Halloween

Love this cheeser face!

I just realized I never posted a halloween picture, sheesh! I made a pumpkin costume and it was pretty dang cute. I saw them on sale at a craft fair for $30 and made mine for like $8, or less. We took her to the trunk or treat, and then to a few people around my mom's neighborhood.

New Tooth!

Loving the bumbo!

Haha I think this picture is really cute, she looks so interested in what Aaron is doing

Sitting up in her bouncer, with the toys hanging right in her face.

And now for the Emery update. She is SO close to crawling, and she is a pro at army crawling. She also got her first tooth! I noticed a little dark purple dash on December 9th, and by the 10th it was poking through. It's still just barely through the surface so you can't see it really good but it's there. We have been trying lots of different foods. Squash, beets, oatmeal, applesauce...she doesn't really like any of it. I think it's just the texture, because I bought a little mesh bag thing that you put food in and they can suck on it but it has tiny holes so no big chunks can get through, and she LOVES that thing. Stick an apple in it and she goes to town. Christmas is this Sunday so we are excited to see how she likes that. We are boring parents though and just got her clothes and a couple little toys, nothing big. Well, I'll post some pics but the newest ones aren't on my computer yet so these are at least a month old. I'll get more up later! (Ok, I don't know how to get the pictures under the dang update!)

House Hunting

I realized I only ever post about Emery, but there are actually other things in our lives going on. We are looking for a house right now, which has been exciting, scary, sad, and sometimes a pain in the butt. We weren't really serious about it but knew it was a good time to buy so we were looking through a realtors website and it made us enter our information to be able to look so we did, and that same day the realtor called us. His name is Jorge and we really like him. The next week we were looking at houses! It was crazy fast, especially because we weren't sure if we really wanted to buy right now or not, we were just kinda looking for fun. The first house we saw we liked, it had a basement apartment, tons of storage, 3 bedrooms upstairs...lots of good things. But...it had a tiny kitchen, tiny living room, a one car driveway, and it was super old. But we put an offer on it so that the house would be locked down but we could still have a little time to decide. Well, we were only under contract for 2 or 3 days because we decided we just didn't feel comfortable buying the first house we saw. So we backed out and started looking at some other homes.

We spent a Saturday looking at like 5 homes, all of which looked real nice in the pictures, but in reality were a total dump. Some of them were missing carpet, dry wall, etc. One had bug crawling all over inside. One was just trashed inside with beer bottles, random papers, c.d.'s bikes...tons of junk the people who were kicked out just left there. Over the course of a couple weeks we looked at a few more but none of them were good, they weren't even in livable condition.

Then in early December we went to a house in Payson...it was PERFECT! It had only been on the market for 2 days too! It had 3 bedrooms upstairs, a nice sized family room, 2 bedroom apt downstairs, TONS of storage everywhere, 2 car garage, it was in Payson, new appliances, new carpet, new paint, washer and dryer upstairs and downstairs (can you tell I loved this house?) so we told Jorge we wanted to make an offer...then noticed some old folks peeking through the window. Jorge opened the door and they told us their daughter had put an offer on the house the day before and it had been accepted so they were coming to look at it. My heart sank...and it sinks a little more each day. I am still really sad about it. We put an offer on it anyway in case the other couple backs out or doesn't qualify or something, but I know I shouldn't count on it.

So we are back to looking, hopefully we find something that compares to the amazing Payson house. I keep trying to pick it apart...the kitchen was kinda small, the yard was kinda small, but I can't lie to myself, that house was freakin awesome. *Sigh*

6 Months!

I'm a horrible blogger, Emery is doing new things constantly and my guilt has finally driven me to write it all down. First off, she has been sitting up. She started being able to stay up for a few seconds the end of last month (October) and started sitting really good the beginning of November. Then just last week (So around the 20th of November) she started pushing herself up on her hands, and has gotten her knees under her a few times! We also have her her first taste of food on the 21st. She tried butternut squash and wasn't too sure about it. She talks non stop and is so wiggly. More later! She just woke up!

