leaving the states

Mom uploaded a video she took of Emmy before we went to the airport. She's eating her fried rice like a hungry little bird!!

pictures

A bit of a tribute to Emmy's fun times with family and friends!

home sweet home

We made it home safe and sound yesterday around 2 pm. Our flights went really good and Emmy was an angel for the whole trip and I couldn't ask for a better travel partner. We had our domestic flights with United and they really didn't make me too happy at the ticketing counter or on our flight to Chicago. First they tried to tell me that I couldn't take back 2 bags for Emmy and 2 for myself, which I did on the way over and is allowed. After we got that mess cleared up they charged me $150 for over weight baggage for my bags being 4 lbs, 9lbs, and 8lbs over. Mom and I weighted them before we left and they were around 1-3 lbs over weight so I wouldn't be surprised if they have there scales scewed a bit (jerks!). Once I made it to my gate and was ready to board they told me I couldn't take my carry on because all the over head bins were filled and they didn't have room for mine and asked if they could check it. I thought it would just be checked up to Chicago and I could collect it after my short flight and it wouldn't' be a big deal but NO... they wanted to take my baby diapers, extra outfits, tooth brush and all the extras I need for a baby on a 28 hour journey and I wouldn't be able to pick up the bag until I got all the way home to Adelaide. After a new min's of trying to figure out if I could make it work I started crying and some other United worker said "oh we'll make this work let me talk to a flight attendant to see if there is a closet to put it in." At once a nice flight attendant came out and acted shocked that they were doing this to me and said of course we can get it on board and she mushed it into an over head bin. I was so so happy!! After Chicago we flew to LA to Auckland to Adelaide. It took us an hour to get off our plane, get through immigrations and customs, collect our bags, deal with quarantine checks and my bags being inspected, and then finally out to meet Kim and my in laws. It was sooooo good to see them and to give everyone kisses. I was so excited to come home and I had the same feeling of the first time you walk into your new home! We crashed last night around 6:30 and slept until 3. I'm pretty happy with that and it shouldn't be too hard for us to move our body clocks an additional 3-4 hours. It has been much easier traveling back here on our bodies then it was to go back to the states. Emmy was very clingy to me once we got out of the airport but has been very happy to play with her daddy since she's got up this morning. I have lots of things to put away....duty calls.

Oh.... I wasn't doing to bad until I talked to both my mom and grandma this morning and now I'm feeling pretty sad and teary and missing them already. I know in a couple of days I'll get back into the swing of things and feel a bit better but I'm already looking forward to when my mom can come out and visit me here again!

Thanks for the wonderful trip Grandpa, Grandma, and Mom! Also to my good friends who went out of there way to spend special time with Emmy and I! Hugs and Kisses

we're on our way

Emmy and I fly out of Indy today at 4pm! Wish us luck and pray for a safe arrival!

2nd tooth

Grandma Betsy found Emmy's second tooth yesterday morning after we got up. It's the other front bottom tooth. She was a bit fussy the night before and had rosy cheeks so I gave her a dose of baby Tylenol and that helped her sleep through the night. She seems to be following my pattern of cutting teeth so I assume she'll be done for a while. I got my first two close together on the bottom and then didn't' get another one for several months and her dad didn't get his first tooth until 10 months old. So it'll be interesting to see if she completely follows my genetics on this one.

Here's a picture of her about a week ago. You can see her first tooth just broke through the skin, but now it is really sticking up and the second one looks this way.

4 generations

Mom and I dragged everyone to the photography place for a nice proper family picture. I think it came out great and I can't wait to frame them! 4 Generations here with My Grandparents, my Mother, my sisters, and my Daughter. (Emmy's old man pieces show real good in the color print haha)

first haircut

Emmy had her first haircut the other day and I just couldn't bring myself to do it so Auntie Tara stepped up to the plate and did the honors! She had all her fuzzy back hairs cut off and blended down into her "old man hairs" to give her a fashionable baby angled bob. She's very posh you know, lol. We also took her to Chucky Cheese and she had a blast! There wasn't too much she could do, but she road a few rides and had a good time watching the other children and the singing animatronics. Check out all the fun pictures!

