope she starts making it through the night before I go back to work!!!

Emily Pics

She's Here!!!

Our beautiful daughter, Emily, finally arrived on August 21, 2008 at 7:07pm. She weighed 8lbs 5oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. I can't believe that she has already been with us for almost two weeks! Boy does time fly when you are having fun...or are sleep deprived!!

Since my last post was all about my fear of labor, I feel like I ought to follow up on that. In short, it hurt but wasn't unbearable. We arrived at the hospital at 6:00am and I was started on a Pitocin drip at 7:15. At 11:15 the contractions were getting pretty painful, so I requested my epidural. I had actually been pretty uncomfortable for awhile before that, but I was so terrified of the epidural that I put it off as long as I possibly could. But, the epidural turned out to be nothing at all. Not even as bad as getting a shot of Novacain at the dentist. So, like I have a tendency to do, I freaked myself out for nothing. Anyway - by 11:45 I was feeling pretty good. Dr. Johnson came in to break my water at around 12:30 and found some meconium in the water, which means Emily had had a bowel movement while still inside of me. She assured me it was somewhat common so I shouldn't worry, but that they would have a neo-natologonist in the room for the delivery just in case. After that, Kerry, Bonnie, Mom and myself all napped on and off until about 4:00 when the epidural started to wear off so the anethesiologist came back to give me another dose. All in all, I was given somewhere between 4-5 doses, but the last dose really didn't help the contraction pain. But by that time I was at 10cm so they had me to start pushing at 6:45pm. They said it was actually a good thing that I was feeling the contractions since it would help me push better and the best thing I could do was push through the pain. So, let me tell ya. I pushed for all I was worth, which I guess is why she was born after only 22 minutes of pushing. Although I could still feel the contractions, I know the epidural must still have been working somewhat because they did not need to give me any other anesthetic to stitch me up. They kept me in the L&D room for another hour, then took me up to my room where we stayed for 2 days and then came home at noon on the following Staurday.

So that is my Labor and Delivery experience. Looking back, I really, really, really wish I had not let the horror stories of all the drama mama's out there upset me. If a pregnant women were to ask my advice on L&D, this would be it.
1. Eat and drink if at all possible before going to the hospital because that will be the last scrap of food you will see for a looonnggg time.
2. Get the epidural. No one will be expecting you to be a martyr, so why be in pain if it is not necessary.
3. Make sure you get the epidural before the Dr. breaks your water.
4. Take plenty of reading material. If you do have a long labor and you get the epidural, you will be laying there for a long time with nothing to do. The contraction monitor is only fascinating for a little while.
5. Welcome the pain at the end. Without it, you could be pushing a lot longer than with it.
6. Pushing really does relieve the pain, so push for all you're worth!
7. Remember that you will feel pain, but it is not unbearable pain.
8. Selfishly savor the experience. During no other time will you be able to get away with saying whatever you want, doing whatever you want, and having people wait on you hand and foot.
9. Finally, remember that the reward at the end of it all is totally worth it. There is no other time in your life that you are so richly rewarded for being in pain. Save the terror for the unrewarded pain in life.