Baby Emmy Turns One

Baby Emmy turned 1 on December 12th.  She's not a baby anymore, but she'll forever be "Baby Emmy" to me!

At 12 months she:

Waives hello and bye bye

Says- Hi, Night Night, Uh Oh, Mama, Dada, Dog-woofwoof, and Weee!

Can blink her eyes for a long time

Makes silly faces (serious face and then a smiley face)

Signs please, more and bit

Crawls super fast!  She can walk holding on to something, but doesn't let go on her own yet.

Dances and loves to sing

Likes to play on the piano with daddy, brush her hair, talk on the phone and take baths

Her most favorite thing in the world is her seahorse and her sleep blanket.  

She loves her sissy and copies her every move.

She is very curious and adventurous

She gives "sweet hugs" to just about everything and makes a kissy noise with her lips. 

She will lean in to give kisses to EVERYONE!

Happy birthday little sister.  You are the kissy-est, snuggliest, sweetest thing in the world. 

Mom and Dad love you so very much!

Emmy 9 Months

Sweet girl you are just over 9 months now and this is by far my most favorite time with you! You are so interactive and funny. You are inquisitive and adventurous. You are melt-my-heart sweet! And I can't get a single good picture of you because you are 100% ON THE MOVE!!! 

You are:

Crawling VERY fast!

Pulling up

Waving "hi" and "bye"

Say naa, maa, daa, ooo, and ohhh sounds

Working on saying "uh oh"

Signing "more" and "all done"

Following Aubrey everywhere and you put all of her toys in your mouth!

Napping twice a day

Sharing a room with sissy and sleeping all night

Eating 4 bottles and 3 big girl meals

Taking a bath with Aubrey often, and you LOVE it!

And my most favorite thing: 

You can give hugs and kisses (slimy, snotty, open mouth kisses). It's the best!

We love you sweet girl!

Emmy 7 months

Emmy, you are 7 months old. I'm sorry I forgot to post on your 6 month birthday, time got away from me. One day you will understand.

Milestones:

You are making all kinds of new babbling noises, like "dadadada"

You look like you want to crawl so badly. You tuck your knees under you and schooch forward to reach a toy.

You are enjoying so many new foods and eat your big girl food 3 times a day.

You just got your first tooth! (2 days after your 7mo bday)

You finally stopped spitting up!! Hallelujah!!!

You are wearing 9-12 month clothes. 

You are sharing a room with Aubrey and loving having her company.

We love you baby girl, more than you could possibly imagine.

Love, 

Mom

Core Workout

Emmy has learned a new trick! She is sitting up. Well, mostly she wobbles and hovers over her toes, but occasionally she can work her muscles hard enough to get herself back upright. It's just the cutest thing in the world!

Sitting up like a pro

Wobbling

And then this happens

Aubrey-isms

I feel like I should take a moment to write down the funny things Aubrey is doing these days.  She's officially two and a half and her vocabulary amazes me!  I may be the only person who understands 100% of what she says, but that's okay because she's hilarious.

Here are a few cute things:
*She recognizes President Obama on the TV and says, "Look, President Oh-bo-bo"
*Everything is "Aubrey doo-yoo"  aka- Aubrey do it.
*She loves playing with her doctors kit.  She likes to listen to your heart and back with her stethescope and make animal noises. She'll say, "I hear a cat in mama! So silly mama."  She picked that up from a friend of mine who did that to Aubrey one day at a playdate and I guess it stuck with her.  She thinks it's so funny.
*When playing doctor's kit- she says, "I have a diagnosis!"

*She says, "I see mailman car! No bonk a horn!" Basically it means that she sees the mail man car and she doesn't want him to honk the horn.
*She is using the potty and very rarely has an accident.
*When we put her to bed she likes to push the button to turn on her white noise.  She looks at it for a solid 30 seconds and then pushes the button with such precision and pride.  She wants to "say prayers" before bed.  She says, "God, Jesus, Thank you for today. Amen"
*She likes to be tucked in with lots of kisses. She says, "Now kiss this side.  Now this side.  Now forehead.  Now lips."
*She has a clock in her room that tells her when it's okay to get out of bed by turning a bright green color.  I can hear footsteps running down the hall every morning as she says "Green light coming on!! Time to wake up!"
*She gives big hugs and says "Best friends mama"  She says "best friends" to Emmy, Chloe and Weston too.
*She has an amazing sense of direction.  She knows when we're going a different way than usual to church.  She knows when we're close to our house.  She knows when we're going down the road that takes us to the Doctor's office and says, "No see Doctor Sanah."  aka- no see doctor susannah :)
*She loves to play stickers and we have stickers stuck all over the place.
*She hates getting her hair combed.
*She loves taking a bath.  She says, "I'm a Mermaid!"
*She can sing the theme song to Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse, and Doc McStuffins.  (we may watch a little too much TV)
*and my favorite.... she says, I LOVE Mama!  I LOVE Dad!  I LOVE Cookie and Putty!  I LOVE Gran and Grandad!

