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!

Emerson : 1 month

Emerson, you are one month old already! Mommy can't believe how fast time has gone and how big you have grown!

 

This month:  It's been a busy one with all the holidays!  For the first week of your life, we didn't do too much besides take you to your doctor's appointment but we did have lots of people come visit us.

Your first bath! You really did like it even though it doesn't look that way!

Your second week of life was a little more exciting!  We had 4 Christmases that we made it too and of course you were the center of attention!

First was the Steidinger Christmas.

Emerson and her cousins all born within 13 months! 

Gift from Grandma & Grandpa

Adorable boots crocheted by Aunt Erinn!

Next was the Leman Christmas.

Emerson and her cousins all born in the last year!  

One of your gifts from Grandma & Grandpa - a doctor set!

We also had the Eisenmann and Gerber Christmases both on the same day.  You did great at every Christmas and enjoyed being held and oohed & ahhed over!

We didn't take you to church on Christmas day, but we did that next Sunday, just before you were 2 weeks old!  Some might think you were pretty young to be out and about already, especially in the winter, but I was feeling fine and was ready to be out and about!  We just kept you wrapped up in a blanket and didn't pass you around. Thankfully, you have stayed healthy!

Last Thursday we had your shower.  It was a bit of an ordeal due to the weather.  We cancelled it one time due to snow and bitter cold and then rescheduled later that week, except that day the weather wasn't much better due to strong winds and bad visibility.  However, we decided to go ahead with it, even though there probably wasn't going to be a good turn out.  We switched it from the fellowship hall to Fairview haven basement.  And surprisingly enough there was a very good turn out considering what the weather was like!  You got soo many nice gifts and there were lots of people 'showering' you with love!

The committee did a wonderful job of decorating and serving! It was so cute!

Since it was just me and you at home most days, I had plenty of time to work on taking your newborn pictures! It was lots of fun and very time consuming!  You did pretty well at cooperating but it took a few tries! My mom came over one afternoon to take the pictures of all 3 of us!

Sleeping: The first 2 weeks of your life, you slept pretty much all day everyday.  I noticed on your due date that you were beginning to be awake more throughout the day, and from then on it's been more and more!  I love to see your big eyes wide open and the silly faces you make. You take about 3-4 naps during the day...sometimes more. You definitely sleep more when you are held a lot, especially on Sundays. If you are tired during the day you can sometimes be cranky and I will have to hold you until you are close to falling asleep.  Then if I lay you down you will usually fall asleep the rest of the way, but sometimes it will take a few tries.

Spending time with daddy...learning how to study!

At night you have given me a few 6 hr stretches but usually you wake up every 3-4 hours to eat.  You do really well at falling right back to sleep after you are done eating.  Sometimes you will cry out a few times after I lay you down and I might have to hold you for a little bit but for the most part you go back to sleep really easily!   We swaddle you at night time but I haven't decided if you really like it or not.  Most of the time your arm will find it's way out and you sleep fine like that too.

Mommy loves to cuddle with you!

You don't have much of a sleeping pattern yet, but I am surviving with whatever time you give me!

Eating: You have done very well eating from the very beginning.  As soon as you were born and I got to do skin-to-skin with you, you latched on right away and filled that little belly of yours! You have continued to do really well with breastfeeding.  At night time you will usually eat around 10 min on one side and a little less on the other and you usually eat about every 3-4 hours.

Adorable hat and blanket that Aunt Leann knitted for you!

During the day you usually like to snack a little more and so you don't always eat on both sides and if you go more than 2 hours between eating, I wonder if something is wrong! Some days you will want to eat almost every hour!  Those are the days I don't feel like I do anything but sit on the couch and hold you all day (which I don't always mind!) So far you have just been breastfeeding, but I hope to start pumping some and working on feeding you with a bottle so that once I go back to work, you will be used to bottle feeding!

Adorable hat that Aunt Karla crocheted for you!! You have lots of talented Aunts!

Development: Since you were so little, I worried a little bit that you wouldn't gain weight very well but that has never been a problem!  At your 2 week Dr appointment you weighed 6 lbs.  I weighed you at 3 weeks and you were 7.2 lbs, and I weighed you at 1 month and you were 8.2 lbs!  So far you are gaining about a pound a week!! I hope that will slow down a little at some point or you won't be my little girl for long!

You wore preemie clothes for a little over 2 weeks and then stayed in newborn clothes the rest of the month.  I can't believe how big you have gotten in just a few short weeks!

You sometimes like your swing and sometimes not!

Personality: It's too early to really tell, but I will say you have a very healthy set of lungs.  You don't always give much warning before you start to cry and there's not usually much escalation, it's just loud from the start! However you do calm down very easily.  All it usually takes is for someone to pick you up or change your position.  If you're hungry, tho, that can be another story depending on how hungry you really are! And you really don't cry all that often, so I am not complaining!

You have lots of cute faces that I love to watch, especially when you are just waking up or are getting tired.  You smile often, which I love and I hope you continue to smile a lot once you start to smile at people "for real!" Sometimes you even giggle when you are smiling! (I think it really is just a reflex that sounds like a giggle and sometimes happens at the same time you are smiling...but it's still really cute!)

You love your hands!  When you are awake they are constantly moving.  Sometimes when you are sleeping, I will find you with both of your arms sticking straight up in the air! You must have had your hands up by your face in the womb because that seems to be a position of comfort for you.

Weekly Pictures:

1 week old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

4 weeks old

We are so thankful for our healthy little daughter and are very excited to watch her grow into the girl God has created her to be!  She is such a blessing to us already!