4 Month Checkup!

Ok. I am know I am waaaayyyy late on this, but the holidays were just so hectic and then the computer broke...you get the idea. Anyway, Emily had her 4 month check up on 12/23/08. Poor baby got another 4 shots! :( She weighed 15lbs (80th percentile), was 24 7/8" long (50th percentile) and her head circumference was 17 (93rd percentile). She really has a big noggin! Overall, Dr. Pappalardo said she was pretty healthy but that he was a little concerned that she was gaining too much weight. Now I know I am not the one with the M.D. here, but 15lbs just does not seem like that much to me - especially since she weigh 8lbs 5oz when she was born! According to Tiffany (my personal RN and BFF :) babies are actually supposed to triple their birth weight by 6 months, so if that is true, it seems to me like she is right on schedule! Oh, well. The Dr can have his opinion, but I am going to continue to do what I feel in my heart is right for my baby.

Emily had her first cereal on 12/24/08! She really liked it! Now she opens up for the "choo-choo" almost everytime!

We still have not been able to celebrate her rolling over for the first time... I guess she will do it when she is good and ready, but I am just so anxious for her to meet all of her baby milestones on time! I think if she would lay on her stomach at all, she might roll over sooner but she absolutely HATES IT! As soon as you lay her on her tummy, she starts whimpering.

I know that some people say that the first three months are the hardest, but for us they actually were easier than now. I have no idea why, but Emily just seems to fuss all the time. Not really crying but just whining. I am trying really hard to be patient, but sometimes it is really difficult. The constant whimpering sometimes grates on my nerves...especially when NOTHING seems to calm her. Oh, well...I hope it is just a phase!

Christmas and New Year's happenings, along with pics, will be coming soon...be sure to check back!

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