Funny Conversations

Dad to Sister while giving her a hug: "I love you so much. I'm so proud of you. Take care of yourself. I love you."
(long pause)
Dad to me: "Here, why don't I give you a hug too so you don't feel left out."
Me to Dad: "Or you could just hug me and tell me you love me because you actually do."
Erin: "No, he'll hug you and tell you he loves you because he doesn't want to read about it on your blog."

Tommy: "Oh Shit!!!"
Me: "What's wrong?!"
Tommy: "Well, I got that booger out of Emi's nose!"
Me: "Great! What's wrong then?!"
Tommy: "It landed in her mouth."

My boss, Jim, to interviewee: "The associates do not need as much secretarial help because they grew up with computers."
Me: "... and telephones!"

Erin (my secretary): "Welcome back!"
Me: "Who said I'm back?"
Erin: "Well the other day you told me to tell your clients your back."
Me: "Well, that doesn't mean I'm back!"

Baby Product Review

Being a new mom of nearly 8 weeks now, and having a husband that researches the heck out of everything- I wanted to give you a little review of what I think of popular baby products.

Summer's Infant Video Monitor: I know I've raved about it before, but having a video monitor is SO wonderful. I remember first hearing about the existence of video monitors and feeling like they were so extravagant and nobody would ever need them- I was so wrong. Again, love being able to see Emi (can even see her chest move if I have decided I need to be worried about her breathing). Also, LOVE the speaker function allowing me to speak into her room. Lastly, the camera can fully scan the room up and down and around. The other night Tommy went into Emi's room to comfort her. I was laying in bed and decided I wanted to see what they were up to but not get out of bed. It was great scanning the room until I found them in the rocking chair- Tommy with a big grin into the camera. FAVORITE baby product that I own. (FYI- found this at kohls.com and used a 30% off coupon).

BOB SE Revolution stroller. We havent gotten a lot of use out of this stroller yet because we need to get the insert to allow us to jog with it while Emi is still young. We have taken her for a few walk since the weather has been so gorgeous. This stroller rocks. It seriously like pushes itself. If you are big into walking/jogging/running then I honestly cannot see how you would live without this bad boy. The negative is that it is somewhat pricey. Thanks to my generous friends and family who gave us target gift cards, we put every last one of them towards this. Also, Tommy was researching them one day and they went on sale at target.com online making them cheaper than amazon. So they do go on sale- just not that often.

City Jogger Mini Stroller. We opted out of the everyday stroller that the baby car seats go into and bought this stroller as our every day stroller. Even though it says its a jogger- thats the name brand- its actually not a jogger. This stroller is awesome too. I was a little hesitant in buying it because again it was a little more than I wanted to pay for a stroller, but Tommy insisted that there was nothing better on the market. Then we were at Baby's R Us and they had the orange color $50 off so we bought it. Even my mom, who doesn't really like anything, loves this stroller. It has an adjustable handle bar so if you are your significant other are not the same height you can both enjoy the stroller. Also, this thing folds up so flat its amazing. It hardly takes any room in the trunk. Also, you can fold it up in literally point two seconds. It rides so easy and you can use it from birth up which is nice. We found a lot of strollers you could not use until baby was two months.

Baby Play Mat. Emi LOVES Baby Einstein Play Mat (Thanks Van Der Veers!). This thing can entertain her for hours. I haven't ascertained whether when she hits the toys on the mat whether it was intentional or not. She loves smiling at herself in the mirror. Just wait til she finds out that baby in the mirror is her!

Avent Pacifier: You know, the cheap ugly green ones that they give you at the hospital. We had put some cute ones on the registry that one of my friends got us. And they are sitting in the drawer because she only wants the Avent Pacifier. At least they make it in other colors besides the green. Although I'll have to watch it because Tony already told me he wants the pink one for baby Sam!

Grass Drying Rack. I wish I could remember who gave me this because its probably my second or third favorite product that we have. If you breast feed (and pump) this thing is basically a must. It holds all the containers and pump parts to dry without taking up much room on the counter. My friend, Laura, a child expert, also has this drying rack and agrees its life changing.

Bjorn Baby Carrier. I wanted to love this, and I kind of did. I could wrap my little Emi in it and carry her around right next to me. Tommy- didn't so much love it. In fact, he complained after carrying her for five minutes in it that his back hurt too bad to go on. No wonder God chose women to carry babies and not men.

