Birth Announcement

After many hours of fiddling around, changing fonts, moving pictures, editing pictures, changing fonts again and finally deciding to STOP- I present to you Emmy's birth announcement. You've probably already seen it on facebook, but here it is just in case you haven't:

front:



back:


Many thanks to my friend SHEA for taking the beautiful family pic! Please go check out her facebook page for Shea Casey Photography. I would highly recommend.

Dealing With Change

So if anyone WAS concerned, I'm not REALLY going to start cereal yet! I'll just blame 1) a growth spurt, or 2) the bottle that she had. Probably TMI, but I think the sleep may have a little to do with her bottles of expressed milk. I usually pump right after she gets done eating and is in bed. So, from here on out- I'm going to make sure her night time bottle is the milk I had pumped from the previous night (lots of good fatty milk)...

Ok, onto the real meaning of thist post:

I found it very interesting while pregnant all the well-intended comments from people about pregnancy and parenthood. Those comments came across as either POSITIVE or NEGATIVE, nothing really in the middle. You know, some would say "this will forever change your life in the best possible way" and some would chime in with "oh man, you're never gonna sleep again, have time to yourself like you did before...wait for the teen years...yada yada"

Here's the deal: I think when big changes occur you can't dwell on how life was PREVIOUSLY. Your life is how it is at the moment, not how it WAS and not how it WILL BE. Why waste time thinking about how seemingly great life used to be, by doing that- wouldn't one just miss out on all the great things of the moment?

Life is full of changes, I think of where I was just 3 years ago. Fall 2006 Chris and I were engaged getting ready to be married. We lived in a craptacular duplex in Claremore (yes, together, for like 2 months before we got married...I know, shame shame). Chris was working for a small civil engineering firm in Talala and I was at my current work place. The next year we moved into a nicer duplex, still at our same jobs. Fall 2007 I start grad school for petroleum engineering, wow- does that change things up. Spring 2008 we decided to buy a house, I'm still at my job- but Chris has resigned from his and is looking. He finds a job just before our house, phew. We move to Tulsa, Chris lands a job at APAC and we start working on the house. Fall 2008 we get 2 pups.....then..... I come home from class one night very disillusioned about life. I figure out that what I'm currently doing isn't doing it for me anymore. The answer? Start a family! Summer 2009 Emmy is born.

If you ask me, it's a tremendous amount of change in 3 years. But I don't think much about how great things "used to be". What's the point? Things are too great right now to think about the things I miss from the past. Because, really, I'm not sure I miss the past. I love right now. How could I not?

Can I just complain? and...can't wait for rice cereal

I try not to very often, but can I just feel sorry for myself for a few minutes?

Miss Emmy started distinguishing days from nights pretty early on. Before I knew it, she was going 5 hours between feedings. Then magically, on a night not too long ago, she decided to sleep for a full 9 hours! She did this 2 nights in a row. The next night wasn't so great, but then the next night was a good sleep night again. Then.....the past two nights......it's been quite a few weeks since I've had to wake up at 2am to feed.

I woke up to the sound of Emmy sucking on her hand, I tried putting in the pacifier (or in our house, known as the PFIER)- but that didn't seem to satisfy. So I tried just holding her and rocking for a few minutes to see if she'd go back to sleep- she didn't.

I was talking to my mom last weekend about when she started all of us on rice cereal. I believe she said at 6 weeks we started with cereal in the bottle and at 3 months with a bowl and spoon.

For the mama's out there, when did you start? Did you do the whole cereal in a bottle thing, or just with the spoon?

I'm just starting to think that she's a hungry girl. Whatever it is, she has chosen a very *funny* time to start waking in the middle of the night....right when I'm gearing up to go back to work.

funny onesies

"Miso Cute"
Yes- I think she is.

"I need a vacation"

Sure kid, you need a vacation like a fat kid needs cake.


"Princess of Wails"

But not at the moment.

"Little Miss Perfect"

Most of the time



"Diaper Diva"

No arguments from momma.



"I heart nap time"

But not during the evenings

Last full week home and a video of Emmy

It's bittersweet. I have so much fun hanging out with my daughter everyday, but I'm also ready for a little bit of "schedule" in my life. Emmy's school is about 8 blocks from my work, so I think for the first few months I'll drop by at lunch time to feed her if she's hungry. Or just hang out if she's not. Please pray for me next Thursday, my first day back- that we both will transition well. I think I'll be able to take her in Tuesday and Wednesday AM to get used to our morning routine. Little Bit slept in until 7 again this morning, wahoo! I love it. BUT, I feel bad for her b/c once I do go back to work she's not going to have the luxury of sleeping in that late- unless she can figure out how to eat faster. Like...down a 4-5 ounce bottle in 5 minutes fast

We had a good and busy weekend. My mom, "Mimi", came down Thursday to keep us company, Saturday we went to Rory's birthday party, and Sunday we went to a shower for Aunt Eden (who is expecting a girl in October), stopped by claremore to visit gma and gpa S and g-gma Pat for her birthday.

playing with mimi:

chatting with Tammy at the shower:























Great Grandma Pat:


















Whew, this past weekend was so busy.
Emmy's thoughts on it all: "forget tummy time, I'm ready for a nap"

Trying out mobile Blogger

If this works, then I'm officially a fancy person.

