Happy Halloween!

Scary Skeleton!

Here's the thing...

I'm busy, all the time. But I promise an updated post tomorrow. Here's how I spend my day, in picture format, to tide you over:

First there's a little playing and laughing:

Then Emily says "Come on Mom, let's get real. Feed me!"


Then we do a little tummy time, which either frightens or delights Emily. We're not to sure yet.

We have a few more bottles, and try to get in a few more cute picture ops. Lesson #1 in taking baby pictures: try not to use the flash...
"Whoa Mom! Are you trying to blind me!?!"

Then after a long hard day, we all curl up for bed time.

The End!

Happy Fall!

It's official, Fall is here! The weather is much cooler, all the leaves have changed and are starting to fall off the trees. That means eventually Travis is going to have to get out there soon and bag them up!

Fall is my absolute favorite season. I'm such a geek for pumpkins, candy apples, hot apple cider, corn mazes. You name it. So last weekend we decided to take Emily to the pumpkin patch. I know she won't remember it, blah blah blah, but we have to start family traditions at some time!

So we went for about a half hour :o) They had a corn maze, a hay ride, a little petting zoo, and lots and lots of pumpkins. Of course, you had to pay for it all, so we decided to wait until next year for that stuff. We took pictures with the pumpkins, walked around and watched everyone else, and enjoyed a hot cup of apple cider.
You can't really see it, but Emily and I are holding a tiny pumpkin - just her size!
We tried to do a photo op with her sitting against the pumpkins, but she wasn't having any of that! Those pumpkins are scary! She was happy as long as I was holding her and she could see what everyone else was doing. Any time I attempted to sit her with a pumpkin, big or small, the waterworks started! Oh well, at least I'm trying to create some good family memories!

Two Months!

Here we are, just chugging along past two months old! Some things we've accomplished this month:
-smiling all the time, recognizing mom and dad
-a half laugh. Not quite a full thing, more of a "har!"
-the start of babbling
-sleeping through the night consistently! Usually between 9:30-6. Mom loves this!
-we started daycare this month. Mom hates it, but you seem to be doing just fine.
-you're still drinking 4oz bottles, but I have a feeling we'll be bumping that up to 5 in a few days.
She's getting so big! We have our official 2 month appointment this Friday so she'll get weighed (yay!) and her first set of shots (boo!). Emily has also started flirting with rolling over. I think she might go back to stomach first because she's started to do this:
"Just hanging out on my side!" The TV is behind her, and it is quite tempting apparently. But then she can see it sideways so she stops and lays on her side. Well, she'll get there!

In non baby news, I'm back to work full swing and will be seeing clients again starting November 1st. We just heard that the national exam is being held in December, which allows representatives to qualify for direct pay from Social Security. Our company doesn't let reps go to hearings unless they've passed the exam, because trying to bill clients once their awarded is just a big headache. This way we get our fee directly from SSA with out any issues. So it's study time! I've got study materials, and the other junior reps have started a study group so that we can all work together.

The best news? The test is being held in St. Louis! Ok, well New York and L.A., as well, but that's not quite as exciting. Hopefully we'll go to St. Louis since that's the closest city to us. Then maybe I can get a visit in!

Other than that, not much is going on in baby land. The weather is turning cooler, the trees are changing, and it's officially my favorite season. Happy Fall!

Murphy's Law

I am dead tired, and Emily is finally napping. You'd think I could nap too then, right? Of course not! Sometimes the brain just won't shut down, so here I am, updating you on my life.

Why am I so tired? Well, I'll tell you. Yesterday Travis and I drove down to Baxter, MN, about 2 hours away. Again, you ask, why?

To buy this:
A new car! (say it like on the Price Is Right). This is my new (to me) 2008 Ford Escape. It has tinted windows, cruise control, all wheel drive, yada yada yada. Last weekend we were perusing autotrader.com and found the add for this little gem. So after talking to the dealership this week, we went down this weekend and scooped her up. Since we just paid off my car, we got a sweet deal and my payments are lower than on the Kia. Yippy! I figured it was time to have a more "family" vehicle to fit all our stuff in. Hey, babies come with a lot of stuff. And this way, when we go to Florida next time, my mom has even more room to cram full of Christmas stuff for the drive back :o)

Travis had a benefit gig with the band last night, which happened to be down that way. Since I wasn't ready to leave Emily overnight, I drove back and he stayed down there for the gig. Grandma babysat for us during the day. Boy am I glad I came home.

Last night Emily was a lot more fussy and noisy in her sleep than normal. She's been great at sleeping through the night lately. Last night was no exception, she was just getting a really unrestful sleep. I had to go in her room twice to turn her Sleep Sheep on (google it), to help soothe her.

I went in again around 5:30 this morning, and she was awake in her crib. I thought she needed to be changed and fed, so I went to pick her up when I noticed bubbles of spit all around her mouth. It literally looked like she was foaming at the mouth. I immediately picked her up and began pounding on her back because I wasn't sure if she was choking on her spit or what, but I knew she wasn't breathing evenly and I was scared out of my mind.

