Seattle - Day 3

Well yesterday we woke up to a lot more snow on the ground and we were pretty much snowed in all day. My parents have one good snow car and between my Dad having to go to work and some different doctor's appointments, Dave, Emma & I hung out around the house all day. But here are some pictures of what we woke up to yesterday morning:

Seattle - Day 2

Yesterday we were able to take Emma out in the snow for awhile. It was cold and she didn't always know what to think of it, but she certainly didn't hate it. We even got a few smiles out of her - it was cute. We might try to go out again today - there's still about a foot of snow on the ground! :)

Here's Emma getting ready to go out:

Here we are as a family:

Emma's standing in the snow:

Emma's sitting in the snow:

Emma's lying in the snow (making a snow angel):

Seattle - Day 1

Well, we've had a lot going on even though we've only been up here a few days, so I think I'm going to try and post just a little bit each day (unless we're completely boring and do nothing). So we arrived on Satuday and after dinner, Dave & I went down to the Kirkland waterfront while Emma stayed home with Grandma & Grandpa (she slept the whole time we were gone so she didn't even miss us). We were hoping to go get some coffee and walk around in the snow, but most everything was closed down there due to the weather. But, it was still fun to walk around by the water and we did get a couple of cute pictures.

Here I am by a lightpost:

Here's Dave by a fire we found burning right on the waterfront. It was very warm!! :)

And of course here are the two of us enjyoing our time out:

It's Snowing in Seattle

Well Dave, Emma & I made it safely to Seattle just in time. We flew in this morning during a dry stretch between snow falls. There are several inches of snow on the ground already at my parents' house from a few days ago and now it is snowing again!! They are expecting high winds tonight and more snow - it is snowing a lot right now. We love seeing everything so pretty and white - it makes for a pretty Christmas time. However, we are just praying that the power doesn't go out tonight - it might get a little bit cold. :) We are so thankful that we flew in this morning, as many of the flights for the next couple of days have been cancelled!! Good timing on our part. Haha!! Well, Dave & I hope to take a walk tonight after dinner so hopefully we will have pretty snowy pictures to post soon.

Hottubs and Rain

It finally cooled down out here in the desert over the last couple of weeks and so Dave, Emma & I have been frequenting our hottub the last few nights. It is really fun to take Emma in there and see how much she enjoys it. Today it rained almost all day and so I decided to take Emma out in the hottub while it was raining. We got soaked but it was fun to play in the rain without getting too cold. Although rain is more common out here in the winter, it is not the most common occurance so we have to take advantage of it when we can. Emma was so cute!! :)

Four Months Old!

Well, our little baby girl tuned 4 months old on Monday. Time has gone by so fast we feel like we're almost ready to be grandparents...haha!! :)

Emma woke up to a beautiful sunny day out here in the desert. It probably got into the mid 70's. She took a couple of naps, we ran some errands and she napped some more. Then before bed we watched March of the Penguins on our new t.v. She really enjoyed that. It was a very pleasant day.

I took her to the Dr. this morning for her 4 month checkup and shots (so sad). She did very well. The Dr. said she is strong and healthy. She is now 12 pounds, 15 ounces and she is 24.5 inches long. Although she is a petite little girl the Dr. says she is growing just fine. I asked the Dr. about the best way to wean Emma out of our bed at night and she said it's really hard to do that in the winter since the baby gets cold, so we'll have to figure out what to do about that, but other than that life with Emma is great. We go back in another 2 months for another checkup. She did really well with her shots too. She got one oral vaccine and then 4 shots in the leg - just like last time. She didn't even cry after the first shot, but after #2 she did start getting fussy, but she took it like a man and really didn't get that upset. We came home though and gave her some Tylenol and now she's taking a much deserved nap. We'll have to see if she sleeps as much as she did after her last set of shots.

And now for the best part - the pictures. Here are pics of our little angel, taken Monday on her 4 month birthday! We love you Emma!!! :)

Emma's First Thanksgiving!!

I apologize for taking so long to get this posted, but here is the story of Emma's first Thanksgiving:

We woke up Thursday morning to a beautiful rainbow out front. It was mostly cloudy and a bit rainy in the morning, but as the sun started to come out, we were able to see the rainbow.

