Zipadee-zip

My girl is so cute!! Just want to eat her up!

So, the saga of the swaddle continues. Emma Clare has officially become the hulk and cannot be contained by any swaddle. This would not be a problem if she didn't get angry and hit herself in the face, which would wake her up, which would wake me up, which would wake Dad up, which would wake LouLou up. We had about 4 nights in a row of AWFUL sleep, she was up at midnight, 1:30, 3, 5 and then up for the day at 7. This made NO ONE HAPPY! So, I was told about the Zipadee-zip. You can check it out here: http://zipadeezip.com/ . I thought, man this is probably a gimmick, but so is the miracle blanket and that worked, so for $24.99 why not give it a try. Well... IT IS AMAZING! EC fell asleep within 30 seconds of this thing getting put on, slept from 9pm-3:30am. At 3:30 she woke up, I just put her paci in and she fell right back to sleep until 7:30 when I had to wake her up for daycare. I am so happy, jumping up and down. I hope this was not a fluke, but I'll keep you updated. As of right now, I'm a believer!

I know I've been posting a lot of eating pics, but she is just so darn happy when she eats! This is her latest favorite-sweet potatoes. Yum!

Can I Have Some More?

So it is safe to say that Emma Clare has figured out how to eat (not that we had any doubts). She is loving rice cereal, and I'm thinking about starting some other foods. She downs the rice cereal in no time flat, and as you can see has a habit of stealing the spoon from me. We feed her in just her diaper (look at her cute cloth pink diaper, have I mentioned that I LOVE bumgunius?) because she gets a little messy. Daddy can't really handle messes, so it is fun to watch him squirm through the process!

In other news, Emma Clare did NOT do well crying it out. We tried not swaddling her the last few nights and letting her cry it out. -just flat out did not work. She cried for the full half hour (I did go in and check on her every 10mins, and try to give her paci to no avail), and finally I looked at Chris and said, I just can't do this. After 35mins of rocking her I finally got her to calm down. This just is not going to work for us. EC very rarely cries, so why make her suffer like this? I know, I know my kid is going to be totally spoiled, but I don't care. She can feed herself already, isn't that independent enough! She also got up at 11, 1, midnight and 3-5am (keep in mind she has been sleeping through the night for months now). We went back to swaddling. Last night, Emma Clare slept from 9pm until 7:30am when I had to wake her up to take her to daycare. So for now we are not going to fix what isn't broken. She may be going to college still swaddled...

Just look at that girl. Doesn't she make you smile!

YUMMY!!

Emma Clare was a little unsure about rice cereal, but once she got the hang of it she seemed to like it! Dad tried it, said it tasted like cardboard and wanted to spice it up with some parmesan cheese or salt and pepper. I told him we'd have to wait on that.

A few stats: So our "little one's" four month stats- 17.8 pounds and 26 inches long. Over 97% in both! So maybe not so little! She is still in 3-6 month clothes. She rolled over from front to back for the first time (but only once and has not done it again). She is blowing raspberries like crazy and loves to SCREAM (not a mad scream, just I'm here and I'm loud).

The doctor also told us it is time to break EC of the swaddle. This is not good news. She loves to be swaddled, and mom and dad love it because she sleeps 10 hours most nights. We were told it is time to start letting her cry it out and self sooth...I'm not so sure about this either. The doctor said it will take 2 weeks to change her sleeping habits, so I guess that will mean two weeks of no sleep for mom and dad. We have not tried yet...I'll keep you updated!

Oh, and in non Emma Clare related news, Chris and I had the worst weekend! During the weekend our one car got stolen, the other broken into and I got food poisoning (so did Chris' mom who was visiting). We had some bad Karma...hopefully that means good things on the horizon. We still have a road ahead dealing with all of this, but we know we are very blessed that we are all safe.

We'll end on a happy note. We have the cutest baby ever! Just love that chubby girl!

4 Months Old!

Wow, I can't believe that tomorrow our baby will be 4 months old! She is so fun and full of lots of smiles. She loves to play! We think that Emma Clare is starting to get some teeth, she has been drooling like CRAZY and chewing on everything (thank you for Sophie Uncle Ray and Aunt Jill!). We have her 4 month appointment on Friday, so we'll post an update soon. Just had to share this pic, because I think she is the cutest baby ever!

Getting Big!

Our Little girl is not so little anymore! Look at how darn cute she is! Emma Clare got to visit this weekend with Grandma Pat. We had lots of fun in our Jumparoo! She can finally touch the ground! She has been all smiles lately-except for when it comes to nap time. She is really fighting her naps right now (still sleeping well at night) but we hope that passes soon. Can't wait for our visit from Grandma Claudia and Uncle Adam and Aunt Marissa soon!

Swimming!

Emma Clare got to go swimming with Aunt Caitlin and Uncle Mark this past weekend in Hilton Head. Once she got use to the water, she really enjoyed herself! It has been so hot here that even in the water she could only hang out a little while. I think we have a swimmer on our hands! Oh, but the way, that suit is 3-6mo and we had a really had time getting it on her (even harder getting it off!)

Emma Clare is getting more and more fun each week. This weekend we brought the jump-a-roo down from the attic-she loves it! She is almost tall enough to touch the ground, so we just put some extra Algebra text books underneath (doesn't everyone have those laying around?!). I'll be sure to post pictures of that soon!

This weekend my mom and Godparents are coming down (Chris will be in Cleveland for a wedding). We can't wait!!

Happy (LATE) 4th!

Happy 4th of July! Ok, the post is a little late, but I'm busy with a 3 month old! Wow, three, months, where has the time gone! As you can see, Emma Clare loves to swing. And yes, she is totally dressed like a boy in her fourth of July outfit, but she did have a very cute dress that she decided to pee on and so outfit number two had to come out (this might have been outfit number 3..the girl spits up a lot too...)

We are having lots of fun and enjoying the summer (and time off with Daddy!). It has been hot, hot, hot! Emma Clare went swimming for the first time this weekend! Other than that, we've been spending a lot of time inside! She is smiling a ton, and just started laugh. Her laugh is so funny!

In other news, our baby girl is BIG! We went to the doctor because we thought Emma Clare had a rash, turned out to be eczema. We did not get a height measurement, but she is 15.8 pounds. She looks like she grew a few inches too, so we'll see at the 4 month check up!
  

 

And, just so I remember when I look back years from now, here is what Emma Clare's schedule currently looks like:

8am-9am: wake up and eat a bottle (6oz)

9am-10am: play time! Loves to play with her bug toy and swing

10am-12pm: nap

12pm-1pm: bottle (6oz)

1pm-2:30: outing with daddy (usually home depot or target)

2:30-3:30: nap

3:30: Bottle (6oz)

4:30-5:00: play time

5:00-6:30: nap

6:30-7:00: play time

7:00: bottle (6oz)

7:00-9:00: play time with a nap mixed in every now and then

9:00: tummy time, bath and bottle (6oz)

10:00 bed time

We have some variety with this schedule, but this is basically how it works each day. As you can see, our baby girl loves sleep! We have her sleeping (through the night!!) in her crib, and we are try to transition to the crib for naps, especially her longer ones in the morning and afternoon.

Ok! That was a long update!! We have lots of people coming to visit in the next few weeks! Can't wait!