Emerson Lately

Emerson is officially a consistent roller! She has rolled over here & there before now, but not at all consistently. As of Monday, December 28th she has started rolling over everytime we put her on her tummy. I know this is weird, but ever since we found out that she hadn't gained weight since her 4 month check up and she only grew half a inch, I keep thinking she is behind. I know Dr. P said it was no big deal that she didn't roll over on a regular basis and that when she wanted to, she would, but it was still weighing on me. So I feel a little better now that I am seeing her roll. Here she is in all her rolling glory!

All smiles after a bath

I took this same picture of Jackson - I'll post a comparison next

Matching PJs

Kicked back in her new duck tub!

Look at that mouth - this girl is a serious eater. An aggressive eater!

19 months & 2 weeks

Jackson turned 19 months yesterday. His vocabulary is the only significant change...he seems to add new words everyday. Since I have run out of room in his baby book & I am using this as a sort of virtual baby book, I am going to go through it all....

Here are some of his words: tractor (this is his word for any car, truck or tractor), banana (he calls every fruit a banana), yea!, hot, bath, go!, waffle, please, thank you, boat, car, poo-poo (he uses this to mean diaper & that he has poo-poo), owl (this is the only animal he will call by name before saying the sound), mammy (his word for his pacifier), shoe, book, mem (milk), uh-oh, baby, puppy, eye, nose, there, see, cheese, ball, walk, bubbles, shampoo, water (wa-wa), bye-bye, hello (he has always said hi, but now he also says hello), night-night, vroom, choo-choo, then of course there are the proper names - Mama, Dada, Yaya, Papa, Gabby, Pops (who he sometimes calls Baba or Bubba, but he can say Pops), Nana, Emme (which sounds like memmy), Leyla (he says our dog's name exactly right now, as opposed to LaLa before), Elmo (he says Elbo). He's started putting small phrases together, like bye bye Mama, or Go, Leyla! or Memmy mammy (Emme's pappy). He actually has to say bye-bye to all his bath toys & the shampoo when he gets out of the bath and then he says night night to our fish and his stuffed animals.

The owl & sheep are his newest animal sounds and he will occasionally do a chicken too, but he confuses pictures of chickens & roosters. For some reason it took us forever to teach him the sheep and now he screams BAA! at you if you ask him what a sheep says. His others are: cow, dinosaur, lion, tiger, bird, rooster, dog, cat, pig, frog, duck, snake, bee, monkey, elephant (he holds his arm up to his nose when he does the noise - thanks Yaya for teaching him!).

He takes one nap a day anywhere from one & a half to three hours. Since school has been out, we've had some difficulties getting on a consistent schedule, but we're working on it. Jackson is doing so well with Emerson! He loves to kiss her and hug her and pat her on the head. He'll say "pat-pat-pat" when he does it and it is so cute! We need a little work on gentle patting, sometimes he gets too rough, but most of the time he does great! He loves to give her the pacifier, even when she is eating or sleeping peacfully without it. Jackson squeals when he sees her toes and he likes to point to her eyes, nose, ears & belly button. Everything is going so well, in fact I haven't seen any significant signs of jealousy. We are truly blessed!

He's such a big boy and amazes us everyday. We could not love a little boy more - he makes us laugh all the time and is the light (or now one of the lights) of our lives!

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Emerson went for her 2 week well check today even though she won't officially be 2 weeks until tomorrow. Dr. Pielop was pleased with her growth and checked all the basics...hips, soft spot, girly parts, ears, eyes, etc. She has been having milk come out her nose - well, it has happened a handful of times, so I asked about that and he said he would only be concerned about it if she also cried for 3 hours a day or took a long time to recover from it. Since it never even phases her and she rarely cries, he does not believe it to be reflux, but we'll keep an eye on it. We are keeping her upright after eating & burping for at least 20 mins and then I also put her in her vibrating bouncy seat to help work extra air out also. Hopefully this will help. Her weight today was 7 lbs 13 oz, up an ounce & a half since birth and 9 oz since discharge. She is in the 45th percentile for weight. Her height is 20 1/4 inches, up 3/4 of an inch since birth and putting her in the 50th percentile for height. Her head circumference is 33 1/2 cm, which is in the 5th percentile.

