Emma: 22 Weeks

Emma is now officially 5 months old!

This week has gone much better than some of the weeks prior. We seem to be making headway on the whole sleep training ordeal for which I am oh so grateful. It is not easy to let your baby cry but after the last few weeks, I am 100% confident that sleep is a learned behavior and that sleeping and bedtimes must be taught. We've gone from having a baby who wouldn't go to bed before 11 PM (and who ate at 5 PM, 7 PM, 9 PM, 11 PM etc) to having a baby who eats for the last time ~6:30 PM and then is able to make it until early morning before needing to feed again. Last night, she went from 7:15 PM to 8 AM without eating!!! Granted, that could have been a fluke, but it's major progress. She still lets out a few squawks throughout the evening after we put her down but is no longer crying for long stretches before falling asleep. She usually wakes 1-2 times a night but I'm not feeding her if it's before 4 AM. The last couple nights a binky plug is all she's needed. Tonight I got brave enough to put her down back in her room with Isla (because I have company coming this weekend who will need the guest room!) I am so hoping we don't undo our progress.

Emma absolutely adores her sister. Every time Isla talks, it gets her attention, even if someone else is talking at the same time. Isla has a knack for making her giggle and you can just tell the two love each other.

Emma loves grabbing my hair and swatting my face while she nurses. Now I remember why I wanted short hair after having Isla!

She loves being held up above my head like an airplane and is starting to really enjoy peekaboo. Apparently she is also rather intrigued by her tongue.

Emma: 21 Weeks

Emma finally rolled over a couple more times for Graham to see on Jan 25th. He was beginning to think I'd made up that milestone. She frequently rolls to her side now to grab toys and can spin herself and scoot up with her feet. She seems to really enjoy rubbing her feet together and is almost always missing at least one sock.

We began our own version of sleep training this week. I just couldn't take the 15 hour days anymore and determined it was time to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep at a set time in the evenings. At first I tried putting her down after Isla around 7:30 or 8 PM but she was beginning to melt down closer to 6:30 so I bumped it up. I'm trying to give her a bottle at 6:30 PM and have her in bed by 7. If I can get my act together, I might even try bottle at 6 and bed at 6:30 but it is proving rather challenging doing all that right at the dinner hour. I can now see why my mom used to feed us at 5:30 PM!



Anyway, she was going down fine at first but then would wake up again anywhere from 15 minute to 2 hours later. We started by letting her cry for 5 minutes and then we'd calm her and then 10 minutes etc but she only got more and more worked up. I re-read my Healthy Sleep Habits book and finally we decided just to let her cry. I know there are a multitude of opinions on this but I believe whole heartedly that she needs to learn to fall asleep and fall back to sleep on her own. So, with Graham's support, I bit the bullet and decided we wouldn't go in there if she started to cry (ok, if we're honest, maybe he decided that one). The first time we tried it, she cried for 1 hour. And then the 2nd night it's like she knew it was coming and so decided not to to go to bed at 7 and cried for a half hour. Then she woke again at her usual 9:30/10 PM mark and we repeated the process. Of course I spent a lot of time crying too. Last night, after 8 or so nights of this, she finally went down without crying and didn't wake up again until 3 AM. Success! I'm feeling better about bedtime but now we need to decide what to do about the middle of the night awakenings and then conquer her cat naps during the day. 

Emma is extremely wiggly. She doesn't really sit on your lap anymore but rather tries to catapult herself out of your arms and onto the floor. We've had a couple close calls. She really loves is when I strip her down just to a diaper-all her limbs go crazy.



She is losing her hair by the bunches now, especially after I bathe her. You'd think we had a cat by the look of her sheet and swaddle. Makes me so sad. I know it will grow back, I just loved the way it was.

I think Emma is ready for solids. It's just that I'm not ready yet. She throws herself toward my dinner plate in the evenings and gets really frustrated while we're eating. I'll probably start in the next couple weeks but I'm dragging my feet as I've never been one to believe in starting before 6 months because it's just easier to wait. She obviously has a mind of her own though. Watch.

