Happy New Year's Eve!

Hi there! Well, the Ross house has had a full day and it is only half over! I don't believe that any of us will have the energy to stay up until midnight tonight!

Today my cousin Brooke and my grandma Jane drove down from Seattle for a quick visit with Emma! During their visit, my aunt and uncle stopped by on their way home from Christmas in Arizona. All that, and Ed came home for lunch to see everyone! Boy we had a full house! Emma got a lot of snuggle time with everyone! (Zoe loved the attention too!)

Great Grandma!

Second cousin Brooke:

Judy and Jay:

Three out of four generations! (Not pictured: my mom!)

Zoe says, don't forget about me!

I'm pretty sure that Emma smiled at me today. I was holding her and talking to her, and I said "You're cute!" and poked her belly. She smiled, and she wasn't gassy or falling asleep! Then I did it again to see if it was a fluke, and I got a second smile from her! Hooray! This is a very fun time!!

We wish everyone a safe evening and a very happy new year! Our 2008 will be wonderful - filled with lots of love and special moments!

Sunday

I haven't captured Emma doing anything too exciting lately, but my niece Miranda really wanted me to take a video of Emma doing something today to put on the blog!

Emma waking up to eat:

Emma is ready to eat!

Emma is in a fussy stage right now. We're preparing ourselves for the "period of purple crying," something that was drilled into us at the hospital. Basically its unconsolable crying for no reason :) We certainly hope that's not the case!

I walk the line

Do your eyes deceive you, or is Emma close to walking?!



Ha ha :)

Actually, she's pretty tired from a day full of activities!

Tummy time

Just a quick video of Emma on her tummy! She did not want to stay there long at all as it was feeding time! I can't say I blame her one bit. It's just that I don't want to put her on her tummy right after she eats, because that's going to be big trouble!

I am going to try and take more videos of Emma and Zoe today. I have no choice with Zoe - she won't leave Emma alone if she's down on her level! Yesterday when I was giving Emma a bath, Zoe decided she'd help by licking the shampoo off of Emma's head! Oh boy.

Weight check!

We had a visit from the community health nurse again today. Emma got all of her stats checked!

Weight: 8 pounds, 11.5 ounces

Length: 20 3/4 inches

Head circumference: 14.5 inches

That's a whole pound gained in the last two weeks! Ed and I are both a bit surprised that she gained that much, but she does feel a bit heavier! It's good to know that she's growing right along :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas baby!


Our little Christmas angel!


What a wonderful day we have had! We even had a white Christmas! It snowed hard for a couple of hours, then it began to trail off a little. Fortunately Emma woke up in time to get a peek out the window at her first big snow! At this point the snow is gone because of rain, but boy did we enjoy it while it lasted!

One of my favorites - snow on a palm tree?!


Look at the snow Emma!


We had hoped to get a picture of Emma inside her stocking, but guess what - she's too big to do that! So instead she only got half way in and I think she looks like a mermaid. I was laughing while taking these pictures!





When it came time to open presents for Emma, mommy and daddy took turns opening them for her and showing her what she got. She seemed pretty interested in what we were doing! Then, as babies do, she got a little sleepy and she went to bed. Now here are some videos!

Wake up Emma, it's Christmas day!


Look Zoe, it's snowing!


Snow on Emma's first Christmas!


Big Santa for Emma:

Monday

Yikes, I haven't posted anything since Friday! I didn't mean to do that. Just getting ready for Christmas tomorrow I guess!

Here is a picture of Emma from last night with her NICU buddy, Mel. I thought I'd also attach a picture from September 28th that shows how small she once was compared to Mel! It's hard to believe that is the same little girl sometimes!

Tomorrow we'll be getting some first Christmas pictures of Emma to share. For now though: "And to all, a good night!"

Friday

Happy Friday! Wow, it's hard to believe that Christmas is just a few days away already. Of course the past few months have been a bit of a blur, but ever since Emma came home the time sure has flown by!

I talked with the community health nurse today just for some "new mom reassurance." The previous night Emma slept for 7 hours straight, and then I went in and woke her up to eat because I was worried! I was a little concerned about that length of time (other than I slept the best I have in 3 months), but she ate fine throughout the day like she was catching up for a missed feeding.

So my question was - technically she's 3 months old, but perhaps physically she's closer to 2 weeks old. How do I figure out what is "normal" for Emma? I think the answer is we're never going to have a normal baseline for her. We'll take what's common for her real age and her corrected age, throw them in a blender, add some cinnamon and what we'll get is what is right for Emma!

