Emma: Three Months!

Size/Weight: Starting to get snug in her 6 month clothes! (I weighed her today, which by the time of posting she's more like 14 weeks, but she was 16.2 pounds!)

Sleep: Down by about 9:30-10 (with or without me having to nurse her to sleep laying down... which if you've ever done, puts you right to sleep too...), then up at 3 for a quick snack. Every once in awhile she will wake up at 6 or 7 for a quick snack too, then back to sleep until about 9... She's a decent napper through the day; averages a half hour in her crib, or four hours on my chest. Ha! (Apparently, I'm much more comfortable than a crib. Good to know!)

Social: She's a funny gal-- most all the time, she has her super serious face on-- she likes to look at all sorts of things and people with her concerned face-- but as soon as you start engaging her, she's a ball of 'fist in my mouth' happy smiles. She prefers to tell me about her day at night, although she is quite chatty at diaper change and song time too!





Diet: Still breastfeeding! Working on the bottle. It wasn't going well at all at first; we've been practicing more, and she's getting used to it... If I pretend it's me first... ha!

Clothes: Officially brought down the six month clothes from the attic! Only shed a tear or two. Although she's already getting snug in some things... what the heck?!

Likes: Songs (if you're happy and you know it, the wheels on the bus, whatever is on the radio, and whatever song I make up about the girls going about their days), gripping all the things and licking them profusely, watching sister play, baths, tickles-- especially from sister!, Sister in general, EATING, staying up past her bedtime because she likes to party. 

Dislikes: When she can't figure out how to get something in her mouth (oh. She gets pissed. Don't tell her she can't do it.), when you try to sit her down when she'd rather be seeing the world in your arms, and tummy time-- has to be just the right time for tummy time! If not, she will sing you her adorable song of rage (tummy time is where a lot of the 'musical upset noises' come from... been trying to get them on video with no luck yet! They're sadly adorable.)

Milestones: Grabbing/putting in the mouth! It was cool seeing her not be able to reach for something one day... then the next day it just clicked. She can lift her head up decently high now from her tummy and turn it, and she's got lots of happy giggly sounds going on! Loving it!! Three months is so much fun. It's the transition from little baby bean to a tiny person... I won't talk about how sad it is that I will never again have a 'newborn...' both these gals have made the first three months of their lives incredibly snugly and adorable, and I have a thousand memories and photos to prove it!! 

Baby Emma: Two Months!

Size/Weight: 13 pounds!

Sleep: So happy to report that she's a typical newborn! Up once a night, maybe twice depending on how much the family wants to sleep in. (Down to sleep around 9, then up between 3-5am, and maybe somewhere between 6-7) We've been noticing something funny though-- at her six week appointment, our doc had us start vitamin D supplements. With Norah we did the drops, but with Emma the pediatrician told us to use Enfamil Vi D Sol. And... exactly the same day we started giving her the drops, she wouldn't go to sleep until midnight or so. Lots of rocking. I tried not giving it to her for three days, and she slept great... down at nine. Today was the first day I tried giving them to her again... and it was another long night. Thinking we will be switching back to Norah's drops! (Who knows-- caramel additive?! Anyone know anything about this?)

Social: The smiles and giggles are here!! This is one of those things that makes all the rough first weeks worth it. I finally got the hint of a giggle out of her a few days ago-- not so much a chuckle, more of a smiley 'eeeeeeeeeeee!' type of sound, but it's where the giggles start! Her smile is so precious; my favorite is the first hello of the morning (I lean over, and she gives me her big gummy 'heeeeeeey mom!! Good morning!!') and the nursing 'oh hi!' right in the middle of eating. Freakin' adorable.

Diet: Aaaaah, breastfeeding is both adorable and hilarious. Depending on how long it's been between feedings, it's either a happy normal experience, or a battle of boob and spray. Poor gal. Lucky for her she's a champion eater, and is even able to cough while still latched so she can power through my powerful letdown (seriously though. Poor gal!!) 

Clothes: Happily in 3-6 month clothes... about to dig in the attic for our six month bag!

