Five Years Together

Before our anniversary dinner

Earlier this month, on the 10th, Lucas and I celebrated our fifth anniversary.  It's hard to believe it's been five years, but at the same time, it feels like we've been together forever.  These five years have certainly been full of their ups and downs as every marriage is.  We've had way more good times than bad times, though, and God has been so gracious to us.  This fifth year has been just wonderful.  We began our fifth year by finding out that our little baby would be a girl and ended our fifth year holding her in our arms.  I can't think of any better anniversary gift in the world!

Our wedding day

We had planned to stay the night at the Omni Mandalay hotel where we spent our wedding night and first anniversary, but in the end, we weren't able to leave Emily overnight.  Instead, we had dinner at The Keg while my parents babysat.  After we came home and put her to bed, we watched our wedding video, which included a fun interview with us the week before the wedding.  It was neat to get to go back and re-live all of that.  I had ordered two miniature wedding cakes from our favorite bakery the day before, so we also got to enjoy a slice or two while we watched the video.  It was a wonderful evening, and although we missed getting to have a night away, things turned out to be just perfect.

Our little family, five years later

Seven Months

It's hard to believe seven months have come and gone with our sweet baby girl.  This month was one of the most fun so far.  There weren't a whole lot of brand new happenings this month, but there were definitely some big improvements on things she had already begun to do last month.  Here are some highlights of month seven:

• First time to leave Texas:  Emily's sweet granny (great-great grandmother) passed away just a few days before Emily turned six months old.  She was almost 98.  Granny absolutely adored Emily and we were blessed that they got to spend six months together.  Her funeral was in Louisiana, where she lived for many years, so Emily got to leave the state for the first time.  She cried as we crossed the state line and cheered when we returned.  A little Texan after my own heart!
• First time in the church nursery:  On February 26, we took our little girl to the nursery at church for the first time.  It was well past time for her to go and I'm so glad we finally sent her.  It was nice to know she was being well taken care of while Lucas and I were doing worship.
• Sitting up:  Emily is now sitting up completely unassisted and doesn't fall over anymore. :)
• Independent play:  While last month she was able to entertain herself in her bouncer or exersaucer, now she can really sit on her blanket and play with her toys by herself.  It's nice for her to have more options for fun!
• Eating:  Emily has now tried all kinds of foods.  She eats sweet potatoes, bananas, peaches, squash, green beans, pears, mixed fruit, carrots, apples, and oatmeal cereal.  She LOVES her puffs and yogurt melts, as well.  For the most part, she is a really good eater as long as the food is warm. 
• Formula:  I am still breast-feeding for the majority of her milk, but we began giving her more formula this month to supplement the breast milk, mostly at the sitter and at night in addition to her nursing.  She has done great with it and has had no tummy issues at all.
• Hands and feet:  This month, Emily has found her feet as far as chewing goes.  I wondered when she would do this, and she finally has.  Nothing tastes as good as toes!  She also discovered a new trick she can do with her hands just last week.  She holds them out in front of her and rotates her wrist, just mesmerized at what they can do.
• Sleep:  She is sleeping wonderfully.  Over Spring Break when we didn't have to get up so early, she slept about 11 hours each night and took two hour and a half to two hour naps each day.  She's been sleeping pretty good this whole time, but we haven't dealt with a middle of the night fussy baby in weeks (other than the week at my parents while Lucas was out of town.)
• Talking:  This month was one the one where she really began to babble.  She can say G, D, B, Bl, K, and M sounds.  At first, it was a lot of Ds, but now she has moved onto Ms and says mamamamama all the time.  I know she isn't talking to me specifically, but I still love it. :)  She also sings "aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh" pretty often when she's in her carseat.  Sometimes it will last the whole trip from one place to another.

We didn't have an appointment this month, but from our measurements, Emily is 17 lbs 9 oz (60th %,) 29 inches long (off the charts %,) and her head is 17 3/4 in (80th %.)  She wears a size 2 diaper and six month clothes.

And our sweet girl's funny faces:

Beauts McGoots,
Don't you just love all the ridiculous names we've come up with for you?  I mean, seriously.  Where on earth do we get this stuff from?  Regardless, you are the light of our lives.  I can never express to you what you mean to us and the joy you bring us.  One day you will have your own little girl and you will know what I mean.  I love you, sweet girl!

