Toes

Guess who found her toes??

She loves her toes. And Ollie, her crinkle toy. And yelling/screaming over and over again because it is super interesting to hear. And rice cereal. And baths. And smiling at her dad. And snuggling with her mom.

And we just love all of her.

Day 2

Dear Life,

I survived Day 2 of the working world. I think I could even say that I enjoyed it... not just survived it!

Emberly had no melt downs. She slept until 10:15 this morning (I am not making that up) and then Jordan loaded her up and brought her to the school I was at for me to feed her on my lunch break. We have given up on attempting to bottle feed her. It is not worth the tantrum for 6 days of work. (2 down, 4 to go!)

Dare I also admit that I could totally see myself doing something very part time next year when Angel Baby is not attached to me in quite the same way? Very part time... it would have to be the perfect job... but I truly had fun today, and let's be honest - it's not because benchmarking is so fun!

Sweet girl got a little more rice cereal tonight and loved it. She just opens her mouth right up and gulps it down. So funny. Um... are we those creepy parents that take videos of stuff their children are doing that people really don't care about and is really not that great? Sure we are. But we're proud. I know that a bite of rice cereal is not that exciting to you all - but it was to us... so... who cares about you anyway? ;) (wink)

Yours Truly,
Molly

Rice Cereal, Planners, Diapers, and Goals

Emberly got her first taste of rice cereal yesterday and thought it was quite tasty. She was quick to catch on to what to do with her tongue and managed to swallow more than she pushed out. We are pumped because we are thinking that since she won't take a bottle, she could at least have a little rice cereal in the mornings next week when I am helping with benchmarking.

I ordered this fancy "lovelace" diaper last week and it came today! Is it not the most adorable diaper you've ever seen? It is a freetime diaper... which means you do not have to stuff the inserts, they are sewn on the sides with a 'stay-dry' cover. Um... that probably means nothing to you... but I am super excited, so I had to share.

See this beauty? This is my Christmas present from Jordan. It is probably my most favorite gift of all time. (Jordan said that my reaction when this came was better than my reaction to my engagement ring... but I think he's exaggerating... *slightly*.) It is an Erin Condren life planner and it has month tabs and stickers for events and a folder in the back and it has wonderful colors and cute fonts and a place to put my goals and lists and it is going to organize my life. Yes. I think I love it a little.

Speaking of goals... here are a few of mine for 2012:

1. Write to our sponsored kiddos from Compassion International once a month.

2. Write a fun letter/note/card to someone every week.

3. Lose the rest of my pregnancy weight by eating healthy and doing Jillian Michael's 30 day shred. (For more than 30 days. :) ... who am I kidding... for more than 2 days!)

4. Read one book for fun each month.

5. Read through the Bible. The whole thing.

Wanna know which one will be the hardest? Reading through the Bible. Ugh. I didn't even want to write that one down because I just feel like I am destined to fail. I think I have made this goal every year since middle school... and I'm embarassed to admit I've never done it.

So... here is my fresh start once again. I read a little comic that had two dogs on it and one was asking the other, "What are New Years Resolutions anyway?" and the other dog said, "It's a to-do list for January." I laughed... but I do not want this to be true of my life this year! So... I wrote them in my life planner and I am going to revisit them every month. I will try to keep you updated. That means I have to work on them, right?

So far I have written my fun card for the week, I am in the middle of my fun book for the month, I am on chapter 7 of Genesis and Matthew, and I am totally failing at eating healthy.

WELL... Emberly has not cried for about 10 minutes now, so I think she is finally asleep. The last two nights she's been up at 4:00am and hasn't really gone back to sleep until much later in the morning. She has a cold and is a mess and that means by default I am a mess too. SO I have learned my lesson from the last two nights and am going to bed early tonight too. Hopefully we will be up and moving in time for church tomorrow if angel baby is feeling better.

*Molly*

Diapers

So you're supposedly supposed to bleach your diapers once a month.

I have not done this yet.

Today was the day...

I just hung the covers and dried the inserts... and when I went to take the inserts out... they smelled!

