Tuesday, May 29, 2012

May 2012 - Emma is 7 Months!

Emma is officially on summer break from school and the summer fun is just beginning!  At 7 months old she is now sitting on her own and loves sitting on the floor to play with her toys and the dogs.  She loves having picnics with her little picnic set, playing peek-a-boo and listening to music.  When we play peek-a-boo with her, she giggles up a storm! 

Emma is so close to crawling but it hasn't happened just yet.  She scoots, gets up on all fours and looks like she really wants to move but hasn't figured out the next step quite yet. Maybe next month we'll have exciting news to report! 

Emma made Mother's Day extra special for her mommy.  We went to a special Mother's Day service at church and got a mother/daughter picture taken.  Emma also made a card at school complete with footprints and a picture, and even got Mommy an iPad!  She is now looking forward to Father's Day in June when she'll get to celebrate her Daddy. 

Since the weather is starting to get hot here in Arizona, we broke out the baby pool this week and Emma loves splashing around in the water with her toys.  She even got to have a pool 'play date' this past week and played with a couple of her little friends in the water. So much fun!!! 

We hope everyone has a great summer!




Monday, April 30, 2012

April 2012 - 6 Months Old

Little Emma Grace seems to be growing by leaps and bounds lately.  Daddy took her to her 6 month doctor's appointment and she weighed in at 17 pounds (70th percentile) and measured 27 inches long (90th percentile). 

Emma is getting so close to sitting up on her own.  She can hold herself up for a few seconds and seems to be liking being in that position more and more.  She is still rolling and scooting around on her play mat and is becoming quite mobile! 

Not much new to report in the food department other than Emma's first experience with yogurt was not a good one!  Poor baby got so sick from it. Guess we won't be trying that again for a while, as we don't want to watch her have to go through that again. :(  She got a new high chair this month, and she loves it.  Mommy and Daddy love it too because it makes feeding her so much easier! 

Emma celebrated her first Easter this month. We took her to church and then she got to play with her new toys and read the new books she got in her Easter baskets.  No candy this year!  We put her down on the floor in her Bumbo so she could watch the dogs do their Easter treat hunt. She is totally fascinated by the dogs so she loved watching them running around looking for their puppy treats.

Now we are just counting down the days until summer break!  The last day of school for Emma and Mommy is May 23rd and then we will get to be home together every day for the whole summer. :)  

Monday, April 2, 2012

March 2012 - 5 Months Old!

Happy Spring!  Emma has gone through quite the growth spurt during the month of March.  She now weighs 16.5 pounds and continues to grow taller.  Emma is rolling over and loves to stretch out on the floor to play. When we hold toys out in front of her she scoots towards them.  I think we will have a crawler on our hands soon! 

Emma has also really started paying close attention to the dogs this past month and reaches out to pet them.  The dogs are so patient with her and don't snap at her when she grabs hold of their fur a little too hard! It's only a matter of time before she'll be crawling around with them...

As far as feeding goes, Emma is now eating rice cereal, a vegetable and fruit every day.  Her favorites are sweet potatoes, apples and pears.  She's quite a good little eater and things haven't gotten too messy yet (knock on wood!!).  I think she takes after her Daddy with how neat and tidy she is!

During March Emma and Mommy had a week off for Spring break.  Her grandma and great grandma on Mommy's side came out to visit and we had a great time shopping, hanging out in the sunshine and playing.  At the end of the month her Grammy and Papa on Daddy's side came to visit and Emma got to spend Grammy's birthday with her!  Everyone had a fun weekend... Mommy and Daddy even got their first date night out while Grammy and Papa babysat. :)

We hope everyone has a very Happy Easter!  We will post pics of Emma on her first Easter next week.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

February 2012

Emma is already 4 months old...time is flying by!!! At her four month doctor's appointment she weighed in at 13 pounds, 7 ounces (40th percentile for her age).  We started her on solid foods and so far she is doing very well with them.  Every morning she has rice cereal and for dinner she has been eating peas and green beans.  She is working her way through the vegetables and then she will get to try fruit. If she takes after her mommy she will love fruit!

We are noticing changes in Emma almost daily....she is such a big girl now! She is working on rolling over and has it down except for pulling out that one arm that gets stuck underneath her every time!  We are amazed at how strong and active she is. She also likes to sit in the Bumbo chair in the morning while Mommy and Daddy get ready for work (she loves watching herself in the mirror). 

Our baby girl also took her first big trip this month...to Cancun!  The entire John family was there for the celebration of Sedona's 25th anniversary, and it was so much fun for Emma to meet that whole side of the family. :) She got to hang out with the family at the beach, pool and even went on her first boat ride! Emma did great on the plane and mommy and daddy were so proud of her for being such an easy baby to travel with. 

In March, Emma and Mommy get a week off of school for Spring Break!  Her grandma and great grandma (from Mommy's side of the family) will be visiting from Alaska.  It will be a fun-filled week for Emma of playing, reading lots of books, and of course, shopping! :)

Friday, February 3, 2012

January 2012

We hope everyone's new year is off to a good start!  January was a busy and eventful month for little miss Emma Grace.  She now weighs a little over 13 pounds and is holding her head up really well. She loves playing, taking baths and listening to stories (she loves looking at the pop-up books!).  We just recently started feeding her some baby food and she's doing pretty well with it... feeding her is a pretty messy task!