Hanging out with Mimi and Papa

Enjoying the Dallas Arboretum

Sitting in the big girl part of my whale tub

My first booboo, courtesy of the coffee table drawer

Spending some time in Louisiana

Just brushing my teeth

I love my Mimi!

And my Papa, too!

Just watching a little Backyardigans on the iPad

Breakfast date with mom and dad

Being silly

Loving the church nursery (Emily is in the middle)

Chewing on my shoe, just like my Uncle Brett

Dallas Blooms

Spring Break is almost officially over and we had a great week!  Lucas took off, so we were able to spend lots of good, quality family time together.  While most of the week was low key, we spent Friday at the Dallas Arboretum with my parents, having a picnic and enjoying the beautiful day.  Each year during the spring, the Arboretum has an event called Dallas Blooms.  There were thousands and thousands of flowers in bloom and almost as many people there to see them!  We had to park about a half mile or so away and ride a shuttle bus to the park.  It actually worked out great, though, because we didn't have to pay for parking and they dropped us right at the gate.  We ended up purchasing a family membership so that we can go back again.  Several times when I was a child we had a family membership, so I'm excited to get to do that again.  I'm especially excited to go back in the fall when they have all of the pumpkins on display!

We had a wonderful picnic under a tree, saw tons of tulips, took a lot of pictures, and dreamed of bringing Emily back in the future when she'll be able to play in the froggy fountains.  We can't wait to go back again soon!

This is the life.

Our shiny, happy baby

Our little family

Staring intently at something

Sitting on the side of a fountain

Sweet girl

First time in the umbrella stroller.  Look at those long legs!

Beautiful flowers

Sleeping like a big girl!

I'm so proud of our sweet baby girl.  She went for an entire week without crying at all when putting her down for bed and not waking up at all during the night!  Last night was a different story, but it was completely our fault for getting her off her napping schedule during the day.  This girl THRIVES on a schedule!  Tonight she cried for about five minutes, but she was still a little off today because of yesterday and last night. 

I was very conflicted about the whole cry-it-out thing, but seeing how well our little girl does now, I am so glad we made that difficult decision.  So much stress and anxiety has been lifted now that she goes to sleep easily and mommy and daddy are much more rested!  While I believe the cry-it-out method is certainly a big part of what helped Emily, I know it was also the Lord.  Each night I prayed that he would give her peaceful sleep and he has.  It's so good to know that he cares about even the little things in our lives.

Six Months

Happy half birthday to our sweet, perfect, precious, darling angel baby!  I cannot believe a half of a year has already gone by since we were given the sweetest blessing ever.  Even though it's passed in the blink of an eye, it seems like she has been a part of me forever.  These six months have been more fun and more challenging than I ever dreamed.  Although, to be honest, even the challenging parts haven't been that bad...in hindsight. ;-)  Our little princess is just as sweet as can be.  She loves to laugh, smile, talk, and is becoming more and more fun every day.  It's hard to believe that she isn't a little bitty baby anymore.  She can sit up pretty well by herself, she is babbling constantly, she has teeth, she gets annoyed when she thinks we should be paying more attention to her, she puts everything in her mouth, she pets the dogs, and she is becoming a real, live little person!  Here are some of this month's big deals:

• Tongue:  Started sticking her tongue out ALL the time.  It is the cutest thing ever.
• Teeth: Emily cut her first two teeth during her sixth month.  Just when I thought she was going to be teething forever, her first one came in.  Just a few days later, her second one came through as well.  They're sharp little suckers, so I'm just lucky she hasn't bitten me yet!
• Solid foods:  Although we introduced her to rice cereal in her fifth month, she didn't do well with it, so we waited until this month to try real food.  So far she has had bananas, sweet potatoes, and avocados and has done well with all of them as long as they are thin enough.  A couple times I gave them to her too thick and she wasn't a fan.
• Sitting unassisted:  She is doing really well with sitting up.  She still topples over after awhile, but is doing well overall.  We usually put the boppy behind her to catch her if she does go over backwards, but she's needing it less and less.
• First sickness:  Emmy had her first stomach bug this month.  It was so sad!  She vomited all over herself and everything in her crib one night as she was going to bed, then was pretty lethargic all night, vomiting off and on for a couple hours after the first time.  We called the on-call doctor, did the pedialyte thing, and fortunately she stayed hydrated.  She was pretty much back to normal by the next morning.
• Independent play: Well, kind of independent.  Emily LOVES the bouncer.  She could bounce for hours on end and entertains herself so well while she is in it!
• Cry it out:  This month, we started doing the cry-it-out method with Emily.  Most nights she goes to bed easily, but some nights she still cries.  Regardless, she is doing great overall and is a champ sleeping in her crib at night.  We are still working on naps.  She naps great for her sitter, but not really at home.
• Puppies:  Emmy has discovered the dogs this month and LOVES to pet them.

