Happy Halloween!

First, a big Happy 1st Birthday to Tyler! We really hope that his birthday was just a special as he is...

With Emersyn still being a little congested, we had to pass on going to Tyler's birthday party today. Since it's her very first Halloween, we did bundle her up to officially go trick-or-treating (to 2 houses) at my parents' street. Cameron was excited and it was really adorable to see them both dressed up!

As much as I want her to stay this little forever, or at least go slower growing up, I can't help but look forward to next year when Emersyn can run along with Cameron while they trick-or-treat together!

Mommy and Emersyn ~ yeah, we're so cool we have matching Halloween socks! ;-D

All the pictures are on snapfish, at the end of the album!
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2212730009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Costume Day!

In an attempt to save her costume for tomorrow, we sent Emersyn's penguin costume to school with her and didn't put it on her. (Of course, she went through the costume, the cute halloween outfit, and another change of clothes by the time I picked her up today so Daddy still has to wash her costume for tomorrow!) It is true though, Emersyn is "so cute, it's scary"!!!!And, since it's the end of the month, here's the link to ALL the pictures for the month of October :: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2212730009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
I'll try to get the Halloween pictures up soon, but keep looking out for it... There's nothing cuter than a baby penguin and a 4 year old cop!

Sports Day

I don't think I mentioned it, but this week is "Spirit Week" at Emersyn's daycare. This is, naturally, their PC way of celebrating Halloween. Each day is something different, ending with Costume Day (again, the PC way of celebrating Halloween). Monday was Crazy Hair Day - only one of Emersyn's classmates could participate and it wasn't on purpose!! Tuesday was PJ day - thank goodness since our Monday was the night from hell when we lost power. Wednesday was Mismatch day - Daddy got to dress Emersyn all by himself. Today is Sports Day...

Now, we all know that Chris and I don't agree on football teams. As a Browns fan and a Ravens fan, we survive football season on our mutual hatred of Pittsburgh. Fortunately enough, I was never a big college fan, and so Emersyn gets to be a Buckeye fan just like Daddy!! As fate has it, I literally just ordered an Ohio State Cheerleading uniform in Emersyn's size. (No lie, you'd be surprised at how hard it is to find anything team related in anything smaller than 6 months!)

It's Started

And so the house hunting (hell) begins.

I know we've only been out one time, but I really thought it'd be more fun that it is. Really, it's just pretty disappointing. Nice house, plot sucks. Nice plot, location is horrible. Nice location, house is about to fall down.

We go again Thursday...

You Know What Really Sucks?

I'll tell you what sucks... Having a sick infant, two very active puppies, a true scaredy cat, a cat that likes to torment the two very active puppies, a contractor installing a new door on your house, and NO POWER!!!!

Yeah, that's right. The new doors finally came in, so the guy comes to install them and halfway through the power gets cut off. Luckily the main door was installed and just didn't have any trim up, but there's still a hole around it that lets a nice little draft into the house...

Chris kept calling BG&E and getting different times on when the power would be back on. Apparently somebody didn't call Miss Utility before their dig (every dig) and hit an underground power line. So, joy of joys, we got to load everyone up and have a little slumber party at my parents house last night.

Thank GOD, they love us and have a great understanding that we wouldn't do it to them if we had another option... 7-something last night, we show up - Chris, Emersyn, Cuya, Dobie and I - for the night. And let me tell you, there is seriously nothing like holding a flashlight under your chin while trying to measure out bottles, pack clothes for yourself and your (sick) infant and your husband, not trip over the freaked out puppy (Cuya) that won't leave her spot between your legs even when you're trying to walk, get dog food together for the next morning, get the bottles ready for daycare the next day, find your keys, add the new door's key to your keyring, and keep the (sick) infant covered up because not only do you not have any light but you're also losing heat at an alarming rate...

I remember when power outages used to be fun! =P

Oh, and did I mention that this morning we had to pack everything up, load all of us up, go to our house to drop the puppies off, start Chris' car so it warms up, run inside to change my shirt since the baby "decorated" it for me, and still drive all the way to College Park... Oh, and on top of that, tonight we're supposed to go out house hunting with our realtor tonight. So, I have to leave "early" to go get Emersyn, get her home so my mom can babysit, feed her so my mom doesn't have to deal with that while fighting off the puppies who love to get lovin's from Maw Maw, and be ready to go at 4:15... And it's raining...

Phew...

Emersyn went to the doctor's this morning (which is another story in itself, since Chris accidently went to the wrong location and we wrongly assumed people acted like there were infants in the sick waiting room...). Chris assures me that the doctor promised Emersyn just has a cold and that it will go away on it's on. Apparently, happy Bird that she is, the doctor couldn't believe that Emersyn was feeling even the slightest bit off... you know, being that the baby wouldn't stop talking to the doctor the whole visit and was very curious about all the instruments the doctor was using! So tonight we'll use the humidifier and that should help Emersyn feel better.

