2-2-2

As of today, Emily is 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days old!
That's 2-2-2!!!

I'm obsessed with the number 22... or 222... so this is a big day!

One could also say that Emily is 11 weeks old. But that's boring.

She's doing great! Smiling more and more every day... and starting to laugh and coo... which is very cool! I'll try to get some video of that posted here.

We also have a little "game" we play... she'll stick out her tongue at me when I do it to her... but now she'll do it to me before I even get a chance to do it to her!

In the morning, when I get Emily out of bed, she'll look at me, smile and then stick her tongue out at me... it's so cute!! (I'm sure it will get old if she never stops sticking it out at me... or at other people. But until we can teach her that 'it's not nice to stick your tongue out at people'... it's REALLY cute!) What's cool, is I can tell she's so happy with herself for knowing how to stick her tongue out! And it's obvious that she loves making us smile & laugh!

Here's a video of Emily playing in her newest toy, The Exersaucer. It has all sorts of colors and textures and lights and sounds... It spins and rocks and bounces... It's quite the contraption!

(Sorry the quality isn't that great... I'm still learning how my video camera and software work...)

Ahhhh... Sleep!

I slept for 7 hours IN A ROW last night! That's right... SEVEN WHOLE HOURS!

And the night before, I slept for 6.5 hours in a row.

EMILY'S SLEEPING FOR LONGER THAN THREE HOURS!

Knock on wood.

10 Weeks Old

Emily is now 10 weeks old -- my how time flies!

Here are a couple pictures of her from this weekend:

In her new custom-made onesies to celebrate the neighborhood "uncles"...

It's not my diaper... It's Putz!

For those of you that know Mike a.k.a. Putz... this doesn't need any explanation!

Buddy's Little Buddy

Emily loves her "Uncle" Buddy -- and he loves her!

A cute little patchwork dress... with pink Crocs!

And a beautiful dress that Grandma Tricia gave her...

Baby Chip is a BOY!

I'm happy to announce that Heather went in for her 20 week ultrasound today... and Baby Chip is a BOY! Yipee!! I know that Lee will be happy to have a little hunter & fisherman!

We're also excited that Emily is still the only baby girl in the family! The twins are still There, of course... but as for new babies, they're all boys... Oscar Seager... Oscar Brown... now Baby Chip Wood! Emily is the only little princess!

Heather and Lee have chosen a name, as well... Matthew Robert Wood. I LOVE IT! If I was a boy, my parents were going to name me Matthew Robert!!!

For those of you who don't know, Heather is my cousin... eldest daughter of Mary & Kim. She's only 6 years younger than me, and has always been like a little sister (as has Amy). I'm so excited that she's going to be a mommy!!! I know she'll be awesome at it!

Oh... and since they're last name is Wood, we've been calling the baby "Chip" -- get it? Wood Chip!? hahahaha

CONGRATS, HEATHER AND LEE! I LOVE YOU... AND BABY CHIP!

So strong!

Emily is such a strong little girl!! She can hold her head up, put all her weight on her legs, roll over and push herself up from her tummy!!! Before we know it, she'll be walking!!!

Standing... barely leaning on Mommy!

Sitting up... no more wobbly head!

Putting all her weight on her legs!

Okay, time to give our little over achiever a bath...

Shots!

I took Emily this afternoon to get her shots... and, as to be expected, she was NOT happy! There were two nurses... each took a thigh of Emily's... and on the count of three, while I was holding her hands, the nurses injected the needles... two in one leg, one in the other.


Emily screamed bloody murder!


It was horrible! She turned bright red and cried REAL tears for about 30 seconds... then quieted down as soon as I picked her up and started rocking her. It's nice to know that I'm such a comfort to her -- I thought for sure she was going to keep crying. But no... then after a few minutes, she started up again, but it only lasted about 10 seconds... then she fell asleep.

We're home now, and she's sound asleep after a good feeding and some snuggle time with Mommy.

I wasn't looking forward to Emily's shots... but I was very anxious to see how much she weighs now.


Reminder: she weighed in at 8lbs 14oz at her one-month exam. What does she weigh now, you ask?


DRUM ROLL.....


12 POUNDS 8 OUNCES!!! She gained 3.5 pounds in one month!!!! I guess that's what eating 30 ounces/day will do to a baby!! She likes her mealtime!!!


However, she's not fat... she looks like a "normal" size baby. She's in the 90 percentile weight, though. Eek!

As for length... she's 22.75" long -- which I think was 75 percentile.


And her head is now 39 cm... which is 50 percentile.

While we were there, the doctor had her do tummy time to see how strong she is... SHE DID A PUSH UP AND HELD HERSELF THERE! The doctor looked at her in awe and said "That's 4-month-old developement!"

Yes, that's right... Emily is an over-achiever!

So, she's doing great!

Here are a couple shots from the doctor's office...

2 Months Old

Here are some shots that we just took of Emily... she's two months old today... and so beautiful!