Then we spent most of the morning just hanging out. Emma took naps, Dave watched football and I just hung out doing whatever I wanted. It was my birthday as well, so I allowed myself a little luxury! :)

We finally got packed up and headed to Orange County sometime in the early afternoon so that we could spend the rest of the weekend with Dave's parents. We arrived shortly before dinner and then of course we got to eat dinner - yum, yum!!! Then later we got to have apple pie with icecream for my birthday. It was a wonderful day and here are pictures of Emma in her Thanksgiving outfit:

We spent two nights in Orange County hanging out with Dave's parents and a couple of different sets of friends. We took off Saturday afternoon. We were going to try and go get our Christmas tree that day, but Emma was just a little bit too worn out, so we saved that for Sunday. We headed off to Home Depot and bought the first tree we looked at, then we spent the rest of the afternoon putting up lights and decorating. It was a great way to end Emma's first Thanksgiving weekend! :)

An Emma Updatade

So I realized that I haven't given an update on Emma lately so I figured now would be a good time while she's taking a nap! :) We haven't been doing a whole lot lately but Emma sure has been changing. She found her voice a couple of weeks ago and can now make the loudest sounds I've ever heard. She doesn't get upset, but she likes to hear herself scream at the top of her lungs. It's actually kind of funny. She is also loving to stand up now. She, of course, can't balance herself yet so we have to hold her, but it's one of her favorite things to do. She loves to interact with you too - she's full of smiles and giggles and she just seems to be loving being alive!

About a week ago, some friends of mine were in town and so we went to go visit them in Banning. Emma was a little bit fussy but it was fun for her to meet a couple of other babies that were there. Both of the other babies were 8 months and Emma is only 3 so she didn't really play with them, but it was fun to take pictures!

Two days ago we took her in the hottub for the second time. She really seemed to enjoy it and she looked so cute! It was nighttime and so the light on the bottom was bright and she mostly just liked to look at the light and all the moving bubbles. It was really fun and something we definitely should try to do more often.

I'm not completely positive, but I also think she might be starting to teethe. Poor baby. She just has been drooling a lot and gnawing on my finger a lot too. Plus she hasn't been sleeping that well. She doesn't seem to be bothered by it too much, which is why I'm a little bit unsure, but time will tell. I guess her Daddy started teething around 3 months, but didn't actually get his first tooth in until 7 months - maybe she is taking after him! I will be sure to keep you posted.

Well, Emma just woke up from her nap, so I should end this. We are heading to Orange County on Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with Dave's parents so I am sure there will be more pics to come. Emma's first Thanksgiving - yeah!!

Three Months Old!

Well, yesterday Emma turned a quarter of a year! She is such a big girl! She doesn't have a 3 month checkup at the Dr. so I don't probably have the most accurate measurements, but we did weigh her and measure her at home the best we could! She is 11 pounds and she's 23 1/2 inches long. I can tell she's been getting bigger, as some of her clothes are finally almost too small for her!

She didn't do a whole lot of interesting things yesterday, other than sleep. Neither of us slept that well Friday night so I think she was tired and needed some extra napping time. She did however, get to take a ride in our new car so that was fun! We've been keeping our eye out for a bigger vehicle for awhile now so that we can better accomodate our growing family. Anyway, enough about the car - this post is all about Emma. I'll post some new car pictures later. :)

So with nothing terribly interesting to report, I'll post her 3 month pictures! Here she is - the most beautiful baby in the world!!!!!!!!!

Two New Firsts for Emma!

Last week was Emma's first Halloween. Neither Dave nor I are that interested in celebrating Halloween so I didn't really get very prepared for it, other than buying candy to pass out to the trick-or-treater's. But, last week Dave told me that the people in his office were going to have an afternoon where all the kids of the employees could come in and trick-or-treat around the office. Well of course Emma was invited to come and so we quickly had to go out and try and find her a costume. There wasn't much left, but I did manage to find her a princess dress that would fit - she was soooooooooooo cute!

Emma also experienced another first this week. We took her in the hottub last night. I didn't really think she would like it since she didn't really love the pool, but she loved it! She probably liked it 'cause the water was warm and the sun wasn't in her face. It is definitely something we will have to do more often - she really liked it and she was really cute! :)

Emma's First Trip to Seattle

So last Friday was my Dad's 50th Birthday and Dave, Emma & I all got to fly up to Seattle to suprise him! Emma and I have been planning on going since before she was born, but the day before we left we were able to get Dave a ticket too. It was so much fun! Emma got to experience a whole bunch of new things, including a plane ride. She also got to meet her two great-grandparents! We had a very fun time and my Dad was so suprised.

