Best Buds

When we first found out we were having a girl, Shawn was so nervous.  He didn't have any idea what it would be like to raise a daughter and wanted to make sure he did everything he could to have a good relationship with her.  I think he's definitely accomplishing that.  It's so fun for me to watch Shawn and Emily together.  Emily has her Daddy totally wrapped around her little finger.  When he comes into the room, she lights up as soon as she sees him and won't take her eyes off of him.  And there's no hiding what a proud Daddy he is.  Shawn picks her up from daycare every night and they have Daddy/Daughter time before I get home from work.  I often walk in each night to find them just hanging out on the couch watching tv.  They are definitely becoming best buddies. 

Oh and on a side note. . .they have their own secret language as well.  Apparently before I got home from work today, Emily told Daddy her pants were making her hot and she wanted to just hang out in her onesie instead.   Emily also secretly tells Daddy that she doesn't like headbands or socks and asks him to promptly remove them anytime Mommy puts them on her.  If only I could learn this secret language of theirs.

And here they are performing some of her tricks

I love you this much!

Hi mom

2nd Anniversary

Shawn and I are celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary today.  In some ways I can't believe it's been 2 years already.  I still remember how much fun we had at our wedding and reception.  Looking back, it's crazy at how much our lives have changed.  Just in the last 2 years, we've gotten married, bought a house, and had a baby!  I remember last year on our anniversary, we had just found out I was pregnant a few weeks before.  We had saved the wine we made for our wedding and hoped to drink it on our first anniversary.  Since, that wasn't able to happen, we're planning to drink it this year.  Hopefully, it got better with age.

Since our anniversary fell on a Monday, we decided to celebrate this past Saturday instead.  Our good friends, Courtney and Grant graciously offered to baby-sit Emily for us, so Shawn and I could go out to dinner.  It was a much needed date night!  Thanks so much guys for baby-sitting.  I know Emily had lots of fun!

And since it's our anniversary, I had to reminisce and post some wedding pics.  It's so fun for me to look back and remember that day.

Shawn seeing me in my dress for the first time.

Just married

Listening to the toasts.

The best night ever!

Sunday Funday

We didn't have a lot going on this weekend, so we decided we wanted to make it a point to get Emily out of the house.  In the past, Emily hasn't been very cooperative whenever we take her out in the stroller.  Usually after about 5 minutes, she starts screaming.  We thought we would start small, so we headed over to Lowe's to look at some grills for outside.  But this time instead of putting her in the stroller, we decided to try out the Baby Bjorn for the first time.  Our good friends, Steph and Luke, swore by the baby bjorn, so we were hoping this might be our solution.  Since she's getting bigger, we faced her outwards and guess what. . .she LOVED it!!  We were able to walk around for about 30 minutes or so and not one peep out of her.  I think she liked being able to see everything, but while I think it's the being restrained that she doesn't like about the stroller, I think the baby bjorn makes her feel like she's just being held (which she loves).  I feel like this is just the beginning of our new found freedom.  No more weekends of being stuck in the house because Emily won't cooperate.  YAY!!! I didn't take any pics at Lowe's, but I did take some of Shawn with her in the bjorn before we left.

I think this is such a sweet picture of Daddy and daughter

Since it was a quiet weekend, we thought this would be a good time to start back up on the rice cereal.  We had stopped for a couple of weeks, because she just didn't seem to be interested.  I was hoping for a different outcome this time.  Shawn set up her highchair and we used that instead of the bumbo seat.  Instead of feeding her after the bottle, this time we fed her the cereal before.  I think she did a little better.  It seemed like she was spitting out less then what was going in.  I think we still have a long way to go, as she only ate about 5-6 bites, before she clearly had enough of this weird thing I was giving her.  So we quickly moved on to the bottle.  Any suggestions to make her like the cereal more???  I'm hoping this will continue to get better.  Otherwise, I can only imagine what it's going to be like when we move on to baby food.

She looks so tiny in her big highchair!

Still not so sure about this cereal stuff.

Happy 5 Months!

Here's what's happening with Emily at 5 months:

  - She's back to sleeping through the night (98% of the time).  She usually goes down between 8 and 8:30 and sleeps until 6:00 or 7:00.   She's still not a good napper though.  We're going to have to work on that this next month.

 - She's wearing 3-6 month clothes.

 - She's eating 5 oz. every 3-4 hours.  We tried cereal for 2 days, but have decided to put it off until next month.  Just last night we started giving her 6 oz. to see how she would do.

  - She's laughing out loud now.  It's just the cutest sound ever.

 - Everything and anything goes into her mouth.

 - She's starting to grab things and pull on them. . .my hair, jewelry, etc.

 - She's much more interested in toys now.  She likes rattles and her excersaucer.

 - She's discovered her feet and loves to grab them, which just makes diaper changes that much more fun.

 - She's starting to like her pacifier more and more and enjoys putting it in and out of her mouth.

  - She's rolling onto her tummy much more often and can push up onto her elbows.  Just in the last week or so, she's started trying to get her knees up under her.  She gets super frustrated.  You can tell she so badly wants to be able to move. 

  - Bath time is still one of her favorite activities.  Daddy has taught her how to splash the water with her feet. 

Too Cute

It's been a pretty slow week at the Baxter Bunch (hence the lack of postings).  Emily's fever is gone and she was able to make it to daycare Thursday and Friday.  Yay!  She still has a runny nose, but we can deal with that. 