She is becoming more & more alert every day for longer & longer. We are really blessed that she sleeps and eats well! Nursing is so much easier this time around, and I am very thankful for that! Emerson's umbilical stump fell off on the 24th, so she has been able to bathe in her tub now and seems to find them relaxing...she slept through the first bath.

Emerson in her pretty dress Yaya bought her

First tub bath & no, we did NOT use Dawn!

Caught a smile - I know, it was gas, but still.

Aaron with my Moby wrap....there aren't words!

Ashley visited on Friday

Aunt Candace & Uncle Bryan visited on Saturday

Emerson - 1 week old

Yesterday, Emerson turned one week old. She is sooo sleepy! I don't remember Jackson sleeping this much. In fact, all I remember is him being ravenously hungry ALL the time. Emerson is a sleepy eater too, so it takes me twice as long to feed her because I have to constantly stimulate her to wake her up. Crazy! I know she'll wake up soon enough, so I will just enjoy the sleep we do get at night until then.

Emerson's first bath at home
She was NOT a fan!

Father's Day - Daddy with his babies.

First outing - to Yaya & Pops's house for Father's Day

Brennan & Emerson

1 week old and actually awake!

We finally got around to taking a picture with the stork.
Jackson wasn't really cooperating, so this is the best we could do.

Bath Fear? What Bath Fear?

Here is a picture from Jackson's Stick Horse Rodeo. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, so I had to capture it on my cell. He looked so cute though in his cowboy boots, jeans, & bandana! We had a great time seeing all the little ones with their stick horses and there was a petting zoo too! Jackson was a little scared of the llama (but I reminded him that it was like Llama, Llama Red Pajama) and the goats. He got to ride a pony & had so much fun! He was squealing while we waited in line & then started bouncing up & down as soon as Aaron set him in the saddle. Too cute!

Jackson is CLEARLY over his fear of big boy baths! He was having such fun tonight. In fact, he cried (kicked & screamed even) when I got him out. I ended up taking some of the "safety" measures out and he doesn't seem as apprehensive. I don't think he liked the no-slip mat. Here are a few pics & a video from tonight:

Jackson & Emerson's new step stool. Gabby & Papa had it made for them for Valentine's Day. I think it is precious! Thanks so much Gabby & Papa!

Jackson knows just how to use it. He's such a big boy and climbs up all by himself. He can now reach to brush his teeth & wash his hands (with help, of course).

Jackson has been pretending to wash his hair lately, but we haven't been able to catch it on video yet. That or when he pretends to drink the bath water -- he dips his finger in the water & pretends to put it in his mouth like he's taking a tiny taste of something. So you'll hear me ask about washing his hair a couple of times, but he never does it.

Our Long Weekend

We have had a busy, fun-filled extra long President's Day weekend. First a bath update...well, initially we went ahead & put Jackson back in the duck tub and again, he was happy as a clam in the bath. Then.......

The duck died! I thought it might just be needing to be refilled, but after blowing it back up it was flat again the next day. So....Jackson had no choice but to be in the big tub and he has done great since. Maybe he needed to get his bad experience out of his mind, I don't know. The video below is of Jackson telling us what a duck says. It's pretty cute!

Then, Hurricane Hiler hit our playroom. This was all in one morning....what a crazy person!

Pops & Yaya brought over a Valentine's Day gift for Jackson. A new tunnel! His name is Toppy Triceratops and Jackson L.O.V.E.S. him! He has played in tunnels like this at school, but we didn't know if he'd be out of place at home with it, but Jackson knew exactly what to do the minute it sprang into form. He just crawls and crawls in it. Yaya & Pops also brought Emerson a bunch of precious dresses and bubble suits. I can't wait to see her in them! Thanks Yaya & Pops!

