New stats and more fussiness

Emerson had her 9 month check-up yesterday. For those of you interested in stats, they are as follows:

17 lbs 10 oz- 28% percentile
28 1/8in- 70% percentile

So, she is still long and lean. Of course, I worry about her weight, but the doctor keeps reassuring me that she if fine. Her growth since birth has consistently been at the same rate, so he predicts she will always be long and lean- lucky her.

In the beginning of the exam, the nurse was asking me all her developmental questions: "Is she crawling? Is she cruising? Does she eat finger foods?", etc. Then she got to the question, "Does she show stranger anxiety?" I literally laughed out loud. Later the nurse came over to Emy and laid her down to take her measurements. Instantly, Emerson started screaming eventhough I was standing right there and holding her hand. The nurse looked at me and said, "Yep, she has it pretty bad." Oh well, I guess it is normal. Annoying, but normal.

So, after the drama with the growth spurt, feeding changes and sleep changes a couple weeks ago I figured that we were probably set for a little while. Wrong. Since Saturday Emerson has been oddly fussy. Not cying fussy, but whiny fussy. It is not just right before nap time like usual, but all the time. Even right after she wakes up. This is really abnormal for her. This is the first time in her life that she has been like this. She is normally so content and pleasant with whatever is going on around her.

After her appointment yesterday, we know that she does not have an ear infection. One thought is that she could be teething on the top, but when her two lower teeth came in she was not like this at all. What about sleep? Does she need her naps to be increased back to 4 hours instead of 3 hours total? What about the movement thing? Is she just frustrated that she can't get around like she wants too? I am at a total loss....I would love some advice or suggestions. Shoot me a comment or an email if you get a chance.

The week in pictures (a few days late)

Standing like a big girl at the table

Happy girl Playing with her new stand-to-walk toy

This is the waterpark in Flower Mound where we had our playdate on Tuesday

Taking a break from swimming

Emy refused to smile for the camera

Her new favorite toy is the spoonPlaying with her cell phone

Another picture of the girls
Her new scrunch-faced smile...everytime the camera flash light goes on her normal smile turns into this. I guess you will be seeing a lot more of it until this phase is over.

If practice makes perfect...

Then I really need lots more practice. At least I am having fun along the way though. Here are some of what I have been working on with my new sewing obsession...

This was my very first creation. You can't really tell, but it is a sweet lavender pattern. It is really plain though, so I am trying to think of something that I could add to it to spice it up. Ideas?

This is a sweet little infant bib that snaps at the neck. The back is lined with terry cloth. This takes so little fabric, I am planning on making a bunch more.

This is a burp cloth trimed in ribbon. I am not sure that I like trimming in ribbon this thin. As you can see in the next pic it is really hard (for me at least) to get the stiches straight.

This is a precious little dress I made for Emerson. I love the fun fabric combinations. The main fabric has brightly colored pinafores all over it. This was challenging for a beginner with all the ruffles, but I did it! If you look closely you will see tons of mistakes...but the fabric pattern hides most of them and it is still very wearable.

Action shot in the dress

Another one

One more
These are those cute little crayon rolls that you see in boutiques. I made two for my nieces that are coming to visit tomorrow. Once again, these are not even close to perfect, but they made for good practice because there is a ton of stitching involved.

The right formula

Well, I think we have finally figured out the sleep issues. Through a lot of trial and error we dropped Emerson's cumulative nap times from 4 hours to 3 hours. That seems to have done the trick. Back to 7:30 am wake-up. Hallalujiah!

On another note, Emerson is still afraid of Elmo. Did I tell you all that story? Regardless she has a Tickle me Elmo and every time we turn it on Emy freaks out in fear. Well, she has progressed to being afraid of it even while it is turned off. Elmo spends his days sitting on a shelf in the play area. Emy will be sitting and playing and occassionally look up at Elmo and stare. Yesterday I got Elmo down and sat him in front of Emerson. I did not turn him on. Emy looked at me with frightened eyes and then at Elmo. She slowly reached out one hand like she wanted to touch him, then she quickly pulled her arm back and started to cry. It was sad, yet very funny. I imagine she sees him as the equivalent to a scary clown that sits and watches her all day. Yikes!

Well, it finally happened...

The inevitable finally happened. I was forced to spend a few minutes last night cleaning poop out of the bathtub. Nice. We knew it was just a matter of time until it happened and last night was the fateful night.

Emerson was taking her bath and then she made "the face". You parents know what I mean. My instinct was to quickly grab her out of the tub. My husband stops me and says, it's okay, just let her go in the tub. Gross. Well, come to find out why it was okay to go in the tub was because I would be cleaning it up...not him. Oh well. Maybe we will get lucky and she won't do it again for another 9 months.

Happy Sunday.

