A long overdue update on the happy, smiling baby

Hello all,

I know I haven't posted in a while! After we returned from Greenville, there hasn't been a whole lot going on around here, just taking things one day at a time! This past weekend Charles' parents came for another quick visit and we had a nice time with them. Richard took TONS of pictures, of course, and we downloaded them before he left so I have added those to the August web album and will shortly upload a few more of my own that I have taken in the last week.

Let's see...Emmy and I came home Thursday before last after stopping in Spartanburg on Wednesday to see some friends/former colleagues (here she is below with baby Stella!) and Anderson on Thursday to see Grandma (see all four generations at left!). We had a good time away, but we were glad to be home and Charles was of course glad to have all of us home again. That Friday night Emmy had her first non-family baby-sitter come over to take care of her while we went to our friend Jim's retirement party. We had a great time and were reminded of how much we love our Augusta friends with all the antics. Emmy did great and Celia even agreed to come again. :) The rest of the weekend passed pretty uneventfully as well. Charles helped our friend Joel put up a fan in their new house. It took them 4 hours. They said it was because of the giant hole in the ceiling under the exisiting light fixture. I think the beers they were drinking might have slowed things down. Ha! While the boys were "working" Mary Ann and Emmy and I went to Ms. Peggy's 75th birthday party. Except, oh wait, the party was Sunday. So we got all the way out to Hephzibah just as Pam and Steph were getting ready to take her to get her hair done for the party the next day. So we headed home, only to get caught in major traffic because of a wreck or construction, we were never sure, with Emmy screaming in the back. As Mary Ann said, we spent an hour and 45 minutes NOT going to a party. So, we returned Sunday, this time with Charles, to celebrate with them.

Last Wednesday some of the wives in Charles' unit threw me (and Emmy) a little shower. It was lots of fun to be out and we were also celebrating the upcoming birth of one of the other girl's baby boy. It was a nice evening and the diaper cakes that our hostess made as centerpieces were fabulous! I forgot to take any pictures at the shower, but I did take a couple of photos of the cake when I brought it home. Isn't it fabulous? She said she knew I was using cloth, but of course that would have been a bit more expensive so she used disposables. I'm sure I can find someone who needs them!

We kept the weekend low key with Granddaddy and DiDi in town. They got here Saturday evening just in time to head to dinner. Then we played hooky Sunday from church (the choir traveled to Louisville to sing with another choir for a big concert and we opted out since Charles couldn't take off work and I was pretty sure that 8-10 hours in a bus with Emmy wouldn't have been much fun for anyone). We had a leisurely breakfast and dinner and then they headed home late afternoon.

Emmy has been sleeping really well at night, on average 7-10 hours. Ocassionally she will wake up earlier or have a "bad" night where she's up a good bit, but those are rare for now. She is not napping very well during the day, though, unless I hold her or lay down on the bed with her. It's a big challenge to get her to nap in her crib, but I'm not complaining as long as she keeps sleeping well at night. And lately day napping has been better.

She's really "talking" and smiling a lot and she's better at entertaining herself for longer stretches in her bouncy, swing, or just hanging out on the sofa or floor. This weekend we put her in high chair for the first time while we were eating and she loved it! Richard took tons of cute photos of her in it, like the one here.

Emmy also LOVES her changing table. Seriously, about the only time she's unhappy there is first thing in the morning if you change her before you feed her. The girl needs her food. When you put her down and start to take her diaper off, she starts kicking those legs. She'll babble and wiggle around. When we take all her clothes off before bath time, she really gets going. We call it the "naked baby dance," and it is hilarious.

She's also started "talking" to her food sometimes. It's like she's so excited to eat, just just has to say so. It's pretty funny, but obviously an event pretty much reserved for my enjoyment. I'd imagine she's thinking, as one of my favorite bloggers interprets it, "shut up, another buffet?"

