Quotable Tuesdays

Quotable Tuesdays

Baby Girl Emma: Month Four

  So super overdue, but have to share!  5 Month update coming soon, already!

What's new? Every month with Emma is more fun than the last.  She is so alert and interested in the world now.  She smiles huge when I pick her up from my Dad's house on Mondays and Wednesdays after work, which makes me so happy.  She has started grabbing for toys, and especially loves the star rings on her playmat that hang from the elephant.  She definitely knows who her Mommy and Daddy are, cause she is always staring at us when someone else holds her.

Stats: 15 lb, 9oz (75% percentile!  She was in the 5th when she was born!); 24 inches (27% percentile...Emma is short and round apparently, good thing she's cute!)

Hair: Getting more and more red, but still not as red as her Daddy's.

Eyes: They have lightened a little around the pupils, but still blue.

Clothes: She still fits in most of her 3-month clothes, but the onesies and pants are a little on the snug side.  6-month onesies fit great for the most part, pants and other outfits a little loose.  I anticipate she'll be in 6-months through the majority of the summer, because her growth has definitely slowed down a little bit, as expected at this age.  I have so many darling outfits for her in 6-month size, I'm excited to put her in them over the summer!

Sleep: This month was all over the place.  There were weeks she slept 2-hour stretches the entire night, and weeks she did a great long stretch at the beginning.  By the end of the month, she seems to be back to a 5 to 6-hour stretch at the beginning of the night, but we'll see what next week holds for us.

Feeding: Breastfeeding has changed so drastically.  I actually enjoy it now, as it is our time together to snuggle and it can calm her down easily sometimes.  Since I went back to work when Emma was 3 1/2 months old, I've been pumping so she can stay on exclusively breastmilk.  Currently pumping three times a day, and bringing home more than she needs, so stockpiling a little bit each day.

Likes: Watching TV (like mother, like daughter), being held in a sitting straight up position, holding on to blankets or her skirts (her holding on to the bottom hem of her skirts and dresses with both hands is maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen)

Dislikes: Being left alone, staying in one position for too long

Mama Update: Being back at work has proven to be both harder and better than I thought.  I really underestimated how much I missed my job, and I hate that it feels taboo to say that.  Like it means I don't love my daughter as much, if I also love my work?  I don't know, I am glad to be back because I enjoy it and it makes my time with Emma more special.  It also helps that Emma gets to spend time with family while I'm at work, instead of going to daycare.  I do miss my girl, though, and plan to take days off here and there just to spend time with her.

Milestones:

3.24.14: First giggle fit, laughing at Daddy playing with her in our bed.

3.26.14: Rolled, tummy-to-back, for the first time!

Looking Forward To: Going in the pool for the first time in a couple months, and some fun days I'm taking off to spend with my girl in May!

Nicknames: Chicken Girl, Little Love, Buns, Bunzo, Angel

Quotable Tuesdays

Quotable Tuesdays

Quotable Tuesdays

Quotable Tuesdays

A Trip

When Emma was 11 weeks old, she took her first flight!  Gardening Mom, Sister Swimmer, little Em and myself trecked across the country all the way to Delaware for my first traveling-with-a-baby experience (Sister Singer had to stay for her classes).
I had always thought traveling with a baby was a little silly, but color me ignorant when we found out that my step-Grandmother (though she's never seemed like a step anything to me) was sick and I couldn't imagine not going to see her with Emma while on my maternity leave.  Between her diagnosis and booking our flights was only a few days, and to be honest, it's a good thing we moved so quickly becuse in the weeks that would pass between booking the trip and actually going on the trip, I mustered up quite a lot of anxiety over the entire thing.

I envisioned turbulence and a flying baby (yes, I flew with her on my lap).  I had nightmares of her screaming the entire flight.  I thought maybe she would enter a growth spurt, and be fussy the entire trip.

What really happened?  Our flights were smooth sailing, she slept almost the entirety of both 5+ hours flights with very short stints of crying when she was hungry, and she was generally a happy baby most of the trip.  Except for the nights.  She really worked me good those nights, waking up almost hourly every night.  Something she didn't even do as a brand-new baby home from the hospital.  Without my Handsome Husband to help out, I was one tired mama.  But alas, I survived.

My little snow baby

 

 

She did have one fun surprise for me in the Philadelphia airport while we waited to board our homeward bound flight.  Mid-breastfeeding, she had a total poopspolsion all.  over.  me.  It soaked out her diaper, through her onesie, through the blanket she was sitting on, and onto my jeans.  Imagine my horror when I realized what had happened.  Luckily I found a "family" restroom, and went to work cleaning us up.  I patted my own back for thinking ahead with not only spare clothes for little miss Em, but a spare outfit for me, too!  I got her naked, and myself changed, and not a moment later did she spit up everywhere.  I was eternally grateful to the Spit Up Gods for having her do it at the best possible moment (if there is ever a great moment for spit up, that is), while she was naked.  Cleaned that mess up, turned around to grab a fresh diaper, and what the fuh, she is lying in a puddle of her own pee.  Seeing that she had sufficiently emptied her body of, well...everything, I picked her up and cleaned up yet another mess of bodily fluids (the joys of motherhood).  Finally, it seemed, I got her dressed and we were on our way.  It was not funny at the time, but gives me a chuckle now that I'm removed from the situation.  In the moment though, I wondered what I did in a previous life to deserve that kind of torture.

In the end, I am so glad we made the trip.  There were difficulties, but it was easier than I thought (especially the flying part!), and Emma got to meet family that it may have been years before she'd gotten a chance to meet otherwise.  My Grandmother's health seems to be improving, so we hope there are lots of visits to come!

How Long Will I Love You?

How long will I love you?

As long as stars are above you, and longer if I can.
 

 

How long will I need you?

As long as the seasons need to follow their plan.
 

 

How long will I be with you?

As long as the sea is bound to wash upon the sand.

 

 

How long will I want you?

As long as you want me to, and longer by far.

 

 

How long will I hold you?

As long as your father told you, as long as you can.

 

 

How long will I give to you?

As long as I live through you, however long you say.

 

 

How long will I love you?

As long as stars are above you, and longer if I may.

Quotable Tuesdays