Emma has grown up so much in the past weeks as well. She actually had her first laugh while we were in Seattle (other than the times that she laughs while sleeping). They are still little half laughs, and not a full on giggle, but it is so cute! She is growing so much and talking a lot more now too! We've also noticed her trying to sit up on her own and can tell that there are times where she wants to be able to crawl - she is growing up too fast!

So here are some pictures from her trip:

Here she is on the way to the airport and a picture of her first plane ride. She was an awesome baby on the plane, by the way. She fussed a couple of times but for the most part she was either awake and looking around or sleeping.

And here is Emma with her Grandpa - celebrating his birthday:

While we were up there we got to enjoy the beautiful fall weather. It was not too cold, but it was cool, and sunny! It was perfect. It allowed us to do quite a few outdoor things, including going to a pumpkin patch and a corn maze. So here she is enjoying that:

We're home now and Emma has been sleeping a lot. Going to Seattle was quite an adventure for her and she was a Super Duper Trooper, but now she must catch up on some sleep! We look forward to going to Seattle again for Christmas.

New Diapers

Well, it's official: Emma is no longer wearing Newborn diapers! :( She is growing and has now graduated to a size 1. My how big she is getting!! :)

Trip to The Living Desert

So yesterday we had some time in the afternoon to try and do something fun with Emma. We wanted to take her to a pumpkin patch but couldn't find any that were close enough for just the afternoon. So we ended up taking her to The Living Desert. For those of you not familiar with The Living Desert, it is basically a really small zoo. It's a cute little place and is mostly full of animals from Africa. Dave & I were there last Christmas to view their famous lights, but we didn't get to see any of the animals. It was a fun couple of hours and was a perfect little outing. Even though Emma doesn't necessarily enjoy everything we want her to do, it's still fun to take her out! :)

Trip to Orange County

Since Dave had the day off yesterday we decided to go out to Orange County this weekend for a visit. We stayed with his parents in Huntington Beach so Emma got to see her Grandma & Grandpa Anderson. We didn't have much of an agenda so we mostly just hung out around the house. On Sunday we took Emma to Grandma & Grandpa's church so she got to meet some of their friends, and then on Monday I took her to the place where I used to work and she got to meet some of my old co-workers!

She fell asleep around 7 o'clock last night and is still sleeping. I think the combination of back to back trips to Riverside and then Huntington wore her out. It was funny because she actually seemed happy to get home yesterday. I told her we can stay home for a little while now and she seemed to like that thought... :)

3rd Visit to the Doctor

So this morning was Emma's 2 month check-up with Dr. Gopez. Emma is now 10 pounds, 7 ounces and is 22 1/2 inches long. Despite the fact that everyone who sees her says that she is tiny, she is growing and the Dr. says that her measurements are smack dab in the middle of where most babies are at her age. The Dr. was impressed with how much she moved and how alert she is - she is a very healthy baby!

Unfortunately she had to get 5 vaccines today. :( One she got to swallow, but the other four were shots. I have been dreading today b/c I hate to see her get hurt. It was very hard for me. She was happy as a clam leading up to the shots but as soon as the prick came she screamed louder than I've ever heard her. It was really, really hard for me to hear and I almsot started to cry. Thankfully the Dr. was very fast. Emma got two shots in each leg and the Dr. had everything all ready to go so that Emma got to get them over with very quickly. She continued to cry for awhile after it was over, but the intensity definitely calmed down. By the time I got her to the car and all buckled in her car seat, she had calmed down and fell asleep within a couple of minutes. We had to stop by the pharmacy on the way home to pick up some Tylenol for her because the Dr. said that all those shots could give her a fever.

She is sleeping now and has been most of the day. She seems to be a bit more tired and fussy than usual, but she is doing well. I took a nap with her earlier and now she is sleeping right by my side while I post this. I'm sure she will feel better soon!

Two Months Old!

Well, our baby girl is two months old today - my how time flies!! :)

So Dave has been in trial all week over in Riverside and so when it got delayed on Monday, Emma & I decided to head out there to stay with him - we couldn't go three whole days without our Davey!! :) So Emma got to stay in a hotel for the very first time and we're sure she loved it...haha!! Anyway, that is where she woke up on her two month birthday - at the Marriott in Riverside. She had a good morning of sleeping and lots of pooping (she had a major explosion right before we left the hotel)!! After I got everything packed we headed home and were back by lunch time.

