Firsts...

Yesterday we visited dad at work and then went to mom's old office to meet her co-workers

Today was beautiful out so we went on our first walk...she slept the entire time!

Thanks Jonathan & Lauren for Emelyn's first Halloween shirt. It glows in the dark!

I love looking in those big eyes!

When Emelyn's hair is wet it's super curly!

Bonding Time

Emelyn and I don't get a lot of bonding time compared to her and Alisha. Alisha gets to stay home with Emelyn all day (not an easy task by any means) and Alisha gets to feed Emelyn. There's not much left for me to do except change diapers. However, Alisha and I decided to try a little experiment. We decided that Alisha would feed Emelyn except for the 2:00 am feeding in which I would feed Emelyn a bottle. Last night was our first night of trying this and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Sure, no one wants to get up at 2:00 am to a crying baby but the bonding time that I get to have with my daughter is priceless. I love looking into her eyes as she drinks her milk. It's like she has total trust in me even though I have done nothing to deserve it. She knows that I will be there for her. I wouldn't trade our bonding time for anything in the world.

2 week appointment

Not the best picture since her eyes are half open, but I love her side profile!
Daddy feeding her for the first time. Notice how she holds on to his finger?
Bath time! She loves her baths.

Yesterday was Emelyn's 2 week appointment. I love appointment days - they are very reassuring. Over the weekend, Emelyn had been really fussy and gassy, sometimes for hours at a time. Then she got overly tired from being fussy and the screaming got even worse. So we were thankful to go in for a check up. The goal was for her to be back to her birth weight (7lbs, 10 oz) and we also had a lot of questions about her gas/fussiness.

She's now 20.5 inches long and has gained OVER a pound - 8 lbs, 11.5 oz!! All my fears about her not eating enough are gone (when she eats she only eats for 5-10 minutes then either falls asleep or refuses to eat anymore.) So while I thought maybe she was fussy for lack of food, it turns out she's likely fussy from too much food! Dr. Jackson said the way to know if a baby is healthy is their weight, and that she's clearly eating good. He encouraged me to start a food diary to see if what I eat is causing her to be fussy, then also said to watch her, not the clock, to know when she's hungry/full. (Previously I had read that babies should eat at least 15 minutes every 1-3 hours and that if they fall asleep you have to wake them up to make them eat.)

I had already thought about the diet thing and had stopped drinking milk Monday after a very very long Sunday night. I think it has helped. Monday night she was great, and all day yesterday and last night she did amazing. As far as her eating, it was so nice yesterday not having to wonder if she's getting enough and to just let her eat.

On a side note, I got a lot of sleep last night! Jake has been wanting to get up and feed her for a feeding during the night, so last night, he fed her at 2:00am. He loved their time together (after he feeds her, her sings to her and dances with her as he burps her :) She wakes up about every 4 hours at night to eat, so after I fed her at 10pm, I was able to sleep for the most part until 6am this morning! Have I ever mentioned how much I love my husband?!?! Seeing him as a father makes me fall in love with him all over again. I always knew he'd be a good dad, but seeing him 24/7 as a dad inspires me. He truly loves every minute of parenthood and is so patient with her - even that night of her screaming for 4 hours!

2 weeks

Looking around
Grandpa and Grandma B were here this week. She loved to watch Grandpa (probably all the funny faces he made at her) but when Grandma had her she instantly snuggled in & went to sleep.
If daddy's not holding her, he usually is doing this.
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Miss Emelyn continues to change every day and we love watching her become the little girl she is. Tuesday we have her 2 week appointment and we're excited to see how much she's grown. For those of you who have asked, yes she is doing wonderful, and yes Jake and I get very tired at times. :) However, we love every minute of it - even the wee hours of the morning when she is wide eyed and wanting to look around. We look forward to more sleep, but also don't ever want to wish away these precious days. We know they'll be over too soon the way it is so we try to cherish each day. Here are some of our favorite things that we don't want to forget:

• Emelyn licks her upper lip and then smacks her lips when she's done eating or when we give her gas drops. It is SO cute!! I wish I could figure out how to upload videos to show you!
• She loves to snuggle and loves sleeping on daddy's chest.
• Rarely do we wake up to her crying - it's usually the loud smacking noises she makes as she sucks her thumb/fist/blanket/whatever she can get in her mouth. Seriously - it is REALLY loud! Her poor fist is always dry too.
• She has the cutest dimples when she smiles.
• Time seems to pause when she stares into our eyes.
• When we unwrap her to get her up, she's usually curled into a ball with her hands and feet brought in. She slowly stretches out one arm, then quickly pulls it back in. Then she does the same thing with her other arm. Once it's back in she does each leg the same way. Finally, she stretches everything out at once. Adorable.
• When she sleeps she loves to make noises - loud sighs, high pitched random squeals, grunts galore - you name it. We wake up to these some time and find ourselves rolling in laughter as she "vocalizes."

Meeting Family

Emelyn is already a week old. Wow. We already see a lot of changes in her from when she was born. It's so much fun to watch her change and grow each day. In the past week she has gotten use to us and us to her and we love the precious moments we have with her when she is awake.

She has met lots of family and friends in the past week too. Here she is with Grandpa and Grandma, and Jake's cousin Kelsey and her boyfriend Eric. Emelyn loved being held and spoiled by everyone!

First Well Visit Check Up

Emelyn's first Dr. appt... Thanks Aunt Kathy for the cute frog head support!

Today was our first "outing" with Emelyn. We went to her pediatrician for her 3 day appt. She checked out great and weighs 7 lbs, 7 oz which the Dr. said was better than expected. It was reassuring to see her weight because that means she must be eating good. I told Jake that I think/assume she's eating good each day but the scale definately made me more at ease! The Dr. also gave us some great advice for getting her schedule switched (currently she sleeps all day and is awake at night which I know is normal, but still that doesn't make it any easier!) We'll go back at 2 weeks for another check up. We both loved her Dr and are excited to go back to him. I have to say, on a side note, that we feel super blessed to have some of thee best Drs in this area.

Today Jake went into work so Emelyn and I are here by ourselves. I have to say I didn't realize how much that extra hand helped out! Thankfully the weekend is almost here. Each day seems to get better as we figure out what she is needing and what is most comfortable/useful for her.

A lot of you have asked how the labor/delivery went - if you don't want to know, please don't read below. :)

Saturday morning I started having contractions around 6:30am. They continued about every 5-7 minutes all day. At 8pm that night we went to the hospital just to make sure everything was okay with Emelyn and I. They monitored us for an hour and we found out we were 80% effaced and dilated to a 4. Since everything was okay and since we were planning to have her naturally, we went back home around 9:30 to continue laboring there and in the mean time, the staff would get our room ready for when would come in. The nurses gave us their direct line so that we could call when we did end up leaving our house so that they could meet us at the nearest entrance to my room instead of the ER. Long story short, my water broke shortly after we got home (around 10:30 I think) so we went right back to the hospital. Around 11 we were settled into our room, dilated to a 5 and continued labor while the nurses checked in on us every 15-20 minutes. At 11:30 we were at a 6; 11:45, 8-9; Midnight at a 10 and she was born 40 minutes later at 12:40am. We had prayed for a natural, bearable, un-complicated delivery and were blessed to have all three, along with amazing support in the hospital, and a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

Jake's parents arrived Sunday morning and stayed while we were in the hospital. I think they enjoyed their time with Miss Emelyn. :) Grandma sent us this picture they took of Emelyn. You can see her beautiful eyes in it!

Snugglin' and Sleepin'...

I love the expression on her face here, as well as her little knees up to her chest.
This was right after she was born when they handed her to Jake...
Tonight as she was laying on the floor sleeping... we put socks on her hands because she tries to eat her fists if they're not covered
Jake and Emelyn resting after we got home from the hospital

Emelyn Catherine is here!!!

