Five Months Old!

We can hardly believe she's five months old!

Wofford class of 2031

Here are Emmy and Will eating their first meal at Wade's (no, they're not really eating) before their first Wofford football game. This past weekend was Homecoming so Emmy made her second trip to Wofford on Saturday for the game. She did pretty well! We tried to stick her her "routine" as much as possible in that we tried to get her to sleep or let her sleep every couple of hours. She usually eats, plays for a while, then wants to sleep. Maybe only once a day, if that, will she go without napping in between feedings, even if it's a 15 minute catnap in your arms. She didn't take a long nap in the afternoon like she usually does but really overall she did quite well. She's such a good baby!

I'm afraid I didn't take tons of photos this weekend, but a few are posted. We had a great time seeing so many of our friends and catching up. Emmy got to hang out with Will, Elliott and Stella and met lots of folks. And, we found out a new friend will be arriving in May to Cindy and Kyle. YAHOO! Sunday after church we went back to Sparkle City for Stella's baptism. She was so good! What a sweetheart. She wore a Christening gown that's been in Eric's family for over 90 years. Very neat. We have Emmy's baptism planned for the Sunday after Thanksgiving and we're very excited!

The congestion that came around last week has settled in to stay. Emmy was kind enough to share it with me and I managed to fight off the sinus infection it became, thanks to the wonders of the neti pot. Now I'm just coughing a bit more, and so is Emmy. Her new penguin shaped humidifier is running tonight, so hopefully that will help. She is no longer sleeping swaddled and it's been hard to tell if when she has woken in the middle of the night if it was because of having her arms free, or if it was the congestion. I'm pretty sure it's the congestion. It doesn't seem to bother her really, for the most part, but today she was coughing more. Her first cold, poor pumpkin!

I can hardly believe Emmy will be 5 months old tomorrow! Our little baby is growing up!

I am inept with the snot sucker

Emmy has a little congestion that has appeared the last few days, and she's graciously shared it with me. She doesn't seem very bothered by it, but she does have a little rattling sound when she breathes sometimes. So, I have attempted to use the nasal aspirator, AKA the snot sucker, to help relieve her of the congestion. Either it's not so bad that she needs anything relived, or I'm very inept at using the aspirator, because usually all that happens is I make her madder than a hornet. Some saline drops have helped a little, but if you think the aspirator alone makes her mad, you should ask her how she feels about the saline drops. May I suggest ear plugs when you do so.

This past Saturday we took a trip down I-20 to meet "Aunt Sarah" for lunch at the Blue Willow Inn. Yum! She really wanted to see us and wasn't able to get here anytime soon for a visit, so she asked if we could meet halfway, so off we went! It was a quick trip so we could get back for nap time, but it was a fun trip. The food was delicious and it was good to catch up. Emmy loved looking at the fish in the pond outside.

On the way to Social Circle, where the inn is located, Charles noticed a big field of sunflowers along the interstate. Seriously, a sea of yellow. So on the way home, we got off at the exit right there and decided to try really fast to see if we could get a picture. Sure enough, the first right was a road that ran through the field so we stopped to take a picture. Yes, this does indeed mean we are undeniably related to Charles' Dad. :) Hopefully, we did him proud.

Emmy is in love with ceiling fans and light fixtures. She smiles at them and sticks her little tongue out when she does, which is super cute. She's particularly fond of fans. Turn a fan on when she's looking at it and her face lights up. She is also in love with the painting that hangs over our sofa in the living room. I sit there to nurse her frequently and she will stop eating sometimes to smile, laugh, and talk to the painting. The other night during dinner we had her laying on her boppy, facing the back of the sofa and she just sat there and smiled at the painting. It was painted for us by our friend Jocelyn when we moved into this house. We love it, but now it's even more special! Perhaps this means Emmy is going to be an art critic? Above is is a picture of her earlier today smiling at the painting, and a picture of the painting itself. It has been hard to catch a good photo since usually I'm too close to her, but I tried!