Likes: Playing with her chin (and shaking it!), having conversations, playing with her sister, eating, taking every nap in the baby k'atan, taking baths

Dislikes: chilling in someone's arms (she much prefers being upright, talked to or snuggled), being in the stroller (unless the mood strikes her just right), being in her carseat (I've only been able to get her to fall asleep in there a pinch of times) and having onesies pulled over her head. Side note? Her newborn 'upset squeak' is kind of precious. It's more like she's telling you about why she's pissed, and it's squeaky and hilarious. (This is outside of the, 'I'm pissed that I'm in my carseat' cry, which again, is like toe pulling off.)

Milestones: Approaching the giggles! They're almost here! The grumble giggle is still a big skip. She's able to track you with her eyes, and can see far enough away to communicate with you even when she's playing on the floor or in her rocker. 

And because taking photos on the big chair is a whole lot of fun, of course we had to grab some of Norah too! Here are a few of my faves: 

Stormtrooper Daddy

For Christmas, Bryan ordered an official stormtrooper suit (in case you didn't know, I'm married to the biggest Star Wars nerd of all time) and it finally came in! (These pictures were taken a month or two before Emma was born). I was prepared to be frightened quite often by Bryan running around in his helmet. What I was not prepared for however, was how adorably Norah would latch on to 'Stormtrooper Daddy.' 

"Stormtrooper daddy, would you like to see my new kitchen set?"

"Stormtrooper daddy, I have a princess castle. Come see!"

"Would you like some tea Stormtrooper daddy? Cream? Sugar?"

This unprovoked hospitality to Stormtrooper daddy was amazingly fantastic. As you know, it's hard being two. In a week where you couldn't get this girl to focus on much of anything, let alone 'use her words'-- watching her love for Star Wars cracks me up beyond words. Now only if Bryan knew how often he would really be forced to use his helmet! (Good lord... what's going to happen when he finishes putting the rest of the suit together soon... haha!)

Hi! I'm new here too.

We get asked a lot of the girls look alike. It's an odd question really; in a lot of cases sisters look pretty dang different-- Amy and I got the light versus dark thing going on (as she's blonde and blue eyed, and I'm brown and olive all around). Since Emma came out pretty hairy, light eyed and olive skinned just like Norah, everyone wants to know how similar they look-- it's so funny being so close in age, I'm able to relive some photo shoots! Exhibit A, starting with our hairy beast Norah:

And following with Exhibit B, our Emma:

Pretty dang different as can be! I do love so many things about all their differences. For instance, my ability to grow girls that are born with hairstyles. Norah had what I like to call the "Olive Oyl," and Emma has a straight up mohawk. I really need to gel that business and see what type of rockabilly she can really pull off.

I can't believe these two blue eyed beauties are mine. See those?! I grew those! And they're both pretty dang cool, too. I've said it once, but it's about time I said it again. How did I get so lucky!??! Not every day is perfect, and good lord knows I've struggled tons already, but I'm so thankful every day that this is what I get to be a part of. 

Visits, bath time and generally catching up

Emma had quite a few visitors her first few weeks! Ahhh, to be a newborn-- so many cuddles, and so much sleep to be had. Omi and Papa Vic dropped by:

Aunt Patti too...

And so many more! I just snagged a few pics. Again, I will never tire of visitors! We are so lucky to have family close by. (We are still hoping to be able to see Bryan's parents sometime soon! They moved to Missouri this summer and it's been hard having them gone!)

Norah has still been an absolutely adorable, loving, and helpful big sister. I was so worried that wouldn't be the case... but her love for her little sister right now is one of the absolute sweetest things I've ever seen.

Just a few backyard pics of us and our new snugly bear.

This girl's eyes are insane. Officially turning in to Bryan's crazy color changing eyes.

Bath time! She loves them! Unfortunately, she outgrew the sink after a few weeks though. bummer! On to the pink bath sling...