Bjorn bouncy chair. I keep Emi in this while I am at the office. Its cool because a child essentially learns to bounce themselves in it which is also good in developing their motor skills. She is starting to get more interested in this chair. Yet I still cannot tell if when she hits those toys whether its intentional or accidental. Its also good for her to take a nap in.

And now its time... its time for me to designate the WORST baby product ever. Everybody has it (including me) and my question is- WHY? The Boppy Pillow. They say its a must if you breast feed. I find a regular pillow works much better. Also, when we put Emi on her tummy, she does much better laying on one of us than that pillow. I cannot figure out why people love it so much.

In other news, Emi made her first political statement today. Her shirt says "Spread Peace." (Nice action shot of her losing her pacifier out of her mouth).

Emi is just now really showing an interest in other things. Even so- if she touches or interacts with one of the toys- its usually by accident. She'd much rather sleep (in my arms) and look at people's faces.

10 Things...

Here are 10 random thoughts:

1. I love stores that stay open until 930 pm. I was able to get most of my errands run tonight thanks to Babys R Us and TJ for staying up until 930.

2. Never ask a question you don't want to hear the answer to. I am reminding myself of this every day. My bosses never gave me any sort of expectation or rules for maternity leave. I feel like I have been fair in coming into work and getting things done. However, now I am also bringing Emi to work with me. I do not know how long they will be okay with me taking her to work, and I will never know because I'll never ask the question.

3. Today a got an email from a friend asking me about a name she is thinking for her child. I loved that she asked me and I loved contemplating it. She kindly pretended like my incoherent email about names made much sense and was helpful to her. I thought to myself- I should open a baby name consulting business. :-)

4. I think if I could live anywhere in the United States (besides Des Moines) that I would live in Las Vegas.

5. Did you know that they are opening a Whole Foods next to the Best Buy on University in West Des Moines?

6. Some days all I want to do on my blog is rag about a family member or coworker or random stranger or neighbor who has pissed me off. I never do, of course, at the risk that they would read about it on the blog. I'm so glad that I don't because I love rereading my blog posts, and I am glad that they are mostly positive.

7. The best thing I heard all week was from a coworker today who told me they couldn't see Emi's mouth but they could see her eyes and just by looking at her eyes they could tell she was smiling at me.

8. The moment I met Emi I was expecting to feel an overwhelming feeling of love for her. While I loved her even before I saw her, I mostly felt awkward when I met her and then guilty for not feeling that overwhelming love for her. Now each day I love her even more than the day before, and the only reason I know I am capable of loving more the next day is because I did the day before.

9. I feel really conflicted right now about my strong desire to spend all my time with my daughter as compared to the joy I get from my job. Many days I pretend I don't like my, and some days I really don't. But I kind of can't imagine doing anything else- except spending time with Emi.

10.  Tommy and I watched the movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo over the weekend. Minus a very disturbing part where a girl is raped- the movie was excellent. I highly recommend.

I've Made It!

I've made it. In life- I have made it. At least according to a standard I made up when I first set my eyes on a Kitchen Aid Mixer- say 2002. I always wanted a KA mixer. I'm not sure why. But to me, the KA mixer says "I have arrived.... I am successful... I have it all." Beyond that, its beauty is like the jewelry to a kitchen. I am not much of a baker. I have never found that my hand mixer did not meet my needs in the kitchen. In January Tommy and I were at Costco. They had these gorge Kitchen Aid mixers and they had a mail-in rebate. Moral of the story- it was a super deal- and you know how I feel about super deals. So we bought that bad boy and brought it into the house where it sat in its box... month after month. I didn't forget about it. I knew it was there. I had thought about it many times. I thought "I don't deserve this mixer. I don't need this mixer. I should return this mixer and pay for one week of Emi's daycare." But I wanted it.

Earlier in the week one of my friends had posted on facebook that she had bought the KA mixer and forgot to save the box for her rebate. Friend after friend posted on her wall what I already suspected- that she was beyond lucky to be owning this mixer. I posted on her wall as well- I wanted to see what her thoughts were about this mixer, knowing she literally had just thrown a $30 rebate down the drawn. She loved it. And she loved it for all the right wrong reasons. As she said "The mixer does a great job whipping up my boxed mixes, and it looks so pretty sitting in my kitchen." It was obvious that this friend and all the friends who had responded to the post defined the mixer the same way I did. I still did not feel worthy, and I told Tommy that we needed to return it. I compared it to us buying an expensive dog leash. (We do not own a dog). I said we need this mixer about as bad as we need a dog leash (though some will say I must already own one). Tommy said it was the stupidest analogy he had ever heard. So... we unpacked it and we actually used it. We whipped up some homemade peanut butter cookies... and they were the best cookies I have ever had. I've been trying to copy Palmer's peanut butter cookies. I finally did- and at $1.95 per cookie at Palmers- I really have just made an investment into my future. Tommy also claims that the reason we should keep the mixer is because he thinks Emi and I will create memories with it.