She held still for her first hair cut!

Riding in the car was one of the rides just her size!

The slide was a bit fast for her...lol

Lemons...need I say more?

But she still wanted more and more hahaa

she's sucking her thumb

A huge thanks to my friend Alexis for taking the time to do a fun scan on the new baby and the wonderfully cute gifts too! It really meant alot to me and my mom! It was also a nice relief to see her on the screen and to know everything is looking okay. We'll have our big medical scan a week from Friday to confirm all is well. Kim and I want 2 girls and 2 boys but we're going to give it a few years before we put in our male orders (hahah bad joke eh?) lol.


The majority of you pollsters were wrong. 15 votes total with 8 for boy and 7 for girl. Maybe next time!

I also would like to say a big congrats to Nic & Ilia who found out their expecting bundle will be a boy! It's about time there was a boy in the group!

emmy's mall adventure

Emmy got her ear's pierced today! On the way to the mall I gave her a dose of baby Tylenol for pain prevention and she was such a happy little thing when we sat down to have it done and my mom and two sisters sang her "Itsy Bitsy Spider" while they marked her dots and then pierced them. She held super still since she's never seen three people all at once sing her FAVORITE song. After the click click she did a little cry but as soon as I stood up she stopped crying and just had little sniffles. I felt so scared and sad and sorry for her all at the same time. She's the proud wearer of 3 mm White Gold Balls with protective plastic backs so the posts can't poke her. It's been about 3-4 hours since she's had them done and hasn't touched them at all or acted like they have bugged her. I'm super excited at how cute she looks!!

teeth

Grandma Betsy found a baby tooth broke through on the bottom left this morning. It's her lower central incisor! How exciting! I hope the rest of her teething goes as smoothly as this one did. No crying, additional drooling, or fever. You can tell her lower lateral incisor should not be far behind despite the lack of redness.

For other update news... it shouldn't be long before she is crawling. She's starting to rock and try to pull up on her knees and if you give her ground from behind she can get up on all fours for a little bit before she falls.

patty cake

This morning Emmy surprised us all by doing patty cake all by herself! Grandma was sitting in her rocking chair and Emmy was playing on the floor and Grandma started singing it to her and Emmy joined in by clapping her hands. Now that may not sound that interesting or exciting to most people but I was elated! I was on skype with Kim at the time so that was nice that he was able to share in with the exciting moment! We also turned her car set around today and she really enjoyed looking about and made the car ride more pleasant for her.

7 months old

Emmy is in the fast lane for learning new things! She was 7 months old yesterday and we got her weighted today. She's 19 lbs 13.5 oz and can sit up independently now for a long time before she topples over. She's also started this week giving us "kisses". They are the classic open mouth wet baby kisses and we love them! When she's on her belly she sometimes makes a small attempt to pull her legs up and under here and then she'll just flop down on to her side and look at you. I think she knows that she wants to do something with them but she just doesn't know what yet. She is not motivated at all to get around and hasn't ever rolled and rolled across the room yet. She is also on a baby food strike but will take a bite of anything that is NOT baby food. This suits me just fine since I find the stuff pretty disgusting. Her new love is green beans and she'll really give her broccoli a go. Tonight she's going to try pasta and sauce for the first time so I'll be sure to snap a few photo's of the mess!

american shower

Yesterday was my shower and I must say that my mom did a wonderful job! I absolutely loved my My Little Pony diaper cake!! She has really put my work to shame (I'll have to raise the bar next time I make one!) We played lots of fun games and I enjoyed the company of some great friends. A big thank you to Mom, Ashley, Zach, Abby, and Grandma for all your effort! There's no pictures of us playing games or me opening presents because there was complete chaos going on in the room with so many children but it's all captured on DVD and it'll be lots of fun to look back and watch it in a couple of years! I want to also say thank you for all the wonderful gifts the babies and I received and for everyone who came out!

My Beautiful Diaper Cake!

Me helping to set up!

The pretty cake & present table all set up and ready!