Emma: 20 Weeks

Every week seems to be marked with new successes and challenges! I am thrilled to report that this week we conquered the bottle! I thought the process would take much longer but maybe having three nights out (some work, some fun) the week Emma decided to refuse the bottle actually was a good idea? She got lots of practice with her various caretakers! We have given her one every day since last Monday, each time with less and less refusal. Last night Graham gave her one with zero crying. Hooray! We are warming it at least to room temp now (I gave up my dream of her taking it cold awhile ago...) Now we just have to keep it up....Every. Single. Day.

Sleep, sleep, sleep...that's been the main challenge this week. It's so complicated to figure out any sort of a schedule when you have two because there are so many factors to consider! But I've reached a point where I neeeeeed to get a bedtime established for Emma so I can be guaranteed even just one hour with my hands free during the day to respond to emails or work on MOPS stuff. And sleep training right now is not as cut and dry as it seems given our recent milk supply/growth issues. I would like to feed Emma less in the evening but then want to make sure she's gaining weight as she should. Ultimately my main two goals are: a bedtime before 11 pm and a good afternoon nap that coincides with Isla's. For whatever reason, we just haven't been able to get Emma to sleep (and to stay asleep!) any earlier than 10:30 or 11PM. She'll fall asleep earlier but then wake every hour or two and eat half-heartedly each time until she falls back asleep. I have a couple problems with this: a) I do not want to use feeding as a method to get her to sleep and b) she doesn't actually appear all that hungry. So, I'm attacking sleep this week. I set up the pack 'n play in the guest room with a nice white noise CD so that we can start to let Emma fuss a bit in the evening without waking her sister (this has been the main reason we haven't done it earlier). Graham gave her a bottle at ~7:15 PM with the hopes it would be her last feed for the evening. I laid her down awake at about 8 PM and she went to sleep. As if on cue, she woke up at 9 but I refused to feed her. We took turns giving her the binky and trying to soothe her which was less than successful. Finally Graham picked her up and she was out in minutes. We did not hear from her again until 5 AM--woohoo! Of course, eventually we will try to get her to go back to sleep on her own but I figure we'll take it in steps. I put her back in her own room after her early morning feed because it made me sad to have the girls separated again. :) Emma will spend the whole night back in her room once we get a good bedtime routine.

In other news, Emma is now rolling from her back onto her side to reach for toys. She hasn't made it all the way over that direction but it's progress. She also is arching and craning her neck a lot when she's on her back to see what's above her. I think full on, regular rolling is just around the corner.

Ok, and I gotta close with this one. This is how Emma really feels about these weekly photo shoots (gasp!)

Emma: Weeks 16-19

We've been too busy partying over here and I got behind on my posts! I guess I missed my traditional bear picture for both week 16 and 17 but oh well, such is the life of the second born.

 18 Weeks (1/3/11)

Emma just is quite the social sprite. She likes to be at eye level which has resulted in her joining us on the table in her bouncy seat during mealtimes (yeah, I know, probably not the smartest move but I she is always strapped in....) This will not last long as she no longer really enjoys the bouncy seat. She is, however, way into toys now which is fun.

Emma has discovered numerous new cool sounds her voice can make and shares them with us often. Notice also her mirror giggles and the attractive bald spot on the back of her head. :) (By the way, I'm sooo close to just buying a new camera if I can't get this stretched out video thing figured out soon! Ugg!)

She also loves it when you get right in her face so she can grab your cheeks. She gets super talkative and starts making the best noises. This is a mutually pleasing activity.

Emma caught Isla’s Mexican bug on Christmas Eve and it stuck with her for a good 10 days or so. This is already her second cold (not including her illness that required hospitalization that first week)….I don’t think Isla got sick at all until she was 6 months old at least. Again, the life of the second born!

Other facts about Emma: she flips out when you pull shirts over her head. Note to self: don't try any surprises involving blindfolding when she is older. She immediately starts arching and flailing, doing everything in her power to be able to see again. It's odd. 

She really loves it when her older sister plays with her. Isla likes to join her for tummy time and Emma really likes it when she reads to her. It's a win-win situation for all. 

Emma's New Years resolution was to quit sleeping through the night and begin waking AND eating about 3 times on average. Of course I later realized this coincided with my milk supply issues so at least we have a reason!

