Barbeque Time

Things have been so busy here!! By the time I get home from picking up Emmy from the sitter, it is after 6 and we get stuff ready for the evening. It seems like we have little time to spend time with Emmy before it's off to bed (and the subsequent 2am and 4am wakings). Then of course back to work. It's just going to take some getting used to for all of us. She is doing so much better at sleeping in her crib, even if it is only for half of the night.

Over the Memorial Day holiday, we BBQ'd and Emmy had this outfit that her AunTee got her and it reminded me of the outfit Samantha wore in Sex in the City for the BBQ she threw to make up with her neighbors. Cracks me up...

Daddy Daycare

Emmy was so upset about the Griz getting 4th pick in the draft lottery that she had to stay home from the sitter’s yesterday. Actually she had a cold and a little bit of a fever so we went to the pediatrician’s office (just in case!) and John stayed home with her. This is what I came home to yesterday afternoon. I asked why the chair was moved in front of the couch and he said it was so they could sit side by side and it was easier to hold her hand this way. What in the world??? Where did my John go? Who is this person??

Well, crap

I had hoped to have a photo of Emmy in her Grizzlies outfit but she was too overcome with sorrow at the outcome of last night's lottery.

Cross your fingers!

It’s NBA Draft Lottery Day! Not that I am the biggest Grizzlies fan, I can appreciate a game or two, but I have to have all my fingers and toes crossed for this one. Our city has a lot of good but that doesn’t always shine out among the bad stuff going on here. However, if we get the 1st or 2nd pick tonight, everything could change in a second. Having Greg Oden or Kevin Durant here could give this city the push it needs to be excited about something, even if it is just basketball. The money that would pour into downtown is mind boggling. Here’s to the ping pong balls bouncing in our favor!

Thirst for knowledge

This must be what they mean when they refer to a thirst for knowledge. Just look at how she is reaching out for her Miss Circle book.





Emmy has hated tummy time so much but all the books say that you need to have them on their bellies for at least ten minutes per day. Putting the crib mirror in front of her has been the only way to get her okay with it--if only for five minutes!! I know she is saying, 'what a beautiful baby!'

Three months

The little girl’s three month birthday was on Mother’s Day—how appropriate. This was such a very bittersweet Mother’s Day for us knowing how much you would have loved Emmy. She reminds me so much of you sometimes, just the way she holds her little mouth and the little expressions she makes. I can see you dancing around with her now and “shush-shush-shush”-ing her when she is fussy (which, let me tell you is quite often). We are so lucky to have our sweet little Emmy. She has started smiling big time smiles now. We spent the night with Daddy on Friday night and when she was in her swing, he would “play” patty-cake with her and she just laughed!!! That Papa, he’s a funny, funny guy! All of her little sounds are so sweet—she is trying to so hard to talk! Imagine that!!

I wanted to get a good photo of Emmy and I on our first mother’s day but she had a rough day—she’s teething! Already! At three months! According to folklore, babies that teeth early are more intelligent but I wonder if they are just saying that to make you feel better about it. Kind of like saying that rain on your wedding day is good luck. We are looking forward to a big weekend though as we have two birthday parties to attend on Saturday so maybe we can get some good pictures then. She’s just growing up so quickly. Already.

My little genius

Apparently, this book about monkeys is a real page-turner. And how stinking cute are those toes??? She has them curled as if she is just in deep concentration of her story. I sure do like this munchkin. Her sitter had to be out of town today and tomorrow so I took off work to spend the time with her. Then, as a coincidence, my family from Ohio ended up coming into town. It was great to see them and for them to get the chance to meet Emmy.

Luke and Emmy

Tara, being the best mommy and friend in the world, offered to let Emmy spend the night with them on Saturday night. It appears that everyone had a great time. I hate it that I missed all the fun that went on but John and I had a birthday party to attend.

No diving, No running and No horseplay

Emmy wasn't sure what to think about the pool but I think she enjoyed it!!

Ruth

Today is Grandma Ruth's birthday. She would have been 94. Every day the 3rd of May is so special to me and I think of Grandma and how much she meant to me. Even as a little girl, no matter how much pain she was in, she always loved everyone so much. I remember being a kid playing "teacher" with her and Neall singing "Elvira" into a tape player or being the Incredible Hulk when he had chicken pox. Emmy Ruth has a lot to live up to with her namesake.

