Emma Claire Two Months

I'm a tad late posting this seeing as Emma Claire is two and a half months old now! The past two months have been amazing, better than I ever thought they would be.

Month two was challenging yet incredibly rewarding. This month we discovered that Emma Claire has a dairy protein sensitivity...aka no more ice cream for this Mama ;-) She is literally like a different baby. Before I cut out dairy she was fussy and cried a LOT but now she's smiley ALL the time and rarely cries. Her little poops have also changed from lime green back to yellow-ish. Gross I know...but you didn't have to change the diapers! ha!

Breastfeeding also became natural and easy this month, FINALLY! I literally almost gave up, in fact I had decided that I was going to stop and exclusively bottle-fed for one day. The following morning she was so upset and I realized that I WANTED to BF...which had not been the case for the past 6 weeks or so. Finally wanting to breastfeed and not feeling like I HAD to was refreshing. It was then that it just seemed to click and I was so much happier.

She had her two month well baby check and is doing wonderful! She took the shots like a pro. Her "shots cry" was no worse than when she gets really upset with me. Which means one of two things...sometimes she is so angry with me it's like she's getting poked with a needle, OR the shots weren't that bad ;-) haha I'd like to think it's the latter of the two.

She's growing SO quickly, I just can't believe it!

My little lady is TEN pounds already!!!

Our pediatrician couldn't believe how big she had gotten. The last time we went she was out of the office so she hadn't seen her in a while and she was shocked! I'm just having so much fun with her! I love that I am able to stay home with her. I can't wait to see what next month will bring!

Emma Claire Eight Weeks

Well if I had to pick a best week out of the eight weeks Emma Claire and I have spent together...I'd have to say this has been my favorite so far. She has started sleeping through the nights, a trend that I hope continues, and is just overall such a happy baby! I really do think this is because of my dairy elimination. I'm going to do a post on that and breastfeeding soon, once I'm sure it's working! ;-)

Christmas baby!

Loves: Nursing, bath time, playing with Daddy, her swing, riding in the car (although getting in the carrier is a totally different story!)

Eating: This is hard to gauge. She eats every few hours. I just feed her when she wakes and then we play and I feed her again right before her next nap. She likes multiple feedings :-)

Sleeping: WONDERFUL! She has been falling asleep around 10:30pm and waking up between 7am-9am. She also takes a morning nap, afternoon nap, and a short evening nap.

Clothes: Bye bye newborn clothes :-( Seriously I'm not ready for her to be wearing THREE month clothes! Where did my newborn baby go?! This weekend I'm going to clean out her clothes because we have so many newborn outfits that don't fit anymore.

Fun Facts: Emma Claire has started to smile ALL THE TIME! Now she was a smiley baby before but now I can smile and make noises at her and she will just smile right back at me for a long time! I'm wondering if this is because she feels better without dairy in Mommy's milk???

Mommy Moments: I went to my doctor this week (late I know!) and everything was great! Here's a fun little story for ya...I got to my Doctor's office at 1:30pm for a 1:50pm appointment. I was back in the room at about 1:45pm. Well  no one came to tell me that my doctor left to deliver a baby right after I got undressed and ready. I was sitting there only wearing a little cover, waiting...and waiting...and WAITING. Let's not forget I was trying to keep my eight week old happy in her carrier the whole time. She was fussy because she was hungry and I was hesitant to take her out of the carrier to give her the bottle because I just knew my doctor would come right in when I did! Finally after little miss decided to potty I stuck my head out the door to get a nurse and ask if I would be seen soon. The nurse panicked and said, "oh...did no one tell you? She left to deliver a baby." I said that no one had told me and that I was getting dressed to go change the baby. Needless to say everyone felt really bad that I had been in the room for an HOUR AND A HALF. Yes, it had been that long. And I know...I should've said something WAY before that but Emma Claire had been really fussy and I spent that hour and a half trying to get her to eat/fall asleep so I had no clue it had been that long. Well wouldn't you know it...my doctor came running back to my room right as I was in the ladies room changing Emma Claire! HA! Of course :-) It sounds much worse than it was...the Hubster was WAY more upset than I was! The receptionist felt so bad that she gave me a $10 gift card to Dairy Queen. Kind of ironic seeing as I'm off dairy right now ;-) But it was sweet of them to do that.

