12 weeks old

Today Emma is 12 weeks. She celebrated by falling asleep on her own last night and sleeping 8 long hours!

Being a Mom

I probably haven't talked a lot about all the good things I have found with being a mom. I spend a lot of time talking about how it is so much harder than I thought it would be and how Emma is such a hard baby! Well I have been thinking the last couple days about how awesome it is to be a mom. I've always known I am blessed to be one and that Emma is an amazing blessing to our family, but it's way more than that. Watching her learn new things or seeing her smile back at me over any little thing is so much fun!! I tell her about 50 times a day how cute or pretty she is because there just doesn't seem to be another way to tell her how she just lights up my life with the things she does. It is also amazing to me how deeply I'm affected when she starts really crying. If there is something I can do to ease her pain, I want to do it as quickly as I can. She can whine all she wants and that's just different, but when she screams in pain, I listen!

My favorites: I love to teach her, make her smile, watch her playing with her dad, watch her different faces and expressions, hold her close, and see her learn new things. I also love learning new ways to help her.

All the things a new mom should know!

I have been so lucky to have time to research how to help little Emma and everytime I find something new I get so frustrated I didn't know it earlier. Why don't babies come with a manual suited to their make/model? It sure would make parents' lives easier. Well I am now a wealth of information and am passing it on in my small way.

Dunstan Baby- this is an awesome DVD (available at the local library) that talks about babies' reflexes and how when they put a sound to these reflexes, it makes a certain noise. It talks about 5 different sounds to listen for to distinguish what a baby needs. However, it is only applicable in the first 3 months. I think by that time you have an idea what they are telling you anyways.

White noise- babies love the sound of vacuums, fans, blowdryers, etc.

Happiest baby on the block- this talks about five ways to soothe a crying baby quickly using the five Ss: Swaddle, Side/Stomach, Shushing, Swinging, and Sucking. This is available in a book or DVD format (also available at the local library.)

Baby massage for releaving gas.

Swings and Vibrating bouncers are a must!

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child- this book talks about the importance of getting enough sleep. Some concepts I didn't know are that if a baby sleeps well during the day, they'll sleep better at night and if you keep a baby up too long they go into a fight or flight hyperarousal mode in order to stay awake and then it is much harder for them to get to sleep. Also, a young baby needs to sleep after a maximum of 2 hours of being awake. This book talks about the different ages and how their sleep should look at that point. It also explains common problems babies face in a medically backed way that makes it really clear. This has been my favorite source of information, with the internet being a close second.

The Towle Method of Colic Relief- This was harder for me to find online. If you have a cryer, let me know and I can forward this to you. It basically talks about how to avoid a colic crying episode. If you feed a baby until they are 100% full, they have a lot of pressure in their poor belly and are unable to burp up the air efficiently and instead will push it out into the intestines leading to hours of discomfort. If you have a "windy" baby, feed them less more often and only until they are about 3/4 full. This means extra feedings and more difficulty establishing a routine--at least for me--but much less crying!

Blogs are a wealth of applicable information!- Babywise is another great guide for parenting. It talks about routines. I haven't been able to implement this fully yet with Emma's poor eating habits, but you can search for babywise blogs and get tons of first-hand experience from experienced moms! Just an example. Search blogs for first-hand experience from moms who know.

And I'm sure there is more, but that's all I can think of right now. I am also amazed at how much of this stuff you kinda just figure out on your own. Best of luck to all my friends and family who are joining the new mom club! It's quite a journey!

Rolling over!

Emma has learned how to roll over from her tummy to her back. She has done it three times to the right and twice to the left. I just couldn't wait to share the news!


It's amazing to see how much better she is at holding her head up now and rolling over. Here's the video.

Emma's Immunizations

Taking Emma for her 2-month well-baby check-up and to get her shots wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. She did great. I finally caved and gave her some tylenol a few hours later so she could sleep.

Emma is growing well. She's still only ten and a half pounds, but is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. She has also reached all of her 2-month-old milestones.

Yea Emma! Keep growing healthy and strong!

Videos

Emma talked us into buying a camcorder so we could record some of her precious moments. She slept in her carseat while her dad picked one out. Here are a few of the videos we've taken.

Here is Emma sucking her thumb. This is the second time she found it that night, but she hasn't been able to find it since.




Here's just a family outing. I love all the faces Emma makes at the camera!

This video has been removed at Jake's request.

Emma's favorite sound

There isn't much to read here. I really just needed a place to keep this video for easy access. Our internet filter has blocked the other vacuum video we used and will probably block this one as well because of people's comments. So IT IS WHAT IT IS, huh Jake.