She's just been sleeping and of course eating most of the day. We cuddled and took a nap together for awhile too - she is a very cuddly baby and Mommy loves that! :) Here are a couple of pictures I took this afternoon:

And here she is taking a much needed nap:

Tonight we have our new small group coming over to our house so she'll end the night with lots of visitors around. Happy Two Month Birthday Emma - we love you!!

Girls Weekend in Palm Springs

Well, it's taken me awhile to get this up, but last weekend was a very fun and exciting weekend for Emma & I. 6 of my college roommates/suitemates came out here for a reunion and baby shower for Emma. We had a great time just hanging out in the pool, relaxing and catching up on our lives. I think we might try to make it an annual event.

The shower part was a lot of fun too. Bri planned some very fun games, including a drinking game for us older people (not Emma or her friend Maddie who came to visit too). We had to drink our drink out of a bottle. It's not so easy - let me tell you! Here are a couple of us going at it:

All of Emma's Westmont Aunties got to decorate onesies, shirts & bibs for her too. They are so cute and it was such a fun idea:

My friend Kate had a baby in February - Miss Maddie. She was able to bring Maddie with her last weekend and so Emma got to meet her first friend! Unfortunately Emma seemed to sleep the entire weekend so she didn't get to hang out with Maddie a lot but it was still fun! Here are Maddie and Emma meeting eachother:

So all in all it was a very fun weekend! Emma & I miss having our friends closer and we were so blessed to have them all come out to see us. Hopefully we can see them all again soon!

Emma's Getting Bigger!

I went back to the breastfeeding clinic yesterday that I visited the first week Emma was born. It's in a baby furniture store and they have a lactation consultant there, but it's also just a place for moms to go and hang out with the little bambinos. It's very convenient if you happen to be out running errands and just need a place to go feed your baby.

Anyway, they have a scale there and so I got to weigh Emma again. She now weighs 9 pounds, 3 ounces!! I couldn't believe how big she was. It was funny b/c all the other moms there yesterday had about 3 week old babies so Emma was definitely the oldest and she looked so big compared to the other babies. She is growing up too quickly!!! :)

A Special Moment

So this morning Emma woke up around 6 to eat. So I fed her and then I just let her stay in bed with me 'cause I was wide awake and she was cuddly. She fell asleep and I just cuddled with her until Dave's alarm went off. He had to get up earlier than normal b/c he has jury duty today and so I got up around 6:45 with him to see if I could start getting some things done around the house. I left Emma in our bed 'cause she was cozy and I knew I could keep an eye on her. Well it didn't take long before she woke up and was upset that she was all alone.

I went over to her and picked her up and she instantly stopped crying. Then I changed her diaper but I could tell she was still tired and not ready to wake up. So I went back to bed with her and she fell asleep as soon as I let her cuddle with me again. Right now she's just sleeping on my chest as I write this. I feel so special when she just wants Mommy!! :)

An Exciting Weekend of Softball & Swimming!!

This was a very exciting weekend for Emma! On Friday she got to go to watch Daddy play softball for the first time. Since she's been born it has been too hot to go but on Friday it only got into the mid 90's so it was "cool" enough to go! :) She had a great time hanging out until about 1/2 way through when she got a little bit tired and then Mommy had to walk her around for awhile until the game was over. It was fun for me to be able to go see Dave too - I haven't gone to one of his games for a couple of months now.

Then on Saturday, Dave had a softball tournament in Beaumont and we got to go to that too. Emma was an angel and slept through most of the day. Everyone commented on how cute she was - which is soooooo true!! :)

Today we decided to take Emma for her first swim in the pool. I have a bunch of wonderful college girlfriends coming out next weekend and we plan to be outside and in the pool. Well we decided that we wanted Dave there for her first swim so we went today! Here she is in her swimsuit (which is still a bit big) getting ready to go to the pool:

She is relatively happy. Then we actually went to the pool. She didn't seem to hate it, but she also didn't love it. It was really bright outside and she didn't really like that so we didn't stay outside for very long. Maybe she'll need to get some baby sunglasses! :)

All in all it was a very fun weekend! After dinner she got a bath (which she liked 'cause the water's warm) and now she's all snuggled up in her jammies falling asleep in her bouncy sweet. She is very cute!!!

