Tiffany Pulliam and the red flags

Well it took me two days to clam down before I could write this. I didn't want to write angry so i did what my dad tells me to do...I paused. Looking back at the last 6 months with Miss Tiffany, there were many red flags I choose not to act on.

The first being she had a male companion there for 3 days right after we started. I really didn't like the fact that there was a man who I did not know possibly alone with my daughter. I rationalized that, well Tiffany has to be close by right?? But you just never know, and I really don't like adults that i don't know one on one with my daughter. This continued, and other "friends" were over during the day with Miss Tiffany. Mostly female. I met her ex-husband once....he didn't even introduce himself. Seemed pretty shady. There was also one time I saw her teenage son carry Logan (12 months or so at the time) down the steps like he was a sack of food. I can't say i'm at all comfortable knowing a teenage boy is carrying around my kid. A few other times something has happened where she didn't like something i did or said and gave me a HUGE adatude about it. It seemed like if she was having a bad day she's practical throw your kid at you. One time one of the babies, Vilot, wouldn't stop crying and she simply put her upstairs by herself. When her dad got there she told him she had to put her upstairs due to her crying and shoved her into his arms and said Thank God you're here. The thought of my little girl crying and no one doing anything about it is scary.

ok to the story:

this past weekend Dave's dad and Kathleen were down for the weekend. They left on Monday afternoon so I decided to keep Emery for the morning so they could be with her. By the time they left Em was sleeping and I texted miss Tiffany to tell her i'd keep em for the day. She texted me back about her check. I told her i had to go to the bank anyway and i'd just deposit it for her.

I left for the bank and to meet my mom for lunch. As i was walking out of the bank I saw a text from Tiffany saying she had to go out anyway and just to bring the check by. I wrote her back that i had already deposited it. She texted about how i had her account number and that she asked me not to deposit it myself. I said I had a voided check from her from a fews back when we tried to do direct deposit. She was not happy about this and said we'd talk tomorrow. About 45 minutes later I get a text saying that her daughter Amanda went to the bank and they had no transaction that I had deposited her check.....reality check: anyone in the modern world will tell you it can take up to 24 hours for a check to clear, AND yes there is no way they would know unless she went to the same branch and had them go through the paperwork herself. .... so i tell her via text that i have the deposit slip and i'd bring it with me when i came to her tomorrow. She asked me what account i put the money in and i told her i'd call her as soon as i got home and give her the number b/c i didn't have it on me. (i had filled out a deposit slip before i left the house) So at this point, i'm thinking what the hell is her deal. I GAVE her money, and put it right into her account.

I get home and call her house line and her cell. no answer. I check my email and i have an email that says (direct copy and paste": "You can pick up Emery's things this afternoon...I'll have everything all packed up. Thanks, Tiffany" so you can imagine at this point my blood is boiling. I write her back "you're kicking us out??" and proceed to call her again. This time she picks up and tells me she's been wanting to ask us to leave for a while now and that she's not a beggar and shouldn't have to gravel for her money. This is somewhat humorous since i put the money directly into her account. I told her that I put the money into her account, she tells me this isn't the first or second or third time this has happened. I said the only other time I forgot the check i brought cash with me when i picked up Emery b/c i knew she couldn't get to the bank. I also tell her i deposited her check directly into her account today...She then proceeds to yell to her daughter, while we're on the phone, to log into her wachovia account to see if the money is there. She tells her to check again, and then tells me it's not in there (I KNOW!!). so I tell her it will be by midnight.

Then she goes on to tell me I crossed a personal boundary with her when i "rummaged" through her fridge (putting Emery's milk/yogurt in) and rummaged through her draw (the one time i reached in to get a pen, to fill out her check). Now i can see this as me being too comfortable in her home, but she has 8 kids there (yes 8 not 6 like the law states)and i thought i'd do it myself vs giving her one more thing to do. That's how i operate. I brought up how many kids she had at one point and she flat out lied and said she only has 5 or 6 at any given time. When i said i'd counted more then that she said i must have come in the one hour she had a neighbor's kid. This was a total lie, because she has Connor, Noah, Morgan, Logan, Seana, Johna all full time. That's 6. Lilly is there 4 days a week, as was Emery, and Violet is there sometimes as well as this other kid with a really big head, who's name i don't know. So really she ALWAYS has more then 6. And these are just the kids i see. who knows what goes on in the middle of the day. Oh and to add to the personal attack, she tells me there is an obviously a lack of discipline at our house. (WHAT? my daughter is 1! I almost said to her "yea the late night partying and back talk IS getting out of control") Babies are meant to be babied.

So we're at the point where she's personally attacking me, and lying to me....this from the person that calls herself "a business".... (did i mention she didn't claim us on her taxes, so we couldn't deduct our child care) then she comes in with the kicker....but first some back story:
....about a month ago i came to drop off Emery and all the kids were eating breakfast. Miss Tiffany seemed very frustrated this morning and seemed to be at her wits end. Connor who i think is around 2 years old, threw his food or spit or something like that. She reacted by yelling at him pulling him from the the chair and putting him in the other room by himself with the door closed. Now i have no problem with time out. BUT this was a bit more than that. she acted out of anger. which i saw again with her email to me to come pick up em's things that was time stamped about 20 minutes after her last text to me. actions out of anger are NEVER good, and ever worst when it's the person watching your kid. I was really upset about the whole thing and almost just turned around and left with Emery. I talked to Dave that night about it. He decided to give her a call to talk about it. She became very defensive, but by the end of the conversation it seemed to work itself out....
.....back to present story: Tiffany brings up this and says that i had my husband call her, which i think she sees as me hiding behind Dave. Dave handles these things better so he called. Whatever. Then she tells me that how she treats other children is "non of my business" OK really? How you treat kids...one being mine...isn't my businesses??? So at this point I know i need to get off the phone b/c she is no longer rational. I simply say I'll be sending my brother in law over to get her things, what would you like to do about the $125 I just deposited into your account? She makes some remark about how she thinks i didn't deposit it, and i come back with "i'll call you when i see it has been cleared and you can write me a check"

So Tuesday morning, well look at that, there's the check cleared. I call her and leave her the most professional message i can just saying I saw the check cleared and if she could please put it in the mail to us. She called back, I gave her our address and got off the phone as quickly as i could.

In the meantime I called Children's Nook and spoke with the director. Emery has been first on the waiting list for some time now and Dave and I have been talking about alternate care for over a month. As luck would have it, there is a little boy leaving the infant room and Emery will take his spot starting next Monday.

After i calmed down and thought about everything, it's true what my friend Tymillia said. God knows what's he's doing. Had we left earlier or later we might have missed out on the spot.

So there you have it. the whole story.

Turning 1

Today was Emery's first birthday Party. She did amazing! The only one year old i have ever seen that didn't cry while almost 30 people sang happy birthday to her. She started with one finger in the icing and quickly moved to a full hand...with a little help from her dad. Her friends were here, our friends were here, and of course her grandparents. Ilene and Bruce even made the party.

....back tracking..... The day after Emery's 11 month mark she took her first steps. We caught it on video. It was amazing. She wasn't so sure but she went about 5 feet. Two weeks later she was marching around the house like she'd been walking this whole time. This past month as been amazing. Watching her figure things out, how they work, how to use them. Everything. Today she even walked to the corner of the kitchen and made some noise...she was standing below the cabinet that had her sippy cups in it. She wanted some water. It was pretty cool.

