Back by popular demand...

Here's a new video of Emmie smiling and "talking"!


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SNOW!

WE FINALLY GOT SOME SNOW! (and by some snow I mean 8.6 inches at the airport...think we got around 7 inches at our house) Compared to what our friends up north have gotten that's a light dusting but in Columbia it's practically a blizzard! It started snowing yesteday around 4 and stopped some time around midnight (we were asleep by that point!). Last night we went outside after dinner and Franklin was hilarious! It took us a while to convince him to go outside...he wasn't sure why his yard was white! Once we got him outside he explored quite a bit but wasn't super interested...we probably had about 2 inches of snow by that point.

When Emmie got up this morning, I fed her and then bundled up Emmie and gathered up Franklin and out we went to play! Emmie was not very entertained by the snow...she was still recovering from being stuffed into her snow sack (she's pretty sure we were trying to torture her).

Franklin decided that 7 inches of snow was a lot more fun than a measly 2 inches! He sniffed around and plowed through the snow. We went and woke up Paul and he came out and attempted to throw snowballs for Franklin (he'd been pretty entertained by this the night before). The snow was to fluffy in the morning but we went back out after it started to melt and it was perfect for snowballs and snowmen! This evening Franklin kept going back outside and trying to find the snowballs from earlier...he also discovered that the snow was pretty tasty! He's pretty worn out tonight...he went to bed around 8...just couldn't take it anymore!

I just might become a morning person...

Just ask anyone who works with me (or ask Paul) and they will tell you, I am NOT a morning person. It's usually wise not to talk to me until I've had my coffee or some other form of caffeine. After the caffeine I'm good to go but before then...beware.

However, when this sweet face greets you every morning...

...you can't help but look forward to getting out of bed and starting the day!
(especially when you've gotten a full night's sleep!)

Ahh...blessed silence...

Emmie has been sleeping in her crib at night since we brought her home from teh hospital. Every night since then we have fought "the battle of bedtime". Emmie does not like being put in the crib. She will sleep in her swing or bouncer with no problem but not so with the crib. From day 1 she has been doing battle with the crib. Our nighttime routine for the first 7 weeks of her life was feed baby, rock baby to sleep, put baby in crib...eyes immediately pop open, mouth pops open, loud screams come out of mouth. At first we were good at just letting her cry it out and she would go to sleep after a bit. Then she started spitting up a lot in her crib and I found that was a good excuse to go pick her up (she MAY have spit up so I should go check on her and since I went and checked on her I guess I should just pick her up and rock her back to sleep which took all of 2 min because she really was tired...after which the previous cycle would start over). It was starting to take HOURS to get her to sleep after her bedtime feed and I decided a week or two ago that I really needed to get better about letting her cry it out...she had definitely picked up on the fact that if she cried we would come get her. So the last week or so we have been listening to screaming every night at bedtime...not so much fun. Sunday night it finally paid off! I put Emmie in her crib and she fussed for oh...about 5 min and then SILENCE...so much better than the hour long off and on crying we had been dealing with. I thought perhaps it was just because she'd had a big evening (we'd gone over to someone's house to watch the superbowl for a bit). Then last night I put her down and she cried for about 2 min and then SILENCE. Tonight she didn't even fuss at all...woo hoo! We have finally arrived..she and the crib have apparently worked out some kind of mutual respect!

A weekend of firsts...

This weekend Emmie had 2 "firsts". Paul was a manager for the football team at USC and every year the "old" managers and the current managers play against each other in the stadium. So yesterday we packed up Emmie and she took her first trip to Williams Brice Stadium! She was highly impressed and it was obvious that she is looking forward to spending MANY fall Saturdays there throughout her lifetime! Our other first is, of course, poop related. I was sitting on the couch downstairs and I had just finished feeding her when she started making noises like she was pooping. Next I smelled a suspicious smell so, being the wonderful wife I am, I take her upstairs to Paul, intending to get him to change the diaper without telling him it's dirty. Now, mind you, I didn't check to see if she really had a dirty diaper before I went upstairs...I just assumed she did. (I should also mention that the other day he changed a slightly dirty diaper and went on and on about how much poop there was...I was determined that he change a REAL diry diaper) We were sitting upstairs talking and cooing at Emmie and I turned her around so she could see Paul better and there was POOP half way up her back! As luck would have it she had been leaning against me the whole time so there was poop on my shirt as well...and on my arm...and on my jeans. Because I had poop on my Paul "got" to change the dirty diaper...well really he took the old one off, wiped her down and we through her in the bathtub which she needed because I forgot to mention she had peed through her clothes while we were at lunch. We're now on outfit number 3 in the last 4 hours and hoping that this one stays relatively clean!

Say Cheese!

If you catch Emmie on a good day at just the right moment you can get lots of fabulous smiles from her. I have been trying for days to catch a smile on camera and have been highly unsuccessful...until today!




On a side note...yesterday Emmie made a new friend! We went to visit my friend Tiffany and her baby, Josie, who is 3 weeks younger than Emmie. Josie is so cute and Emmie told me she is looking forward to hanging out often with Josie!

The good news and the bad news

Since she was born Emmie has not been a good pooper. She'll go 5 or 6 days between poops. On the fifth day we're supposed to use a rectal thermometer to help her (and by we I mean me...Paul sure wouldn't be doing that!)...not super pleasant but as a nurse it really doesn't bother me...I've done much worse to other people's children but we won't go there today! I don't mind doing the thermometer but I'd much rather she go by herself. While we were in Greenville my MOTHER had a stroke of genius (note sarcasm) and thought she had a way to solve our problem...I would eat PRUNES (insert loud gagging sounds here). I didn't really think it would work but I told her I would try it (just to prove her wrong). So she went and got prunes and I ate sme and approx. 4 hours later (right in the middle of lunch) Emmie has a massive dirty diaper. On a side note my mother began laughing about the fact I would now have to eat prunes as soon as she saw the dirty diaper. Four days later I was once again eating prunes and as the day went on with no dirty diaper I began to have hope that maybe it was just a coincidence and maybe I wouldn't have to eat any more prunes...at 8pm my hopes were dashed...we had a massive dirty diaper.
So...in conclusion the good news: Emmie can poop on her on, the bad news: I have to eat prunes (insert more gagging noises)
When can I start giving her baby food prunes?