Four month check up

Emmy had her four month check up today. She is 9 lbs 13.2 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. She's in the 5th percentile now for height and weight which means she is ON the growth chart! WOOHOO! Her head is 10th percentile, so she's got a big noggin! Dr. J was very pleased with how she's holding her head up, following faces and objects, laughing, etc. All things a four month old should be doing, so she's ahead of her adjusted age. She had her 4 month shots and she only cried for a second and was then fine until a couple of hours later when it was obvious things took effect and she became pretty grumpy and fussy. She wanted to be happy, she'd stop and smile or giggle at you, but then she'd fuss some more. Poor baby! I left choir early so I could go ahead and bring her home and she's sleeping soundly. I'm sure tomorrow she'll be her old self again.

And then she threw up

Isn't she cute? I know, I'm biased. I took this earlier today after we came home from church and lunch. I knew a nap was in order for all three of us, so I changed her out of her church dress and put her in comfy clothes...the t-shirt was a gift from Granddaddy and DiDi after their trip to Seattle this summer and the cute shorties were knitted by Lizzie and we inherited them after Timothy outgrew them. They are wool so she just wears them over her diaper. I realized she'll be outgrowing them, too, before we know it, so I grabbed the camera because she was happy and smiling at the fan. And about 2 seconds after I took this photo, she barfed and I had to change her shirt. Oh Emmy.

Fans, oh how Emmy does love fans. She smiles at them and laughs at them. She's been rather fond of lights for a while, but fans are a more recent attraction. She also adores the painting we have over the sofa in the living room that our friend Jocelyn painted for us when we moved in the house. She would stare at it for a long time and now she smiles at it. Too cute.

Charles noted today as we drove up Walton Way after lunch that we had not come that way in a while and that was odd for us! I realize this means nothing to most of you, but this is the route we took to and from the hospital all those months. First, I was driving that way for doctor's appointments twice a week, then Charles was driving that way two or three times a day when I was in the hospital, then one or both of us was back and forth at least twice a day while Emmy was still in the special care nursery. And now here she is, such a big girl!

When we go out people who do not know us will comment on her and ask how old she is and we say "four months" or whatever. Inevitably they then say something to the effect of "oh, she's so tiny I thought she was a month old," etc. etc. But to us, she's huge! And, of course friends and church family who saw her earlier in the summer will see her and comment on how much she's grown! Charles says that she has worked hard for every ounce, every fat roll. He told her yesterday she no longer has calves, she has cows. Haha.

We don't know exactly how big she is. I know you all LOVE statistics and as soon as I find out how much she weighs and how long she is at her next doctor's appointment later this week, I promise to update you. I'm guessing 9 lbs 8 oz and 21 1/2 inches. It's hilarious that I know people how have given birth to babies bigger than that.

P.S. I hope you all enjoyed her awards tonight...she must have decided she needed to stay up and watch the Emmy Awards because for a change getting her down took forever!

Back from the beach and a wedding

We're back from a short trip to the beach. My cousin, Michael, was married this past Saturday in his hometown of Ocean Isle. I convinced my parents to rent a beach house for a few days instead of hotel rooms, so Charles, Emmy and I packed up and headed to the Wendy Gayle on Wednesday. We've stayed with them many times, but we've never actually stayed on the beach there. What a treat!

Emmy did okay on the trip, but four hours in the car is certainly a lot harder than 2.5. She does NOT like to be in her car seat that long and we had to stop a couple of times to let her eat and be changed and there was still a good bit of fussing. She did sleep, too, though, thankfully. Definitely not a trip I would want to make on a regular basis, though!

We had Wednesday and much of Thursday to ourselves. We went by my aunt's house on Wednesday evening before dinner and saw her and my cousin Lauren. We grabbed a quick dinner and hit the store before heading home. We got Emmy ready for bed, then swaddled her up and went for a walk on the beach. Fabulous! Thursday Emmy and I took lots of naps (a two hour nap in the morning for both of us, a four hour nap for her in the afternoon and about another two hour nap for me...guess who is still catching up from sleep deprivation?) and my uncle and Michael and my other cousin, Garrison, came by to meet Emmy. We spent a couple of hours on the beach late morning. Emmy loves being outside! She ate, took a nap, and played under the umbrella. We dipped her feet in the ocean, and I can't wait to really get to spend time playing in the sand with her next summer!