Along with the walking milestone came a few other things we didn't know about...a few set backs. She wouldn't take the bottle from Miss Tiffany, or milk in a sippy cup. I learned that those types of "steps back" are common with major mile stones - like walking.

She interacts with other kids more now. Last week we went to Jen and Chuck's for dinner. Aubrey, their daughter, is a month younger then Em. They were interacting quite a bit while we were there. Towards the end of the night, Emery went over and gave a hug and kiss to Aubrey! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. unfortunately Aubrey, who reciprocated the hug and kiss, wasn't all that sturdy yet so they both went down. Today she gave Mia a hug, and again sooo cute! This one i caught on camera.

She goes to sleep in her room most nights and when she gets up, she comes in with us. I love waking up with her! We throw paci's at daddy! Always a fun game. She goes to the potty every morning. And then we start our day. This age is amazing. She eats almost everything....at least once.

Tim, Dave's brother moved in with us this past Sunday. So far so good. Emery seems to really like him. They played in the "ball pit" Ilene and Bruce gave us today.

She dances when you put on music, or when she stands on her white mat on the floor. She eats business cards...gross. But it's funny to watch her all my cards out of the basket and put them back in. She gets a book, brings it to me, and sits on my lap. It's true, you don't know love until you have a child.

She's 1. I can't believe I have a 1-year old. So in love!

First Steps

Last night Nana, River and Aunt Livvy came over for dinner. (they brought everything with them, it was sweet) We know Em has been close for about 2 weeks now. She loves walking if you're holding on to her hands. If there are two of us we can each grab a hand and she LOVES it. so last night we we tried to sit a few feet apart and she did it! She took like 3 steps. It was pretty sweet. So we'll see when this gets going, then our little girl is going to move...Fast. I just know it.

She's still not sleeping through the night, but she wakes up screaming sometimes. Which makes me think it's something that's waking her up, either bad dreams or pain. I have no idea. She does panic when we're not right there though. But during the day she can play by herself with no issues. So who knows.

Every day you can see her growing. She smiles all the time and interacts so much more now. She's into pointing lately, and she "talks" constantly. Her laugh is the best thing on earth, and we're learning what she finds funny. She has some lungs on her that's for sure. She let out a scream last night trying to talk to wriggly and he started shaking. poor dog. She thought it was funny and just smiled at him.

As for me I'm going to start taking some yoga classes this week. I just started selling jeans, and i'm pumped about that. We are headed up to NJ at the end of this month to visit everyone. Oh and I am getting ready for Emery's first birthday party!

Attached....

Emery is very attached to me...something you assume being a mom....but i had no idea how attached I was going to be to her. I hate saying goodbye to her in the mornings. It's hard. She's fine...i'm the one wishing we could spend the day together.

She's hungry. The last two nights she has wanted to nurse every few hours. Then this morning she finished an entire baby yogurt. She never does that. So i'm assuming this is some kind of growth period. She eats pretty much anything you put in front of her. Last night she was eating avocado. A food she hated 3 months ago. She loves chicken and bread. She had pears last night too. She likes eating by herself so we just cut a bunch of stuff up and put it on her tray.

I just love her.

10 Months

Yup, she's 10 months today....and the love affair continues. She's changing daily now. She points at things now and claps her hands. She goes to the potty every morning. She laughs and plays hide and seek. She'll pull the blanket over her head and when you pull it off she's smiling ear to ear! She loves it. We just got back from Boston and everyone just fell in love with her. We were up in Boston for Natalie and Trace's engagement party. She slept in the bed with me the whole time we were up there and it was great! She is sleeping better and better. So we'll see what this week brings.

nana and emery

It still amazes me how much i love this little girl. I see her sometimes and just stare in amazement. she's becoming a little girl. She interacts and has likes and dislikes. She is simply amazing. I still can't believe there is a baby living here. I see her sometimes and I'm like wait a minute....where did she come from??

Nana is here with us today, Emery had a temp this morning 102.3. she was not a happy camper. We kept her home from Tiffany's and Nana came over to be with her. she loves her nana. She reached for her as soon as she got here. Some people were put on this earth to be mothers, my mom is one of them. It's so fun to watch them together. She's one lucky little girl.

she crawls around now a days with stuff in her hands. She bangs on stuff and makes all kind of noises. She even crawled INTO the green cabinet in our family room...where her toys are kept. One smart cookie. She loves her sippy cup, but even more she loves drinking out of our glasses. And she's strong. she'll pull your cup right over to her.

A winter storm just hit the east coast so our trip might be canceled. That sucks but we don't want to be unsafe with her in the car. so we'll see what happens tomorrow. We have to cancel the hotel by mid-night tomorrow to not get charged.

nana and emery

It still amazes me how much i love this little girl. I see her sometimes and just stare in amazement. she's becoming a little girl. She interacts and has likes and dislikes. She is simply amazing. I still can't believe there is a baby living here. I see her sometimes and I'm like wait a minute....where did she come from??

Nana is here with us today, Emery had a temp this morning 102.3. she was not a happy camper. We kept her home from Tiffany's and Nana came over to be with her. she loves her nana. She reached for her as soon as she got here. Some people were put on this earth to be mothers, my mom is one of them. It's so fun to watch them together. She's one lucky little girl.

she crawls around now a days with stuff in her hands. She bangs on stuff and makes all kind of noises. She even crawled INTO the green cabinet in our family room...where her toys are kept. One smart cookie. She loves her sippy cup, but even more she loves drinking out of our glasses. And she's strong. she'll pull your cup right over to her.

A winter storm just hit the east coast so our trip might be canceled. That sucks but we don't want to be unsafe with her in the car. so we'll see what happens tomorrow. We have to cancel the hotel by mid-night tomorrow to not get charged.

9 months in...9 months out

It's official. She's been out longer then in. On Friday Emery hit the big 9 month mark! 17lbs, 27 inchs. Yesterday she stood up by herself in the middle of the room. she did use her toy to boost her up but stood there for a second by herself. That was pretty cool. She has been pulling up on anything and everything for a while now, and can use her push toy and make it down the hall way.

We have been laying low the last few weeks but we have a big road trip coming up. We're headed to New Jersey to see Dave's family. his siblings haven't met her yet so that's exciting.

Her personality is starting to show. She laughs at stuff all the time now. Dave can always make her laugh with his dancing. I must admit, it's pretty funny. She loves water glasses. If someone has a glass of water she wants it...bad. and she's strong. She'll pull it with force and put it right up to her mouth. So we've been giving her sippy cups with water in them. she seems to really like that. She talks to wriggley all the time, we call her the dog whisper....but she's really loud...wonder where she gets that from. She always has a ton of wax in her ears and I told Dave that's her body's way of dealing with my voice.

Next month we're headed to feb for Natalie and Trace's engagement party. Boston...in Feb. crazy.

Happy New Year!

This is a big year for us! Emery turns one!

Christmas update:

Christmas was amazing. Nat, Liv, Carole and Enzo were all down for a week! Emery had a blast with everyone. She fell asleep in River's arms twice while we were out shopping.



We went wedding dress shopping for Nat and went out to lunch at Tanger outlets. It was a great! Enzo was chilling with Emery while we were dress shopping.



We even took Emery to the Apple store! Nana got an iphone!




I took some black and white shots while Emery's aunts were in town:



She got three coats, leg warmers, a full music suite, and some amazing toys from Aunt Carole. (she loves them!)


