EMMA'S FIRST CHRISTMAS

I have never experienced a Christmas before like this.  The kind where I am not concerned about the presents I get, but instead am focused on our family and everything Emma.  I love presents.  I love surprises.  But they seemed so much better this year when the presents and surprises were for the Emster.  What is wrong with me?  Maybe next Christmas I can go back to my inner child and be the kid that I am so good at being.

We celebrated for three straight days and it was great to see our families.  We brunched on Sunday, smoked on Monday and drove on Tuesday.  David's mom treated us to a brunch at Winston's (mmm!) and we opened presents afterwards, since Donald and Danielle had to skip town.  Emma got two things that made me cry - a silver spoon from Tiffany in NYC from Aunt Bonnie and a PBK green gingham chair with a heart and Emma's name on it from Uncle Don Don and Aunt Danielle.  I probably shouldn't have cried over the chair, but it was so damn cute and awesome and she fit just perfectly in it!

 

 She also received a Peter Rabbit bowl and cup, signed by Mr. Daulton himself from Grandmommy.  David got a Chuck Norris shirt, some zombie car stickers and a moose mug oranament.  I got some houndstooth fleece pants, a collard chopper (I don't eat collards) and a full body fleece sleeper in cheetah print from Donald and Danielle.  Needless to say, most of our gifts on David's side of the family are gag gifts.  Except for Emma.  She gets Tiffany and books from FAO Schwartz.

 

Christmas Eve turned out to be a crazy ass disaster that ended perfectly.  David got up when I did to start smoking the pork and ribs.  I took the dog to the vet.  I cleaned.  I decorated.  David kept smoking pork.  One of my Christmas presents to David was to be sent to the house, only for me to check online and find out that they did not deliver it because of the holiday.  What the hell do you think I ordered it for???  MLK, Jr. Day???  So, I had to get in the car an hour before guests arrived and head to the UPS store.  In Chapel Hill.  North Chapel Hill.  And then I got home and David needed bbq sauce.  Not the kind we had, as it had chipotle in it, but a mild kind so as not to upset the parents.  So back out I go to Target.  Bordering on ridiculous, as I still hadn't showered, Emma was eating every few hours, and I was just done with the whole thing.

 

We managed to shower, entertain guests, including our neighbors who didn't have any plans or decent food to eat for Christmas Eve.  So happy to have them over!  I had two glasses of egg nog.  (Sorry Emma, you probably felt a little of that)  Dad and Janis spent the night and I couldn't wait to give them and David their gift from Emma - a silhouette made of her cute little head all framed and ready to display. 

 

I was up all night with Emma things and Santa things and I don't think Emma noticed at all.  David finally woke up and made pancakes.  We opened gifts and Grandmommy recorded a storybook with her voice for Miss America.  She "read" it to her and Emma loved it.  I think.  David got her a book called "Nobunny's Perfect."  I think that book is about her Daddy.  She also received socks and diapers, because who doesn't get those things in their stocking.

 

Hanging out with my loot and my puppy.  Christmas is awesome!

 

David gave me makeup.  I gave him a Galaxy Note 10.1.  Dad got a french press - he had a very coffee Christmas.  After gifts, we headed up the mountain to visit Mom's family.  Emma was the star of the show and I don't think I held her except to feed her after we got there.  She now has 6 "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments.  We'll have to give her a tree of her own.  We ate and drank and had a merry time and it was great to see all of them.  I got the typical gifts, which are always appreciated.  And my aunt went overboard again on brownies and cookies and biscuits.  And my other aunt made amazing broccoli and cheese, just like always.  It's nice when some things don't change.

 

And then we left all peaceful and quiet and nice.  And we got to Winston and all hell broke loose in the car seat next to me.  I shh'd her until Greensboro and my shh'er died.  She was hungry and past her bedtime and apparently not at all trying to just suck it up for the good of the car ride.

 

We finally made it home and got her into bed.  Three different times.  And then she went to sleep.  It was wonderful.  I think she enjoyed her first Christmas.  I know I did. 

 

Merry First Christmas Emma, here's to many many more!

 

 

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING

Most of the time, I get caught up in how much there is to be done and how I am going to do it and I couldn't possibly make enough milk for tomorrow at school.  There is laundry and dinner to be made and what happened to the toilet.  Why can't I seem to clean the office room and I swear I just ran the dishwasher yesterday.

I think most of this is normal.  Most people don't wake up twice a night to extract milk from their bodies.  Most people don't find themselves buying chicken breasts on their lunch break.  And I don't know anyone who took an extended break in a training class to pump milk in the back seat of their car.  In a public parking lot.

 

 

Then I started thinking how Emma is growing and learning and developing, whether I want her to or not. She's laughing and smiling and talking and taking the pacifier out of her mouth and making herself slide off the chair. She wants to walk and is rolling over when she feels like it. She's almost too big for the changing table (not sure how to combat that). She has a nickname at school - "little Em n Em" because she's so sweet! She drinks more milk at a time now. She loves to watch basketball and gives big grins to Daddy and Grandpa. In 11 days, she will have been born LAST year.