Her nicknames thusfar include: Emmy, Em n Ems and Emmy Bear.

 19 Weeks (1/11/12)

This past week can be summed up in one word: TOUGH!! But, then I look at these pictures and can't get over how worth it she is.

Our 4 month peds appointment was not so great. I’ve mentioned most of it but it was when we learned Emma’s weight gain had slowed and that my milk supply had nearly dried up. She weighed 13 pounds, 2.5 oz (25-50th %ile). Thankfully she remained on track with her linear gain and measured 24 1/2 inches (50-75th %ile). She also had what I thought was a zit on her face but it had turned green and the doctor said it was a minor staph infection and so popped it and instructed me to put warm compresses on it followed by Neosporin three times a day. Do you how hard it is to do a lot of things once a day with a baby, let alone three times? Somehow I think I remembered most of the time.

Praise the Lord I was able to preserve my milk supply (so far)! I’m taking this NASTY liquid supplement called MotherLove More Milk Plus (creative, eh?) but it works. I have to remember this one FOUR times a day and can’t drink anything for the 15 minutes before or after. But then I’m supposed to be drinking like there’s no tomorrow to keep my supply up. I tell ya, it’s no wonder I’m losing my mind keeping all this straight.

Of course as if all this wasn't enough, Emma also decided to quit taking the bottle. I'm not sure what she was thinking. If my milk supply had dried up, it would have been her only option. Anyway, she used to just be a bad bottle feeder (milk dribbling everywhere) but this week she actually started refusing the bottle, screaming and arching, the whole kit and kaboodle. At first I thought it was just me and then she wouldn't take one from Graham either. I REFUSE to be the sole feeder so we got right to work on this one and have had some success over the past few days. We are doing a bottle every single day so that she gets it down pat as I'll be returning to work before long here.

Emma went to the nursery for the very first time on Sunday, January 8th. She did great apparently and I was able to listen to the whole sermon! Of course this morning, she woke up all booger-faced, a classic Thursday morning post-nursery occurrence in our house.

But on a positive note, she rolled over for the first time on Monday, January 9th! She went from tummy to back and both Isla and I had the pleasure of witnessing it (I missed Isla's first roll because she did it on my first day back to work, the stinker!) She did it again today when I wasn't looking.

We finally have established a good morning nap that is usually about an hour or so in length. She more or less quit napping (or following a schedule) last week with all that went on so we are still working on our afternoon timing and establishing a bedtime. I have had some success getting both girls to sleep (in separate rooms) around 1:30 or 2 PM but Emma doesn't usually stay asleep for long without some intervention. And bedtime is a whole different story...we're lucky if we can get her asleep by 10 PM. I can usually get her down at 7:30 or 8 PM but she seems to think it's just a nap. Can't wait to reclaim my evenings again!

Emma: 14 and 15 Weeks

14 Weeks (12/6/11)

I feel like Emma has transitioned from little baby sleeping away in her seat to little person who is completely 100% interactive. She's begun to turn her head toward familiar voices and really likes to be a part of the party (i.e. wants to be in the same room and at face level with all the action). Some friends loaned us their play mat and I was shocked to see Emma reach out and grab the toys hanging above her. Man, time flies with baby number two! I feel like she shouldn't know how to do that yet but I suppose she is 3 1/2 months already.

In addition to grabbing toys, she also has discovered her fingers. Sometimes she'll just watch them move around but most of the time she likes to suck on them. We're trying to give her the binky in trade (since you can throw away pacifiers but you can't throw away the hand!) but she usually just grabs the binky from her mouth. Sometimes if we're lucky, she'll put it back in and chew on it.

Emma is totally sporting an ever-growing bald spot in the back. :( I'm pretty sure she'll end up with a mohawk and a mullet before long. I'm really going to miss her hair! It's the talk of the town. Seriously. I walk through the grocery store and hear people whispering "Look at that baby's hair!" all the time. I'll be so sad when I stop hearing that. It's her trademark!