Firsts: First Christmas!!! First time shopping in Old Navy, first time to go to Mommy's doctors office, first time to sleep TEN hours!!! :-)

Picture Perfect

Phone Pictures

First time in Old Navy!

First time at Mommy's Doctor office.

Little ham! I just love all of her faces!

Week eight was pretty great ;-)

Christmas Baby Bokeh

I've been playing around with my camera lately trying to get a really good picture of miss Emma Claire with the Christmas tree in the background. I LOVE the bokeh effect with the blurry lights in the background! The only problem is that she's still so tiny and can only sit up for .5 seconds ;-) I finally got one tonight that I really like. She was sleepy but I think that's what makes it so sweet. She's in her jammies all warm and ready for sleep. There's also just something special about babies at Christmastime. I know I'll look back at this picture when she's biggger and miss that sweet sleepy baby face.

Holiday Stress?

Life is SO hard when you're seven weeks old....

Pitiful baby...

Mean Mommy tried to get cute pictures when she was hungry AND tired. Dangerous combo ;-) Needless to say we'll be trying again later after we run errands!

A Day in the Life

So I've wanted to do a "Day in the Life" post for a while now...but our days have been SO CRAZY that I just haven't yet. Plus most days we haven't gotten out of bed until 10ish so by the time I get to my computer the day is half over it seems like! However last night (drum roll please) we got EIGHT HOURS of sleep!!! That is the longest Emma Claire has ever slept! I'm going to go ahead and say that it's her first time to truly sleep through the night. Before this she had slept "through the night" meaning about 12am-5am, but last night we went to bed at a normal time and got up not too early and we didn't have to go back to sleep after her feeding! I was SO SO SO excited when I did the math and realized that she had slept from 11pm-7am! So here it goes...a day in the life with a seven week old!

Sleep: Last night Emma Claire went to bed around 10:30am and Mommy went to sleep at 11:00pm. We woke up at 7am after getting a GLORIOUS EIGHT hours of sleep! I'm wondering if cutting out dairy has something to do with this? hmm....

7am

Wake up and morning feed. Then play in bed for a little while. Someone was very happy after getting lots of sleep.

She was still waking up, I love her sleepy morning face.

8:30am

We make our way downstairs. I take the dogs out and then Emma Claire and I get settled on the couch to watch The Today Show. We watch it every day together :-) She eats a little more and then dozes off. I put her in her swing and five minutes later she is OUT!

I just love how she sleeps. And seriously I cannot get over the giraffes on her feet. I am a major sucker for any PJ's that have animals on the feet. At Target yesterday I got some with little bunnies on the feet. Love.

8:45am
Breakfast time for Mommy, since I'm not eating dairy anymore I've had to revamp my breakfast. I had a banana, oatmeal, and orange juice.

9:15am

After finishing up breakfast and catching up on facebook and blog reading I go upstairs to clean up our bedroom and sort laundry. I usually do laundry every day so it doesn't pile up, but the past few days I've been slacking. So I have a few loads to do.

9:30am

Since Emma Claire is still asleep I get to work deep cleaning our bathroom. I cleaned the shower, bathtub, sinks, counters, mirrors, toiled and even scrubbed the floors. After I finish all of that she is STILL asleep so I vacuum our bedroom and dust our nightstands. Then I cleaned the ceiling fan. I'm always so grossed out at how much dust those things can gather! I love that our bedroom and bathroom are all clean.

10:45

I am SHOCKED she is still asleep, so I unload the dishwasher and wait for her to wake up. While waiting I talk to my mom for a bit. I also take a picture of the furbabies...they haven't been on the blog lately ;-)

11:00am

Little miss finally wakes up from her LONG morning nap and is all smiles! I change her and feed her "lunch" :-)

11:30am

We have play time. Emma Claire tries out her SuperSeat that Aunt Linda got her and she loved it!

