Emma's First Month

Time flies when you have a newborn and a toddler! Our little Emma was a month old yesterday. After only one short month our life has fallen into a routine again thanks to our combined past experience with Lucy and wisdom from two great books on infant care: "The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg and "The Happiest Baby on the Block" by Harvey Karp. Our schedule for the most part still revolves around what Lucy is used to, with some extra time rolled in for regular daily events like meal prep, feeding, cleaning up (food, toys, clothes, poop, pee, vomit, etc.) and preparing to go on any outing. Since my day gained extra tasks, but not extra hours, the things that have disappeared to allow me to care for a second child on earth include sleep, socializing, hobbies and even at times, eating. Thankfully, with my new perspective from experiencing life with a newborn before, I know eventually I will get all of these things back. I also realize now just how fast each phase changes in a baby's life and how much I will miss it when they are bigger. I can hardly believe it has been a month since the below pictures were taken at the hospital.

After bringing Emma home from the hospital, we had a wonderful two weeks with Will home from work with us. Honestly, it felt more like a vacation than the Spring Break Will had earlier that month, as I was miserably pregnant then and we still were trying to get ready for Emma's arrival with lots of things to check off our to-do lists. The first two weeks of Emma's life were relaxed and special. It was mainly just the four of us, learning how to be a family and spending time together. We also had some great holidays sprinkled in there - Easter and Lucy's 2nd birthday. Either way, it was nice to be able to just sit back and relax as a family. I dreaded Will's arrival back to work, but yet looked forward to starting the learning curve of balancing two children on my own.

Emma has been an easy baby so far, but the past month has definitely had a steep learning curve for me once Will went back to work. My day is spent ensuring that everyone's needs are being met in a timely fashion with as little crying as possible. Some days it seems like someone is always crying, whether it be Emma, Lucy, both of them, or even all three of us. I repeat as a mantra over and over to myself and sometimes out loud: "I am only one person. I am doing the best I can. I am only one person. I am doing the best I can."

Sometimes I feel like I am a living math story problem. You know the one where there are five people on an island, and they need to cross in a raft to the other side but only two people can ride the raft at the same time, and certain people can't be left alone with certain other people? For instance, once we are all dressed in the morning how do we get safely downstairs to start our day in as few trips as possible? I can't leave Lucy alone with Emma, I need to carry the bouncer down with two hands, and I have to grab extra diapers, outfits for both kids and our water glasses from the night before. Oh, and I can't forget the random and awkward sized toys that Lucy has decided she can't be on separate floors from. I've learned to do quick math in my head, and an average morning starts off with about three trips up and down the stairs before I can begin the next main event - breakfast.

Here Emma is below, spending time in her bouncer while her doting sister is told, "Don't lean on the bouncer - be careful - what a sweetie you are Lucy. Oh! Don't squeeze her hand too hard now. What a loving big sister you are..."

Yup, when Emma isn't being fed, changed or held, she can usually be found in her bouncer. As I write this post, she is sleeping in her bouncer next to my chair with the baby monitor next to her relaying the white noise that is currently playing upstairs for Lucy's nap. I am getting a two for one nap right now, which is priceless. Emma's easy going personality allows me to most times set her down sleepy in her bouncer, tightly swaddled and she will nod off on her own as long as there is a constant white noise playing in the background. This could be from the shower, the vacuum, or the white noise CD I purchased shortly before her birth. I wish I had known these tactics for Lucy's infancy. We also feel no guilt this time around for giving Emma a pacifier, as we know from our experience with Lucy that the benefits far outweigh the work involved in breaking the habit later.

Below is a picture of Emma's first bath. She cried for most of it, and had a look on her face like she didn't quite know what to make of bath time. Here Emma is being coached by Lucy on how to do "tummy time".It has been so cold this spring, that this is typically what Emma has to wear when we go for a walk. I put her in a snow suit, snuggle her up in a baby carrier close to my chest and then zip us both up into a maternity jacket of mine. It is like I am still pregnant with her, except she sits up higher, and I can kiss the top of her head. I love, love, love carrying her this way.Here Emma is below cuddling with her Grandma Hines.

Here Will is, talking with Emma. As a Daddy's Girl myself, it makes me smile to know that my daughters will also get to be Daddy's Girls.

Lucy's 2nd Birthday!

We celebrated Lucy's 2nd birthday this past Thursday, just the four of us and then had a family party with all of Lucy's grandparents, aunts and uncles this past Saturday. Here are the pictures and highlights below.

Lucy's birthday morning dawned bright and early, as Lucy knew it was HER day.
She also told us in the weeks leading up to her birthday exactly what gifts she thought she was getting - a "play kitchen with a phone" (she accidentally saw where we had it hidden in the upstairs of our garage) and "Elmo stuff"! She ended up getting a vintage Little Tikes doll house in addition to a vintage play kitchen and Elmo stuff. Here she is below opening up a box of "Elmo stuff".Lucy requested Elmo cupcakes for her birthday, and helped me decorate them. She even added extra special flavoring to some of the cupcakes as you can see in the below picture. Apparently the guy behind the camera knew this was going on before I did, but didn't seem overly concerned by it. When I realized that Lucy was methodically licking the tops of each cupcake, I was less than kind to the birthday girl. The camera man then captured Lucy's reaction to the lecture in the picture below. To our family that ate the Elmo cupcakes this past Saturday - we served you the ones that Lucy didn't lick - I promise!Will made a growth chart out of oak that we measure each of our children's birth lengths and then their heights at each birthday. Lucy measured at 33 inches tall.Here Lucy is with her Mama and baby sister enjoying cupcakes and ice cream on her birthday.Here Lucy is again, this time on Saturday, enjoying cupcakes and ice cream next to her baby sister.

