Miss Emily is 4 weeks

Our little sleeper....

Tomorrow Emily will be 4 weeks old. And of course what everyone else always says, man time flies by so fast.  We could not be any happier. She is doing so good, but I really wanted to say what a good sleeper she is. And for all you other mommies out there you know how excited we get when we get a couple of hours sleep ourselves. Well, at first we were doing the one to two hours of sleep and I felt like we were going to have a repeat of Collin. He had a such a hard time sleeping until about 6 months. But our little girl is doing so well. For the last 4 nights she is sleeping 4 to 5 hours and then back down for 3 more hours.. To me this is just unheard of. But I am so grateful.  And so is Josh... Ok, enough about her sleeping. I was just excited.

She is doing great all around eating and sleeping really well. She is able to lift her head all the way up and is very strong.  She does have a little bit of a stuffy nose right now, but I think this is just normal. We don't go back to the doctor until her 2 month check up.

Now a little bit about this past weekend. Since Emily was two weeks old, she has been on the go. I didn't feel like we had to be confined to the house like we did with Collin in the beginning. so we are always doing something. Going out to eat, shopping or visiting family out the in country. We are non stop.

So this past weekend we went to Port A. We went to visit my cousin Christy and her family who had a condo right on the beach. Collin loved it! He had so much fun playing with his cousins playing on the beach and at the pool. He is becoming much braver when it comes to water. We found out if his cousin Lexi did it, then he wanted to play copy cat.  So jumping off the side of the pool became a fun game. Now, Collin did have his moments too, he wanted the colors, and the next thing I know he is coloring all over the kitchen cabinets in the condo.. OH NO!!! Luckily with a little bit of bleach we were able to get all the marks off. No more colors...

Emily did so well too, she slept well in the travel pack in play. She even came out to the beach with us for 30 mins.

Yes it is taking time for our family to get adjusted, but things are much easier than I imagined. We are taking each day, one day at a time and loving it.  I have to go back to work Sept 23rd, I am cherishing each day I have at home with her.

Tanning in the backyard

Out to lunch with her Great Aunt Donna

This is an old pic, but this is me 10 days before her arrival.

Collin having fun at the beach in Port A

Collin and Lexi playing in the sand at Port A

Me and Emily hanging out on the patio in Port A

 

Me and my Little Man in Port A

Me and Emily out to lunch with the Cousins

I love her new outfit

Meet Miss Emily Hanchett

Its time to come back!!

Life with a toddler and working made it impossible to blog. I don't see how you other mommies do it. I found myself never having time to write and it was always easier to just post short and sweet comments on Facebook. However, looking back I love that I was able to read all about Collin's first year of life and I hope one day he will enjoy reading it too. I really want to be able to do the same thing for Emily, so she too can read it one day.

So, here goes....

Miss Emily Grace Hanchett was born on Wednesday, July 17, 2013. It was 1:39pm and she weighed 7 lbs 10oz and was 18.25 inches long.

My pregnancy with Emily was a whirl wind. After having your first baby time just goes by so fast, and you don't get to focus on all the things you did with your first pregnancy. Some days can even go by and you forget that you are pregnant. So I would for sure say it was an easier pregnancy than Collin's.

We found out that we were pregnant on November 12, 2012. We were in Houston, and on the day before we were at the Texans Grill watching the Houston Texans Football Game for Josh's birthday and we decided to stay the night in Houston. The next morning at the hotel I decided just to see (I kinda had a feeling), and sure enough it was a plus sign.. What a wonderful birthday present for Josh. We are having a baby!!

But has far as the pregnancy, I did have morning sickness for the first three months, not as bad as with Collin, but still not a lot of fun. My second trimester was a breeze, I felt good most of the time. We found out we were having a girl at our 20 week appointment, we both could not have been more excited. We had our boy and our girl. The third trimester was probably the worst. It seemed she was getting so big so fast and there was not a lot of room. My stomach hurt most of the time from her kicking and stretching out. Plus she never stayed still, some days she was breech, then sideways, then head down. Pretty much on each weekly visit to the doctor she was in a new position.

My due date was July 26, 2013, but since I had a C-section before we knew were going to have another C-section. The doctor decided Friday, July 19th would be the day.  On Wednesday, I was scheduled to have by blood work done so that it would be back from the lab for Friday.  But Emily had other plans. My mom and I went to the hospital for the blood work and they had me fill out the paper work in the registration office. While I was in there, signing my name I started having hard contractions, and I think I scared the office lady to death, she started freaking out and said she really wanted me to go upstairs and get checked out, she even ran out of the room and got a wheel chair. I was not that nervous because I had been having contractions for a while. But it made her feel better.