Two nights ago, Emma slept from 10:15 PM to 8:30 AM and I'm pretty sure she only woke because Isla was crying!!! Needless to say, we seem to have already fallen into a pretty nice sleep routine already (praise the Lord!) I'd like to take credit for it but I doubt I deserve all of it. Either I knew better this time what sort of routine to work toward or we have a fairly easy baby. I'd like to say it's a combo of both. Emma usually is asleep in the evening between 8 and 9 PM and wakes in the early AM for one feed (somewhere between 3 and 6 usually). Then she sleeps until 8 or 8:30 and goes down again ~9:30 or 10 AM (usually when I'm running). Her morning nap is usually only 45 minutes or 1 hour but then she often has one longer nap (sometimes 3 hours if I'm lucky!) in the afternoon. She usually wakes a couple of times for a binky or a quick snuggle so it's not consecutive but I'll take it! She often wakes up before she's truly rested and then is fussy and falls back asleep in my arms. I have been successful at getting her to fall asleep on her own once swaddled. She usually takes a half hour cat nap around dinner time and then the cycle repeats.  

I think I am finally ready to put Emma in the nursery at church in the New Year. I'd been holding off because I didn't want her to get sick before our vacation (she had her 2nd cold last week). And because I'm a little more protective of her after our little scare. We're reached the point where I have to step out so much that I miss a good majority of the service so I think it's time. It'll be good for her. And me. 

We had her 2 month appointment at 3 months of age (for scheduling reasons) and she weighed 12 pounds, 12 1/2 ounces (a drop to 75%ile so she is now on the charts) and she was 23 1/2 inches long (50-75%ile). Her doctor wasn't necessarily worried but cautioned that she didn't want her dropping any further and so encouraged me to make sure my milk supply is ok by pumping daily. Given that she's wearing 6 month clothes already, I'm not too worried but I have increased my pumping. :)

15 Weeks (12/13/11)

I just love to put Emma in front of the mirror. She almost instantly starts smiling and laughing at her reflection--it's great entertainment for all.

She continues to be a challenging bottle feeder. We're using the Tommee Tippee but she doesn't love it, probably partially due to the fact that we aren't doing it enough! Guess we need to go on more dates (I hate "wasting" pumped milk when I'm home!)

Some other little facts we've learned about Emma:
-She loves to be swaddled. TIGHTLY. If the others in the room aren't gasping in shock, you probably aren't doing it tight enough.
-She likes to be held horizontally and have her butt patted. Sometimes she's fights the position when she's really tired but if you snuggle her tightly, it's a losing battle and she gives in. She does not like to be held vertically over the shoulder.
-If she starts screaming bloody murder (which she surprisingly does do), she is likely overtired and not hungry.
-She takes upwards of ~6-7 ounces per feeding when eating from a bottle (for the record, Isla NEVER took that much in the entire year she received bottles!)
-I'll close with this one: pink is her color!! Graham and I have both noticed that her looks have changed over the past couple weeks. We feel like she's cranked up the cuteness factor and her adorableness increases exponentially when she's wearing pink.

Emma: 12 and 13 Weeks

12 Weeks (11/22/11)



Definitely the highlight of the past couple days is that Emma has started to full on giggle. She's been doing some mild laughing for a couple weeks now but now I can say she laughs for real. The best part about it was that it happened when I was doing my devotions. I decided to read to her aloud and she just thought it was so hilarious and started laughing out of no where. Oh my goodness I just love it!

In addition to laughing, she's really found her voice this week. She squeals and sometimes shrieks just for fun--it is quite entertaining. Her sounds can escalate rather quickly from happy coos to high pierced screaming and it is sometimes hard to tell whether she is just "talking" or upset. But when she gets full on upset, man is she upset!! The girl may be generally laid back but she sure has an opinion about some things!

Emma has become a little fist sucker! She finds that hand of hers and can entertain herself for quite some time just sucking away. She also seems to enjoy sucking on my arm if it is anywhere in the vicinity. As a result of all this mouth action, we're going through a lot more onesies these days from all the drool.

The little missy slept through the night 11/17 (10 to 5 AM) and then again 11/23 (10 to 5:30). And then this past week she made it until 5 AM almost every night I think. I am a happy woman!

