Wordless Wednesday

Mommy & Me Monday

I don't have any new ones since we got home from vacation, but here's a few that were taken on vacation. I love my little love bug!

The Happenings of Emmersyn

Boy oh boy it has been an exciting week for Emmersyn! I think part of her not sleeping through the nigh on vacation nonsense was because her little mind was just too busy working on perfecting new things!

For starters - The girl loves her hands. They are her best friend. She'll just go to town on them!

She is now interested in toys. She'll reach for & grab at them and put them straight to her mouth. She loves the teethers when they're cold - But not frozen. And she loves those links. We got 2 packs of them & it's a good thing!

Along with her hands, are her feet. She discovered those while we were gone and now they are constantly up in the air if she is on her back. And if her hands are busy with toys or in her mouth? They're holding onto them feets!

She also loves when daddy gets her 'feets'.

She found her voice, too. She's been 'talking' for a while now. . . But now she is a little chatter box. On our trip she started this thing where it sounds like she's faking crying, but it's just her listening to her own voice. She'll go on and on for a couple minutes with no breaks. Since we've been home she realized that she can scream and squeal. Thankfully, it isn't often and it isn't horribly loud. It's still quite cute. . .We'll see how long the cuteness last, though. ;)

Here's a video of her talking:

For the past month or so, we've been randomly trying to give her rice cereal via spoon. She gets it in her bottles because of her reflux so I figured there was no harm in it. She never was ready, though. Or never seemed to like it. When we got home, I decided to try Oatmeal cereal. And she loves it. We did just cereal for a few days - And yesterday I added in bananas. Which she LOVES. I let her taste a little bit on the spoon 1st and she loved it. Now she gets it mixed into her cereal and she chows down. We'll probably stick with just bananas for a week or two, and then switch over to applesauce. 

One of her first bites of Oatmeal cereal.

I let her have a few bites of just bananas and this was her reaction. She was like giving a dog peanut butter, as bad as that sounds. It's the only way I can describe it. She kept sticking her tongue in and out.

At the end of vacation, she started holding her bottle! She doesn't do it every time. . . In fact, she rarely does it now. I am trying not to push it on her, since she isn't quiet 4 months (but will be soon!). We didn't really do much to 'teach' her. She just started putting her hands up to the bottle and grabbing onto my hand. So I started putting my hand at the end of the bottle and she'd grab on. Sometimes, as long as she isn't ZOMG HUNGRY you can put the bottle in front of her face pointed down and she'll grab onto it and put it in her mouth. She gets the concept, completely. If we pull it out of her mouth and leave it in front of her, she'll open her mouth, grab onto your hand and pull it towards her face. The few times she's held it on her own, she's pulled it out and tried to put it back into her mouth on her own. It's super cute! Now when ever she lets me, I'll put her hands up to the bottle and help place her fingers. . .  But I am not pushing it.

The most exciting thing that's happened since we got home, though, is that she is ROLLING!! Belly to back. Tummy time is still rare, because of her reflux. But we still try when we can (it's easier since she goes 4 hours between feedings, I do tummy time about 3 hours after a bottle). And the other day, she just rolled. And now? When ever I put her on her belly, she rolls right on to her back!

I was so excited!

Emmersyn is also napping in her own crib, in her room now! She's done pretty well. . . I am not ready to switch her at night, though. I don't know when I will be. But I am so proud of her and she looks like such a big girl sleeping in her own room!

I think I got all get milestones covered. It's been an exciting week!

I'm still getting things back in order from vacation. We came home to a wrecked house. How in the heck do 2 cats make such a mess in 12 days?! I swear we thought we left 2 teenage kids at the house! I got right to cleaning when we got home and the day after. It feels GREAT to have a clean house, though. I still need to get DH's & my suitcase unpacked and then get both bedrooms in order. We threw everything in Em's room when we got home.

We're (read: I'm) also working on getting Emmersyn on a schedule, even if we can only work on a morning routine. Right now it's looking like this:

5:00am: Wake up and feed (5/6oz) & change Em.

