My First Month

Well, my first month in this world was pretty successful. Mom and Dad have been taking good care of me, feeding me lots, letting me sleep wherever I am, and when I cry they like to pick me up and talk or sing to me!

I've met many people so far, some family, some friends. My grandma Keeney came from NY to visit me. I've seen my Aunt Laura and Ben who visited from Texas. I've met two Great Grandmothers already and have been to Fort Collins twice now to see my other grandparents! I've been to a couple restaurants, the mall, and the baby store. Mom keeps taking me to the doctor to see how much I weigh, we do this every Monday, she's soooo predictable! Yesterday I weighed 9 pounds 12.5 ounces, you should have seen how proud she was of that. I guess I'll keep eating all the time to make her happy. It's the least I can do since I do try to give them a good cry here and there to keep them on their toes.

I'm trying to sleep for longer periods during the night and am seeing more daylight hours. Mom and I do fun things while Dad is at work. We play on the playmat and I get to look at animals that dangle and listen to music. I like to lay on my tummy cause I can hear mom and dad's heartbeats and it also helps me pass a little gas. It feels good once it is out, but can take awhile to get there. Good thing mom and dad are patient with me! I am always happy to see Dad when he gets home though. I miss him lots when he's gone. At night, mom and dad give me a bath. I really enjoy sitting in the sink in the warm water! They now put a towel down for me to sit on which is a lot less slippery than the plain sink and I can almost sit there on my own just relaxing in my own hot tub.

Well, I better go so I can eat and sleep some more. I'm looking forward to the next months and years. This is a pretty good family so far!

Dad posted new pictures of me with today's date. Don't forget to check them out!

First Day Alone

Today Emma and I spent home alone. Tracy started back ay work yesterday and grandma Keeney has returned to NY. It's only 2pm but things have gone very well so far! Two things she did today that were new: 1) I think she saw her toes for the first time and 2) she saw Lucy for the first time. First she was in her swing looking around when she looked down at her toes. Her expression changed to a look of shock and, perhaps it was only coincidence, but she then raised her right foot and kept looking at it for a good 10 seconds or so before her gaze went elsewhere. Second we were feeding when Lucy, our black and white cat, came up to sit next to us. Emma's head turned toward Lucy and watched her knead the pillow. It was pretty cute. Again she looked at Lucy as if she was in complete awe! I guess we would be too if we were seeing everything for the first time!

She likes to swing her arms around and make wild gestures with them as well as kick her legs. Perhaps she'll be a soccer playing orchestra conductor. She also is very good at using her head to look around and seems to have a real strong neck. She loves to look at the ceiling fan and also at the sailboat quilt that I made for her. Her eyes must be adjusting to farther distances. She continues to make all kinds of noise while she sleeps at night. Lots of sighs, grunts, and gasps at times. That makes it harder for us to sleep, but I keep telling myself its only for a short time.

We took her to get weighed again yesterday, a fun weekly tradition that we've started. She is now 9 pounds 3 ounces, 22.5 inches long, and her head circumfrence has increased to 14.6 inches around. She dropped to 7 pounds 3 ounces 4 days after she was born, it's nice to know she's gained two pounds in about 2.5 weeks! We have already started a pile of clothing that she is too big for. That's scary!

So far being 3 weeks old isn't half bad! But we do miss having Daddy home with us. As I close, Emma is currently laying in her vibrating chair snoring. Must be nice! I wonder how long it's been since I have slept deep enough to snore....

Here are some pictures that I took with my cell phone since her birth.

Grandma Keeney's Visit

Grandma Keeney is so blessed to have been able to come to Colorado to visit my little Emma Cari Jo. You met me at the airport and your Mommy really surprised me that she came in to the airport to meet me. I was just overwhelmed with joy to meet you . Tracy and Abbey are such wonderful parents and they are doing such a great job with you. You are so beautiful, and I do believe you have your Grandma Cari's newborn hairdo! I think I can remember pictures of her with hair just like yours.
We were able to take a few wonderful walks in your stroller and take you out to dinner and give you some baths. I think you are really going to like the water. You are such an angel from heaven. We will have to count the days until I come and see you again, I will miss you with all of my heart.

More Pictures

Emma is doing great. As of yesterday she weighed 8lbs 7.5oz. 6.5oz more than last week. Some nights have been rough and she is a bit more fussy but otherwise it's been great. More pictures can be seen here

Miss Emma update from Mommy

Emma's new favorite position is to sleep with her tongue sticking out. I filed her finger nails today for the first time, wasn't too traumatic for either of us. Tomorrow (Thurs) we will take her back to the hospital to get her last round of newborn blood work done and a few more errands. Will be good to spend more time out of the house but it sure takes a lot of planning to leave!

She's already 10 days old!!! Time is already flying. She's been in our room sleeping the last several nights and is doing well. This is a lot easier than having us alternate who sleeps on the couch with her downstairs. She's sleeping for about 3 hours in a row at night which is nice. It's also getting really easy to predict when she's hungry based on her movements before she even cries, making it much more peaceful in the house! :) She's more awake at times during the day which is fun, we're trying to play with her more and show her things. She does well at this and even had some tummy time on the floor today for a short period.

I'm feeling better every day with more energy and less achiness which is also nice. We'll probably take her to the doctor every week or 10 days to see how her weight has changed. It's fun to see her gain weight, she now has a second chin...maybe that's why her tongue sticks out so much, it's gotten too fat for her mouth? :)

Monday (two days ago) she was 8 pounds 1 ounce already....growing like a weed! She certainly eats a lot during the day and less at night, hopefully she is naturally getting herself into a routine where she won't need a lot of food at night and will start sleeping for longer periods, though this is probably a ways off.

It's amazing how much you can love such a small package and also how much you can worry about them at the same time! She's so great to have around and it's awesome to think of all the journeys that lie ahead for our family.

See some more pictures of Miss Emma here.

So Long To The Stump

Well the last few days have gone by very fast. Emma is doing great and as of this afternoon is one week old. She caped off her first week by losing her belly button stump on Saturday evening. Her parents are very happy (man that thing was gross) so far her button looks good.

After not being able to poop in the hospital for the first 46 hours Emma has a good grasp on it now. Like all the books say she has mastered the yellow mustard seedy poop. Dad has been keeping his top ten diaper changes in his mind but there has only been 5 really bad ones.

For most of the week Abbey and I have been splitting our awake time. Emma seems to want to sleep well propped up and it's been hard to get her to sleep in the pack and play in our room. Abbey has been spending a lot of the early mornings on the couch with Emma. We finally got Emma to sleep in our room last night. We are working hard to get into a schedule and pattern.

Sunday we spent the day in Ft. Collins with Grandma and Great grandma George.

Here are the latest pictures.