I could go on and on.....  Aubrey starts preschool soon and I'm going to miss all these funny moments.  I love this sweet, funny, smart girl with all my heart!

Emmy 5 Months

Emmy,

My sweet, sweet girl.  You are now 5 months old and I cherish every single day I get to watch you learn and grow.

At 5 months you:
Are rolling over
Have found your feet and love to lay on your back and hold onto your feet
Will soon be sitting up on your own... you're still a little wobbly, but with some support you love to sit up and play.
Love to laugh!  It makes you laugh when we play peek-a-boo and when I kiss on your neck.
Have started blowing serberts (at least that's what I call them) with your mouth
Made your first road trip and did terrific!

Mom and Dad love you with all our hearts.  You bring such joy to our home.

Love,

Mom

Emmy- 4 months

I'm catching up on Emmy's monthly milestone posts in just two days.  So here's an update for Emmy's fourth month.

Emmy- as of April 12th, you are now 4 months old!  It's unbelievable how quickly the time goes by.  You are such a sweet girl and have learned so many new things in this past month.

At four months you:
*love to watch your sister run around- you can hardly eat your bottle if Aubrey is in the room.  You'd rather watch her play.  I know you're just so eager to get down there and play too!
*are officially a thumb sucker.  You suck your thumb and your pointer finger every chance you get
*can't keep your hands out of your mouth. You try to eat your entire fist!
*love to talk and can make so many loud noises
*giggled and laughed for the first time when I was kissing on your neck
*are spending more time on your tummy, learning how to push your body up with your arms
*love sitting in your exersaucer and your bumbo
*have begun to play with more of your toys.  You inspect them with your eyes, hands, and your mouth!
*love bath time! You kick your feet so fast that you make the water splash all over.

You continue to eat 5 times a day, with a good hour and half nap in between each feeding. You sleep from about 8pm-7am.... and we're all very thankful. :-)  I think you might be ready to drop a nap and possibly a feeding, but I'll wait for your cues to tell me when it's time.

We love you more every single day and want you to know how much of a blessing you are!

Love,
Mom

Emmy 3 Months

Emmy- you are now 3 months old!  Your Dad and I love you more and more every single day.  You are the happiest and most content baby I have ever, ever, ever seen.  Some days go by where you don't even cry at all.  You may whimper when you're ready for me to come get you from your nap or when you're waiting patiently for me to fix your bottle--- but you very rarely ever just CRY.

When I go into your room to get you up I can count on seeing a big smile from you EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.  And it just makes my heart so happy!  You want to smile at everyone you see and sometimes you would rather just smile than eat your bottle.  You are full of so much joy.

At 3 months you now...
are wearing size 2 diapers
are sleeping 11 hours at night (from about 8:30pm to 7:30am)
eat 5 times a day- every 3-3.5 hours
use your hands to reach out and grab for things. It's only a matter of time before you put everything in your mouth!
coo and talk to your toys, people, and your reflection in the mirror
LOVE to watch your big sister run around
sometimes take a bath with your big sister (which she absolutely loves)
get so excited you often let out a little squeal and kick your legs like crazy
are outgrowing your 3 month clothes and are ready to go up a size
love being outside in the warm weather
don't care much for a pacifier, you'd rather suck on your hands when you can get them out of your swaddle

Here's a comparison of Emmy and Aubrey at 3 months.  Emmy is on the left and Aubrey on the right.  What do you think?

                            

Where to Start?

I have not blogged in FOREVER- so much has been going on.

Emmy is getting so big!  She is 7 weeks old today. Her neck is getting stronger and she can support her head pretty well.  She loves being on her tummy, which means that tummy time is not a battle (as it was with Aubrey).  She loves to stand on her legs and her legs are super strong- Aubrey wasn't interested in using her legs to stand until about 10 months.  She is such a pleasant and laid back baby.  She rarely fusses, loves to coo and smile, and sleeps ALL NIGHT LONG!

