Two Months Old

Dear Emma,

I cannot believe that you are now TWO months old.  I feel like I blink and you are another month old again! Time has been flying by so fast since the day that you arrived and I just want it to pause so I can take in all your cuteness and littleness before it's gone forever.  It has been so fun to watch you grow and change over the past month, but it's all so bittersweet at the same time.  I love seeing you change and become your own little person more and more each day, but at the same time I am not ready for you to grow up.  I know you aren't really all that grown up yet, but each day is a step towards you becoming bigger and bigger.

This past month you have grown SO much! You learned to smile, talk in coos and grunts, and you have started to play and interact with us more and more every day.  We love listening to you "talk" and you are especially chatty when we are doing tummy time.  You have so many stories to tell us about life and we love listening to them.  You make us laugh with all your expressions and the funny ways that you do things and communicate with us.  You LOVE watching us do things and always are trying to learn about what is going on around you.  You stare at us with this quizzical look and try to take it all in. You love looking at all our picture frames and book shelves, it leaves you in complete wonder. You love when we read books to you and if you aren't busy taking in the pictures, you are busy telling us about you think about the book. It is just so fun to watch you discover new things every day!!

Pretty much every morning you wake up with a big smile and love to say Good Morning to us that way! It is the best thing in the world to see your cute little smile.  You have learned to recognize Mommy and Daddy's faces and will smile at us when we come in from other rooms to where you are, or when we get home from being away from you.  It absolutely melts our hearts!! I think I still have a place in your heart as favorite and I can usually calm you down over any one else when you are really upset, but don't get me wrong you ADORE your Daddy (and he adores you)!  You love to snuggle us both and we have a hard time saying no to snuggling you when you cry at night or at nap time when we are trying to lay you in your bed.  To say you have us wrapped around your tiny fingers would be an understatement. :)

You learned to eat from a bottle this month and Daddy is learning how to feed you.  It made me really sad since that means it's almost time for me to go back to work soon and I am not ready to leave you quite yet!!! You love your paci and like to play the "paci game" with us all the time.  You spit it out and then smirk at the fact that we have to keep picking it up and putting it in your mouth since you haven't mastered the concept of that quite yet.  Good thing you're cute...

I don't think you could ever fully understand how much we love you and how much joy you bring to our life.  Every day gets better and better and we fall more and more in love with you.  You are truly the best thing in that has ever happened to us, and we thank God for you all the time. The past two months have been such a fun adventure learning to be your parents and I know that each month will get better and better.  Just don't let it go by too fast, deal? :)

The Crib Broke My Heart

Before I had Emma, I always thought that I would never have a hard time watching my child grow up. I figured that each month would be an exciting milestone and that I would never have a hard time with learning to let go of the small things as my little one grows.

Okay, okay....I know what you're thinking, Emma is only (almost) 7 weeks old and she is still completely dependent on me for pretty much everything and anything she could need, so what do I really have to "let go" of at this point in her life.  I would be thinking the same thing if I were you, but there are little things that just sneak up on you that don't seem big in the terms of the long run in life, but they are "big" things to me at this moment in time. 

One of them kind of "snuck up" on me the other day unexpectedly and I never would have thought it would bring tears to my eyes but it did.  I decided that it was time for Emma to take her first nap in her crib.  Obviously she has been sleeping with us in her bassinette since the day we brought her home.  As far as nap times go, well newborn babies sleep any where all day long and her Dad and I have taken advantage of her newborn snuggliness by cuddling her when she sleeps during the day.  I mean, who wouldn't want to cuddle her, she is just way too cute! However, I decided that we would start working a little bit more on getting her ready for what life is going to be like when Mommy's maternity leave is over and she will be on a much different schedule every day.  I figured one of these steps is to get her to start napping in her crib, which will also help transition her to sleeping there at night when she is big enough. (Oh gosh, the tears start already thinking about that milestone!)

Emma usually falls asleep while nursing and I decided to lay her down in her crib for a nap.  I thought it would cause her to stir or that she would feel that something was "different"...I guess I just thought the transition to something new and "independent" would phase her, but it didn't.  My little cutie pie laid right down as if nothing had changed at all. I covered her in her crib blanket and looked down at her sweet little face and unexpectedly the tears welled in my eyes.  Looking down at her itty bitty self in that seemingly giant crib, I just couldn't help but feel like in some way she was really growing up.  She was a big girl taking a nap in her room away from me, it felt so strange and I never ever expected it to! I never thought that something as simple as her napping in her crib would affect me in that way but it did.  

As I think about it now, it's funny how I have had a lot of emotions since she's arrived that I never expected to.  I never expected to love her so deeply that there really aren't words to describe it.  I never expected to fall deeper in love with her every day even though I never knew one could love another so much.  I never expected to love how much she needs me to help her everyday in a way that only a Mommy can as much as I do.  I have seen this quote a million times, but it never really hit me before Emma and now it's words ring so true with my heart.

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." -Elizabeth Stone.

I guess I just felt like her first nap in her crib was the beginning of many hurtles as her Mom that I will have to face in "letting go" as I learn to let her grow up and become her own beautiful person.  I know that she isn't growing up and leaving me anytime soon, but the little milestones feel like big one's to me since I am facing every thing for the first time.  This Mommy stuff is really a tough but beautifully rewarding job! I am just so glad that she won't grow up too fast on me...at least I'm hoping! :)

One Month Old!