Transitioning to the crib.

Emery had begun waking up every 2 hours, and then not going back to sleep in her bassinet and ending up in bed with me. She would also scratch the sides of her bassinet so last Saturday (Sept 24th) I decided to give the crib a try. I was having a hard time letting her sleep across the house in our other bedroom though so we moved the crib into our bedroom :) So far so good, she has been back to sleeping 6 or 7 hours, but she rolls and ends up smashed against the sides of the crib. I don't think there is much to do about that though except just keep an eye on her.

Baby Food Beginnings

Saturday I took my rent check to the Hansens and came home with 2 spaghetti squash, 2 butternut squash, 4 zucchini, a pound of green beans, 30 beets, 20 potatoes, peaches, tomatoes, and crook neck squash. So tomorrow begins a baby food making spree. I got a bunch of ice cube trays and freezer bags today. Aaron is running to get a new bottom for our blender tonight, and tomorrow I'll start cooking and pureeing everything. She still has a month before she starts on any food but I'm excited to start giving her solids and seeing her reaction. I'm even more excited to have all this fresh fruits and veggies so she can be eating non-processed, preservative and additive free baby food! I'll let ya know how it goes

4 month check-up

I decided it was time for a well check for Emery, so I scheduled her for a 4 month check up. It was August 19th. When I got there, they asked me for Emery's insurance card, I didn't have one. So they asked me for my insurance card, then informed me that it said Emery wasn't eligible for our insurance. I told them to give me a minute while I called my husband to check on that. Aaron assured me she was on our insurance but said he would check with the hr people. Meanwhile we were called back to see Carol. During the appointment Aaron called to tell me that Emery wasn't covered by our insurance. We had 30 days to put her on after she was born, we didn't, and now had to wait till open enrollment in January. So this well check ended up costing us $100! Good news is she's nice and health. 15 lbs and 25 inches. She is in the 78th percentile so she's nice and chunky! Good thing I paid someone $100 to weigh and measure her. (I'm a little bitter)

2nd Anniversary

This year for our anniversary Aaron took the day off work so we could go to Seven Peaks. We literally hadn't spent a day in the sun this whole summer and we have passes so we thought it would be fun to go. We got Gwen to watch Emery and we were going to have a great time...until I got the flu, or possibly food poisoning, I'm not quite sure. It started Saturday and it was pretty horrible. Luckily no one else got it so Aaron was able to take care of Emery. And can I just say he is a pretty awesome dad. He took her to church, to his mom's for Sunday dinner, and basically took care of her 100% for three days. I was actually really glad he had the day off cuz I was still pretty sick Monday. I slowly got better but I still had a few bathroom runs (haha...pun) for the whole week. Aaron pointed out that I have been sick for every anniversary so far, which is only 2, but I was also sick on our honeymoon, so for 3 years in a row. Our honeymoon wasn't too bad, I was sick on the plane ride from SLC to Denver, but that was it. On our 1st anniversary we went to Park City and the morning we were supposed to leave I was sick...due to pregnancy I think but we didn't know I was pregnant yet, and this year the flu. So I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for a nice anniversary next year.

A few firsts

Ok so I know the last post was about Emery rolling over for the first time, but her first actual roll over from back to tummy to back was on Monday August 29th (and without the help of aaron.) Now she is a rolling machine. 2 seconds after I put her on her blanket she has rolled off, and somehow she always manages to roll her way to the entertainment center, then gets stuck because she can't roll any further. She's only got the left roll down so far.

She has also started reaching for things. I don't really have a concrete date on when this started happening since it kinda happens gradually but within the last couple of weeks. Now she's reaching for my plate, stroking my face while she eats (which is super cute but those little nails are sharp!) and playing with the dangly toys on her bouncy seat, or any time we dangle toys in front of her. She also grabs more with her left, but she can do her right too.