All of this makes the other night very special, knowing that at this point, our house is clean and decorated for Christmas. Most of the gifts that I am buying are bought. For one 5-minute period of time, I was just happy. I was happy sitting in our living room with the lights on the tree and the fireplace on and the stockings hung and the swag on the wall and the gingerbread men making up our family laid out and Emma was just laughing and cooing and David was loving on Gracie. 

Trying out the baby bookbag

I have an amazing house with amazing Christmas decorations put up by a wonderful husband.  I have a baby girl and a Volvo in a garage (just like I always wanted....the garage, not the Volvo).  Emma changes every day and gets more amazing every day.  I miss her when she was a wee little thing, but I love her now.  And in a few weeks, I will love her then too.  I'm guessing that doesn't stop til about middle school.  But for now, I absolutely love picking out her clothes and giving her baths and making a fool of myself in the middle of the mall in hopes that she just. might. give a small smile to Santa Claus since we paid out the yin-yang for Baby's First Christmas pictures.

I do a lot of thinking in 5 minutes.

And then all of a sudden, Emma had to go to bed, cards had to be mailed out, Homeland had to be watched and, wait for it, I had to pump again. 

TOO FAST TOO FURIOUS

I remember the first month when Emma was home and how much I looked forward to her sleeping through the night and eating solid food and finally being able to feed her without both of us falling asleep.  We've managed two out of three and I am very much ready to stop wishing her to get older now.  She has now rolled over twice on two successive nights since her foray into the land of big girls this past weekend.  She is old enough to have had two rounds of vaccinations.  She's old enough to go to school and to impress her teachers and to smile and talk to us.

I want this ride to stop now.  I can't imagine my little girl getting big.  She was born with amazing hair and now she's getting a bald spot in the back.  Her hairline is starting to look like her Uncle Donald's.  Her fingernails are growing rapidly.

Such a catch 22.  You want your child to grow up and meet milestones and be able to interact and take them to soccer practice.  But you want them to stay little and cute forever.  Not much choice in the matter, regardless, but I am trying to remember every moment I can so that when she's 16 years old and cussing me out, I can think back fondly to her smiling at me when I ask if she's had enough milk.

The nurse who gave Emma her vaccines was again Rosalyn.  We've had her the only two times that Emma's gotten her shots.  Certainly makes me feel that Mom is watching us and has our back while Emma endures these things.  She obviously burst into big crocodile tears and then I started crying too.  David went with us this time and gave her his finger to hold.  I was pitiful.  Emma was a champ and went back to school after her appointment.  Little fussy the rest of the day, but she made it and we are so proud of her!  Dr. Dunk said she is doing perfectly and is happy with her progress.  Her height and weight are in the 5th percentile (which is fine, she's right where she needs to be based on where she was), and her head is in the 15% or something similar.  Either way, she's got a big head and I know she got it from her Daddy.  Can't compliment either of them!

So hopefully the amazing Emma's brain is getting big with all of the new things she's learning.  I look back at pictures when her head fit into her cute little Carolina hat that she came home in.  Comes nowhere close to fitting now and it's so sad.  This is all going way too fast for me, but it's going just as it should.  I love my family!

WHAT ROLLS AROUND...

Emma continues to light up our lives, even when I am deliriously exhausted from catching whatever bug she has brought from school.  I never get sick, which makes this whole cold/flu thing every week a bit annoying.

My mom's family came to visit us this past weekend and the amazing Emma did not disappoint.  I mentioned to her that it would be a great day to roll over from her tummy to her back.  So, because I am such a great mother that commands respect, she did it!  I had her on her tummy and she started getting upset, and then she arched her back, stuck her butt in the air and rolled over.  She was startled when she ended up on her backside, not to mention my screaming and subsequent crying.  I am so proud of her and so thankful that all of us got to see it!  (The first time she rolled over, neither David or I saw it, and I think she was aided by the use of a rolled up towel).

Later on in the evening, my Dad started making his turkey noises - a favorite from Thanksgiving.  Emma decided it was hilarious and actually laughed out loud.  What a big girl!

Milk makes me sleepy.  So sleepy.

We were informed by her teachers at school that she was advanced and very smart, and clearly the best kid in the class.  She turned 4 months old yesterday and celebrated by wearing jeans and a pullover, and accompanying me to the Mebane outlets.  Time sure flies when you're drinking milk and sleeping.  Tomorrow she gets her 4 month shots and baby well check.  I am more interested in the well check, but dreading the shots.  I assume they are worse for me than for her, but the look on her face when that needle goes in is not something I'll soon forget.  And the wailing. 

Christmas is going to be amazing
with all these lights!

Her Christmas stocking arrived in the mail today.  It has her name on it, of course.  I'm not sure what else she is getting, but I am sure she'll be spoiled by Grandmommy and my mom's family.

She's developed some snot rockets that are pretty amazing for such a little girl.  We suck them out with the sucker and David is impressed with the size of her boogers.  I guess we have a dirty house, but at least her filter's working.

We heard her cry in her crib last night.  Not because she was hungry or waking up.  But because she was taking a poop in her britches.  There's nothing better than a video monitor to know exactly what the kid is doing at all times.