Last night, I spent ALL night making a stick horse for Jackson's Stick Horse Rodeo on the 27th. It has been quite the ordeal and without a formal pattern, I was pretty much wingin' it! I think it looks pretty cute so far (if I do say so myself). I have the head done and now all I need to do is put the bridle on & attach it to the stick. The mane took FOREVER! I'll post pics of the finished product once it's done.

Today, we went to Pottery Barn kids to see The Cat in the Hat! It was jam packed with kids, mommies & grandmas and a few daddies. They read several Dr. Seuss books and then The Cat took pics with the kids & signed autographs. We waited in line for about 30 minutes (not too bad) for Jackson to get his picture with The Cat and for him to sign our book. It was too cute!

Story time

Not too sure about this cat thing!


Jackson's autographed Cat in the Hat book!

Bathphobia

Jackson has developed an unnatural fear of taking a bath. It is very disturbing to me because he used to L.O.V.E his baths. He would squeal with delight while I was taking his clothes off of him & he would clap while watching the water run. He was a little nervous when he moved out of his ducky tub into the big tub, but that only lasted a day. He went right back to loving baths and did great for about 2 weeks.

NOW, he starts fussing the minute we step into his bathroom and occasionally tries to high-tail it out of there. Once in the tub, he holds onto the sides & shakes while crying the WHOLE time. This has been our bathtime for the past week or so. In order to help him overcome this fear, I have tried to make bath time as fun as possible. In fact, his bath tub is one clown short of being a 3 ring circus! Toys galore -- squirt toys, a toy fishing pole & net, those foam letters & fish that stick to the walls when wet, a sea animal ring stacker, even a turtle sprinkler. I wish I had a recent picture -- it's ridiculous! We sing songs like Row, Row, Row Your Boat & Hey Mr. Splash Man, but none of this helps or if it does it only distracts him for a minute. I thought maybe he felt like the tub was too big, so I went out and bought one of those inflatable pad things that cushion the tub walls. I was thinking that they would make the tub feel smaller and maybe that would ease his anxiety. Nope.

The ONLY thing I can think of is that about a month ago he was crawling around in the tub after a toy and his hand slipped & his face went in the water. Of course, I was right there and immediately pulled him up, but he was still scared. I thought for sure he'd have forgotten or gotten over that by now. The reason I think this might have been the turning point is that Jackson will no longer crawl around in the tub. In fact, if a toy goes out of his reach he will cry (or cry harder rather) until I get it for him. The only movement he will make in the tub now is to reach for the side & pull up so that I will get him out. I have considered getting the ducky tub back out, but I don't really want to regress like that. I have also read some stuff suggesting taking a bath with him. We've tried that in our garden tub & he still cries, but maybe we should try that in his normal tub. I am at a loss -- anyone experienced this or have any suggestions? I've read that a lot of kids go through this between 13-18 months, but snap out of it by 20 months, but I'm thinking I can't handle this for another 6 months! Arrgghhhh!

A few pics

Here are a few recent pics of the Wacko! The first 2 are from our trip to the zoo on Saturday. Of course, Jackson loved it, especially the monkeys & this time he liked the armadillos too! The next 2 pics are of his "duck boat." I filled the bathtub with water before putting his duck tub in. I then realized it needed a little water in it too for counterbalance. Jackson had fun moving himself back & forth in the tub by holding on to the side.

Spaghetti & Splashing

The other night I made this casserole with spaghetti noodles & Jackson LOVED them. I don't guess he had ever had spaghetti noodles before, but they were a hit. The ground beef still was NOT, as you can tell from the expression on his face in this first picture.

Jackson went straight into a bath following this meal (note the noodle in his hair & tomato on his face)! He loves his baths and last night especially loved splashing Mommy. It was super funny and all kinds of cute!