13 weeks (11/30/11)

Emma really hates dirty diapers as I'm sure anyone would who has poo like hers. She lets me know right away if she needs to be changed. I don't recall Isla being like that at all (maybe the reason she has such minimal interest in potty training?)

I realized that the wee one is not so laid back when she doesn't get a chance to nap all day (duh!) I crammed too much into my schedule on Monday and as a result, she never got more than 15 or 20 minutes of sleep at a time. She was still as rowdy as ever come 9 PM but then LOST it and we saw a new side of her for the next couple hours. Never again I say! Poor girl. Total mommy fail.

Emma: 11 Weeks

We have been feeling so especially blessed by this little girl this week! Over the past month, she has transitioned from needing to be held all the time to being a totally laid back, easy going baby and a super awesome sleeper. I keep telling people that my prayer was answered and I really couldn't ask for a better baby.

Emma is so interactive these days and I just love it! She smiles and "talks" all the time when you make eye contact with her and even started to laugh this week. She loves it when Graham says "Smile!" in his baby talk voice that I used to find oh so annoying, until of course I witnessed her reaction to it. She grins a lot for me but seems to have a special spot for her Daddy.

This baby girl SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT last Thursday which totally blew my mind. I think she fell asleep around 9:30 PM, I put her in bed at 10 and then didn't hear a peep until 5 AM. SO AMAZING! Of course she hasn't done it since but still... Oh and the room sharing is going great so far for the girls.

Ummmm, could someone please come over here feed me some grapes??

Emma is pretty good at falling asleep on her own. When she's ready to sleep, all she really needs is a good swaddling and she's out. She seems to like to nap propped up on a pillow or upright in the car seat the best although she did fall asleep on her own in the crib a couple times this week as well.

I should give an update on her bottle feeding. We started using the Tommee Tippee bottle about 3 weeks ago and she feeds SO much better. She still dribbles quite a bit but it no longer sounds like it's going down the wrong pipe-a very good thing!

She had her 2 month immunizations this week but no appointment because we missed the one I had scheduled while we were in Utah and they can't fit her in again until next month. She screamed ever so briefly with the shots and then was fine. She's such a trooper! She didn't poop for 2 days after which makes me wonder if the roto virus vaccine had anything to do with it? It's the first time she's done that so it caught me off guard.

Emma: 9 and 10 Weeks

(10 Weeks)



We were out of town last week so I'm just going to combine weeks 9 and 10. I mean, let's be honest, I'm not sure how well I'll be able to keep up my online baby book with baby #2! I really cannot believe Emma's already 2 months old. Everyone always says that but I really mean it. Time is flying!

-This little girl is so precious! She has started to make little gurgle sounds in the back of her throat when she's happy. She loves it when you do it back to her.

-For some reason during week 9, Emma had a backwards landslide with her nighttime sleep. She started waking 2-3 times a night and stopped doing long stretches. But I'm happy to report she went 7 hours between feedings last night!
-She got to dress up for Halloween:

Twice!!

-Emma went on her very first flight last week. She did great! We flew to Utah for Graham's nursing conference and to visit friends. Funny thing is, Isla's first flight was also to Utah to visit these same friends.

-Emma's first snow happened while we were in Utah (this is also where Isla saw her first snow).
-We moved Emma into her room with Isla last night. She's outgrown her cradle and since we spent most of the week all together in a hotel room, I figured now was as good a time as any. She did great! I'm hoping I will actually feed her less as sometimes I think I feed her simply because she's stirring, not because she's actually hungry.
-SAD NEWS: I think Emma is starting to lose her hair. I noticed a little bald spot forming on the back of her head yesterday. I am so sad. Her hair makes me giggle and I just don't want it to go away!

-Emma has a nickname now, thanks mostly to her big sister. Back when I was pregnant, Isla started asking us "Where's Emme?" We had no clue who Emme was and had no answer for her. As we were trying to pick a name for baby #2, Emme was a front runner, thanks to Isla. In the end, we opted for Emma with the thought Emme could be a nickname. Graham "tried it out" a few times but I had a hard time switching cold turkey and calling her anything other than Emma. But all of a sudden in over the past couple days, Isla just started calling her Emme and that's all she calls her now. It's pretty cute.