Her eyes have become very blue, as you can see, and I expect at this point they're probably going to stay that way, which is exciting. She's getting these amazingly long and thick eyelashes, which she'll thank her Daddy for later. I'm a little jealous, I must admit. Her hair is growing in a bit darker, but still pretty blonde. A friend said she looks like a little doll, and I guess she does!

Anyways, the smiles and laughs are lots of fun and we're enjoying it all!

Hanging out

We're hanging out in G'vegas for a few days. One of my longtime friends was married yesterday (congrats Tresca and Robert!) and so we came up Friday and attended the lovely wedding yesterday. Then Charles had to hit the road and head home to re-pack and then leave early this morning for a conference in Florida. Right into the fun tropical storms heading that way. I hope he took his rain jacket.

I decided that I'd stay and hang out and let Mom help with Emmy for a few days. Maybe I'll make a dent in thank you nhttp://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=1189669567638578517&postID=1636815581441787697otes or addressing birth announcements.

Emmy's not too happy with having her photo taken here and I'm looking rather goofy, but it is fun having her photo (our little future Wofford grad) with Dr. Owings, a longtime member of my home church and Wofford's oldest living graduate. He just turned 102 last month. Dr. Owings' daughter and son-in-law are two of my parents dearest friends. Mom forgot her camera yesterday when they went over for a visit, so we took a photo today at church.

I added some of Mom's photos from our last trip into the "Emmy's first trip to Greenville" album, and a couple of photos into August's. I will later add a few more photos off of my camera, which sadly do not include any wedding photos since my camera battery is dead and I cannot find the blasted battery charger. Fortunately it worked long enough to get a photo with Cindy and Emmy yesterday at lunch. We had a good time catching up with Cindy and Kyle! Also, fortunately, my dear cousin Joanna has the same camera so I can charge my battery tomorrow.

Three Months

Happy Three Month Birthday, Emmy!

She is smiling and talking to us a lot now. She loves baths and she's usually very happy when we put her on the changing table. We think she might be an exhibitionist because the child likes having no clothes on, at least for short periods of time. She's sleeping well...often 7 or 8 hours a night the last couple of weeks, and we'll take it when we can get it! Naps during the day are often hit or miss, and we need to work on getting more into a routine.

Emmy loves to nurse and the last couple of days she's been rejecting the bottle more and more, which is not good since I'm not producing enough for her so she'd just nurse all day if I'd let her and she needs to take the supplement. That's a bit frustrating, but it does keep me going!t. She is now waking up and fussing more when we take her out to eat or during church, but we can't complain. She's still such a good baby! She likes noise and I think we need a recording of a loud cocktail party to play in her room at night!

She stayed in the nursery for the first time when I returned to choir on Wednesday night. She did fine, but it was a bit of an abnormal night since some of us from the choir were rotating through taking care of all the kids because the regular nursery workers weren't there this week. However, tomorrow during church she'll get to meet them! There are two, sometimes three, other babies in the nursery so I'm sure the three or four of them, plus the older kids, will keep everyone on their toes!

We weighed her on our scale while Charles was holding her last night and we think she's about 8 lbs now! Yay! Soon she'll be triple her birth weight. It's delightful watching her grow and change!

Emmy's first road trip

We headed up to Greenville this past weekend for our first visit since Emmy was born. Both of my grandmothers are still living and they were itching to get their hands on her! So, we packed up the car and hit the road around 6:30 Friday evening.

I should have taken a photo of the car, especially the ride home. The stroller alone took up half the back of the car. We tried to limit the clothes we took, but oh, wait, you need extra because you are just as likely to need multiple outfits for the same reasons Emmy is. I have two words for you - spit up. Then on the way home we had a few gifts and things that inevitably wind up returning home with you. We'll have to be come better packers when we have a 2nd baby because I refuse to get a much bigger car!

Emmy slept the whole way up, which was great. It was very carefully timed so we fed her right before we got on the road. Any longer and we would have had to stop and feed her, I'm sure. My Uncle Mike was at Mom and Dad's when we arrived so he could see Emmy. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture and he was off to a wedding on Saturday so we'll have to take pictures next time.

