Race weekend

Many of you may know that Mike and I have been training for our own respective half marathon races...well Mike's turn came this past weekend :) Mike ran in the Kansas City Half Marathon this past saturday and finished with a very good time, especially considering that the race should be renamed "the never ending hills" according to Mike.! The day started out a bit scary as it was pouring on our drive to Crown Center but luckily it stopped raining before race time.

Mike was rewarded for his efforts in the race on Saturday by watching the Hawkeyes go 7-0 for the first time since 1985! I have posted some pictures of Emma after a bath this weekend - it was nice to have a spare set of hands to take pictures of our little cutie and all her sudsy hair.

The "before" picture prior to shampooing...

Mommy, did you give me horns?? (a combo of dry/wet hair as I was wetting Emma's head down)

I promise I didn't "style" her hair this way but sort of looks like I blow dried it:)

Ahhh....nice and cozy in my flower towel:)

Unfortunately we didn't get the best pics post race but I think the grimace on Mike's face says "I'm glad the race is over!":)

12 weeks!

Emma was officially 12 weeks old yesterday. Here are some recent pictures...

I can hardly believe that Emma is already 12 weeks old...(this is Lela typing) It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital! Given she is essentially 3 months old (will be 3 months on October 21st), I found myself thinking, how has this whole parenthood thing been so far? Not to be overly sappy but it has truly been the most amazing and wonderful experience.

A concern I had before Emma was born was if I would not feel that maternal bond you always hear about and given I have never truly been a "baby" person, I wondered, would I really love my baby enough? Would I know how to be her mother or would I find myself feeling awkward? I was pleasantly relieved that little Emma stole my heart the moment they handed her to me in the delivery room and being a mother really has come more naturally to me than I had anticipated.

Not to sugar coat things...there have been frustrating nights when Emma has refused to go to sleep or when she was waking every 2-3 hours the first few weeks but from what I've read and heard from other mothers, she is a very well natured baby and we are very blessed to have such a healthy and cuddly baby who sometimes just wants to be held. We are very pleased that so far she sleeps well in the car and doesn't mind her carseat so hopefully that will continue when we have long car rides to Iowa for the holidays...

An update on Emma at 12 weeks...a couple nights ago, she gave us a solid 10 hour stretch of sleep - so we're heading in the right direction at least! We visited her new day care center (Cantebury) last week and met her "teachers" who all seemed very nice and competent...I still can't shake the thought in my head that says "no one is good enough for my Emma (ie: basically they are not as good as mommy)" but in all seriouslness we feel quite confident in the place that we've chosen.

Emma has started to become very curious of her surroundings - staring at the ceiling fan and even the television with all the bright lights and sound. She likes to give Mike and I smiles and even some giggles and has definitely discovered her hands - something that is always available to suck on! Mike thinks that Emma has adopted my "night owl" tendencies as Emma sometimes seems to perk up after bedtime but I still don't know if this is true as she does tend to be perky in the morning just like Mike. (During the "pre-emma" era as I like to call it, Mike was notorious for being overly chatty for our 5:30 am runs...I'm a "morning person" in that I like to get up and get my workout in to start the day but I do not like to converse very much during those first couple hours....In any case, we are looking forward to Emma's future milestones; it's exciting to watch babies learn new skills - we adults seem to take things like rolling over and sitting up for granted!