-We have a pretty good eat, "play," sleep cycle going although more so the first two than the latter during the day time. Emma's happiest times are after she eats--she is usually all smiles.
-I need to work on lengthening (ok maybe just establishing) nap times. I really don't want another cat napper and so I need to pay more attention to Emma's cues. Being a 2nd born, she sort of just has to go with the flow and so we haven't often been home for me to get her to sleep in her crib. That's my goal for the next couple months!

Emma: 8 Weeks

-Our poor baby caught the crud this week, just like the rest of us. She made it about 4 days without getting sick so I thought we were in the clear but then she started sneezing and coughing and now you can hear and feel the crackles in her lungs. She's quite the trooper though and isn't letting it get to her. I was SUPER nervous at first because I was afraid we'd end up back in the hospital but she's breathing and eating fine and doesn't seem too bothered. We had considered moving her to the kids' room this week until she got sick. Now I'm keeping her in our room so I can watch her like a hawk.

-I feel like we have a pretty good eat, play, sleep routine going on and she's getting pretty good at napping as long as I catch her earlier enough and get her swaddled.
-Emma LOVES her kitchen sink baths. They always make her happy and full of coos.

-Everyone always thinks she's a boy because of her hair. I guess it looks like a boy's haircut. Sorry people! I didn't have much control over the style she arrive with! :)

-We have a lot of nicknames in mind for our little lady but aren't quite sure how to start using them. Weird, I know but it feels funny to call her anything other than Emma at present. I just LOVE the nickname "Em" though. Let's be honest, I really hope she has a boyfriend someday who calls her that.

Emma: 7 Weeks

-Emma has been a cooing and smiling machine all week. I think she's pretty darn close to laughing too. I can't wait!

-Something must have changed this week. We went from having almost no blowouts to my having to remove the cover on the carseat and throw it in the wash THREE times. So far they were timed ok when I had just enough time to get it through the washer and dryer before we had to leave again but I'm sure I won't always be so lucky. I'm tempted through throw a plastic bag or paper towel or something behind her because if she keeps this up, we're never gonna be able to leave the house!
-I discovered that Emma loves lays on her back and look at toys. She doesn't stay occupied for very long doing anything, but setting her up with a couple toys usually buys me 10 or 15 minutes.
-Someone suggested Emma dress up as Elvis for Halloween. What do you think? I mean, look at her hair!

-Yesterday I successfully got Emma to take a nap in her cradle, not being held. I put her in bed tired but still awake and she fell asleep on her own. Then she napped longer than Isla!! I'm hoping we are moving away from her power cat nap trend.
-We seem to have bumped Emma's bedtime up successfully over the weekend. She went down at 10:30 PM on Saturday and then has gone down at 7:30 or 8 PM the last 2 nights. Wahooo!
-I am so incredibly grateful for her sleep habits thus far. I think she did three, 7 hour stretches this week, once of which lasted from 11 PM to 6:30 AM. It is amazing and I am in total shock and awe as Isla didn't sleep like this for MONTHS! Seriously, it makes me giddy. Of course last night was awful, but I can handle the rough ones if they are intermixed with these good ones!

Emma: 6 Weeks

This little girl has started smiling and I've fallen in love all over again. Times 10! It happened for the first time last Wednesday (10/5) when I got up in her face and said "Hi Emma!" I knew it was a real smile but made her do it like 5 more times, just to be sure. Today I was finally able to catch a picture of it.

I had been swaddling Emma with her arms out because she seemed to like it better after we got home from the hospital. But then this week, after one particularly rough evening when it was nearing 1 AM and she still wasn't asleep, I stuffed her arms inside and wrapped her super tight. She was out in minutes and thus commenced arms-in swaddling.

Oh my little presh presh! I can't get enough of these chubba cheeks!

Emma is sort of a spitty lady. The girl needs to be burped like I need oxygen to breathe. I definitely think she has some mild reflux as she urps and spits and looks like she gagging on a hairball if she is laid down flat too soon after eating. Thankfully I'm learning her cues and can usually tell when she needs a good burp or to be held upright. 

