Moving

We are moving in three days.  I'm sitting here in the house that made us homeowners, that saw us through late nights of studying for Blake, and growing a photography business for me.  It's hosted friends for football parties, and family for holiday dinners.  The house is where we got our first positive pregnancy test, and where we found out we'd never meet that baby.  It is Emersyn's first home.  It saw me through morning noon and night sickness, watched my bump grow and grow, and finally, welcomed our sweet little girl into her nursery.  

E is sleeping down the hall right now, and I'm surrounded by boxes.  I know our new house will be a wonderful home, but part of me is sad to be leaving.  We have wonderful friends here, a fabulous church family, and we've grown a lot as a couple and as a family over the past few years.

Excited to leave, but sad to go.. how's that for a confusing feeling?

Tuesday Randoms

I promise I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, but as I said, we sold our house (yay!) and it has been a busy time with lots of packing, last get togethers with friends here in town, errands etc.

• Emersyn is rolling over!  She only rolls to her left, from her back to her belly, and then gets stuck, but man is it cute!  It does make be super nervous for her sleeping at night- I'm not swaddling her anymore, and as soon as she gets laid down she rolls onto her side, and I worry about her cutting off the circulation to her arm, or suffocating.  You know, normal mommy worries.

• Packing is in full swing!  We ran out of boxes, but are getting more in a few days, so that should be what we need to get all finished!
• We booked our anniversary trip to Portland, Maine in September!  So very excited for this getaway!  I'm nervous about traveling with a baby, so if anyone has any good info for me, I'm all ears.  I did check with the airline and we can check her carseat and stroller for free, and we've rented a car there, and our hotel room will have a crib- what else do I need to be aware of?  Or, if you've traveled to Maine, anything we need to plan on doing/ seeing?
• My dad is having his 3rd round of chemo today.  Originally their plan was to do the first round at Mayo clinic then go back home for the others, but he's had LOTS of complications (as they thought he might), so they've decided to do all of his treatments there and just moved from the extended stay hotel into a house.  I think Emersyn and I will try to go visit them in October or November.

Lots going on, hence the lack of blogging, but I'm really hoping once we get all moved and settled that I can be more consistent about posting.  

E (and Mama) Loves: Three Month Edition

 1. Halo Sleepsack Swaddle- $24.99

I had one of these in newborn size before E was born and that lasted her until she was right around 2.5 months, then I bought another in a size small.  I lurve it.  It is heavier than the Aden and Anais blankets, so we have to turn our air down at night to keep E cool, but the positives outweigh the negatives.  Positives being- the sleepsack underneath is separate from the swaddle, so I can put E in it before actually wrapping her arms, which means I'm not waking her up to get her legs in something, like with the Swaddleme, which we used for awhile as well.  

2. Baby Bjorn- $79.99

We also have a Moby wrap, but this is better as E grows.  We've only used it a few times, but I can see us using it a lot more as she gets older.  We got ours at a consignment store for $14, and I highly recommend looking at second hand stores before paying full price.

3. Medela Swing Breast Pump- $143.99

Originally I thought I wanted a double electric pump, but since I'm not returning to work, and only need to pump on occasion, I decided I didn't need to spend the extra cash, and I've been really happy with this pump.  This might be TMI, but I actually like to use my hand to help express milk while I pump, so even if I had a double, I think I would have only used one side at a time, so this is perfect for me.  It's also a lot smaller than the double, which makes it more portable.

4. Reasor's Online Grocery Shopping- $5

This isn't a baby item, but it's awesome when you have a baby.  Reasor's is a local grocery store here in town, but I'm sure other places offer this service as well (I've already made sure the town we'll be moving to has a store that does).  For $5, I shop online, call to say I'm 10 minutes away, and get my groceries brought to my car, without having to get E out of the car or worry about her having a meltdown in the store.  It's also great because I can see my total as I add things to my virtual cart, which makes it a lot easier for me to NOT purchase things I don't need (pretty sure I save way more than $5 this way).  There's also a whole section of specials for the week, and I can see what I've purchased in the past to make my shopping go quicker.

5. BOB Revolution Stroller- $469.00 but shop around, it's often on sale for less than $350

Ah the great stroller debate.  I originally planned on BOB, then when into a baby store and got myself all confused.  In the end, we went with our original plan, and I'm glad we did.  Our big debate was if we should go ahead and get a double, but since we aren't sure when we want to try for a second kiddo, the single is what we really needed and we'll explore a double stroller when we have another kiddo.  It is SO easy to maneuver, to set up and break down, we're just really happy with it.  

