Ole St. Nick

Last week was a week of major firsts, but I can't really start to go over those until I write her 5 month post.....which I am behind on, AGAIN! Oh well. Sometimes life happens and things get put on the back burner. I knew I wanted to get Emma in to see Santa before the mall got really crowded and we had to wait in a long line....which sounded like torture to mommy. So last week we decided to take her to visit our mall Santa.

First of all, we walked straight in to see him and as you can tell by the photo, he was an awesome Santa! No stuffed suit and fake beard here! They asked if we were buying a photo...of course! It's her first Santa visit. Now I fully expected her to not cooperate for the camera. She was looking every which way and when the photographer was shaking their noisemakers she looked up at them as if to say "that's really unnecessary." Finally Santa said, "mom why don't you try." I got down low and waved my arms and smiled big and made a fool out of myself but we got this shot! Totally worth it! Cannot wait to see next years photo!

We put up our Christmas decorations and of course Emma's first Christmas tree. I found a frame ornament in our stash and put one of the wallet size photo's that we got in our package from Santa in it and on the tree is went along with the sled ornament I made last year. My mom gave me some ornaments from when I was a baby to put on our tree so this years tree is very special to me.

My mom suggested that we get professional photo's done for Christmas of Emma, but honestly I don't like that JC Penny studio feel at all....so the other night after her bath when she was relaxed and happy, we plopped her on a blanket and plugged in some white lights and went to town with the camera. Under the tree she went and everything tried to go in her mouth. From the strand of lights, ornaments, to the tree branches themselves. I love that she's exploring new things and I love experiencing life and the holiday's through her eyes! While these aren't professional photos I still love them and they capture her personality at this time in her life!

We have some new traditions to start and old ones to pass on, but I cannot wait to experience everything with our little one!

DIY Custom Mobile and a Peek into Emma's Nursery

For as long as I have been wanting to plan a nursery I knew that I didn't want it to be a cookie cutter from the store bed in a bag look. I planned out Emma's nursery dreaming of when she would sleep and play in it. I wanted something that would grow with her but still be graphic, fun and have a sense of playfulness.

That being said I couldn't find a mobile that I liked at all. I knew that I would have to make one. But I couldn't figure out what style I liked. I thought that I may just buy some wooden animal shapes and paint them in the teal, pink and grey color scheme and hang them on a makeshift hangar. Or just settle for something that was purchased, because I honestly didn't think that I would have time with a baby to make something cool. I was saving tons of ideas to a nursery board on Pinterest but nothing was making me scream out "This is perfect!" So I dropped it from my mind for months. It wasn't until I was looking for things to make with the leftover felt that I had from Emma's Halloween costume that I found it. A ceiling mobile kit from Apostrophe-S. It was made with felt and cardstock, but you had to buy the whole kit and even though everything was ready and all I would have to do is assemble, I thought to myself...."Self, you can make that!"

The weekend we moved into our new apartment, my mom and I hit up Michael's with coupons to get the extra things I needed. Wooden planting rings (18", 12", 6"), craft paint, grey felt (I had the pink) and beads. I had plenty of embroidery floss on hand and my mom brought the other items needed to help make these.

I don't have a tutorial for exactly how I made this, but I can give you the steps. First off I scaled in Photoshop the shape for the hangars. Then we traced them onto freezer paper and cut them out. We needed 36 pink and 20 grey to make them doubled when completed.

We used an iron on adhesive to press the felt pieces together, but you can use any type of fabric glue to get them together. We used embroidery floss to string the rings together and to attach each shape to the wooden rings. We also hung two beads to the tops of each pink shape. Darin needed to drill extra holes into the rings, to make it evenly spaced (which he had to buy a new drill for, he was ecstatic) and then hot glued the strings in place on the top. It's not pretty from above, but who sees that anyways. Figuring out placement of each tier took some finagling but the end result was far better than I could have imagined.

It took far longer to accomplish than I thought and between feedings and napping and fussy baby wanting my attention I didn't take photos along the way to show the steps. My apologies. Hopefully you can use my haphazard directions to make your own mobile. If you have any questions shoot em my way!

And now a peek into the nursery!

What?! It's still not done! I have things to hang and some things to put away and then I will reveal it all to you....just thought you'd want a teaser!

Thanksgiving 2014 (with Halloween thrown in also!)

