Sunday, November 30, 2008

That's all she wrote

November is over. A lot of you have written to say that you enjoyed the daily blogs and pictures, and I'm glad, however I will NOT miss having to come up with something everyday. I am a engineer, not a writer and trying to be creative is very, very hard for me.
So in honor of the last day of November, here is a cute pic of Jamie and Emma. They went to watch football with the boys and Mama got some alone time... woo hoo!!

photo courtesy of Trevor Brown

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Grandpa is back!!!

My dad and Gramps made it back from Minnesota today and Emma was so glad to see them :) Dad promptly gave Emma the business and she loved it!

look, matching hair styles;)

Hey there Gramps!

cuddles with Grandma :)


Friday, November 28, 2008

And the scale says....

12lbs 9oz!!!

Emma gained 12oz in 14 days!!! Woo hoo!!! Her doctor was very happy and I'm so relieved!! I guess all that avocado paid off!!

We had a great day yesterday celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and my Dad and Gramps are on their way home and we'll have a wonderful family day tomorrow!!
Emma looked exceptionally cute yesterday...

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Giving Thanks

I have a feeling that there is no way that I can adequately express thanks this Thanksgiving. This year has been a roller coaster of emotions for me and as I look back on all the scary parts we have SO very much to be thankful for.

Jamie, thank you for being my rock and the voice of reason through all of this. I know that this year has been a difficult test on our marriage and I couldn't have survived without you. I love you so much, thank you for being my husband.

Mom and Dad, I know that I can never show you how much I appreciate everything you've done of us this year. your support has been amazing and watching you with Emma is truly one of the best things in my life. I love you :)

To my friends and family, thank you for all you've done for us. From the prayers and positive words to the meal and gifts, you guys have been amazing. I never would have survived our hospital stay and the hormones of motherhood without you. You keep me sane and listen to me vent about our struggles and give me a shoulder to cry on, thank you. To those of you that I didn't know a year ago and have jumped on during this journey, thank you for being there for me.

To the AMAZING doctors and nurses at Rose, there is not enough thanks in this world to express the gratitude that I feel for you. You were our family and the reason that Emma is doing as well as she is today. We will never forget you :)
Emma, you are such a fighter and I hope it continues through your life. We are so blessed to have you in our lives, your smile lights up the room and melts all of our hearts. You make every drop of blood, sweat and tears worth it. I love you baby girl :)

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Emma's many hats

Emma is a total hat girl. I think she looks so good in hats! I'm not sure if it's her nice little round head or those big blue eyes, but she looks so cute :) I'm slowly amassing a collection for her. Some of them have generously been made for us, some are hand-me-downs or hospital leftovers, but I love them all :)

My aunt Susan made this one, she says it goes this way
but it's cute this way too!

One of grandma's co-workers gave this to us



Ella wore this hat 2 winters ago :)



This little french number was also Ella's



This one was made by Jamie's friend Kitty





This is the hat she came home from the hospital in (click here)



auntie Sam made this, it's a little too small now!



quack!


so cute!

Ribbit!!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

so close

It's 5 days from the end of the month and I've run out of steam. I had a crazy hectic day of helping some friends in need and I just don't have the energy to write anything. The saddest part is that I don't even have any cute pictures of Emma to throw up here and appease everyone. I'm sorry :(

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Parker Stone

Jamie has just informed me that this was his fake name once upon a time (sort of like Regina Phalange from Friends). Seriously. I guess he thought he was going to be a soap opera star or a weather man.

I don't think I ever had a *fake* name. I do remember when one of my roommates in college decided to pretend she was the governor of Georgia's daughter one night at the bar. It worked great until one of the guys she tried to pick up actually knew the real governor.

I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have called Jamie after meeting him if his name was Parker Stone.

Did you have a fake name?