Well the next thing I know after putting the heart monitor on the baby, they said today is the day, that the contractions were close together and we were having the baby, NOW. That is the word the nurse used. NOW. I was like oh my gosh I have to call Josh. We are having a baby today!! This was all about 11am and Emily was born at 1:39pm. For all you mommies out there that are going to have a second C-Section, I want to put your mind at ease, for me it was a lot easier, even though it was a surprise time. I think it is a mind thing, I was much calmer and relaxed. I talked to the doctor most of the time she was doing the c section about random things and she even had the radio going. With Collin I was scared and nervous because I didn't know what was going to happen. Even Josh was more calm..it was like we were Pros at this.. ha ha ha. Not really. The recovery time is still not easy. I won't lie, it hurts! But seeing her face for the first time, it melts your heart

We could not be any happier. She is perfect and our family is now complete. We decided together that two was our stopping point. Now it time focus on our two little ones.

Collin is being great big brother. I love him to pieces. He tries to share his things with her, his toys or cookies. Too cute. There is a little bit of jealousy though, mainly in the mornings, he does not understand why he has to go to day care and mommy is staying home with the baby. He cries, but I think it will just take time. We will get there.

There is so much more to post but I will write more tomorrow. Here are some pics.

"Ma Ma Ma Ma"

Collin said "Mama" a long time ago and I was so excited, but he only said it when he was crying. And then after about two weeks of doing that, he just stopped. It has been about four months and I have not heard the sound MaMa, until this past Monday.

On Monday we went to take his 1 year photos at Sears and the whole time he said MaMaMaMaMa. I couldn't believe it. I asked the girls at Daycare and they said he said it all day long.. WHOO HOO... But now... He really knows to relate the word Mama with Me and Dada with Josh. Too Cute. So tonight I was in our bedroom and he was in his room and he started saying MaMa and crawled all the way down the hall saying MaMa MaMa MaMa and it got louder and louder and louder. Oh my goodness. Then he saw me and was so excited. I love it, it made me cry. Happy Tears.

Collin is also cutting two more teeth. One on the top and one on the bottom, that will make 7 teeth so far. And watch out because if he bites you it HURTS.. He has been running fever the past two days with these two teeth, can't wait until they are all the way in.

Only 9 more days and he will be one year old. We are in full swing, planning his birthday party. Elmo and Seaseme Street Friends. I cannot wait to see him dive in and eat his cake. He has had cake before and loved it, so I am hoping when he sees his own cake he will love it just as much.

This year has flown by. It is amazing to watch your little baby grow up into a toddler. Every minute they are learning something new. It is so hard not to miss something. I am very blessed to have gotten to spend time with him at home until he was 9 months old. Those are moments I will never forget. I love my little man, he is growing up too fast.

11 months.. time to catch up!

I say this over and over again, I really do wish I was better at this. But finding time to do anything is hard to do... But enough complaining lets get started....

It has been two months since the last time I was able to blog. And of course so much has happened it seems like I would have to write a book to tell you all about it.

But here are some highlights.

To start, I left off with Collin was going to go to his first day of Daycare.....

OH DAYCARE..... Collin does not mind going, sometimes he cries when we leave or drop him off but sometimes he can not wait until we put him down and he wants to go play with the other kids. So there are a lot of pros and cons to daycare.

Here are a couple. PROS...
1. They are always open, I never have to worry if they will be able to watch him. Plus they are open from 6am to 6pm so that really helps a lot with the two of us going to work and working odd hours some days.
2. He loves playing with the other kids, I really believe that he has learned so many new things just from watching the others play.
3. I trust his teachers, they always give me a report of how he does each day.
 - CONS... which are starting to out weigh the pros... but everyone keeps telling me hang in there it will get better....
1. HE WILL NOT SLEEP. poor baby,  it has been two months and he will not take naps at day care. I get his report each day and some days there are no naps at all and some days he sleeps maybe 30 mins or maybe an hour. So by the time he gets home he is so tired. I have asked if there is anything we can do, but not really, they have to keep all the lights on for all the other babies in the room and it can be noisy since the other babies my cry or laugh and Collin does not get any rest... (But the days we are at home, he take 2, 2 hour naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.)
2. Of the 9 weeks that he has been there, I would say we have been 20 days sick at home. He has caught every sickness known.. it seems. tummy virus, colds, pneumonia, upper respiratory infection, other virus. We have been to the doctor more in the past two months, than his whole life.. ERRRR. I just really want my baby to feel better and be happy.

So that is my saga of Daycare so far, we are going to keep at it for the time being, I just hope his immune system can keep up.

Now for the fun exciting things he has been up to.. The baby that makes me smile every day...

Collin is growing up into such a little man. He has such a funny personality that is forever changing.
He laughs and smiles at things he things are funny, he growls when he is frustrated, he screams when he is mad, SCREAMS loud if he is not getting his way. (Yes my child can throw a big temper tantrum at the age of 11 months....) My parents say he is very dramatic just like his mommy.. HA HA! He coos when his does not feel good and loves to cuddle. And the only words (sounds) he says is, ba ba and da da.

He is eating table food now, every once in a while we are still giving his Gerber baby food, but mostly table food. Loves, fish sticks and chicken nuggets with ketchup. mac and cheese, peas, green beans, pork and beans, and a all time favorite is any Mexican restaurant with beans and rice. OH My.