Mom open up your eyes!

frozen goodness

My mom made some homemade grape jelly and we had left over juice so she decided to make some popsicles with it. Emmy really enjoyed the 100% organic & sugar free treats! Too funny!

picking pumpkins at grandma's

Emmy went out to pick some pumpkins with her Grandma Betsy from her pumpkin patch. It was a very warm and sunny day to enjoy some outside fresh air.

She loved to watch from the wagon that grandma pulled her around it!

Then the pumpkins started to be stacked up around here.

Awww she's a pumpkin too!

What a fun day she had!

overdue updates

Pictures taken yesterday in her cute froggie outfit!

I've been very bad about not updating lately. Lots of activities going on for us and we've been super busy. Emmy's really changed lately. She's getting pretty good at feeding her self rice crackers, cucumbers, and broccoli. At first she didn't like broccoli but after a second go at it she found out that it was yummy. She's also like a baby bird and wants whatever I'm eating. She has a new passion for grapefruit which cracks me up but I won't be surprised if she'll grow up and be able to eat a lemon with out blinking an eye like her dad! Her sitting up is coming along well. She'll sit for long periods of time by herself before toppling over and other times it takes her 5 seconds to fall over. Her fear of strangers has diminished alot lately. I think she may still be leery of men (but that's not really a problem haha).

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. We're going to the baby shower my family is having for me and Emmy's going to get to play with 3 or 4 other babies her age or a bit older. It should be a good laugh and lots of chaos.

As for the new pregnancy everything is good and just moving along. I have felt the baby flipping about a few times and I'm really looking forward to peeking in with an ultrasound soon!

poor little girl

Emmy's been running a temp on and off since Sunday and I thought we were in the clear yesterday morning when she did fine with no temp all night or morning, but by the afternoon she had a temp of 103 F. After another long night of waking up every hour we headed to the doctor today and I'm very happy we did (even though it took my right arm and a few fingers from my left hand). She's got strep throat! How on earth she has something like that but is still her smiley self for the most part just boggles my mind. She's more clingy to me and is not her totally normal bubbly self, but she's not crying ever and will always smile when you try to make her laugh. I didn't want to chance her having an allergic reaction to penicillin like I do so we asked for something other than a penicillin. She's had her first dose of medicine, a baby Tylenol top up, and a bottle.... so she's feeling pretty decent right now. I'm still well at the moment so hopefully I'll stay that way.

rubber duckie your the one

We've been busy girls the past few days. Emmy and I have stayed at my sisters house, visited Grandpa Pete, and came to Grandma Betsy's house to stay. She's been doing really good considering all the moving around and changes she's had to adjust to, but somewhere along the way she's caught a bug. Yesterday she got sick at Pete's house and the poor dog and I wore the majority of it. This morning we were up on and off from 3 am until 6 am when we got out of bed to get some medicine and to take her temperature. She was running a low grade fever but some baby pain medicine helped her feel much better. Later in the day we put out a tub of water for her to cool off and play in. Even when she doesn't feel good she's a pretty happy and agreeable baby! Check out the pictures below!

Looking Cool

Hanging with Grandma Betsy

Rubber Duckies & Butt Cracks

So Cute

My Little Ham

new things

The first stop of our trip is nearing it's end. Emmy's had a wonderful time getting to know her great grandparents and has learned some new skills in the 1 1/2 weeks she's been here. She's sitting unassisted most of the time. I think in about a week or two there will be no need for the safety pillows. She's also discovered how fun it is to sit in the bath and splash like crazy. She acts shocked every time her splash comes back and gets her in her face; she'll look at me as if to say "eehhhhhh why is this happening!!". In the past few days she's decided to pat my shoulder or back when I'm carrying her on my hip. I think it's her mimicking what we do to her like burping her or patting her to sleep. So maybe she thinks it's a form of endearment :) so cute! She's also a big eater now and will most days have huge lunches or dinners.



I had to stick this picture up. It's one that I haven't seen that I found on my grandpa's computer... she was about 2 weeks old there and sooooo tiny! They grow up SOO SOO fast!

apples