Our Sunday

Today we went to Golden Gate Park for a picnic in the Botanical Gardens. It was really nice. We bought Emma a sunhat and sunglasses last weekend and the weather was perfect to break them in. After lunch we walked around a bit and then went to the De Young Museum. Emma was more interested in all the flowers, trees and smells in the Botanical Gardens than the Museum. We enjoyed ourselves so that was good.

We gave Emma some more rice cereal and it was a tiny bit thicker than yesterday. She didn’t enjoy it very much. She didn’t eat a ton and there could have been many reasons for it – she didn’t sleep well today at all. She wasn’t interested in taking naps today – she slept 20 mins at a time and we know that those aren’t naps. We think that she was overtired and not interested in doing much. Also, the cereal was a bit thicker so we think she could taste it more. It will take her some getting used to.

We also did some great tummy time with Emma but she didn’t roll over on her own. We know that we can’t expect her to do it every time since it is so new to her but she almost did it a couple of times.

So Many Firsts

So Many Firsts

Yesterday, May 22, was a monumental day in Emma’s life. It started out like every other day with Emma waking up but it ended with Emma doing two new things for the first time. The first was we decided that we were going to feed her rice cereal. She has never eaten solids before so this was a big deal. We were really excited to do this and decided to do it after her afternoon nap. Speaking of which, her afternoon nap seems to have finally developed and she has been taking a long afternoon nap. Laetitia is the master at getting her to take them but we were able to get her to sleep for almost an hour and a half and that was pretty amazing. I digress… we got the highchair out of the garage and set it all up. When she woke up she was a bit groggy and we said let’s play with her for a bit to really get her up. We wanted to make sure that she was completely awake and aware of what was going on. So we decided that we should do some tummy time and instead of using the pillow to help prop her up we just laid a blanket on the floor and put her down. Her head was so high it was FANTASTIC. Jamey got down with her and they were both in the same pose. I took some really cute pictures. Anyway, all of a sudden Emma rolled over!!! She had never done that before and both Jamey and I started screaming for joy and dancing around. We don’t really know if Emma was all that surprised at what she did because we were so busy dancing around and singing her praises she was just watching us. We put her back on her tummy and guess what… she did it again! And again! We are so proud of our little girl. Now we have to watch her more carefully and strap her in on the changing table because who knows when she will roll again. She only rolled onto her right side – we will have to show her how to roll onto her left. We then showed her how to roll from her back to her tummy – but she only goes sideways. That will take some time.

It was now time for Emma to eat rice cereal. We got everything ready – her sippy cup was filled with water, the rice cereal was warm to her liking (hopefully), her spoon was clean and her bib was on – and we put her in her highchair. She looked so cute in her highchair. Such a big girl! We then got the camera and video camera ready – we sat down next to her and we fed her the cereal. She really liked it! She was eating it up and smiling. She was getting so excited with each spoonful and kept opening her mouth when the spoon came near. As we you know, she loves putting everything in her mouth so we aren’t 100% sure that she opened her mouth so she could eat the cereal – she may have opened her mouth so she could eat the spoon.  Either way, she really enjoyed it and didn’t make any crazy faces or push the food out of her mouth.

It seemed like she was just drinking my milk from a spoon but we know that we mixed a tablespoon of cereal and three and a half tablespoons of breastmilk… if we didn’t know it we would have thought she was just eating my milk. We didn’t taste it but the taste had to have been different. I will say that this entire experience made a mess – there was a ton of food all over her bib and her shirt. The cereal is so soupy it is hard not to get it everywhere. I know that we mixed in a tablespoon of cereal to three and a half tablespoons of breastmilk but it seemed like she drinking my milk off a spoon. It will definitely be interesting to see how she reacts to a thicker consistency. We plan to make it a bit thicker tomorrow and that will be another test to see if she likes it. Emma also was drinking water out of her sippy cup. We aren’t sure how much she actually drank – if any – but she did enjoy holding her cup and bringing it to her mouth. We are going to measure how much water we put in it tomorrow to see if she is actually drinking any. But we kind of think she was more chewing the spout than sucking on it.

