Emmy See, Emmy Do

Last night:

Set Scene: Emmy on toilet, Chris sitting on side of tub waiting for her to finish, me in front of the mirror, Nora in bed

Me: (examining hair in mirror, open drawer, find tweezers, pull out a red hair). "Oh no, this hair was losing color, it was going gray".
Emmy: "Mommy let me see".
Me: (hand hair over to emmy to show her how the hair is black on one end and red/going gray on the other)

Next Scene: Emmy and I in bathroom this morning.

Emmy: "Mommy, can I have those squeezy things?"
Me: (open drawer, give tweezers to Emmy)
Emmy: (puts tweezers atop head) "Can you help me? It's right here" (points me in direction to strand of hair)
Me: (pull hair, give to Emmy)
Emmy: "Oh NO!  I think I'm going black.  I mean, I think I'm going gray"

Oh dear.

4 months {nora}

So as of the last monthly update, I had 7-8# to lose.  Happy to say that I have about 3 more to go to reach my pre-pregnancy weight.  Wahooo!  The "hungries" have definitely hit, so I eat whenever I feel like I need to.  I try my hardest to make good food choices when I snack, but sometimes I cheat. 

Now, time for the monthly update:

Eat: Earlier in the month the first feeding was at 7am, lately it's been 530am.  So today's schedule looked something like this 530am, 845am, 1145am, 245pm, 530pm, 8pm.  During the day Nora takes 4.5-5.0oz bottles and her 8pm feeding is also a bottle, usually between 5 and 7 ounces.
Sleep: Usually asleep by 830 and as previous item said, now waking a little early to eat.  Not sleeping quietly through night as she is still waking somewhere between 2-4. I usually try the paci a few times and then eventually put her in our bed.

Naps: The late morning/noon nap is usually the best nap at 2+ hours.  The morning nap and afternoon nap are more along the lines of 1 hour.  We try to get her to nap in the evening but that doesn't always work.  I can foresee her dropping that evening nap and hopefully going to bed earlier.

Shoes: The Pumas still fit and I just put a pair of size 1 shoes on her this evening.  They pretty much fit, of course- a tad bit on the large size.
Clothes: mostly 6 months.
Diapers: Size 2, but we are finishing up the last package of size 2s and moving up to 3s.  We tried Huggies and she had 3 blowouts and peed out of the diaper 2 times.  We are back to Pampers, they just seem to fit her better.
Trips: Up to Kansas to visit my parents and out to Claremore for the 4th.  Nothing big, but we are about to embark on a major road trip this Friday to Colorado.
Likes: Staring/smiling/laughing at her big sister, a semi-swaddle (right now we are actually using our sleep gowns again, but just not putting her arms in the sleeves), the TV, when I sing Matt Redman's "10,000 Reasons" song, touching things with her feet, batting at play gym objects, having her lovey close to her face when she sleeps, baths.
Dislikes: having to wait on a bottle, sleeping through the 2am-4am restless period. 
Milestones: Nora rolled over from stomach to back on Friday, July 13th.  She did it a few times in a row but has not done it since.  She does rock while on tummy time and tries to move her legs.  I hope she's not an early crawler.  Emmy didn't crawl until 10 months and it was AWESOME to have an immobile child for that long! She is also coo-ing SOOO much.  Nora has big stories to tell and is up against quite the competition in Emmy and myself. She can bring her hands together while grasping an object, or also at her chest.  She is finally starting to stand up straight when bearing weight on her legs.
Other: It's so fun watching Nora's face lights up when she sees myself, Chris or Emmy!  She usually has a grumpy little scowl, so it's nice to see the corner of her lips turn upward.  Also, unlike her sister, Nora looooves to fall asleep in someone's arms.  She's so sweet and snuggly and it's SO hard to put her down in that "drowsy" state.  I just want to enjoy this time with my littlest princess.

We have had a busy 4th month with no signs of slowing down.

The girls at 4 months.  You can tell who is who, right?

And coming up in a future post, I need to tell you about the following fun things coming out of the mouth of Emmy: asking us how was your day, telling stories, imagination going wild, making up her own songs, jumping into pool & swim lessons, wrestling, chapstick, saying "yesterday and all the time", we've "GOT" to do/get this, stories about things flying up and flopping down, chapstick....and probably more

She loves me, she loves me not

She loves me

She loves me not

So i posted this on Facebook, but wanted to write the story down here on the blog.  Tuesday morning I received a text from our amazing nanny, Alex, that she would be out for the day with a tension headache.  I was in our bedroom with Nora when Emmy woke up, so Chris went in to get her.  When she came into our room, she was ALLL smiles (refer to picture #1).  Then I told her that Alex didn't feel well and that she'd be spending the day with mommy...things went south quickly (refer to picture #2).

