Emerson : 2 months

Two months already! Time is flying by and I'm trying to soak up as much of it as I can! It's amazing what 1 month can hold, she has changed so much already!

I have been enjoying my time at home with Emerson and didn't stretch myself too far this month.

The middle of January we traveled to Wisconsin Dells with Kirk's family for a short weekend.  Emerson did really well traveling and slept most of the way.  We stopped once on the way there for breakfast and to feed her, but on the way home she slept the whole way! We learned that packing with a child makes for a ton of bags, even just for 1 night! Emerson was too little to enjoy any of the water activities so she and I sat on the side lines and people watched! She pretty much ate and slept and enjoyed being held!

We attempted a night out at Olive Garden, but Emerson did not cooperate!  I was able to stay in the restaurant long enough to eat a few bites of my meal before taking and inconsolable baby out to the car!

So I enjoyed my meal at home!

We spent some afternoons at my sister's house helping her repaint her kitchen cabinets. The kids loved taking care of Emerson and I enjoyed the break!

 Emerson got 3 shots at her two month doctor's appointment.

That evening this is what we dealt with!  She was not a happy camper!  Poor thing...one of her legs got really red, tender, and swollen and she would scream every time she moved it!  Even with Tylenol. I'm thankful it only lasted a few hours.

We spent an afternoon visiting Grandma Leman.  She enjoyed holding her but unfortunately Emerson was kind of fussy!

And of course a little cousin time...

Sleep: The beginning of the month we struggled a lot with getting Emerson to sleep.  If she would get overtired, bedtime became a challenge..  We did lots of experimenting until she would finally fall asleep from exhaustion.  But little by little she began to do better at falling asleep and now I can lay her in bed and give her her pacifier and she will fall asleep eventually (I might have to give her the pacifier a few times because she doesn't always keep it in her mouth)!  Every once in a while we will have a difficult night but for the most part she does much better! Sometimes she'll fall asleep in her swing, but I can move her to her bed without her waking up.  She is still sleeping in our room in the pack 'n' play.  I'm going to have a really hard time moving her to her crib when that time comes!  I like having her nice and close to me!  She has been sleeping almost all night for the past couple weeks.  She'll give me 5, 6, sometimes 7 hour stretches and once she slept 8 hours!  I usually only feed her once in the night and then around 6:30 or 7 she usually wakes up and I'll put her in bed with me for a couple hours. I enjoy her snuggles! We still swaddle her at night, which she seems to like.

Emerson takes about 3-4 naps during the day.  She usually naps in her swing, which she really likes.  Sometimes I'll snuggle with her on the couch while she sleeps or put her in the pack 'n' play.  If she's tired enough, she will sleep about anywhere.  She doesn't have to be rocked to sleep but sometimes wants to be held until she's just about asleep.

Snuggles with dad

Snuggles with mom

Eating: We started working on bottles at 5 weeks.  The first week I gave her one bottle a day and she did pretty well with it.  Now I give her bottles during the day and breast feed at night.  It's been going pretty well, which I'm very thankful for since I will be going back to work in 2 1/2 weeks. She doesn't always do the best at drinking from the bottle and will play around with it sometimes, but she gets what she needs, just not always super quickly. She eats about every 2-3 hours, sometimes more.  Usually she'll drink around 3-4 ounces from a bottle.  She has become a spitter-upper this month, and a very gassy baby!

Emerson's first bottle - Daddy got to feed her!

Development:  At her 2 month doctor's appointment Emerson weighed 9lbs 15oz and 20.5 inches long.  I had been weighing her at home but according to our scale, I thought she was over 11lbs, so I was a little surprised when they weighed her! She was in the 15th percentile for her weight and only the 1st percentile for her length...looks like she might take after her daddy's side of the family! She is still in newborn outfits but she has started wearing some 0-3 month sleepers. Emerson started smiling at 5 weeks and it's one of her favorite things to do!  She loves to listen to people talk to her and if you're lucky, she'll flash you a grin or three! She can focus on faces now when she is being talked to and she loves to look at her surroundings. She has become a much more content baby since she started taking her pacifier.

Emerson spends most of her time in her swing or on her play mat.  She doesn't usually last too long on the play mat, especially during tummy time.  I haven't done very well with giving her a lot of tummy time, but she seems to have strong neck muscles anyways! She doesn't always mind being on her tummy but usually will only last 5-10 minutes.

I thought it would be interesting to compare her preemie, newborn, and 0-3 month sleepers to see how much she has grown.  It's hard to believe she was that little!

Personality: If Emerson's not hungry or tired, she is a happy baby! However, when she's not happy, she can let us know quite dramatically at times!  She's got quite the adorable faces, especially her pouty, whinny face (I probably won't always think that but right now it's cute!). I'm looking forward to seeing her personality develop in the months ahead!

Weekly Pictures:

5 weeks

6 weeks

7 weeks

8 weeks

9 weeks

Random Pictures from this month

New Sunday dress that I couldn't pass up!

Emerson, we love you so much and are thoroughly enjoying watching you grow!  We are so thankful you have stayed healthy so far and are growing like a weed!