For New Years Dave, Emery and I went over to Sara and Shawn's house for oysters. It was really nice and Em was a trooper. She hung out until 11PM! Last baby standing....errr sleeping on miss Karin. But she was there. We're getting smarter. We now bring her pj's with us if we are going to be out past 8:00. she falls asleep in the car ride home and we just bring her right up to bed.


Emery stats: She's moving like crazy. She can crawl fast...really fast. and over stuff. She has made it up and over dave's legs a few times and can pull up on anything... including people. She has a little walker thing that she loves. she can move with it on the carpet but once she gets on the wood, it's too fast for her and she falls. Her whole objective is to find something to pull up on. the couch, the baby bouncer seat, any wall or cabinet. It's very clear she wants to walk.

We're headed up to NJ soon to see the Jaskiewicz clan. That should be fun! Long drive though.

Christmas

Tomorrow is Emery's first Christmas....and she won't remember a thing. In face she'll try and eat the wrapping paper.

There are these little moments with her that i feel...I can't describe it. Just amazing. She laughs and giggles. Then other times she just puts her head on my shoulder like it's just us. Other mom's can tell you 1,000 times how much they love their kids, but it doesn't even come close to this. You can't put this into words. There is this little girl that lives in my house that thinks i'm the coolest person in the world....and all i want to do is be with her. I'm happiest in the mornings when it's just the three of us lying in bed. I love it. I love being with my two favorite people and just hanging out.

I'm really excited about tomorrow. Dave made dinner tonight, he did the seven fishes. It was AMAZING! He even made coconut shrimp just for me! His are so good I don't even bother ordering them out anymore. It used to be the first thing i went to on a menu. Now I don't bother, because they don't even come close to his.

Natalie, Livvy, Carole and Enzo are all in town!! It's so great having everyone here. I feel bad that Dave's family couldn't be with us. I know he misses them.

..........more to come tomorrow.

Sick

So we're back from Orlando, her double ear infection is gone. Yeah. But...we're now sick. I'm sick, she's sick. Dave's sick. It's one big sick happy family. But we'll be fine by Christmas.

She is on the move. She comes into the kitchen now. Before she'd stay in the family room on the carpet. Now she will try to find where you are. Dave was doing dishes the other night and she kept crawling over there and pulling herself up on him. I put her back in the family room and she tried again. It was really cute. She wanted to be with her daddy. She did get stuck a few times under the chairs in the kitchen. She thinks she can fit then half way through realizes she can't and panics. It's sad, but very funny.

She pulls up on everything now. The couch, the back door, the chairs, and the funniest...the bathroom shower door. I have the dogs because mom and dad are in Boston. So yesterday Emery was home with me b/c she was miserable. I needed to shower so I put her in the bathroom with some toys and closed the door, well of course the puppies had to be with her. So the three of them are hanging out while i shower and she crawls over to the shower door and pulls herself up. Well i though this was cute so i crouch down and start waving at her. she now realizes she can see me and can't get to me....panic sets in. But oh wait I can't open the door b/c she's standing there holding herself up with it. So I spend the next 10 minutes saying "sit down Emery, sit down so mommy can open the door".

Dec Update

I don't think I can really put into words how much I love this little girl....so i'm not even going to try. But i think you get the point. (it's a lot)

She is so cool. She laughs and giggles. She pulls herself up on everything and crawls all over the place. She is eating food really well and just started pooping on the potty! It's amazing.

We just came back from Orlando for the Baseball Winter Meetings. BaseBall Bingo had a booth there. It was great! I think that's what I was born to do. I was in my element. Emery did great down there too. She was with Nana most of the time.

... more too come. got a lot to do today.

Bubba

I miss her today. I find myself looking at photos of her throughout the day. She is very happy at daycare now though, and that makes everything better. Knowing that makes me happy. We have our play group today then we're headed to the Publix then making dinner with Prisha. We head down to Orlando on Sunday for the Baseball Winter Meetings. We'll be there for a few days.

Very Thankful

We had an amazing Thanksgiving! Our next door neighbors Cyndi and Eric came over and my parents were here. Then for desert we had Heather and Clay and their girls and my friend McRae. It was so nice to be with such great people all day and what amazing food! Everything was so good. I even made homemade apple pie! (yea i made the crust too)

Emeryworld....she can pull herself up to standing...very quickly. On Saturday we went to Babies R Us to buy a baby gate for the top of the stairs. It's like that. she is moving all over the place. She's teething right now too so she's pretty miserable.

I struggle a lot with keeping her at a daycare. I feel guilty. I feel like if she's upset I should be there. Tiffany said she did really well last week. While that's great, my first thought was "you mean she hasn't been happy up till now??" I get it, the whole transition period, but the thought of my little girl upset just kills me. She is so happy at home. I know i need to work and I can't make calls with her here. I can't even bank on her nap to make calls b/c sometimes it's 2 hours and sometimes it's 30 mins. So I struggle.

It's fun though to watch her pull herself up on the couch and coffee table. Last night we skyped with Nat and Liv and they got to see her do it. She's so fun. I just love being with her. She cuddles now. She'll just lean into you and put her head on your shoulder and chill. I love it!! She's been eating food every night. We start on protein's at 9 months. So far we've done a lot of veggies.

crawling and standing and eating...oh my

So she can definitely crawl. It's not a straight shot of point A to point B, which is what i thought crawling was. It's more of a crawl a little, stop, crawl a little more. with some yoga downward-facing-dog in the middle. She is moving that's for sure. And she loves wires. She tried to get my iphone charger in her mouth the entire time she was on my lap at the computer.

The last two weeks have been tough for Em. New daycare, she's teething, she doesn't sleep well....lots going on. So her eating hasn't been great. She won't take a bottle for Tiffany, she doesn't nurse very long with me BUT what we have discovered is she loves oatmeal! Dave and I eat dinner at the table and we put her in her bebe right on the table with us. a few days ago we noticed that she was doing this thing with her toung/mouth when she watched us eat. I went with it and quickly got her oatmeal ready. low and behold that was it. she was leaning towards the spoon!

Last night when i went into her room she was STANDING up in her crib, holding on for dear life. I think she scared herself. It was the second time I saw her do that. When i mentioned it to the doc yesterday (we thought she had an ear infection, she didn't) he said that's a 9-month skill... great. The doc also said she was teething. That explains the lack of interest in eating, the running nose and the slight fever.

Dave gave her a massage last night and i think it really helped her sleep. She woke up less (a little). I did a hybrid cry-it-out last night. I just stood next to her crib and told her she was ok. That calmed her down and then i left. she'd cry again, but i knew she was ok.

We're still going to playgroup every Thursday. We have the dogs this weekend b/c mom and dad are up in NY with liv. Wrigley was doing GREAT until he woke up Emery this morning. Not happy with him now.

Gaby comes today, she's going to be helping us with KMK. I'm also getting my hair cut today. I'll do a before and after just for fun.

Tiffany

When we were pregnant and I was still with CMCI Dave and I visited with a number of day cares. It was interested. Some were nice, one caused Dave to almost have a panic attack. But I had my two favorites. The Children's nook and an at-home daycare with Miss Tiffany. When we made the call to start KMK and my mom took Em we let all our spots go.

When my mom got the pacemaker put in, we started using a friend's nanny. She is very sweet but very young. So now the pacemaker is no an issue but my mom wants to stay at one to two days a week. We needed to find more permanent care. I thought of Tiffany right off the bat and crossed my fingers she had a spot open. She did!! Yesterday was Emery's first day with her. Dave dropped her off and I picked her up. She was happy and had two nice naps. She's still not thrilled about the bottle, but we'll get there. She ate a lot last night so i'm not worried.