She really REALLY wants to sit up, but just ends up crunching in half. She always tries to sit up when I put her in her bouncy seat and then basically gets stuck folded in half, which she doesn't seem to mind, she just plays with her toes :)

She is a super happy baby, you can basically always get a smile out of her. And really, unless she is hungry or tired, she doesn't cry, unless we're in the car...then she screams. She hates the car still.

She also has her first well check next Monday (sept 19th) and now...for one more first, that I hope is also a last. Today while I was changing her bum, she decided she wasn't done pooping. My hand just happened to be right there. Poop began oozing down my hand and I grabbed a wipey to stop it from running down and onto the changing table. There was no way I was wiping it all up, cuz it was still coming out, so I decided the best plan of action was just just put a diaper under her, move my hand (which had now created a dam, so it wasn't on the changing table) and just let the poop go into the clean diaper. Then I could clean it all up and just grab another diaper. Waste of 1 diaper, I know, but that's all I could come up with. So I grabbed a diaper, slid it under her, and started wiping wiping wiping. All the while Emery was having a good ol time. Poop was running down her legs, which she was kicking frantically. She slammed her feet in the puddle of poop, splashed it on my shirt, and basically covered her legs in it. I finally got it all wiped up, slapped a clean diaper on her, and set her on the floor without snapping up her pj's and went to the bathroom to wash my hands/arms, which has a nice coating of poop, and stain treat my shirt. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't stain.

Ok well that's about it but I'll post a few pics.

Rolling Over!

Emery rolled over today, with a little push off of Aaron's shoe, but I still count it :) Also, we found out she is in the 95th percentile! What a chunk! And another first...last night as I was getting her ready for bed I tickled her neck and shoulders and she full on giggled. I couldn't get another one and I haven't gotten one today either but I'll keep trying. Well, she is starting the "I'm getting annoyed and you better do something about it if you don't want a full blown come apart" noise so I guess that's it.

Saturday Smiles

Emery is 11 weeks old today! geez! She has started talking LOTS. I have a video of her yelling at Aaron I'll post. We got a new car Saturday, it is still getting all prettied up for us so no picture yet but i'll post one soon. Hopefully this one doesn't have so many glitches like the cobalt. It will be really nice not worrying about the power steering going out or not knowing how much gas you have or how fast your going. Also it's a/c rocks, which is definitely a plus.

We had a play date with Chris and Michelle and their new baby Hyrum. Aaron was taking the pictures, that's why you can't see Hyrum's face. :)

She's getting so good at tummy time

I can't figure out how to get video on here so the title of this post doesn't really make sense. oh well

Emery's Birth Story

First off I'll start with a little background since we chose to have a little different birth experience than most people do. I have always wanted to do it natural and after looking into it decided that I also didn't want to do it at the hospital. Why? I wanted to be in charge, I wanted 1 person looking after me, not multiple people I had never met before, I didn't want any pressure to do it someone else's way, I didn't want my baby to leave me...and lots of other reasons. I also took a hypnobabies birth class which was fantastic. We delivered at a birthing suite called BellaNatal, which is on state street in Orem. There is a little background so you're not confused when I refer to these things/places

I'll start with the day before. I had my weekly appts every monday at my midwife Cathy's house. I went there pretty discouraged because I was 10 days overdue at that point and super ready to have my baby here. Everything still looked really good though. She checked me and I was in between a 1 and a 2. She stripped my membranes a little and said she was sure I would go in the next few days.

I went to bed that night a little crampy, but that was nothing new. I woke up around 4 and was having really little pressure waves (which is what you're taught to call contractions in hypnobabies) I had some cereal and watched some avatar the last airbender. Aaron got up around 6:30 and I told him he should probably stay home from work. At that point my pressure waves were about 6 mins apart but only lasting about 30 seconds. We just sat around watching more cartoons until about 8. I decided we needed to call Cathy because she had told me the day before that she would be going to huntington to do a post delivery check up unless I called her to tell her I was in labor. So she came over and checked me. I was still just a 2 but she said she could tell we were having a baby that day and she wouldn't be going to Huntington.

