What makes me feel guilty is knowing that I have been doing pretty poorly at recording some of the bigger moments. Her first roll from back to belly, the first time she ate a bite of true food, the first time she swatted me across the face... But just when I'm ready to question my ability to truly be a mom that shows any pride in her daughter, I realize I have good ol' Facebook... With Facebook, I have almost a daily record of the growth of my little lady. Friends, fellow church-goers, and acquaintances alike comment on how big she's gotten, how photogenic she is, and have frequently dubbed her, "The Facebook Queen." While this title makes me think that I have perhaps suggested my child as better than everyone else's (ahem-she is beautiful AND smart like her mother), it also gives me a flicker of hope that I have something to share with her when she's a little older that, though it does not come in the traditional baby book, it nevertheless gives her a glimpse into how our lives circulated around her for the last seven months...and, God willing, until my dying breath.
And, so in honor of all of the items I have failed to mention in my lazy way of documenting Emerson's amazing journey thus far, I would like to share with you a list all about my little girl.
1) Emerson loves food. Weighing in at 19 and a half pounds at our last well-child visit, Emerson is in the 95th percentile for her weight. She is no longer drinking breast milk, but now is exclusively formula fed and eating many solid foods (which makes all of our lives so much easier after my return to work and round-the-clock pumping venture for the first five months of her life). We have made pureed apples, peaches, pears, nectarines, green beans, summer squash/zucchini, banana, avocado, peas, carrots, blueberry, and sweet potato. In addition to these homemade baby food items, we have given her rice cereal, oatmeal, strawberry, cherry, custard and yogurt. Honestly, she could eat fruits and sweet items all day long. When giving her a taste of a Clio's soft ice cream, she was so excited that she dove into the cone. It comes naturally. Both Travis and I have a sweet tooth ourselves. While she's never spit anything out, the worst face was definitely warranted from the avocado. She made me feel as if I had fed her something completely wrong, but, as always, I had something sweet to share to help with the blow of something green and slimy.
2) Emerson has graduated from co-sleeping with us into her crib...part-time. She still wakes up in the night to eat, and although I have heard a million people tell me that letting her cry it out would help us get a full night's sleep, I hate the idea of a baby crying due to hunger (yes, she drinks anywhere from 4-10 ounces through the night) because I would like to sleep for the extra 20 minutes or so it takes to prep a bottle and snuggle her back to sleep. Maybe with baby number two I will have learned my lesson, but we are all happy with this arrangement at the moment...and so for that, I will happily continue to wean her to sleep a full blissful night in her own bed. Until then, I plan to continue rocking her to sleep, placing her into the crib beside our bed, and then feeding her a bottle while she lays next to me in our own bed when she awakes around 2 AM.
3) Emerson typically falls asleep in the evening with me around 8 PM, wakes up once or twice a night, and sleeps until between 6:30 and 7 AM. On one occasion, she slept until 8:30 when we all didn't have to get up. It was so nice!
(Update: Emerson has had a full official night's sleep without interruption. RE: I actually have a day to document for her! 8/6/14 is the glorious day that will go down into the history books. Unfortunately, it was a one-time deal...but number fifteen will explain this update).
4) Emerson has come to love watching the puppies. You'd think with their playful (but aggressive sounding) wrestling she'd get nervous. Instead, she frequently giggles as they push each other around. In fact, one of the first times she laughed aloud without being tickled or playing peek-a-boo was because she was giggling at Jewel running down the stairs.
5) If Emerson touches the dogs, she goes for their feet. I don't know what it is about their paws, but she doesn't want to stroke their heads or their backs. She wants to go for their toes...and the dogs are not too thrilled with it at this point.
6) Emerson is fully capable of sitting up on her own. She can also roll both from back to belly and vice versa. She just recently, probably within the last two weeks, has gotten to a point that she can sit up on her own. She's recognizing the usefulness of putting her elbow on the floor to lift herself. Despite her hefty size, she really is just a solid baby. Her abs would rival many a fitness-guru, but she is modest in displaying anything other than a beautiful baby belly. 19 and a half pounds of pure baby innocence. Who doesn't love those rolls?
7) Emerson's hair has lightened from a dark brown to the point that it looks blonde with low-lights of brown. People joke that it appears we have taken her to have her hair dyed. It's a bit of a mullet at this point in time too. A little bit more partying in the back than in the front. I could start feeding several starving children around the world if every time someone commented on her amount of hair I made a bit of a kick-back. It very often is a topic of conversation when people haven't seen her for a while.
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| Less than one month old |
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| 7 months old |
8) More people than I'd like have made comments reflecting they think Emerson is a boy. Beyond the receptionist at the doctor's office that had only her name in front of her (yes, I realize Emerson is a traditionally male name), there have been people staring at her in a pink, frilly, polka-dotted outfit and commenting on how "handsome he is" or how "he's such a big guy". I take it with a grain of salt. After talking with other mothers, I realize that it's not worth worrying over. It happens to everyone.
9) 6/15/14-First time sitting in the stroller without the infant car seat
10) 6/28/14-First time in the exer-saucer, jump around and spin around thing
11) 7/10/14-First Cleo's soft ice cream
12) 7/31/14-First Pulaski Fireman's Day parade AND first time putting hair up into a ponytail
13) 8/3/14-First time Emerson had to cover her head because we had an unwelcome guest in our bedroom. Hint: Mom and baby hid under the covers while dad swung around a badminton racquet at the flying, nighttime creature. Baby slept through it. Mom was sweating and panicky. Dad was in Rambo mode. I'm very sorry that I don't have pictures of this one. In the event that I did get a picture, I'm sure we could win some kind of America's Funniest Photo contest!
13) 8/6/14-First time sleeping on belly
14) 8/9/14-First time holding the bottle "for real"
15) 8/10/14-First tooth poking up through her bottom gum
There is no way I can capture all of the "firsts" that are occurring at an exhausting rate with this little one. Most of all, we are ecstatic that Emerson is a happy and healthy baby who brings joy into the lives of everyone around her. Well, every human being, at the very least. I don't know if her furry sisters would say that she's the highlight of their lives, but I'm sure they'll grow to love her as she continues to grow and flourish (and learns to stop grabbing their feet). I can't ever believe that at one point Travis and I were not going to have children. We would have robbed ourselves of the greatest blessing that God ever had in store for humanity...the ability to grow, love, and raise a child has been the highlight of my existence. The Message version of the Bible even shows God's own feelings as a father, when they paraphrase the verse about Jesus' baptism from "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" to "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.” (Matthew 3:17). I love that! Delight of my life...Emerson Paige, Mama will try harder to mark down every new thing you do, but please know that I delight in just being with you and marveling at the miracle that you are. Dates are fun, but the memories that your Daddy and I make with you every day are far more important than what day you achieve each milestone. You make us smile every day. We love you, beautiful girl!
Aw. She is getting so big. Can't wait for you guys to move closer. Hopefully we will see more of you guys.
ReplyDelete-Shane & Maria