3.5 months

I know I say this almost every week, but I wanted to write down a few additional things that I don't want to forget about Emelyn at this stage. I also know that I say that she does something new each day, but it really does seem like she does.

-She doesn't like to have socks on and has figured out how to get her toes from one foot to take off the sock on the other foot.

-She rubs her hands together (looks like she's rubbing in lotion)

-Also, she's started to twirl some of her longer, original hair. When she lays on the floor, her right hand almost always goes up there and she rubs it between her fingers.

- She's starting to notice textures and loves her silky taggie blanket. She also likes to rub this blanket on her face.

- She has the sweetest sound that she makes at night when Jake and I talk to her. The only way I can describe it is to say that if a smile made a noise, this sound she makes is what it would sound like.

- That thumb. I seriously think she sucks on it more and more all the time. If she wasn't so darn cute doing it, I'd probably try harder to keep her from sucking on it.

- A sure way to get her to stop crying is to put her in front of a mirror. She looks at herself for a while, then gets this huge, shy smile on her face and burries her head into Jake or I. Then she looks up again, and sees herself and smiles again. Priceless.

Twirling her hair

On a side note, this brown shirt has a piece of candy corn on it that says "short & sweet"

Keeping our fingers crossed...

...that our power stays on. Tuesday an ice storm came through and that afternoon we lost our power and ended up staying with friends who had a gas fireplace to stay warm (their power came back on later that evening!) While we had a fun little slumber party, we were also excited to find out we had power Wednesday morning. As soon as I started some laundry, the power went back out (go figure!) but it was restored a few hours later. Our lights have been flickering this morning, but so far, so good!

Unfortunately, we have friends still without power, and there are a lot of trees down (some on top of houses, cars and power lines.)

Quick Note

Just thought I would let everyone know that my colonoscopy that was scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday, January 27th) has been moved to Wednesday, February 4th due to the weather that Tulsa is expecting today/tomorrow.

This little Piggie...

... just learned to squeal.

As I've said before, Emelyn learns to do something new each day. Some of the fun ones lately:

"spitting" bubbles
rolling over
"belly" laughing
using her leg muscles to stand on us
grabbing onto toys
sucking on her thumb

This squealing sound she just started this weekend is not so fun. :( At first we thought she was in pain. Then we thought maybe she was sick. Now we've realized she just likes to make this awful noise because she can. I hope it disappears like all of her other "new" things have.

Dedication

Today was baby dedication at church and Lloyd and Cindy were here this weekend to celebrate with us. It was also Cindy's birthday so we had fun celebrating her while they were here.

Happy birthday, Grandma!

Family at Baby Dedication (and of course, Emelyn is looking elsewhere!)
Emelyn's special bracelet from Aunt Mary. Also, Emelyn loved her ladybug dress from her soon to be Aunt Megan... Uncle Chris proposed to her this morning! We're so excited to have she and Kayden in our family!!! Two family weddings coming up this year... such fun!

With Grandpa and Grandma

Emelyn and her friend, Charli, who is a few days younger than Emmy.

Good news....

1) We are home from Tulsa from Jake's colonoscopy - or actually the lack of a colonoscopy. Dr. Von Mueller wasn't able to do the scope because Jake wasn't cleaned out. So, we'll be going back Tuesday to do the two scopes. The good news, though, is that she doubts his lack of blood has anything to do with his digestive system since he's been able to eat without any problems. We'll know for sure on Tuesday, but her optimism was very encouraging.

2) The second exciting thing is that my sister Valerie is now engaged to Justin!! We love Justin and are so excited to have him "officially" in our family. They'll get married over Christmas, and Val asked if Emelyn would be able to walk down the aisle by then. If she can't, Val said she'd have Joe Jr pull Emelyn and Janessa in a wagon. So cute. It reminds me again how excited I am that Emelyn has a cousin just a few months younger in age. (And that her other cousins are just a few years older!)

Inauguration...

Attempting the "roll"

Not to be outdone by our new president, Emelyn wanted to be inaugurated to something yesterday too - the "rolling over club." After a week of watching her roll back and forth from her back to side, last night she rolled over for the first time. She quickly figured out how to get her arm out from under her and looked up and smiled at us. Precious! We thought it would scare her the first time she did it, but it didn't phase her!

Home Sweet Home...

Most of you didn't even know that we were "gone" this weekend, but it sure feels good to be back home as a family! Here's a recap of our weekend:

• 5:00pm - Friday: Jake had a Dr. appt b/c his legs had been swolen a few days. Dr. was perplexed and ordered a laundry list of blood tests, urine tests, ultrasounds etc...
• 5:15pm - Friday: Received a call from lab saying Jake's Hemoglobin was dangerously low (5.4) and that he needed to go to the ER asap for a blood transfusion (Even though he was feeling great)
• 10:00pm - Friday: Still in ER after 4 Doctors came in to try to figure things out. Jake was admitted to start transfusions and Emmy and I came home.
• 7:00am - Saturday: Transfusion complete but levels were still low (7.1) . No idea where blood is going and Jake still feels great (but tired and irritated that he's stuck in a hospital since he feels fine...)
• 3:00pm - Saturday: Dr. finally makes rounds to check on Jake. No answers, just ordered more blood transfusions to get Jake to a higher level
• 10:00pm - Saturday: Transfusions complete; Dismissed to come home and very anxious to go to bed!!

