3ish-week picture

Don't worry, after next week, I'll just do them monthly.
(Oh, and clothing critics, please notice the gown--most of the newly gifted clothes are too big for her, so we stick to gowns & onesies).

Buddies

Actually, right before I took this picture, Kronk was cleaning his paw, kind of using Smalls as a footrest. But now it just looks like they're friends.

Bath pics that didn't make the first cut

These pictures were just odd--I was trying to get a good angle of her crazy hair. This one looks like I'm getting Kronk to blow-dry it with his nose (plus it's a bit blurry).
This angle kind of makes Em look like Jabba-the-Hut.

Real bath

I really wish these would magically post in the order I desire. I guess if I did them one at a time... So, the water was clearly no big trauma, seeing as she fell asleep. I must say, this bath was MUCH easier than that first one, and I feel like she's a lot cleaner than when I'd just wipe her off.
Crazy towel-dried hair (looks thin, kind of like my Uncles'...).
The calm before the storm (well, I thought it would be a storm). Of course, in true parent-initiation form, she pooped in the middle of sudsing her up and I had to change the water.
Pre-bath...sleeping on the changing table.
Sleeping at a funny angle in the tub.

Before you yell at me for waking a sleeping baby to give a bath, please know that the past two days her "awake times" have been in the middle of the night. So a mother of 5 kindly suggested that I try to keep her awake a bit more during the day, and hopefully she'll sleep more at night. Jon and I both thought it was worth a shot after our relatively sleepless night last night.

More pictures from Mom & Dad's visit

Jon trying to get some smiles.
Emily actually looked up and smiled right at Dad!



I know that my Mom took tons of pictures, so I'm sure they'll appear on her blog if they ever get home (their flight in Dallas was cancelled, and all flights are booked until Tuesday...American is trying to solve the problem as I type this).

Pirates

Last night my parents watched Emily and Jon and I actually went to the movies!!! I realize that it hasn't really been all that long since we've been, but it was still a really nice treat, seeing as our movie-going is probably about to come to a screeching halt. We both really liked "Pirates," and had a great time. I think the plan is for Mom & Dad to go see it today--kind of a trade off, since they never go to the movies at home.

Cute and delicious gift

One of Jon's coworkers gave us this cute cookie boquet--and the cookies were actually really, really good. When I've tasted cookie boquets in the past, the cookies were always hard and tasteless.

Spoiled rotten

Emily was given some clothes from people in California...I don't think this child will ever be naked.

Visit from the California grandparents

My parents arrived yesterday afternoon for their visit with Emily. Mom & Emily had a good nap.

Mom burping Emily after feeding her a bottle.

Nap

Last night Emily was up a little longer than usual, so this morning both of us were pretty tired when she woke up for her 6:30 feeding. We both fell back asleep before I could take her to her bed. She looked so cute and tiny in the big bed when I woke up!

Humid

After we had 3 1/2 inches of rain overnight, when the heat hit the next morning it was so muggy that it steamed up the OUTSIDE of my windows. This was a clear sign to me that I needed to stay indoors.

MY two-week checkup

I had my checkup yesterday, and things went well. I'm cleared to work out again (drat) and resume all normal activities (double drat), save one (curses). So I guess I will have to vacuum the bedrooms tomorrow. Or I should pretend the doctor never said anything--I mean, it was just Emily and I, and she's too young to rat me out. No one has to know! Anyway, I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but that was still about 20 pounds more than I preferred to weigh, so I might just try that whole working out thing. Oh, and I should probably stop eating ice cream and candy bars every day--I've been on a binge pretty much ever since Emily was born.

Starbucks

One of my very favorite things to do is to go to Starbucks and read a good book while drinking some good coffee (preferably a grande mocha). Seeing as Starbucks was pretty much off-limits during the diet-filled part of my pregnancy, I was excited to be able to restart this tradition, albeit with a decaf mocha. Emily usually sleeps for a good three hours in the morning, which I figured would be the perfect time to go. Emily didn't really think so. I fed her and put her in her seat, figuring she'd fall asleep on the way there. She didn't but was quiet and content, so I guessed she'd just eventually doze off. Well, after about 20 minutes, she started to get cranky (probably because she was tired), so we left (and I gave her a small lecture about how unfair it was, and that we normally did all the things she wanted to do). She cried most of the way home, but wouldn't you know it--fell asleep about a block from our house. I contemplated going back, but realized I'd probably look like a big weirdo. So now I'll just read in my big chair instead of theirs.

Another awake picture

Awake

Emily seems more awake and alert now--not just asleep in between feedings.
Cute little mole/freckle on her lower back.
We tried putting the toys on her bouncer, but she was still more interested in looking off to the side.

Three hours

How come Emily's sleeping for three hours can seem like a long time during the day (enough time to shower, do a load of laundry, load the dishwasher, watch some TV, etc), but an extremely short time in the middle of the night?

Bye-bye, Grandma & Grandpa

After a two-week visit, the Steeles headed back to Oregon this morning. We were thankful for all of their help cooking, cleaning, and taking care of Emily.

This is an attempt to post something so that the belly button post isn't the first thing you see.

Belly button

If I take a picture of it, I don't have to save it, right? Now that it's off, it's pretty gross.
Cute little belly button.

Storm debris

Generally our trash men will collect branches and any sort of trash that we leave out on the curb (mattresses, carpet, refrigerators, etc), but apparently the storm left too much. Today this nifty "thing" came by and scooped up all of the branches and things into a big dump truck. At least now we don't have to wait until Thursday (our regular trash day). I do feel bad for the people that were lazy and didn't get their branches cleaned up yet (like our neighbors). Oh, and can you tell that I took this picture through the window? Nice screen, eh?

Recovery

I take a nap almost every afternoon. I need to take a nap every afternoon. I do better, and I think I should take advantage of these afternoons off before they go away. Plus I'm sure everyone would agee that I'm a nicer person when I'm rested.

The South

"Emily Grace" could be a first name here in the South. We have to specifically tell people that she's just going by Emily.

Saturday night

She's like the princess & the pea, sleeping on the pillow that Grandpa put her on. But still in roller-coaster preparedness pose.
If you make this picture big (double-click), her eyes look like Steve Buscemi's in "Mr. Deeds".
We went to dinner at our friend's (Rusty & Renae) house. Their 2-year-old, Grace, wasn't quite sure what to think of Emily at first, but eventually warmed up to her (read: wanted to see me change her poopy diaper).
Another pretend smile.Not a pretend smile. Just a big, wide yapper.

KitchenAid bakeware

I am sadly diappointed in my silicone bakeware set from KitchenAid. Maybe I did something wrong, but I thought the point was to have my cake NOT stick to the pan. I mean, my nice Calphalon springform pans would've done better than this. Good thing they were a gift (via an exchange). I haven't tried any of the other shapes (loaf, muffin, etc) yet--maybe I'll have better luck there. Hints, anyone?

Presents from Aunt Larisa

Tons of cute onesies (new favorite article of clothing).
Cute bows & socks
Adorable velcro shoes
The outfit on the left and the green dress have matching headbands.
Cute hats!

I'm totally embarassed that I took these pictures and never posted them. We got this package the Monday after Emily was born, and it goes well with our plan to never actually have to buy clothes for our daughter!

Pictures from Grandma's camera

I wish I were smiling in this picture! Apparently Emily smiled on "three," but I missed it.