Sick Birdie

Every once in a while, over the last couple days, Emersyn sounded a little congested. It was so rare, and usually only on the even more rare occassion when she'd cough... But today, you can really hear it in her chest. Emersyn's such a happy baby though, even though she's having a hard time sleeping and is soooo tired, my little bird is still smiling and talking up a storm! And she just adores her new swing that Maw Maw got her!!

Our Day...

Today's a good day! We started our day off with some story telling, done by the infamous Emersyn. I gotta say, that girl really knows how to tell a story!!!

We met with the realtor, Jason... who we love, by the way. And we get to go out and look at a few houses on Tuesday. Emersyn had a lot to say about that too...

But now we're all about to pile into the truck so that Daddy and Emersyn can drop Mommy and Maw Maw off at the Hippodrome... As an early Christmas present, I'm taking my mom to see Fiddler on the roof. Tevia - or Topel in real life - is retiring after this tour and he's the "real one" from the movie too. Yeah, I'm that fabulous of a daughter! LOL! But Emersyn didn't think Mommy's and Maw Maw's excitment was all that well deserved...

(Just wait until I can get all the videos uploaded to the internet... Aren't you in for a special treat!! LOL!)

Woo Hoo!!

Well it's official... We're house hunting!!! :D

Chris talked with a friend of a friend, who's a mortage broker, and we have a "good faith" approval. We get to meet with Jason Donovan - our potential (and most likely) realtor - on Saturday!!

On a side note... Emersyn is just a little motormouth!! I know she gets it honestly (from Daddy of course - wink, wink), but she just goes nonstop! It's so adorable. I love when she concentrates really hard on what you're saying, and then looks like she's trying to say it too... I have no doubt that before we know it, she'll be telling us all how it is!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Ahuge Happy Birthday to Emersyn's Pop-Pop... The old fart is 52 years old today!! ;)

Happy Birthday!!!!

Correction --- somehow (I blame the pregnancy) I managed to lose a year. My dad is actually 53 now... Don't be too shocked; I actually argued with Chris not to long ago, about who played in the last Super Bowl. I really did manage to lose a whole year!

On the Farm (Again)

Since it was so nice today and Emersyn was in such a fabulous mood, we tried the pumpkin patch/farm again...
She literally cried for all of 3 seconds while we took the picture! Of course Emersyn was all smiles the whole time, until that split second when the flash went off...
Putting Emersyn on hay wasn't one of my brighter ideas. She didn't really like it that much! ;)
The pigs had her so amazed!! It was so funny because Emersyn fussed when we walked away from them and just "talked" to them the whole time!

Happy Baby!!

Emersyn getting ready for daycare this morning...

It's supposed to be nice all day, so with any luck we'll try the pumpkin patch and farm again this afternoon!!

Mommy's Helper

So now that we're on some resemblence of a schedule, I can (finally) cook dinner again. Only this time it's way better... I have a little helper, or at least someone to talk to me while I'm making it!!

Emersyn in her highchair "helping" Mommy with dinner.

Telling me all about her day... or, probably, what to do!

My Pretty Bird!!

It's hard work helping Mommy... or, at least, it's really tiring doing all that talking! ;)

Our Big Eater

Every day, since the doctor's told us it was ok, Emersyn has been getting 4 oz bottles. We send 2 to daycare and she's set for the day. Well, Birdie is getting really big now!! (tear) Ms.Barbara told me today that we might want to bring an extra bottle or make them 6 ozs tomorrow... Apparently Emersyn isn't quite done eating when the bottle runs out, but politely tells her teachers all about it!

She's not even 3 months yet... How can I feel like Emersyn's so big already?!?!?! Sometimes this Mommy thing kind of sucks! ;)

Maybe Later...

I've given up trying to get Emersyn "through the night"... Maybe next weekend we'll try to stretch out between feedings, but for now, I give up!! :)

Our Bright Idea

Emersyn does really good at night normally. I mean, I wake her up for her 1:30/2 am feeding so that we can keep her on a schedule. The one time she went longer was when I didn't wake up until about 3:30 and it threw off her schedule for like, 2 days! So she's a good sleeper... well, she's a really good baby all around...

Anyways, last night I got the bright idea that we should stretch out her 5:30/6 pm feeding until about 6:30 and then push her 9-ish bath and feeding back until about 10:30 so we can try to let her go through the night... Seemed simple enough since she's slept 5-6 hours before without any problems.

The thing is, I didn't start feeding her quick enough after her bath... normally, as soon as she's dressed after her bath, the bottle is right in her mouth! Seriously, it's flawless teamwork that an Olympic infant bathing & feeding team would impressed by. If she starts eating right away, she averages about 2 ozs before she locks her lips and passes out for the night... (That calming bath stuff is amazing!)