Don't have much time (or energy!) but just wanted to announce that Emelyn is here! She was born at 12:40am October 12th weighing in at 7 lbs, 10 oz and 20 inches long. Here is one of her first pictures - we'll post more once we're home I'm sure. We are all doing well and had a simply amazing time witnessing this little miracle come into our lives. P.S. under that hat is a head full of cute black curly hair. :)

39 weeks

The days are counting down - one of these days, sooner or later, we really will be parents! Yesterday we were at 39 weeks and today at our Dr. appt we weren't any farther than we were 3 weeks ago at 36 weeks. As much as we can't wait to meet her, we fully trust that God (who's been creating her all along!) knows the exact day that HE wants her to be here, so we'll just keep waiting for that day. It's quite exciting waking up each morning wondering if that will be the day...

Here we are at 39 weeks:

Also, thanks for all the great ideas for what to do with the "extras." I have a large pile of things in my car to donate now - not just toiletries but also bedding sets, extra sheets along with all kinds of household items that we just haven't used in the last year or two that I'm sure someone else needs worse than we do. I took them to a place that gives these items away this morning but they weren't taking donations so I'll try again next time I'm out and about.

I seem really tired today for some reason - this is the first day in a long time that I just haven't felt so great. (Perhaps it's because yesterday I couldn't get comfortable so I tried to stay busy and cleaned our house from ceiling to floor - or so it seemed!) I couldn't sleep last night either and I'm sure that's most of it. Either way, I'm going to see if I can take a nap this afternoon - it's the perfect weather for naps - cool and misty out. :) Hope everyone has a great week!

Apple Festival

Today I went to the Arkansas Apple Festival - something I've always thought looked like fun yet just never went to until now. It's in a small town 20 miles from here and was a wonderful time! Tons of yummy apple foods, and it was a craft fair as well that had booths filled with cute, unique decorations. After eating an apple I couldn't resist buying a 1/2 peck of freshly picked apples. I eat apples every day, and I forgot how good fresh apples tasted! The weather was perfect and it was a fun outing with good friends. I'll plan on going next year for sure!

Also this week I found some great deals at Walgreens (have I ever mentioned that it's kind of a fun hobby of mine to find good sales matched with coupons?) I bought 2 Fusion Razors (for Jake) 5 bottles of softsoap body washes and an Oral B toothbrush. Total cost after coupons = $24.92 (plus tax) BUT I received register rewards for $22.50 off any upcoming purchases at Walgreens. So really I paid about $2.50 (plus tax) for all of these things (and actually I used register rewards from past purchases so I paid nothing):

I've been trying to spend my time this week cleaning out closets. I have a closet that I always put the toiletries I buy for free (or close to free) in. Jake always jokes that we have enough toothpaste for the next five years, but when I find something that I know we'll use and that is free when I match it to a coupon, I stock up. Well when I got home with the items above, I couldn't fit them in my closet so I decided it was time to organize. Guess what I totaled that we have? 17 bottles of shampoo/conditioner (yes, 17! mostly herbal essence and garnier fructise); 3 razors for Jake and 4 for me; 6 body washes; 6 deodorants; 2 toothpastes (so much for 5 years!); 3 toothbrushes; 2 bottles of mouthwash; 3 Glade plug ins along with many other miscellaneous things that I know we'll use.

I didn't know whether to be excited or appalled! On one hand, it's great to see how much money I've likely saved on what we would've been spending on these items, but on the other hand, 17 bottles of shampoos and conditioners?!?!? Apparently the idea that "we'll use it someday and since it won't cost me anything..." happens faster than we actually use these things. So now I'm trying to decide what to do.. while I know I'll use everything (I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't the brand/item that we use) I'm thinking that the items are "free" faster than we use them and my stock pile will keep growing. While it makes shopping fun to find great deals, I also don't want to be a hoarder. Am I the only one that does this? I've always tried to buy things when they're on sale and I have a coupon instead of waiting until we need it to buy it, but now I'm wondering if that's so great after all. Maybe I'll just start giving things away when I get too many. Advise anyone? How do others do this?