Baby Smiles

A few weeks ago my sister Nichole said that Emi looks like she is disgruntled most of the time, which was a pretty accurate assessment. Around that time my princess was becoming a fussy little girl with screaming/crying fits around 6-8 every night. I knew she was a bit young for smiling, but I still worried that my baby was unhappy. I guess that's a first-time mom thing?

It appears, over the past week or so, that we have been working our way out of the witching hour of fussiness *knock on wood*. At least it's not happening every single night anymore, which was giving me hope that my little girl really isn't miserable. Then yesterday morning this is what I woke up to:

A smiling baby! Up until this point I had only gotten two smiles that I chose to believe were intentional and not just gas or facial twitches. I milked it for all it was worth and kept talking to and smiling at her to get as many smiles as I could. Jesse was in the shower, so I made him dry off real fast so he wouldn't miss it. Haha. This is also how we got these pictures because I wasn't going to break eye/smile contact with her to get my phone and risk losing her smiles.

I think baby smiles can cheer up anyone's day.

Emi's Baby Blessing, 2/5/12

Little Emi received her baby blessing on Sunday, February 5, 2012 by my dad. She, of course, looked like a little doll in her white dress and white flower headband. I learned a very valuable lesson that day...try clothes on baby before the day of a big event. We bought her dress months she was born and matched a sweater that my sister crocheted to go with it. They were hanging together in her closet for ages waiting to be worn. Well the night before I took a closer look at it and thought, "Hmmm, that sweater looks a little big for my munchkin. I guess we'll figure it out in the morning." Haha. The sweater was huge, so we ended up taking another huge sweater and making it work. Notice the folds in her sleeves? Yep, that's a 12 month sweater that we manipulated into fitting our 1 month old. Poor girl.

Back to the important stuff. Her blessing was beautiful. Jesse got to carry her up front and hold the microphone while my dad blessed her, and then he held her up for everyone to see afterward. He was beaming with pride. I love seeing how much he adores our little girl. In the blessing circle with my dad were my brother-in-law, Greg, and Jesse's cousin Robby. I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that will help guide me in raising Emi in such a confused world. Jesse and I pray every day that we can teach her to know and trust in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. If we are able to do this I think we can call ourselves successful.

...although I'm sure I will be slightly tiger mom-ish with her in other aspects of her life. :)

One Month Old!

Happy one month birthday little Emi! You have been changing so much already. Just in the past week or so you have been going through a growth spurt and seem SO long; your newborn clothes aren't fitting very well anymore! You make the cutest little high-pitched cooing noises and are still sleeping for the majority of the day. You usually stay awake with me during the morning which makes it really hard for mommy to get herself ready for the day and eat breakfast, but I'm sure I will figure out how to work that out eventually.

This is your favorite spot during the "witching hour." You are just about done with the day around 6-8pm every night and usually only calm down when you get to lay on daddy's chest.

We've been working on tummy time and you are so strong! I haven't been able to get a picture of you lifting your head, but you can see yourself working on it here.

You have FINALLY taken a pacifier! I think I have bought every kind of pacifier under the sun and we finally found one you like. You get so much comfort from sucking, so this is a big relief. You look so cute sucking away on your little Soothie.

Your adorable little Valentine's outfit that I'm afraid will not fit in a few weeks on February 14th. So I dressed you in it and took a picture just in case!

I love you so much, little bug. Happy one month.

Emi's First Photo Shoot

Last week Emi had her first photo shoot by my friend Tara. I love having talented friends. I was nervous that Emi would cry the whole time, but she was very chill. She did make Tara work for her shots because she didn't fall asleep until the very end of our almost 2 hour session, but the pictures turned out AMAZING. Tara specializes in little ones, but she does bigger kids and family pictures as well. You have to check her out here.

I chose a few of our favorites, I thought it would be a bit excessive to post almost 100 pictures. :)

Look who has a belly button!

