6 Month update

I can't believe it, but Emma is just over 6 months!  Time really goes by so very fast....it seems like just the other day we were bringing her home from the hospital and I was learning how to take care of this tiny fragile baby.  And now she is starting to turn into a little person, with personality and sass, and I LOVE IT!

Last week we went to the doctor for her 6 month check up and here are her stats (and see how far she has come....this picture is shortly after we brought her home:







Height:  26 inches (65-70 percentile)

Weight:  15 lbs. 3 oz (35 percentile)

Head: 50 percentile

Emma is changing by leaps and bounds!  Here's a little bit about Emma at 6 months:

• She can really sit up well for a minute or two and then starts to lean over.  She loves to have toys in front of her while she sits up so she can grab and throw them around. 

• She loves to grab everything and put it her mouth.  She grabs hair, my necklaces, she'll grab a hold of your lips and ears.....anything and everything is a potential snack.

• She rolls from her back to her front and front to back.  She is gearing up to crawl I think because she is fond of going into a down dog position where she arches her legs up (into a sort of upside down "V" shape) and she loves to reach for toys that are put out in front of her.  We have to keep a close eye on her because if left alone she will roll all over her room and has almost made it under her bed!

• She can bear her weight and semi stand up quite well and loves her Baby Einstein stationary walker.

• She has started to laugh a lot more and it's quite possibly the sweetest thing I have ever heard.  She is also noticing the dogs a lot more, and they make her laugh and smile.  I have a feeling they will be best friends before too long.

• She recognizes me when I come to get her from school, or if I have left the house to run an errand and come back home she will hold her arms up in the air and smile at me.  I completely turn to mush and have to scoop her up immediately and give her lots of kisses.

• She likes to watch TV on Saturday mornings with Adam while I am working out.  That's their Daddy daughter time.

There are so many more things about Emma I could write about but it would take me all day.  Sometimes Adam and I are talking and we say to each other "I love her so much, it's overwhelming."  You just don't think  you can love something the way you love your child.

 

It's just amazing to me how she has changed, and she really does change every week, day, probably hour.  How amazing is God to have created us this way!

Having fun on mom and dad's bed



Hanging out in the pack n' play while I sort laundry

School Pictures

When I went to pick Emma up from school yesterday the informed me that I needed to go down the hall and look at Emma's school pictures and see if I wanted to purchase any.  Since I am a sucker for any pictures of our baby, I went to check it out.  I remember getting a notice in her bag one day saying they were going to be doing pictures, but it said for 6 months and older and she wasn't going to be of age so I thought nothing of it.  But they actually were able to get some pictures of her to my surprise.  So I broke down and bought one sheet and I think it will be good to send out to family members.  And it's her first official school picture!

It took me back to the 80's where all your school pictures were behind these terribly tacky backgrounds.....I think we all remember the library one, where you are sitting with your hands on an open book looking all studious (spelling?).  And then I remember one in Elementary school where I am in a proper dress with collar and I'm sitting/standing next to a gumball machine?  Why?  I will say I'm really glad that I never had any of those cheesy splatter paint pictures or the laser lights in the background.  Sorry if you did, but you had no choice.  If your mother was anything like mine it was very important to get those school pictures and for them to turn out good.....and heaven forbid if your eyes were closed or you had to do re-takes!  I wish I had some of those old pictures to show you, so we could laugh together!

Anyway, enough of that tangent.  I was able to scan Emma's picture and while it's not going to land her a modeling career :)  it does give a little insight into her personality.  She's a sparkler!

Dallas Blooms

With the weather being so great last weekend, we decided to go to the Arboretum and enjoy the beautiful spring flowers at Dallas Blooms.  Everyone else in the DFW area thought it would be a good idea to get out as well.  It was a little crowded with it being a Sunday, but Adam and I enjoyed getting outside and walking around with Emma.  You can litterally smell spring when you are walking around the Arboretum, it's so wonderful.


