Halloween Costume Carnival

Our church had a Halloween carnival today and Emma got to enjoy her first pumpkin day as a pumpkin herself. She slept through the entire event, but Byron and I enjoyed being parents and enjoying this event as a little family.

With her cousins Levi and McNeill

A month into cloth diapering

A month into cloth diapering and loving it!

I love the fact that:
- I'm $aving tons of money.
- I'm helping the environment.
- No last minute runs to CVS for diapers because I've run out of them.
- They take the same amount of time to change into than a disposable one does.
- For some reason disposable diapers DO NOT contain my child's blow outs; cloth diapers do.
- For the first 6 weeks that Emma used disposable diapers, her room always smelled. Now that she uses cloth, it no longer does. Go figure!
- Because Emma is exclusively breastfed, her dirty diapers don't need to be rinsed before being put into the washing machine, which makes them super convenient for now. Things will slightly change once she begins with solids.

Instead of filling the large can with garbage every week, it's the small one that goes into the trash and the large one goes into the washing machine.

Person: "Gross! If you use cloth diapers, you need to wash them too"
Me: "No, my washing machine does"

October 21, 2011

Two months old.

Newborn picture

One month old picture

This post is one week late. Last Friday was Emma's two month birthday. She is growing so fast! Even though she has been officially diagnosed as mild colic, she is a sweet, darling little girl. She sleeps like a big girl - down at 8 pm-ish and up at 8 am-ish with only two 5-10 min feedings during the night. Her longest stretch is usually 6 - 8 hours long!

Here are her doctor's checkup numbers:

weight: 12 lbs (80%)
length: 22 1/4 in (50%)
head: 15 1/8 in (50%)

Two month pictures

My friend Mary is learning to take pictures and asked if Emma could be a model for her. I had no problem agreeing.

Emma girl with her hipil and her friend Little Mestiza.

This is how I know my princess is hungry. She starts to make bubbles with her mouth.

This is an outfit my grandmother used when she was a little girl.

Hands in mouth

Among the many things Emma likes to stare at these days, her hands are at the top of her list. She stares and looks at them and wonders: "hmmm... what can I do with you?" So she sucks on her knuckles. I think it's just a matter of time before she realizes she has a thumb and that she can stick in her mouth to suck. OH OH!

Daddy's birthday

Byron turned 33 this week, his first birthday as a daddy. His little girl made sure he had a good one.

He woke up to french toast for breakfast, coffee, fruit, and a few smiles.

Yes, that book is his birthday gift. An 836 page book in SPANISH about the history of Mexico. And yes, he requested it. And yes, he's a nerd <3

After work we went out for a family walk around the neighborhood.

Then open birthday cards.

Then read some stories while we waited for Memma to arrive in order for us to go out on a movie date.

Smiles

We have been trying to capture Emma's sweet smile for about two weeks now and we are yet to get one that truly shows how sweet it is. These are a few that will have to do in the meantime. Enjoy!

Family reunion

Nana, all three of her sons, and a few grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In case you did not know this already, Byron is big on genealogy. And when I say big, I mean really BIG! For almost four years now, Byron will spend countless hours at a time researching his ancestors through the Internet, the Public Library, and even at cemeteries.

As he was doing his research, he came across another lady who also likes to do this and who just happens to be his third cousin (or something like that). Through her he learned that they were having a family reunion at a near by town in the near future.

So here we went! Last Sunday we packed a few Morrises in three different vehicles and headed over to the middle of nowhere to meet some distant cousins whose great-great grandfather we have in common.

Byron looking through more genealogy documents.

Mr. Morris and one of his brothers looking through some documents.


This was Emma's first road trip. Needless to say, it messed up her day and was quite cranky. We had no trouble finding volunteers to hold her ;-)

Mr. Giraffe

Now that Emma is aware of her surroundings, she loves to look around and stare at objects. Among her favorite things to stare at are the lamp in the TV room, the bookshelf, and her friends Mr. Giraffe and Mr. Lion - both of which hang on her bouncy seat.

Off to work

Without fail, Byron always says goodbye to his little girl in the morning before going to work. Sometimes she is busy being fussy, sometimes she is busy being nursed, but sometimes she is busy just being cute.

Seven weeks old

My sweet, blue-eyed princess.

My sweet girl is seven weeks old and I delight in her! Everything about her makes me melt. Here are some of my most recent favorite things about her:

- She smiles! And coos <3 Sometimes she'll even giggle.
- People have begun going out of their way to tell me how cute she is. I agree!
- I have started keeping a sleeping log. I love this! It allows me to see when she sleeps and how long she sleeps each day. She currently sleeps about 13 hours in a 24-hour period.
- She only wakes up once during the night. She'll first sleep five hours, wake up to eat, then immediately fall back to sleep another 3.5 hours.
- She is not a champion at this yet, but she can usually fall asleep on her own if placed in her crib drowsy.
- And speaking of the crib, it's finished! Last night was her first night in her own room. She did great! Pictures soon to come.

Stay at home mom

The lovely view out my window that reminds me of being a mom.

Being a stay at home mom (SAHM) was never something I dreamed of becoming as a grown up. I was never the girl who when asked what she wanted to be when she grew up responded: "to be a mom."

I am a third generation teacher, love to teach and love what I teach. I have always been on the go, getting things done, getting things cleaned, going places, etc. So as you would expect, changing that way of life has been somewhat of a learning process.

But one of the things that has given me peace about being a SAHM is that I view this way of life as a job in itself. I wake up each morning, get dressed and ready for the day. I have even chosen to use cloth diapers, not only because I am saving money and helping the environment, but also because I feel that that is part of being a mom - work! When Emma cries and becomes fussy, I do my best not to get upset but remind myself that this is why I stay at home - to care for her. This is my job! If I wasn't doing it, somebody else would be doing it for me, and I would be paying them!

Six weeks and four days later...

Six weeks and four days later, and Emma's umbilical cord stump is FINALLY off!

"Good morning mama, I have a little surprise for you"

Socks

Yes, those are socks on her hands.

As the weather gets cooler, we realize we lack a few things to keep Emma warm, including covers for her hands, which she refuses to keep tucked in when we swaddle her. So we've had to improvise in the meantime, using little socks to cover her hands.

A few accomplishments during the past few days:

- Some sweet and toothless smiles are beginning to show.
- For almost a week now she has been using her cloth diapers.
- We went to the public library the other day and checked out a few books. We like to read these in the afternoons if she is not squirming too much. They are in English, but I comment in Spanish, in addition to translating a few words.