Hi all! Oy vey! November was a whirlwind month. So sorry I didn't post more, but our external hard drive with ALL of our photos on it decided to die.....insert mommy panic attack. It's still being repaired but I hope to get back all of the photos, especially the ones from the hospital and our baby's first moments. Although my photo Christmas ideas now have to be rethought since we wont be getting our data back until after the new year.....SOBS!

Anyways, I thought that I would do a little recapping of Emma's first Thanksgiving and a teeny recap of her Halloween as well....since I missed it! Oopsies! Let's start with TG since it was the most recent. It was a very low key holiday at my parent's house. We arrived Tuesday evening late and grandma played with Emma while we unloaded the car. The crazies dogs decided that 10pm was bark and playtime since they hadn't seen each other in so long.

Wednesday morning, Emma had playtime with her G.G. and daddy, then I helped my grandmother make pies, six in total for 13 people.....a bit excessive. We made cranberry sauce, sweet potato's, and various other things. I helped my mom hang artwork, and clean as well. Thanksgiving day Emma woke we all awoke at 730 to finish prepping, cleaning and cooking. Lil miss protested her naps like usual and we entertained her on her jumper, bouncer, with toys....just to keep her happy. She managed to get an hour in before the commotion started but that was pretty much it. She didn't want to miss any excitement. My aunts and cousins arrived in the midst of the craziness and were put to work setting the table, which I had to finish! I guess I can do a cornucopia like nobody's business. Emma was entertained by all her aunties and had a marvelous time laughing and munching on anything she could get in her mouth, that tooth coming in is really bugging her.

The rest of the weekend was filled with relaxing, my grandfather taught Darin and I how to play cribbage....and now D is obsessed. We ate leftover turkey sandwiches, pie and turkey soup. We also managed to get my mom's Christmas decor up before she was struck with the stomach flu. Poor thing. We headed home early Sunday and just chilled out on our couch catching up on some snoozing. It was a warm and fun filled weekend. And now a photo dump:

Halloween was just as fun, but I have far less photo's to share. If you remember my mom and I made Emma's Halloween costume. I was so excited to parade her around in it too! We realized that afternoon that it was going to be a wet Halloween, a first in California in many years. D brought little miss into my work for our office party dressed in her Sleeping Beauty costume from Grandma L and everyone oohed and ahhed her cuteness. We even won some prizes! Pup got a bath at the groomer next door also. Once I got home from work we tried to get her to nap, but she wasn't having it.

We dressed her up, got pup ready and loaded in the car to T.O.T. in D's parents neighborhood. We hit up about 5 houses, but most were still getting ready. Grandma had a grab bag with teething goodies for Emma and full sized candies for mommy and daddy! SCORE! We hung around for a little bit before heading off to our little party.

Our good friend lives in a neighborhood that goes all out for Halloween. It was the perfect place to take Emma for her first Halloween. We took her around to about 6 houses, just to hear people say how cute she is, I mean she was! Then went and relaxed by the firepit and passed out candy.....we went through 10+ bags of candy, just at our house alone! That's how many kids were around. We had great conversations and Emma enjoyed just people watching....her favorite thing. Around 9pm we headed home, just as the rain started coming down. It was a great holiday!

Me as the Cheshire Cat

Getting ready to T.O.T.

Doesn't she look thrilled?!

Stay tuned I have a lot to update you on with regards to moving and getting our own place, a sneak peek into Emma's nursery and much more!

Watch Emma Grow - Month Four

This month was the hardest month by far. Not because of Emma, but so much has happened that it was just jam packed. Not only did I start back to work, tear tear tear, but we celebrated Emma's first Halloween with a perfect costume, went to the pumpkin patch and moved into our own place again. So much has changed in lil miss' life that I am surprised by how well she has adjusted to it all. With the exception of her sleep habits, she sailed through learning how to eat from a bottle from the Grandma's and daddy.

It was an interesting first month trying to figure out pumping needs and how much she should be eating. I was a complete wreck most of the month because I wanted to make sure I was producing what she needed while I was away. Figuring out how warm she likes the milk and good ways to get her to take the bottle were tasks that daddy and my M.I.L. (she takes care of our LO while daddy and I are at work most of the time) had to figure out. We were still giving her the Prevacid in the breast milk once a day to combat the reflux and mommy is still off dairy, soy and nuts.....and almost going nuts with it. I am sticking with it because breastfeeding is best for her immune system right now....also it's the best way for her and I to bond multiple times a day. I miss her like crazy when I am working and feel a sense of glee and excitement when I get home and see her beautiful smiling face.

