Emery, Emery, Emery..

Just about every post is about Emery, but I guess that is expected since we are first time parents, right? Below are a few pictures of the last month or so.

Emery and Carter spending quality time together ..


I told you we are swaddle free .. this was a rare occasion, now Emery is a belly sleeper and it is the cutest thing. I go in every night before I go to sleep to check on her and see what her sleeping position is like.

Emery finally held her sippy cup for the first time. She doesn't get much water out of it, but we keep on trying
I was being silly with her new bathing suit
She finally cuddled with one of us. Emery is very active, which is expected at this age. She doesn't like to be held all of the time and sure as heck doesn't like to be cuddled. After a few tries of putting her to sleep, Ivan brought Emery into our room to hang out and watch TV. I grabbed her and started stroking the side of her face. She laid still for about 10 minutes and then I put her in bed and she was out. It was such a rare occasion that I kept checking to make sure she was still breathing :)

We are finally swaddle free!

Yes, we were still swaddling Emery at 7 months old. The baby just wouldn't sleep well unless she was swaddled nice and tight. At around 4 months old, I finally had to have a friend of mine make bigger swaddling blankets. And then it got to the point where Ivan had to swaddle her because she would break out of my swaddles in no time flat.

Well, now that we are finally having summer like weather, the only blankets I've had to swaddle Emery with are 2 sided flannel - way too hot these days. So, I decided we're done with the swaddling. We started 100% swaddle free on Friday night. Emery was up every 2 hours or so just to give her the binky. Last night she slept through the night swaddle free. Such a nice feeling! I feel the binky is going soon too. We'll see how tough that one is to give up.

Emery's 7 Month Update

Below are some random pictures from the last month or so. Emery is still a very happy, easy-going baby. She has a hard time sitting still at all. She also loves remote controls and cell phones, and the breeze in her face.

Emery helps with laundry...

I was folding laundry the other morning and had my stack of kitchen towels right in front of Emery. As soon as I put a new towel on the stack, she reached right over and grabbed it. She put the towel right into her mouth and started chewing on it. I thought it was cute, so I had to take a picture and post it.

Is it separation anxiety?

Dr Ring told us that separation anxiety would start at about 6 months if Emery would have it at all. I think it set in last weekend. Emery wanted to be held all of the time. And, putting her down for a nap or for bed isn't as easy as it used to be. Prior to last weekend, we would swaddle Emery, yes we are STILL swaddling, and she would go right to sleep. Not a peep from her at all, right to sleep. Well, this last weekend was a whole different story. On Saturday, Emery was clearly tired - rubbing her eyes and yawning. So, I went with the swaddling and put her in her crib. The minute I walked out of her room, she cried. She has done that everyday since Saturday. It just breaks my heart to hear her cry and cry. But, she is tired and I can't sit and hold my baby all day long - I've got things to do. I'm not sure how long this separation anxiety could last, but I'm over it already. Can I have my easygoing, easy sleeping baby back?

Emery is 6 months old already...

I continue to be surprised at how quickly time is going by. We had Emery's 6 month check up yesterday and she is right on track for everything and is still a perfect little baby. She took her shots like a champ as well and only cried for a minute until I picked her up.

She weighs 17.1 pounds and is 26 inches long.

Some things she has discovered in the last month:

• Her bottom lip - she loves to suck on it
• Her upper lip - it is the dang cutest thing when she is trying to suck it in with her tongue
  
• Not so fond of peaches yet
• She loves to be outside and feel a nice breeze on her face and in her hair
• She loves bath time and just discovered how to splash water

I just have to share this story as well. Emery's personality is really starting to come out and she knows what she wants and gets upset if she doesn't get it. I think Ivan's mom may be spoiling her just a little. Ivan had given Emery a small baggy with the headset from his cell phone in it. She loved playing with it and had it for about 10 minutes. Then, Ivan took it from her. She was not a happy camper at all. She let out a wine and the bottom lip started to tremble and she looked at me. She cried until she got the baggy back. Not a good sign of what is to come in the next few months!

Happy Mother's Day to me...

Emery and Carter

Here is a most recent picture of our two babies. Emery has really started to like Carter lately. She will watch him walk around and tries to "pet" him, which really means squeezing whatever part of him that she can grab. She loves to watch Ivan and Carter rough house - she is mesmerized by that and sometimes giggles at the silly boys.

Emery tries baby food...

We've been giving Emery baby food here and there since her 4 month check up. We started with plain old rice cereal mixed with formula. She didn't really care for it, so we mixed in a little applesauce. Still not very fond of the rice cereal. Since then, we have tried sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and bananas. She will eat all of them, but she definitely prefers the bananas. Yeah, I found something she really likes!! Who would have ever imagined that she would prefer fruit to veggies??

Emery's Room

I just had to share these. I love Emery's room and wanted everyone to see it. Most people think the stripes are wallpaper, but Ivan and I actually painted them on. They were really easy too. Enjoy!

Emery's 5 Month Pictures

Here is Emery's 5 month picture. I must say, as she gets older, it is easier and easier to take these monthly pictures. I used to have to take about 20 pictures just to get one really good one and this month, I only took about 5 and all but one was great.