I'm Finally Writing an Entry

My apologies to all of our faithful readers for not writing an update sooner. In reading Jenn's entries, I think she covered all the basics. Getting to spend time with Emma has been wonderful and I can't believe it has already been over a month! I've realized that, not surprisingly, watching Emma is a full-time job. She very much likes to be held at all times and doesn't really want to give you any time to do anything else. Therefore, I try to give Jenn some time to herself after I get home. That being said, Jenn pretty much does most things for Emma during the week. And I have to say she does a great job. To those of you who thought she couldn't function with less than 13 hours of sleep a night, she has proved all of us wrong!

This weekend, Emma gets to see me play in 3 softball games. This will be her first time outside for an extended period of time. Also, we are about to start a life group with 4 other couples, one who might have a kid about the same age as Emma, so she might be able to have her first friend! Of course, then she will have to become interested in something besides eating and sleeping!

2nd Visit to the Doctor

Emma had her second Dr.'s appointment today and she did very well! She had to get one shot and she only screamed for a tiny little bit! The Dr. said she is very healthy and is looking good. She now weighs 8 pounds, 10 ounces and she has grown 1/4". The Dr. said she is right in the middle of where most babies are at one month so that is good. She has to go back in another month to get a couple of more shots. Yeah for healthy babies - it makes Mommy & Daddy happy!! :)

One Month Old!

Emma is one month old today! Parents always talk about how time goes by so quickly and it is SO TRUE!! It amazes me that she is already a month and it also makes me truly try to cherish every moment we have with her, because before we know it she will be all grown up. It has been a month filled with lots of different emotions and although it has been a bit exhausting at times, Dave & I can't express how much we love Emma and how much joy and pleasure she has brought to our lives!!!

So I decided that I'll try and keep updating this entry as the day goes by, so we can log everything she does on her one month birthday!

She slept really well last night and so Mommy is a very happy person. That also means that as of now (8:45), she hasn't done much but sleep. So here she is sleeping:

Well, Emma woke up at 9:00 this morning, had a good breakfast of Mommy's milk and more Mommy's milk, and got her diaper changed...whoohoo!! Then she wanted to cuddle so we sat in the recliner and rocked for quite some time - one of her favorite things (I think). It wasn't long after that when it was time to eat again and then take a nap with Mommy while watching Gilmore Girls. :)

She seems to be waking up now (12:00) and it's time for another diaper change and time for Mommy to try and eat some lunch. Maybe Emma would like to swing for awhile.

Well, our afternoon was filled with much of the same things as the morning: napping, eating and hanging out! Emma hung out in her swing long enough for me to be able to eat lunch and take a shower - she is such an angel! Then this afternoon I took a few naked baby pictures so here they are:

The evening ended with Emma getting to spend some time with Daddy after work while Mommy ran a couple errands. Then Mommy took over and she and Emma watched Gossip Girl and Prison Break. And by 10:00 she was asleep. It was a good day - we love you Emma!!

Weeks Two - Four

I apologize for the delay in updating our blog recently. I have been trying to get Dave to write the next entry so it's not just all about my experiences. Although he willingly agreed to write something he keeps being busy or something like that and hasn't done it yet... :) So, I am going to leave this entry blank until he does get around to writing something - hopefully tonight!! But I will continue with the rest of Emma's life from here so we don't get too far behind! :)

Week One

Since we didn't create this blog until 2 weeks after Emma was born I'm doing my best to catch up! I won't bore you with all of the little teeny tiny details, but Emma changes so quickly and I feel like there is so much to talk about!

Emma's first week was a bit of a rollercoaster for all of us. It was such an exciting time, but it was also a very challenging time. As I'm sure is the case with any new baby, it was difficult to find time to sleep. Thankfully we had plenty of grandparents around to help us out in the middle of the night! Since I was still in a good amount of pain it was hard for me to get up a lot or walk her around and all of that fun baby stuff, so thank you grandparents who helped us get some much needed rest! We also had some trouble learning to nurse which was frustrating for all of us, but thankfully within a few days we had it down and life started to settle down a little bit.

As the week came to an end, we began to develop somewhat more of a routine. I continued to feel better and better every day so I was able to keep Emma with Dave & I at night. It was great to get used to getting up in the middle of the night and live without sleep, while at the same time still having help in case we needed it. We also took Emma on her first trip to a restaurant that week. We went out for pizza and she was a perfect angel. We also ran into the Dr. who delivered her at the restaurant - small world! :)

It turned out to be a great week getting to learn about our new daughter, seeing her smile and even laugh, and thanking God everyday for the amazing gift that He blessed us with!!!