She did pretty good, but was worn out by the end of it.  I think next year I'll try to take a day off and go when it's a little less busy.  Emma is in a stage where it's really hard to get her to stay still enough to take a picture, but we got a few good ones.  I can't believe she is almost 6 months old!  I don't know where the time has gone.  It almost makes me want another little one.....but not really!  Not yet at least :)

Enjoy!



It's been a while.....catching my breath

I had several draft posts for the blog, but I have been out of touch lately and figured the best thing to do would be to start fresh with a new post.  This will probably be a long one.  We have had a lot going on over the last 3 1/2 months.

Here is a wrap up of what we have been up to since the new year started. 

I don't think I included Emma's 3 month picture in our Christmas post, so here she is.....be on the look out, as the post goes on you will see she has changed a lot!



We had a great holiday season, and started the new year off right with an evening at Trip and Nicole's house with several other babies.  Here's a shot of all the little one's lined up:

from left to right: Linley, Caden, Emma Caroline, Bennett, and Holden (?)

Our family :)

As most of you know, I started back at work at the beginning of January, going 3 days a week.  It was hard, even just those 3 days, to be away from Emma.  We put her in the infant room at First Baptist Plano's Weekday School.  I really had to let go of things and know that the people at school were going to take good care of her.  That wasn't easy as any new working mom can tell you.  But we have gotten into a good routine and the ladies there love Emma, I can tell. 

I'm actually still working part time, but I will be back to 5 days a week starting in April.  I'm really thankful for so much time off from work, I can't describe how nice it has been to transition back to work like I have.  A blessing.

One of the things about going to daycare during the winter is you have a pretty good chance of getting sick, which is what happened to Emma.  She came down with RSV within the first 5 (not even consecutive) days at school.  Apparently it's really common especially for young babies like her.  She was only 3 1/2 months at the time.  We had to get a nebulizer (spelling?) and do breathing treatments, but she was better in about 2 weeks. 

Emma had her 4 moth checkup and here are her stats:

Height:  25 1/4 inches (80%)

Weight:  12 lbs. 14 oz (40%)

Head:  41 cm (50%)

Every time I look back at her newborn pictures, I'm just amazed at how much she has changed in such a short amount of time.  Babies are so wonderful in that way!  They literally change every week/day/hour/minute.  If you haven't seen her in a while, she probably looks completely different.  She's also getting harder to take a still shot of, she really is investigating the world around her.  So her 4 month picture is the best of several that I took.



I'm glad we were able to go to the doctor for her 4 month check up when we did, because the very next day we were snowed in!  We went to the doctor on 1/31/11 (Monday) and the rest of the week I had to work from home because schools were closed.  It was crazy....we had major cabin fever and I was quite unproductive at work.  I would have loved to have that much time off of school, but when you get to be an adult, it's just kind of inconvenient when you can't get out and around.  But I loved the extra time at home with my girl.

Emma did her best to help me out.  You will have to excuse my appearance though, it was early in the morning and well, there is not much else I can say about that, ha!

Our front yard

Our backyard

Emma and daddy in their PJ's

Emma helping me on the computer

Emma in her Bebe pod seat, wondering, when is Mom going to stop working and play with me?



Here are some random pictures that I have taken over the last few months.  I will have to showcase more in another post, otherwise this will be the longest post EVER.

I love that smile!



Happy Valentine's Day!



Emma playing with her Baby Einstein Activity Station, she loves it!

So that is it for now.  There is much more to say and show, but at least I have made progress.  The transition to working mom has been tough, but we are getting used to it.  If you haven't heard from us in a while, don't take it personally (and please call us, we need to be social); we had to be in survival mode for the last few months as January and February are the busiest time of year for me at work.  I have a short break to catch my breath, and then the rush starts all over again in April. 

I will be posting again soon, its just hard not to spend every waking moment soaking up my little Emma.  Adam and I are addicted to her!

Merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas this year celebrating the first Rice family Christmas with Emma.  We attempted to go to church for the Christmas Eve service, but Emma had other plans for us, and was not in the mood :)  So Adam and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" together on the couch and had a Christmas lasagna.  Adam had never watched the movie before, and I hadn't sat down to watch the whole movie in quite a while, so it was nice to watch it together.  I love how it's over 60 years old and the message is still very relevant today.  That every life is special and you make an impact on the people around you even if you don't realize it.