Moral of the story is the KA mixer rocks. I love it, but that does not mean I have made it in life. I will still go to work tomorrow sometime.

On a related note, I bought Tommy this cookbook. He had read in a magazine that it was an awesome cookbook. We checked it out at the library. We liked it so we purchased it for $20 on amazon.com. I used the peanut butter recipe out of the cookbook. I love this cook book because it explains in detail why you should use certain ingredients and the effect it has in the food. For a person like me who has a lot of questions- this is great.

Notice our baby monitor in the background. I just had to include it since I love it so much. I watched Emi in the monitor while Tommy and I baked the cookies. Something tells me that when Tommy was talking about making memories with Emi on with the mixer this was not what he was envisioning.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for the arrival of my nephew Samuel Aaron Garlyn Rodney Aldridge born at 7:40 am this morning. He weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces. He is 19 1/4 inches long- but my mom and I will be remeasuring him before he leaves the hospital. Erin is a little sore from her c-section. Erin had originally scheduled her delivery for March 27. It got moved up last week to the 22nd, but it appears that Sam had picked out that day long before Erin as her water broke before they arrived at the hospital.

Emi was so excited for Sam's arrival that she didn't sleep all night.

Here are some pics:

Sammy Rod is dressed like a little pea. So cute!

 Look how big my Emi s is compared to Sam! My my how she has grown!

 Sam's got the old man receding hair line. Don't worry Sam- Tony's hair eventually came in too.

I'm looking forward to Erin feeling back to herself. Today while Sam was getting a bath I said to Erin "There are a lot of doctor's this practice group whose name start with a "B." Brink, Bingaman, Bellaire..." The lady washing Sam chimes in "Hoegh..." I was ready to start giggeling and rolling my eyes but my sister didn't seem to notice.

Anthony is staying at my mom's while Erin and Josh are at the hospital. I decided to take Anthony to my house this afternoon. The other day he told my mom he wanted to take a nap in Auntie Dawn and Uncle Tommy's bed. I thought that sounded wonderful, but he is not interested in that this afternoon. Right now he is sliding down my chaise chair telling me the reason he is making that noise is because he has a muffler on his back. :-)

I nursed Emi when we got home from the hospital. Anthony ran over to me and pulled the blanket off of Emi and said "Auntie Dawn what are you doing?" I told him I was feeding Emi milk. He found this very interesting. I was not prepared to teach a lesson about breast feeding at a very young age. Specifically, it can be tricky to explain to a child why it is approprite for an infant to suck on a breast but not for him to touch it (or at least mine!).

Happy Thursday!

What We've Been Up To!

There has been so much to blog about, but I have been really lazy busy.

Naps... We've been taking a few naps. Emi has still been pretty good at sleeping during the day. Of course as I say that she is refusing to fall asleep right now...

Working... Speaking of naps, Emi has found her favorite sleeping position while I'm at my office. Hopefully you can make out this picture. Emi likes to sleep across my legs while I'm sitting in my chair. I just put my arms above her to reach the keyboard. The sound of money going into the bank the keys make her fall right asleep.

Socializing... We've been having lots of guests visit. We love visitors. Theresa and her son, James, came to visit. James loved holding Emi. Its so cute to see little kids love one another.

Parties... My Auntie B turned 60 40 last week. We went to help her celebrate. I know I say it a lot but it's only because I'm a brown noser its true- I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful family. I'm not just talking about Tommy and Emi- while they are wonderful- I'm also talking about my parents, sister's family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, first cousins once removed.... you get the point. Here is Emi with her first cousins once removed (google it) Anna B and Nadia. I think her face is saying... "I want to be one of the girls!" I think people are surprised how much Tommy and I will let our baby be passed around to others. I don't mind. I figure, who am I to stop people from loving my child?

Walking... We love our Bob Stroller. We've been taking Emi out for walks in this beautiful weather. Here we are at Saylorville.