The last piece of the puzzle!

We have a contract on our house! We close on the house we're selling on August 30th and on the house we're buying on August 31st! Lots of packing in my future, but we're so excited to get closer to our families!

Dear Emersyn: Three Months

Dear Emersyn,

This month has been one full of back and forth, and you have handled it all like a champ!  We are between homes, staying with your Aunt and Uncle a lot when Daddy has to work up in MO, and you've also been my little travel buddy, going to visit lots of friends and family, and you are a great traveler.  Just like your mama, you like to sleep in the car.  You are starting to realize that crying gets you attention, but you quickly crank out the smiles when we respond.

You can hold your head steady, and you could give or take tummy time.  Sometimes you like it, other times you're not a fan.  Your are very close to rolling over, but aren't there yet.  You seem to recognize Mama and Daddy, and love to give us big, gummy grins.  You love to "talk" to us, and you often imitate sounds we are making- SO STINKIN' CUTE!  This is definitely my favorite development of the month!

Your favorite development of the month seems to be the ability to control your hands- you love to put them in your mouth and you love to grip things, especially mommy's hair!  The other day I had you laying on a blanket, and you gripped both sides of it and brought it to your mouth to chew on, completely covering your face in the process and getting tangled up.  You got so frustrated, and it was a good reminder to keep eyes on you at all times, but man, it sure was funny to watch:)

We're fully into cloth diapers and wipes, and your diaper rash is gone.  Hooray!  However, they do add a bit of bulk to your booty, and combined with a couple of growth spurts, you are officially too big for your 0-3 onesies.  Sigh.  Packing away your first batch of baby clothes was kinda hard on mama, but I'm happy you're growing big and strong.  Speaking of strong, you love to stand on us, and can do it without us holding you up!  We tried the Bumbo for the first time this month- you weren't a fan haha.

We also took you to the pool for the first time and while you mostly just hung out in the shade, we did get you in for about 10 minutes, and you didn't hate it!  Mama and Daddy love the water, so we hope you do too.

Other fun things we tried this month were the Moby wrap (you like it for about 20 minutes at a time, then you want out), and your Exersaucer (think it's still a bit early for this).  Your hair is still AWESOME- you get lots of compliments on it, and it's so funny looking some days- we call it your rooster tail.  You've also been loving the Olympics- wearing the shirt your Auntie Jeni brought you from London.

Sleeping
You started out the month sleeping through the night, then we had about a week of lots of waking up, now you're back to sleeping through (for the most part).  You consistently go down for the night after your 10pm feeding, and you often fall asleep even earlier than this.  You normally wake up for the day right around 6:50am.  When you do wake up in the night it's almost always after 4am, and we play the pacifier game- you cry, I get up and give you your paci, go back to bed, rinse, repeat.  If we do this more than a few times I'll go ahead and nurse you, but in general, you go back to sleep with paci.  Mornings are your happiest time- when it's time to get up for the day and I unswaddle you I'm given the BIGGEST grins.  Of course, when I change your diaper before nursing you let me know you think food should come before a clean bum, but then it's back to happy baby while getting your breakfast, you often even pull off just to smile or jabber at me during the last few minutes of eating.

Eating
You eat roughly every 3 hours (sometimes you only make it about 2.5 hours, sometimes you sleep until it's been 3 hrs 30 min).  From about 6-10pm you usually cluster feed, only 2 hours between feeds, and your last feed of the day is at 10pm.  You still only take one side per feeding, and you eat quickly, about 5-10 minutes at a time.  You are growing well, weighing in at 14 lbs, 6 oz.  I get great burps out of you, and your belly issues have pretty much disappeared.  You are still on your Prevacid for reflux, we plan to see if you can go off your medicine when you run out of this month's supply.

In other news, I think you may be starting to teethe- we've got lots of drool, and you're gnawing on everything you can.  You're normally a mellow, agreeable girl, and you've been extra fussy here and there, and had a bit of a fever too.  We'll see if anything comes of it.

I took your 3 month portraits, and I love how they turned out.  I haven't even edited all of your newborn pictures yet, as those first few weeks were so crazy.
You're still my favorite girl, and I spend my days somethering you in kisses.  I love you.

Love,
Mama

Emersyn "Talking"

Love my little talker!