It's so amazingly nice to not worry about her during the day. To not be fighting the clock. When the other nanny I was constantly thinking, "well if i can do that with Em here I won't have to pay for that hour". It was exhausting. Now I can just do what i need to do. Yesterday I started my new "walk plan" for going door to door at different businesses. I hit 14 offices that afternoon.

Today is day 2 of our new schedule....i like it.

Oh my

So Dave went into Emery's room this morning to get her from her crib....she was sitting up. Yes that's right she can now go from stomach to back to crawl position to sitting up. She tries to pull herself up on us too. Great, 6 months and all she wants to do is stand up. .... we are in trouble!

It's been really amazing lately b/c i can leave her by herself. I set up a blanket in the middle of the family room and put her toys on it. She can just sit there and entertain herself for quite some time. Enough time for me to put food away, or make dinner. She is complete content. My mom and I were talking about it. Now i don't know if i'm making this up but I do wonder about the whole "baby-wearing" and co-sleeping. if those things make her feel more secure so she's able to be by herself. There must be a study out there somewhere....

Food & Photos

Game on! Emery is allowed to eat food! We tried avocados last week and she did pretty well. We are going to try carrots this week and possibly pumpkin. She had rice cereal a while back and then oatmeal about 2 weeks ago. It was funny.

So I said I would post the amazing photos of Emery's shoot with Kayla:

6 months

This week Emery is 6 months old. We visited the doc today for her well visit, and she had 4 shots. It was horrible. I cried before she did. Dave held her for the whole thing and it was really bad. She almost stopped breathing afterwards. She was in shock the poor thing. Ok i'm getting upset again, no more talking about shots. Dr. Davis said very few, if any, 6 month old kids sit up as well as Em. He thinks she'll be walking by 9 months. OMG! We better lock this house down. She's close to crawling too, she's almost there. Today she pulled herself almost to standing on the laundry basket. I was shocked. This kid is ready to move. Dr. Davis also said that her "attachment" to me is a sign that she's smart. She's figured out who I am and that she needs to be with me. He did say she could start to manipulate me though and to watch out for that. (great)

We are still having a lot of night wakings. It's hard when you don't know what to do next. All the systems and books I read talk to you as if you are with your kid 24/7. Which i'm not. She's with 3 different baby sitters, one being my mom. I know we have to get into a better routine, and now my mom is back to full strength after the pace maker. So it should get easier.

Dave and I have cut back on all spending for a while. I listed a bunch of stuff on Ebay today and I'm trying to find some different ways to make some side money. KMK is doing good, but could be better. I'm having a little bit of a hard time finding new clients, but i think that's just sales.

Last week my friend Kayla took Emery for an hour while I had a meeting. Well she showed up here with some amazing photos she had taken of her! I'll share them when i get them.

all about mommy

It started about a week ago. Emery is all about mommy. Heaven forbid I hand her to someone else while i'm in the room. It usually gets worse as the day goes on. Mornings are always great with her. While evenings she looks around for me. It's kinda cute, i do like being her favorite. But it's also somewhat funny, I sat her down to play with her toys in the family room and walked into the kitchen to do the dishes and she panicked. I mean lost it. It was a little funny. Like come on, i'm right here.

Last night Dave and I hung out just the two of us and made dinner together for his birthday. Emery and I each got him a card, and i got him a little present. It was nice being baby free for the night. Nana and River hung with Em and she was a bit of a pill. She had just woke up from her one and only nap (20 minutes) when I got there. She was watching the Jets game with River. It is so amazing having them so close.

Emery signing her card for Daddy


Sitting up is the norm now, though we put pillows near by for when she falls over. She will be 6 months next week! WHAT? how did that happen. So we'll start with real foods and I think a bunch of other stuff changes at 6 months. We have our apt with the doc so we'll learn more I'm sure.

As for sleeping, yea she's not doing that. She gets up every 2 hours or so to eat at night. From what i can fiugar out, she needs to eat b/c she moves so damn much. All the babies I know that sleep through the night are chill and relaxed. We didn't get one of those. We got a mover..hummm i wonder why :). My mom saw her moving to get out of my arms the other day and was like "yea that reminds me of someone, we were hoping Dave's side would tone her down a little." I guess not. She looks like me AND acts like me. scary. What are we in for? haha. But i love it. I really don't care about the sleep part anymore. I just love being with her. It kills me when i have to leave her at the nanny's. I hate it. BUT i know it's better then giving her up every day 9-5 like some parents have to. I have no idea what schedule she's on. She just eats and sleeps when she wants. It seems to be working, she's a pretty happy kid. She wakes up in the morning and you can hear her talking to herself in her crib. It's really funny.

She's currently on my lap, talking and pooping. So now I have to go change her.

Atlanta

Two years ago Dave and I got married. This past weekend for our anniversary we went to Atlanta. We stayed at the Embassy Suites downtown, went to the Aquarium, a Phillies game, Rio Grande and PJ Changs...talk about all my favorite things! We had a really great time and it was nice to be all together!

Can't Sleep

So it's about 11:40PM on Wednesday night...I have no desire to go to sleep. I can't do the laundry b/c Dave is sleeping and all the clean clothes that need to be folded are in our bedroom. I could continue to set up my coupon book, but i have been messing with that thing all night. I need a break.

The last few weeks Emery has had trouble sleeping. Some nights waking every hour. Which leads to the VERY obvious question "why on earth am i not capitalizing on this time to sleep". i have no idea. I just started reading a sleeping book from the La Leche League group. I think it should help. She might also be teething, which i'm sure isn't fun. She went to bed around 8:30 tonight and has gotten up only once since then to eat.

speaking of eating....I do find myself not wanting to be friends with mom's that don't breastfed. It's almost like i'm ok with it if it's over with. Like my one friend who has a 2 year old and didn't breastfeed her. But it's over. But I just saw a photo on facebook of a girl i know and she's in a hospital gown...just had her baby...and there she is with a bottle! It made me sick to my stomach. I understand there are extreme circumstance that call for mom's not being able to breastfeed. but this was clearly a choice. I just don't understand why you wouldn't do what's best for your kid. Isn't that what we all want, the best for our kids. So why settle for formula when it was created to replicate breast milk! Why not give your kid the real thing??? AND it's better for the mom! It makes me crazy. Even if the mom could just breastfeed for a little while, every day that kid gets breast milk is better then not. I know mom's who work and pump and made it to 6 months! That's not easy, but it's the best for your kid!!! So there's my rant for the evening. Kids can have cow's milk at 1 years old.

ok i'm going to bed.

Birthday - Denver - sitting up

September 21st was my 31st birthday, and Emery's 5 month birthday. Mom, Dad, Liv, Dave, Emery and I all went out for Hibachi. It was SOO good. I had the leftovers the next day for lunch and they were just as good. It was really a great day. Dave treated me to a massage and then Emery and I took a nap. I got a balance board and the Wii Fit Plus! Love it!



This past weekend Emery and I went to Denver for Erin's wedding. We left friday and came back yesterday. It was an amazing trip. Thank God for Jim and Babs, Erin's dad and step mom. I stayed with them and Jim's sister Laurie. It was really amazing how helpful it was to be with them all. Nicole (Erin's little sister) even put on my sling and walked around with Emery so i could get my nails done. The wedding was amazing, and Erin looked the part. I finally got to meet Travis! Emery did really good on the planes. There were 4 total. She screamed for about 20/30 minutes from Atlanta to Denver but i think it was her ears. She also yelled for a bit from Denver to Atlanta but we were sitting on the run way forever. So i think everyone was upset, she was just more vocal.



