Happy Birthday, Grandpa Birkland!

Grandpa Birkland,

Happy Birthday! I am sorry I couldn't be there. We can't wait to see you in a month. Also, sorry about the sign. I am loving to chew on everything right now!

Love you,

Emery

6 months and growing

Emery and Daddy Emery eating. Yuck!

Em with her Tottenham gear on, playing with Daddy.

She grew out of her original Halloween costume, so we found this black cat onesie at Walmart.

Emery and Mommy on the first really cold day. Brrrr!

Wow! I cannot believe that Emery is already 6 months. Each month I tell her that she is big enough and she doesn't need to get any bigger. Yet, she continues to grow and I find myself enjoying her more and more each month. Recently we have been trying rice cereal, green beans, and squash. I can't say she has a favorite right now, because she really doesn't have the whole eating thing down. She will let me put it in her mouth, and then she just lets is pool with her saliva at the front of her mouth before letting it slip on out of her mouth. All the while, making a horrible face!

She has also been rolling over more. She first rolled over a few times at four months, and then lost interest. Within the last two weeks, we have been putting her toys farther and farther from her, forcing her to roll over, and she does! However, she still has trouble getting that darn arm out from under her. We have also been sitting up on the couch. We have to have something behind us for support. She does well, leaning forward, and not falling over, then she gets excited and pushes back and falls over. Anytime now...

She continues to put any and everything in her mouth. I think her favorite thing at the moment is my hair. You wouldn't think 3 seconds would amount to much but when I pull it from her grasp, I have a very soggy mess. Hey, if it makes her happy... Patty cake is a favorite now, too. She loved the clapping. When we stop to roll it up and throw it in the pan, her smile fades and then explodes again once the clapping continues. We have enjoyed our time with her so much and try to hold on to every second because it goes way too fast.

I am sorry that I have not posted pictures in a while, our computer takes forever to download. So, here are a few to catch up with. Enjoy!

~Amy

A New Post!

Sorry that this post won't have any pictures. I wanted to update anyone who still checks this blog. Emery is growing up so fast. Seriously, that is why Hugh and I don't blog. We don't want to spend any time away from her; we never want to miss a thing.

Lately, that has been tough. I started school in August and Hugh just started student teaching a few weeks ago. This means, that both of us feel like we just aren't getting enough time with Em. Thankfully, we have a wonderful sitter, a friend of ours, who has been doing a great job with Emery. She is not the easiest baby. For one thing, she fights sleep. She has gotten herself on a great schedule. She wakes up (happy), eats, and then plays. Approximately 2 hours after waking, she shows signs of being tired, so we try to get her to sleep. It is quiet the scene. Because she fights sleep, we have to trick her into sleeping. First we had the white noise from the TV. Then we had the shower. Now we are just down to the sink, which we know, is a waste of water, but she needs to sleep. So, not only do we have the sink going, but we also have to sing (Somewhere Over the Rainbow), and sway while patting her back. This is the only way we can get her to sleep. I know that crying it out is an option, but we are just not ready to go there yet. This works, and we love every minute of it.

So, upcoming pictures will be of Emery's first 2 teeth. Yes, she has two. The first one came in the day before she turned 4 moths. The second one came in a week later along with an earache that we are just now getting over. Thank goodness for lots of antibiotics because she now is sleeping through the night again. For the two weeks before she got her two bottom teeth, she slept through the night. For the past 3-4 weeks, she has been waking almost every hour. Ugh! Another reason we have not blogged.

She is really growing up fast. She talks all the time and, if you look crazy and make weird sounds, she will laugh out loud for you. We are really proud parents and have had a hard time of getting out. When you both work, you just want to come home and spend time as a family. It is hard to make and keep friends when you don't feel like you have enough time. I want to apologize to everyone for not being social lately. Being a working mom is very draining physically and emotionally. We know that we want to bring Emery up among friends though, and to do that we have to be more social. So, we will try. But for now, we are content enough in being Emery's mom and dad.

I promise to write more soon.
~Amy

I know...it has been a while

You never realize how much time a baby takes until you have one. They do not easily sit around and entertain themselves. Since having Emery, almost 9 weeks ago, a lot has gone on that has kept us very busy. I am sorry that I have not blogged in a long time, for those of you that check, but I have not had an hour to myself in a long time.

Here are some pictures to keep you updated on Emery's progress. I am not going to go back and recount the last weeks, but I will let you know that Emery is growing so much every day. We last had her weighed on Tuesday and she was at 9 lbs, 10 oz! It helps that the previous 2 weeks she gained almost a pound a week! Enjoy the pictures. I hope to keep the site updated more frequently.

Here is Emery taking her first bath at home. I have to admit, she did pretty well. We had my mom taking pictures and my step-dad filming. Here is what they looked like afterwards.