Her personality has grown so much! She is a big smiler.....loves to grin and laugh. Her giggle is infectious! She is a happy baby a majority of the time.....unless she's hungry or completely exhausted. Her coos and babbles have started to turn into more than just random noises. She started to roll her tongue and experiment with the different sounds that were escaping her lips. It's so fun to watch. Shes really trying to grab everything. She can get a death grip going on my hair and her clothes. It's great to watch her see something and if she wants it she will try and grab it. So much fun to watch her mind at work. She has also been mastering lying on our tummy for longer periods of time and holding her head up really well. She has rolled over from her tummy to her back and vice versa! I thought because how much she hated tummy time that she wouldn't do this yet, but she surprised herself and me when she did it. She looked around as if to say "how did I get here?!"

We moved at the end of the month so this change did affect her a little. She has her own room, although she only naps and spends the first part of the night in there. Mommy still needs her in the room with us because she still wakes 3-4 times a night to eat. It's exciting to have all of her toys and clothes at the ready and to have access to everything. It's my favorite room in our apartment and we spent lots of time in there either reading, playing on the play mat or changing and playing with clothes. When her room is complete I will be sure to post all about it!

This Month Stats:
Weight: 12 lbs 10 ozs (23%)
Height: 23.75" (26%)
Head: 16.5" (73")

Two Month Stats:

Weight: 10 lbs 10 ozs (43%)

Height: 22.25" (44%) 

Head: 15.75" (80%)

Eat: We are still exclusively breast feeding, but I am pumping for bottle feeds when I am not at home. We are still going about 2-3 hours in between each feeding, including nighttime. Pumping can be a challenge because you have to be relaxed, get the appropriate latch on the flanges, remembering to eat and drink properly and pumping consistently. I pump every two to two and a half hours to make sure I get an adequate amount for what she eats when I'm not home. At home were still on a feed by demand schedule, which is fine with me. At her doctors appointment our Dr. mentioned that she may be going through a plateau for eating and the moving and bottle feeds may have attributed to a less than stellar month for weight gain, but she wasn't worried considering she is gaining and honestly I truly think we have a snacker on our hands anyways.

Sleep: She still loves to protest her nap and since we have both been leaving around 8am it has changed her schedule and routine a bit. Here's a sample of her schedule.
7:30am - Wake/Diaper Change
8:00am - Breast Feed
8-9am - Playtime
9-10:30ish am - Nap
10:30-11 - Bottle Feed with antacid
11-12:30 - Playtime
1pm - Bottle Feed
1:30-3ish pm - Naptime
3:30-4:30pm - Playtime, mommy gets home and feeds. We read and sing.
5-6pm - Final Nap
Between 8-815pm she gets bathed, then lotion and pj's then we read a book or two or three. Then if she hasn't nodded off yet I rock her asleep and she snoozes on our bed until I dream feed her at 11pm and she goes in her co-sleeper. She will wake to eat from 2-3.5 hours usually, this is to make up for her light meals all day long.

Diapers: Still in size ones. Our favorites are still the Pampers Swaddlers. We tried the Target Up and Up brand and while they were decent they weren't our favorites. Huggies are ok, but I heard they are far better for boys and Pampers are better for girls and that's what we have discovered. Still loving on the Pampers brand wipes. They don't pill or fall apart and have just the right amount of moistness in them. We also still love our Desitin for diaper rash.

Milestones to date:

Bringing her home: July 2nd (1 day old)

First Bath: July 4th (3 days old)

First Holiday: Independence Day (3 days old)

Held Up Head: July 11th (1 week old)

Lost Belly Button: (8 days old)

First Walk (2 weeks old)

First Smile: (3 weeks old)

First Trip: Lake Tahoe/Carson City (5 weeks old)

Found her hands: (6 weeks old)
First Swim: (6 Weeks old)
Laughed Out Loud (12 Weeks Old)
Rolled Over: (3 Months Old)

Here's a photo dump from month four:

First time in the bumbo

First baby shower and she met a new friend

Seriously love this smile!

How can you not?

Little Birdie in her costume

Photoshoot time

Big smiles on the playmat

First time at the park

Emma and her bestie Lucy

Seriously.....to me there's nothing cuter!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Love my little Family

Nothing better than coming home from work and cuddling with my love

Sneak peak of Emma's nursery furniture

Big smiles in the new apartment.

First nap in her new crib

Work that tummy time!

First Halloween

Trick or Treating at Uncle Jaye's

Trick or Treat!