Tonight we tried to feed Emmy her rice cereal. She refuses to sleep through the night--last night she got up at midnight, 2 am, and 5 am. Of course, it made for a long day today. Lots of people have suggested that we give her cereal so we tried that last night. It was pretty funny to see her little expression as she tried to figure this spoon thing out. Thankfully, Grandma Ruth was a much neater eater than Emmy Ruth!

Em's First Fundraiser

We did the WalkAmerica for March of Dimes this year through my office. As a group we raised over $7,000--pretty impressive! Here is our little fundraiser at her first event. The girl likes pink, what can I say???

And we're off!

Emmy and I tried out the carrier this weekend and it got both of our approvals!

All grown up

Last night, John was holding Emmy and I just realized how much she had grown in just the last week or so. She looks like a baby now—not a newborn anymore, but a real baby that will eventually be a child. When she is taking her bottle and I am feeling especially nurturing, I will rub her little head while she eats. Usually my hand kind of cups part of her little head but last night, I realized that I had to hold my hand differently to fit of her growing noggin. She will lay in my lap kind of leaning against my arm while she is eating—almost like she is kicked back watching television or something. Last night, she was fussy as she got into our little position and couldn’t really get into her niche. It suddenly dawned on me that it was because she didn’t fit in our little niche anymore—it was uncomfortable to her now. Already! She is already outgrowing me!!

I am going home tonight and getting out the video camera, even if is just to video her sleeping. Or crying.

Emmy's Rough Morning

Bless her heart. This morning, I got up to feed her the first bottle of the morning and was still quite asleep. I got the bottle out of the fridge, took the nipple off and heated it up and then we went back to the couch to dine. When I went to put the bottle in her little mouth, formula went everywhere! I guess the nipple fell out of the ring when I took it out and I just poured formula directly onto her little face, all over me and the couch! Poor thing, she just looked at me like, are you kidding??? What was that??? She recovered pretty quickly though. We went to a hot wing festival but only stayed about fifteen minutes. Even though we slathered her with sunscreen and had a wide brim hat on her, I was afraid she would burn. We ended up just coming home and trying out the bumbo seat. That was the success of the day.

Daddy's home! Daddy's home!!

John has been out of town all week for work and we actually made it! I was afraid we might not make it alone but we did. However, we are so very excited for him to get home today. I think he might have missed her a little bit.

Morning Glory

Usually Emmy gets up around 2 and eats and then we get up for the day around 515. But this morning, she woke up at 2 but wouldn't take her bottle and went back to sleep really quickly. I am hoping this is a sign that she is getting ready to start sleeping through the night. All fingers and toes crossed! She was hanging out in her bouncy seat this morning while I was getting ready.

Two Short Months

The little girl is two months old now. It seems like she has been a part of our lives forever and I can't imagine not having her around now. I can't imagine sleeping in my bed beside John either but that is another story. For now, there is little Emmy in between us. And we wouldn't have it any other way. She is smiling a lot now--it's just adorable. As cute as that is, I can't fathom what her first words are going to be like. When she is sleepy, she still likes to pump her fist directly up in the air--her Skynard tribute. We always know when she is really content because she holds her little fist against her cheek. But the best way to really tick her off is to put on her belly for tummy time. She can be in the best of moods and will absolutley scream like a madwoman in just a matter of seconds.

She wasn't too thrilled here either. Luke seems to be saying to her, "just be quiet for a minute and they will take these hats off, I promise!"

WalkAmerica

The March of Dimes WalkAmerica is here again and we are walking!!!!

www.walkamerica.org/taradburton

Earth Day

With Earth Day being during April, all of the magazines I get have had articles about what you can do to by proactive during Earth Day. As a joke, I bought us and my friends with kids this dolphin fountain thingy. It helps the environment since you don't use those disposable Dixie cups.
Then I bought this:

My hybrid car: the Toyota Prius. I drive a lot now that I am taking Emmy to the sitter and to me to back to work and all. On one tank of gas, I got 400 miles and when I refueled, it was 8.2 gallons! I love it! The car is a techy geek's dream!

The Tiniest Tater Tot

What a silly goose she is!! Emmy has hopefully grown out of the colic. I think the soy formula helped her tremendously. She has gone from having the crying spells every night to maybe only three nights a week, so we are thrilled. But the smiles! The smiles are the best. She just started that this week. We can pump her little legs and she just grins or you can blow raspberries to her and she smiles with the best of them. Just as I was so confused as to where she got her long legs, because it certainly didn't come from me or John, I am confused as to where she got her chipperness in the mornings. She wakes up and has to eat immediately but then she just lays there so content and smiling. Maybe it's just that she is laughing at John trying to keep his eyes open at 530 in the morning!