Since I didn't get to feeding her right away, she was already in lip locking mode when I started feeding her... it only takes about 7 minutes for her to get there so it's not like I was running a marathon (hahaha) before I fed her... After about a half hour of trying, I conceded to her only taking half an ounce!!

By 3-ish she was up again, starting to get hungry. I'd rock her back to sleep only to wake up 15 minutes later because she spit her pacifier out... again... This went on until she ate at about 4:45.

If I was smart, I would have tried this on a weekend instead of a Thursday night. If I was smart, I would have had the bottle waiting especially this time since we were trying something new. If I was smart, I would have just left well enough alone. If I was smart, I wouldn't be dead on my feet today... Cross your fingers for better planning tonight!

2 Month Wellness Check

Yestday afternoon Emersyn had her 2 month wellness check with the Pediatrician. The bad news is that she had to get vaccines, and unlike the other ones she's had so far, this time Emersyn could react or get symptoms from the vaccine. There's a ton of good news though!

Firstly, while we still need to watch for a fever or a couple other signs, Emersyn seems to have taken the vaccines excellently!! She's one of the lucky ones that just crashes out for a while. I mean, her appointment was a little before 3, she ate last at 1:30 at daycare, and after the blood curtling screams from 2 shots in the leg, Emersyn slept until almost 8... when she woke up screaming her poor little head off because she was so hungry... and then she ate a little over 5 ozs!

Not to brag or anything, but once again the doctor (a new one since Dr.Hill was so booked up) told us Emersyn is "just perfect" and "absolutely amazing"! She's now weighs 10 lbs 3.5 ozs and is measuring 23 inches even. For those keeping track, that's only one pound up from her one month appointment, but a full 2 inches! Her weight is in the 45% range and her height is in the 75%... So basically, we're back to a tall skinny bird! :)

Emersyn is a little ahead of the game as far as development too. The doctor was really impressed and a bit surprised by her eye contact... especially when she locked eyes with Daddy from across the room. Apparently this is not only a huge step for her socialization, but it also means there's no retardation or signs of autism. Her neck muscles are "very strong for her age" and so are her legs! It was cute when the doctor told us she might be starting to "talk" soon... she doesn't know Birdie so we had to tell her that the baby has been talking and singing for over a week now! Apparently, that's a bit ahead of "schedule" too! I don't know where she gets all that vocal-ness from though...

Emersyn goes back for her next wellness check and another round of vaccines in December. But keep on the lookout for lots more updates and pictures! You know I'm always talking about her and I just can't stop taking her picture!! :)

Look Who's Talking

I don't know where she gets it from, but a little over a week ago Emersyn realized that she can make sound... Since then, the child hasn't stopped! I really don't know where she gets it from... Birdie came out "mouthing", hence my little nickname for her, but only every once in a while did any sound come out. And - knock on wood - she's never been much of a cry-er or fuss-er. Then, all of a sudden, she started talking to me!! Emersyn would laugh and smile at me before, doing it more regularly and more in reaction to me or whatever was going on. The talking is too cute though!! Just yesterday, after a super long day of shopping with my mom, Nosy Bird was soooo over tired (a first) and so I was rocking her to try and get her to relax a little bit... I started singing to her and damn if Emersyn didn't look right up at me, smile, and start singing along!!! I kid you not, she started doing her cooing but stretching each sound out like she was singing... I tried again later last night, and she did the same thing!! Of course I keep trying to get it on camera but she's just not having that. Seriously though, Emersyn's a little song bird!

2 Months Already

OMG... This time 2 months ago, I was in labor and axiously waiting to meet our daughter! I can't believe that it's already been two whole months! Seriously, where the hell does all the time go and how come it didn't do this when I was pregnant?!?!

Birdie has an appointment tomorrow afternoon for her 2 month check up. I'll keep everyone posted on how much she's grown and how fabulous the doctor says she is!! LOL!

But today, we're going shopping with Maw Maw so I hope everyone has a fabulous Columbus Day!! :)

Refs 2 --- Ravens 0

A huge thank you to the NFL refs that have been working the Baltimore games the last two weeks... You know it's not just being a blind homer when frickin' sports center is complaining about the calls against us, the unfairness of the refs for calling the same "hits" two different ways depending on which QB they're against, and saying point blank that the calls have determined the games. Thank you Refs, without you, the Ravens would be able to play their game and could actually be undefeated.