Here is a picture of Emery when she was still pretty tiny. The only thing we let her wear were these little sleepers with hands and feet. She slept a lot. Here is a picture of her sleeping on Hugh, one of her favorite things to do. The other is a picture of what she looked like one day after waking up. Somehow, she managed to get both legs in the same leg hole on her sleeper. They were new born size, and still too big.

Did I mention that she likes to sleep?

In May, we also were lucky enough to get a visit from "Buncle" Chris. Apparently adding the b to uncle makes him the "best uncle."


And, in June, we got a visit from Grandpa Birkland.

Speaking of Hiccups...

Another reason I am thankful for having a c-section is for the fact that I got to stay in the hospital for 4 days. How can a new parent be sent home after day 2? I had a lot of questions and had aplenty of time for many of them to get answered. So, another reason to be thankful for a breech baby. By Thursday, we were ready to go home. We had some interesting time with a night nurse, and it made me want to keep Emery all to my self. The only way that could be done was at home. As I mentioned earlier, Hugh and I are procrastinators. So, Thursday morning, Hugh set off to the fire station for a car seat inspection. You can't leave home without it. While he was gone, I tried to find an outfit for Emery's going home trip. Since she was so small, some friends of mine bought some preemie outfits. I am glad they did, because the outfits that Hugh and I chose were definitely too big for her. So, while Hugh was gone, we tried on outfit after outfit. They were all so cute, but some were a little short in the legs. After about 15 minutes of trying on clothes, we found an outfit that worked. My next job was to try to get the car seat straps adjusted for her. Another task that babies do not enjoy. Needless to say, by the time Hugh returned we were dressed and ready to go. Hugh took our bags to the car and I called the nurse so we could get dismissed. When Hugh finished with the bags, he helped me get Emery into her car seat. Then, the wait began. After about 10 minutes, Emery got the hiccups. These were not your average hiccups, though. With each release of air through her mouth, a release of something else came out of the other end. Poor girl. This meant that we had to get her out of the car seat, change the diaper and put her back in. She was a trooper. Another 20 minutes later, and our nurse arrived. Time for home.

Lasts

Because Emery was breech, I had a c-section. I have to admit, I really liked the idea. Being the procrastinators that we are, it gave us a deadline in which we had to pack our bags--of course, that was Sunday night. As we packed, I felt an overwhelming sadness. For a while now, I knew that I did not want Emery to come out. I had many reasons. In my stomach, she was always with me. I was never alone. I never had to drop her off at the sitters, or watch her get hurt. She would move, and I would know right where she was. The thing I would miss the most had to be the hiccups. She would sometimes get them 2 or 3 times a day. I thought it was just adorable. So, on Sunday, as we packed, I couldn't help but think of all the things I was going to miss about being pregnant. No more singing together in the shower, no more hiccups at midnight, no more nudges in the side to let me know she was there. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Was yesterday's hiccups the last I would feel from within? I never thought to cherish them. I let them pass like all the others. For this, I was heartbroken. Hugh has always been great with me when I get emotional. This time, he shared with me how excited he was to finally be able to hold her , hug and kiss her, and to feel her hiccups himself. He helped me see that I was being selfish, in not wanting her to come out. It is easier on me not to have to see her in pain or discomfort, and to know that I was never alone. Finally, I fell asleep- sad, but looking forward to getting to see her. Then around 2:00...as many pregnant women do, I got up to go to the bathroom. Afterwards, I laid back down and tried to go back to sleep. That's when I felt them. Hiccups. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... I continued to count. I wanted to cherish this "last." After 13 minutes, she stopped. I had counted 121. Did Emery do that for me? Did God? Either way, I was thankful. I could not wait to meet this little person that did such a great thing for me and who brought me so much joy all this time. Now, I thought, I can let her come.

A beautiful baby girl!

It is a strange feeling to wake up and know that in a matter of hours, you will be a dad. On Monday, we arrived at the hospital at 6:00 to check in for a scheduled c-section. We had found out a few weeks before that Emery was breech. At 7:25 Amy was taken into the operating room while I told that they would be back to get me shortly. I expected a wait of no longer than 5 minutes...15 minutes later I was still pacing. I thought that I might have been forgotten. Finally, around 7:52, I was taken back to be with Amy for the delivery. Little did I know I would be brought in looking at her feet and her opened abdomen... I thought I would be brought right up to her head area. I had viewed a little more than I had intended to. When I reached Amy, I must have looked a little queasy, because she offered me her oxygen. It wasn't so much the sight of Amy cut open that had me flustered, but the fact that I was about to meet my daughter. At 7:59, I was allowed to peak over the partition, and saw Emery being pulled out, bottom up. The next thing I know, they had brought her to the warming table to be cleaned and measured. She weighed in at 6 lbs., 1 oz. and, at the time, measured only 16 inches. It was hard to get a good read because each time they tried to get her legs to lay straight for measuring, they would pop straight into the air, on account of her being breech. My thoughts were, "Wow! She is beautiful. I need my camera."