5:40am: DH gets up for work

6:00am: Take him to work

We're usually home by 7 - 7:30 at the latest. And we go back to bed together.

9:00/9:30am: Wake up!

Go out to the kitchen and make Emmersyn a 4oz bottle

Get her medicine

Make her cereal w/ fruit

Get coffee going

Feed Em her bottle 1st and then what ever she'll eat of the oatmeal & fruit

10:00am: Get my coffee and breakfast

Emmersyn then hangs out in her highchair at the table with me. Talking to me & the fan and playing with her links. If she gets antsy, I'll put some Mickey Mouse on for her. 

After I eat she goes in her jumperoo and I wash bottles and clean up from breakfast. 

I will then either shower [with her] or get some cleaning done.

11:00/11:30am: Start nap time routine.

Swaddle, paci and rock.

I'm still playing with her nap time routine and trying to figure out how long she'll sleep for. Friday she didn't go down until 12:30 and only slept for 30 minutes. Saturday it only took 10-15 minutes to get her down and she slept for 30 minutes. 

While she's napping, I will do my work out. 

When she wakes up, she'll have another 5-6oz bottle.

After that it's all up in the air. DH's work schedule is different every day. He could get off at 1 one day, and 3-4 the next. It's frustrating. But once he starts driving himself to/from work (I am hoping by Aug but not holding my breath), we'll work on an afternoon routine. Yesterday I got him to get a ride since he got off RIGHT as I got her down for that 1st nap after an hour & a half struggle. I put her back down at 3 with no fuss and she slept for 2 hours! So yeah. . . We're still figuring it out.

As for me. . . I was 5lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. And then on vacation, I gained 5lbs. 5lbs in 10 days. Disgusting! So I bought a work out DVD and am gonna attempt to work out 5-6 days a week and hope to loose 10lbs. Once I get rid of these 10lbs, then I'll go from there. I deff wanna tone up. I am trying to eat better. BUt it's hard, I have a HORRIBLE sweet tooth!

Anyways. . . That's all the fun & exciting news for here. I now hope to get back into the land of Meme's!

Vacation! [I should say :: Our Trip] Part 2

That Sunday [the 14th] DH wanted to get up at 7:00am to leave by 8:00. . . Well, the alarm went off at 7:00am. He woke up. And then went back to sleep. The baby was still asleep. So I went back to sleep. I knew we weren't getting up. . . Not until my mom came in around 7:45 and told us it's a quarter till 8. So up we got. . . I gave Emmersyn to my mom with a bottle & her outfit for the day. And then I got myself ready and packed everything up for DH to load up the car.

[DH and his dad when we 1st got there]

We actually got packed up, in the car. . .Got gas, ran it through the car wash, got donuts and we were on the road by 9:00am! I was quiet impressed. The drive sucked -- It seemed like it took forever. DH did most of the driving. . . He likes to be the one driving when we pull up to his dads. Always. It's some penis thing or something, IDK. But what ever. . . I drove like 3 hours, maybe. Emmersyn slept the entire time. Seriously. The.Whole.Time. We'd stop to stretch, feed & change her and as soon as we got back on the road she was out. The last 30 or so minutes of the drive she started getting antsy, but I put Mickey Mouse on her DVD player and it was just enough to distract her until we got there.

[DH's step-sister]

We made good time, though. Even with the baby. We got there in 9.5 hours. 

DH's step-sister and her 2 kiddos were there, which was a nice surprise. So we hung out, they loved on my piggy and we chit chatted. Getting Em to sleep that night was hard. Will's dad & step-mom aren't running their AC yet... It isn't hot, but it was warm. And considering the fact that our house is really cold at night -- Emmersyn had a hard time getting to sleep. We didn't even put PJ's on her. I finally had to go in & lay with her to get her to sleep. . . I eventually got her down in her crib.