Happiest Baby on the Block

Emma really is such a happy baby. Her face lights up whenever she sees me (or someone else she loves, I won't pretend it's just me). Waking her up in the morning is the highlight of my day because she is so happy to see me and once I pick her up she bounces up and down in my arms with excitement. She loves attention and is a social butterfly. One of her favorite things to do is bask in the compliments that other people are giving her (seriously, you should see how happy she gets when people tell her she's cute). She is going through a bit of a *mommy* phase and doesn't really like me to leave her sight, but it's manageable so far. She gets so excited whenever she sees food coming, either the bowl or the boob (she also gets super excited when she sees me pull out my hooter hider because then she knows the boob is coming). She's learned how to feed herself cheerios and she thinks she's pretty cool when she succeeds :) She is in such a fun stage and I'm trying to enjoy every minute of it.
She loves to blow raspberries and squeal at you (it's kind of a pterodactyl noise), she's decided that both of those are much more fun than the babbling that she used to do. She's sitting up like a champ and rolls both ways. She still doesn't get the concept of crawling, her favorite thing to do on her belly is pick her arms and legs up like she's swimming. She does scoot on her back though, and I have to be careful to watch her because if I turn my back she's gone! We're working on clapping (really she just likes to hold my hand while I do it) and yesterday she waved for the first time!!! A lady came up to her stroller and waved hi and Emma picked up her little hand and waved her fingers back at her, it was so cute! She's figured out how to play peek-a-bo0... she puts something over her head and then lays still until someone notices and says "Where did Emma go?" and then she pulls it down and you're supposed to yell "peek-a-boo!!", she thinks it's quite fun! She loves to eat (so why she's having a weight problem I'm not sure), right now she's getting cereal and either avocado, sweet potatoes or banana as we try to pack the weight on, but she's also had pears, applesauce, potatoes, peas, carrots, beets and squash.
We are truly blessed to have such an amazing daughter. I love her so much and can't get enough of her kisses and cuddles!
Here are a few of her excited faces;




Saturday, November 22, 2008

Feeling a little old

So I had just shut off my computer and walked upstairs to go to bed when I remembered that I needed to blog today, whoops! And yes, I really was planning to go to bed at 9pm on a Saturday night. Tanya and I were up WAY too late last night reliving our days as On Second Thought groupies. According to something I found online, the band broke up in 2002, which means that it's been 6 years since they've played a real show together (I'm pretty sure our birthday party and T's wedding doesn't count), way too long. Tanya and I used to spend almost every weekend with these guys and it was honestly one of the most fun periods of time in my life. Remember the movie Almost Famous? It was just like that, except we never really left the front range and there were no crazy group orgies. (Did I seriously just use that word on my family friendly blog? wow)
We had a great time last night, and it definitely brought back a lot of memories. However, they didn't go on until TWELVE THIRTY PM. Yes, after midnight. Holy cow, I was so freaking tired today. When the show was over we said our goodbyes and high tailed it out of there... much different than the days when we were the last people in the bar and then we'd often go out after the bar was closed. Not so easy when you have a kid to take care of. It was a great night though, and I'm glad that we were able to experience it one more time :)
Tomorrow I will have pictures of Emma (since I know that is why you all come here), but for now I'm off to bed :)

Friday, November 21, 2008

long or short?


After looking through a bunch of my college photos (yes, in that photo from a couple days ago I was TWENTY, not TWELVE like some people thought I was) I am debating whether or not I should cut my hair. I always had short hair in college (I would grow it to my shoulders and then cut it short again over and over) and looking back it looked pretty cute (I think it did anyway). I grew my hair out for the wedding and then was convinced I couldn't cut it short again because my face was a little *fuller*, but now I think my face is back down to normal. Click here to see a recent picture of me with my hair long and below are pictures (of pictures, so don't judge the quality) of me with my hair short.
Thoughts?















In other news, Emma has decided that her favorite do is the faux-hawk :)


Thursday, November 20, 2008

yum!

This morning I was trying to take a picture of Emma while she was eating because she was so excited about her avocado that she was lunging toward the spoon with her tongue out, but every time I pulled the camera out she would stop and pose. She is definitely her father's daughter.