Sitting up! WHAT? she's sitting up all by herself. If she wasn't such a spas she would probably stay upright for a while, but throws herself to the left and right and knocks herself over. So i have to sit there with her, I can't walk away. but she's doing it. She also grabs stuff now. Mostly my lips and nose. But really everything. Things on the table, the diaper bag, her pants....pretty much everything. She likes to put whatever she can get her hands on into her mouth. We're pretty sure she's teething.

All by myself!

Emery's new tricks....we can (almost) put the paci back in our mouth!! She gets it to her mouth every time, but sometimes it's turned the wrong way. This is very exciting. (to all you mom's out there you know just HOW exciting this really is) Other tricks...we now reach for whatever mommy has. Oh now this trick is fun. I find myself holding her and trying to eat at the same time..mind you my plate is about a foot away from me b/c she keeps going for it.

Poor little thing is sick right now, she has a cold and can't breath through her nose which is horrible b/c she spits out her paci to breath and then wakes herself up.

Clarity

I'm awake, it's 5:50AM...and i feel amazing! Emery is still sleeping....to the point at which about a half hour ago i went in there and thought she wasn't breathing so i put my hand on her back and kinda shook her. Well of course, she wiggled and moved..and i felt like an asshole. Poor kid is trying to sleep.

Last night right before i went to bed I did a quick clean of the house. I have found that it's much eaiser to get work done if I don't feel the need to clean the house. Therefore if it's clean already i'm in good shape. I went to bed close to midnight, but the house looks good and Em is doing great.

Dave and I try to watch Psych at night. Sometimes we make it a whole episode and sometimes 1/2. But last night as we turned it on, got through 3 minutes and decided we were both going to miss stuff b/c Emery was talking up a storm and we were to busy watching her. We decided she's the cutest thing in the entire world. (even better then puppies)

In our effort to conserve money, we took a picnic dinner over to the mount pleasant pier on Sunday night. (Monday was a holiday) It was really nice. I brought my camera:







We went to Ava's 1st birthday last night and it was really nice. I have photos from that too:







And since i had the camera out last night....

...just talking

Sometimes I just this blog as an outlet. Like an open diary. Is that good? probably not. But whatever. moving on...

Schools of thought on child raising is quite interesting. There are so many and they are all 100% sure they are right. The whole "cry it out" thing that our Doc told us to do, well my girls at the La Lac Club completely disagree. They say that the baby's brain develops during the night and that's when they need the nutrition. "if they are crying there is a reason". Which i'm on board with. I don't like hearing the person i love most in the world upset, who does? BUT...the LLC girls don't work. none of them. I do. I can't nap when Emery naps, b/c i'm on the phone trying to get new business. I can't walk around like a zombie when i have stuff i need to do, and need to have some energy to get it done and stay motivated. So there must be a middle ground. That's what i'm looking for. I don't want to get up just to give her her pacifier, but if she's hungry i want to help her out.

Things....we have WAY to many things. I just keep walking around the house thinking, what is all this crap. It's so funny what we've all become. My sister's friend Sally said something a while back that struck me. She was talking about her knock-off ugg boots. She said she was talking to some girl who made a comment that her boots were not real and that she had real uggs and she paid $xx for them. Sally goes, I told her she got ripped off. WOW, wait a minute you mean to tell me there are people out there that don't buy into the whole label craze....i love it.....That a shirt for $10 is a deal, $30 is a good shirt and $100 you just got hosed. i get quality, don't get me wrong. Kmart stuff lasts a few weeks, while gap sweatshirts stick around until your 70. but there has to been a line, a limit to when it's just crazy. I like to look nice and i like nice things but i think i'm way past buying something just b/c of the name. Hell i sold a pair of Jimmy Choo's on ebay for $75. They were not good looking shoes.


back to the baby....she's doing great. She's super frustrated that she can't walk on her own...yes she's 4 months old. every time you let her stand up, she smiles and is soooo happy. She just can't wait to walk. She does really good on a schedule. it works out to be about 3-4 hours. eat...play...sleep...eat again. it's nice b/c i can look at the clock and know ohhh she's tired or ohh she's gona get hungry soon. I like that. She had a tough day yesterday. Dave is positive it was the shrimp from Thursday night...that i ate again on Friday. it seriously messed up my stomach.


cutting back....dave and i are cutting back all expenses. Starting a new business has it's draw backs. So any ideas for free stuff to do to get us out of the house, i'm all ears. we took going out to dinner off the table. which sucks b/c that's my favorite. So now we'll just have to have friends over for dinner and my coupon skills have to get to the next level...and fast.


Denver! I'm super excited about our Denver trip. Emery and I are going to Denver for Erin's wedding. We will be there for 4 days. It's right around the corner.

Crying Sucks

The past few weeks Emery has been getting up 3-5 times a night. At our 4 month visit Dr. Davis he told us she's old enough to make it through the night. So the last few days we've let her cry a bit at night. It's the worst. I cried with her. But she's been so happy during the day and i know it's for the best. She did great last night.

In other news, Erica was here! My good friend from N. VA was here the past few days with us. It was really great to see her. My mom had a pacemaker put in last week and is doing great. But she can't lift Emery for 8 weeks. So that sucks. Emery will go to my friend Sara's nanny 2 days a week until my mom is able to lift her again.

Mommy Must Haves

For weeks I've been wanted to blog about all the things you need as a mom and the billion you don't. Emery is now 4 months old and there are a few things we use every day.

1) the bouncy chair (we have one upstairs and one downstairs) the one upstairs I keep in our bathroom. It's perfect for her to sit in while i shower

2) the bebe chair (bumbo) She loves it and we can put her right on the table while we eat.

3) the around the world play mat. OMG she loves this thing

4) burp clothes - when i saw cloth diapers on my friend's baby registry i thought, what is going to do use pins for that? But they were for burp clothes and they work the best!

5) toys that play music and light up.

6) a mobile that goes over her crib. it really does help with nap time.

7) hats! I keep hats on her the entire time we're in the car to help with the sun. She can't pull them off yet so the theory is by the time she can she'll be used to them and won't.

8) and the this is the one I can't live without...my baby K'Tan. A sling that I can get on and off without anyone else's help. She can nap in it and we bring it everywhere with us.

That's all i got....for now

A no good, very bad, horrible day

Today was Emery's 4 month doctor's visit. It SUCKED. It is so hard to watch them give her shots. It was 9AM this morning and she's still in pain. I gave her Tylenol but she looks up at me and just starts to cry. It's a different cry. A "i'm in pain" cry. The worst cry ever. She's sleeping in my lap right now, she looks peaceful. Besides the shot part, we got all good news. Emery is 13lbs 9ozs. She's in the 75% for head and length. i have it written down but it's in my diaper bag.