We haven't gone for her six month appointment yet, but we did all of her measurements at home.  She is 17lbs (60th %,) 28 inches long (off the charts %,) and her head is 17.3 inches (70th %.)  She is wearing a size 2 diaper and six month clothes.

And the precious faces our sweet girl makes:

Biddle biddle,
You are my precious little girl, the little love of my life, my little sidekick, and my little best friend.  You bring so much joy to your daddy and me.  We are so thankful that the Lord blessed us with you and we can't wait to see what he is going to do with your precious little life.  If the next six months are half as much fun as the first have been, we are in for a treat!  Love you more than life!

There's the tongue.

Precious girl.

Eating Daddy's face

Loving the bouncer

Bathtime!

Not interested in posing with mommy.

I LOVE sweet potatoes!

Seriously cute as she topples forward

How the majority of this month's photoshoot pics came out.

TEETH!

Emily with her best friend/boyfriend David at his first birthday party.

Happy to be experiencing her first Valentines Day!

Practicing her modeling poses.

Super blurry pic, but the best one I have of her sitting up.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Remember this post?  Well, here we are a year later!

Hope your day is just as blessed as ours!

Cry it out

These past couple of weeks since Emily's stomach bug have been pretty challenging on the sleep front.  Before she got sick, we'd gotten her into a fairly good routine of going to bed with only one or two wake-ups per night.  To be totally honest, I was rolling with that routine, but I wouldn't say I was happy with it by any means.  She typically had to be re-swaddled at least once per night and it was taking at least an hour to get her to go down.  After the stomach bug, she fought me when I tried to swaddle her, woke up multiple times each night, and was taking about two hours to get her to sleep.  Most nights when we took her up at 8:00 to put her to bed, I never was able to come back downstairs.

After a couple of particularly rough nights, I'd had it with the swaddle fights.  I unswaddled her and just laid her in her crib without it.  Although it took her awhile to get her to sleep, she slept all night.  The next couple of nights, she woke up multiple times and it was still taking forEVER to get her to go down.  On Thursday night, we decided we would begin trying the cry it out method.  I didn't want to go that route, but our strong willed child wasn't giving us any other options.  I must say, there is no way I could've done this with her when we first moved her to her crib.  After a month of having her in her crib, though, we finally felt comfortable trying this method.

Our plan was to just let her cry and not go in at all.  I know that probably seems harsh, but sweet sister knows how much we love her.  Also, we have a video monitor where we could watch her and an AngelCare monitor which monitors her breathing.  We knew that if we did the Ferber method, she would probably cry for much longer than if we didn't keep going in.  We also made a few changes to her routine/room.  We put her down earlier than normal and we also unplugged her nightlight.  After about 30 minutes of crying, she got still and started to fall asleep when the AngelCare monitor started beeping.  She had gotten too far away from the sensor, so I needed to turn up the sensitivity.  I went in her room to do that, so she saw that we were there.  She cried for another 30 minutes or so, but fell asleep after exactly one hour and slept for eight hours.

Friday night we got her to bed about an hour late, and she let us know about it.  She found her pacifier and fell asleep after about 25 minutes of crying, but woke up at 3:15 and cried for an hour and a half.  In hindsight, I should've gone in and comforted her once just so she knew we were still there.  I don't think she would've cried for so long if I had.  If she wakes up in the middle of the night again, I will do that.  She slept for two more hours after that, so I think she got a total of eight hours.

Saturday night, we put her down at 8:15.  She cried until 8:50, when she found her pacifier.  She slept until 6:50 this morning.  Ten sweet hours. 

Tonight, I put her down at 7:45.  One little whimper and she fell asleep.  She normally starts letting us know she's tired about 7:00 PM, so we're planning to just start putting her down for the night when she does this rather than trying to keep her up longer.

Cry it out worked for us.  I have no doubt that there will be setbacks as we go, but for now, things are SO much better.  Emily is even happier than before (which is kind of hard to believe) and we aren't as tired as we were.