Growing... I kept looking at Emi and thinking "She looks like somebody I know, I just don't know who." I think I found my answer...

Pinterest'n... We have made a few recipes off of pinterest. So delic. My cousin, "Rosie," made some delicious bread for my Auntie's birthday. I'm going to try it. If its a success I will post it.

And plain just looking cute...

Emi and I have big plans for tomorrow. We will be returning to Methodist Hospital to welcome baby Samuel into the family! It's sure to be a Thankful Thursday...

Funny Conversations

Erin (my sister) to Anthony (her son) after installing her car seat for her baby due later this month: "Guess who that car seat is for?"
Anthony: "Emi!"
Erin: "No. What other baby do we have coming?"
Anthony well aware of his upcoming brother's arrival: "No. Just Emi!"

Me: "The doctor told me today that I need to strip Emi down when I feed her so that she stops falling asleep when I breastfeed her."
Mom: "No. Don't do that. I don't agree with that."
Me: "Well, too bad you couldn't give me a pap smear and I could have saved myself $130 bucks today."

Me to Anthony while riding in the car. I'm in the front seat and Anthony is in the backseat with Emi: "Anthony, is Emi okay?"
Anthony: "She's okay, Auntie Dawn! She is going to be just fine. Don't worry!"

My mom to me while riding in the car: "That lady in that car was looking at my like I'm crazy."
Me: "Well, we are."

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful Emi is still exercising some wonderful sleeping habits. On Tuesday night she "slept through the night." She slept from 1130 pm to 630am. Now, don't get me wrong, she doesn't do this every night. In fact, this is only the second time she has slept for 7 straight hours. However, I still think this qualifies me as being one of those annoying proud moms who can tell people "My child was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks."

I'm thinking about getting Emi established is a routine sometime soon. The routine is really up to her (since I've learned there is nothing you can get a newborn to do to make life easier) but some consistency for all of us would be nice. In an effort to work towards this routine I put Emi in her own room last night. (Also wanted to put her in her own room last night because Tommy and I wanted to do something that we couldn't do if we had her in the room- open the windows and turn the fan on- what'd you think I was talking about?)

I'm thankful for the video monitor we have.  We gave Emi a bath, I fed her and then put her in the crib. I laid down in bed and gave Tommy a play-by-play of every one of her movements for the next thirty minutes which in all seriousness he really appreciated it. Emi is quite the chatter box, even in her sleep, therefore its so wonderful to have a video monitor to know if the noises that she is making are worthy of me getting my butt out of bed to check on her. Its almost like Emi knew exactly where the camera was on her bed because I swear she was giving us dirty looks because we had her in her own bed. The other thing I love about our monitor is that it has a "walkie-talkie" function. I can press a talk button and my voice is projected right into her room. I love it because when she starts to make a noise I can talk to her from the comfort of my own bed at 4am.

All in all, Emi handled the first night in her crib much better than Tommy. I asked him this morning if he slept well without Emi in the room. He said he slept the same therefore we needed to bring her back into the room tonight. I missed having her int he room as well, but somebody has to be the responsible one in the family and it looks like I'm going to have to be the one!

I'm also thankful that my nephew, Sam, will be arriving shortly. My sister is set to deliver on March 27. I remember Erin being so excited when Emi was born and I thought "I'm not sure I'll be that excited when Sam is born." Alas, the closer the time gets the more excitement I have for his arrival! I hope Emi enjoyed her reign!

Lastly, I'm excited for the family time Tommy, Emi and I had this afternoon. Tommy watched some basketball which put Emi and I right to sleep! Its hard to believe 6 weeks ago, when Emi was born, it was snowing!

I hope you are remembering you have lots to be thankful for this Thursday!

One Hot Mess...

One Hot Mess. This is the phrase I use to describe my life right now as a mom. I must say that I do not understand or comprehend how people go back to work so soon after their baby is born. I know I know, I've been into the office already and have been doing some work at home. What I am talking about is the mom who has the baby, drops baby off at sitter and returns to work full time six weeks after the baby is born.

I had a taste of this life last week. Back in January I needed to schedule a mediation. I could not get it fit in prior to Emi's birth and the case seemed a bit too complicated to hand off to another attorney, so I decided to schedule it on March 9. I thought by that time, Emi would be 4 weeks old and it would just be so easy to do this mediation. Then, a week ago, I was feeling so stupid motivated that I decided to book my afternoon on the 9th full of appointments.

