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.

Strong head

In addition to being very aware, Emma likes to lift her head up and look around, especially at her daddy.


I really wish y'all could appreciate how crazy Emma's hair is. This picture shows it a little. It is quite unruly - it just sticks out.

White Coat Ceremony

We are so thankful to have been able to attend Alison's White Coat Ceremony.

We are glad to be close to her during these next few years to encourage her and pray for her as she goes through medical school.

Gram meets Emma

Emma's great grandmother Leona is in town visiting.

Emma is in Gram's arms for the first time.


Gram ALWAYS read us stories growing up.
I'm so thankful she can still do the same with Emma.

A ring for Emma

I am a Kroger shopper, but after my experience at Publix yesterday, I may just convert.

As I was checking out at the grocery store yesterday (at Publix), the cashier asked me how old my daughter was. I told her she was one month old on the day.

So on my way out, the bag boy asked me to wait a few seconds. He took out a coin and put it in one of the toy machines. "Not every day does a little girl turn one month old" he said, and handed me the little container with a prize inside.

I was so moved by what he did. So sweet!

Of course B later pointed out how he was not entirely thrilled about boys already giving Emma rings *LOL*

One month celebration

In case you haven't caught on yet, B and I barely need an excuse to celebrate (I guess that makes us good Mexicans :p). Emma turned one month old yesterday and we decided to celebrate in style.

Uncle Caleb and Aunt Amber had us over for a meal last night, so I purchased a slice of cake so that we could sing to our little Emma girl. Memma came over and joined the celebration.

I felt so silly doing this (as you can probably tell by the picture), but it was so much fun. I am so thankful I get to celebrate such small and simple things with our sweet daughter.

Please notice how both B and I wore pink on her one month birthday as well.

One month picture

September 21, 2011 - Emma is 1 month old

Compare to her newborn picture.

Aware

Emma is almost one month old, and something we have started noticing from her is that she is much more aware of her surroundings than she was just a few days ago.

She will slightly follow objects that move, or just stare at them. Like she does with Little Miss Mono.

My favorite by far are those that have to do with me:

- If she is hungry and begins to cry, as soon as I put her on my lap and get ready to feed her, she calms down. She recognizes that this means it's meal time.
- If daddy is holding her, she perks up when she sees me walk by.
- If she is hungry and B puts her against his chest for her to calm down while I get ready for her, when she looks up and realizes that it's not me that's holding her, she begins to cry *sweet*

Naps

Emma is now beginning to "voice" her opinion. Where before she could sleep through a hurricane, she is now more and more picky as to how and when she is going to sleep during the day.

Her little bassinet is still in our room, but when placed in it, if she is not completely asleep, she will fuss and fuss until we pick her up. We eventually decided to try this little bouncy seat, and sure enough, she almost immediately falls asleep in it as soon as we placed her in it. It may just be the position she is laying in it that she likes.

Little Miss Fussy

I'd read that babies get fussier and fussier as the weeks go by, up until week six. She is still not obnoxiously fussy, but she has recently taken for making grunts and noises when placed in her bassinet to sleep.

Needless to say, it makes it hard to sleep right next to her. I am hoping that the crib will be finished this week so we can move her to her room sooner than later. She is just too noisy!

Last night was a rough night with her. She was fussy and making noises all night long. She woke up to eat one more time than usual, and at one point would not settle down for over two hours (11:30 pm - 2 am). I began to get frustrated and tears almost began to stream down my cheeks. She eventually settled down and I am finally able to get some rest.

Then this morning, the morning of my birthday, I wake up to this:


It's amazing how quickly you can forget long and restless nights like the one I had last night just by waking up next to your little one :)

Byron then left her in bed next to me to snuggle while he ran to Chick-fil-a for some breakfast.

Out for a walk

This past Saturday was the first time I took Emma out for a walk with me. It was brief, but very much enjoyable. We stopped at two yard sales that were near our house and then came back.

One may think: "How on Earth could Emma be comfortable?!" But she was as sung as could be in there. She slept the entire time :)

Two week checkup

At the dinner table.
Emma gets fussy in the afternoon and evening.
I think it's because she knows her daddy is home and wants to be held by him, even if it's dinner time.

