Wow, I have been slacking on this blog.

Well, the bad news is that I have been slacking on keeping up with the blog over the past few weeks. The good news is that I am back with an update.

Emma has been smiling a ton and starting to chuckle/laugh a little bit. She doesn't like tummy time for too long, but she's doing pretty good with it. She is growing like a weed and is already too tall for a lot of her 3 to 6 months clothes (she will be 3 months on Monday the 13th). Emma is starting to realize that we will look at her when she makes noise (she seems to like this game... just not as much as screaming at you until she falls asleep at night though, lol). She also loves kicking when she is either in her bouncy seat (another fav) or on the play mat.

Cody and Haley have adjusted very well to Emma. Haley doesn't even seem to mind the crying or flailing of arms/legs. Emma was kicking and slapping Haley the other day and she didn't seem to mind it too much (I still moved her, but it was nice to see her not freak out). Cody just wants to be close to Emma. He will try to sneak into her room and hide in the corner when we put her to bed so he can sleep in there with her. I have a feeling when Emma gets a little older and gets a bigger bed we will no longer have the need for a dog bed for Cody.

Emma's 2 month check up... hooray shots :(

Emma had her 2 month check up yesterday and she had to get a few shots for her vaccinations. She was not happy about that. It was a different cry than I had heard before. It wasn't just the "I'm not happy because I am sitting in pee" cry, it was the "This crazy lady is hurting me" cry.

All in all it was a good visit to the Dr. everything seems to be going well. The Dr said that her colic should probably clear up soon. My first question was "How soon?".

Emma is getting taller now... she is in the 80th percentile for her height. She was about 2 feet tall.

Emma has been smiling a bunch recently and becoming much more active. She has had a few "almost laughs" and we can't wait until she starts to do that more.

Baby feet and a new flash :)

I just got a new flash for my camera. I got the Nikon SB-400. It's pretty small, but makes such a big difference for indoor pictures. I can't wait to take some of Emma tonight :)

For lunch we went to the park and picked up some Chickfila on the way there. It is such a beautiful day today with the temps close to 80. It is had to believe that it was 15 and snowing a week ago and it will be a high in the 40s by the end of the week. The season changes here are nuts.

Clothes at Kohls with Cody... Emma's favorite phrase.

Our friend from Florida, Tina, came up recently and spent a few days with us and Emma. While Tina was here we found out that Emma likes the word "Clothes" (which scares me and my wallet). It ended up being the "O" sound if you draw it out. She has been smiling up a storm recently and its amazing to see. The other night she was having a really bad night and wouldn't go to sleep etc, but as I was rocking her trying to get her to sleep she smiled at me and it just melts my heart and it made everything worth while.

Thunder Snow???

That was the forecast last night... it seems that you can have thunder storms and snow at once. I didn't hear any thunder... probably due to the fact that Emma slept for about 6 hours straight (HOORAY!). When I did get up this morning I was expecting like a light dusting, but we actually had quite a bit of snow, probably around 2-3 inches or so. I think Emma is a snow magnet. We had a huge snow shortly after she was born and now this... in March. It is really nice though. It's amazing how quiet it is outside after a snow fall.

Few more pictures...

We just gave Emma another bath... other than the first time when we had the water entirely too cold, she actually seems to really enjoy them. We also had some floor/play time with her right before the bath and I took a few pictures and put them up on flickr...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8132006@N07/sets/72157613516849601/

Emma... 6 weeks old.

Well, I am sorry for not posting more on here, it's pretty hard working in blogging to regular work, baby work, eating and sleeping (that's about all we do). But Emma is 6 weeks old today and she is doing great. She has changed so much in the past few weeks, its almost scary how fast it goes. She went from sleeping pretty much all day to now being awake for the majority of it. Emma is becoming a pro at tummy time and loves to sit up straight when you hold her. She has made numerous trips to Target and especially enjoys the carts that are a little shaky... we went to Home Depot once, but those carts are a little too smooth, so I had to put her in the main basket and let her carrier thing rock.

Emma has been sleeping fairly well (at least she is sleeping better than we are). Her first stretch of sleep seems to be around 4-6 hours usually which is pretty nice. After that it is hit or miss though, last night was pretty good actually. Overall, becoming a parent has definitely been a big change, but it is amazing how quickly you get used to it and thinking back to when we didn't have our daughter seems like a distant memory.

Alison's mom and sister scanned some pictures of Alison when she was a baby, from some angles they look almost identical... from other angles almost nothing a like. It was neat to see the pictures of Alison as a baby, she was almost as cute as Emma ;).