It's been rough keeping photos posted, but I'm going to try and do my best! Emma just turned two months old a few days ago, so a two month update is coming soon! (Also, my 'h' key on the lappy doesn't work sometimes.. so if I get some awkward typos, please humor me :)

Emma's Nursery

So, clearly this is quite a bit late... but with two kids, better late than never! When we were thinking about the girl's rooms, it had a bit more to do with space than actually moving everybody around. Norah got moved in to the larger bedroom, and Emma got her old room. I had fun painting trees on Norah's wall not too long ago, and we still liked the color, so we didn't repaint-- just updated some artwork, and added some of Emma's special gifts to make it hers! The Cunninghams were super sweet and lent us the exact crib we were planning on purchasing anyways (thanks Cunninghams! We will take good care of it!) and we ended up buying the exact same dresser (cheap and perfect), and a very similar chair (just by chance-- and turns out gliders are impressively expensive, even second hand ones). So, similar, but different! Emma is still sleeping in our room, but it makes it really nice to have a place all to herself. Not to mention, it makes our house seem a bit bigger now that we can officially play in all three bedrooms! (As Norah's new room used to be mainly for nerd storage)

A few fun artwork updates

The Burkhart Marketing department bought Emma a muslin quilt I was pining over!

A new mobile, Norah's freshly painted trees and a dress from my childhood-- and an adorable floppy bunny from Auntie Amy

Paintings from Becky and an antique Bambi lamp

Baby Emma: One Month!

I love that we got to do this with Norah, and am so excited to do it again with Emma. So here goes, here's Emma's first year as we go along-- month by month!

Weight: 10 lbs, 15 oz! (Sadly, the reason we know that is because she experienced the first bout of sharing with her big sister-- a nasty cold! I took her to the doctor's last week. They were happy to say gaining weight is not her problem. Congestion, however, is.) 

Sleep: I am going to try not to jinx it... but the first month has been surprisingly not warping-- either that, or since this is our second round with this, the newborn thing isn't as scary. (We are getting pretty good at operating at 3-6 hours of sleep... the times I can really tell is when someone asks me to do math or remember something... ha!) As soon as she came home from the hospital, she slept through the night for five hours. I was currently getting 5-6 hours of sleep with my work schedule... so this was normal. Plus I got extra sleep after she ate/was changed. To the point tat after these few days, I had to set an alarm every three hours to wake up and pump, just so my milk supply would stay up. This settled in after about a week, when she started waking up every two to three hours; that's kind of where we're at these days. Go to bed around 12-1, then up at 3-4, then up when the troops wake up around 7:30. It could certainly be worse! (Also, it should be noted-- sickness makes this all more crazy. These past few days has been dotted with Norah waking up five times a night with horrible coughing fits, and needing cuddles... and Emma having such bad congestion she wakes up choking and we have to lay upright on the couch all night... aaaah, memories!)

Social: It's pretty half and half, between being solidly asleep, and gazing right in to your eyes with her big, beautiful stare. She's very laid back at this point, and is pretty cool interacting (and getting massively snuggled by) sister, as well as most things. She hardly cries (unless she's in her car seat), and doesn't mind being held-- as long as you're good at 'baby juggling' (what? up on the shoulder? No? On your side? No? Bouncing? No? Swing? Okay, looks like the swing works.)

Diet: Breastmilk! Never had to use a shield, and so far she hasn't had any thrush or complications-- so she's been nursing (and putting on weight) like a champ. Feeling very lucky it's been going so well from the start. (That's not to say that breastfeeding doesn't have a learning curve... even if you've done it before. I spent the first few days with bloody nips, well, because she's never done it before!) 

Clothes: Just grew out of her pair of newborn clothes, and is now happily fitting in three month clothes. Cloth diaper bum does add a bit of bulk, but even in disposables there's no denying she's no longer a squishy newborn (which makes me sadder than I'd like to admit... we are slowly moving away from having newborns! Sigh...)

 

Likes: Eating, her sister, high pitched noises you make with blowing air our of your lips, snuggles, and looking in to your eyes. 

Dislikes: Being in her Solly Wrap when she's awake, and sitting in her car seat. Either of these things at the moment will make our 'hardly cries' newborn shriek like we're pulling her toes out. Poor gal... transportation isn't her game.  

Milestones: Smiles! They had been happening purposefully and adorably pretty early on (not just gas it appeared), but now we're able to coax them out of her. Norah has taken this as a personal challenge. I'm so loving see their relationship grow... it's pretty heart warming. Soon the laughs will come, and I think Norah will really understand her job with living with a newborn!