Our conversation went something like this:

E: Emmy, C: Chris, J: Me

J: Emmy, Alex is sick today, so you get to spend the day with Mommy!

E:  NO, I want Alex to come over.  YOU GO TO WORK

C:  Have you told her the fun things you are going to do today?

J: No I haven't.  Hey Emmy, guess what?

E: What? (pushing through the tears just to get one word out of her mouth)

J:  We are going to go to the aquarium!!!

E: NO, ALEX TAKES ME TO THE AQUARIUM

And that was the end of the conversation.

We did end up having a very nice today, and I think she liked me by days end.

I only kid about her not liking me.  I know she loves both Chris and I dearly.  She LOVES going away with friends and family members, but is ALWAYS so happy to see us when we reunite.  It's absolutely perfect.

3 months {nora}

So as of the last monthly update, I had 13# to lose.  Happy to say that I have about 7-8 more to go to reach my pre-pregnancy weight.  The weight is coming off a little slower this time around, but I am definitely getting there.  I am starting to fit into a few non maternity items, so that's exciting.

Onto the real point of this post, the monthly update:

Eat: about 7 times a day (7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm, 7pm, 810pm).  Sometimes the 6pm feeding stretches to 630 and we drop the 7pm feeding.
Sleep: usually up by 645-7am and down by 830pm.  Nighttime and naps are spent in the cradle in our room still. The good restful sleep usually ends by 430-5am at which point I will go reinsert Nora's pacifier.  If she gets restless again then I usually put her in bed with us (to each their own, no judgment please).

Naps: random and each day is different.  Today she took a 3 hour nap.  Yesterday, she was good to get in a 45 minute nap.Shoes: Too hot to think about shoes.  I need to find some baby flip flops.
Clothes: anything from 3 to 6 months
Diapers: Size 2, but I have a feeling we won't be in this size long.
Trips: None!  But we did have some Indiana family visit over memorial day weekend.
Likes: looking at Emmy (pretty much always makes her smile), kicking her feet at objects or just at the air,  baths (this is her most active time of day), looking right and cocking her head left (we are working on this, we don't want the princess to have to wear a cranial helmet someday).
Dislikes: having a consistent sleep pattern from day to day (one day lots of napping, next day very little naps, and repeat), when Chris puts lotion on her after bath time, having to wait a long time for her nighttime bottle, gas drops (she acts like I'm giving her poison. Have you ever tasted those things?  They are so sweet like candy)
Milestones: Laughing out loud (she has a deep little laugh, completely takes after me on that one.  Sorry honey), grasp her rattle and I *think* she intentionally shakes it, pushing against elbows a bit when on tummy time on the boppy, sitting in the bumbo, she definitely turns her head to find our voice and smiles once she finds us.
Other: I think Nora was having issues with my dairy consumption, so I have eliminated that from my diet.  I don't think it was lactose intolerance, but a protein allergy.  Her congestion and gas seems to be better, but not all the way gone.  It's manageable, so I am going to leave my dietary exclusions as is: chocolate and dairy. I think we will move Nora into the guest room this weekend.  The girls will eventually share a room, but it takes Emmy SOOO long to fall asleep and she is SOOO loud while she is falling asleep.  Hopefully here in a few months Emmy will get it figured out.

We still think Nora is just the prettiest and sweetest little thing.  She is so easy in a lot of ways, but also a little more difficult than Emmy was in other ways.  I love watching the relationship build between the two sisters, there is already so much love there with so much more to come.

my girls, at 3 months.  I'm thinking they don't look much alike here.

May-June happenings.  See the photo with the feet?  Both girls LOVE to touch things with their feet.
They are just two peas in a pod.

And some Emmy things to close out the post:

• About 80% of the time, Emmy is calling her daddy by name instead of "daddy", "dada", etc.  It is hilarious!!!
• She also thinks her cousin Elyse's name is pronounced "Oh-leese".
• The girl LOVES to sing.  This month she has really enjoyed singing "I'm in the Lord's Army", "Zaccheus" and "This Little Light of Mine".
• Our nanny, Alex taught Emmy some color songs.  They are sung to tunes such as "Row Row Row your Boat", "10 little indians", "She'll be comin round the mountain", etc.  Well, tonight when Chris got home from work, Emmy wanted to sing some of these songs with him.  He started in on one song, got about 2 words into it, stopped singing and looked at me.  It was because he wasn't sure how to fit the words of the song to the associated tune.  He didn't even say "mama, please help"...it was just a look.  Well, Little Miss Observant is watching all of this and chimes in with "Daddy, why you need mama's help?"  She knew EXACTLY what was going on!  It was so stinking funny.

Two Months {nora}

So as of the last monthly update, I had 20# to lose.  Sad/happy(?) to say that I have 13 more to go.  Sad b/c that 13# seems like such a big number.  Happy because I lost 7# of FAT in one month.