Happy 3 week birthday to our little bug! She has already changed so much and dare I say it, I think she is starting to outgrow her newborn clothes! How did that happen so fast? Her little cheeks are getting chubbier everyday and.. *drumroll please* ... she has a belly button! Early in the morning yesterday I was changing her diaper and was confused as to why her belly button seemed so low (I was a bit groggy to say the least). Then I realized it was detached! It's funny how thrilled one can be over a dried-up little umbilical cord, but I thought it was worth waking up daddy to show him. I took a picture of it because I wanted to document the event somehow and didn't really want to save it, so I'm sorry if the picture is just gross and weird. What have you other mommies done with your babies' umbilical cords?

The cutest belly button I think I've ever seen!

Now we'll always remember you, little cord stump.

Right after our first tub bath, because we can do that now Emi has lost her umbilical cord! She wasn't much of a fan of this kind of bath either. She peed on me, but I guess it could have been worse.

The Arrival of Baby Emi

Today is the day our little princess, Emi, was due to make her entrance into the world. However, she had plans of her own. She has been with us now for two and a half weeks, but it seems like we have never been without her. Let me give you a summary of our Christmas and the arrival of our sweet little girl.

This Christmas was a bit stressful for me. We had both of our families over for Christmas Eve, including several extended family members, about 30 people in all. Jesse was working like crazy saving the Pandora world so I was left to do the party myself. Thankfully his mother and step-father had come into town a few days earlier and Connie helped me clean and cook. We had a great time once I was able to stop stressing! Then the next morning I gave a talk in church which also turned out to be just fine and something I shouldn't have worried over so much.

After church we opened gifts with Connie, Fred and Jenny.

I got my dream diamond pendant

and Jesse got a snowblower

It figures the year we get a snowblower the weather decides to be spring-like in January! Next on our list of events was my parents' house for Christmas dinner and gift opening with my family. After a few hours with them, we headed to Jesse's Aunt Jessica's house for dinner #2 and more gift opening. This is when things started to get interesting.

Jesse had fallen asleep on the couch and I was sitting on the floor at his feet watching The Christmas Story.

Jessica got out pumpkin pie, so I got up to get myself a piece (I never turn down pumpkin pie, even when I have to get my big 37.5 week pregnant self off the floor to get some). After the pie I decided I couldn't do the floor again so I went into an empty room and sat on the couch. Ahh, it felt nice sitting down in a quiet place alone for just a minute. Then all of a sudden, whoosh. Oh my gosh. Did I just wet my pants? After a little investigation and googling I decided I had passed my mucous plug, which meant our little lady would be coming any day now. Ack!

Jesse and I headed home so I could clean up a bit and were going to head back to my parents' house for desserts and games. I took three steps out of the bathroom, felt another small whoosh and decided we should go get this checked out...just in case. I felt really silly because I thought for sure I was wrong, but it turns out my water really had broken.

Well, about 14 hours, a traumatic epidural that didn't work, and 35 minutes of pushing later, our little love bug was born on Monday, December 26, 2011 at 12:09 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and was 20 inches long. Jesse and I both cried our eyes out and were immediately in love. She is a sweet little princess and we love her so much.

Dr. Huang, Judy (the best nurse ever) Jesse and me (about wanting to die at this point).

I love Jesse's face in this one.

We were both very emotional.

Looking a little busted and cheesy.

One of the first things I remember after her birth is Jesse asking the nurse if the cone head would go away. He was really concerned. :)

Daddy's in love!

Mama was there for the whole thing.

So happy she's finally here!

Papa's newest addition to the top of the totem pole.

Nonna was such a huge help. She cleaned our whole house, even did the laundry. Here she is holding her newest love!

Daddy and Grandpa Fred.

Papa and all 5 of his granddaughters!

Our first walk! Thank goodness for beautiful weather in January. We walked up the street to Mama and Papa's house where we've been spending lots of time while daddy is at work. They have been taking such good care of us.

Hairy back and shoulders! Daddy and I will pay for hair removal if this becomes a problem. :)

Bath time - NOT her favorite.

Her first bottle. Hooray, success!