Over the weekend we went to visit my best friend Erin in Orlando. She was there visiting her new mother in law to do wedding stuff. Erin's dad and his wife also live there and that's who we stayed with, Jim and Babs. They couldn't have been sweeter. They completely took us in. gave us our own room, and made us breakfast. It was really amazing how nice everything was. I'm going to stay with them when we go out to the wedding in Denver b/c Dave won't be with me. Erin's mother stayed with Travis's mom. I felt really bad for Erin, she wanted help with her guest book, but T's mom wanted to do custom thank you cards...not what Erin' wanted to spend time on. She didn't want to upset T's mom so she went along with it and it ended up taking all of Saturday night which kinda sucked b/c we didn't get to spend as much time together. But she's in a tough spot. She doesn't want to make waves with her family but they have a lot of opinions they keep sharing....when they weren't asked for them. I love her and i just wish i could help take the stress out of all this planning.

Today was a wash work wise. I'd much rather be with Emery, but I stress out when i can't work. It's hard trying to work, take care of the house, and take care of Emery. I know what I'd rather do all day, but that's not an option.

ok done with my rant. :)

eating our feet

This past Wednesday Emery was 16 weeks. I know at some point I have to move to months.... but if I say 3 1/2 months that's not really right, b/c she'll be 4 months next week....so you see my delima. I re-designed my blog last week and promised myself i'd start adding more photos. so here we go...(if you want to see the clear shot, just click on the photo)

emery's 16 weeks photo shoot started with a smile..


got a little more serious..



and ended with her trying to crawl away...




Emery at 15 weeks... (i'll get better at this)



Emery has two new tricks. She can now grab both feet with her hands. This happens automatically as soon as you take her clothes off. She also does it while laying in her crib.

Step 1: get feet



Step 2: notice mom has black flashing thing pressed up against her face


Step 3: try and eat my hand.


Her second trick is she can now roll over from her back to her stomach...wait for it...and back to her back. I have yet to SEE her go from back to her back but i turned to get the camera and she flipped back back over....mind you she still can't sit up my herself and she's not 4 months yet! This is crazy. I have some video of her at http://www.youtube.com/user/melyjask but have yet to catch her doing a full roll over.

And just for fun her new outfit with her thug hat.

flipping over

Every time I put her on her back today, she flips over to her stomach and starts to wiggly herself across the mat she's on. It's pretty impressive. She can't sit up by herself yet, but damn this girl can move.

So that whole sleeping through the night...lasted 2 nights. We're back to eating twice during the night and waking up at least one additional time. So we'll see. we're trying to stay on her schedule but sometimes she's not hungry when i try and feed her. we'll find our rhythm here at some point.

I was sick yesterday with some virus. My whole body hurt. But today I feel a lot better. My mom came over yesterday to take care of us.

Really??

So it's almost 5AM and i'm awake....and the irony is Emery is asleep. After just one day of a VERY strict schedule she's still asleep at 5AM. I, however, woke up at 4 and can't fall back asleep. I laid there for a while hoping i'd go back to bed, then spent a while thinking of all the things I could be doing, the laundry, mop the kitchen, clean off my desk.... This was all sparked by the fact that my left boob is about to explode. I think it was the pain that woke me up in the first place. My laziness is what is currently preventing me from going downstairs to pump.

So here is Emery's schedule (thank you to Brooke!)


7:30 AM feeding
9:00 AM nap

10:30 AM feeding
12:00 PM nap

1:30 PM feeding
3:00 PM nap

4:30 PM feeding
6:00 PM nap

7:30 PM feeding
9:00 PM bedtime

It was so nice to know when to do what. I always feel like i'm flying by the seat of my pants, and i don't always operate great like that.

There are some days where i'm a want-a-be stay at home mom. Since I work from home I feel like every moment i have free I should be working. A lot of things go by the waste side. It's so funny b/c I was told while I was pregnant that I'd be excited to go back to work b/c i'd be bored and lonely.... me?? come on. I make friends at the grocery store, and I could entertain myself all day. There are about 20 groups for mom's in Charleston and of my current friends alone I know at least 4 stay at home mom's. Not to mention all the ones i'd meet if i started going to these groups. Now there are other days (like when we get a new client) that I love working. And i do really love my industry. I've been into the web since 1996 when i created my first website. It consisted of a brown and pink poke-a-dots background and a photo of me and my high school boyfriend. Very advanced as you can picture.

Emery and I went over to our friends house last night Sara and Shawn. Dave went kayaking for a while before it started to rain. It's so weird that all our friends have kids. When we all met, there were no kids. In fact when i met this whole group no one was even pregnant. It's very strange, but totally awesome.

My mom and dad get back from their northward swing tomorrow. They did NOVA, NY - coldspring, Brooklyn, Cape May, and now they are coming home. In their travels they got to meet Hunt's (olivia's boyfriend) parents. I heard it went really great. Dad LOVED their farm, they have a bunch of animals and he was like a kid telling me about it.

ok off to mess with my blog design....again.

Sleeping and Moving

She rolled over!! I put her on her back on the blanket behind me. I started checking my email and she started making noise (nothing unsual) then when i turned around she was on her stomach!! It was so cool. I yelled for Dave and flipped her back over but she didn't do it again.

She rolls from side to side a lot now when she's on her back. She talks to all the little animals on her baby play mat. full conversations of course.

The last few nights she's been a pill. She goes to bed just fine and then wakes up hourly. It's a blast. So today we started our new schedule. We're going on a 3 hour schedule so hopefully I can start functioning like a normal person. We went to boob club today. I do like the girls there, but they seem to think it's perfectly normal and encouraged to fed through the night. I really need to sleep. So we'll see how it goes. She's in her room now b/c she's doesn't fit in her bassinet anymore.

3 months...wow

Last Wednesday Emery turned 3 months old. In baby time this is huge! She has outgrown all her newborn stuff and is creeping into the 3-6 months clothes. Thank you Tammy for all the hand me downs! She has some super cute dresses. She is talking up a storm these last few days. She is so happy in the mornings, it's so fun. She's chatting and giggling. I love it! Her nighttime routine is going really well. She gets a bath (sometimes it's just water no soap), then we put PJ's on, have our medicine, nurse and read harry potter. Dave reads to us as I feed her. It's nice. We are 1/2 way into the second book. I must say i'm more interested in the outcome then Emery is. But i'm sure we'll read them all again when she's old enough.

As for me, i'm not sleeping that well. She made it to 6AM two nights in a row but i got up at 4. That sucks. I have been feeling overwhelmed lately, which i'm sure with the not-rested aspect makes it seems much worst then it is. I find that there are days I panic and days i don't, yet it's the same stuff that happens on both those days. Funny how that is. I've been watching "dead like me" and i just finished the first season. Every now and then Em has a really rough day. She had one last Wednesday. It's the kind of day where she sleeps most of the day, (i know what you're thinking that sounds pretty sweet) but when she's not sleeping she's screaming (ahhh you get it now). So as soon as she wakes up it's a full on game of moving and swaying, bouncing and rocking. Until she falls asleep in your arms....yes you can't put her down or she'll scream again. On theses days I watch TV. As soon as she falls asleep I sit down with her in my arms and watch TV, last Wednesday I watched the rest of "dead like me" season 1. I usually watch it in 20 minute intervals when i'm feeding miss Em, but not that day. I think i made it through 6 full episodes. pausing every 30 minutes.

Natalie and Trace are in town right now. It's so great having them here. I feel like i'm on vacation too. Emery is loving all the attention. We spent the weekend at the beach.

bye bye daddy

Dave's in Chicago this weekend for Baseball bingo. It's only 2 nights but i think i'm gona miss him. He must have kissed me goodbye like 10 times this morning! i love it. Last thing he said was "send me lots of photos of her". Now THAT i am good at. I'm quick with the iphone.