Her sleeping was all messed up while we were there. Eventually, she stopped sleeping through the night. OMG that killed me. I am so use to her sleeping through the night. . . And now she was waking up [again] every 4 hours like when she was younger. Torture for me! And after she'd wake up the first time, she wanted to sleep in bed with us. Okay. . . We have a CA King at home. And we were in a Queen. So her in bed with us made for mommy to be uncomfortable. She may be tiny, but she takes up a lot of room. Or her sleeping in my arms. . . Either way, we'd both wake up sweating like crazy. Yuck. And usually me hurting in one way or the other. . . So yeah, sleep sucked!

[Em between the 2 huge steaks the boys ate. 2 inches thick. $30.00/steak. DH ate all his and greatly enjoyed it, haha. He better have for that price!]

The rest of the week was pretty boring, honestly. His dad had our whole visit off -- Which hasn't happened since DH and I went up there during our Sr year Spring Break. So we're normally use to having the days to ourselves and being able to do stuff. . . And I didn't wanna take Em away from her Grandpa since who knows when we'll get up there again. So we didn't do much.

[Me!]

One day Emmersyn & I joined the boys (DH, his dad, his step-sisters husband & his son) shooting. I didn't shoot, and we hung out in the car. But it was still nice. This was Friday -- And we *so* needed to get out of the house. All we did prior to that was go into a few of the other towns for shopping [it's all small town areas, so you have to go to other towns for certain things]. Oh, on Thursday DH, Emmersyn and I went to the movies. We saw The A-Team. And it was just the 3 of us + one other person in the movie! Friday night his step-sister and her family (husband, step-son, daughter & her friend, and their son) came over and we all had a blast. Drinking, eating and playing Apples to Apples.

[A family pic at dinner]

DH's family got to see him drunk for the 1st time and loved it. I enjoyed a few drinks and let loose and all around, it was a great night had by all. Lots of laughs. Lots of memories. 

DH's step-mom had Fri, Sat & Sunday off. We had all planned to go to the lake for some sunshine & fishing on Saturday, but since we were all up drinking until 12:30am - His parents didn't feel up to going. So after Emmersyns 1st nap, we packed up and headed out to the lake. Just the 3 of us. It was perfect.

It was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect. It was nice & warm, with a slight breeze here and there that cooled us down. We caught absolutely no fish. There were too many rocks where we were, so our stuff kept getting stuck. And there was lots of water craft going by, as I expected. We spent a good 2-3 hours out there. . .

Emmersyn loved the lake. I popped her in her stroller w/ a blanket semi over it to block her from the sun, and I lightly rocked it. . . With my rocking + the boats and sound of the lake, it was like she was in her pack-n-play and she quickly knocked out!

I took her to the water and put her feet in [it was bath day anyways, so I didn't mind]. After the initial shock of the water, she loved it. She's put her feet in the sand and just chill. I am so, so happy. My parents have a boat and we'll be taking at least 1 lake trip this summer [it's a 5 hour drive one way, yuck!]. I love my little water baby!

Both hubby and I got some sunshine and then we called it a day. It was nice, though, to just be the 3 of us out by the lake with some drinks and some snacks.

Sunday was Father's Day and it was pretty laid back. . . The 3 of us slept in [as we did every morning but 1, hah] and when we got up, Will's step-mom made everybody breakfast. We just laid low all day and that night we went out to dinner at a Buffet. It was alright. . . Once again, it was close to Emmersyns bed time but she did wonderfully and fell asleep in the high chair. I know that sounds horrible, but she's small enough still that with the high chair cover and her blanket, I can get her comfortable enough to sleep. 

[This is the face of a little girl who loves her daddy to pieces]

[She was sleepy and getting fussy]

Sunday night/Monday morning was rough for Emmersyn and I. . . And I was frustrated so I told DH that we need to get out of the house. He can come or not. But Em and I were going somewhere that day. He didn't join us, so after her nap we headed out to a park in the town over. . . And we just hung out. After that we drove around a bit while she slept and then we picked up a smoothie and headed back to the house so Grandpa can spend some time with her on the last day. We were only gone a couple hours, but it did both of us good.

