Headed Home for the Holidays

Oh, man. REALLY rethinking this whole "Let's DRIVE to NY/NH for Christmas," idea. If we didn't have so much crap to travel with for the baby, we'd probably be flying. But, the amount of baby stuff, combined with the liklihood of a RIDICULOUS amount of presents from Santa Grammy/Grampy and Santa Grandma, has forced us to do the unthinkable.... drive from North Carolina to New York and New England. It should be pretty interesting with a very busy 4 month old whose new "thing" is to get annoyed with being in the carseat. Yay.

Just looking at the amount of stuff that needs to be packed is making me a little anxious. Everything will surely fit (we have one of those sky box things for Brian's car), it's just a little daunting to see stacked up over there on the dining room table... the 10 foot dining room table that is COVERED in stuff. Blegh.

Here's the plan: Leave Thursday after Brian gets home from work (last bottle, bathtime, get Emma in her jammies and into the carseat and go) and drive overnight to New York. Stay in New York until the morning of the 20th, and head up to New Hampshire... probably another 5 hour drive, maybe 6 with traffic. Get up to New Hampshire on the afternoon/evening of the 20th (Monday) and stay until Christmas Eve morning. Leave EARLY Christmas Eve morning, drive to Philly, stay overnight, and do the rest of the drive to North Carolina on Christmas Day. Get home that afternoon and then have the 26th (Sunday) to relax before starting work back again on Monday.

Now...hopefully the weather will cooperate...

Wish us luck!

4 Months Old!

Wow, where has the time gone?!?! I can't believe our baby is already 4 months old! She had her 4 month check up yesterday with Dr. Shelton. Emma is now 12 lbs, 15 oz, and has jumped up to 25" long!

We asked Dr. Shelton if we should be concerned about Emma's "strawberry" (infantile hemangioma) birthmark on her head, and she gave us a referral to the Duke Pediatric Dermatology clinic. She said it may or may not need treatment (because of it's location and the likelihood that she could scratch it--the bleeding would be very difficult to stop, as the birthmark is all small blood vessels grouped together), but that it would be good for us to get it checked out so they can monitor it's size and growth. It grew rather rapidly for a few months, but has seemed to slow now.

What else? Emma is attempting to move herself. It's sort of an ugly pre-crawling thing she's doing, but it gets the job done. She must be learning from the other kids in the classroom. There's a 6 month old and a 7 month old who are crawling and pulling themselves up onto the furniture in the classroom. I told Emma not to get any ideas. She's clearly not listening to me! (An indicator of years to come?...)

Here are a few current pictures...











We're looking forward to our trip up to New York and New Hampshire for the holidays to visit all of the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. We're dreading the drive, though! Our hope is to be able to make an overnight drive on Thursday night and arrive in NY on Friday. We'll stay until sometime on Monday, when we'll make the drive up to NH, stay through Thursday and leave on Friday. Should be interesting with a busy 4 month old!!! Wish us luck!

Playing Catch Up!

Sorry I've been slacking off on the pictures-- things have been a little busy around here lately.

Emma and I flew up to New Hampshire to visit Grammy (my mom), Grampy (my dad), and her Aunts, Uncles and cousins, while Brian was in Seattle for a conference. She did surprisingly well on the flights up and back... she must have known I was a little stressed about it, so she cut me a break ;)

This past week was also my return to work (part time, just Mondays, Wednesdays and a half day on Fridays) and Emma's first week at daycare. I'm sure it was harder on me than it was on her--I shed tears all week as she happily went into Miss Angela's arms (one of her teachers). She's had a bit of a rough time adjusting to having to nap while other babies are in the room and crying, screaming and discovering their new voices, but thankfully she's still sleeping through the night, so I really can't complain. Hopefully she'll adjust to the noise and all will be well in a few weeks.

Here are some pics from our trip to NH (11 weeks old), her 12 week pics, and a few Halloween outfits that Grandma (Brian's mom) bought Emma when she was here in September...

Look "WHO's" 10 weeks old!

Here's Miss Emma Boo posing with her friend Mr. Owl for her 10 week photos...



Mom, doesn't she look like Omi in this one?!

8 and 9 week Pictures, 2 month check up

Well, Miss Emma is growing like a weed! We had our two month check up this past Tuesday, and Emma is now weighing in at 10 lbs, 6 oz, and has grown 1.5" (so she's now 22.5" long). I can't believe how big she's getting!

She also had her two month immunizations, which means that Mommy made Daddy hold her (I didn't want to be associated with pain at the doctor's office, hehe) for them. I almost had to leave the room because I was more of a mess than she was. Emma was a trooper, though, and only cried for about 1 minute before regaining her composure. Mommy, on the other hand, took a few more minutes... ;)

Here are some pictures of the little one from the past two weeks. We had a nice visit with Breana and Lily on Sunday and Monday (but didn't get any pics... although, Bre, if you see this, send me the ones you got) when they came down from D.C.

First Trip to the Pool!

We took Emma down to the pool in our neighborhood for the first time. We needed to make sure she could actually wear one of her bathing suits before she got too big and before the weather started to change.

She initially hated it, getting fussy (plus, she was hungry, so having a little bit of food helped), but eventually she warmed up to it and ended up doing great!

Here are a few pics:

7 Weeks old (9/20/10)

Our little girl is growing so fast!

6 Weeks Old (9/13/10)

Here are some pictures from Emma's 6th and 7th week old "birthdays"...

Snuggling with Daddy:



Trying out the Bumbo seat:



Cheese!



Yay! I'm 6 weeks old!



Emma is testing out her aim...



Let the meltdown begin!