One Month Update

We are celebrating Emily's first Easter today by putting her in a cute bunny outfit that she got from Nana Ellen and taking lots of pictures. She has moved into the 0-3 month outfits and is up to nine pounds! She's still spitting up enough to warrant a few costume changes daily but we're getting better with the bib. She has also posed for some cute pictures that we'll use to embarrass her in about a dozen years.

Phil Dunphy/Tom took a big fall down the stairs at 4am a couple of nights ago that left Megan fearing some sense had been knocked into him. Luckily, everything he had in his arms (luckily not Emily) was cleaned up easily and it seems the "pillow baby" symptoms may be gone too.

The weather has kept Megan and Emily inside for the vast part of the last two weeks so we are hoping for better weather soon. We did get outside to plant some flowers today. Also, Tom's Flunk Day at Coe happened this past week so it's nice to have that out of the way.

Other items of note:

• Emily started to sleep for four hour stretches at night but has given up on that the past couple of nights. We hope she picks that habit back up soon.
• She is spending more time awake and exploring her surroundings more each day.
• She continues to be a not very fussy baby and lets us enjoy her awake time with her.
• She was perfect again on another trip out to eat for Megan's belated birthday dinner last night at Red's Alehouse in North Liberty.
• The Buffalo Sabres have a new fan as Emily has been cheering their playoff run with daddy.
• Below are also a couple photos from the Comer's visit. Auntie Julia helped give a bath, and Grandpa Joe got his inaugural spit-up!
  

Daddy's Pillow Baby

Tom here. I have a confession to make. I've been getting much better quality and deeper sleep than Megan has. However, about once a night when my alarm goes off or Megan calls my name from the other room to help her out, I pop out of bed half awake and run to the nursery with my pillow in my arms as if it was a baby! I can't explain why I do it other than when I get woken up from the deep sleep I am convinced that I should be holding Emily and am afraid I've fallen asleep with her in my arms.
Pretty weird, huh? I guess it happens out of a concern for Emily's well-being but it's a pretty bizarre manifestation.
So, I started writing this post a few days ago and since then I had another "episode". A couple of days ago at 3am Megan woke to see me sitting on the edge of our bed holding my "pillow baby" in my lap.
The conversation went as follows:
Megan: Tom, what are you doing?
Tom: Just making sure Emily is asleep.
Megan: Where is she?
Tom: No response.
Megan: (very concerned) Tom, where is she!!?
Tom: (waking up a bit) I think she's in her crib.
It turns out she was in the nursery sound asleep and I pretty much was too.

We have a few more milestones/updates to pass along.

• The Comers are visiting this weekend and brought some Minnesota snow with them :)
• Emily visited her first restaurant (Riley's Diner) and slept through the entire experience.
• We think Emily weighs approximately 8.5lbs.
• She is sleeping for longer stretches at night, (about 4 hours).
• Today is the first day since Emily was born that Megan actually brushed and blow-dried her hair and went without the ponytail!

From the restaurant

Family Photo

Tummy Time!

Emily indicates everything is A-Okay!

Many firsts!

This week has been quite the busy week for Emily full of new things!

• She has successfully slept in her crib in her room across the hall rather than in our room for the past few nights.
  
• She has been doing a good job taking one bottle per night from Dad so Mom gets a little break. Although she tends to be a bit more fussy after that feeding than others, so we tried a different kind of bottle and that might be helping. Our next hope is that she gets better at not spitting up every single time she is burped! We can not believe how much laundry we are doing just because of Emily spitting up on herself, us, or the burp cloths! Megan knew that breastfeeding would be hard, but had no idea it would feel like so much work! With the frequency and scheduling of it alone, that's hard enough, but then add in that it isn't exactly comfortable, and Emily spits up every time, that's draining!
  
• She had some friends come and visit and even bring yummy food for Mom and Dad! Thanks so much to Krista & Emily, Erica & Cristi, and Kara! We are so appreciative of the dinners, you can't even imagine! And Emily loved meeting new friends and behaved pretty well for all of them! Krista & Emily even got to see Tom do the SHHHHH technique from Happiest Baby on the Block and were quite impressed!
  
• We were able to take two walks around the neighborhood in the stroller and she slept both times. She also has been in the Moby sling wrap a couple times with Mom outside as we supervise Dad working on cleaning up the yard. Great work Dad! We have had our first few warm days (85 degrees currently) so we all have enjoyed getting out of the house.
  
• She has also used the pacifier a few times when she gets overtired and needs help calming down and it works well. She tends to be the most fussy around dinner time. But it has been only occasionally that she is difficult to get to calm down.
  

• Last night she slept for three hours straight from putting her down after one feeding to waking up for the next. So that meant she was able to go a little longer between feedings at night, which is our next goal! Here's hoping she continues that trend, especially since Tom is going back to work tomorrow...

• Today Emily (and Mom) also had our first real outing to somewhere besides the doctor's office! We went to Target and to Menards and Mom did all the loading and unloading of baby, carseat, and gear as Dad supervised so Mom could get a little more used to it since she will be on her own starting tomorrow! Emily did great and slept the whole time!

Growing Girl!

Our Emily Mae is 11 days old today and growing fast already! She had her first Well-Baby check-up yesterday and she now weighs 7 lbs 3.5 oz, (compared to the 6 lbs 4 oz that she was when we left the hospital)! And has grown one inch! She did great at the doctor's office and in the car seat after some initial complaining.

On Monday Emily had her first bath and did great at first. She enjoyed looking out the window and was so calm when we washed her hair and face. Then we got to washing her body and she proceeded to poop! The second time around she did better! Last night we did bath number two and she did much better and seemed to enjoy it!


She had a visit from her great-grandpa Paul on Wednesday and Thursday and was happy during the day but then had a very fussy, evening. Daddy seems to have the best touch at calming her down because Mommy still gets a bit frazzled when she gets so upset! We are still learning to balance watching the clock and also paying attention to her cues as far as when it is time to eat again!

Nana Ellen and Grandpa Lee left today and we are sad to have them go because their help has been amazing. All their help with the meals, cleaning, running errands, and even helping Emily sleep have been so great. But we are also excited for Emily to meet some new friends this week as we start to be able to take visitors (call first!).