I've been laying off dairy lately to see about her fussiness in the afternoons. I think it's working but who knows. So last night we went out for Mexican and i did really well until dersert. We hardly ever get dessert when we go out for dinner but it was this guy's birthday at the table next to us and this AMAZING apple crust with ice cream and something flaming went by. I had to have it. So there went my dairy. We have her a bottle last time, I always have a few in the fridge at my mom's house for when she's over there. So we stopped by and grabbed it. She went to bed at 10 and made it to 5:45AM!!! Go Emery! then went back to sleep at 7:30ish and we both slept till 10:30. It was glorious.

12 weeks! WHAT?

How on earth could it be 12 weeks already??? Little Miss Emery is doing great! We had a few bad moments after the 4th but she's amazing. She has discovered her hands now and it looks like she's doing "itsy bitsy spider" all the time. She's alert and wide awake most of the day. Last night she only got up once to eat so that's a good sign. She's out growing her bassinet so i think it's time for the crib. That cross over will most likely be in the next week or so.

Dave is headed to Chi-town this weekend for a Cubs Baseball Bingo game, so it's me vs. the house. Needless to say with Dave's back out and the holiday weekend followed by friends in town, a lot has not gotten done. I need to do some work on our lawn, we need mulch big time and there is laundry up to the ceiling. I'm hoping i can grab a friend to come chill with Em while i do the lawn. We have rocking chairs out front so someone can just park there with her. I really don't want to put her on the ground b/c of snakes. My neighbor saw one a few weeks back.

photos of Emery: http://picasaweb.google.com/melyjask
Videos of Emery: http://www.youtube.com/user/melyjask

11 weeks

Today Emery is 11 weeks old, right this minute she's fast asleep on my lap. We have been reading Harry Potter to her at night...Dave and I are pretty into it. Emery however, could most likely care less. She had a tough day today, which is understandable. The last few nights have been very busy. This past weekend was her first 4th of July. We went to the pool two days in a row and saw fireworks downtown at a friend of Kit's house. What a view! Mel, who's house it was, lives right across from the Riverdogs stadium and we stood in her back yard and watched the fireworks. Miss Merritt (Kit's 3 year old) got to hold Emery for the first time, and she did great.





Yesterday was Baseball Bingo at the Riverdogs and we were out until 11:00. We don't have any late nights on the board for the rest of the week or next week, so hopefully we'll get back on her schedule.

Emery is smiling a lot now and is holding her head up by herself. she LOVES her bebe seat, photos to come. I took them on my phone and have to move them over.

ok she's up. time to eat.

Boob Club

When we decided to do 12 hours by 12 weeks we went sticky to bottles (i was pumping) for a week or so to make sure Emery was getting enough milk. We discovered she was getting plenty of milk so we could start cutting out night time feedings. Well this caused all kinds of breastfeeding issues. She was getting so pissed that the boob wasn't coming as fast and as easy as the bottle. We went back to boob as much as possible, so now the only bottle she gets is with Nana in the afternoons.

So with that back around info...Emery and I went to the La Leche League meeting this morning. Monica calls it the boob club and is the one that told us about the meeting. These girls are amazing. They have a lot of experience and had me feed Emery there so they could help. What happens is she eats and pulls her head back and screams. They gave me some tips and helped me with positions and some possible reasons why she's doing this. I left very relieved it turns out i might be over producing and she's trying to keep up. i thought it might be the opposite.

other than that things are going great. KMK is doing well and i'm working from the house in the afternoons. Emery spends the afternoons with Nana. Dave has a herniated disc in his neck and is having a lot of pain. We spent all of Tuesday at the Spine Center and they gave him a shot for the pain and a neck collar to wear when he sleeps. The doctor thinks it will heal itself and we won't need surgery. I'm trying to keep him from doing to much.

oh I have a ton of videos of Emery on YouTube now! http://www.youtube.com/user/melyjask

Sleeping Beauty

Tuesday night something amazing happened. Miss Emery skipped both her night time feedings. She slept straight from 9PM to 6AM. What's even more amazing...she did it again last night. Dave and I both woke up around 5:30, the norm for her second feeding and were shocked. We checked to make sure she was ok...she was. It's sweet! I didn't even get her out of her bassinet until 8:00 this morning. She was just laying in there chillin. As long as she had her paci everything was good.

Most days she goes to my mom's house from 1-5, or 12:30-4:30. yesterday and today she's at my friend Sarah's house with Sarah's nanny Katrina. It was nerve racking dropping her off, but yesterday went really well. Katrina is great about text messaging me with what she's up to. Makes me feel so much better. But she's 9 weeks now and i need to expose her a little to non-family member care. It is nice having an entire day to make calls. I drop her off around 10 and i'll go get her around 4:30. From 12-1 I try and do my non call stuff (which includes writing this). So i can maximize call time. ahhh cold calls. Tonight i have tennis, and i'm pumped for that. it got canceled last week b/c of the weather. Tomorrow we have lunch with the girls, and then Adam and Lilly's wedding. Very exciting. Emery will be with miss Prisha.

Roll over

A few days ago I put Emery on her stomach and walked into the other room to grab something. Came back and she was on her back. First I had to remember if i really did put her on her back. Yes I have the mommy brain. So i flipped her back on her stomach and called for Dave. Of course she didn't do it again. So Monday the same thing happens and Dave is at work, so I grabbed the video camera and just hoped she'd do it again, and she did!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B_4DlfV8h8

2 months old

Today Emery is 2 months old! She's so amazing! She is smiling at us (and the animals on her bouncy chair)daily. She even giggled a little the other day. She is doing really well during the day now, she only gets cranky right before she passes out. I think it's that idea that she might miss something. We're trying to do 12 hours by 12 weeks, but we're having some issues with feedings. I was pumping for a few days exclusively to make sure she was getting enough to eat, now she's not eating as much if i go back to the boob. So we're trying to work that out. I'm bringing her in tomorrow to the breastfeeding club to weigh her. As long as she's gaining weight we're good. She was 10 lbs 3 ozs at the doc last week. She got her first shots there as well. (NOT fun for anyone) poor little thing.

It's a little hard with house stuff sometimes. I feel like i either want to be with her if she's awake. So if i have any time at all without her, I feel like I should be working. And since I can work at any time of the day it's hard to get other things done. Like the laundry, or vacuuming. just a little venting. It's also been tough b/c Dave hurt his back/neck and he's in a lot of pain the last 2 weeks. I know it's frustrating him that he can't do much right now.

Ok, back to work, Emery is with Nana this afternoon.

7 weeks

Yesterday Emery was 7 weeks old. She is holding her head up more and we've caught a few more smiles. She slept last night from 10 to 2:30. We just got our new book "12 hours by 12 weeks" and we're starting the sleep training next week when she hits 8 weeks. A friend of mine did this and she had great success.

Dave and I went to Babies R Us last night. It was nice to have a little family outing. We got Emery a new toy and some bottles. She loves toys that play music. So that's what we got her. It's a cube that has all different instruments on it.

As for me, I'm doing KMK in the afternoons and just joined "Get Fit" on Daniel Island, it runs the entire summer and lets you test all kinds of classes for a very low price. I took my first class Tuesday night, a interval training type class, and I was so tired the next day. I think I'm going to try and take more classes closer to the weekends so i can nap. I have cardio tennis tonight at 6:00. I'm looking forward to it.