Here's Emma with her teddy bear (while wearing her teddy overalls!). She's probably thinking "Mom, why do you keep putting me in this chair, I'm not big enough to sit up yet!" Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!

Happy Birthday Papa John!

Emma just wanted to wish her Papa Ross a happy birthday today!

Today is also Emma's 3 month birthday, or 13 weeks, or 2 weeks corrected...! This sure could get confusing!



What do you mean I can't have any cake?!

Yummy stuffed animals

Emma likes to try to nibble on her Ducky or her Kissy Bear! Here's a quick video of it.

Punk baby

After Emma's bath today I fashioned her hair into a mohawk. I was curious how long it would stay that way once it dried. Success! She still had it going on after a long nap.

So, how could I resist getting a couple of pictures to share?


What's up?


Nana and Grumpy (we didn't name him that!) came by today to see Emma. BUT! They also brought Zoe this toy so she wouldn't feel left out. You know, you've got to watch out for those older siblings' feelings!

Yipes stripes!

"Hi Kissy Bear!" Actually when I took this picture I was trying to capture her sucking on his foot! She gets a little anxious to eat when she's getting her diaper changed!


Here is Emma in her pink sheep pajamas. A little big on her!


They are so cute, here is a close up of the pink sheep. The sheep are even fuzzy to the touch!


I had to act fast before she tipped over in the chair!


Thar she goes!

Christmas baby

A nurse recently told me that babies smile when they are going to sleep. I wonder why? Well, that's just what Emma was doing here!

Here are some Christmas pictures that we took today.

My first present!

Two sweet things!

As usual, Zoe has to check out what's going on!

It's hard work getting your picture taken!

Hiccups

Here's a little video of Emma with the hiccups today. At this point, hiccups are pretty darn exciting!

Wow, this is our 100th posting on Emma's blog. That's pretty good since she's 87 days old!

Our dear little deer

Here is our little reindeer!

One of these things is not like the others, one of these things, doesn't belong...

Zoe has never seen such an animal as this one!

Too much baby nog!

Christmas 1976

A picture of Stephanie (left) and me at Christmas in 1976. For old times sake!

Friday

Today Emma had her monthly Synagis shot (for respiratory syncytial virus "RSV") as well as a polio vaccine. Once again she did pretty good, only upset during the initial 30 seconds of each shot in both legs and then she was fairly easy to calm down! We are just very careful not to squeeze her legs accidentally as we know they'll be tender for a couple of days!

Otherwise it was a slow day on the news front, so Emma posed for some pictures!

Here she is with her pink tiger:


Wait a second, I'm behind bars with a tiger? I didn't sign up for this! Zoe, get me outta here!


Ah, that's better. I'd rather lie with a safe lamb!


Tomorrow we're going to get some Christmas pictures of her at home. It just doesn't seem wise to take her to a portrait studio with all of the kid germs that will be lingering, so we'll see how well the amateurs do at home!

Growth update

Just a quick note about our visit with the nutritionist today. Emma is in the 50th percentile for each of (1) weight, (2) height and (3) head circumference for babies that are 1 week old. All that and she's 12 weeks old!!

We had a long day out today and she did very well. She still sleeps a lot so it was pretty easy actually.

Now I'm pondering - what do you buy such a new baby for Christmas? She has to have something, but I'm just not sure what. Isn't it sad that I know what Zoe is getting for Christmas, but not Emma?!

I will try to play paparazzi with Emma tomorrow for some more cute pictures/footage!

Wednesday weigh in!

Today a community health nurse came by to visit and weigh Emma. I can call her at any time with questions or have her come out if I want to keep an eye on Emma's weight gain, etc.

Emma weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces today. 7-11, that's easy to remember!

Tomorrow we go to the hospital to meet with the nutritionist again, so it will be interesting to see if their scales agree! It seems each office's scale is a little different than the next. At any rate, she appears to be slowing down a tiny bit in her weight gain. I think it's okay based on what they told me two weeks ago, but I will go ahead and confirm that tomorrow with the nutritionist.

The nurse also said that Emma is in the 50th percentile for girls that are 1 week old (her "corrected age" from her due date). Granted, that's a little odd considering she's going to turn 12 weeks old tomorrow, but that's how it goes with a preemie!

Finally, here are a few pictures from today/tonight!

After her bath (in a "Daddy's Little Girl" towel!!)

With Daddy

WHOA! That pacifier is still huge!!

Night night sweet baby.