I thought I would share a few pics I took of Emily this morning.  Steph, Luke, and Leah gave Emily the cutest outfit and bow back when they visited last Thanksgiving and we can finally fit in it, so I just wanted to make sure they got to see some pics of her wearing it. 

After a few seconds of sitting, I had to tempt her with a toy to sit still.  Loving the big bow!!

Just in the last few weeks, Emily has started rolling over to her tummy more and more.  She's never minded tummy time and I think it's starting to pay off now.  She's getting so strong.  She can now push herself up onto her elbows and is starting to try and get her knees up under her.  She gets so frustrated because she so badly wants to be able to move.  I wouldn't be suprised if in the next month or so, she becomes mobile.

Not Again!

Once again, we've got an illness to deal with in our house.  Emily was sent home from school on Monday with a fever.  Shawn and I have taken turns the last 2 days staying home with her.  I'm taking her back to daycare this morning.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get another phone call today from school.  It's weird though, her fever hasn't been that high and she's acting perfectly normal.  She has had a runny nose and is starting to get a cough, but I feel like she's had a runny nose and cough on and off for the last couple of months!  She's eating normally too, so I'm just not sure what's wrong with her.  The only thing we've noticed, is she's a little more calm than normal.  I'm just glad she at least doesn't seem to feel bad.  Oh the joys of being at daycare. . .

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I couldn't get any smiles for her picture.  It was too early in the morning!  Thanks Mimi, for the cute outfit.  Everyone at school complemented me on how cute I looked.

Let's Feed The Ducks

Since it was so pretty outside today, we decided to take a walk to the park in our neighborhood and feed the ducks (we have a catch and release pond at the park too).  So we put Emily in the stroller and headed out.  She did good on the way over and enjoyed watching Daddy feed the ducks, but after about 20 minutes at the park, she decided she had enough sun and was ready to come home and take a nap.  We did capture some pictures of her enjoying the sun though.  And trying out her new shades.

Cereal Time

Now that Emily is 4 months old, the dr. told us we could start rice cereal anytime.  We decided to try it out this weekend and see how it went.  The first day, she just didn't seem interested.  She knew to open her mouth, but as soon as it was in her mouth, she just spit it back out.  My books say to feed it to her after a bottle, so that's what we did.  Well, maybe she just wasn't hungry?  Well, we tried again today and pretty much had the same outcome.  We gave it to her again after a bottle, only we didn't make a whole bottle this time.  Maybe next time we need to try giving it to her first?

Take 1 - She looks scared, doesn't she?

Take 2

I think there's more on her bib and face then actually in her mouth

Are You My Cousin?

Last night, we went down to Burleson to have dinner with Shawn's family.  Shawn's stepsister, Susan, came over with her baby girl, Sienna.  Sienna is 2 months older than Emily.  This was the first time they met each other.  As soon as Sienna saw Emily, she didn't take her eyes off of her.  So we put them both down on the floor to see what they would do.  It was so fun to see their reactions.  Sienna kept reaching out to touch Emily.  Of course,  the one time we needed it, I forgot my camera, so we took a few pictures with my phone.

Baptism

This past Sunday, we celebrated Emily's Baptism.  She was baptized at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Plano, which is the church that I grew up in.  She was such a good girl at the church service!  Since it's during Lent, she couldn't get baptized during a full mass, so there was a seperate service just for the baptisms.  There was only 1 other baby getting baptized, so it was a short service, which helped her not get fussy.  All of our family was there for her big day.  She even wore the same christening gown that I wore when I got baptized.  All of my cousins and nieces have also worn it, so that made it even more special.  We asked my sister-in-law, Julie, to be her godmother and Shawn's cousin, William, to be her godfather.

After the service ,we had everyone come back to our house for dinner.  It was fun having both sides of the family over to celebrate.  However, Emily wasn't as cooperative when we got home.  She was exhausted, but refused to go to sleep.  I'm sure all the noise in the house didn't help and after all, who would want to miss their own party.  Me and Shawn took turns in her room trying to get her down, but in the end I think she ended up sleeping about 20 minutes all afternoon.  We had one tired baby when everyone left.  We catered dinner, which made things soooo much easier, but Shawn and I were still exhausted by the time everyone left.  Having almost 30 people over for dinner is a lot of work!  Especially on a Sunday when you have to go to work the next day!  Thankfully, Emily was just as tired and slept through the night!  Unfortunately, most of the pictures didn't turn out that well.  But here are a few.

4 Month Well Visit

Shawn took Emily in to see Dr. G for her 4 month well visit this morning.  Everything looked good!  Here are her stats:

Weight: 11 lbs 15 oz (25%)

Height: 23.8 in (50%)

Head: 15.25 in (25%)

So we've got a tall skinny girl on our hands.  I always worry that she's not eating enough, but he just said she's a small girl and since she's been sick lately, not to worry.  He did say we can start rice cereal anytime over the next 2 months.  He said that may help her acid reflux, so we may try that sooner rather than later.  He recommended we keep her on the special formula until she's 6 months or so.  Then maybe we can try and wean her to a GentleEase formula.  As far as her cold, he said as long as she seems to be getting better, which she does, then not to worry.  And he did confirm my suspicions, she does have eczema. So we will just continue to slather her in Aveeno and Aquaphor.

Shawn said she was such a good girl at the dr, unlike last visit when she screamed the whole time!  He said she was just full of smiles.  She did cry for a minute during her shots, but was back to her happy self shortly after.