Christmas morning, we woke up and enjoyed helping Emma to open her presents.  I'm sure next year will be much more lively as I had to do all the unwrapping of presents this year.



By the end, she was ready to take a nap.....all that unwrapping wears a girl out!

And yes, the pajamas fit her, but she squirms so much it's hard to keep the legs down

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Well Christmas this year is going to be so much fun! 

Adam and I never really give each other Christmas presents because it's been just the two of us and each year we've been married we have usually had a big purchase for the house, and we have counted that as our major Christmas present.  But this year there will be lots of presents under the tree!

I'm excited about starting our own Christmas traditions this year.  When I was growing up we would wait for the sun to go down and all listen to my Father read the story of Jesus birth out of the bible and my Mother would make pizza.  Let me tell you how hard it was to wait for it to get dark when I was young; the evening could get there fast enough!  After that we got to open presents on Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas morning Santa would bring us our other presents and our stockings would be filled and we would eat cheese sausage balls (which my mom continues to make, and will probably always make them).

When Adam was growing up his mother would make lasagna on Christmas Eve, and they were allowed to open one present.  Then in the morning she would make an egg souffle.  He told me that he always waited until Christmas day to open all his presents so he could have them all at once.

So we will have to come up with our own Rice family traditions.

Last weekend we got most of the decorating done, there are just a few more things I want to do to the house.  Emma helped me decorate the tree while Adam worked outside on the lights.  Here's a few shots from our work.

Emma supervised the decorating from her bouncy seat

Our mantle decorated

Emma's stocking

Our entryway

I tried to get a shot of our tree, but it came out blurry.  We are getting a new camera soon, so I'll be posting better shots soon hopefully.  This last picture was me playing around with Emma trying to take some festive pictures of her.  This was the best one of the shots....she's pretty frisky and it's hard to get her to stay still, and since she can't hold her head up completely on her own yet, it's challenging to get a sitting up shot.

More Christmas posts to come!



Two Month Update

I took Emma to the doctor on Monday for her 2 month check up.....here are her stats and picture below.....she's getting bigger every week and a little personality is starting to peek through!

Height: 23 inches 50 percentile

Weight: 11.1 lbs  65 percentile

I feel she looks a little stiff in these pictures but until she starts holding herself up more on her own it's the easiest way for me to take a picture....oh well.

Let's compare to her two week picture:

I can't believe how much she has filled out in such a short period of time!  Here are just a few things about Emma at 2 months:

• She has completely outgrown her newborn sized clothing and can easily wear 0-3 months clothing.  There are some 3 month pieces that she can wear but a lot of them she is still not able to wear.
• She has started smiling A LOT and it's so awesome!  She loves to smile when you are changing her diaper or right after she has eaten, or any time of day really.  Just sweet talk her a little and you can usually get a smile out of her.
• She's "talking" a lot more now as well, and her and I have all kinds of conversations :)
• She'll grab onto rattles or other small objects for a bit, and she loves to pull on my necklace.  She also LOVES chewing on her hands and sort of sucking on her thumb.
• We have started doing more tummy time, but it's still not her favorite thing. 

Things have definitely gotten easier for me as a mom, but I'm still figuring things out between Emma and I.  I think there's a lot of "winging it" when it comes to being a new parent because you do a good deal of learning by experience, but I also think you have an internal gauge for what you feel is good or right for your child.  And I fully believe everyone is different and you have to figure out what works for you; and those things might not work for someone else.  I have a  new respect for anyone who is a parent, and I can't even imagine being a single parent.  Our lives have completely changed with a focus on Emma. 

Here are some more pictures taken recently:

There's that smile I was talking about :)

It melts my heart!

Bathtime, all clean!

Daddy daughter time on the couch

She's starting to get sleepy

Emma lover her playmat....she kicks her legs and tries to grab at some of the animals