Emmy- 2 months

Emmy- here are some things to note from this month:
You love to smile at everybody.
You can focus your eyes on an object and follow it as it moves.
You are cooing and talking so big.
You weigh 12 pounds and are in the 98th percentile for your height.
You wear size 1 diapers (although I've just started putting you in your cloth diapers).
You are sleeping through the night- Yaaaayyy!

Aubrey is growing and changing so much as well. She talks about everything- all day long.  She is so observant and must talk about everything that she sees and hears.  For example- "All done mom's shoes?  Mom's shoes off?"  "All done mom's jacket?"  "Dada work?  Bye Dada!"  "What's that noise?"  We are working on learning our colors and letters of the alphabet.  She does quite well with both.  She is getting much more imaginative and is learning how to do pretend play.  She is happy to play with her stuffed animals and have a tea party, or take them for walks in the house or teach them to do something (like use the potty).  It's amazing just to sit back and watch.  She is so very very affectionate-- she loves to hug and give kisses. She will come over to me and just pat my arm for a bit and then walk away.  She also loves to check in on her baby sister and give her kisses.

Coming Up for Air

Hello world!  It's been quite a while since I've posted- I'm finally coming up for some air.  Both girls are napping, so I have a 1 hour window of opportunity to write and squeeze in a weeks worth of housework.

Here are a few notes about the past several weeks:

1. Staying at home with the girls has been great!  I had no idea what to expect, but it has been wonderful.

2. Emmy was 1 month old on January 12th- it's hard to believe a whole month has gone by.  She is growing and changing so quickly.  1 month milestones: size 1 diapers, her head and neck control is getting stronger, she can focus her eyes on objects, she likes to look at herself in the mirror, she has begun to coo, and she can smile when she sees Weston and I.  She is a terrific little sleeper, waking only once to eat in the night.

3. I'm going on almost 5 weeks of breast feeding!  This is longer than I lasted with Aubrey and I'm so glad I have stuck it out.  Everyone kept telling me it would get easier, and it definitely has.  The hardest part was getting through the first two weeks when I would nurse every 2.5 hours and it would take Emmy a full hour to eat.  I felt like the only thing I did all day was feed Emmy!  But she's getting much more efficient and so it is definitely easier.  I have no idea how long we'll keep it up, but I'm super proud to have lasted this long!

4. Aubrey is in the early stages of potty training, which has provided for a whole new world of hilarity in our house.  We spend a LOT of time talking about potty things and celebrating what happens on the potty.  The funniest thing is that she is usually REALLY sad when she first has to sit on the potty, but when she actually makes something happen on the potty she gets SUPER EXCITED and says "YAY!!!"

5.  We put our house on the market.  What better time to list your house than when you have a newborn and a 2 year old right?  (I know, I'm completely crazy!)  We love our house and are interested to see if someone else takes a liking to it too.  We don't have any solid plans on what we'll do if the house sells, but we're looking at some different parts of town and will just cross that bridge when we get there.

6.  I submitted Aubrey's registration for preschool next year.  She will go two days a week and I know she'll love learning with some other kids her age.

7. Weston and I hosted some friends for New Year's Eve and even went on a date the other night.  It was nice to do something non-baby related for a change!

Emmy's Birth Story

I finally have a moment to sit down and write about Emmy's birth.  It's a long post- written mostly to mark this memory while it's fresh.  Feel free to read, or scroll to the bottom to see pictures of that sweet baby.

Fist let me say- Weston, Aubrey, Emmy and I are all doing well and we're actually getting some sleep. Also, I want to share how thankful we are for all of our friends and family who have helped out over the past several days-- thank you for your prayers and for all the food!

Mary Elizabeth Brown, "Emmy" was born on a very special day- December 12, 2012 (aka- 12/12/12).  She arrived at 12:02 pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 3 oz and measuring 20.5 inches.  She is absolutely, perfectly sweet and amazing. Here's how she made her debut:

We checked into the hospital at midnight on December 12th for an induction.  It was one week before Emmy's actual due date- everything was fine with her, we just opted to deliver early since I had been having regular contractions and my doctor was due to be out of town for a day or two in the week between the 12th and Emmy's due date on the 19th. We settled into our room in Labor and Delivery and began the induction with something to help thin the cervix. We got as much sleep as you can expect to get when there are machines beeping and buzzing all night long.