I got the suction bulb and started sucking all the foamy spit out of her mouth, which helped a little. Then I could tell she was super congested and snotty, so I sucked out her nose too. Our heat has been on for the past few days, and I think it's a lot drier than she's used to. She threw a fit, gagged a lot and cried, but I got it all out. When I picked her back up she immediately passed out on my chest.

Scariest moment of my life.

I spent the next two hours with her sleeping on my chest so I could make sure she was breathing. She got more sleep, but needless to say I didn't. She's perfectly fine today, probably doesn't even remember it. It was a little traumatizing for me though! I guess we'll be breaking out the humidifier tonight.

Here's a few cute photos to leave you with:

Sucking on Mr. Teddy's ears and nose. Yummy!

Sporting the skinny jeans. She's so stylish!

Have a great week!

6 weeks!

Emily is 6 weeks old today! How did we get here so fast? She continues to amaze us daily, especially now that she seems much more interactive. She recognizes us and smiles at things we say. We haven't seen a repeat of the laugh yet, but she definitely tries. Here's a good picture of her laugh face:
This was the first time we sat in the Bumbo. She loves it! I originally didn't want to get a Bumbo because I thought it was pointless. Basically it's a little rubber seat for, well, sitting. But we had gift cards to burn and nothing else to buy, so we brought Bumbo home. It's actually really cool because she can sit in it on her own, can't escape, and it has a little support for her still-wobbly head.
It provides a nice alternative to the swing or play mat for entertainment. Emily also seems to be pretty interested in the TV. I think she likes the colors, and it's visually stimulating. Now, before anyone gets on a soapbox, I'd like to state that I am not sitting my child in front of the TV to occupy her while I do other things. But she will look at it while she sits in my lap for a few minutes, just like she stares at the ceiling fan, the curtains, and other random things in the house. We've also started a Saturday morning cartoon ritual apparently.
She looks asleep here but she was just blinking. She was also very interested in sucking on her hand at this moment. Ignore the mess that is my living room right now. It is what it is.

When my parents were here in August, my Dad planted some rose bushes in our yard. Travis couldn't find a florist that was open to buy me roses the day after I had Emily, so he went to Lowe's, bought rose buses, and cut off all the flowers to bring to me. Dad decided not to let them go to waste, and spent a good chunk of a morning planting them in our backyard. Then he spent a good chunk of time trying to keep them alive, watering them, spraying them with grow formula, and tending to all things roses.

Well Dad, your effort paid off!
Aren't they pretty? We've been having great weather lately, so they popped right back up. We'll see how long they last though, since we're supposed to get our first cold front next week. Boo!

One month

Well, this is a few days early, but Emily will be one month old on Tuesday. Where does the time go? Seriously, I feel like we just came home from the hospital. And considering that we're not getting much sleep, I'm definitely spending way more hours conscious than I normally do.

Speaking of which, all of you non-parents out there take your sleep for granted. Big time. Now, Travis and I are extremely lucky in that we have a baby that sleeps, for the most part. There are very few nights where we're up every hour or two. Emily has been a sleeping champ since she was born, really. But there are far too many nights for my liking where she doesn't go to sleep until 11:30 or so, and then is up again at 1 or 2, and then again at 4:30. The 4:30 am waking is really the pits, because by the time she's changed, fed, and burped then I only have about 20 minutes left until the alarm goes off. So then I lay in bed thinking "I should just get up. But I need these extra 20 minutes!"

The lack of sleep leads to some very zombie like moments during the day, and occasional conversations at night where I'm not sure Travis is really awake, and I'm not even sure if I'm awake for that matter. However, things are getting better. We just had two nights, in a row, where she slept through the night. TWO NIGHTS! Hallelujah!

Here's what Emily has been up to this month:
. Holding her head up and looking around all the time.
. Eating over 4 oz between formula and breast milk. What a little piggy!
. Making and holding eye contact
. Smiling! She's even starting to laugh a little. So far Aunt Stefanie is the only one to get an intentional laugh. But she's trying!
. Going longer during tummy time and pushing with her legs.
. Sleeping through the night on occasion. She loves napping in her swing, but she's napping less and less. Normally I'm lucky if she naps once a day for a few hours.

This is a "give me food!" face. And yes, we have to use the bib because she is a messy little dribbler.

RAWRRR! I'm Queen of tummy time!

In other news, last weekend was the 100th Bear River Fair. We decided to take a trip up there with Emily and take part. There were soft ball games, bingo, a photo booth, lots of exhibits, pony rides, karaoke, and two dinners. We actually didn't do all of that, but we did watch a lot of softball! Emily slept through the entire thing. Oh well, there's always next year!

Travis is taking another week off to help me out since I'm working and watching Emily at home full time. This excites me like you wouldn't believe! Emily is a much more active baby than I would have ever imagined, so working and taking care of her is actually a lot more difficult that I expected it to be. I'll leave you with a sweet photo from his last "vacation" to watch Emily.

Rough life!