Good night everyone! And just so you know, no, they still have no idea what's going on, so we'll be venturing to Tulsa next week for some more in-depth testing. We're just thankful to be at home tonight sleeping under the same roof in our own beds!

Visitors from afar...

Yesterday morning we received a call from some friends saying they were in Louisiana and were on their way back to NW Kansas and wanted to know if they could take us out for supper on their way through. What a fun surprise! Merlin and Bonnie were like a third set of grandparents to me growing up and they loved on Miss Emelyn last night as though she were their great-grandchild! We had such a wonderful time talking and catching up. Thank you so much for taking the time to stop on your trip home, Merlin & Bonnie - We love you guys!

Scootin'

Another thing that I love about Emelyn at this age is that everything is hard work and she lets us know - from loud sighs, to her moans and groans when she gets done eating, she lets us know how hard being a baby is. :)

Brrrr....

Tummy time!

She seems to enjoy snuggling with her super soft John Deere blanket more than anything.
I thought this one was hilarious! We were watching American Idol... I told Jake he should've put his thumb in his mouth too...

Early morning smiles for mom

Kissing on (actually eating on) her cow

As I am typing this, there is snow on the ground, and it is barely above 10 degrees! Wow! This is rare for Arkansas. Days like this make it fun to stay inside and snuggle up. Emelyn turned 3 months old this week. She is much more fun than I think we ever could have imagined. Some things we don't want to forget about her at this stage:

• she smiles quite often and likes to try to laugh
• she seems to find new noises that she can make each day
• when she's on the floor she loves to lay on her right side.
• She loves her hands - to suck on that is - she won't take a pacifier
• she still doesn't like her car seat :(
• She actually likes to watch her Baby Einstein videos
• She also loves to be part of the action - wants to be looking out to see what's going on around her
• She also likes to be in her bouncy chair.

Our Friday...

Talking with dad...

Happy to be back home after playing with friends...

Things that make me smile...

Watching my husband go to work on a day that's finally nice enough for him to ride his bike
Listening to Emelyn "talk" while we fold clothes "together" She definately likes to be part of the action!

Watching Miss Emelyn play and talk on her play mat (and her little belly - adorable!)

Another favorite (which Jake won't let me post) is hearing Emelyn when Jake sings to her. I can't describe the noise she makes, but it sounds like she's trying to sing along. I LOVE it!

First Doll

Jake's parents gave Emelyn a "My First Doll" for Christmas, and she's just now starting to notice things and try to touch them with her hands. Here she is with the doll after church today...

Kelsey and Eric came over today too. Emelyn and Kelsey were playing with the doll and Emelyn fell asleep "holding" onto it.

I resolve to...

Emelyn & Miss Amy at the New Year's Eve party
Emelyn in her chair looking at her pretty sparkly socks - thanks Tonya!! She loves them and so do Jake and I!
Holding her head up to check out dad

I know most people only check this to see pictures of Emelyn, but I thought I'd share a couple of resolutions in addition to her New Year pictures. I've read that you should decide HOW to reach your goals as well as have accountability for those goals; I'm not sure how many people actually read this, but something about typing these out for others to see gives me a sense of accountability. Here goes:

1) The notorious one, be healthier. To do this I hope to

-exercise 20 minutes at least 4 times a week

-eat out less (or at least be aware of the caloric values on the foods I eat)

-at least for a while, start tracking portion sizes & caloric values of foods I eat so that I am aware of what I'm eating

-eat a better/bigger breakfast with protein each morning.

Before having Emelyn I was pretty good at these, so really I'm just hoping to get back on track.

2) Spend more time with God. Since having Emelyn, it seems the days/weeks have flown by without a regularly scheduled time alone with God each day. Therefore, I resolve to start doing this first thing in the morning again before Emelyn wakes up. In order to do this, I also need to pick up the house each night, so that I'm not distracted by things to do around the house during the time I have before Emelyn wakes up.

3) Keep life simple. This was our resolution as a couple last year, which is part of why I quit working as much, and I hope to continue this in the coming year. Ways to do this: consume less, enjoy the little things in life more. Be spontaneous. Take advantage of a beautiful day at the park instead of accomplishing my to do list for the day. Yet at the same time, stay somewhat organized and plan ahead to be a good steward of time.

That's about it... someone once told me that if you have to wait until January 1st to change something, you really aren't ready to make the change. I'd like to think that these are things that I've been working on and am now getting better at. :) What about you guys? Anything you hope to improve on in 2009?

Welcome Janessa!!!

I can think of no better way to start the New Year than to announce that I am a new Aunt!!! Joe and Dana had a beautiful baby girl this morning around 4:45am. She's perfectly healthy and was born in Colby.. praise God! What an answer to prayer. She's 5 lbs, 5 oz and 17 inches long and has lots of dark hair. She was breech and was born via c-section. Joe said once Dana's water broke at home (around midnight) , things happened really fast and Janessa likely would've been here faster had she not been breech. I can't wait to meet her!!