She isn't too keen on her bouncy seat but usually falls asleep on car rides in her carseat and will sleep for HOURS afterward if we keep her in it and transfer her inside. She has NEVER slept as well out of the seat and take lots of cat naps that last ~10 minutes.

She's making some fun cooing sounds and you can also see her gag on a hairball in this video. :)

Emma: 5 Weeks

Emma:
-has started to track this week and I swear she smiled at me multiple times on Wednesday.
-weighed 11 pounds, 4 ounces at her 1 month appointment on Monday (90th percentile!) She is totally out of her newborn clothes and is fitting the 3 month size.
-loves being held. All the time. She usually wakes up the instant you lay her down, unless she is in a deep, deep slumber.
-is such a night owl. She will NOT go to sleep before 11 or midnight no matter how many get-to-sleep methods we try. At least she sleeps a 4 1/2 or 5 hour stretch once she finally goes down.
-no longer likes to lay on our chests. :( She seems to like being held and bounced or patted.
-tried an Avent bottle this week and was able to pace a bit better.

Emma: 4 Weeks

Emma is doing great if I do say so myself! I had to start packing up the few newborn clothes I have yesterday as she's already outgrown them--boy that was short lived!

She continues to take a bottle every couple of days or so and seems to be getting the hang of it (sort of). She dribbles lots of milk still but is remembering to breathe now while eating. We have been giving her the bottle COLD, straight from the fridge, because one of my regrets with Isla was spoiling her with warm milk. It's so much easier to feed it cold, especially when you are out and about and have no where to heat it up!

I left Emma for the first time (other than a quick trip to Fred Meyer) on Wednesday night for 4 1/2 hours!! I got to sneak away to a girls night out for a friend's birthday and it was so lovely. Graham had a buddy over who helped with holding Emma while he put Isla to bed but reported that the night went great! Emma took 3 bottles in 4 1/2 hours...

Despite the bottle consumption reported about, it seems like Emma is no longer cluster feeding quite as much in the evening.

Emma has joined me on 3 runs so far this week (I'm back on my couch to 5 K plan) and so far is falling asleep in the stroller.

My sleep report is mixed: we had a couple nights where she was up quite frequently and then another night where she was wide awake from 3-5:30 AM. But then we've also had some nights where she stays up late but then only wakes up once between midnight and 7 AM. I've started trying to do somewhat of an eat, "play," sleep cycle during the day to get her to be awake more. I'm very hopeful we will soon have a good sleeper on our hands!

But on that topic, she is a LOUD sleeper, just like Isla! She grunts and groans and makes goat/sheep sounds when she is first laid down for the night or after a feeding. I'm starting to wonder if she has some reflux because sometimes it sounds like she's really in pain. So far she is still in our room but we'll see how long that lasts...We are still trying to get a good video/audio of the sounds she makes but here's a little intro. Honestly, her eyes are totally closed throughout this!

I had to tie her cradle so it no longer rocks because she was moving and spinning so much in bed that she'd get herself off-center and would tip it and get herself wedged up against the spindles.

Just like clockwork, Emma's baby acne arrived this week, just in time for the shower my sister and friend Rachel threw for us this weekend. The shower was perfect, complete with a hair-clip-making station for her head-o-hair. Emma is going to be the best-dressed girl on the block!

Emma: 3 Weeks

We introduced Emma to the bottle last Thursday, at 2 1/2 weeks of age. I am majorly craving a date night and since she nurses like a champ, we figured we'd go ahead and give her a bottle to make sure we didn't miss "the window" where she would take it. For some reason I could only find a medium flow nipple so she had major pacing issues and practically drowned at first--poor girl! Graham had to take the bottle out every few sucks because she wouldn't breathe if he didn't. Finally I located a slow flow nipple and she did better but we'll just say it isn't her strongest skill just yet. She's getting better with subsequent bottles though! I have a great milk supply and so am hoping to get into a pumping routine so we can make bottles at least an every other day part of our schedule.

The night before last, Emma stayed up until about midnight but then once she finally went down, she slept until 5:10 AM and then didn't wake again until 8 something! I'm hoping that starting with a bigger baby will result in better sleep habits earlier on but then last night was horrible so I'm not counting on it!