Back to the Grindstone...

I went back to work on Tuesday and we seemed to have all survived. John has of course been back at work for the past five weeks but it was quite a challenge to get us all up and ready and out the door by 645. That puts me setting my alarm for 515 and actually getting out of bed at 530 or so. But, Emmy being Emmy, likes to eat around 4am so, if we are up for 45 minutes to an hour, there really is no point in my going back to sleep. Tuesday went really well—for me anyway!—she woke up right after I had gotten out of bed to start getting ready and John got up with her and feed her and then got ready so we were out the door at 630. She totally skipped her 4am feeding that morning but then on Tuesday she was ready for it again and then on Wednesday, I just got up at 330. I had convinced myself that this was going to be a challenge and I would just get used to it—after all, millions of women do this everyday. However, I don’t care who does it, I am going to ever get used to getting up at 330 in the morning. Today was much better and she ate at 2am and then slept until 6 with her daddy. John and I both stumbled to the car this morning with our eyes barely open—surely we will be a little more used to it next week and won’t be quite as tired!

We are really happy with her sitter on the positive side. I take her to West Memphis to the sitter a friend of ours uses for all three of her kids. Gabby, Coen and Grace all go to Missy and when Rebecca recommended her, I felt like I really had to give it a shot—all three of those kids turned out perfect! It is a lot further for me to drive, it ends up being 70 miles or so each day, but I feel really good about it, so it’s worth it. And, all the Winter kids get to see Emmy during the day and Rebecca gets to see her when she picks up and drops off her kids—of course Emmy is the first one there and the last one to leave.

She seems to be saying, Where in the world are we going now???????

Lots of firsts...

Emmy has had lots of new and exciting things going on as of late. Here she is with Luke before we went to shop for the day. They have been shopping together before but this was their first photo dressed the same.
Here is Em's first St. Patty's day. She couldn't have cared less if I tinted her food green.
Here is our rock star on her way to the baby sitter for the first time. We both did well.
John and I were considering a coffee table but decided a Baby Einstein play mat was much more fitting for the living room. Here is her first experience on it.

It's tough being one month old

Here are pictures from the one month old's festivities last night. Obviously, she tires easily.

Month 1 of the Rest of our Lives

Today is our sweet Emmy's one month birthday. She has had quite a busy month. I was so lucky when she got here that I felt so good and she was such a good baby, that I was able to take advantage of the time off from work and really get out there and get some things done. Now, we are cut back a little on our excursions since Emmy has a touch of colic. It is absolutley heartbreaking to not be able to help her when she is screaming all afternoon and evening. It is wild since all morning she sleeps and when she does wake up, she is just adorable but the afternoons, well, that is another story. She looks more and more like John everyday, especially now that she is making her own little faces. I tell John that she looks so much like him when she is screaming--when he is singing in his band, he has remarkably the same facial expression. I am sure that there is a photo of him somewhere singing, I need to find it and compare. I am sure he will be thrilled with that.
Already she has changed so much and is getting so big. Her little face and body are filling out--just like Mama and Daddy-and she is so alert. She is just the most precious thing ever. THIS is why everything that has happened in the last 15 months did. We just love her more than we ever imagined we could and John is a better Daddy than I ever could have imagined he would be--and I knew he would be good! This child brings out the best in all of us--there is no doubt she has a little of Momma in her. Well, maybe a lot.

Shoes

I guess it is a Wynne thing since no one knows what I am talking about when I mention these shoes, but Emmy has her personalized shoes now. I had them when I was a kid, and of course, still do, and I ordered Emmy's online and they just arrived. How stinking cute?

My new dishwasher

I know I was bragging about my fabulous 'new' dishwasher but it has gotten even better!!! No longer is it avacado green--it's black to match my other stainless and black appliances.

OH MY GOD

Okay, the kid has colic. Officially has colic. We start screaming and pacing and screaming and rocking and screaming and swinging around 430 each afternoon and continue through until about 11pm. I knew that we had had it too good to true with the wonderful delivery and the wonderful recovery and the wonderful baby with the wonderfully shaped little head and sweet disposition. Oh my God. The worst of it is when she will quiet down for about four and a half seconds and you get this little shimmer of hope that it is over and then she starts back up at full speed. One night the swing works and the next night, she hates it. Her poor little head is purple where she is screaming at full force. The damn dog is so confused that she is eating paper for goodness sakes!