For the next few hours I used my hypnobabies meditation, did some dishes, and even took a nap. When I woke up we timed my pressure waves. They were still about 5-6 mins apart but lasting about 1 minute. It was about 1:00 pm and we called Cathy to come check me again. (Let me just get on my soapbox for a minute and say how much I LOVED laboring at home. It was so calm, I was able to feel completely comfortable and relaxed in my own home and rely completely on myself and Aaron to get through any tough pressure waves.) Cathy came and at that point I was between a 3 and a 4. I had to wait until I was a 4 to go to BellaNatal because they want you to be in active labor. She said I could go any time I wanted so we said we would meet her over there in an hour or so. We finished up our last minute packing and chilled at home for a little while longer than started heading to orem at 2:00.

When I got there they were filling up the tub for me. I waited a few minutes then got in. Let me also vouch for laboring in the water...another love. My midwife and her two assistants stayed in the background while Aaron helped me through everything. Right after I got into the water I kinda started heaving with each pressure wave. I wasn't naseous or anything, it was just a natural thing my body was doing. Cathy said it sounded like I was pushing and checked me again. Just an hour and a half after I had been a 3 I was now at an 8. I stayed in the water for probably another 10-15 minutes and then was fully dilated but had a little rim of cervix that had to move before I could start pushing.

At this point I got out of the water and moved to the bed so that I could get in different positions that would help get that cervix out of the way. This was the most difficult part of my birth experience because my body REALLY wanted to push but Cathy told me I couldn't push till the cervix was gone. It wasn't painful, just hard to hold back those natural urges. We tried a few positions and about 20 minutes or so later the cervix was out of the way and it was time to push. I wanted to do a water birth so I walked back to the tub and got in. I pushed for about 40 mins and out she came! She was born at 5:02, only 2 and a half hours after we got the Bella. There was no screaming, no swearing, no "you did this to me." Just a little grunting. She was handed right to me and stayed there until the placenta was delivered. Then they handed her (and the placenta becuse she was still attached) to Aaron while I got out of the tub and dried off. Then we went back to the bed (which was a queen so Aaron was able to be right there with me) and I started feeding her. We stayed till 10 that night then went home. She has been perfect ever since! :)

Another soapbox: I know there are exceptions for everything, but I truly believe most every woman is capable of having a natural birth. It DOES NOT have to be like what you see in the media. God made our bodies to have babies and most of the time if you don't interfere with nature, it will do the job perfectly. I would just encourage everyone to make sure they are very well informed on different options and the risk and benefits that come with them. I thought I was well-informed when I chose to have an unmedicated out of hospital birth, but by the end of my pregnancy I had learned SO much more and was even more positive I had chosen the best option for me and my baby. There really are some scary things that can happen when you start intervening that you won't know unless you do some digging. Plus I absolutely loved going through most of it with just my husband, and being so connected to what was happening with my body and my baby. Did it hurt? Yeah it was uncomfortable at times. But honestly, right before I found out I was at an 8 I told Aaron that my pressure waves weren't that bad, but wondered how much stronger they were going to get. They didn't get stronger, and actually once I started pushing I don't remember feeling pain, it was actually a huge relief to push. If you have the right state of mind and chose to look at things positively, it makes all the difference.

sleeping

Oops I forgot to flip this one ^^^ but I love when I catch emery and aaron taking a nap

It's crazy how many pictures I have of her sleeping, and I just keep taking more! She's so cute and peaceful I can't help but snap a few shots. Then I end up waking her up...oh well.

Attempts at Smiling

We've been getting lots of smiles, but they are hard to catch on camera and even when we do she ends up looking like she's got a psychotic grin. But here they are

Bath Time

The bottom two are of her very first bath...which she hated obviously. She doesn't mind it now that she can actually be in the water, and she looks pretty dang cute in her hooded towels.

this is for you Mary

I loved this spit goatie...she didn't

1 day old

In the tub right after she came out

that last prego picture

Here are some random pictures, I'll post more in other posts so I can keep them somewhat organized.