Race day part 2

Last weekend it was Lela's turn to run in a half marathon. It was 4 months almost to the day from when Emma decided to join us, so I was pretty proud of Lela for doing so well in the race! It was a pretty decent day for mid November, even nicer than the weather I had for my race in mid October! I have to admit it was also fun to be a spectator, possibly more fun than running in the race. Rather than the "why the eff am I doing this" feeling I generally have during races, I was able to have some Starbucks, dress so I was at no time cold (as in a race I generally dress so I don't get hot from running), enjoy hanging next to drink stations where they rocked some LL Cool J and Snoop Doggy Dogg, observe the underarmour 3% body fat dude who 3 miles later became the dude who had decided to take off his shirt even though it was still only 45 degrees and windy out as everyone laughed at him (sorry, if you don't want to be laughed at, don't be ridiculous), and many other fun citings. It did make it easier that, as usual, Emma was an angel and just slept the whole race. Emma had brought home a cold and given it to her mom as a special present so we were also battling that all week, which made for a fun week of getting to the race with a sick baby and wife! Anyway, enough about me, Lela did great, we were very proud of her, and we both wish we were as fast as her!

Emma's 4 month appt was today. She has gotten pretty big! She is 15 lbs, 13 oz which puts her at 86th percentile, 25 inches (72nd percentile), and her head is at the 47th percentile. The doc said she's right around normal since breastfed babies tend to be bigger prior to 4th months. Everything else was great, and I think Emma may have a flare for the dramatic. We asked if she should be rolling over yet, the doc was going into how generally when babies are this big they tend to roll a bit later but that's not an issue. . approximately 30 seconds later Emma just about rolled herself off the table! This was before the shots, which while Emma screamed for about 30 seconds, she took like a champ.

Few other observations about us/Emma

1) Maybe its just us, but Emma seems to expand her diaper quite a bit, which creates what we call "diaper toe". . . you can figure that out, makes us laugh every time we say it and yes we are 5.

2) Emma also found her voice a little over a week ago and is cooing and giggling all over the place. She even busted some out for the doctor today.

3) Emma is a very warm baby. There are times when I can't hold her as we just heat each other up and one of us gets upset. Emma doesn't like it either. . .We feel bad dropping her off at daycare dressed with less clothes than other babies, but they assure us she doesn't get cold. Only time in her life less clothes than normal will be acceptable, so she'd better enjoy!

4) At daycare, Emma loves the jumperoo, they say she can spend a lot of time in there. Maybe she will be a baller, as previously stated projected at PG.

5) There also seems to be a lot of boys in her 9 baby room at daycare. . not sure how I feel about that. They also took a picture of her when she was holding one boys hand last week, though I think they may have superimposed it. Even though we have been very busy the last few weeks, this has led me to search for an all girls day care. . .you think I am kidding don't you. . .

6) Emma loves to sleep on people. When she was in the throws of her cold, she would sometimes only sleep on me. Its all well and good until it creates a lack of sleep for Dad along with some punches thrown in her sleep.

Anyway, here's some pics!

Lela's too fast for my picture taking. .

Emma sporting Daddy's hat since he forgot hers. . .looks good to me!

Well we are now finishing the 2nd week of Emma being in day care. Every morning is an adventure getting out the door we are finding as we are trying to sell our house, so prepping the house for showing on top of getting her out the door proves to be a daily chore, but we are managing. I generally drop off since that’s the less fun part of day care, so its hard to get Lela to leave some mornings. . . Emma has gotten in the routine of sitting in her bouncer and watching Lela get ready in the morning, she really seems to think its pretty funny, so its nice to get that extra time with her. She also got her first cold this week. She's been congested, but it hasn't really effected her (knocking on wood) in any way that we can tell, so hopefully that continues!

Emma has also gotten in a good routine at day care it sounds like, especially on the eating front. She generally knocks out 6 oz at a time 3, sometimes for times a day and allegedly they are going to try a bit more today. Man she likes to eat! Our daycare also has cameras on the cribs for when they nap, so its fun to open up the web page and see Emma sleeping occasionally. She hasn’t so much been a fan of naps in the crib for a long time, but hopefully she gets there. They have told us Emma is a very happy little girl and loves one of the exersaucers they have for her, which reminds me that Emma also has been pooping through her diaper once a day all week it seems (one time happened in an exersaucer), so hopefully that pattern does not continue! We can tell she is wore out by the end of the day, because she generally has a somewhat glazed look on her face when we pick her up.

Few other things about Emma

- She loves baths now, and enjoys kicking A LOT in the bath tub. She thinks its really neat and kicks the whole time.
- Lela discovered that she loves when you clap her hands together. She has her hands either together or in her mouth about 90% of the time any more too and has started more and more of grabbing things. Here we go!
- She has also started to like to look at various things with patterns and focus in more on them. She also seems to be noticing Cooper, who would gladly play with her if he were allowed to. . .
- Emma is definitely a morning baby (as it sounds like most are). I generally get her up and a lot of the time she is just laying in her crib awake and content. After she eats is about the time Lela gets back from working out and Emma smiles most of the time when Lela gets back, so I think that likely makes getting back from a workout even better!

Anyway, a few examples of Emma’s pictures from day care since we haven’t gotten as many pics at home the last 10 days.

Missing Mommy

Today was Lela's first day back at the grind. Yesterday was rough for Lela, and Emma decided to make today even rougher by waking up at midnight and 6 am hungry, which then led to her being a sleepy/grumpy mood for prepping for her first day at day care. Luckily we get updates online about her and pictures of her sleeping, so that's comforting.

We did get her into her Halloween outfit for about 5 min for pictures. This outfit was made for the cold, so Emma got hot in about 2 min, so we did what we could and then took her out of it. We posted some pics below.

Emma is also our new Hawkeye good luck charm. She has yet to see a Hawkeye football loss, you are welcome Kirk Ferentz, we had her to help you out, now finish the season strong.

Few other items as far as Emma's development - 1) She can now pretty much fully hold her head up, which is helpful for certain ones of us who get lazy on the holding the head up sometimes:) 2) Emma has begun getting more and more interested in tv. Yes, she is my daughter, its to be expected, though she won't be allowed to watch the Real World Road Rules Challenge until she turns 25. 3) Many nights Emma does not like to go to bed. As previously mentioned, this is a trait she gets from her mom, so I can't wait to find out how she tries to get out of going to bed once she mobilizes and can speak! 4) Emma's been smiling more and more every day. Mostly she smiles for Lela, but I can get one out of her occasionally. 5) Emma likes to stand more and more every day as long as she is being held up obviously. Her walking can wait though, no hurry! Anyway those are a few of the fun things going on with her. Every day is a new adventure.

One of the greatest poses EVER!

Hanging with her "friends" on her bumbo seat

We put her in blue but forgot the pink accents. Good thing nobody said, "Isn't HE cute," otherwise they'd have to deal with her mom!