Graham's cousin Stew brought this lovely number from Korea for Emma. WHAT is THAT? (Doesn't her look just say it all?) Why, it's a Mashimaro of course! She seriously couldn't take her eyes off it. :)

Emma has really taken to the binky which is sort of a relief for me. As much as they are a pain to get rid of later on, at least we can get rid of them (unlike the thumb...)

Emma had her first visit at Children's Hospital this past Friday. We met with a cranial facial pediatrician and a plastic surgeon to have the skin tag in her nose evaluated. They are calling it a cleft nose although it appears very minor. We will take her back for a CT scan at 6 months of age to make sure none of the bones in her face are affected--the doctors are highly doubtful this will be the case. Then they will plan to just follow how her nose grows from there and determine when/if they will do corrective surgery to remove the little polyp and even out her nares if one is slightly higher than the other. Likely it will happen before she enters elementary school.

She is really starting to look around and engage with those around her now. She coos at me when she is quite alert--I just love that!

Isla loves her little sister and often asks for Emma to play with her. Isla had been sick ever since the day after we got home from the hospital and so we'd been trying to keep the 2 apart. Her nose finally stopped running so when she asked to hold her today, I happily obliged.

Emma: 2 Weeks (9/13/11)

Emma definitely holds the bragging rights that her first 2 weeks of life were more exciting than most!

At her first pediatrician appointment (at 10 days of age), she weighed 9 pounds, 7.5 ounces so was basically back to birth weight. Her weight has been all over the place with all the IV fluids and poor feeding when she was at her sickest but overall she's doing well.

She has a very strong neck and more or less holds it up on her own already. Often I will try to lay her on my chest and she'll pull her head up and crank it to the side, causing her to roll off my chest and flip to her back in the crook of my arm. I really think she does it on purpose because when I return her to my chest, she immediately pulls off again.

Sleep has been quite wild. I am already noticing some pattern now that we seemed to have conquered her day and night confusion. Emma is pretty hard to get down for the night as she wakes up the instant you set her in her bed. Her most awake hours seem to be between 9 and midnight so we sort of have to take turns hanging out with her until she finally falls asleep. Thankfully Graham is a night owl so I've handed her off to him on a couple of occasions and leave them to snuggle and watch movies while I hit the sack. Once she finally goes to sleep, I usually get a 3-4 hour stretch right off the bat. I feed her on both sides and lay her back down and usually she falls asleep but it's like she goes into light sleep mode. She starts getting really loud and grunty and I have a hard time sleeping through it. She usually wants to eat again in 2 hours but only on one side. I'll lay her back down afterward and she'll sleep for a half hour or hour and then want to eat on the other side. We seem to do 1/2 feedings every half hour to hour for the rest of the night which definitely isn't my favorite. We're working on it!

Emma really likes being on her tummy. There have been times where we lay her down for tummy time and she instantly goes to sleep. I really do think if we laid her on her tummy she'd sleep better and deeper but that's a no-go with SIDS risk so we are just going to grin and bare it until it can't be prevented whe she is able to toll to her tummy on her own.

I have opted to swaddle Emma with her arms out from the get go. At the hospital, she was sleeping with her arms up over her head so I didn't want to take them away from her. Now she lays with them by her sides and doesn't seem to need them wrapped so I figure it'll make the swaddle easier to break later on!

We ended up letting Emma have the binky when we were readmitted to the hospital. She sometimes takes it when she is really worked up or hungry but isn't very good at keeping it in her mouth just yet. It basically covers half her face so is quite the crack up visually at this point.

At our pediatrician appointment, our doctor reminded us that evening fussiness should be right around the corner. It's like she jinxed us because that night it started. It's nothing bad or major but Emma does not want to be put down at night and would prefer to eat constantly. I think I've been feeding her more or less every hour for 3 or 4 hours in a row and she acts starving every time. One of the feeds the other night was a 4 oz bottle so volume certainly isn't the problem! I tried putting her in the Moby wrap while going about Isla's bedtime routine to make sure I could do it on my own once Graham goes back to work. It seemed to make her happy so hopefully it'll be manageable.