We are not the only ones who have experienced a big change in our lives... Cody and Haley have as well. Cody is great with Emma. He is very attentive to her, when she cries in her room he will go and stand by her door staring at one of us until we get up and help her. One of his new favorite spots to sleep is next to her crib at night. The other day for Alison's birthday we went out to dinner and had my sister in law, Jenn, watch Emma for a bit. She said that Cody just stared at her for a while after we left making sure that everything was going to be OK with his little sister. Haley actually seems to enjoy having Emma around. She doesn't run or anything when Emma is making a lot of noise, she usually just comes up and sits down next to whoever is holding her.

Emma's 2 month checkup is coming up in a couple weeks, right after that... college. It's going so fast that it seems like that's not too far off... Time to open a 529 plan I guess ;)

Lady Bug Emma

Emma's Aunt Lauren came up not too long ago and brought a gift for Emma. We just put it on her today and it's really cute. I put the pictures up on Flickr (same link from the other post).

Emma is 1 month old today.

Happy Friday the 13th, Emma is one month old now.

I can't believe that it has already been a month... She is going to be going off to college before I know it.

Emma has been sleeping in her own room now for the past few days which has worked out pretty well. She is a handful, but totally worth it.

More Emma pictures

I put a few more pictures up on Flickr...


http://flickr.com/photos/8132006@N07/sets/72157613516849601/

Thanks, Tina!

I am typing this one handed so I am going to keep it short... but I just wanted to thank Tina for doing the three paintings for Emma's room (they are not in order in the picture). The colors matched perfectly and we are looking forward to getting them up on the wall. :)

Thanks again!

Emma Grace

I got a new camera yesterday so I will be taking more pictures of Emma.

I put a couple pictures up on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8132006@N07/sets/72157613516849601/

No more hospitals :)

I am sorry that I haven't updated this, but we are out of the hospital and everything is going well. We are getting used to our new routine and the responsibility of taking care of a newborn. I just wanted to let everyone know that we are back home, Emma is fine and things are looking good. I will post more soon with some new pictures and video.

Update on Emma Grace...

Well, we thought that we should update everyone on what is going on with Emma. She was born on Tuesday the 13th and we were discharged from the hospital on Thursday, we were told that she had a slight case of Jaundice which is very common and we would have to have her bilirubin count done the next morning. We had an appointment with our pediatrician on Friday morning already, so we went to the hospital beforehand to get the lab work done.

When we got to the pediatrician's office they told us that her bilirubin levels had raised quite a bit since we had left the hospital so we had to admit her to Wake Med again to have phototherapy to try and lower the bilirubin count try to get rid of the jaundice. We also had to have an IV put in her to try to give her some extra fluids. We stayed in the hospital from Friday until Sunday when they told us that she was on a downward trend and we should be OK at home. After getting home on Sunday we had an appointment again to get her bilirubin count done on Monday. We were in for some more bad news... her levels had started to go up so we got an at home "biliblanket" to try to do some of the phototherapy at home. After a day of this her levels were the same so we were admitted to the hospital once again on Tuesday.

It is now Wednesday night and her levels are getting pretty decent compared to what we came in with, but since she rebounded after going home last time, they are going to try to be a little more cautious.

It has been pretty rough. She has to get her heel pricked to draw blood quite a few times a day and she has all of these little scabs on her feet that really break my heart. She has to be under the lights the majority of the day so we can't really hold her which is also really hard. Right now I am typing this one handed so she can hold onto my finger which seems to calm her down a bit.

We are hoping that tomorrow her levels will be at normal levels and not just on a "downward trend" and we will be able to be discharged. This has been really hard on our family and we are looking forward to getting our daughter home... for good.

(The picture shows what she was in for the majority of the first visit. She had to lay on a little light up pad, she was under a big set of blue LED lights and she had a spotlight on her as well. The white bandage on her arm is the IV. This time she is only one the blue pad and the blue overhead light.

SNOW!!

We have about 7 to 8 inches of snow so far... Cody absolutely loves it.

I will be posting some more pictures of Emma probably later on tonight too, but here is a video of Cody in the snow for the time being. :)

We are home!

We got home today around 2pm or so. It is great to be home. It was nice having all of the help at the hospital, but there is something to being in your own home... (ask me again tonight though, feelings might change).

It's incredible. I am amazed at how easy it is to hold and watch her for hours. We feel very fortunate for having a healthy happy baby.

The labor process went well. Alison did an amazing job (she got her out in only 15 minutes of pushing). We went from "Hey, lets check if you dilated anymore" to "It's a girl!" in less than an hour.