I love the look on Lucy's face after she blew out her two candles. We actually ended up re-lighting the candles and singing the birthday song about four more times after this picture was taken. I think this was Lucy's favorite part of her entire birthday party and she happily sang along to her own birthday song.And just when we thought we owned every kind of Elmo toy ever made, Uncle Joe went and got Lucy the original Tickle Me Elmo. You shouldn't have, Uncle Joe. But Lucy sure loves it!

Happy birthday Lucy! Mama and Dada-do are so proud of you! Words cannot express how much happiness you have brought into our lives and we are so glad you are our daughter.

Lucy's Last Month Being One

Lucy's last month as a one year old was full of changes. No doubt, the biggest change of all was Lucy becoming a big sister. It has been quite an adjustment for Lucy, but she is very loving to her baby sister Emma. She likes to call her sister "Miss Emma", and makes proud statements regarding her sister like "Oooh, Emma, big yawns!" or "Emma pooped Mom, Emma pooped!" Lucy is also so full of hugs and kisses for Emma that Will and I find we cannot leave Lucy and Emma unattended for even a moment as Lucy doesn't quite understand gentleness yet.

Despite the love and excitement over Emma, Lucy has had a bit of a rough time with the change, and has coped with it through clingyness, sleeplessness and potty regressions. All of these have improved greatly over the past two weeks, however an underlying anxiety seems to linger. We are trying to be as patient as possible with Lucy as she expresses feelings of fear about everything from bugs, garbage trucks, loud noises (including the recent spring thunderstorms), strangers and even friends and family. I've read that it is a normal two year old milestone to begin to develop fears about the world around them as they begin thinking more deeply about things. I find it interesting that perhaps this natural milestone got jump started with the huge change a baby sister has brought to Lucy's life. Either way, we are trying to be sensitive to Lucy's needs without over-dramatizing her fears.

Lucy has come up with some funny phrases this past month, including:
-Upon leaving the house for an errand: "Bye Simone! See ya later! Come back soon! Miss you!"
-Upon leaving church for potty time: "Bye God!"
-When looking for Will: "Dada, are you?" (repeated over and over again until Will shows up, and even still repeated after Will shows up)
-When told to do something: "Yes, sir" or "No, sir."
-When wanting Will or I to come to her: "Come mirror!"
-When asked a question she responds: "Maybe." We are guessing she learned this word over the last month as every time she asked if Emma was coming today we would respond, "Maybe."
-And finally, after a shopping trip when we turn the car onto our street: "No turn (insert street name)! More stores!!"

Lucy got her very first haircut this past month, much to my excitement. I had taken her two times prior to get her first haircut, and each time was told to come back with her in six months when her hair was long enough. I told my friend who cuts our hair that I just didn't know what to do with Lucy's hair - it would never lay flat or do what I wanted it to. As my friend was cutting her hair, she realized that Lucy has CURLY hair, and that no wonder it would never do what I wanted it to, and for ****sake, to quit running a brush through it! Now when I do Lucy's hair I spritz it with water, put a tiny bit of gel in it, and then watch the ringlets just pop right out. Who knew someone with stick straight hair would have a daughter with perfect curls! Certainly not me!
One evening at bath time I happened upon little Lucy deep in prayer, and even had enough time to get my camera and capture it for eternity.As I've mentioned in previous posts, Lucy loves to draw and color. If I need to make a phone call, I take advantage of this interest in her and set her up at the table with crayons and paper. I was actually sitting right next to Lucy during a phone call to Lucy's Uncle Joe, when I realized too late that someone had accidentally put markers in the crayon bin. Amazingly enough, all the marker washed off except the orange so I only had a little explaining to do when Will came home from work. It also took everything in me NOT to even out the black moustache Lucy had started on her face. And sadly, the moment I realized what Lucy had done was when Lucy asked me for a "sipper". What the picture below doesn't show is that she had in fact sucked on the black marker and she wanted a drink of water to get the taste out of her mouth. And the Mother of the Year Award goes to.... not me!Here's my almost two year old in her new double stroller, ready for a walk.And finally, here is my firstborn baby girl, who I love so much, giving me a cuddle just days before Miss Emma was born. Life is definitely different now that I have two girls to cuddle and love and it has been an adjustment for me as well. I miss my days of just Lucy and I, and the closeness that we had. Lucy and I had a good thing going, and life was worked out in such an easy and familiar way. I am so happy that Emma is here, and I can't hold her or kiss her enough. However I am grieving my old relationship with Lucy. I miss what we had, but would never trade Emma in to have it back.

So, our earthly family of three is learning how to be an earthly family of four and I would wish it no other way.