Dear Emma,

I cannot believe that you are already ONE month old! Where has the time gone? It seems like it was yesterday that we were bringing you home from the hospital with butterflies in our stomachs nervous about being wholly responsible for you.  Now here we are a whole month later, and it's hard for me to remember what our life was like before you were here.

To say that you have completed our lives would be a total understatement.  Your presence in our life has completely transformed who we are.  I have never know how much one could love a little person until you were placed in my arms and you stole my whole heart in a single second.  I have loved every single moment of being your Mommy, and I find myself at least one a day staring at your perfect little face completely in awe of the blessing you are.  You have truly added so much joy and love to our life in one single month, it's amazing and I thank God every day for you.

As I have watched you grow over this month, it's been quite the adventure as you have adjusted to life outside in the world, and it's been interesting for me to learn all about you and become your Mommy.  You are such a sweet, easy going baby and you have made the adjustment to parenthood really easy on your Daddy and I.  We absolutely love just watching you sleep, and laughing at all the sweet faces you make while you do it.  So far everyone says you look like your Daddy, which I totally agree with, but he says you have my expressions and my lips.  Either way, you're adorable!! :)

Your Daddy is absolutely smitten with you and you love snuggling him in the morning in bed after you're done eating and trying to wake up.  You guys also spend a lot of quality time hanging out while he plays games and you like cooing as he talks to you about what he is doing.  I think you will be spending a lot of quality time like that as you continue to grow up.

As for Mommy and Emma time, well we get a lot of that in.  You are pretty much attached to me since I am the only one who can feed you right now, but beyond that you seem to calm down at my touch over Daddy's (which I totally love) and you always try to find my voice in the room when I am not holding you.  I love every moment with you, but I especially love our snuggle times in the middle of the night after feedings when it's just us and you like snuggling right up close to me, face to face, and falling asleep right in that spot.  It's the best time of my day and it makes those late night/early morning feedings worth loosing sleep over.

You are truly an answer to many prayers and I sometimes still cannot believe that you are here!  Many tears were shed as I prayed for a sweet baby over a years time, and while I hold you in my arms today you are more perfect than every thing I dreamed up, and sweeter than any thing I could have imagined.  I love you so much sweet baby girl and I cannot wait to watch you grow up.  Just promise me you won't do it too fast, ok?

I love you!
Mommy

Today was Emma's Due Date!

Dear Emma,

Today was your official due date! If you had asked me at the beginning of this month if I would have made it to this date and still be pregnant with you, I would have definitely said "YES!"  I never anticipated that you would arrive early, and in my mind I thought that if you did it would only be a few days before your due date. 

I was anything but ready for you to come the day that I went into labor but as I look back now I am so happy that you came when you did.  God knew and planned the exact perfect time for you to be born, and even though I wasn't quite ready He knew it was best that we meet you the day that we did. I am so happy now that I didn't have to go through the last few weeks of pregnancy! I was starting to feel very "over" the whole thing right about the day you came! Your birth day was the perfect day for us to meet you! 

As I woke up very early this very snowy morning to feed you and snuggle you, I was so thankful that instead of anxiously awaiting your arrival I was holding you in my arms.  You are the greatest gift that I have ever received in my life and I am beyond blessed to be your Mommy.  You are an absolute answer to all my prayers and as you continue to grow up I cannot wait to tell you about what a miracle you are to me and how much your Daddy and I prayed for you.  God perfectly crafted you in His hands and made you to be the perfect little person that I get to call my daughter and each day I am in awe of His amazing handiwork.  You are my precious little princess and I cannot wait to watch you grow! But for now, I am more than content to snuggle your sweet little baby face in my arms and treasure each moment of your newness in life. 

I love you more than words could ever say!

Emma's Newborn Pictures

My amazing sister-in-law came to our house the first week we were home with Emma and took our newborn photos for us.  I have always LOVED the "lifestyle" type newborn photos and she kindly offered to come take some pictures for us, and they turned out absolutely fantastic! I honestly cannot stop looking at them.  I know that they are going to be photos that I treasure forever.

Baby girl is already growing leaps and bounds, and to have these precious pictures of her in our home from her first week of life is something that I absolutely will adore for years to come.  I put together a video of all the shots and just had to share them with you guys.  I hope you like them as much as I do!

Introducing Emma Charlotte

While I plan on posting more actual blogs about my new life as a Mommy, and this sweet baby girl tonight I am just a little too sleepy to compose my thoughts into words.  So, for now I wanted to share with you a little video that I had put together from all of our pictures from the hospital from Emma's birth.  

It's still overwhelming to think that I am someone's Mom! It's definitely going to take some getting used to, but so far I am loving every moment of it.  It's crazy how my whole world changed the minute that Emma arrived.  Life as I knew it ceased to exist and a whole new life of us being a family started the minute she took her first breath. It's such a beautiful thing and I am loving each moment of her being here, and us being a family.

I hope you enjoy this video! It brings tears to this Momma's eyes each time I watch it! :) 

My Memories Suite Giveaway WINNER!!!

It's time to announce the winner for the My Memories Suite Giveaway! I know I was supposed to announce the winner earlier this week, but my new duties as Emma's Mommy have kept me busy!

I used Random.org to pick a winner, there were 19 entries and the lucky winner is number #19... Marie!!!

Marie, I have emailed you the details about the win! :) 

Thanks to everyone for entering! Again, you still have a chance to get your hands on this awesome product at a discounted price!  They have been generous enough to offer a $10 discount to all my readers! YAY!  All you have to do is use the code STMMMS59425 at checkout!