I did a prewash. Heavy wash with extra rinse. Soak cycle. AND another rinse, soak, spin.

Seriously - what did I do wrong?

Pear Juice

Dear Life,

I. Am. So. Tired.

So. Tired.

I'll admit - I'm a total wimp. Today was my first day working for WFPS to help with benchmark testing and it wore.me.out. I am not used to getting up at 6:00am (and staying up for the day)... or being away from Emberly and worrying about her (although I am SUPER thankful she was with Jordan because that took so much of my worry away)... or coming home and only wanting to cuddle and talk to Emberly and give her all the loving of the day that I'd missed out on, but feeling so very torn because I needed to make dinner and do laundry and all that jazz *which I opted to save for once she was asleep, for the record.* I do not know how you 'work outside the home' mamas do it.

ANYWHO... Emberly did not take a bottle today. Nope. She continued her flat out refusal. I'm not really surprised... but boy did it bum me out. I was really hoping that if I wasn't around she would just gulp it down. No such luck. Jordan put up with several screaming sessions (he told me it wasn't that bad, but I'm not really sure I believe him. Bless his heart, I think he's trying to hold me together) and ended up driving her to the school so I could feed her on my lunch break. Next week is going to be a long week if we do that every day. Just saying.

She's wimpering in her sleep right now and I have this awful mom-guilt thing going on that makes me wonder if she's having nightmares about me not feeding her all morning. Yes, I just went there. Oh boy.

Pear Juice experiment...

Anyway... in happier news: Emberly pooped today! It had been 5 days. FIVE. That is a long time for a baby to not poop. Especially my very regular *at least once a day* pooper. If you told me 4 months ago I'd be rejoicing over pooping, I wouldn't have believed you. Yesterday I tried giving her pear juice to see if that would help her along... and she liked that just about as much as she likes a bottle of breastmilk (oh I wish you could have seen the faces she made at me!). But she did get a little in her tummy. Maybe that helped. Maybe it didn't.

I'm a little worried as I re-read this that I am not making any sense at all... but maybe that makes my tired-ness seem more real. Haha.

Well... my diapers are just about ready to hang to dry and then I am quickly tucking myself into bed. Those fluffy diapers were the only thing preventing me from crashing the minute Emberly went to sleep, which happened to be at 7:45 tonight. (That and my ego that whispers, "Molly, don't be so lame.")

Goodnight!

Yours Truly,
Molly

4 Months

Sweet Baby Girl turned 4 months old on New Years Eve. We thought of picture taking late in the day... so Emberly didn't have too many smiles left, but I thought this was a sweet sleepy expression anyway . I will work on a smiley picture tomorrow.

Her coordination has sharpened - especially in the past 2 weeks. If you hold a toy in front of her she uses both hands to reach for it and tries to hold it in her hands and ultimately get it in her mouth.

She loves to blow bubbles and make "raspberry" noises.

She wants to lick or chew or get her mouth on everything.

Lately she'll pant like a dog with her tongue hanging out... not so sure what that is about!

She makes lots of talking noises - but her coo has changed to sound more like sounds. It is stinkin' adorable.

She throws a tantrum when is offered a bottle. She loves her mama best for the feeding department (uh, er... exclusively).

She is generally super content and chill, sleeping 12-14 hours at night waking up only once or twice.

She has the BEST laugh ever. Seriously. I think I've stated that before, but I mean it.

She is wearing 9-12 month clothes and is on the middle rise of her bumgenius diapers.

I still swaddle her at night and I will be very sad when that comes to an end.

We couldn't get in to see our doctor at 4 months, so we will wait until she's 5 months to see him... but when I took her into lactation to have her weighed this week she was 16 pounds and 5 ounces. Good job Emberly!!!

Christmas Messes

Jordan and I were apparently a mess when we packed to go to Page for Christmas. We forgot LOTS of things... including the pack-and-play. Sooo... Emberly got to sleep in a suitcase.

This is what happens after you've slept in a suitcase all night and get passed from arm to arm with very little daytime snoozing.