It was a really exciting day for us as parents. Words can’t describe or do justice to the feelings we have. We are so proud of her and of all the things she does. It melts our hearts when we think what a wonderful baby we have. We are so lucky we get to watch her grow into a happy, beautiful little girl.

It was phenomenal to see her roll over – we are still shaking our heads in disbelief because we weren’t expecting it and I think the neighbors could hear us screaming in excitement. To think that it was just about a month ago when we called tummy time “tummy torture,” and now she holds her head up high and rolls over – it brings tears of joy to our eyes! I just can’t believe how fast she is growing and how time is flying by. I want time to stop or slow down so I can hold on to these moments of her as a baby but I also can’t wait for her grow up and talk and say mommy and daddy.

I swear life is absolutely amazing… it was just five months ago when she came into this world – a helpless little girl who didn’t do anything but sleep, eat and cry; and now she is grabbing toys (hair, paper, plates, anything she can get her hands on), smiling, laughing, cooing/babbling, sitting up practically all on her own, standing up with assistance and eating solids. Wow!!! she is just so amazing to watch – I think we both could be happy just starring at her all day long.

Emma's 5 months!

We can't believe how grown up Emma is already! To think that she is 5 months already is just crazy!!! We went to the doctor on Monday for a check-up and Emma was 14 lbs and 1 oz. She is perfectly on track with her weight gain, which is about a pound a month now. She is also eating a ton more!! It used to be a challenge to get her to eat 4 ounces and now she is averaging 5-6.5 oz a feed!

We are going to start her on solids soon. Either this weekend or next. We haven't decided yet but we went shopping last weekend and bought rice cereal, bowls, spoons and sippy cups. It was really fun to get all those things. I'm planning to make her baby food - at least for a while - so we bought some containers to store the food. It will definitely be interesting to see how she reacts to food. We already know that she doesn't like the taste of formula. We plan to capture her first few attempts to eat solids on video and we'll be sure to post some clips.

She has found her thumb a couple of weeks ago and sucks on it a bunch. It is really cute to watch her. To think that it is a milestone is odd but it does take a while for a baby to figure out their hands. She is quite the inquisitive little girl. She watches our every move and studies whatever we are doing.

Emma talks a bunch and has made a few new sounds the past week. She studies our mouths when we talk to her and she opens her mouth to try to speak - nothing comes out but it is exciting to see her do that.

She continues to do great with Laetitia. Today they went to the park but as you can see from the picture, Emma fell asleep in the stroller so Trystan had all the fun.

Emma is getting so strong. She is almost sitting up by herself and she is doing great on her tummy. We are trying to get her to roll over but she still hasn't done that yet.

She is still sleeping great at night; however we are working on her sleeping better during the day. She really needs to take better naps. Some days are better than others but she loves to take catnaps which don't really work. Laetitia was really happy today because in the afternoon she slept for almost 2 hours. Emma is so much happier when she sleeps during the day so hopefully we will be able to train her soon.

Emma's 5 months!

Emma's 5 months!

Even more pictures

As I said - if she can grab something, it will end up in her mouth!!! And yes, that is her foot.

More picitures

Michele's First Mother's Day

My first Mother’s Day . WOW. I still can’t believe that I am a mom. But I do have the most precious baby ever!! so it shouldn’t be that hard J It was a very special day and one that I will always remember. The day started out with our alarm clock (Emma) waking us up around 6:15am and Jamey immediately leaning over saying Happy Mother’s Day. It was a great way to start out the day – knowing that I get to celebrate this holiday now and I am a mom.

We went to brunch with our friends Stephanie, Michael and their baby Louden in San Carlos. Emma was on her best behavior and we had a delicious brunch. Afterward, we went for a walk in downtown San Carlos and we happened to stumble upon a fantastic kids book store. It was the best book store we have ever been in. Emma loved being in there. We read her all sorts of books – right now she tends to really like the books that make noise when she touches them. We controlled ourselves and only bought Emma two books but we could have bought a ton!