I tried to prepare myself the best I could on Thursday night. I thought I packed Emi's bag. I packed up my breast pump, I took a shower and washed my hair so I didn't have to do that in the morning, I laid out clothes.... I did everything humanly possible to be prepared. During the night Emi woke up later than usual for her mid-night feeding (she woke up at 5am instead of 3am). That was fine- I stayed awake. I handled it. But at 7am when I had originally planned on feeding Emi, she was not tired. I tried to prompt her to eat. I waited patiently for my darling daughter for 30 minutes to decide she was hungry, but to no avail. Normally I would have been pumping one side already but because I was so well prepared, I had already packed my pump in the car. So before I had even gotten out of bed on Friday morning (since I usually feed Emi in my bed) my plans were shot to hell changing.

As I rushed to get Emi changed (she wouldn't eat but she would keep pooping in her pants), myself ready and out the door to drop Emi off at my mom's, I thought what am I going to do? I need to pump since Emi didn't eat but I have no time to pump now. I had to drive Emi to my mom's house in Ankeny and then drive back downtown for my mediation. I suddenly remembered a conversation with Laura, a co-worker of mine, a few weeks back. She was talking to me about breastfeeding and how she would pump in the car all the time. At first I thought she meant that she would pump in the parking lot somewhere or off to the side of the road, but as her story went on it was clear that she was pumping while driving. At the time I thought THIS GIRL IS NUTS!!

I got Emi strapped in the car and then got myself strapped in as well. Yep, I have an outlet right in the console of my car, I hooked my pump right up, put a blanket over my top (which Laura later informed me is optional), opened the garage and started my trek to my mom's house.  (Note- Tommy and I were recently looking at cars and I noticed a car that has a cooler in the console of the car- this could be handy). Pumping while driving was brilliant. It was super easy, and it made both the pumping session and the drive to my mom's house go fast. From what I could tell, others around me could not even tell what I was doing. Also, this is much safer than my usual driving as I am usually on my phone non-stop. Its much easier to pump than it is to text and drive.

I pulled into my mom's driveway, unloaded Emi, and took in the freshly pumped milk. I said to my mom "Emi didn't eat this morning but here is some fresh milk for when she wakes up." I didn't have time to explain to my mom what I meant about fresh, so I went on my way.

Fast forward 5 hours later. Mediation, of course, went way longer than it should have. I kept expressing (pun intended) to the male mediator and male opposing counsel that mediation needed to wrapped up soon because I really needed to go. See, I had a 2pm appointment and had not pumped since 8am that morning. I had to pump before my 2pm and 3pm appointment for my own comfort but also to keep my supply up (you know how cheap Tommy and I are- we are going to wait many more months before we buy formula). Also, I didn't want to fail at pumping on my first full day to work. Clearly these men did not understand. I got out of mediation at 120. I knew I would not have time by the time I got to the office to pump before my appointments. So I employed the pump and drive technique all through downtown and interstate 235 to my office. I ran over to Laura's office to tell her we are both nuts how much of a genius she was. Also, I only pumped one at a time and I wanted to see if there was some technique I was misisng to do two at a time (fear not- she told me no). I suddenly realized I had become addicted to pumping while driving when I said "Oh, I wish my mom lived further from the office so I could pump on my way to her house!"

Emi and I get a better hang of things.

As I was pumping down the interstate yesterday I thought to myself "I'm a mess... one hot mess... but I wouldn't have it any other way."

If you see me driving down the road, and I don't wave back at you- Please do not be offended. I'm probably pumping.

The Check's in the Mail

I had the following conversation with my mortgage company today:

Me: "Hello?"
(Long pause indicating that I shodul hang up because its probably mediacom or some other annoying person calling me.)
US Bank: "Hi, is Dawn available?"
Me: "Yes, this is Dawn."
US Bank: "I'm calling to talk to you about your March mortgage payment."
Me: "What about it?"
US Bank: "Did you make it?"
Me: "Well, its getting paid tomorrow with my bill pay." (I'm starting to really hate this conversation because I hate when people say that payment is or has been paid and you never see that money- and I'm not that person.)
US Bank: "Well, it was due on the first."
Me: Yah, I know.  But its not late until the 15th, right?
(long pause).
US Bank: "No, its late on the 16th,"
Me: "Okay, well its only the 9th tomorrow, so its not late."
US Bank: "Okay, so you are using your grace period this month?"
(Note: This is where the conversation should have ended.)
Me: "Yes, I'm using my grace period this month just like I use it every single month and you've never called me about it before."
US Bank: "Ok, well we are just providing this courtesy call to you in case you forgot or something. Some people forget to pay their mortgage"
Me: "Well, that's really bad news."
US Bank: "What?"
Me: "Am I the only person who uses their grace period?"
US Bank: "No everybody does."
Me: "Well, that's a lot of phone calls that you are going to have to make."
US Bank: "What?"
Me in a louder voice: "You're going to have to call a lot of people if everybody uses their grace period."
US Bank: "Well, are you sure you are going to make your payment tomorrow? We have hardship programs if you need it."
Me now irritated: "Yes, I'm sure it will get paid. Its not late until the 15th."
US Bank: "No, it's late on the 16th."

Me, beyond irritated with the conversation, finally hang up.

Did US Bank have extra stimulus money that they decided they would call all their note holders whose payments were not even delinquent? Other than providing jobs to people who otherwise wouldn't have one this phone call served zero purpose.

Thankful Thursday... You Know What I Mean...

I'm thankful for the road trip that I took today to see my Grandma. My Grandma lives in an assisted living community in Oskaloosa. My dad's parents recently moved into the same community so its nice that we can see all of them with little effort.

While visiting with my Grandma she told us about a new neighbor that has moved into the community. For the sake of this conversation we will call the neighbor Esther Minnie. Minnie has decided that Grandma is her "best friend." Unfortunately, my Grandma doesn't agree. She compares Minnie to a tick. And my Grandma, who at 90 years old remembers very few things, does remember that Minnie has a terrible habit of finishing every sentence with "you know what I mean?" This resulted in my Grandma and I ending every sentence for the rest of the day with "you know what I mean?" And as it turns out, nearly all sentences can have "you know what I mean" added to the end of it. You know what I mean? It was hilarious!

Emi was able to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa Van Wyk which was a lot of fun. Grandma Van Wyk enjoyed showing Emi off to all her friends in the lunch room. I didn't think that Emi would be the most popular girl in the lunch room at such a young age. I was also thankful that when one of my Grandma's friends said "I have a grandchild just as cute as her" my Grandma quickly responded "I doubt it!" God, I love old people!

Here is Emi visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Van Wyk.



Emi is not looking at the camera in these photos because she is making sure that Grandma Van Wyk keeps a safe distance away from her. She loved loved loved sitting on Grandpa Van Wyk's lap, but was not as content with Grandma Van Wyk. She will have to talk to her second cousin, Riley, about this problem.

I'm also thankful that Emi passed her first "IQ" test today. As my Grandpa was holding Emi he was tickeling her toe was caused her to scruntch her toes together. My Grandpa says "See how she moves her toes like that? That's a sign of a bright child." Now I thought a sign of a bright child would have been one that kicked him after being tickeled so that he stopped but apparently not. I'm thankful for my smart ass wise family members. My Grandpa Van Wyk was telling me a story about how somebody asked him "When do you know you have enough?" My Grandpa responded "When you have just a little bit more."

I'm always thankful for my mom, but especially the role she plays as Emi's Grandma. The other day my mom called me to tell me what the weather was like and how I was to dress Emi for the day. I'd like to think I was bright enough to know how to dress her (my toes also scruntch together when somebody tickles me) but I know my mom is just calling to tell me that because she loves Emi so much. I'm also thankful that I have a sister to bond with over these experiences. After I hung up the phone with my mom I had the following text conversation with my sister:

Me: "Does Mom ever call you to tell you how to dress you child for the day?"

Erin: "Not anymore. She just changes him once he gets to her house. We are still waiting for his skull t-shirt to be returned to us. Oh, and just so you know, mom is going to be all over Emi's socks. Socks are a big deal for mom."

Me: "Yah, she already took me shopping for socks for Emi last Sunday."

Lastly, I'm thankful for my cute daughter. Everytime Anthony sees Emi now he exclaims "Oh, she's so cute!" I pulled up my blog the other day to make sure my mom saw the cute one month picture of Emi. I said "Isn't Emi SOO cute in this picture?" My mom said "People are going to get so sick of you talking about how cute you think your kid is on your blog." Tommy chimes in "Oh, I don't think so." My dad then enters the room not knowing what we were talking about... "Emi looks just SOO cute in that one month photo on your blog!" Cue mom rolling her eyes. I reply "Mom thinks I talk about how cute Emi is way too much on the blog." My dad responds "Hey, then they don't have to read it!"