Just for the record, this is how most of our little "photo shoots" start...

HA! I think someone misses being the center of attention ;-)

12:00pm

Lunchtime for Mommy! My lunches lately have been pretty healthy. I didn't realize how badly I was eating until I had to cut out dairy and really take a look at my diet. I was mainly eating "convenience" foods and not very many fruits and veggies. Now my lunches are comprised of grilled chicken and veggies. Today I had a salad of mixed greens and spinach with grilled chicken, carrots, tomato, almonds, green beans and Italian dressing. YUM!

1:00pm

Emma Claire falls asleep on my shoulder and then I put her down for her afternoon nap. 

 She fell asleep right as I went to let the dogs in...well I didn't know it had rained a bit so of course they were all muddy. I had to carry dixie up the stairs she was so dirty! Into the sink she went for feet washing.

She looks so pitiful...oh and don't worry...I'm neurotic about cleaning our sink so all doggy germs are out before dishes go in!

1:30pm

Since cutting out all dairy I've REEEALLY missed my chocolate. I have lots of Christmas candy out right now that I can't eat :-( So I was ECSTATIC to find that the brownie mix I use doesn't have any dairy! Just cocoa powder! I LOVE eating the batter....However, I only like cooked brownies with milk or ice cream...so the Hubs will get an entire batch of brownies to himself ;-)

2:00pm

Emma Claire wakes up from her nap for a bit, I hold her and rock her back to sleep. Then while she sleeps I relax and watch Grey's Anatomy, I love that it comes on Lifetime everyday.

3:00pm

Emma Claire wakes up again with some gas pain so I pat her back and rock her until she falls back asleep. I move laundry and make our bed. I cleaned our comforter yesterday and washed sheets and pillowcases today.

4:30pm

Since she's STILL asleep I rush to take a shower...probably the fastest shower I've ever taken. LIttle did I know she would CONTINUE sleeping haha isn't that how it always goes?

5:00pm

I start getting dinner ready thinking she'll wake any minute with all the noise I'm making. WRONG. Little chickie slept until SIX! That's a five hour nap...I'm thinking someone is growing. And I'm praying someone will sleep tonight ;-) Needless to say I had plenty of time to cook and finish dinner!

I made fettuccine with chicken, onion, red bell pepper, tomato and fresh spinach. I used olive oil, lemon juice, and chicken broth to make the sauce.

6:15pm

Daddy's HOME! Emma Claire is just finishing up her dinner when Mommy and Daddy start dinner. Then we hang out together and Emma Claire gets some fun daddy cuddle time.

He's just the best (and cutest) Daddy ever!

8:00pm

BATH TIME!

We LOVE our tongue...I think she just discovered it and loves sticking it out!

Is this not THE cutest towel wrap you've ever seen?! Auntie Bre made it for Emma Claire...it even has her monogram!

I am SO impressed by her..she never ceases to amaze me!

I love this :-) she was just talking away! So sweet.

So sweet :-) Such a Daddy's girl, although seconds later that cute moment turned into this...

HA! I just love this picture! I think it's sweet that he's holding her hand :-)

9:00pm

Emma Claire starts fussing (see picture above) so I assume she's hungry. I try to nurse her and she has NO interest. So I decide she's crying her new "I'm TIRED!" cry and swaddle her, pop her passy in her mouth, and rock her. She is asleep within a minute. No joke. I put her in the swing and go clean the kitchen, pick up, and finish up laundry.