It was really nice having the house, especially with an infant. We had access to the kitchen for making and storing bottles, plus when we put her down at night we could stay up in the living room and not worry about waking her up. I'm so glad we had the house!

Thursday evening my parents arrived with my grandmother, so all of us met up for dinner. Mmm...seafood!

Friday was a cooler day and we walked on the beach, but didn't really go down to sit or play in the water. By the time we had folks stopping by, then we had lunch and went to see my cousin's new house, it was about time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner.

Saturday was the perfect beach day, so it made for a great wedding day! Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time at the beach besides a couple of quick walks. With the wedding at 2:00 pm by the time we'd have gotten down to the beach, it would have been time to come back up. So, we took walks, went to breakfast and my sister arrived mid morning for the festivities. Yay! The wedding was nice and the bride, my new cousin-in-law Crystal, and her family put a lot of work into the reception. I'm sure they were all exhausted by Saturday night!

Thankfully, Emmy slept right through the service. I nursed her right before the ceremony started, and she just did great. By the time the reception started she was awake and happy. I couldn't ask for more!

After the wedding we all went back to our house to get comfy, and then the family started arriving to check out the house and hang out. Beer was brought out and everyone sat on the deck and talked and had a good time. But, by 7:30 or so Emmy was turning into a pumpkin. I thought a cat nap was in order, but that was short lived. Charles gave her a bath, and it was like the light switch flipped and she knew it was her bedtime routine. I fed her, put her down, and she was out before 9. Ahhh. The family was gone by then and we ordered dinner from this fabulous takeout and delivery place we found. Delish! Seriously, one of the best meals I'd had in a while...delivered to our door!

Sunday the six of us had breakfast with Aunt Priscilla, Uncle W.C. and Grandma before parting ways. Mom and Dad took Grandma back home, Mer headed for her house, and we went to feed Emmy at Aunt P's one more time before we hit the road. Oh, and to fill the car up with washer fluid, thanks Uncle W.C.! We had to make one stop in Florence, then in Columbia we went to see our friends Libby and Tony. They just bought a new house, so we had to check it out! We had an early dinner with them and it was great to catch up. I thought Emmy would be fine getting back in her car seat after a couple of hours out, however she was just DONE. We stopped like 10 minutes from the restaurant to change her and feed her to see if that helped, but no. She just wailed for quite awhile until we stopped again and I nursed her. That got her to sleep and she was at least more peaceful the last 30 miles home. Whew.

Needless to say, we were glad to be home and glad to see Rags, who hung out with Mary Ann and Joel and Lucy-dog and Stuart-cat while we were away. She took a 5 mile walk along the canal on Saturday with them and even put her paws in the Savannah!

Today Charles went back to work. It was SO great having him around the last week and a half. We need to be independently wealthy so he can spend more time at home like this. Ha!

Four Months old!

Emmy is four months old today! Our sweet baby is getting so big.

We have pulled out most of her newborn sized clothes to pack them away with the preemie sizes she'd already outgrown. I took this photo as I was cleaning out her drawers. I realized I never took a picture of her in this cute hat her Aunt Beth and Uncle Griffin gave her. Clearly, she's not happy about out growing such cute clothes, but on to bigger sizes!


We had a lovely visit to Greenville Saturday-Monday. We celebrated Big Daddy's birthday, Will's baptism, and cousin Joanna's birthday. Unfortunately we didn't get to celebrate Joanna and Justin's ENGAGEMENT because the big proposal took place just after we all had dinner. But we will see them soon and we are so excited for them. Emmy's just excited to get to wear a party dress. And to eat cake.

Emmy met Mrs. Macauley, one of my childhood best friend's Mom, and finally met Uncle Chase. She spent time with Aunt Mer, who drove down with Chase, of course Big Daddy and Su-Su, and Cathy and Rafal. What a weekend! Charles and I often feel like we need another day to recover every time we come home.

This weekend she will attend another family wedding, so more tales coming soon.