Faces of E - Part 1

Emersen is officially 4 months and 11 days old today. We have her 4 month check up tomorrow - I'm excited, as always, to find out her weight and length. I think she's slowed down some in the weight department. But she's pretty long/tall. Now that she's wanting to stand in my lap, she seems taller!

It's been an interesting weekend with her sleeping habits. Usually you lay her down for her naps and she'll cry a little, or coo a little, or gnaw her hand and arm a bit and fall asleep. Now that she's learned how to roll over, she turns into a roly-poly at sleep time. We have to keep coming in a rolling her back over because she gets stuck. A couple times it looks like she's trying to escape prison or something because her limbs are sticking out of the slats of her crib. Other times she is face planted into the mattress, squeaking and grunting. You roll her back over and she just smiles real big at you. Crazy girl.

Today at church she was just hanging out in her carrier, kicking around. Our pastor was in the middle of his sermon. And she decides to poop. Audibly. Foul-ly. The people sitting near us heard it...then smelled it. EVERY Sunday during church, she poops. I don't know what the underlying meaning of this is - guess I'm glad she's comfortable there? It's always exciting with a little one. I also diagnosed myself with OWMCD today. Obsessed With My Child Disorder. Wes has it too. We just can't get enough of her. We love just hanging out with her and watching her. She's hilarious and adorable and so cute you just want to eat her up. We're biased, yes, I know this. I'm okay with it. My house is starting to feel neglected, I'm afraid, but she's only 4 months and 11 days old once...

I Love this Kid!

"Yo, what's up? I'm just chillin' yo.
I'm so relaxed that I have a spit bubble just sitting on my lips."

"You talkin' to me?"

"You talkin' to ME?"

On a less pleasant note, we're experiencing mommy-hood while sick for the first time. Fortunately, I've had family and friends to care for Em so we could try to keep her well. She had a touch of something, her first fever but only for a few hours. And a little coughing and sneezing. It's been hard to not be around her and love on her! I have been praying for us to stay well or at least not get it as bad as my parents had it, and am so thankful that at least Emersen has stayed pretty well. How do you handle this situation - I'd love to hear? I mean, to me it seems like if you have someone to watch your kid while your sick and can help them stay well, you would. Or am I a baby, and being selfish? These are things I don't know. At least while she's still so young, I'd like to keep her well if possible!

I will say that this past week has been the most challenging week in a long while. Tendinitis when I had to be on my feet at a conference, sickness where I was staying for the conference, sending Em home, just a "one thing after the other" type week. But I've definitely found myself turning to God - thanking him for the small blessings in the midst of small annoyances. I just assumed he had something bid in store for the conference I was working such that the devil sure didn't want us to be successful! Whatever the case may be, God is good all the time. Sometimes it takes some hardships to see the small, little things and be grateful for them.

Em

Emersen has fully embraced her ability to hold and grab things. Including my hair and using the same motion to scratch herself all over. She still loves her jungle mat so much because she can grab the toys. We've been putting her in the Exersaucer type toys, but we still have to prop her up right now. She's obviously sitting up better in her Bumbo, and is doing a lot better balancing her torso by herself.

She's rolling over so much these days, you really have to watch her. I think she likes the motion of rolling over but doesn't prefer being on her belly too much. The other day she was on her back on the floor. Wes laid down parallel to her on the floor, facing her. She started rolling over away from him. He feigned offense and said, " Hey, roll towards me!" Before she got rolled on to her tummy , she stopped and reversed and rolled towards Wes! He thought it was hilarious and just hopes that a little bit of that obedience will stick around...



This adorable little outfit was so funny on her. It's supposed to be like Piglet from Winnie the Pooh. We sort of forgot she had it and it was too small, but I wanted to get her picture in it. It was a hand me down piece of clothing - not sure if I had washed it since it became ours, but 2 hours after she wore this, her whole face and body flamed up in red, itchy eczema. It was the first time I had ever seen her scratch her self - it was so pathetic! But we put lots of Aquafor on her and it cleared up some within hours, fortunately. High maintenance, sensitive little baby!

Rollin'

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!



Notice in the above picture the tiiiny little hand holding my finger. Now all together "Awww." Well, that's how I felt when she did it too. We were watching Baby Einstein for the first time here.



And this is probably just prophecy of her life to come - literally and figuratively. I wear glasses, and both Wes and I are pretty big dorks, so.... Sorry Em. She's such a good sport when I play with her. But I mean, what is she going to do right now? Run away? Nope!

She DID roll over from her back to her belly for Wes about a week ago. She did it while my mom wasn't looking too. That trickster. We're working on adjusting her schedule to spacing out her feedings. Not sure how that's going to work, she can't seem to sleep past 7 regardless of what time she goes to sleep. Looking forward to her next check-up at the doctor, so I can ask loads of questions. Only 2 more weeks! Today is the day we told Wes' parents last year that we were pregnant. We found out on February 12th last year - I woke Wes up that morning with the news! Then we went to the bank to talk about getting a mortgage - oh how things change in a year. And we're SO so so so so grateful and thankful and appreciative and so on for the changes that have occurred. Wonder what is in store for 2011?

Sweet Girl

Aww...so cute.



Wes and Emersen: they're, again, clearly related! And then Emersen apparently plotting her evil scheme to take over the world - watch out!



Can't see in the pic, but this is a fuzzy sweater dress with white furry trim. She looked adorable with her little white boots. Hard to see the whole outfit when she can't stand yet...another reason why baby shoes are pointless.

Milestone: Wes saw Emersen roll from her back to her belly! Exciting stuff. We're just waiting to see her do it again, and on purpose. She's learned to grab things, as I've posted before. She now holds her bottle when we feed her. And, grabbing motion also means she has learned how to scratch and itch - found this out when we had another flare up. Man, she's got sensitive skin.

Baby Steps

Emersen has discovered how to grab things....on purpose. Yeah, watch out world! Or at least ladies with long hair or earrings. It's so fun to watch her realize these things though. To go from swatting at things to grabbing and holding on. She can make the above hanging toy spin, too. She already had grabbed my hair before, but now she can do it on purpose. Plus, if you put your face in hers, she'll grab your face, or lips, which she did to me once. I guess I deserve it considering how many times I've probably poked her nose or squeezed her cheeks. It's so amazing to see how God has created us....how we're born, how we learn, getting to watch a baby learn, making babies so little and cute, and so on. We are, after all, "fearfully and wonderfully made" as David says in the Psalms....where he goes on to say "your works are wonderful, I know that full well." I know this fully well - I knew before Emersen, but she is one of His best works in my life, that's for sure.

Miss E didn't end up on her tummy by herself, she hasn't quite mastered rolling over yet.

And there's her tongue...and drool in the pic below where she's on her belly...don't know if you can see that.

Aww, a smile. Or two.