I have felt dizzy lately, i'm not sure what it is. I went back on birth control so that's the only thing i have to blame it on right now.

smiling

A few nights ago we caught a somewhat smile...then that same night we put her in her bassinet and both looked down and talked to her. We got a full smile! It was amazing. So we have had a few smiles here and there but not a lot.

She's doing great, she's so aware. It has been great.

Work: Well it's official I'm no longer with CMCI. So now it's KMK full time. My mom is taking her for a few hours each day so i can make calls. We'll see.

Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend! I have two very best friends and they both came to visit me! It was amazing. Dom came in on Thursday and Erin came Saturday (she was supposed to get her Friday but US Airways had some issues). Dom cooked us dinner, Erin cleaned my house, you want to talk about good friends! Emery was very happy to meet both of them.







Now that it's June, i'm gona be going full steam ahead with KMK Web. My mom is watching Emery in the afternoons from 1-5 so I can have 3 solid hours for phone calls and meetings. (i know you just did the math but it's 20 minutes in the car each way) So hopefully I can grab an hour in the mornings while she naps to set up my day and do anything that doesn't involve a phone. Can't make phone calls with the chance she could wake up and start screaming. Not very professional. So hopefully KMK will go big time and I can stay home with her in the mornings. Keep your eyes out for clients for me please!

Other then that things are good. Olivia and Dad just got back from Detroit for Baseball Bingo. They said it went great! Natalie and Trace come in July!!! That's exciting. We just found out Dave's good friend from NJ is having a baby in Jan. So good news all around.

No more Willy

Well "crazy eye willy" is slowing becoming a thing of the past. Her crazy eyes are going away and she is starting to stare at things longer. Dave and I saw her reach for the bunny over her bouncer on Friday! It was so cool. We both reacted to it when we saw it. This is day 2 of her new medicine for her reflux and i think it's kicking in. She is much happier today. She attended her first baseball game last night and thanks to nana and Aunt Livvy we made it to the 9th inning. She was screaming a bit but we passed her around. She was going through a growth spurt and was just hungry.

In fact i'm going to wake her up now to feed her.

Two v.s. Four

Today Emery is 4 weeks old. There are some MAJOR differences between 2 and 4 weeks. The first 2 weeks Emery was home were pretty consistent. A lot of sleeping, and eating. The crying was a clear sign of hunger or a dirty diaper. But now, ahh things are different. The crying could be many things. hunger, dirty diaper, tired, gas, pacifier fell out, want to be held....well you get the picture.

So we try different things. The rocking chair, the swing, the vibrating chair, even the mummers strut. (for all you non-Philly people this is a dance/walk from the mummers parade in Philly) This was discovered by Dave's dad who turned to it in a panic when Emery wouldn't stop crying. It was successful. The rocking chair works, so I've been spending a lot of time in it, this would explain the fact that I started The Office season one last week and am now almost finished with season 2. Not to much else you can do in a rocking chair. Her crying isn't always because she's upset, a lot of the time she just wants attention. At her 3/4AM feeding she sometimes is wide awake and just wants to hang out. If you put her in her bassinet she gets pissed. It's a very simple, I'm not ready to go back to sleep right now.

Other then learning new ways of calming her, we're doing really great. She's getting big, it's so strange. People keep saying ohhh she's so small but she's more then a pound heavier then when she was born. Her eyes are changing color too. They are a light brownish color now. We're thinking they are going to be hazel. This morning we went on our first walk, we walked for about a 1/2 hour. i really needed it. It's good to exercise a little. My goal is to walk every morning then feed her and take her to my mom's so I can work. Emery is going to Nana's next week for 2 half days. We'll see how it goes. We are starting slow.

Fussy

Yesterday Emery was 3 weeks old! Go Emery! Her eyes are changing and she looks bigger already. I think her eyes are going to be hazel.

The last few days I have had some stomach issues...so needless to say so has Emery. Poor little thing has diarrea and gas like no other. She gets frustrated when she can't get it out and gets very upset. It's really hard to watch b/c there is so little we can do for her. I got two hours of sleep for two nights in a row, so last night I went to bed at 9:00 and had left a bottle in the fridge. Dave stayed with her until 2:00AM so i could sleep. It was glorious! I was out cold.

Today we have part two of our Kayla shoot! We are heading over there soon and I'm wondering if Em is going to cooperate. She's sleeping in her swing right now, but is making all kinds of funny sounds.

The first Tuesday after I had her we went to a lactation support group at the hospital. There is a lactation consultant there and she answers questions and gives tips. Well I thought that since I really wasn't having that much trouble I really didn't need to go. So i skipped the next week. On Monday I talked to my friend Brook who was having some issues with breastfeeding so I told her about the group. I said we'd go together, and we did. I really had a nice time. There were more girls this time and it was nice to be with other new moms with small babies. Emery was no longer the youngest in the class. (in fact she was double the age of one baby) haha. I learned that some of Emery's gas might be b/c i wasn't pumping for a few days and my supply is very good. So she was getting too much milk at once causing her to eat to quick and get gas. So i'm back to pumping every day. Yesterday I got 5oz from one and 4 from the other. Apparently this is rare but very good. So no shortage here.

ok she's getting fussy. gota go

OH, I have been taking dozens of photos of her with the camera and my iphone. I've been uploading them to my site if your interested: http://picasaweb.google.com/melyssaferber/EmeryApril2010May2010#

Vistors

Yesterday Dave's Dad and Kathleen came to visit. We went to the mount pleasant pier and then to Wild Wings. Today Joe and Dave went kayak fishing and Kathleen, Emery and I went to the farmers market downtown and then went to see Liv at the roof top. Tonight we are making shrimp kabobs.

Around 4:00 today Dave and I went to the pool and left Emery with her grandparents. It wasn't easy, but we were super close and only went for an hour. I had only left her one other time with my parents for about an hour, but that was easier I guess b/c it was MY parents and she wasn't fussy. I think b/c of the Thrust and her tummy she's been upset the last few days. I learned my lesson on onions. No more of those. Man did she not like them. We both had stomach issues. (i will spare you the details of that one)

Joe and Kath are totally in love with her and have taken dozens of photos of her to show off to their friends. It's so cool she has so much love in her life already. She's one lucky kid! (and so damn beautiful!)

Pregnancy Tips

When you're pregnant people feel the need to say random things to you and give you tips. So instead of doing the same thing I thought I'd write down what I learned. I'm sure I'll continue to add to this list but here's the start.

Pregnancy Tips in no particular order

- get a belly band (this allowed me to wear some of the larger maternity pants before I got huge, but it was to the point i couldn't wear my normal clothes. I think i wore it every day)
- After you deliver your baby you bleed...alot. so know this. (i did not and told Dave to get the nurse b/c it looked like a crime scene in the bathroom)
- Wait until your +2/+3 to push if you can (this made pushing a lot quicker)
- buy maternity clothes on ebay and craigslist. I found a few local girls selling their stuff for super cheap. (brand new stuff is WAY expensive)
- There is nothing wrong with pitocin IF you are full term (i was scared of it, but it got my contractions rolling and allowed me to delivery vaginally; my water had already broke)
- ignore all the nah-sayers (people tell you how tired you'll be, how your life is over, how everything changes...blah blah blah. what they don't tel you is how much you're going to love this little person and that even when you don't get a lot of sleep it doesn't matter. so when people go there, just smile and nod and feel sorry for them)
- toughen up your nipples. pull on them, pinch them, do whatever to make they a bit more durable. (this will help greatly when it comes to a little person sucking at full speed on them)