Saturday morning my cousin Joanna and her boyfriend wanted to have breakfast so they came by the house before they also left for the wedding. We had a nice morning in pjs and Carolyn, one of Emmy's "other" grandmothers came by to dote on her.

We had lunch with some of "Da Group" Saturday so Emmy got to meet Uncle Justin (who wishes to be called Uncle Awesome) and Aunt Lindsay (who decided that therefore she should be Princess Fantastic) and see Lucas, Lisa and Baby Will again. After lunch, we headed back to Mom and Dad's. We had decided to have a drop-in and invite friends to come by because we knew there was no way we'd make it around to see everyone! So Emmy got to meet Amanda, Jonas, and Hannah, Carolyn (again) and John, Mr. and Mrs. Way, Mrs. Mardre, Cathy and Rafal, Meg and Jamie, Mrs. Hutchins and Mrs. Raney (more Greenville Grandmas), and our neighbor Debbie. I think that was everyone! I forgot

After the drop-in, we headed to Anderson to see Grandma, my Mom's mom. She came down to Augusta with my aunts the day after Emmy was born, but she hadn't seen her since and of course she hadn't held her! Grandma was so happy to see her! Mr. Hall came over to have dinner with us and we had a good evening.

Sunday we took her to my home church to meet lots of our church family. It was so good to be back and to meet their new minister. Trinity has struggled the last few years, and I hope and pray this is truly a new beginning for them. Mom and Dad were happily showing her off. She got fussy during church and there was no nursery, so she and I hung out in the nursery for a while. Fortunately the speaker was on in there so I knew when to go back. Ha! The minister, Charlie, said he loves baby noises, though, and I didn't need to leave! However, I think he might have disagreed when she really got cranked up.

We had lunch at Pete's and saw lots of people we know there and so Mom was showing her around some more. Then we went to meet Grandmommie, Dad's mom. She was hungry at first, but then she was happy to pose for some photos with Grandmommie.

In the afternoon we went to meet Baby Stella! She was born Friday the 24th so she was just a week old. So sweet! Oddly enough they were about the same size...haha. Eric and Erin are doing great and we're so happy for them! They struggled like we did to get pregnant and we couldn't be more delighted that Stella and Emmy will grow up together, and probably give Will a run for his money.

Of course we left Spartanburg way later than we planned (we were having too much fun) so we had dinner with Mom, Dad, and two of their friends before we headed home. It was a late night and were all pooped, but it was a great trip.

Plenty more photos are posted in Picasa. Enjoy!

The end of July

The last few July photos are up in Picasa. She's getting to be so much fun to photograph the more she giggles and smiles! She's really holding her head up and responding to you. She also still cries a lot, but you know, babies. She has had many more nights blissfully sleeping 7-8 hours, and for this I am so grateful. So is my body. I know it may not last and as there are growth spurts, teething times, and who knows what else she'll be up more, but I'm enjoying it while I can. Tonight (Wed.) would be the 4th night in a row if she'll go that long. Wow!!

The end of July was good for all of us. Charles' Mom and Dad came to visit weekend before last and of course she'd grown a lot since they were here! They came to church with us and for the first time Emmy woke up and fussed so I had to take her out. I think it's now time to go to the nursery on Sunday mornings!

The photos are of Em after church on Sunday in her cute outfit Aunt Priscilla and Uncle W.C. gave her, and then of bath time Sat. night. Richard took some cute photos of her during and after bath time! She sure loves her baths. More pictures of this past weekend and this month soon to come!

It's coming, I promise

I know, no new postings for over a week. It's coming, I promise. I will work on a nice long post about the last couple of weeks, including Emmy's first road trip to Greenville. We had a great time, and now I'm pooped! So was Emmy...she slept 8 hours again last night. Woohoo!