First, and I guess only, order of business- why are there so many struggles out there? I know the ultimate answer is that "life isn't perfect". But there are A few things I really don't understand. Here's one, maybe I'll write about more later as they weigh on my heart.

INFERTILITY: why? When there are high school girls who get pregnant without even trying. When someone finds out they are pregnant and choose abortion. When it only takes one try for some couples. Why? I

ve not personally struggled with it, but from the outside looking in- it seems like infertility can just beat down a spirit.

When that 1st, 2nd, 3rd.... Round of treatments doesn't work. Why? When it makes one or both partners feel inadequate, why? I'm so grateful that conceiving was not an issue for us, but my heart just breaks for those who don't have an easy road.

When I first found out I was pregnant I felt a small amount of guilt/sadness for those who have been trying much longer than we had. Don't take it the wrong way, I was elated for our news. And it made me extremely thankful for our blessing. It also made me stop and think about my birth mother. I wish she could have experienced the feeling of elation. Now of course I don't know everything about the situation, but I can deduce the fact that finding out she was pregnant was not the best news she had ever received. I am extremely grateful though and proud of her for making the decision that she made. She gave me the greatest gift by allowing me to have the life that I have. She really gave me life twice. She is ~51 now and I hope that she is married, was able to have more children, and has a sense of my well being.

Brave Girl

Emmy and I had a very busy day, we each had a dr's appt. I had my 6 week post-partum checkup. I can't believe it's already been 6 weeks, so crazy. As a thank you to my dr, Emmy and I gave her some stationary that I designed. We're all just so thankful for her safe 39 week ride inside me and safe delivery. It was a little scary there for a few weeks, and I'm so glad we didn't have a pre-term baby. As thankful as we are do the medical staff, believe me- we know that God was the one who was in ultimate control of the situation. We're glad he did His work through the hands of those taking care of us.

Appointment number 2 of the day was for Emmy girl. They noticed when she was born that she had a short little frenulum, "tongue tied". The pediatricians who saw her in the hospital didn't think it needed to be clipped. So we didn't do anything about it. But then around week 2, breastfeeding was not going as well and the latches weren't that great. So I made an appt with another pediatrician at the office (at 4 weeks) and she referred us to an ENT to take a look at it. She thought it'd be better to take care of it now, especially if I thought it was affecting her eating. Obviously, chubby cheeks as proof, Emmy is eating fine. But it hasn't been the MOST comfortable thing in the world.

So here are the pictures of our brave girl. The first is before the procedure, Dr H is trying to get a good look inside. The second is a picture I took right when we got home.

Sorry for the lack of GOOD pictures. My DSLR is sick right now and not writing images to the memory card. I have taken quite a few with my point and shoot, but it's just not the same. SIGH and a TEAR.

Toots and Poops

Sorry for the title, but as I am sitting here watching Scrubs my daughter is lying on the couch with her daddy ripping toots and making poops.

Pretty certain I started this post about 3 hours ago, they have now moved onto other activities. Chris just read "goodnight moon" to her and now onto a book called "my little miracle". And 5 minutes later, she's moved onto taking her evening bottle.

So I have this list at work that has "easy meals" on it- obviously it is of no good since I'm on leave. But I have a few "go-to" meals, here they are in no particular order.

• tex mex ravioli, www.southernliving.com
• mac 'n cheese + canned tomatoes + chopped up deli ham (sometimes I add green veggies), it really is better than it sounds
• chicken marinated in italian dressed, served with whatever is in the fridge or cupboard!
• breakfast (turkey sausage gravy, biscuits, and eggs)

What about you, any fast "go to" meals worth sharing?

One Month

So this post is a little late, but little girl is already one month old. I was trying to think of something to do each month to track her growth and I'm going to do footprints (since that is something we have from birth also).

Here's what Miss Emmy has been up to the past month:

• sleep, eat and poop


• She gained ~3lbs from birth!


• She JUST started noticing fans, which is great since we have a ceiling fan in almost every room.


• She is tracking objects and likes the toys on her play mat and bouncy/rocking chair


• Tolerates tummy time and will turn her head from side to side.


• Likes to be swaddled, but can usually find a way to get her hands and sometimes her whole arms out.


• Can be quite gassy sometimes, but it doesn't seem to bother her. Chris and I find it fairly humerous.


• Has started, in the last week, cooing. Also, I think she has given us a few intentional smiles.


• Now into size 1 diapers.


• Has grown out of most of her newborn clothes, but still can't fill out her newborn shoes.


• Has just started having an fussy time anywhere between 7-10pm.


• Will go 4-5 hours between feedings at night, she has done this almost since the day she came home from the hospital.


• Has taken a liking to spitting up.


• Still looks like her daddy.


• Took her first road trip up to my parents in KS, she did great! Slept all the way there and all the way back.


• Has completely stolen our hearts.

I Love....

• 3 day weekends


• baked lays


• my ped egg


• fun colors of nailpolish for my toes


• how my nails grew when i was pregnant


• going on walks in the evening


• currently, the weather


• vacationing in Colorado with my family


• KU...anything


• taking pictures


• making greeting cards


• cleaning the kitchen..NOT, but it is a necessity


• my family


• Taco Bueno


• Sonic @ happy hour


• Jesus


• listen to calming music (Jack Johnson, Coldplay in particular)


• when Chris gets home from work before 530


• company! I get lonely and stir crazy at home


• HDTV, what a great invention....

but mostly, I love....