He is still having 4 to 5 bottles a day that are 4 oz each. Mostly to get him to sleep. Throughout the rest of the day he has juice and water out of sippy cups. Starting Monday we are going to go to half formula and half whole milk. I have let him drink milk from my cup and he loves it, so I don't think this is going to be a hard transition for him.

In the past two months he has become an expert crawler to a couch and table walker, to now we are pushing all the walking toys. He can even walk with me, as long as he can hold on to one of my fingers. I have a feeling very soon he will be cruising on his own.

The last doctors visit we went to he was 23 lbs and 30 inches long.. 90% for his age.. We are going to have one tall young man. He is wearing 12 to 18 month clothing and size 3 diapers. No shoes yet still bare feet, but we did by him so really cool Nikes last week.

His grandma and grandpa came down from Oklahoma to see him 2 weeks ago and we had a great visit. We went to Texas State Aquarium and Collin loved seeing the fish.

The first week of October we are flying to Oklahoma so that Collin can see the rest of his family and meet all of his cousins. This will be Collin's first time to fly too, this mommy is a little nervous.

Collin will be 1 year old in 20 days.. He gets to have 2 birthday parties, one here at home and one in Oklahoma... Oh what am I to do with all these toys....?????    :-)

9 Months and not slowing down....

SLOW DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That seems to be all that I say now days…

Well I want to rewind a little bit. To start this past month off, we had just started eating table food. And if I tried to get him to crawl or at least push himself up he would whine..  And he was not strong enough to pull himself up, nor had he ever tried.

NOW we are eating me out of house and home and he is crawling all over the place as fast as he can and he REALLY wants to walk but he cannot keep his balance.  AHHHHH!

It all really started when we went on our family vacation to Wimberley. About two days before we left Collin had attempted to scoot himself and pull his legs behind him, almost an Army crawl. But as soon as we got there it is like this place was magic or something. I put Collin down on the floor (which is concrete) and he just took off. He understood how to crawl. Then that night I put him down in the pack in play to go to sleep and when he woke up in the middle of the night for a bottle there he was standing up and holding on the side of the pack and play wanting to get out… CRAZY.  So from that week on it has been non stop. He is all over the house. He LOVES the dog’s water bowl. We get in a fight over this daily. There is something about water that he just loves, he lived in the river with us on vacation and now every day since we have been back he has been in his little pool, or the hot tub to swim or float in his floaty.

He has such a personality. He smiles really big at things that he likes. Anytime he sees ELMO, we get a big smile, it can be on you tube, a stuffed animal, a book. He flaps his arms up and down and smiles and laughs. Crazy kid. He also really recognizes people that he knows. My mom and dad, and my grandma Nana he really knows and will reach out for them. And even after spending a week with the rest of our LARGE family he knew the kids and would get excited to see them.

Now on the other side he is very stubborn, he ALWAYS wants what you have. Nothing can even compare to what you have. Food, Cell Phone, Laptop, a piece of paper.. ANYTHING, if you are holding it, he wants to hold it. And he will scream until he gets it.. oh my… oh my…

A little more on his daily routine,

-          Sleeping from 8pm to 6am waking up once still…..

-          Drinking 6 four ounce bottles.

-          Taking 2  - one and half hour naps

-          I give him a bottle and rock or bounce to put him to sleep, even for naps.

-          Eating anything in sight, loves the little puffs.

-          Wearing size 3 diapers and 12 month clothing.

-          He is also drinking from a sippy cup that has a straw.  (mostly water though, no juice)

We are going to his 9 month doctor appointment on the 16^th.  So we will see then how big he his, but he has grown so much. I wish he would put the brakes on he is growing up too fast.

In other news, I went back to work. It has been 2 weeks.  I work now for a local bank here in Victoria for the private banking department. It was a hard choice, but it was time for me to go back to work. We also had a babysitter lined up to take care of Collin, but that fell through, so he starts Daycare on Monday. I really hope this is an easy transition for both of us. It is going to be a big change.

Here are some photos of the last month.

Swimming in the hot tub in our backyard

With Mimi and Papa at Gruene Hall

Swimming in his little pool in the backyard

Holding and drinking his bottle all by himself.

Very excited Elmo is on the laptop while he is eating breakfast

Collin drooling while him and Papa try to pick up girls at Gruene Hall.. ha ha

Collin and his daddy - giving the surfer sign ... coool dude.

Me and my baby at Wimberley, his first time in the blanco river..

Collin and his two cousins... Lexi and Bryan

Me and my baby playing in the rapids at Wimberley

Swimming with the Family, dogs included in the river...

Way to cool, he had to wear my sunglasses to make sure he fit in with the rest of them.

This is how he took a bath each night on vacation, in the sink!

Wearing at Hat at the General Store

This picture was from our vacation too, at Cabela's in Buda TX

This is his 9 Month Photo, sitting up big and tall on his race car...

 Playing on his toy that I got him for his 9 month bday.

He has to have his own drink at any place we go to eat.. Drinking from a straw!