Sears Again

I finally talked Chris into letting me do professional pictures of Emersyn each month for the first year... She'll be 2 months on Monday, so we went to Sears again today. With Halloween this month, we (Chris agreed after a little begging) decided to do a "fall/2 month" outfit, a halloween outfit and her costume... I was only allowed to get a couple of the pictures this time since I (stupidly) promised that when we made the agreement to do the monthly pictures (in the heat of the moment and all that). They are too frickin' cute though!! Sears was/is also doing a free collage as a halloween promotion, so we got that and put in the other pictures that I wanted... I have to set it up, but Sears has an online gallery that will show all the pictures from the session. As soon as I set it up, I'll post the information so you can see all the fabulous pictures!!! :)

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2212730009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

We Survived

It's Friday and it's (finally) the weekend... As much as I enjoyed the weekend before, I have a whole new appreciation for now that Emersyn is in daycare!! I'm really proud that we survived the first week and that we did so well. Ok, so I'm the only one who actually had a hard time with it... I'm still proud that I survived it!! =P

Birdie is still super nosey so she's not sleeping much while she's at daycare, but it is getting better. She's eating great and towards the end of the week, she didn't even need her clothes changed because of spit up! I know that sounds silly, but when she's anxious she just chows down on the bottle and then spits most of it up shortly after... her keeping most or all of it down is a pretty big deal.

The teachers just love her!! Not a single day has gone by where every teacher/staff member we pass on our way out doesn't stop us to say goodbye to Emersyn... and now that they know me, they even say "aw, Emersyn's leaving already?" when I come in. They've told Chris and myself more than a few times that they "just love her" there and "she's such a good baby"!

Apparently, it's also not just Chris and I that think she's a little advanced for her age... yes, I know that's not saying much since she's just an infant, but still... The teachers can't get over how well she holds her head up, how attentive she is, and how much she interacts with them. I guess normally the babies her age are more blob-like??? I don't know since Birdie literally came out looking around and watching everything!

Oh, and since she's awake sssooooooo much during the day, Emersyn sleeps like a champ at night now... I mean, she's always been a good sleeper, but now she doesn't even stir at night and I have to wake her up for her middle of the night feeding since we're still not ready to try going all night yet. (Emersyn's 2 month check up is Tuesday, so we'll talk to the doctor then about it.)

I'm just so glad that this weekend is a long one. I need the extra time with my Birdie!!! :)

Pictures

Ok, I've forgotten a lot to post the snapfish links of all the pictures... So I'm posting them now! As an added bonus (and in hopes of buttering you up for forgiveness of my slacking), I even took my mom's camera to get the Emersyn pictures off of it!

September 2009
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1949852009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

October 2009
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2212730009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Mom's Pictures
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2214107009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

One Month Sears Pictures
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2037483009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

First Bath Pictures
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=2049654009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Swader Family Visit
http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1985376009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Emersyn's First Day

Well, that day has finally come - way to fast if you ask me - and Emersyn has started daycare... She was asleep when we dropped her off, which only makes me worry more. I mean, they had her down as a boy first off. I understand her name being spelled wrong, but there should be no reason after all the talks with them that they should have her as a boy. And even though we gave them a doctor's note, the "third in command" lady tried to tell us that Emersyn couldn't have the wedge in her crib. This is after she read the stupid note too! All the stuff is in her paperwork - like that she has to be woken up to eat if she doesn't wake up on her own about 4 hours after her previous feeding, she needs to be upright for about 30 minutes after she eats to help reduce spit ups, that she only gets her pacifier when she's really fussy or having a super hard time falling asleep, if she wakes up the tiniest bit and sees something new that she'll stay awake because she's so nosey... this is all in her paperwork, but when is the teacher going to be able to read through it if she's got all these babies to take care of?!?! And why the hell are there 5 babies with only one teacher when the state mandated ratio is 3 to 1 until the age of 2?!?! I know it's early in the morning, but shouldn't they be prepared for that?!?! Plus, Emersyn gets room temperture bottles, so are they really going to warm them up to room temperature for her or will just heat the bottles up like "normal"??? I mean, Emersyn was sleeping when I had to leave her... what is she going to do when she wakes up in a new place, with new people, with these little people like her when she's never seen a baby her age before, and there's no Mommy around to let her know it's ok?!?!?! Uuugggghhhhhh!!!!!! I hate leaving her!! :( I did good though... despite all my worries and physical (yes, it really is a physical hurt and need) pain of leaving her, I did it after only about an hour. Don't judge me, that's almost as much time as I've been away from total since she was conceived!! I hardly cried too. And the crying I did do wasn't like sobbing-crying, just the teary-crying. Today totally sucks though. I used to really like my job and what I did; I was proud of it. I used to really like my coworkers, the customer, and my boss... But, I also used to really like the daycare. Now it's all stupid and I hate it and the daycare is sooooo not good enough to have my daughter there!!! I'm told "it'll get easier", but I don't really see that happening too soon...

Here's some first day pictures though::

What Can I Say...

... it was a long night, the game wasn't that interesting and cuddling is really cozy!!!

(Besides, she started it...)