The nurse started my pitocin drip around 6:45am and I began to have very regular contractions- some which I needed to concentrate and breathe in order to get through.  My doctor came to check on me and break my water around 8:30 and I was only 3-4 cm and 60% effaced.  As expected, my contractions got more intense after my water was broken and I went ahead and received my epidural around 9:30.  I was very nervous that I wouldn't continue to progress after getting my epidural, but I went ahead and did it-- after all my water was broken and there was no turning back.

My anesthesiologist was great and the epidural worked like a charm.  I could still move my legs and wiggle my toes and even feel that I was having contractions- however there was no pain.  And luckily the epidural didn't make me the least bit sick, so I felt very comfortable.

At 10:30 the nurse checked me and I had progressed to 7 cm and 80% effaced.  Yay!!  I was feeling good and making progress so I took a nap.

When I woke around 11:30 I called the nurse to see if she would help me move over to my other side.  She wanted to check on how I was doing before moving me and when she did--- I was complete (10cm and ready to have a baby).  Then things really picked up as they got the room ready for delivery and called the doctor.

We thought it would be awesome to have Emmy at 12:12 on 12/12/12 but she was eager to arrive and we really couldn't wait much longer.  The doctor arrived, Weston suited up to help deliver the baby (he wanted to assist in delivery), and I started pushing.  We could see it wasn't going to take much to get Emmy out, so the doctor said "Hurry up and get in here Dad!" to Weston---- at which point Weston is scrambling to get the little shoe covers and surgical mask on and get in there. During all the commotion-- pushing, listening to my doctor and nurse, and watching Weston-- I see his glasses fly from his face to the floor, his arms flailing to catch them and put on the mask and booties all at the same time.  It was like watching something out of a movie and I actually belly laughed mid-push.  Only a 2-3 pushes later, Weston delivered sweet baby Emmy!  She let out a big cry and they laid her on my chest so I could see her.  Weston cut her umbilical cord, she got cleaned up a little and then came close to snuggle with her mama.

It was absolutely amazing and the entire experience was so joyful. I love Weston for making me laugh and for helping bring Emmy into the world.  I'm thankful to my doctor and the nurses who took such good care of us all during the whole experience.  And I love sweet little Emmy with all my heart.

 

Pregnancy Update- 36 Weeks, 2 days

Only 3 weeks and 5 days left until my due date!  No detailed update here- not that much has changed since my last post.  I went to the doctor on Tuesday and she confirmed that I haven't made any progress yet (no dilation, baby is still very high and cervix not effacing).

Who knows if baby Emmy will come on early, on time, or late.  My guess is that she's not going to come on her own and we'll have to induce.  At this point it's just a waiting game and I'm getting so excited to meet this sweet baby.

This is what I'm looking like these days.  This is Aubrey and I at the Christmas Tree farm helping Weston's folks pick out a tree.

Luckily I'm feeling great and have plenty of things to do to pass the time. The house is ready for Christmas, I'm done with all my Christmas shopping, and I just need to finish some final things to get all set up for Emmy.  I guess I should pack a hospital bag- I haven't gotten around to that just yet. My hypothesis right now is that we will have to schedule an induction just a few days before Christmas when Emmy is 40 weeks and a few days.  Now that I've put it in writing-- maybe the universe will prove me wrong!

Aubrey's Second Birthday

Aubrey turned 2 on November 19th!  It's hard to believe that two whole years have gone by since came into this world and joined our family.   Since she loves to read, we celebrated with a bookworm party at our house.  Several of Aubrey's little friends came by to play and brought her lots of fun books!  The weather was beautiful and it the party was relaxing and fun!

Aubrey's milestones:
Putting words together to make sentences (Dad... car go bye bye)
Telling us what she wants (I need a cheerio, I need a nap)
Saying hello to everyone she sees! (Hi!  How you?  I good!)
Can count on her fingers
Sings many many songs
Is becoming more of a picky eater
Sits on her little potty seat before a bath
No longer needs her paci!
Ready to be a big sister


Some pictures from the party:

Party invitation

Party favor bags: gummy worms, bookmark and a little book

Bookworm cake

Snack table

Enjoying her birthday cupcake

Snacks

Iced down drinks for the little guys: apple juice, yoo-hoo and water

Other birthday pics:

At the park

Hanging with Dad

Bath with cousin Brooklynn

Coloring on her new art easel

Happy Birthday Aubrey.  You are more of a blessing than we ever could have imagined and we love you so very much!

Love,

Mom and Dad