Growin Up

We gave Emily her 1st bite of baby cereal tonight. She didn't take to it very well, but we'll try again tomorrow. I'm a little sad. She now is needing more than just me to fill her up. =( I still plan on nursing her though - until she can go to whole milk. No formula for this baby girl!!

Ready for supper!

1st Bite!

Ewww - Not so good!

No more please!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Day

Check out the Hobson family snow day pics here.

3 Months Old - January 22nd 2010

Dear Emily,

Wow – 3 months old! You’re such a big girl! You are changing every single day. Your little legs have thickened up and so have your adorable cheeks. You smile and “try” to laugh all the time now. While you haven’t fully mastered laughing, I love the little sound you make when you try. You’re also holding your head up…still a little bobble-head, but holding it up nonetheless.

You are happiest in the mornings, but generally, are a happy baby all day long. We haven’t really experienced the “witching hour” of crying with you in the late afternoons/night like a lot of parents experience with their babies. You are just a happy girl. Mimi said that I was a happy baby too, so maybe you have my personality. =)

You are sleeping thru the night pretty good now and we didn’t have to let you cry it out very much. There were a couple of hard nights, but all-in-all, you’ve done great on your own. Sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night, but you generally go right back to sleep on your own after some mild fussiness or with the help of a paci. Mommy’s so proud of your sleep skills! I hope you keep it up!

I love waking you up. You have the biggest stretches after I wake you up. Sometimes, you smile at me when I come to get you in the mornings or when I wake you up from your naps. I try to wake you before you wake yourself, so I can see you smile when you wake up. If you wake up on your own, you tend to cry. Not a bad cry, more like a “mama – I’m hungry” sort of cry – no tears…unless I’m not fast enough. =)

You are also trying to talk. Well, making little sounds. You have the sweetest little voice ever! I could listen to you all day long! Even your little cries are adorable to me.

We have the best conversations while you’re on the changing table. I guess it’s because you are more on my level. You will just look at me and smile and talk and smile some more. You also have started kicking your legs really hard – I call it doing your exercises.

You’re clothes have finally started to fit! I’m so excited b/c I have so many cute things for you to wear. I think I take your picture every time I put you in something new. I can’t wait to take you out and about to show you off to the world. We still don’t get out too much – just too cold and the flu is going around like crazy!

Your favorite toys right now are your lion and glow worm. You just recently have started paying attention to these guys. You also like the little lady bug on your bouncy seat and the little sprout doll Aunt Lisa gave you. You like to talk to them – it’s so cute!

You are eating every 3 hours during the day and are staying awake for about an hour and half at a time (including while you eat). It takes you about 30-45 minutes to eat, so that gives us about an hour of play time before you start getting tired.
I know you are getting tired when you start throwing your head back and to the left or right or you start to get a little fussy. I’ve learned to put you down for a nap BEFORE this happens or RIGHT when it happens or you’ll fuss a bit before you fall to sleep.

You like your paci ok, but prefer to suck on your hands. You recently found your thumb, which has mommy a bit worried – thumb sucking is a hard habit to break – Just ask Aunt Lisa! =)

Mommy started back to work this month – January 13th. It was a hard thing for me to do – to leave you all day, but Granny is watching you for a little while until we can figure some things out. I am still able to see you at lunch though and we get to nurse. I’m so thankful for this!

We have established a great little night time routine. You eat at 9 or 9:30, then it’s time for bath. Next, you get on your PJ’s (while throwing a temper tantrum – not sure what this is about, but you do it every night without fail and for no apparent reason!) We thought you might be cold, so we put a heater in your room before you eat to make it nice and toasty, but so far, it hasn’t helped much. You just don’t like getting dressed. I think you would prefer to stay in your birthday suit!

Then, daddy rocks you while I get your clothes laid out for the next day. Then, it's my turn to rock you. We listen to our lullaby’s and pray for our family – each by name. We also ask God to say hello to Mimi and let her know we think about her each day and miss her very much. Sometimes Daddy will read a book, but for the most part, it’s just me and you rocking and saying our prayers together. Then, it’s lights out and time for “night night”. You go right to sleep!

You’re such a good baby and SUCH a blessing to your mommy and daddy. I have loved getting to know you over the last 3 months and can’t wait to learn more about you and live my life all over again through your innocent little eyes. I love you so much it hurts. I now understand what my mother (your Mimi) always told me about a “mother’s love.” I hope someday you will get to experience the wonderful feeling of being a mother and my prayer is that I’m able to see you become a mother. There is nothing like it on earth!

BIG pictures!

I figured out how to post larger images on my blog - whoopee!!