Onto the real point of this post, the monthly update:

Eat: about 7-9 times a day
Sleep: usually up by 6am and down by 9pm.  Nighttime is spent in the rock and play sleeper and naps are spent in the cradle or on the bed. She still likes her arms to be swaddled.
Shoes: she sported her little Puma shoes a few days ago (size 0).  They didn't stay on well, but oh so cute.
Clothes: 0-3 and 3 month clothes. She is wearing the 6-9 month Gerber onesies which brings me to the question of, does anyone's baby really fit into the gerber onesie sizes at the same age?  They seem to be so teeny tiny.
Diapers: We are on the last package of size 1 and will be moving up a size after it's gone.
Trips: to Fayetteville on Mother's Day weekend for Greg's graduation
Likes: being held, eating, baths (most of the time), flashing "I'm a big stinker but I look so sweet" smiles
Dislikes: turning her head to the left for sleep, feet being covered up during naps/night, staying asleep in the carseat once the car stops
Milestones: This month Nora tried out the bumbo (8w), really started making eye contact (6.5w), coos while I sing to her (7.5w)
Other: We think that Nora will be a little less dramatic than big sis...we shall see!  Also, this month Nora went to her first birthday party and first wedding (all in the same day).  She did a great job and got plenty of "oooohs" and "aaaaahs" from everyone.

Some Emmy things that I don't want to forget:

• Apparently Emmy loves to dance at wedding receptions.
• She demands all the time "say it!".  She will tell us this if we ask her a question and she doesn't want to answer it.  Or sometimes it's just to repeat what she has just said.  I am unsure if this is a bossy pants issue, or if it's actually a language development thing...anyone know?
• She LOVES Dora....ugh
• Emmy loves the idea of an ice cone (aka sno cone) but doesn't actually like to eat one.
• She knows NO stranger, she is such a happy social being.  But we really need to start teaching her about stranger danger.

And a picture to end with....my girls each at 2 months.

One Month {nora}

Seriously, a month has already passed by?  My post partum checkup is in 2 weeks and I still have 20# to lose?I have to go to work in a few more weeks?  NO!!!!

Here is what the tiniest princess has been up to:

• eat, sleep, poop, repeat
• First road trip to Mimi and Papa's for Easter (2 1/2 weeks)
• Ditched the newborn diapers and moved to size 1 at 3 weeks
• Starting around 2 weeks we started having longer stretches of sleep at night, yay!  Nora's last feeding in the evenings is usually between 8 and 9pm and she wakes around 2-3am to eat.  In exchange for this nice stretch of sleep in the evenings, she eats every 2-2.5 hours during the day.
• We have nicknamed the newest member of our family, Noisy Nora.  Seriously, she makes so many noises.  Squeaks, grunts, sighs, laughs, and more grunts.  I hope I can catch this all on video.
• Nora definitely likes to be held upright on your shoulder, it's amazing that she already has a strong preference.
• She hasn't lost too much hair yet, knock on wood.
• At exactly one month old, we weighed her on a baby scale and she was 10#!  It was not a digital scale, so I suppose we could be off an ounce or two.
• She isn't too interested in tracking objects or her play gym yet, but she has some pretty good head control.
• I mentioned that she likes to be held on shoulders...well, Nora likes to be held period.  It's not to the point where we are holding her all the time.  But in her dream world, she'd be in someone's arms or the baby Bjorn ALL day!
• Just this past week she has started coo'ing a bit.  Maybe she and Emmy will develop a little "sister talk" b/c Emmy goes up to her and starts talking a weird baby language.  Nora actually seems to enjoy it.

We have had so much fun with 2 little princesses in our midst.  This first month has flown by and I know it will continue to feel this way.  Just wish I could either slow down time or bottle this up to enjoy it more later.

Now onto some Emmy funnies:

• We must hear at least 100x a day "we do we do _______" (i.e.: eat, brush our teeth, watch TV, put on clothes, take out the trash....get the picture?)
• She can walk on her tiptoes...well, curled toes.  Think toe ballet.
• Our little bull in a china cabinet thinks that she has to be RIGHT in Nora's face...all the time.  Sorry little sis.
• She is starting to make use of adjectives and especially interested in opposites.  But her favorite word is "big".  And anytime she says the word, she raises her voice and opens her eyes.  It's cute!
• OH.......tonight, we were at the Copan restaurant and she got SO excited about the bottle of ketchup.  She yelled "ketchup" really loud and it silenced the whole restaurant...it was embarrassing and hilarious all at the same time.
• We bought her a clock that changes colors when it's an appropriate time to wake up.  So every morning at 635 (or later if she actually sleeps in), I love hearing her over the monitor "mommy daddy, my cuckoo clock is green".  I may have mentioned this one before, but I don't want to forget it!
• The girl LOVES blowing bubbles, watering plants, and telling me that I need to pump. =)