Teething is a B!@#%...wait Mommy doesn't say those words

For the past couple of days, Emily's teething has gone from bad to horrendous. Either her tooth is going to cut in really soon or I have much more of this to deal with.  She usually goes to bed around 8:30pm and then wakes up around 5am, but lately she has been going to bed at 8:30pm and then waking up at 11pm and then again at 1am.  From this point on she stays asleep until I have to wake her up at 6:30am to dress her for the babysitter.  Brian has been on turnaround since the 1st of March and wakes up at 4:30am to get dressed for work, which means mommy is only getting about a couple of hours of sleep at a time. 

I usually rock her to sleep in our rocking chair since it soothes her and helps her fall asleep faster, but some days she just does not want to go to bed and instead will try and bite my face off.  Actually, this is her way of telling me that her gums are in pain and she needs some relief.  It feels so funny when she grabs a hold of you and them plants her mouth on your face, I can't help but laugh.  I think I've mentioned this before.

Not only do her little gums hurt, but all the saliva she is producing combined with her constantly having her hand in her mouth results in gas pains in her belly.  Yet another reason why she wakes up yelling at night for mom to come and help.  Gripe water tends to work really well, but she hates the taste of it and ends up spitting half of it out of her mouth, so she's only getting half a dosage lest I overdose her on an herbal supplement.

Needless to say, I'm tired!!!  I can't help but cry sometimes out of sheer exhaustion especially since baby #2 is sucking the life out of me as we speak.  By the way, I think I feel flutters, how exciting!  Then the excitement goes away and I think of when Emily was inside me doing somersaults leading me to get less sleep at night.  When things get too crazy I only have to remember to thank God for my good fortunes and wonderful family and I somehow get the strength to move forward.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Emily is now 5 months old as of February 25th and she has happily discovered her feet.  Every time she is on her changing table she grabs those feet of hers and tries to put them in her mouth.  She has succeeded on a couple of occasions, but for the most part, her belly gets in her way.  Another milestone this month, not quite achieved yet but almost there, is rolling, hence the title of this entry.  Emily is great at rolling from her back to her side but can't quite get her arm to tuck underneath her, so this prohibits her from making a complete roll.  Practice makes perfect and we practice everyday until she gives me that tired look.

Almost a month ago, Brian and I bought her a jumperoo to play in and she loves it.  From the beginning, she could never quite get her feet to touch the ground so we had to simulate the jumping motion for her.  Today though, she can touch her the tips of her toes to the floor and once she gets the motion going she can jump all by herself.  It's so cute and she is so proud of herself.  Those legs of hers are getting stronger everyday.  She has a small play table that she has to stand at and she can now stand for about 20-30 seconds without her knees giving out.  YAY!

Emily hasn't gotten any teeth in yet, but I'm hoping they are coming in shortly, her teething is getting worse.  She puts everything in her mouth that is of reach and that's including my face.  It cracks me up, it is so hilarious, but the laughing goes away when the pain doesn't let her fall asleep.  Then mommy has to do something about it.

In my last post I put up pictures of Emily with her first cookie, well it seems that when she stays with Grandma and Grandpa Gonzalez that there are many other foods that they try to give her as well.  I hear she likes tortillas, oatmeal, and oranges, but doesn't like garlic bread.  Don't worry, she is always supervised and she never really eats it, she just tastes the food.  Even daddy has gotten in on it and has started dipping his finger in sauces and then letting Emily lick it, her face immediately lets you know if she is satisfied with the flavor.

Anyway, I'll get to the good part, here are some recent pics of her and her lovely feet.



My chubby baby!





Look at those yummy legs!





The bald spot is from Emily moving her head back and forth as she wakes up.





I had a tough time taking a picture by myself, this is the best I could do.  She looked so cute!





Standing at her play table.





Grandma giving Emily bread at Johnny Carino's.



Cookies and Toys

This past weekend was a big one for Emily.  Her Grandpa Gonzalez introduced her to her first cookie and of course, she loved it.  Mommy and Daddy also went and bought her a jumperoo to get those legs stronger and entertain her while mommy cooks.  I've never seen her so excited.  By the way, those Gerber cookies sure are messy!



Emily likes sugar wafers





Yummy!





Eating a cookie in her new jumperoo





Watching Nemo



 


 

4 Months Old

Emily turned 4 months old on January 25th and had her doctors appointment on February 1st.  She got her vaccinations, an oral and two shots, one on each leg.  I felt so bad for her but she took it so well.  After the inital prick she let out a cry which lasted about two minutes, then she put on her mad "how dare you let them hurt me" face and then she was fine. 