Teaching Mama

I was afraid that Emmy was too small for her swing, she is only three weeks old after all!, but she loves it! Last night in hour three of the screaming, I told John to get the swing. He cranked it up as high as it would go and she quieted down immediately. We were tempted to let her sleep in the swing all night but decided that it was not proper to do so. Here we are in our swing with our boots on.

Teaching Daddy

Well, Emmy is not only showing me the lay of the land, she is showing Daddy too. Last night she took her bottle (finally!!!!) and he proclaimed that Mama was now obsolete and Daddy was back to the top of Emmy's favorite list. I think he might be right. He is so good to us and really is helping in every way he can. The other day, he asked me if he was supposed to be washing all of our clothes in Dreft. I told him that was not really necessary but he has been washing our towels, his clothes, etc. in the world's most expensive laundry detergent. Emmy and I are so lucky to have him.

Emmy's first trip to her Alma Mater

We made a quick trip to Fayetteville Wednesday night so that Daddy could go to the game. Emmy was a champ on the drive but did have a couple of little fits along the way. She was better than anyone could expect of a two week old though, so I was thrilled. Of course, mean Mama took her out in the cold to get her photo made in from of Papa's name on the senior walk. Neall and I did it when we were kids and Emmy got to do it too. Here she is in her first Fayetteville experience. Then, we went to see Grandma Jackson in Lonoke on the way back. Of course, all were smitten with the little one.

Officially a Mommy

This morning started with my tummy hurting like crazy. Of course, about the same time that I got up to spend an hour or so in the bathroom, Emmy was hungry so she spent a lot of time in the bathroom with me, in her carseat on the floor. I am sure she was thrilled with that.

We went to the Baptist Hospital to look at YET ANOTHER BREAST PUMP. I realized that I can buy one for what it will cost to rent one for three months. Of course, there is the fear that I will buy yet another pump that won't take care of us. I have two (a cheap electric and a manual) that are sitting in bags worthless to anyone. You can't return or reuse them so they are just sitting there pointless. But if I rent a pump to just see if I like it, I have to buy the start up kit for $55 so it's just weird all the way around. Then, Emmy had her two week check up and the little one is growing like mad! She weighed 7 lb and 15 oz and was 20.5 inches long--she gained 13 ounces in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!! My little piggy.

I wanted to wait until after her appointment to take her to the office to meet my coworkers so we went this afternoon. Of course everyone thought she was adorable. Just before I left, I went into my boss's office and as she was holding Emmy, she just pooped away so she suggested I change her before I left. I even put down her little changing pad on her couch and took off her little outfit and diaper. And then she pooped projectile onto me. And the couch. My daughter crapped on my boss's couch. It was all over my jeans and her clothes. I had to take her clothes off and she rode home in her diaper wrapped up in a blanket. Oh my God.

I love this kid.

Shout out

I tell Emmy about her Yia Yia all the time and she is wearing her froggie outfit as a shoutout to you.

After we had to change for the third time today, Emmy wore something other than pink. We spend a lot of time in the living room so she has lots of stuff accumulated in there and I told John we would need a different blanket since we were not wearing pink and the pink blanket that we keep in there would just not do. He said he doubted that WE gave a crap really but I got a white and yellow blanket regardless.

Today's plan...

Today Emmy and I are going to visit a babysitter. Oh Lord... what am I going to do when I leave this baby girl? It's going to kill me! I am sure that Emmy is going to want to eat and have a room to potentially sleep in one day, so I am going to have to go back to work eventually.

Here she is in her Valentine's outfit. I love the little socks that look like Mary Jane shoes--so very cute.

Photos for Fun

Daddy went back to work today so Emmy and I had to find something to entertain ourselves. We decided to take lots of pictures. This kid tickles me to no end... she is so fun!

Here is our bathing beauty. Apparently, bath time ROCKS.

This is the closest we have come to sleeping in our crib---falling asleep in the car seat and mama moving it to the crib. Ha, ha.... So witty...

Looks remarkably like a pink cottonball...

So sweet

About 5 am, John says, "how is it that anyone that looks that sweet can make that much noise??" I am not sure that I know but man, the kid has lungs! Last night was unbelievable. Emmy started screaming about 11 pm and didn't stop until 6 am. Then the dog would have an accident and the outside dogs would start barking and and the cat could be heard vomiting but could not be found. It was wild but then she was sleeping with Daddy again this morning and just absolutely precious again.