In the last month, she has really grown in her personality. She is such a happy baby - unless you take just a minute too long to get her a bottle. She has figured out how to pull her binky out of her mouth and is trying to figure out how to put it back in the right way. She's not too found of squash, but really seems to like carrots. She also likes to cover her eyes with the back of her hands when she is drinking her bottle. She still won't sleep unless she is swaddled, thank goodness I had bigger blankets made.

Why can't I be better with technology?

I have tried to do two things on this stupid computer today and have failed miserably!! First, I tried to download pictures to Walgreens or Walmart to save money on printing. For those of you yet to have babies, please factor in pictures and shipping into your monthly budget. It gets expensive when most of your family is out of state. Anyway, at Walgreens and Walmart, you had to download something to the stupid computer and Ivan's "gaming" computer wouldn't allow it. I have no idea why and am too frustrated to keep playing with it. Why oh why did my laptop have to quit charging?? Now, I am back to having to physically walk into Target or somewhere, drop off the pictures, just to come back and pick them up. I know, I know, it's not that difficult, but I don't want to spend my time doing that. Then, I still have to sort through them, package them up and back to the post office to mail them. Ugh! Does someone want to do this for me, please?

Then, my friend Jodi, who got me into this blog thing, keeps updating her blog with the cutest pages. So, I ask how she does it and she directs me to the link. The directions seem simple enough, copy and paste and fill in the blank with a weblink. Do you think I can do it? NO!!

Once again, I am frustrated and Ivan isn't home to figure it out for me. So, I have to get off of the stupid computer before I go nuts. Off to bed for me...

Hey you .. leave a comment - please!!

Okay guys, in my first post, I said that I didn't know if people would even check out our family blog. The only way for me to know is if you post comments. So, comment away!

Road Trip to CA for Easter

We made our annual road trip to CA last weekend. I was a little worried about how Emery would do on the drive, but she did great. She was definitely sick of the carseat on the way home, but as always, she was a great baby. She also adjusted well to the heat, the game of playing "pass the baby" and staying in the hotel.

We had such a great time and it was nice to have everyone in my family finally meet our little new addition. As always, we had Makayla for the weekend and she was such a big help with Emery. She earned a lot of points for helping to soothe Emery when she was fed up with being in the car. Makayla loved playing with Emery and they both really entertained each other. It was so cute to watch.


Emery was ready for the road trip - sunglasses and all..

Emery's first time in a highchair - at In N Out in Vegas

5 Generations of family - Great Great Grandma Ruth,
Great Grandma Marge , Grandpa Doug, Mom and EmeryThe Riley Easter Party



Grandpa Don and Eve Fichtner

Happy 4 Month Birthday Emery!!

Emery had her 4 month appt yesterday. She is 14 lbs 3 oz - she's come a long way from her little 6 lbs 7 oz at birth. She is progressing great and right on track in every area. The pedi gave us to go ahead to try rice cereal, so we went for it today. She wasn't really sure what to do, but she seemed to like it. We'll keep trying it for a few more days before we decide to put the highchair together. Here are some pictures - her 4 month picture and some of my favorites from the last month.

Enjoy!!

Makayla ..

I just got off of the phone with Makayla and she cracks me up every time I talk to her. She is so grown up for her young age of 7. When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas in October, she told me she wanted 1) a laptop, 2) a cell phone and 3) an IPOD. I don't think she understands that she is only 7 years old.

Anyway, as I was talking to her tonight she was still asking me about something that happened in March 2007. We were in CA visiting and she was staying with us at the Marriott. We went to breakfast in the hotel and I totally though that the breakfast was free for hotel guests. So, we ate a great continental breakfast and they had the best waffles that you could make on your own. We ate and left. The next morning, we headed down to have breakfast again and this time we got a check for $40 -for the three of us to eat a continental breakfast with some waffles!! I then realized that we had accidentally stolen breakfast the morning before. She asks me almost every time that I talk to her about stealing breakfast. I don't think she believes that it was an honest mistake, but I promise, it was!

Here is the most recent picture of Makayla that I have from her Christmas with us in Utah.

Emery

She is the cutest thing in the world!! She giggled for the first time on Friday and I was able to get her to do it. I am amazed everyday at how quickly she is changing and how much joy she has brought to our family. I couldn't be happier with our little princess.

I have been taking monthly pictures of her in the same pose/outfit and wanted to share her progression. Now you will know what I'm talking about when I say she is changing and growing so quickly.

Enjoy!

December 2007 - 1 month old


















March 2008 - 4 months old

I've been inspired..

A friend of mine, Jodi, recently sent me the link to her family blog. I have thought about her blog everyday for the last week. So, I finally decided to make one of my own. Thanks for the inspiration Jodi!!

Now, I just hope that 1) people will look at it and 2) I will be able to keep it updated.

I would love for our family and friends to be able to look at our family blog and see how things are going and see updated pictures of Emery. That's probably all that the blog will be about, but hey, that's okay.

Well, here's to my first try at a blog. Wish me luck!!