She is great. It is amazing how you can feel a bond with your child instantly the first time you lay eyes on her.

Here are a few more pictures...

Anna and Audrey's gifts to their cousin Emma...


Emma all bundled up ready to make the trip to the car (about 20 feet of outside air :) )


All ready to go!


Emma getting a kiss from Mommy... Nana watches in the back


Emma trying on a new hat (it's cute, but a little too big for now)


Cody getting a few quick sniffs in (Emma seems to love her big brother... he helps keep her awake while nursing too)

Few more pictures

Baby Pictures

Here are a few pictures!

IT'S A GIRL!!

We had her... everyone is fine. 8lb 15 oz. at 3:45. I will post more details later, but I just wanted to let you all know... we are parents!

Moving along well...

She is 6 to 7 cm dilated and they just put her epidural in. Her legs got warm and tingly and that was a good thing :)

Alison's progressing well...

She is at 5cm and they just broke her water. The Doctor said that she is doing well and everything is looking good. :)

IV has started...

Well, after a completely restful night on the super comfortable hospital chair/bed thing the nurse came in around 5am to get Alison ready for the pitocin drip. They are also giving her a lot of fluids in the main IV drip. This should start contractions in probably about an hour and then we will have her water broken around 9am or so.

It's going to be a long day, but I am really excited for what we get in the end :)

Well, we are in the hospital...

Well, we are in the hospital... Alison has an IV in her arm (nothing going in yet) and she had some monitors on her earlier to measure contractions and Emma's heart rate. Pretty much, we are just waiting for the rest of the night. Tomorrow morning we will have an IV drip of Pitocin to start to induce labor and cause the contractions. They have estimated that we will have her around 3 or 4pm tomorrow.

Alison is doing well (just pretty uncomfortable and hungry :( ), she will be getting a sleep aid tonight, so she will be able to rest for the big day tomorrow.

I will post some pictures tomorrow night after we have her.

The release of the Frisbee, the crowning of Queen Elizabeth I, William Hung's birth, the first Mickey Mouse comic and Michael Jordan's retirement...

all happened on the same date that I will most likely become a father... January 13th.

Tomorrow Alison and I are going to the hospital to start the process of having her induced on Tuesday morning (January 13th, 2009). That will be Emma Grace's birthday. I haven't fully come to grasp the fact that it is already here. Right now I am a little scared because I know tomorrow I will essentially be a spectator (with a highly vested interest) in the whole thing. Other than offering my support, doing my best to comfort and a sacrificing a finger or two for Alison to break, I don't have much to do it seems... other than be excited, scared, happy and about 40 other emotions, some that probably don't even have names.

I am going to be a father. It's a little scary that someone is going to be depending on me and looking to me for guidance, direction, support and of course love...(probably an allowance later on too ;)). I do feel very fortunate and blessed to be able to experience this with such a loving, beautiful, wonderful person and the best friend I have ever had... my wife, Alison. We have had our ups and downs during this pregnancy, but I know that there is no one better to go through this with. Alison... I love you. I also want to thank all of our friends and family for being there for us through out all of this, I am sure what we would have done with out you... and just a forewarning, I doubt that we are done needing your help yet. :)

Wow, 39 out of 40 weeks is 98%... OMG we are 98% of the way there!?!

Wow, we are 98% of the way there. How did that happen?! I haven't been very good at posting on here if you haven't noticed. The past month has really flown by at an alarming rate. It wasn't that long ago that I knew that Christmas was a few weeks away and that meant that the baby was going to only be a few weeks after that, but that was 2 'fews'... 2 'fews' is a long time. Well, Christmas came and it was great. We didn't have any house guests this year so we had a pretty quiet Christmas Eve going to Church, eating Pizza, watching "A Christmas Story" and spending time with each other. Christmas day we went over to my brother and sister-in-law's new house and spent some time with them and the girls. The only problem with Christmas is that it got rid of one of the 'fews' so we only had a few weeks left.

New Year's Eve was fun, we were out partying (by "out partying" I mean staying home) late into the night (by "late into the night" I mean 12:30) getting drunk off Champagne and Whiskey (by "Champagne and Whiskey" I really mean Sparkling Apple Cider).

After New Year's we no longer had a few weeks, we were down to a couple. Throw in some work, Dr's appointments, getting some stuff for the house ready and that brings us to today. One week from her due date.

It has been a pretty incredible journey. The really amazing part is that this was just getting to the point of having her, the journey starts all over and gets infinitely more complex after she's born.

(If you look closly at the picture you will be able to see what we are naming her ;). Thanks to Anna and Audrey for the artwork. :) )