Miss Emily was 14lb. 12 oz and 26 in. long, which puts her in the 98th percentile for height.  Man did she jump that curve.  I always thought she looked long when other people carried her and now I have the confirmation. 

New and excited milestones at 4 months include tucking in her top lip and blowing spit out of her mouth, this is somehow fascinating to her, it must be the noise she makes.  Her hand eye coordination is getting much better, she can now reach for something and grab it without taking 5 minutes and making whiny sounds of frustration.  Emily is so much better at tummy time and now is heading towards crawling but doesn't know how to get her body to move in the direction she wants, but you can hear her trying by all those grunting sounds.  During bath time she has finally learned how to grab the rubber ducky in the water although this causes lots of splashing and mommy looking like she fell in the tub.  Later this month mommy and daddy are going to get Emily a standing entertainer to help her with her standing abilities and give her more visual stimulation, not to mention it will help mommy a great deal when cooking.

Here are some pics to show how big she's gotten and also some from cousin Giana's first birthday party:



Doesn't she look thrilled?



Tyring out Giana's standing saucer





Look at those beautiful baby blues!





Loving the hats



"Im a Little Pony, clippity-clop, clippity-clop..."

That is the song I have stuck in my head all the time because Emily loves to ride her pony.  She actually cried the other day when I was done playing and she wasn't.  At three months, her toy of choice was her glow worm, but now at 4 months it is her little pony.  Oh how it makes her giggle with delight (yes, she laughs now!!) and can turn her frown upside down.  She doesn't know how to hold on yet, but she understands the concept of rocking back and forth with the horse.  So cute!



She's laughing!



Emily is also getting better at tummy time and getting stronger neck muscles.  She knows she wants the toy in front of her but she can't yet coordinate her hand to grab it, but she'll get there soon.

As for baby #2, everything is going great so far.  My first checkup will be next week and we will get to hear the baby's heartbeat.  Hoooraay!  I can't wait for that moment!

16 and 8

Emily Mae is now 16 weeks old and is growing like a beanstalk.  She is very vocal and has learned that she can hold her sounds in long oooooh's and aaaaaah's.  Brian and I like to have conversations with her, and Emily "talks" right back as if to answer our questions.  It feels good knowing that she is aware of people speaking to her and of all objects around her.  She loves her Baby Einstein videos and gives her full attention when we have story time.  It sounds as if I am speaking about a 2 or 3 year old child, I know, but it is amazing at how much she has developed and the pace at which she is developing.  Only three months ago she was a newborn baby unaware of the world around her. 

Emily has had new developments these past couple of weeks, one of them being that she is now starting to teeth, which has not been fun at all.  She gets really fussy at night and is constantly putting her hand in her mouth.  I must not forget to mention all the drooling and bubbles, it has come to the point where she had to start wearing bibs.  Emily likes to stick her tongue out and blow creating a lot of spit and sound, which she especially likes to do first thing in the morning as if to say "I'm awake now!". 

For Christmas, we bought her a chair to help her learn how to sit.  If you look a couple of posts back you can see that the first couple of times we placed her in it we had to hold her back a little.  Well she is now strong enough to be left in her chair unassisted and has figured out how to play with the Sassy toy hooked on the tray.  The only trouble is you can only sit her in it for 10 minutes before she starts to get fussy from being bored.  Her attention span hasn't widened yet, although I'm hoping it does for fear she becomes like her father who bores of things way too fast.

 Santa bought Emily a kick piano for her crib this past Christmas and she has finally learned that when she kicks it it lights up and makes a sound.  Soon she will be in the company of Beethoven and Mozart...a mother has her dreams.

 

 

 And now for the BIG news.....it's the reason for the number 8 in the headline.....Emily is going to be a big sister!!  Shocking I know, but exciting and nerve wracking and such a blessing all at the same time.  As of now I am 8 weeks pregnant with our second child and can't wait until we can find out if Emily will have a little sister or brother.  So far everything is great, I haven't gone for my checkup yet, but will be blogging about this pregnancy along with Emily's milestones, so keep checking for updates.

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2010 Emily!!  Happy New Year to everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and a safe one.  We are excited to see what new and thrilling milestones Emily will accomplish and hope to have a blessed year.



Aunt Andrea getting Emily ready for the New Year's celebration



Emily is trying to blow her celebratory horn





All ready for the countdown!





Happy New Year!