Emma also started going to daycare this month, since Mommy had to return to work. She has adjusted very well and she is one of the favorites of the daycare workers.  The infant room she is in is brand new with all kinds of fun toys and books to entertain her.  Her two 'teachers' are wonderful and Emma seems to like them very well.  Mommy works just down the street so we even get to have 'lunch dates' sometimes. :) 

During February we are looking forward to a relaxing trip to Cancun with the whole John family!  We will post pictures to the blog when we return. 

Friday, December 30, 2011

December 2011

Happy holidays!  Emma has had a very busy month.  She is now two months old and weighed 10 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 24 inches long at her last doctor's appointment.  We are having so much fun watching her grow and change each day!  Emma is now holding her head up a lot more and is smiling and cooing at us.  It never gets old having little "conversations" with her!  She is awake a lot more during the day and is sleeping for longer periods at night (she even slept through the whole night a couple of times which made her mommy and daddy very happy!). 

We were blessed to get to celebrate Christmas with both of Emma's sets of grandparents this year.  We drove out to San Diego on Christmas Eve to celebrate with Grammy and Papa.  Then we celebrated a late Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa who flew out from Juneau.  She got lots of fun new toys to play with and some adorable outfits. 

As we look forward to the new year, we are excited to continue to watch our baby girl grow.  We hope everyone has a very happy New Year! 

Monday, November 28, 2011

November 2011

The holidays are here and we are so thankful for the best gift God could ever bless us with...our beautiful baby girl!  Emma is now almost six weeks old and is growing so quickly.  At her four week pediatrician appointment she weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 20 3/4 inches long.  We have started doing 'tummy time' each day with Emma and she is getting stronger each day.  She can lift her head and turn it left and right now.  It has also been fun watching her start to discover her hands and trying to suck her thumb. 

Emma is now eating formula, as her mommy suffered a terrible case of mastitis this month and had to give up breast feeding.  Fortunately I am in the process of healing after having a large abscess removed last week.  Never did we imagine that breast feeding would be this challenging! 

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday here at our house with Patti and Larry.  We all enjoyed spending the long weekend with them and Emma loved getting to be held a lot by her Grammy and Papa. :) Next weekend Uncle Matt and Aunt Robyn will be coming out to visit and meet Emma! 

We will be posting more pictures from this month soon, so check back for updates. :) 

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Emma's First Couple of Weeks at Home

We are so blessed to be parents to such an amazing little girl.  She is a very content and good-natured baby.  Emma is two weeks old today and the past couple of weeks have flown by!  I never realized how much of your day becomes occupied with feeding, burping, changing, laundry, dishes, etc.  And to think I would have all this free time during my maternity leave!! 

Emma had her two week pediatrician appointment today.  She now weighs 7 pounds, 3 ounces which is right on track. :) 

The first week home from the hospital, Emma spent most of her time between feedings napping.  This week she has had more alert periods during the day, which is fun because we play with her black and white toys and read books!  She also loves relaxing in her new Mama Roo swing.

For Emma's first Halloween, Justin carved her a pumpkin and we put her in a cute little pumpkin hat for some pictures.  I posted a picture of her in her pumpkin hat (she wasn't too happy about us putting it on her!). 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Emma's Journey Into the World

After 40 weeks of eagerly anticipating our baby girl's arrival, we were induced on the night of Ocotber 17, 2011.  About 12 hours into labor, the contractions started coming on stronger and stronger, so I requested an epidural.  It was a bit of a scary experience having a needle inserted into my spine, but well worth it once it kicked in.  I could not even feel my contractions any more! 

Around 10 pm the next day (October 18th), I was still only dialated to 7 cm, and our baby girl's heart rate started dipping down, which caused some concern with the doctor on call (Dr. Eckel) and nurses.  Our RN started to talk to us about the possibility of having a C-Section.  We agreed that we woud do whatever was best for our baby.  The doctor said he would give us one more hour and check to see if I was dialated to where I needed to be and if not we would have to go ahead and deliver via C-Section.  At 11:10 pm, Dr. Eckel came in and checked me and I was dialated the full 10 cm, so we could go ahead and deliver naturally. 

I started pushing around 11:40 and at 12:20 am on October 19th little Emma Grace entered the world.  She was so alert from the moment she was born.  She looked right at us as Dr. Eckel laid her on my stomach so we could bond with her.  I cried tears of joy and we were instantly in love.  Justin cut the umbilical cord and we both looked on as the baby nurse took her measurements and did her APGARs.  She was so unbelievably perfect and right then and there our lives changed forever. 

Dec. '12

Dec. '12

4th of July

4th of July

Emma's First Thanksgiving

Emma's First Thanksgiving

Xmas Collage

Xmas Collage

Emma's First Week Home

Emma's First Week Home

Cousin Tyler & Me

Cousin Tyler & Me

1st Mother's Day

1st Mother's Day

1 Day Old

1 Day Old