Then, evidently, I was so slow with the spoon that she was forced to lick her food off her tray. This time she was so preoccupied that she didn't care when I pulled out the camera ;)


mmmmm avocado!!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

take a breath

Someone just shared this song with me and after I stopped bawling I decided it would be a good video to share with everyone. Jamie and I often jump ahead of ourselves and start thinking about college or her wedding and it's a nice reminder to just slow down and enjoy life now.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

baby face

Sometimes I have a hard time remembering that I'm a grownup. Often when I look in the mirror, I still see this face staring back at me


When I'm pushing Emma's stroller and people look at me, I imagine them thinking that I'm the nanny (even though I know full well they aren't looking at me, they're looking at the cute baby in the stroller). I've had people comment on what a "young mother" I must be (the lady thought I was under 21), which most of the time I attribute to the fact that I rarely wear makeup anymore. But I still wonder when I'll be able to view myself as an adult. I'm some one's mom now, that's pretty grownup (though I guess that can happen when you're a kid too). Jamie and I were having a conversation about Christmas this year and I was saying that I should probably actually step up and figure out this Santa thing because I can't count on my mom to be Santa my entire life (can I? Jamie would like my mom to continue as Santa, she's really good at it!).
I guess the plus side of my disillusionment is that I can't see the wrinkles or grey hairs that grownup life is giving me :)

Monday, November 17, 2008

What they don't tell you

Remember this? This is what happens 4 months after you lose your hair:

pretty, isn't it?

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Can you handle it?

Happy 66% baby girl!












Saturday, November 15, 2008

the day after

I'm doing much better today and I'm hoping that my week of wallowing in my despair is over. Jamie and I had a date night tonight, we went out to dinner and then saw Role Models, which was hilariously funny (and I don't even like dumb comedy that much). My mom came down to watch the babe and is happily taking her first night feeding and getting up with her in the morning... at what point do you think the "ooohh, it's my first grandchild, I'll do anything for her" wears off? I'm hoping not for another 18 years at least, it would be really nice to be able to send Emma to Grandma and Grandpa's house when she's a teenager and a little *sassy* :) Jamie took some AMAZING photos of Emma today, so make sure you tune in tomorrow to see. Tonight I'll leave you with a small teaser, enjoy!

Friday, November 14, 2008

the downside

You know what sucks about being a mom? When you have a bad day(s), and all you want to do is curl up in bed with your head under the covers, you can't, because you have someone else to take care of. We didn't have a great day today. Emma had a doctor's appt and she's only gained 2oz in the last month (she normally gains about 1 lb, which isn't great, but it's okay), she also has a rash bad enough to get us a referral to the dermatologist. The doc wasn't so happy about the weight gain and we have to do everything we can to fatten her up in the next 2 weeks, including adding in another night feeding, which I guess *solves* our sleep issue. I feel like a total failure, and everyone keeps telling me it isn't my fault, but damn it still makes me feel like crap. My 8 month old doesn't even weigh 12 lbs and she's still in 0-3mo clothes, and not even close to growing out of them. Who knows what will happen if she doesn't gain enough weight before the end of the month.
Sometimes I really don't like being responsible for another person, some days it's hard enough to take care of myself and keep it together. Then you add in this tiny (really tiny) little person who depends on you for everything and you go and fail her. It's certainly not her fault that she's so little and if it's not her fault, who else can you blame it on but yourself? And you feel awful and want to hide in bed, but you can't. Sometimes it really sucks being a grown-up.
Then you take a look at this face and you realize why you get out of bed in the morning and put on your big girl panties...


Thursday, November 13, 2008

sleep project....

day ??? *feels like it's been a million* :(
So tonight we thought we'd revamp Emma's routine to help her sleep better at night. What a freaking joke! I thought it would be okay because it's basically what I do for naps during the day, well Emma didn't think it was okay. After about 10 minutes of her screaming her head off I gave in and went upstairs to help her fall asleep. I guess we'll try again tomorrow :(

I love to be upside down!

weeeeeee!!!

Daddy is so funny :)

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Coiffure Cutie ;)

Now that Emma finally has some hair (again), she's experimenting with her style...


This one is known as "Bigger than my head bow"

Parted on the left

Parted on the right


Faux-hawk



The "bow secured by KY Jelly", made famous in the NICU