We headed home in the afternoon and took a walk in our neighborhood. We picked up dinner for the evening stopping at the butcher to get some Filet Mignon, went to the produce store to get ingredients for a salad and then went to a café picked up some dessert. Emma was talking the ENTIRE time we were on our walk. It was unbelievable – she didn’t stop for a minute. She was just babbling away and blowing bubbles as she spoke – she really is a talkative little girl. It was really cute.

I was so happy to be with Emma all day – it was so special. We played and played, and had many conversations. And she gave me a fantastic Mother’s Day present – she did the BEST tummy time ever!!! She was actually doing push-ups. It was so amazing to see her do that. She was happy and smiling and talking while she was on her tummy. She didn’t cry at all! Maybe it isn’t tummy torture after all! To say the least, it really made us happy to see her do that and for her to be so happy on her tummy. Now she just needs to learn how to roll over. Yes, we know, it will be a blessing and a curse when that happens.

I really couldn’t have asked for a better day! It made my day to be with Emma and Jamey. It was so special and I will always cherish it.

Another big development is that Emma is growing tons of hair! It is so soft and fuzzy right now. We love touching her head and rubbing our face against it because it is so soft. We are surprised how quickly it grew back. It looks like her hair will be light brown but who knows - it is lighter than what she was born with.

And I don't know if I have said this before, but Emma LOVES putting everything in her mouth! She loves to take our fingers and eat/suck on them. She also grabs at everything and then puts them in her mouth. It is really neat to watch her do that. But when I say she likes to put everything in her mouth, I mean it! Doesn't matter what it is - if she can get her hands on it she will try to eat it. It keeps us on our toes for sure.

Pictures from California Academy of Sciences

Michele's First Week Back at Work Cont.

Michele's First Week Back at Work

So I finally went back to work on May 3. It was really hard leaving the house on Monday knowing that I was going to be gone all day. I have to say that the anticipation is definitely worse than actually going back to work but it isn't easy either. It will take some time to adjust to the new routine but it is nice to have adult conversations (that aren't about Emma) and for my brain to work again. It's also nice to reconnect with all my coworkers. I know things will get easier as time goes on - I just don't want to miss out on the little things and I have already... But again, I know it is an adjustment.

Jamey took off Monday and Tuesday to help transition Emma to Laetitia full time and we are glad he did that. I think it was good for Emma since we just came back from the east coast and she was a bit jet-lagged. But, Emma did really well with Laetitia - she took some long afternoon naps, went to the park, sunbathed (sorta) outside, ate from the bottle without a problem and happily played like the happy little girl she is.

The best treat I got all week was Jamey brought Emma to my office on Friday and we went to the park for lunch. It was so nice to see her and it brightened my day! I was feeling sad and after her visit I was really happy. It was REALLY nice of Jamey to bring her.

She did a couple of funny and new things this week. Apparently Emma was playing with a toy earlier in the day and then Trystan started to play with it later. When Laetitia held Emma over Trystan to look at him Emma started screaming at him because she wanted the toy. When she got the toy she stopped screaming and was all smiles. Laetitia said it was hilarious. Emma also started to go to sleep a bit earlier - her bedtime now seems to be between 8-9. This is nice for us because Jamey and I can spend some time with each other but it makes me sad because I don't have a lot of time with her. As I said before, I see her in the morning when I feed her but she goes to sleep almost right after. Then when I get home she is tired and not that playful and then goes to bed. That is what the hardest part for me is about going back to work. I just wish I had some more time with her so I could play with her. Another new thing she started to do this week was babble A LOT!!! She is blowing bubbles when she does and has become a bit of a drool monster. It is really cute to hear her babble and boy oh boy does she go on and on. She really wants to talk.

On Saturday, we went to the California Academy of Sciences and became members. There is so much to do there and we look forward to going back many times. We went to the Extreme Mammals exhibit and while Emma enjoyed it, I think Jamey and I enjoyed it more. There was stuff for her to look at but it wasn’t that colorful and it was a dimly lite room. After that exhibit we went into the Rainforest and Emma really liked that. She looked around at all the butterflies, reptiles, insects, birds, trees and more. We know that she will definitely want to go back there often when she gets older. After the Rainforest we went to the Aquarium – but we were all tired so we decided to leave and come back another time. It was a great family outing and can’t wait to do more trips like that one.