Serious Obsessions

Okay for starters, Emerson is obsessed with daddy. It is so adorable at times and very frustrating at other times. Since she has been waking up at 6-6:30 am (yes, that is still going on) she sees daddy first thing in the morning. This turns into a breakdown every morning when he leaves. Dang, if she would just start sleeping until 7:30 like she used to this would not be a problem. Out of sight out of mind. When Steve comes home from work, it is all daddy. Forget about mommy. She grabs for him and wants him to play with her and carry her around. Also sweet but sometimes annoying. I am so thrilled that she loves him so much and I know that I will grow to love this later in life. A daughters' love of her father is so precious.

In other news, I am obsessed too...with my new hobby....sewing! I have been dying to learn for about a year now. My mother-in-law gave me one of her old machines and some lessons over the fourth of july weekend. So, now I am off and running...or stumbling. I have all these grand ideas. They aren't quite turning out the way I would like yet. They start off great and then I look at the finished product and think, gee, those seams aren't straight, or that could have been done a little better. Oh well, I will get better with time, right? I hope so because I would love to turn this into a little business of some sort.

This sewing obsession has also led to an obsession with fabrics. I can't stop buying them. I see them and instantly see an idea. Right now I am all about the baby stuff...everything from clothing to burp cloths. I think I am into that for two reasons, One- all my friends and pregnant and I have a baby:) and Two- the stuff is small and therefore requires little fabric and seems easier.

Anyways, many of you will be on the receiving end of these items in the near future. Just smile and don't look at the stictching too closely. :) I will post some pics of completed projects soon.

Here is our week

Swim Time

So excited watching Toby fetch the ball
Standing at the table like a big girl

We lowered the crib this week since she is now creeping and standing
Fun in the exersaucer

Look at me!

Make-over

So, what do you think of the new look?

I was lucky enough to get a FREE blog design from Jenny at Pink Armchair Designs. My friend, Amy, won a contest and she got to pick a friend to get a free design...I was the lucky one she picked. What a great friend!!!

Didn't Jenny do a great job? It is so fun.

Thanks for sharing your "win" Amy, I love it.

What you missed

Finally, I got the camera cord and have been able to upload the pictures from the past 2 1/2 weeks...Here you go...

Riding on the Gator with Grandmom and Granddad at the river ranch

Smiling at Aunt Missy

Happy Fourth of July

Family portrait
Daddy's girl
All smiles
Emy's best friend: Our cat Bailey
Standing tall and trying to get the remotes

Loving pool time Emerson just pulled up for the first time
Trying out the new jumperoo that sweet Sarah let us borrow

Love,

Sabrina

The almost sleep-less day

Today was crazy. Like Twighlight Zone crazy. Emerson woke up at 5:30 a.m. I was able to get her to fall back asleep for about 45 more minutes. I know she didn't really sleep that entire time though because I kept hearing her talking and playing in her crib off and on. At 6:25 she was finished playing/sleeping and ready to get up. Unlike the other days this week, she was not as crabby this morning. This was a welcome change.

She played and played until she literally fell asleep on my bed (we were in our room playing itsy-bitsy spider). At that point I carried her to her room for her 9am naptime. Normally I let her sleep 2-2.25 hours and then have to go in a wake her up. So, at 10:15 when she woke up and re-fused to go back to sleep, I knew it was going to be a long day.

We had a playdate with Rylie and Kari today, so I was hoping that Emy would at least take a nap in the car on the way to their house. We got to Kari's at 11:30 after Emy played for the 45-40 minute drive instead of napped. I was seriously worried at this point. We were going to be at someone elses house, with a playful little girl and we were running way below our sleep quota for the day. I was certain that it was going to get ugly...it was just a matter of when.

To make the rest of the story short, Emerson played with Rylie for 2 hours without any sleepy breakdowns. She was smiley, chatty, giggly, squirmy and genuinely happy to be playing with her older friend Rylie. She took a 20 minute power nap on the way home and a short hour nap later in the afternoon. So, in comparison to a normal day when she wakes up two hours later and gets 4 hours of naptime, today she only got about 2-2.5 hours of naptime AND woke up way too early AND was thrown into a couple different social situations. For those of you who have young children, you know this is AMAZING. The most amazing thing about the entire day was that Emerson was delightful and had no major breakdowns. I just don't understand. The math does not make sense.

I don't know how she did it, but I am proud. I do hope for my sake though that she wakes up later than 5:30 am tomorrow...and that this is not a new pattern. Selfishly, I like having two 2-hour windows of time in the day to get things done.

Here are some pics from today's playdate. These are courtesy of Kari since my camera cord has not arrived yet. (It should be here tomorrow and I promise the pictures will have been worth the wait).

Love,

Sabrina