Happy Thursday, everybody! You know what I mean?



Easy-Going Emi

We had a great weekend! On Friday, Emi slept seven straight hours! I could not believe it when I woke up and the clock read 5:30am! I think Emi is learning that I do not stay awake well during the 2am-4am feedings generally leading Emi and I to both fall asleep within a few minutes into the feeding. I wake up hours later not really sure when I fed her and for how long. Then I go to move her and she wakes up and is hungry. I think she may be giving up on me during those hours...

On Saturday we took Emi on her first trip out of Iowa. We went to Omaha. Omaha never fails us. We always find what we are looking for even shopping at the same stores as they have in Des Moines. We found our "everyday" stroller. It came in a variety of colors but the orange one was significantly cheaper than the prettier other colors. Orange is growing on me...

Sunday marked Emi's first bottle. Until Sunday I had been nursing Emi the entire time (you should know this from all my complaining on this blog). Tommy gave her a bottle Sunday morning. She looked at him for about two seconds trying to figure out what was going on. I stood by ready to grab her and any second to save her from her hunger as to remain the only source that could feed her. Well, she tasted the bottle, decided she loved it, and the rest was history. For now, she is still willing loves to nurse as well so I can feel a little needed yet.

Also, Saturday marked Emi's one month! My little girl is growing up so fast!

She's my daughter...

Since Emi has been born most people think that she is about 95% Tommy and about 5% me. Fortunately for Emi, she got Tommy's looks and my personality! I know- I know she isn't even four weeks old, how can she have much of a personality yet, you ask? Oh, she does!

Often in my life people have told me that I do not need to say anything because what I am thinking can be read by my facial expressions. This is a lovely trait that was passed down to me by my mother. It has often gotten me in trouble over the years. This morning after I got done feeding Emi I laid her head on my chest to burp her. Apparently she was not pleased that I chose to lay her down on her left said because as she lifted her head up to lay on her right side she looked up at me and expressed "Hey, Lady! Other side!" Sometimes when I am nursing her and I try to reach for the remote or my phone causing an interruption in her meal she looks at me and says "What the [expletive]?" before she latches back on. Even Tommy noticed her giving me a dirty look last night when I interrupted her meal! She is also not fond of her daddy's snoring. While we were up at 3am last night her daddy was snoring away, she looked up and said to me "How are we supposed to be enjoy our time together with that fool making all that noise?!"

Also, Emi was cursed blessed by inheriting the "Vos" nose! I remember when I first learned I had a big nose. It was 8th grade. The b*tch informant was a 9th grader by the name of Erica Daniels. When she told me I had a big nose I absolutely did not believe her. I went home and asked my sister if I had a big nose to which she responded "Well, it's not THAT big."

Also like me, Emi asks a lot of questions. Here she is practicing raising her hand in her sleep!

The experts say you are supposed to talk often to your newborn. This is something I am struggling with right now. I mostly find myself saying to her... are you hungry... you're so beautiful... your diaper stinks. I decided that maybe I should read her a book, but her books aren't really that interesting. I mean, once she is a little bit older, I have no problem reading them to her but right now she can't even look at the pictures. So then I decided I was going to tell her a story but then I decided most of my stories are not appropriate for a 4 week old. So... I'm back to telling her she is beautiful and asking her if she is hungry.

Emi will be one month on Saturday. For my blog readers, this means its been at least one month since I have blogged about something other than Emi.

This weekend is a big weekend for me Emi as she is going to be introduced to a bottle. I have a few obligations coming up which will result in me being away from her for more than a few hours. Therefore I need to get her used to a bottle before that time.

I hope you all have a joyful weekend!

Thankful Thursday...

I'm thankful for my helpful co-workers who have made being away from the office pretty easy for Emi and myself.

I'm thankful for my parents who live close by and help me out with Emi when I need it.

I'm thankful for beyond wonderful friends who make life easier just by being who they are.

I'm thankful that the new season of DWTS looks to be the worst season ever. Looks like I'll have some free time on my hands.

I'm thankful that when I made dinner last night and got the cilantro confused for parsley my husband declared that the meal tasted so good with the cilantro and would not have been as good had I used parsley.

Most of all... I'm thankful for all the time I get to spend with Emi, and I'm thankful that she finds almost any place a comfortable place to sleep!