9:45pm

Well as I wrap up this post I'm so glad I wrote it as the day went on. There's no way I would've remembered all that I did by now! Blame Mommy brain ;-) I'm going to try and do these posts regularly so I can look back and remember how life was when she was little bitty. I also feel the need to add that this is the first day EVER that she has napped this regularly or for those lengths of time! I'm hoping this is a trend that continues! If not I'll be able to look back and remember "that one really good nap day"! ha!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today is short and sweet...I'm loving that Emma Claire officially SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT last night! I know I've said she "slept through the night" before...but we've usually had to go back to sleep because it's been something like 12am-5am, and while it isn't "night" when she wakes we're still tired. Last night however, she slept from 10:30pm-7am! Mommy slept from 11pm-7am...EIGHT HOURS!!! I am so excited! I'm wondering if cutting out diary has something to do with this!

I posted a similar picture to this yesterday but here's another one of her from a few days ago :-) I think we're going to have another little Christmas photo shoot today! Fresh pictures coming soon!

{Linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love!}

Emma Claire Meets Santa!

Today was such a fun day! The Hubster got off of work SUPER early and was able to be home during the afternoon. We took advantage of this and dressed Emma Claire up and went to the Galleria so she could meet Santa for the first time! She loved him and I just love her pictures...she was alseep in most of them! :-)

I LOVE our Santa! When I brought Emma Claire over to him he said, "Now THAT is a wonderful Christmas present!" How sweet! He even said he liked her big bow ;-) I hope we'll be able to go back to him for many more years! He's been doing this for over twenty years! Emma Claire was actually asleep the whole time! I just love our pictures though! We managed to get one with her eyes a tiny bit open!

She looks SO tiny in his arms! So sweet!

I told the hubster that this could very well be our last calm picture with Santa. If she's anything like me she won't go near him once she's old enough to realize that he's a stranger dressed in a big red suit! ;-) I was SO SO SO scared of Santa when I was little. I LOVED him but wouldn't go near him! ha! Hopefully Emma Claire will not follow in my footsteps!

 

Emma Claire Six Weeks

Oh sweet baby girl, where have the past six weeks gone? I cannot believe that this time six weeks ago I had just given birth to you. It seems like it happened yesterday, yet at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago. The past six weeks have been filled with so much joy, you are such a sweet happy baby. I have loved each moment that I have spent getting to know you.

Loves: The moby wrap, cuddling, fleecy pajamas, bath time without the sling (like a big girl!), playing on her play mat,

Eating: Still going strong. Same as the five week update.

Sleeping: I almost feel as if I'm going to jinx this by typing it....BUT, someone has slept through the night the past TWO NIGHTS!!! On Saturday night she slept for just under SEVEN hours. It was heavenly. She also went right back to sleep after eating for another three hours!!! So the lucky hubster got TEN hours of sleep that night!!! Last night she slept from 12:30am-6:30am. I was so excited when I heard her and looked at the clock to see that she had made it through another night! I believe I scooped her up out of the bassinet saying, "YAY You did it!!! Mommy is SO PROUD of you!" I know for a fact she thinks I'm crazy already ;-) She has also been taking one nap a day in her crib. It's usually between 45min-2 hours. We've been on the go in the evenings so she's been sleeping in her carrier. 

Clothes: Newborn and some 0-3 month

Fun Facts: Well I don't know how "fun" this is but Emma Claire had her first episode of projectile vomit. To quote the Hubster, "That was something like from the exorcist...all we needed was her head to spin around." HA. I'm not even joking. And the best part is she was propped up in my lap and I was talking to her so of course it went ALL. OVER. ME. When she was finished (it took her three times) the Hubster and I just looked at each other and started laughing, we were in shock. I had no clue that that much vomit could come out of such a tiny little person!

Mommy Moments: Well aside from the vomit situation I would say that sleeping for more than three hours was great! I was literally SO proud of her this morning. I just hope that this trend continues!

Firsts: First time to sleep almost seven hours, first full nap in crib, first projectile vomit, first time at a Mexican restaurant (sadly they are few and far between up here), she has started grabbing my hair, first laugh (more of a giggle but I caught it on tape!!!)

Picture Perfect

This little girl brightens my day, I just don't know what I did without her! I am so lucky to be her Mommy!