2 Months Old - December 22, 2009

Dear Emily,

Well, another month has come and gone! You are now 2 months old and getting ready for your 1st Christmas!
You had a big month this month. You started smiling – yay! You’ve been smiling since you came into this world, but I think they were more baby dream/gassy smiles. =) Now, you are actually looking at me and smiling. You’re first “real” smile was while on the changing table – you looked right at me and smiled. I was SOOO excited! Of course, I have to work hard for these smiles. Hopefully, you’ll start smiling more easily soon b/c I don’t think I can talk at any higher of a pitch voice!! Ha!

You are staying awake more now, but still sleep a good bit. You are also still waking up to eat during the night. I’m hoping you’ll start sleeping through the night soon b/c I’m getting a little tired. I don’t want to have to let you “cry it out,” so I’m hoping you’ll decide on your own that you don’t need to eat in the middle of the night anymore. =) We’ll see how that works out for us.

You also took your first bottle this month, which was a great help for mommy! Daddy was excited to feed you too. I was worried you would get confused going back and forth from the bottle to me, but you’ve done great with it – thank goodness!
Because you started to take a bottle, I was able to leave you with your first baby sitter. Of course, I can’t leave you with just ANY baby sitter, but Miss Brandi isn’t just any baby sitter. =) She LOVES you and you LOVE her! She came over to watch you while Mommy did a little Christmas shopping. I wanted to take you with me, but you are just too small and there is lots of flu going around – yuck!

It's been soooo cold this month and we even got some snow! You won't see much of this here in Mississippi, but some day we'll have to go to Colorado to see some real snow and visit Aunt Jean and cousin, Jacob!
We tried you out on your floor gym and started tummy time this month. I probably started this late, but you’re just so dang little – I thought it would be too much for you. You don’t seem to mind it very much, but it's not your favorite thing to do either. You lay on your tummy for a while and try to pick your little head up and then you start getting mad. We’ll keep working on this. But, you seem to like laying on your back and looking at your toys - you especially love your lion. =)


You had your 1st outing this month (other than to a dr’s office). Your daddy and I took you to eat lunch with us at Chimneyville. Pawpaw, Aunt Lisa, and Abby met us there. It was so fun. I dressed you all up in a Christmas outfit that Aunt Lisa gave you…you looked sooo cute!


You’re still very small, but we go to the dr. tomorrow (for your 2 mo check up) and I bet you’ve gained a bunch of weight b/c you are definitely filling out some. Newborn sized outfits fit you a little better now, so that’s exciting for mommy. I love to dress you up – you’re my little doll!

Most of our days have been spent in our PJ's though. Mommy only has about 1 more month at home with you before I have to go back to work. I'm already starting to be sad about this. I've loved spending all my time with you!

I’m so excited for your 1st Christmas. I know you don’t know what’s going on, but I like to pretend like you do. I have ended up with FIVE Baby’s 1st Christmas ornaments! I wanted the perfect one and searched and searched. Aunt Lisa has given you several and I have bought several. We finally decided it would be fun to make our own ornament, so we went to Harry The Potter and had your little hand print put on your very 1st ornament. I love it! Hopefully, we can do this every Christmas with Abby as a fun tradition for ya’ll. We want to create lots of little traditions for you. Christmas was so magical for me when I was little and I want to give that to you too.



We had another big outing this month too – I took you to see Mimi for the 1st time. I packed you up early one morning – just us girls. While putting out her decorations, I was all business – trying to get them to look just right. Then, when I pulled you out of the car and walked you over to her, I lost it. I was overcome with emotion. I introduced you to her and her to you. It was very bittersweet moment. I was so glad to have you, but so sad that she wasn’t here to see you. Oh, how I wish she was here, but I have to keep reminding myself that she CAN see you and that she WILL meet you one day.


I know I’ve told you before that you and Abby were born very soon after Mimi left us for Heaven. I truly believe with all my heart that you and Abby were sent to us as a gift from God to help us heal. There is a song by Martina McBride called “In My Daughter’s Eyes” that I love. In this song, she sings, “In my daughter’s eyes, I am a hero. I am strong and wise and I know no fear. But the truth is plain to see, she was sent to rescue me. I see who I wanna be, in my daughter’s eyes.”

Sweet girl, you were sent to rescue me. I was in a place of such sorrow, but you have brought such a light into my life and given me a purpose. I’m so proud to be your mama and hope I can teach you to be a sweet, loving girl and instill the morals my mama instilled in me. You are my heart.

Love,

Mama

Fun With A Friend

Em spent some time with her friend, Anna Lauren, a few weeks ago. Check out Anna Lauren's mommy's blog for some cute pics!

The Calvert Family Blog