8 Weeks Old...

Just a few shots of the little lady...

Smile!

We've managed to catch a few shots of Emily smiling... she tends to freeze up when the camera's in her face.

Four Generations of Rose

On Sunday, we took Emily to visit her Great Grandmother, Rose.

Here are four generations of Rose... the original Rose, Nancy Rose, Erin Rose and Emily Rose.

I was so happy to see that Grandma really did take an interest in Emily being there. Normally it's hard to tell if Grandma knows what's going on... but she coudn't take her eyes off Emily!!

She even gave Emily kisses on the forehead!! It was so amazing!

Grandma always loved babies... and she loved being a mother and grandmother... so I know she was very happy to meet her latest great grandchild!

I love you, Grandma!

Look alike!

Here is a picture from the RRB newsletter from March 1980, when Nancy visited the Board with Erin for the first time.

The picture to the right is a recent picture of Emily at roughly the same age...

Notice any similarities!?!?

Smile!

Emily is smiling now! She's been doing it on and off for a couple weeks, but now it's becoming a regular thing.

I love this face!

How can someone so little...

...take up so much space!?

Miss Emily isn't even 2 months old yet and has so much stuff!

A nursery full of furniture, toys, clothes and diapers... a travel system stroller... a bouncer... a swing... TWO play-yards... a gym... a sling... a Chicco baby carrier... a Bumbo... THREE high-chair seats... you name it, she probably has it!

So why, I ask you... after all of that... 100s upon 100s of $$$ worth of stuff... does she like the ONE thing that didn't cost anything!?

Her favorite piece is a simple bouncer that's 30 years old! Our neighbor Sandy lent it to us... all it is, is a metal frame with a piece of fabric on it and a belt. You use your foot to bounce it... which I'm doing AS I TYPE! This is the ONLY piece of baby gear that will make Emily happy 100% of the time... if she's fussing, put her in it. She'll be happy... and probably fall asleep.

As a matter of fact...


Here she is when I went on to the computer about an hour ago...



And here she is now...
















Note: The awesome red, white and blue blanket was made by Grandma Tricia -- I love it!


Now... I feel I must say THANK YOU to everyone who gave Emily baby gear... she does use it all... don't think that the only thing she uses is this bouncer... it's just our go-to item for unhappy baby! ;o) Thanks, Sandy!

Monkey

Emily's official nickname is "Monkey" due to her constantly flailing arms and legs... and very long monkey toes. She's a cute little monkey!

So now I'm always looking for monkey stuff... clothes, toys, etc.

When Grandma Tricia and Grandpa Keith were visiting, they bought Emily a Monkey Gym... a place for her to practice tummy time, play with the hanging toys, etc. It's totally awesome and I want one for myself! As a matter of fact, I think Keith took a picture of me lying on Emily's... so I'll post that when I get a hold of it.

Until then, you'll just have to enjoy pictures of Miss Monkey in her Monkey Gym...

4th of July

This weekend was Emily's first official camping experience... we only stayed one night while visiting Grandma Nancy at the church's camp-out... but it still counts as camping!

Emily did great... she spent a lot of time in her stroller with the netting surrounding her, since the mosquitoes are HORRIBLE this season! She loved sitting by the camp fire... although she smelled like bacon afterwards! Honestly... she did. I blame Erin Jo and John for cooking brats over the fire... why else would she smell like bacon??!

She only woke up once in the middle of the night... so camping definitely agrees with her! Actually, since then... she's been sleeping pretty good overnight. The last couple nights she's gone 6 hours between feedings! She feeds around 7pm... then not again until 1am-ish. Last night she fed at 7:30pm, went to sleep around 8:30pm, and didn't wake up until 1:45am!! Good job, Emily! Mommy and Daddy like their sleep!!!

Here are a couple pix of Emily from yesterday... Auntie Erin Jo gave her the cute little stars & stripes piece... it's supposed to be a dress, but fit more like shirt since Emily is growing up so fast!

Here she is with "Grandma Judy"...





And with "Grandma Maggie"...

And of course, with Grandma Nancy!
















Later on in the day, she changed into a sweet tshirt that says "American Baby" -- I'll post pix later when I get them off of Auntie Erin Jo's camera.

Yes, I realize Emily is both American and British... our little dual citizen... but I thought Independence Day would be a bad day to wear anything NOT American!!!

Back to work...

After many tears, I went back to work on Tuesday. I REALLY didn't want to leave Emily! It was a lot harder than I thought it would be... I thought I'd be anxious to get away for a few/eight hours a day... but nope, would MUCH rather be at home with her!


Work, 2am feedings, and the serious lack of sleep is definitely wearing on me already... but I'm sure I'll get used to it sooner or later... hopefully sooner!


Here's a recent pic of me & Emily in downtown Lake Geneva, courtesy of Grandpa Keith. I LOVE this picture!