Man, I love this.

Oh, Momma, What a Week!

She's here and she is perfect! Emmy Ruth arrived at 3:58 p.m. on Tuesday the 13th at 7 pounds 2 ounces, 19.75 inches long.

Tuesday morning around one, I got up so sick. I was up all night sick and finally called the doctor at 4am. They said since I could not even keep water down, it was probably a virus and not labor. I had my doctor appointment at 840am anyway for the biophysical profile so we just held out until then to get there. I called the office and told them that I was so sick anyway and that I would not be in regardless of when they were going to induce labor. About 8, on the way to the doctor's office, I started having contractions about 2-3 minutes apart. When we got there, I told the receptionist I was either in labor or had salmonella and they sent me back for the ultrasound. Because I didn't have any water in my bladder, she really had to push on my belly for images and I told her I was going to puke on her so she said, "oh you might be in labor"--amazing of her to pick up on that--and sent me to have the doctor check me out. I was in fact in labor and 2 to 3 cm dilated and we went off to the hospital. Thankfully, the hospital and the doctor's office are in the same medical complex or John might have possibly run over small animals. I reminded him that we stop at stop signs as he plowed over the first run of speed bumps past the first stop sign. I got in to the hospital and as they checked me in, John went to get the bags from the car.

My contractions were getting worse but this stomach virus was really getting me. I kept telling the nurses I was going to be sick and they didn't believe me... they do now! The nurse gave me the little spit thing to throw up in but after I filled that and the rest of the bed, they realized that I was really kind of sickly. The anesthesiologist came in to do the epidural and said that because my white count was so high, they could not do it. John and I looked at each other and almost burst in to tears. They did give me a shot and ultimately did the epidural. Thank goodness! I must have had the best one ever because I never felt anything else. Turns out, I was so dehydrated that her little heart rate kept going up which caused my labor to kick into gear. Daddy got there, Natalie and Tara were there and John of course, and I really had a pretty quick labor. At 3, they said they were for me to start pushing and she arrived at 358pm. John and Tara were there--Tara cut the cord! It was so amazing. Of course, I never knew what to really expect but this was so amazing--I never thought it would be so great. The epidural was amazing so I never hurt after it was in--in fact when the doctor said that the next contraction would be the one that delivered her, I was looking at John laughing "can you believe this is really happening??" It was nuts! So, she gets here and they take her over to the side to get her fixed up and ready for her debut. It took forever to finally have them give her to us. Tara went out to the waiting room to tell Daddy and everyone that she was here and we were okay.

John managed to get the stomach virus I had on Thursday. We came home around 11 and he was so very sick, bless his heart. He was so upset an already missed Emmy. He is so smitten with her and cannot stand to not be with her. He is so funny and I never imagined he would be this way with her.

OH, you would love her! She's so tiny and so precious. I already cannot remember what it was like to not have this little thing attached to my shoulder. She is so funny. Every now and then, she will pump her little fist in the air and just leave it there like she is really cheering for something. John says it is like she is at a Skynard show or something. She has the funniest little faces and looks so much like her daddy. You would absolutely be delighted with her. She makes us giggle constantly. I am trying to take video of her since she has changed so much in just a week.

I am so very happy. More,

41 Weeks Pregnant

Nope, no baby.

Welcome to 1972

John and I have forged ahead into the 1970's by purchasing a portable dishwasher at an estate sale this weekend. Our house is almost 100 years old and the design of the kitchn does not allow for a dishwasher to be installed without a complete remodeling. I have over 50 kitchen cabinets and I am leary to do anything that might cost me some of that space. We have tossed around the idea of a portable dishwasher for a while but they are usually so small that we decided it wasn't really worth it. Then, Natalie saw this one at an estate sale and called us and we rushed right over to get it. It's avacado green--it reminds me of the fridge, washer and dryer that mom replaced several years ago--and it is huge! And it has a butcher block top on it. So, now I am on the hunt to get the adapter needed to connect it to the sink and we are actually going to be among those with all the fancy upgrades and appliances. John's next project is to paint it--we decided that the avacado green was only a novelty and not coming back into style anytime soon so we did pick up some appliance paint as well.

Oh yeah and today, seems like something else is going on today... oh wait--not going on today! Today is the official due date but we have no little munchkin to report on yet. At least the doctor is not going to let me go over more than two weeks--which is great.