Emma had her two week checkup yesterday. I was really nervous leading up to it because by this doctor's visit they want to see that the baby is back to her birth weight. I had such trouble feeding her at first, and she lost so much weight her first few days of life, that I was really anxious about this. So here are the numbers:

At birth - August 21, 2011
Weight: 7 lbs 6 oz
Height: 20 in

Two days later - August 23, 2011
Weight: 6 lbs 9 oz, 13 oz less

Two week checkup - September 8, 2011
Weight: 8 lbs 2 oz, 25 oz more! (30%)
Height: 21 1/2 in (75%)
Head size: 14 in (30%)

Doctor said she is long a lean :) Just like her mommy and daddy where at that age.

Friends from afar

John, Lori and Daniel come to visit

My good college friends John and Lori, who I had not seen in almost 3 years, were "near" us for the past month - two states away in NC for some missionary training. They are Wycliff Bible translators and are just a few months from moving to the Solomon Islands where they will be doing their work. I honestly thought it would be years before I would see them again.

In the midst of giving birth to Emma and them having to borrow a car to come see us, our visit together finally worked out. Something funny that took place was that at their training at NC they met Doug and Amy and randomly made the connection that they all knew us. It went something like this:

Lori: Amy, we are going to be driving to Augusta this weekend to visit with some friends (she knew that that's where they were from).
Amy: Do you know in what part of town they live?
Lori: (she somehow remembered our address and told her where it was that we lived)
Amy: They don't happen to be B & L?
Lori: Yes! ... weird :)

After church lunch.
We were quite the site - six adults and four children.
It was pretty chaotic... AND fun!

Daddy's girl

Top 10 reasons why Byron is any girl's dream of a dad:

10 - He changes her diapers
9 - He burps her when mommy is done feeding her
8 - He gives her baths
7 - He sings to her when putting her to bed
6 - He holds her in the middle of the night when fussy so that mommy can get some sleep before her next feeding
5 - He puts her on his chest for some down time
4 - He makes sure mommy is well taken care of
3 - He reads every single baby book and pamphlet given to us
2 - He prays with her
1 - He spends hours fixing up her crib

Going to bed

One of my favorite parts of my day is putting Emma to sleep. After she finishes her late supper (at about 10 pm), Byron changes her diaper and wraps her up. I choose a book, and all three of us sit down to read a book. After the book, we pray together. Byron then takes her to her little bassinet and sings her to sleep. Sweet moments, sweet memories!

Tummy time

For the past week, Emma and I, along with her three little friends - Little Miss Mono, Tweety Bird and Little Mestiza - have been having "tummy time" in order to strengthen her neck. This is a lot of fun, especially as I see her becoming stronger and stronger.

"Mommy, do I really need to do this?"

Emma and all three of her little friends are facing down, having tummy time

YAY! She moved her head to the other side!

Faces and gestures / Caras y gestos

Even though Emma is too young to respond to her environment with smiles and facial expressions, she does seem to do a pretty good job about making sweet and funny faces. Don't they just make you melt?

Little Miss Prissy Girl
She loves to do her lips like this

Borrachita :p

Wearing her great grandmother's ring
Big eyes

Emma and Johnny Bear

Every month, I am going to attempt to take a picture of Emma next to Johnny Bear to show how much she is growing. I got this idea from one of B's cousins and thought I'd want to do it as well.

Five days old.

Breastfeeding

At University Hospital
Lactation Consultant Katie

I always thought that breastfeeding would come easy to me. I mean, I had an easy pregnancy, easy delivery, fast recovery, and my mom never had trouble breastfeeding, why would I?

Well, Emma and her little tongue came along and breastfeeding became far from easy. Nurses at the hospital kept mentioning how much she liked her tongue, which made it hard for her to latch on to me. The hospital eventually convinced me to use a shield, which I was not happy about. But Emma had already lost 13 oz and unless she learned to nurse somehow, they were going to have to give her formula.

So I came home and continued to use the shield. This made for a very frustrating time. She still had trouble latching on to me even with the shield on. And because of this, I also don't think she ever got enough to eat, which meant she was up aaaalllll the time, especially at night, wanting to eat.

Before my mom arrived to be with me, I was on the phone with her in tears one day telling her of this. She quickly called Aunt Roberta, and Aunt Roberta immediately called me and began walking me through the process for the next number of days. She would call from Mexico about every day, and we would email each other back and forth on a regular basis. At the same time, I would be calling University Hospital what seemed to be every day, asking to speak to a consultant. I also went in twice to speak to them in person and get some hands-on help. I was determined to make breastfeeding work for me no matter how obnoxious I became.

Little Emma Girl is 12 days old today, and I am glad to say that this is her third day nursing without a shield! She is learning to latch on, but it's still a bit of a struggle at times. I will not sing victory quite yet.

Emma Elizabeth