[With her Grandpa]

Monday night DH, Em and I went out to dinner. Again, it was nice being the 3 of us. I thought about letting Em stay home with Grandma and Grandpa, but I wasn't comfortable with it. Not because I don't like or trust them (not the case at all), but because they haven't spent enough time with Em to know why she's fussing, ect. So we took her with us and we were okay with that. We got all dressed up [for us, hah] for the fun of it.

[DH, Em, his step-mom & dad]

[3 generations]

[Myself & Em with the boys]

We packed up that night and said our good-byes. And Tuesday morning around the same time, we headed out. Emmersyn did great on the drive again. She didn't sleep as much, but did sleep a good amount. Mickey Mouse saved us the times she wasn't sleeping. Usually the drive home takes us longer then the ride there because we always get stuck in LA traffic. But, for the most part, we missed the traffic and got home in 9 hours!

Over all, it was a nice trip. It was nice to see family that we only see once a year. . . And have them meet Em and spend some time with her. Everybody absolutely adored her! I am not sure when we'll go up there again. . .We usually go during his Holiday leave around New Years, but I honestly wanna stay out here for her 1st Holiday season. And if we're being completely honest, I don't wanna make that trip again any time soon. The drive is long and boring, and it's just exhausting and stressful being away from home with a baby. 

Stay tuned for an update on Emmersyn and the happenings around here since we got home. I've been one busy mommah!

I hope to be all caught up and back in the flow of Memes by Monday. . . If I can remember what Memes there are for Monday. xD

Vacation! [I should say :: Our Trip] Part 1

[My brother & Em -- I love this picture]

I can't really call our trip a vacation, because honestly -- It was far from a vacation for me. I felt like I worked double time. . . Don't get me wrong, we had a good time visiting family and what have you. But when you have a kiddo, it's a 24/7 job and no matter how much 'help' you have from family while you're on a trip -- You still don't feel like you have a break.

[She *loved* her Uncle Garrett]

The trip started on Friday with a 2 hour drive to our hometown -- La Quinta, CA -- Where we both grew up, where we met, where most my family is & where his mom, sister & her family are. We were only spending 1 full day there, so it was busy.

We got there around 4:00pm on Friday and we just hung out at my parents house. My brother came over & then DH and I took my parents and brother out to dinner. Afterwards the boys went home & us girls went to Target -- I needed a few things. When we got home, my brothers fiance was there to see Em after she had gotten off work.

Saturday was a busy day! Emmersyn had me up around 7:00am and we went into my moms room and let daddy sleep. My dad got home from his meeting and made us all breakfast. We then got Emmersyn bathed and ready -- She had pictures at 11:30! It was hot in the photostudio and it was her nap time -- But she still did awesome during them! My mom paid for them because she is the best [it was her idea, lol]! They should be ready any time to be picked up -- I cannot wait!!

After her pictures, we swung by my Grandpa's house so he can see us the baby and then we went 2 doors down to my Aunt & Uncles house, where it was cooler, so they could see us her and she should eat. We spent about an hour there, between the 2 houses, and then we had to head out to go see DH's family. . .

We spent a couple hours at his sisters house, where his mom met us. His sister, however, had to go to work about an hour after we showed up and was bummed because nobody told her we were coming, so she had to get ready for work still -- Thus got less time with Em. -shrug- I told DH to let his family know we were coming, apparently he only told his mom. 

After a bit, his mom, sisters fiance, their little boy, DH and I all went out to dinner where his sister works -- Tony Romas. It was a nice dinner, and despite it being close to her bed time, Emmersyn did great! We felt an Earthquake while there. They're normal out here, especially lately, but DH & I rarely actually feel them! After dinner we headed home to get Em to bed & get ready for our long day on Sunday. . .

(Emmersyn wants mommy, so I'll type up part 2 later tonight or tomorrow)